Fast Meals: Five Ways to Save Time in the Kitchen:

Who has the time to cook a healthy meal these days? Anyone, in fact. A good dinner doesn't have to be elaborate or fancy. As TV host Rachael Ray says, if you have time to watch TV, then you have time to make dinner. It only takes half an hour or less to put together a healthy meal complete with appetizers and a dessert. Think you can't do it? Try these five time-saving tricks.



<EM>Stick to simple recipes. </EM>Find dishes that don't take too much work or use too many ingredients. Chopping up five different vegetables can easily eat up your prep time and leave you with less time for actual cooking. Alternatively, you can tweak a big recipe to suit your needs: use faster-cooking ingredients, get ready-made stock instead of making your own.



<EM>Use quick flavor enhancers. </EM>Don't have time to cook your favorite soup? It's easy to get that all-day flavor in a 30-minute time frame. Simply replace basic ingredients with stronger flavors such as herb vinegar, garlic and onion powder, hot peppers, low-sodium sauces and broths. Cook over low to moderate heat to let the flavors mix.



<EM>Try slow cooker recipes. </EM>Slow cookers are great because they do 90% the work for you. You can go to work, run errands, or pick up the kids while your dinner cooks itself. There's even less work involvedit only takes ten minutes of preparation in the morning and another ten in the evening for finishing touches.



<EM>Make use of idle moments. </EM>Multitasking is the key to saving time. Arrange your work so that you can do one dish while another one is cooking. While the roast is finishing in the crock pot, why not fix a salad or make a quick dessert? This way, all the dishes will finish at the same time and you can start serving immediately.



<EM>Get help wherever you can. </EM>Cut down your prep time by getting precut meats and vegetables at the store. Avoid pre-packaged productsthese are usually nearing expiration or include lower-quality pieces. Instead, choose your ingredients whole and have them cut to serving pieces at the counter.