Sunday Strategist: A Week of Healthy Dinners - June 26 - June 30 - Cooking Light

1707 Cherry-Basil Lemonade Spritzers - Sunday Strategist

Photo: Jennifer Causey

If you like having a healthy meal plan but want something customized to your dietary or caloric needs, check out The Cooking Light Diet. It’s a calorie-driven weekly meal plan—breakfast, lunch, snacks, and dinner—based on your dieting goals and food preferences. All of these recipes are from our July issue. Look for one on a newsstands to find more delicious dinner inspiration.

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Pasta With Charred Broccoli, Feta, and Lemon

Photo: Jennifer Causey

View Recipe: Pasta With Charred Broccoli, Feta, and Lemon

Author Colu Henry loves taking vegetables to the edge by roasting until they are deeply browned and caramelized, giving them great texture and amping up their flavor. The feta cheese emulsifies in the pasta water, creating a velvety sauce for the pasta.

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Tuesday: Egg-in-a-Nest BLT Sandwiches

Photo: Greg Dupree

View Recipe: Egg-in-a-Nest BLT Sandwiches

These toasty handfuls may just be the ultimate combo in the world of sandwiches. The recipe combines some of our favorite things: It's a delicious mash-up of egg-in-a-hole, avocado toast, and a classic BLT.

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Wednesday: Grilled Romaine Salad with Crab

Photo: Caitlin Bensel

View Recipe: Grilled Romaine Salad with Crab

Welcome to grilled salad season. A quick char adds smoky depth and a glossy finish to crisp romaine hearts, making them the perfect base for fresh fixings. You'll get smokier results on an outdoor grill, but a stovetop grill pan will give a subtler effect. Our guacamole dressing is a simple riff on green goddess, mastering the less-is-more summer motif. If you can't find crab, use frozen, thawed shrimp instead.

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Summer Chicken Parmesan

Photo: Victor Protasio

View Recipe: Summer Chicken Parmesan

Skip canned tomatoes and serve these crispy, cheesy chicken cutlets with a fresh tomato-and-zucchini sauté instead, a super-easy side that takes advantage of peak-season summer produce. For a healthy whole-grain swap, use white whole-wheat flour in place of all-purpose for breading the chicken and in any sweet or savory recipe.

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Friday: Farro Burrito Bowls

Photo: Caitlin Bensel

View Recipe: Farro Burrito Bowls

Enjoy these make-ahead grain bowls for lunch or as a no-cook dinner on hot days.

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Cocktail Bonus: Cherry-Basil Lemonade Spritzers

Photo: Jennifer Causey

View Recipe: Cherry-Basil Lemonade Spritzers

Instead of the fluorescent cocktail-cherry garnish, fresh cherries take center stage in this refreshing lemon-and-vodka sipper. Macerating the cherries in sugar helps to soften their thick skins and release their juices, which become gorgeously syrupy in the pan.

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Sunday Strategist: A Week of Healthy Dinners - June 26 - June 30

1 of 6

Pasta With Charred Broccoli, Feta, and Lemon

1 of 6