Veggie Stir Fry

• A vegetable stir fry is an excellent low-fat meal that is easy to make. Use a variety of vegetables; good choices are broccoli, zucchini and other types of squash; carrots; napa cabbage and bell peppers. Some vegetables cook faster than others, like squash for example, so add it toward the end of the cooking time. Use oil intended for high-heat cooking, and be sure to use the smallest amount you can. Asian sauces, such as soy sauce, make excellent marinades for cooking, but check the label because they are often very high in sodium and sometimes contain refined sugar and MSG. Serve over unbleached steamed rice for the full Asian experience.
  
  

Thin Crust Veggie Pizza

• Pizza doesn't have to be completely unhealthy. By making the dough yourself, you can control how much oil and what type of flour you use. Try to use whole-wheat, unbleached flour. Roll out the dough very thin, and pre-cook it in the oven until it is mostly done. If you don't pre-cook it, the water from the vegetables will make it soggy. Make your own pizza sauce if you can. Otherwise, use a can of pure tomato paste and add your own spices. Sprinkle on minimal, low-fat cheese, and then add your vegetables. You can put nearly anything on your pizza; try asparagus, peppers, steamed broccoli, zucchini and anything else that sounds good to you and your family. Add vegetables with high water content--such as tomatoes--toward the end of the cooking time, and avoid leafy greens completely as a pizza topping. Cook until the edges of your pizza are brown and your veggies are done.
  
  

Vegetable Stuffed Peppers

• Follow a basic recipe for stuffed bell peppers for this, but instead of using ground meat, use chopped vegetables. Good choices for this are zucchini, broccoli, bell peppers, celery, peas, corn and carrots. Steam them lightly before adding them to the recipe, allowing them to cook the rest of the way inside the bell peppers. If you are adding rice, be sure to use the unbleached, brown variety rather than plain white rice.
  
  

Veggie Quesadillas

• Quesadillas can be either a healthy addition to your menu or they can be very unhealthy, depending on how you make them. Use whole-wheat tortillas rather than the kind that are made from bleached flour, and use a good low-fat cheese. Making vegetable quesadillas is nearly the same as making the meat variety. Just steam your vegetables first before filling the tortillas, and use minimal cheese to cut back on the fat. Try broccoli with low-fat Monterey jack or tomatoes and eggplant with mozzarella.