So, it is your turn to host the girls night out and you have no idea what to serve. If your friends are similar to my own, they like to eat healthy but they are not willing to give up on taste. In reality, many of them have really high expectations and you would hate to disappoint. Before you decide to accept that you will have to spend hours with the food prep, you should remember that it is very possible to create simple, healthy dishes which also taste incredible. By way of example, you could serve a healthy but delicious quinoa salad, with a hummus recipe on the side. This is a simple menu that you can make ahead that is sure to please both meat eaters and vegetarians alike.

For your quinoa salad, you may want to consider making a Greek quinoa salad to help keep your theme consistent. the first thing you will need to do is cook the quinoa. let it cool a bit and then combine it with chopped cherry tomatoes, artichoke hearts, chopped red pepper, kalamata olives, banana peppers and feta cheese. For the dressing, combined chopped fresh parsley, lemon juice, red wine vinegar and organic extra-virgin olive oil.

there are so many different ways that you could make hummus. A very important factor to keep in mind is that for the best possible hummus you should always start with warm garbanzo beans. not only does this help your flavors combine but it also works to cut the acidity of the garlic. depending on your personal preferences, you can add in olive, sun dried tomatoes or roasted red peppers. If you want to go all out, you could make two or three different types of hummus for your friends to enjoy.

if you do not mind spicy foods, add an extra kick to the hummus by adding in some cayenne pepper. this actually benefits not only the flavor but also the health of your dish! cayenne pepper and other hot peppers actually work to help curb cravings. Capsaicin, the compound that adds heat to peppers, was shown in a recent study to help increase satiety and curb hunger. Researchers found that it was especially effective in the presence of green tea, so you may want to consider serving green tea as well!

While most of us do not always realize just how easy it is to make simple and healthy meals that also taste great, when you give it some thought it really is not all that difficult.