Ten Healthy Meals to Start Off the New Year

After all the holiday feasting, I inevitably feel the need for simple healthy meals in January, meals that will bring me back down to earth after the sugar and calorie highs of December. These are some of our favorites, and we hope you’ll share some of your favorites in the comments.

Here’s to a Happy and Healthy 2012!

Asian Tuna Salad, a healthy salad with a spicy kick from sambal oelek. Serve on top of green salad or in sandwiches, and in the summer I like to stuff it in our homegrown tomatoes.

White Chili with Turkey and Cannellini Beans is an easy chili with plenty of healthy protein and flavor.

This spinach and tortellini soup is one of our new favorites from 2011, and it’s very easy to make. Our 8-year-old son can even make this soup.

I adore butternut squash, and this vegan Mexican spiced butternut squash soup with beans and corn is very healthy and full of flavor.

Sautéed fish tacos are easy and quick to make for a weeknight meal.

There are so many ways to make bean soups, and this is on our list of desperation weeknight meals. It’s a fast and easy black bean soup that you can make with pantry ingredients.

Yes, we eat a lot of soup in the winter, and this Moroccan spiced chicken soup is at the top of our favorites list. The mix of spices with the butternut squash, mushrooms, carrots, and chicken, is heavenly.

If I only make one Asian meal each week, my family votes for this one. Chinese chicken and broccoli is Top Gun’s favorite meal and the meal he always requests when we go out for Chinese food. It’s also easy to make at home.

Lentils are one of my favorite foods, and this spicy red lentil and tomato soup is a good pick-me-up for a cold winter evening.

Winter minestrone is an old favorite of mine. I’m not much of a summer soup eater, and using winter vegetables just makes more sense to me. It’s a great soup.