Chronic inflammation can be a pesky problem—it can affect your blood pressure, immune system and your joints—but there are a few ways to keep it in check. You could start by taking care of your gut health and getting enough sleep each night, and you could also make one of these simple and delicious dinners. Each recipe includes nutrient-packed ingredients like dark leafy greens, garlic and legumes that can help inhibit inflammation. You can make recipes like our One-Pot Garlicky Shrimp & Spinach and Kale & Quinoa Salad with Lemon Dressing in 30 minutes or less, so you can have a flavorful meal even on the busiest days.
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Chicken & Spinach Skillet Pasta with Lemon & Parmesan
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This one-pan pasta that combines lean chicken breast and sautéed spinach for a one-bowl meal is garlicky, lemony and best served with a little Parm on top. I call it "Mom's Skillet Pasta" and she called it "Devon's Favorite Pasta." Either way it's a quick and easy weeknight dinner we created together and scribbled on a little recipe card more than a decade ago, and it remains in my weekly dinner rotation to this day. It's a simple dinner the whole family will love.
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Chickpea & Quinoa Bowl with Roasted Red Pepper Sauce
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Quinoa and chickpeas pack this vegetarian grain bowl with plenty of plant-based protein. Whip up a batch of these flavorful grain bowls and pack them in lidded containers to stash in the fridge for easy, healthy grab-and-go lunches all week long.
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One-Pot Garlicky Shrimp & Spinach
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Shrimp, spinach and garlic brown and cook quickly for a simple one-pot weeknight dinner. A fast pan sauce gets life from zesty lemon juice, warm crushed red pepper and herby parsley. Serve with a slice of whole-wheat baguette to swipe up every last drop of sauce.
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Beer-Battered Fish Tacos with Tomato & Avocado Salsa
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Lovers of fried fish get the taste without all the calories, and the salsa adds a fresh, clean note. To complete the Baja theme, serve with black beans, some diced mango and a bit of light sour cream.
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Chickpea Tuna Salad
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This chickpea tuna salad with capers, feta and cucumber makes for the perfect lunch to pack for work or school. You can prep the salad the night before (just be sure to keep the spinach separate and dress the salad right before serving).
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Kale & Quinoa Salad with Lemon Dressing
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This kale-quinoa salad pops with different flavors and textures. Massaging the kale helps break down its fibrous nature, while add-ins like toasted almonds, feta and cucumber add crunch and saltiness.
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One-Pot Chicken & Broccoli Pasta
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This creamy chicken and broccoli pasta makes for a quick and easy weeknight dinner. We opt for small shells in this recipe, but any other small pasta, like orecchiette, would work, too.
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Creamy Salmon Pasta with Sun-Dried Tomatoes
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In this creamy salmon pasta recipe, sun-dried tomatoes are used in two ways. The flavorful oil is used to sauté shallots, while the tomatoes get added to the cream sauce.
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White Bean & Sun-Dried Tomato Gnocchi
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Sun-dried tomatoes are the star of this recipe— providing texture and umami. Combined with the spinach, they make this dish a great source of vitamins C and K.
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Quinoa Chili with Sweet Potatoes
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This hearty vegetarian quinoa chili with sweet potatoes has mild spice from poblanos and green chiles. Chili powder, cumin and garlic provide classic chili flavor.
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Salmon with Lemon-Herb Orzo & Broccoli
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This healthy salmon dish is as balanced as it is delicious. You add broccoli right into the pot along with the pasta during its last minute of cooking to save time here. One less thing to wash too!
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25-Minute Sweet Potato & Bean Enchiladas
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These quick sweet potato and bean enchiladas are diabetes-friendly thanks to egg wraps that are lower in carbs than traditional tortillas. The vegetarian filling is both sweet and savory, while the topping adds texture and freshness.
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Skillet Lemon Chicken with Spinach
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This simple, ultra-quick chicken dinner--packed with spinach and peppers--is delicious on its own or served over brown rice or your favorite pasta.
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Gochujang-Glazed Salmon with Garlic Spinach
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Gochujang, a Korean red chile paste, and honey give this salmon a little bit of sweetness and a whole lot of spice.
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BBQ Shrimp with Garlicky Kale & Parmesan-Herb Couscous
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In the U.S., dry whole-wheat couscous has been partially cooked, making it a quick-cooking (5 minutes!) whole-grain weeknight dinner champ. And when you buy peeled shrimp, plus a bag of prechopped kale and bottled barbecue sauce, the savings in prep time helps to get this healthy dinner done in a jiff.
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Spinach & Artichoke Dip Pasta
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If you've ever wanted to make a meal out of warm spinach and artichoke dip, this creamy pasta is for you. And here's what's almost as good as the flavor of this comforting dish: the fact that this healthy dinner takes just 20 minutes to prepare.
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Salmon & Avocado Poke Bowl
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Poke (pronounced poh-kay), the bite-size marinated fish salad famous in Hawaii, is so popular that it's sold by the pound in supermarkets. Now it has crossed the Pacific to become the meal-in-a-bowl du jour, served in eateries from Los Angeles to New York. But it's easy to make at home with this quick recipe. Sriracha and Chinese-style mustard add a touch of heat to the classic poke seasoning of soy sauce and sesame oil. Serving it over a brown rice salad makes it a meal.
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White Bean & Veggie Salad
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This meatless main-dish salad combines creamy, satisfying white beans and avocado. Try mixing it up with different seasonal vegetables.
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Salmon Tacos with Pineapple Salsa
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An easy-to-make slaw served on the side of these salmon tacos makes for a filling and fast weeknight dinner. If you prefer more heat in these fish tacos, simply add a pinch or two of chipotle chile powder or cayenne with the chili powder.
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Vegan Coconut Chickpea Curry
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To make this 20-minute vegan curry even faster, buy precut veggies from the salad bar at the grocery store. To make it a full, satisfying dinner, serve over cooked brown rice. When shopping for simmer sauce, look for one with 400 mg of sodium or less and check the ingredient list for cream or fish sauce if you want to keep this vegan. If you like a spicy kick, add a few dashes of your favorite hot sauce at the end.
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Green Goddess Salad with Chickpeas
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In this cucumber, tomato, Swiss cheese and chickpea salad recipe, a healthy green goddess dressing is made from avocado, buttermilk and herbs. The extra dressing is delicious served with grilled vegetables.
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Salmon-Stuffed Avocados
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Canned salmon is a valuable pantry staple and a practical way to include heart-healthy omega-3-rich fish in your diet. Here, we combine it with avocados in an easy no-cook meal.
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Crispy Fish Taco Bowls
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The adobo sauce in a can of chipotles lends earthy heat to the crema that tops these bowls. Don't toss out the unused peppers! Freeze them in an airtight container and pull them out to add to sauces, marinades or chili.
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Vegan Grain Bowl
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This easy grain bowl has so much to love--sweet potatoes, protein-packed chickpeas, creamy avocado and homemade tahini dressing. Make the full recipe on the weekend and pack into individual serving containers for ready-to-go lunches for work all week.
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Lemon-Garlic Pasta with Salmon
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Wondering what to do with leftover salmon? This is a delicious and easy way to turn it into another weeknight-friendly, quick dinner. Don't forget to reserve some pasta water--its starch thickens the lemon-garlic pasta sauce and makes it silky-smooth.
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Creamy Spinach Pasta
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This might be one of the creamiest light pasta dishes you've ever had! The mascarpone cheese adds a richness to the spinach pasta that's unexpected--especially in a healthy pasta recipe.
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Sheet-Pan Chili-Lime Salmon with Potatoes & Peppers
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Busy weeknights beg for something simple like this salmon sheet-pan dinner. Like the name suggests, it's all cooked on one pan. The potatoes get a head start, followed by sweet bell peppers and finally chili-coated salmon fillets. It's a complete meal with easy cleanup!
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Adobo Chicken & Kale Enchiladas
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Put out your favorite toppings for these quick and healthy layered enchiladas. We like cilantro, sour cream, guacamole and jalapeños.
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Cauliflower Rice Bowls with Grilled Chicken
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These healthy Mediterranean cauliflower rice bowls topped with feta, olives, veggies and grilled chicken are impressive yet take just 30 minutes to make.
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Quinoa Chickpea Salad with Roasted Red Pepper Hummus Dressing
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This hearty vegan salad is loaded with plant-based power ingredients: chickpeas, quinoa and hummus. We love the crunch of the sunflower seeds and the unexpected flavor of roasted peppers.
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Baked Fish Tacos with Avocado
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Instead of deep-frying, the fish fillets in this quick-and-easy 5-ingredient recipe are coated with a flavorful seasoning blend and baked. Several varieties of flaky white fish can be used for these tacos. When you go to the market to purchase fish, the best strategy is to be flexible and choose the variety that looks freshest that day.
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Seared Scallops with White Bean Ragu & Charred Lemon
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This recipe for seared scallops with white beans and spinach turns out a healthy dinner that looks impressive (and tastes great) in just 25 minutes. Giving lemons a quick sizzle in the skillet amps up the flavor of this piccata-inspired dish. The heat helps release even more citrus juice and sweetens it too. When shopping for scallops, look for ones labeled "dry." Some scallops are soaked in a solution that prevents them from searing properly and can give them a soapy flavor.
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Brown Rice Shrimp Bowl with Tomatoes & Avocado
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This quick and easy bowl pairs brown rice with cooked shrimp, tossed in a ginger-soy-sesame sauce, to create a flavorful dish in no time. Topping with tomatoes and avocado adds color and nutrients. Use leftover brown rice or pick up a package of pre-cooked brown rice from the grocery store to keep this meal no-cook.
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Garlic-Lime Pork with Farro & Spinach
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In this easy main dish recipe, pork chops are paired with farro and spinach in a zesty peanut butter-lime sauce. This one-skillet meal will be on the table in under 30 minutes and requires minimal cleanup.
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Green Shakshuka with Spinach, Chard & Feta
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The inspiration for this green shakshuka recipe comes from HaBasta, a popular restaurant on the edge of Carmel Market in Tel Aviv, where the shakshuka is packed with green chard and spinach and a little hot pepper provides just a touch of spice. Serve with pita or crusty bread to sop up the sauce for a quick dinner or for brunch.
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Chicken & Kale Taco Salad with Jalapeño-Avocado Ranch
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This healthy, super-fast salad recipe swaps out romaine for kale, giving you more than 10 times the vitamin C. Easy flavor hacks like store-bought ranch and pickled jalapeños help make a creamy, tangy and spicy dressing you'll want to drizzle on everything from salad to sliced veggies and shredded poached chicken.
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Teriyaki-Glazed Cod with Cauliflower Rice
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This healthy fish recipe comes together fast with just three ingredients you can always have on hand in your freezer and fridge. Store-bought teriyaki glaze makes a great marinade for cod that doubles as a sauce for the cauliflower rice.
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Old Bay Salmon with Lemony Mashed Peas
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Cooking butter until it browns adds a toasty, nutty flavor to this easy skillet salmon recipe. Here it gives Old Bay-rubbed salmon a chef-worthy finish—not bad for 20 minutes!
