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Last updated 10-22-05
Ok, maybe it's a bit too grandiose to call most of these recipes. When I
get home at midnight (I work second shift in a factory), go for a 50 minute walk, shower and relax for a couple of
minutes, I don't really feel like messing with a "recipe" when it comes time to feed myself. In the
old days this meant I would have stopped at Jack In the Box or McDonalds and brought home something tasty and
fattening. Nowdays, I eat one of these meals instead, along with a large salad green salad and
some type of fruit. I don't go to bed hungry, and I am losing weight. I would
estimate that most of these creations weigh in at around 300 to 500 calories.
New
One thing I've started doing lately is making a big batch of something, and then
freezing individual portions of it in sandwich baggies, to defrost and eat during the week. It
might take a bit of actual cooking to get it started, but it's nice to have an easy, home cooked meal available
at a moment's notice.
Here is something I came up with this weekend. It's a stew based off
Southern style ingredients. My apologies to anyone who is actually from the South and might be
upset by my ignorant Yankee treatment of your staples. I'm not claiming that this is is any way
authentic, just that it tastes good, and is a fairly good meal that might be fairly good for the body.
Annie's Southern Style Stew
1 cup dried small red beans
Presoak beans according to directions on package. Cook in a large
pot covered with a lid with ham and onions, and enough water to cover with by a couple of inches at least, for 1 to 2 hours until
the beans are done, and some have burst. Add more water as needed. Add the bouillon
and sweet potato. Continue cooking until the sweet potato is tender. Add greens, undrained.
Season with hot sauce to taste (I used Tabasco Chipotle, but your favorite will do fine).
Turn heat up high, and cook with the lid off until enough liquid has evaporated off to desired thickness.
Freezes well in individual portions. Good served seasoned with more hot sauce and vinegar, if you
like. I would estimate that this makes at least a good six or seven reasonably sized servings, of about
six or eight ounces each.
Things I do with Chicken Breasts
Coat with lemon pepper, then bake till done. Glaze each breast with about a teaspoon of apricot jam.
Yum. I eat with a big side of cooked peas, or maybe some roasted sweet potato.
The rest of these assumes the chicken is already cooked. I just roast in the oven till done, then cool and fridge.
Take small breast, about 150 grams, (about 5.3 ounces) and dice small. Add 1 1/2 tablespoons
of diet mayo, a stalk of celery diced fine, and about 3 ounces of pineapple tidbits, also diced up
(I just use one of those small juice pack containers, the kind that you might pack up in a lunch, drained.)
Excellent stuffed into a whole wheat pita, but I'm sure you can find other applications.
Shred (or dice small) one small breast, mix in small pan with 2 or 3 tablespoons of barbeque sauce, heat
till reduced to your liking, serve over a whole wheat split English muffin, or a whole wheat pita
folded up into a taco shape. I don't care about my sodium intake, so I eat this with a dill
pickle on the side.
Dice one breast, put in small pan. Add 1 or 2 tablespoons teriaki sauce, juice of half a lemon,
and a couple good handfuls of frozen brocoli (or whatever vegs you have on hand). Heat till veggies are done.
Good with brown rice, though I'm sometimes unconventional and eat with a big (5 oz.)
side of cooked green peas.
Chop half a small onion. Mince a clove or two of garlic.
Cook till done with just a bit of spray oil, or other oil in small amount. Dice one breast,
put in small pan. Add a small (6 oz?) can of V8, some salsa (about 1/4 cup? I never measure),
and chili powder (hot sauce to taste if you want more heat). Cook for a few minutes till it
reduces down. Great over baked potatoes (or sweet potato, but I might be a bit weird in this).
Good topped with lowfat cheddar cheese, or nonfat yogurt.
Things I do with pita bread. I never really was into pita bread before
I started my new way of eating, but it has become a staple for me. Tasty, convenient, and nicely
filling for the calories they have in them. I surprise myself these days with how often I find myself
reaching of a package of these when dinner time rolls around.
Take a pita, put on 1 or 2 ounces of jarred pizza or spaghetti sauce.
Add one ounce fat free mozzarella cheese and 1 ounce of fat reduced cheddar cheese. Cook in toaster
oven until cheese browns. You won't mistake this for something that the delivery guy brought,
but it is good enough to keep a serious pizza craving at bay. This is the new "diet" meal that
I probably eat the most often.
Take a pita and lightly spray with oil. Cook in toaster oven until
crispy. Heat about 100 grams (about 3.5 ounces) refried beans without fat. Spread beans
on crisped up pita. Add either an ounce of low fat cheddar cheese or half an avocado. Top with
lettuce and salsa.
Take a pita and cut in half. Heat the halves in a toaster oven until
warm and slightly crispy. Stuff the halves with about 1 ounce lean ham each side, a few slices
of low fat turkey pepperoni, a slice of roasted red pepper (the jarred kind is fine, as long as it isn't packed in
oil, and about half a tablespoon each half of low fat italian dressing.
Other Types of Meals
I'm a big fan of low cal canned soups. One of my favorite meals is
to take a can of Healthy Choice Garden Vegetable and doctor it up for a meal. Typically I'll add
some chicken bouillon, about an ounce each of frozen green peas and frozen spinach, chopped, and a small can
of V-8. After the frozen stuff heats through I'll add an ounce of shredded muenster cheese. Once
in the bowl, I top with some crumbled up low fat crackers, such as Wheat Thins. I'm also fond
of Healthy Choice's Split Pea and Bean and Ham soups.
I've also come to appreciate IQF fish fillets. I can buy in a local
supermarket Tilapia fillets which are frozen in single serving packs of about 6 ounces each. They're
surprisingly low calorie, and easy to cook up. I cook one, thawed, in a nonstick skillet with just a
spray of oil, then top with teriaki sauce and lemon. Or I dredge in flour, and saute till done.
Add some peas and sweet potato, or even regular potato I suppose, and life is good.
Sometimes the market around here carries thinly sliced beef that looks to be
very lean, with little marbling or fat of any kind that I can see. I'll take about 3 - 4 ounces of
these cutlets and cook over low heat until just cooked through. Too much cooking and meat this thin
will get pretty tough pretty quick. I coat with steak sauce, and eat with a small baked potato.
I also like Healthy Choice Smoked sausage. They come two to a package.
I cut each on in half, which give a serving of about 3 and a half ounces for around 150 calories.
I eat with a small boiled potato, some boiled baby carrots, and a couple ounces of jarred
pickled red cabbage. Another way to serve is to slice the sausage up, and put in a small pan with
some bbq sauce till glazed. Again, I eat this with potato that is either boil or cooked in pan
with a very little amount of oil.
Another winner I've found is turkey Italian Sausage. The brand I've
tried is Honeysuckle white. I'll cook one off along with some bell pepper, then put on a small
hoagie roll with some pasta sauce. This is alot leaner then the traditional pork sausage that is
used, and still pretty tasty.
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