Sleep better with Swissflex: Cooking a light dinner
Satisfied without feeling stuffed: A light dinner is cooked quickly and promotes a restful night's sleep. Unlike sumptuous meals, which put a strain on your digestion especially late in the evening, a light dinner allows you to prepare your body for a good night's sleep. If you are looking for the perfect recipe, you are sure to find some inspiration for your menu here!
- Light dinner – Food and sleep are connected
- Enjoy a light dinner – fish instead of meat
- Light vegetarian dishes
- Our recipe for impatient cooks
Light dinner – Food and sleep are connected
Food has a direct effect on our body and on our quality of sleep as well. Therefore, it is worth looking at the food you consume regularly for dinner and thinking about lighter alternatives. But can a light dinner even taste good and fill you up? Most people know from personal experience that a heavy meal just before going to bed is a major challenge for the digestive system – our bodies often acknowledge culinary sins with restless nights. Nevertheless, the idea of a light meal is sometimes daunting because fewer calories are often associated with less taste. We are looking forward to proving the opposite with tasty recipes for a light dinner – enjoyment guaranteed!
Enjoy a light dinner – fish instead of meat
The idea of a juicy steak makes you feel hungry? It's better to save the meat for lunch and go for fish in the evening, which will provide your body with plenty of valuable omega-3 fatty acids. Freshly prepared fish is much easier to digest than meat and is therefore the perfect ingredient for a light dinner. By the way, if you like to enrich your dishes with all kinds of spices, you should keep a low profile in the evening: Spicy dishes boost the metabolism and may interfere with relaxed sleep.
Recipe idea #1: Tuna steak with Mediterranean oven vegetables
You need the following ingredients for 2 persons:• 2 tuna steaks of 150 g each
- 2 tuna steaks of 150 g each
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- salt
- 1 garlic clove
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 50 ml vegetable broth (powder)
- 50 ml tomato juice
- herbs of Provence, dried
- rosemary
- pepper
- 1 pinch of sugar
- lemon wedge
- ½ onion
- 125 g zucchini
- 125 g aubergine
The cooking is so simple: Clean the tuna steaks, gently dry them with some kitchen paper and drizzle some lemon juice over them. Let them sit for about 10 minutes. In the meantime, clean the vegetables, cut into rough cubes and season them with salt. Dice the onion and chop garlic into fine pieces. Heat olive oil in a frying pan, then sauté onion and garlic in it. Add vegetables and fry briefly. Bring the dish to the boil with the stock and tomato juice and let it stew for about 10 minutes. Season it with pepper and a pinch of sugar. In the meantime, fry the tuna steaks with 1 tablespoon of olive oil on each side for 3-4 minutes. Then add vegetables and serve the steaks with herbs of Provence, pepper, rosemary and a slice of lemon. With this recipe you can cook a light, Mediterranean dinner in just 30 minutes, which not only provides you with important nutrients, but also pleases your sense of taste!
Light vegetarian dishes
Vegetables and fruits are ideal for a light dinner and are also very healthy. With your favourite vegetables you can easily create extraordinary dishes that will not prevent you from spending a relaxing night. Vegetables are a great side dish to fish as well and provide you with important vitamins without putting a strain on your digestion.
Recipe idea #2: Pumpkin meatballs
You need the following ingredients for 2 persons:
- 400 g pumpkin pulp
- 1 egg
- 50 g mountain cheese, grated
- ½ tablespoon mustard
- 1 tablespoon chopped parsley
- 3 tablespoons lupine flour
- salt
- pepper
- oil for frying
And this is how you prepare the pumpkin meatballs: Dice the pulp of the pumpkin and bake in the oven at 200 degrees for about 20 minutes. Mix the slightly cooled pumpkin with the other ingredients until you get a smooth mass. Now form meatballs and fry them in a pan with a little oil until they are crispy brown. A yoghurt dip and a fresh salad go well with it. Bon appetit!
Recipe idea #3: Stuffed tomatoes with couscous, zucchini and feta cheese
You need the following ingredients for 4 persons:
- 4 oxheart tomatoes
- 75 g instant couscous
- 1 small zucchini
- 2 red onions
- 75 g feta cheese
- 150 ml vegetable broth
- 1 tablespoon of olive oil
- 1 pinch of sugar
- oregano
- pepper
That's how it work Add 75 ml of boiling salted water to the couscous and let it soak for 5 minutes. Then use a fork to loosen it up and let it cool down. Wash the tomatoes and cut off a "lid" on top. Now scoop out the tomatoes and chop the flesh. Clean the zucchini and cut it into small cubes. Peel and cut the onions into fine pieces as well. Now fry the onions and zucchini for about 3 to 4 minutes in a pan with some oil. Then add the tomato pulp and season everything with salt, pepper, sugar and oregano. Crush the feta slightly, add it to the couscous together with the vegetables and mix everything. Place the tomatoes in an ovenproof casserole and stuff them with the couscous mixture. Place the lids on the tomatoes. Pour the stock and fill the casserole. Now bake everything at 200 degrees for about 15 minutes.
Our recipe for impatient cooks
After a hard day at work, you no longer have the necessary leisure to stand at the stove at home for hours, cleaning vegetables and cooking elaborate dishes? Don't worry, everyone has experienced this feeling at least once. However, you should not reach for a frozen pizza in the evening to do your digestion a favour and prepare your body for a good night's sleep. Depending on the recipe, a light dinner can also be prepared in a short time – like our example shows!
Recipe idea #4: Asian vegetable salad
You need the following ingredients for 2 persons:
- 2 red peppers
- 2 medium-sized carrots
- 1/3 leek
- 1 stick of celery
- 5 baby corncobs
- 5 ml rice vinegar
- 50 ml soy sauce
- 60 ml sweet chili sauce
- 2 tablespoons sesame, peeled
- 1 tablespoon honey, liquid
Do not waste time and get to work on the preparation: Clean the vegetables and cut them into fine strips. For the dressing, mix rice vinegar, soy sauce, sweet chilli sauce and honey in a small bowl. Then mix the vegetables with the dressing and let it rest for a short time. Serve it with peeled sesame seeds. Voilà, a light, crunchy dinner in just 10 minutes – perfect if you are under time pressure, but still don't want to miss out on an exotic taste experience! Make sure that the sweet chilli sauce you use for the dressing is mild and doesn't bring tears to your eyes – after all, you want to rest easy afterwards. Enjoy your meal and have a good night!