Mediterranean Diet – Dinner Recipe Ideas

Many of us find that it’s not always easy to be enthusiastic enough after a long hard day to turn around and start preparing a healthy evening meal. Healthy meals are often perceived as being a little intense to create, or high-maintenance, as they can often appear to be more time-consuming to prepare. However, if you’ve heard about the Mediterranean diet, that doesn’t have to be the case.

The Mediterranean Diet is one of the healthiest known diets in the world. It is full of fresh fruits, vegetables, olive oil, and whole grains, all of which are easy to add to the evening meal! Preparing these foods doesn’t necessarily have to be complicated for them to be tasty and filling.

Mediterranean diet dinner recipes are easy to prepare and most of all they are superfood healthy. Now sit back, relax, and enjoy a healthy Mediterranean dinner with these sumptuous Mediterranean recipes. Oh, and if you desire, you can enjoy a glass of red wine too.

Here are a few recipes we found on the Internet for you. They range from 10 to 20 minutes to prepare. That’s not a lengthy amount of time to get a healthy meal ready for the evening. We hope you enjoy them all!

Quick Lemony Greek Chicken Soup

Recipe from: Cooking Light

https://www.cookinglight.com/recipes/lemony-greek-chicken-soup

Total Prep Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients

1 tbsp olive oil

¾ cup cubed carrot

½ cup chopped yellow onion

2 tsp minced fresh garlic

¾ tsp crushed red pepper

6 cups unsalted chicken stock

½ cup uncooked whole wheat orzo

3 large eggs

¼ cup fresh lemon juice

3 cups shredded rotisserie chicken

3 cups chopped baby spinach

1 ¼ tsp Kosher salt

½ tsp black pepper

3 tbsps chopped fresh dill

Instructions

1. Heat oil over medium-high.
2. Add carrot and onion; cook, stirring often until vegetables are softened. Do this for 3-4 minutes.
3. Add garlic and crushed red pepper; cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant for 1 minute.
4. Add chicken stock; increase heat to high, and bring the stock to a boil.
5. Add orzo and cook. Leave it uncovered until orzo is al dente (about 6 minutes).
6. Meanwhile, whisk together eggs and lemon juice in a bowl until frothy.
7. Once the orzo is cooked, carefully remove 1 cup boiling stock from the oven.
8. Gradually, add hot stock to egg-lemon juice mixture, whisking constantly to temper the eggs for about 1 minute.
9. Pour the egg mixture back into the oven, and stir to combine.
10. Reduce heat to medium-low; stir in chicken, spinach, salt, and pepper.
11. Cook, stirring constantly, until spinach wilts, for about 1 minute.
12. Divide the soup into 6 bowls, and sprinkle servings evenly with some dill.

Quick Shrimp Puttanesca

Recipe from: Eating Well

http://www.eatingwell.com/recipe/267851/quick-shrimp-puttanesca/

Total Prep Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients

8 oz fresh linguine whole wheat noodles

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 lb peeled and deveined large shrimp

1 can (15 oz) no-salt-added tomato sauce

1 ¼ cups frozen quartered artichoke hearts, thawed (8 oz)

¼ cup chopped pitted Kalamata olives

1 tbsp capers, rinsed

¼ tsp salt

Instructions

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil.
2. Cook linguine according to package instructions, and drain once done.
3. Meanwhile, heat oil in a large skillet over high heat. Add shrimp in a single layer and cook, undisturbed, until browned on the bottom for 2-3 minutes.
4. Stir in tomato sauce.
5. Add artichoke hearts, olives, capers, and salt.
6. Cook, stirring often until the shrimp is cooked through and the artichoke hearts are hot, 2-3 minutes longer.
7. Add the drained noodles to the cooked sauce and stir.
8. Combine and serve into 4 pasta bowls.
9. Serve while hot.

Minestrone with Italian Sausage and Pesto

Another recipe from: Eating Well

http://www.eatingwell.com/recipe/269836/minestrone-with-italian-sausage-pesto/

Total Prep Time: 10 minutes

Ingredients

1 tsp olive oil

1 precooked Italian-style chicken sausage link (about 3 oz), sliced into ½ inch thick pieces

1 (19 oz) can low-sodium minestrone soup (or if possible, make your own minestrone soup the day before. That way you will have two meals instead of one!)

2 tbsp pesto

2 diagonal slices whole wheat baguette (1 inch thick)

Instructions

1. Heat oil in a small saucepan over medium heat.
2. Add the sausage and cook, stirring, until golden brown around the edges, for 2-3 minutes.
3. Pour in soup and bring to a simmer. Cook until the soup is streaming, for about 5 minutes.
4. Divide the soup between two bowls; top each with 1 tbsp pesto and serve with a baguette slice.