28 Weight-Loss Recipes for Beginners

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.

In this vegetarian white bean potpie recipe, kale and hearty white beans are topped with easy, homemade chive biscuits. If desired, add a little shredded Gruyère or Cheddar cheese to the biscuit dough.

Made with protein-rich edamame instead of chickpeas, this easy hummus recipe is the perfect vegetarian filling for a grab-and-go wrap. Or double the recipe and use the hummus for a healthy snack with cut-up vegetables.

You'll barely notice the cauliflower in this comforting skillet pasta--it's pureed and mixed into the creamy cheese sauce.

At 6 grams per 1-cup serving, barley is high in fiber compared to many other whole grains. And it has high levels of prebiotic fiber, making it great for promoting healthy gut bacteria. Like oats, barley contains beta-glucans, a type of soluble fiber that's been shown to improve blood pressure and cholesterol levels.

This riff on pasta salad is best served warm while the gnocchi are nice and tender. Plus, the grilled veggies taste extra-good fresh off the fire in this easy gnocchi recipe.

This mile-high vegetable and hummus sandwich makes the perfect heart-healthy vegetarian lunch to go. Mix it up with different flavors of hummus and different types of vegetables depending on your mood.

This flavorful burrito bowl features grilled chicken coated in a spicy chipotle glaze. Loading it with vegetables and using quinoa in place of rice adds nutrition for a healthier dinner.

Mashed avocado and white beans make for a fiber-rich and creamy topping, the perfect partner for a crispy slice of toast. Try it for a quick breakfast or snack.

These hearty vegan tacos are quick and easy to make, perfect for busy weeknights. They are so tasty no one will miss the meat or dairy.

This healthy vegetarian take on the Mexican stew pozole gets tons of flavor from poblano peppers, ancho chile powder and dried herbs and spices, while cannellini beans provide substance, protein and fiber. Chewy hominy--corn that has been treated with lime to remove the tough hull and germ--is integral to the stew. Look for it in cans in the Latin section of your supermarket. Serve the stew with shredded cabbage, radishes, fresh cilantro and sour cream.

Parmesan cheese is such a bold flavor, you only need 1/4 cup to add a big punch to this vegetarian toaster-oven sandwich. Get a serving of fruit too, when you enjoy the sandwich with a fresh pear.

Loaded with cabbage, carrots, bell pepper, tomato and plenty of seasoning, this healthy cabbage soup recipe packs in lots of flavor and is ultra-satisfying. This easy recipe makes a big batch for lunches or veggie-packed snacks all week. If you want to bump up the satisfaction factor even more, top with a little cheese or avocado.

For a Mediterranean-inspired breakfast, serve up fried or poached eggs on top of sautéed artichokes and toast. If you can't find frozen, be sure to rinse canned artichoke hearts well--they're saltier than frozen. Serve with hot sauce on the side, if desired.

In this healthy chicken recipe, the meat is rubbed with ancho chile powder, a spice made from dried poblano peppers. It adds mild heat and subtle smokiness to the rub on the chicken, but you can use regular chili powder here instead. This recipe makes an extra 1/2 cup of the black bean mash--try it wrapped into a burrito for lunch or as a taco filling (see Tips, below).

Traditional Italian subs feature meat but this delightfully easy sandwich packs a punch with artichoke hearts, red onion and zesty pepperoncini instead. We love it for dinner as well as lunch. If you're packing the hoagies to take along, keep the ingredients separate and assemble right before eating to avoid soggy bread. Serve with tomato and cucumber salad.

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.

This veggie-packed beef enchilada casserole is mild, so put out hot sauce and chopped jalapeños if you're feeding heat-seekers. The quick and easy dinner recipe makes extra cheese sauce--save it to make One-Pot Mac & Cheese with Cauliflower & Brussels Sprouts later in the week (see Associated Recipes) or serve it with steamed vegetables, such as broccoli, for an easy side dish.

Have your fruit and a little luxury too with this kid-friendly healthy chocolate and banana oatmeal recipe. Short on time in the morning? Try our overnight oatmeal variation.

Chicken Parm gets a fun low-carb and gluten-free twist with these cheesy stuffed peppers with chicken and quinoa. Serve with a salad for a healthy dinner that's easy to prep too.

Edamame make these homemade veggie burgers mean, green protein machines. Peanut sauce, curry paste and quick-pickled carrots give them Thai-inspired flair.

You'll only have to dirty one pot in this easy pasta recipe that cooks chicken and vegetables right along with the noodles. Plus, by using the exact amount of water you need to cook the pasta, the starch that usually gets drained off with your pasta water stays in the pot, giving you delectably creamy results.

A little frozen banana gives creamy texture to this satisfying smoothie bowl.

Because refrigerated fresh pasta cooks much faster than dried pasta, this Italian-inspired pasta dish will be on the table lickety-split! Puttanesca, traditionally made with tomatoes, olives, capers, anchovies and garlic, gets shrimp for extra protein and artichoke hearts to boost the vegetable servings (and the fiber!). If you can't find frozen artichoke hearts, sub in drained canned artichoke hearts.

This vegetarian enchilada recipe is weeknight-fast when you skip the step of filling and rolling the enchiladas and make a stacked enchilada casserole instead. Just layer the tortillas, sauce and cheesy spinach filling the way you would lasagna and have the casserole in the oven in 20 minutes.

Fruit, whole grains and greens for breakfast? Yes! Start your day off right with this breakfast salad recipe and you'll knock out half of your daily veggie quota with the first meal of the day.

In this healthy chicken sandwich recipe, the avocado is mashed to create a healthy creamy spread.

With this spaghetti squash and meatballs recipe, you can reduce the carbohydrates and increase the vegetable servings by skipping pasta and serving the Italian-seasoned turkey meatballs and quick, homemade marinara sauce over thin strands of cooked spaghetti squash instead. Cooking the squash first in the microwave and then in a skillet to cook off the extra moisture, gives the squash a more spaghetti-like texture.