Whether you're cooking solo or for family and/or friends, it can sometimes be an ordeal. This is especially true if your day is already packed full of appointments, errands, meetings, work, and other various tasks that run you down, putting cooking on the, ahem, backburner and out of your list of top priorities.

In just a half an hour from the time you cut the first veggie to the time you plate the first dish, you can be eating a hot meal that you can fool your family and friends, and perhaps even yourself, into thinking you spent hours preparing.

Sausage and Peppers

A take on the Italian classic, this dish combines a terrific blend of Vitamin C-rich peppers and filling pasta. Subbing in turkey sausage results in about a third of the calories, a quarter of the fat, and four times the fiber of a traditional sausage dish.

Recipe

Tilapia in Mustard Cream Sauce

Healthy vegetables, a mustard cream sauce made from fresh ingredients, and the right-size filet of tilapia may look like it took some time to prepare. But when you taste this delectable delight, you'll think it's criminal it only took 30 minutes.

Recipe

Ricotta and Lemon-Basil Pasta

Italian food gets a bum wrap. There are a great deal of warning flags when you seek to eat the foods from across the Atlantic: heavy cream sauces, breads, oils, butter, etc. This recipe is an exception. Swap in part-skim Ricotta to save you massive amounts of fat that are normally found in an alfredo sauce, for example.

Recipe

Chickpeas With Spinach

This dish is the epitome of not having to sacrifice taste when it comes to a hot and healthy dish. Indian spices load you up with flavor and keep down the saturated fats and cholesterol. Chickpeas are packed with fiber, protein, and iron while giving the dish a rich, buttery taste, without the butter. Add a little spinach and other vitamin-rich vegatables, and you'll not only be satiated for hours, you won't feel guilty for eating such a flavorful dish.

Recipe

Bon Appetite.

Source: Health.com