Add dollops of nonfat Greek yogurt and serve with lime wedges This sheet pan dinner takes little effort but delivers big flavor. Chicken, squash, black beans and red onion are well seasoned with chili powder and cumin. The black beans and butternut squash add a savory creaminess, and the optional toppings add tang. The recipe, adapted from the NYT Cooking section, suggests using Diamond Crystal kosher salt, a favorite of many chefs and home cooks for its light, pyramid-shaped

Here's a great example of a healthy, high-protein meal you can make when you absolutely, positively do not want to cook but you need to eat. It's bare-bones, assembled with readily available pantry-ingredients. Water-packed light tuna is combined with cannellini beans and tossed with sliced red onion and a light vinaigrette. This is a classic Italian salad from famed Italian cook Marcella Hazan, who introduced Americans to traditional Italian cooking with her seminal cookbook

Add your favorite toppings: cilantro, pickled jalapeños, avocado, Greek yogurt, cheddar cheese, tortilla chips There is so much to love about this soup. It tastes very much like a traditional beef taco but without the shell. It’s spicy, but not too much so. It’s high in protein, which makes it filling, and it’s low in fat, calories and has only 1 WW Point. The recipe, adapted from the NYT Cooking section, calls for 1/4 cup of olive oil, but I cut that down to 1 Tbsp., plenty

An Air fryer is a countertop convection oven that cooks food by circulating hot air rapidly throughout its interior. Food cooks more quickly, and becomes crispy and golden brown without using a lot of oil. With an air fryer you can make crispy french fries with just a light spray of olive oil. Fried chicken? Same thing. Meatballs are another food that is traditionally fried in oil. I like to make turkey meatballs because they're leaner than typical Italian meatball meat (a co

Despite their healthfulness, I do not like eating main-course salads during the winter, especially not here in the frigid state of Kansas. Soups and stews are more to my liking. This recipe for Tuscan Vegetable Chicken Stew, which I adapted from The Recipe Critic, provides close to a day's worth of hearty vegetables. I suggest cutting the vegetables into slightly larger chunks so they maintain their shape during cooking. It also provides protein from chicken and white beans,

If spinach isn't your thing, here's another recipe for egg bites, again from the NYT Cooking section, that features different optional vegetables and mix-ins. The NYT recipe calls for 1 1/2 cups of grated cheese; I cut it back to 1 cup to lower the fat, calories and WW Points. You can add bacon or sausage, which will minimally increase the calorie & WW Point count. Whatever your choices, these make great high-protein breakfasts or afternoon snacks. They keep in the fridge for

Egg bites are basically tiny frittatas baked in muffin tins. This recipe, from the NYT Cooking section, is mostly spinach and green onions held together by egg, cottage cheese and Parmesan. Frozen spinach is very good for you. It's packed with iron, calcium, folate and antioxidants. In fact, it’s often more nutritious than fresh spinach that's traveled many miles to the supermarket. The NYT recipe calls for two 10-oz. packages of frozen chopped spinach but I found that to be

According to knowledgeable food forecasters, the vegetable of 2026 will be cabbage, the lowly vegetable that in the 1950’s became famous (and infamous) as the main culprit in the Cabbage Soup Diet. The Cabbage Soup Diet became popular as a fast way to lose pounds. Most recipes included dry onion soup mix (high in sodium) and lots of chopped cabbage. Dieters were instructed to follow the diet for one week, during which they could eat as much soup as they wanted. I'm pretty sur

Eating Black-eyed peas on New Years is an old Southern tradition believed to bring good luck in the new year. Black-eyed peas symbolize coins or pennies and are said to guarantee financial prosperity. This recipe comes from MediterraneanDish.com and is seasoned with Greek spices such as cumin, oregano and paprika. Canned black-eyed peas are used for convenience, but you can use dry beans and cook them in a slow cooker (click on the link above for instructions). Black-eyed p

Pasta Fagioli is a hearty Italian soup made with pasta and beans. It was once eaten only by the poor, but it was also Dean Martin's favorite Italian dish. He even sang about it in his hit song, "That's Amore." He called it Pasta Fazool. On a recent snowy day, I made a big pot of Pasta Fazool. Due in part to the frigid weather, I would describe it simply as a "bowl of comfort." Actually, the warm temperature of soup sends signals to our brains that trigger a calming response.

Smitten Kitchen's Deb Perelman adds the works to her tortilla soup. Make this your own with your favorites! I am a big fan of the Smitten Kitchen website, created by a young New York City woman who is married with two kids and has no professional culinary training. She is simply a brilliant cook with three best-selling cookbooks under her belt. I have to cherry-pick Deb's recipes because many of them are calorific. (Yes, it's a word.) In other words, Deb has way more fun cook

This year we’re hosting an afternoon Easter lunch that includes a Salmon Niçoise salad with lots of extras, including these amazing roast baby potatoes. Potatoes almost always appear in some form on holiday tables. Usually they’re steeped in cream and cheese. Here’s a recipe for potatoes that won't break the calorie bank: baby potatoes well seasoned and roasted until browned and crisp. They're utterly delicious, and what's more, you’ll have room for a bite of a chocolate Eas