Completely Lost-Need Meal Ideas!

sweetums · 09-09-2005, 10:57 PM

Ok Ladies, I need some help here! I am trying to get back on track with my diet but for the life of me can't figure out what meals I can make that will be good for me and easy to make and not really expensive. I can't seem to come up with anything! I live in a small town and it's hard for me to get anything but the basic foods. Every meal I come up with involves pasta and even though I'm not cutting carbs out completely, I can't sit down with a huge plate of pasta at every meal and I'm getting tired of salads. I am just trying to eat more balanced but can't seem to come up with any meals. I get frustrated and end up eating things that are bad for me. If you have any meal ideas or recipes that you could share with me, I would be eternally grateful!

Thanks!
Manders

Kristina921 · 09-09-2005, 11:05 PM

If you get an urge for italian....This is my favorite chicken recipe.

Sautee chicken breasts in a pan with a little bit of olive oil...Top with pasta sauce and shredded cheese and pop it in the oven until the cheese melts. So yummy!

If you want to eat more salad but are sick of it, think of other stuff to put on top of it besides salad dressing....I love taco salad which is just turkey chili, lettuce, tomato, cheese and low fat sour cream. Very yummy too!

I was stuck like you too, I've been trying to experiment with stuff that I've never had...My next adventure will be into the wonderful world of sea food. I'm scared though, I dont really like alot of it!

shllss · 09-10-2005, 02:59 PM

A great dish we had this week as Fiesta chicken. Recipe calls for 8 chicken brest halves (4 breasts cut in half) - put in baking dish. Mix 3 cups salsa with 3 tablespoons dijon mustard and 2 teaspoons lime juice. Bake 40 minutes or until no longer pink. Serve on brown rice or alone. I used brown rice and it was great - really nutty and filling. When finished sprinkle with reduced fat monteray jack cheese and a pinch of chopped green onions. Totally satisfies a mexican craving. Try it - you will love it.

nicole47 · 09-11-2005, 05:20 PM

Cooking Light magazine has a lot of good ideas and recipes in it. Subscriptions are $22/year (unless you get a deal).

I'm trying to eat more whole grains and I'm finding that they really do seem to fill me up more. So instead of normal spaghetti, we've been eating whole wheat spaghetti. It's a good idea to keep a little extra of the spaghetti water to add before saucing, because the wheat spaghetti seems thirstier than the normal kind.

Cous cous (5 min cooking) and brown rice (45 min cooking) are pretty flexible too. You can cook them and add things like dried berries and nuts (maybe chicken, onions or fresh fruit too) for one kind of meal, or italian salad dressing, cooked veggies and your choice of meat for another, or go Greek style and add tomatoes, onions, olives, and a little feta cheese.

Sweet potatoes are really good all sorts of ways for a side dish or a snack, just add cinnamon. We eat them mashed with toasted pecans on top, sliced like fries and baked (spray with cooking spray), and microwaved whole. I try to use them where I would normally use potatoes.

Beans (usually black) and rice are pretty easy to make. I'll cook the rice, heat up the beans, and top with tomatoes, onions, and avocado (if I have any). For spices I'll add chili powder to taste and tobasco sauce (sometimes cumin or cayenne). Use lettuce instead of rice and you have a salad.

Those are some of my busy weekday meals that use stuff we have on hand. I've also been eating a lot of spinach salad. On weekends sometimes I'll make pizza with whole wheat flour-- it doesn't take as much effort to make dough as you'd think.

We got a book called Eat Drink and Be Healthy that has a bunch of general suggestions in it, but a lot of the recipes in it call for somewhat exotic ingredients (like quinoa-- which is an interesting grain), and it has the line in it where the author says it's really easy to eat three healthy meals a day on a busy schedule when your wife is cooking them.

sweetums · 09-12-2005, 04:38 AM

What is couscous? I have heard it mentioned before, but what does it taste like? What sort of texture or consistency does it have? Where in the grocery store is it found?

Girls, thanks for taking the time to respond to my post. I'm taking notes on your suggestions!

manders

nicole47 · 09-12-2005, 12:15 PM

Cous cous is tiny pasta. It's kind of like rice, but not really. If you've never had it before, I recommend getting a box of flavored Near East brand cous cous (most supermarkets I've been to have it in the Uncle Ben section) and trying it out. If you like it, then you can get a box of plain cous cous which is much cheaper and flavor it yourself (plain also comes in whole wheat which tastes exactly like normal).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cous_cous

Rozlynn · 09-12-2005, 12:25 PM

I know veggie burgers sound nasty I thought so when I bought them - But if you get the black bean burgers....throw some salsa on them They are fantastic! You can also microwave chicken with green beans and veggies. This is really quick and easy for the on the go cyster - Chicken in the middle of a pie plate veggies go around and nuke

Good luck glad you are doing well with school

sweetums · 09-14-2005, 03:44 AM

I found a couple recipes for chili and I'm wondering if chili is good for us since it's got so many tomatoes and such in it? Is it still healthy? I want to make some and freeze it for when we don't have time to cook, but I'm scared that I'm only telling myself that it's good for me when it's maybe really not. And what about a vegetable soup? Since veggies have natural carbs, are those ok and a veggie soup is good? I feel completely stupid about all of this, but I just can't keep "guessing".

manders

FroggieLuvr! · 09-14-2005, 09:59 AM

Manders...I can put you a book...LOL

Try marinating breakfast steaks (thin steaks) in season salt, worschetshire, pepper, liquid smoke.
chicken breast with lemon pepper.
Freeze these individually. Defrost 15 min. or so..Then fry with pam spray in tfal. Put on whole grain bun with lowfat swiss cheese. Dress with Lettuce, Pickles(calorie free) and some Italian dressing. This is soooo fast and easy. You can make them all at once and just freeze..easy!

Try stir fries. Any veggies and chicken strips. Use roasted sesame oil if possible. Fry some onion in oil then garlic. Then add chicken. Cook thouroughly. Add veggies. You can then add cornstarch/water mix. To thicken. This has no added calories. U can use terriyaki sauce to marinate chicken. But this adds calories..

Grill chicken and steaks. Just keep your portions small, unless you are doing atkins type diet. Rub down with Herbs (basil, oregano, rosemary) olive oil, salt pepper and lemon juice. Low cal and tasty. Grilling is great. When you grill, throw on some bell peppers in quarters, onions halved, mushrooms and zuchinni sliced. This is a great! and if you don't eat all the veggies, you can use them to make a grilled veggie sandwich the next day. Just take a whole grain roll and add a low fat white cheddar or gouda or swiss. Top with veggies and lettuce. Drizzle with Low cal Italian dressing..This is yummy!

What about veggie fajitas/chicken? If you don't want tortilla this is good on its own. Those are low cal and tasty. marinate chicken in worshteshire, 1/4 tsp sugar, 2 lime juiced, salt. Just slice bell peppers, onion, chicken. Fry bell peppers and onion on high to just tender. Remove from pan. Add a 1/4 tsp oil. Fry chicken until done. Add in peppers and onions. Take a 1/4 cup chopped cilantro and cover chicken. Turn off and let sit for a couple minutes. This is low cal and yummy!

Are you doing something similar to atkins..I have some great recipes that use cream...Yummy!

I will think of more..and if I made any mistakes in the recipes..I will let you know..I am in a hurry...

TTFN

ERICKA77 · 09-14-2005, 10:47 AM

I make chicken/vegtable soup once or twice a month and freeze it for lunches and such....
I boil chicken breast. I use the chicken stock for the main soup base. Take chicken out when done. I add a couple chicken bouillon cubes, more water if needed. I vary my veggies to what I'm in the mood for or what I have at the time. (Put whatever you like, you can't go wrong) But I'll add onion, bell pepper, celery, fresh green beans, carrots, red potatoes, canned stewed tomatoes. I then put in a couple cloves of garlic. Salt/pepper, a little oregano. Sometimes a bay leaf. Sometimes cilantro. Then I cut the chicken up and throw it back in. I cook till veggies are done, and it tastes the way I want it. Sometimes we'll eat it by itself, or I'll add whole wheat noodles for like a chicken noodle soup. I added brown rice one time. It was okay. But don't think I'll do that every time.

nicole47 · 09-14-2005, 11:53 AM

Sweetums: All veggies are good carbs except regular potatoes and corn (sweet potatoes are good in moderation). Chili and vegetable soup are good (so long as you're light on the potatoes and corn). Weight watchers, in fact, will let you eat as many veggies as you want for free-- they don't count as points. The versions of Atkins that are considered not to be unhealthy will also let you eat as many tomatoes as you want. If you're matching carbs to protein, chili can have meat. Bad carbs are processed grains, like white bread, white rice, regular pasta, and potatoes (which aren't really processed, but they are white). Good carbs are complex carbohydrates that take time for your body to process. These include vegetables that are packed with nutrients including micronutrients that you can't get in multivitamins, and "whole grains" (make sure it says "whole wheat" or "whole X" on the ingredients list-- sometimes "wheat" things are just dyed brown with molassas and aren't really good for you at all). Whole grains are good because it takes a while for your body to digest them, so you get a steady stream of energy rather than spikes, and there's some evidence that they actually help leach out bad things like excess testosterone and other stuff in your system.

This thread has an example of things to avoid: http://soulcysters.net/showthread.php?t=140370
It's probably a little excessive for you-- you can probably have a teaspoon of sugar here and there, lean red meat, and juice in your smoothies so long as you don't overdo it, but you'll see that even with her limits, she can still eat chili.