What you need to know about dinner

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With dinner, portion size is often the place where people go astray. ??Ansel’s mathematical equation will keep your waistline in check: Half the plate should be filled with vegetables, a quarter should be lean protein and the other quarter should be high-fiber complex carbohydrates such as a small baked potato, brown rice or whole-wheat couscous or pasta.??If you have a family to feed but don’t have the time or the budget to cater to everyone’s different tastes, try chicken with steamed vegetables. Buying frozen vegetables is not only convenient, it’s healthy, too. ??”Frozen vegetables are picked at the peak of ripeness,” said Ginn, who suggests learning to cook a whole rotisserie chicken. It’s cheaper and will go farther.??Sometimes, you need something that you can prepare ahead of time and have ready in minutes.??Cook a whole-wheat pasta with low-fat sauce, turkey meatballs — the meat is much leaner than ground beef — and a side salad. The meatballs can be made ahead of time, and leftover salad can double as lunch the next day.??If you’re tired and the last thing you need is a mess in the kitchen, cook fish in a foil packet and avoid the cleanup all together. ??Take a fillet of salmon, or whatever fish suits your fancy, and squirt it with lemon juice and a pinch of salt and pepper. Lay it over a sheet of foil. Chop up whatever vegetables you have on hand — onions, zucchini, asparagus or string beans — and pack them into the foil as well. ??Heat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit and cook for about 25 minutes, until the fish is flaky and – voila! – your meal is served and there are no pans to scrub.

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