Five ingredients, five meals

You don't need a lot of ingredients to eat different meals! With a few household staples and a little imagination, you can make several recipes from the same foods.

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• Five ingredients
• Five recipes

Five ingredients

Use these five basic ingredients as a starting point to create different meals:

• corn
• carrots
• chicken
• brown rice
• black beans

Fresh, frozen or canned vegetables, and canned or dried beans are all healthy options that you can use for these recipes. Make sure to choose those that have little to no added sodium.

 Tip: Learn about food safety before starting your recipes.

Five recipes

Use the basic ingredients to prepare the five recipes listed below. All you will need is a few additional ingredients to unlock the different flavours.

Rice bowl

Basic ingredients:

• corn
• carrots, grated
• chicken, cooked
• brown rice, cooked

Added ingredients:

• avocado, sliced
• cucumber, sliced
• red cabbage, shredded
• soy sauce, lower sodium

Steps:

• Mix all ingredients in a bowl and serve.

 Tip: Replace chicken with edamame for a vegetarian version.

Fried rice

Basic ingredients:

• corn
• carrots, cubed
• chicken, cooked
• brown rice, cooked

Added ingredients:

• egg
• soy sauce, lower sodium
• peas or other vegetables

Steps:

• In a wok or frying pan, drizzle olive oil.
• Sauté ingredients over high heat until the vegetables are golden and serve.

Soup

Basic ingredients:

• corn
• carrots, sliced
• chicken, cooked
• brown rice, cooked
• black beans, canned

Added ingredients:

• Italian herbs
• onion, chopped
• chicken broth, lower sodium

Steps: 

• In a large saucepan, bring chicken broth, onion, carrots, and herbs to a boil. 
• Reduce heat to low and cook until carrots are tender. 
• Add remaining ingredients.
• Cook for 5 minutes or until brown rice, black beans, and corn are hot, and serve.

 Tip: Replace rice with whole wheat or barley pasta or serve with a slice of whole grain bread instead.

Chicken skewers

Basic ingredients:

• carrots, grated
• brown rice, cooked
• chicken breasts, raw, cubed

Added ingredients:

• vinegar
• olive oil
• black pepper
• Greek spice mix
• onion, finely chopped
• Greek yogurt, lower fat plain
• green or red cabbage, shredded

Steps: 

• Coat chicken with plain Greek yogurt and Greek spice mix, and slide onto skewers. 
• Bake in oven at 180 °C (350 °F) for 15 minutes. Use a digital cooking thermometer to check that the chicken has reached an internal temperature of 74 °C (165 °F).
• Serve with brown rice and coleslaw.

 Tip: Add vegetables to the skewer like zucchini, peppers or mushrooms.

Casserole

Basic ingredients:

• corn
• carrots, grated
• chicken, cooked
• brown rice, cooked
• black beans, canned

Added ingredients:

• onion, diced
• bell pepper, sliced
• Mexican spice mix
• tomato paste, little to no added sodium

Steps:

• In a large pot, heat a drizzle of oil and cook an onion for 2 minutes.
• Add remaining ingredients and mix well. Cook for another 5 minutes and serve.