Low Calorie Meals

[carvers4math]

On board with everyone and stir fry. I am not a fan of seasonings that have too much sodium, I like to use lots of real garlic and onions. Chicken breast and veggies is the go to. Also use fish but it is more expensive unless I get the cheapo frozen tilapia or something.

I know some like to cut out the dairy. As an old woman who has had multiple pregnancies, I am not a fan of that. I find that drinking skim milk actually means I eat less. Also water and I like to make green iced tea. And I usually eat an apple before I start cooking dinner.

I also like to use lowfat ground turkey and make chili. The turkey and beans are pretty filling.

 

[Cyclonick182]

We use spaghetti squash instead of the pasta. Give it a try if you like italian. We cut it in half, remove the seeds and nuke the halves for around 8-9 minutes. Then you just strand it out with a fork.

This intrigued me so i tried it last night. It turned out pretty well but could use some seasoning since I didn't use anything. Thanks for the suggestion!

 

[cowgirl836]

This intrigued me so i tried it last night. It turned out pretty well but could use some seasoning since I didn't use anything. Thanks for the suggestion!

I may have to give this a try. I've heard it before, but I love pasta and this seemed sacrilegious.

 

[Cyclonick182]

I may have to give this a try. I've heard it before, but I love pasta and this seemed sacrilegious.

Its different but works. We made our own sauce too and it came out pretty good. It really could've used something to give it a pop. Maybe some crushed red pepper?

 

[Rabbuk]

Stir fry with brown rice is pretty good for you.

 

[roundball]

Soups and chili are very, very filling and often low fat/calorie.

Very true. Chili, especially with a lean meat like turkey or venison, is a very filling and healthy meal. It's also something that forces you to eat slowly, which helps with portion control.

Unfortunately, most people adulterate soup/chili by adding a lot of crackers, cheese, sour cream, etc. which can double or triple the amount of fat and calories. It's shocking how many useless calories are in just a small amount of saltine crackers.

 

[Cyclonick182]

Very true. Chili, especially with a lean meat like turkey or venison, is a very filling and healthy meal. It's also something that forces you to eat slowly, which helps with portion control.

Unfortunately, most people adulterate soup/chili by adding a lot of crackers, cheese, sour cream, etc. which can double or triple the amount of fat and calories. It's shocking how many useless calories are in just a small amount of saltine crackers.

I may have to hand over my man card but I have no idea how to make a good chili...

 

[cowgirl836]

Its different but works. We made our own sauce too and it came out pretty good. It really could've used something to give it a pop. Maybe some crushed red pepper?

I will usually just use canned stuff, but then add more oregano, garlic, and diced tomatoes. Red pepper would be a good spice.

 

[roundball]

I may have to hand over my man card but I have no idea how to make a good chili...

You basically can't go wrong; I never go by a recipe. Just get a large stockpot, add some oil over medium heat, and brown some ground meat and chopped onion for 5-10 minutes. Toss in some canned beans, pureed tomatoes, chiles, and water. Season the works with chili powder at a minimum (you can add anything else from cumin to oregano to black pepper if you'd like). Bring it to a boil for a few minutes, reduce the heat, and let it simmer for a good half-hour at least.

If you've got a slow cooker, just brown the meat in a pan and combine everything in the crock pot and let it cook on low heat while you're at work. Play around with the recipe; most people have a "special ingredient" like Coca-Cola or chocolate that they add to give their chili a unique taste. You can also add things like green peppers and mushrooms if you want a little more "vegetable-y" chili.

 

[cowgirl836]

I may have to hand over my man card but I have no idea how to make a good chili...

there's a chili thread on here somewhere - don't listen to the beanless people.

Here are the basics for ours:

lean hamburger
2 cans kidney beans
1 big can black beans
1-2 cans diced tomatoes
Tomato juice
Little can of tomato paste or a cup of a cornstarch/water mixture
brown sugar
few dashes of Worcestershire sauce
Onion powder (real onion works too, just takes more time)
Chile powder
bit of cayenne,
whatever other spices I want - sometimes garlic or chipotle powder
S & P


there are a billion variations - we don't like things too spicy, but a lot of people will put in some diced hot peppers. I've seen steak, turkey, substituted for the hamburger - just throw in things that you like

 

[FarminCy]

I may have to hand over my man card but I have no idea how to make a good chili...

My favorite is to use beef stew meat. Come up with whatever mixture of tomato paste, broth, beans, onions, peppers, seasoning etc. that you like. Put everything in a crock pot and stir until everything is mixed well and then add the raw stew meat. The meat essentially breaks down into tiny pieces of roast in the chili. I've done the same recipe with cubed chicken breast as well.

One thing I always do in my chili is put in some frozen sweet corn about an hour before you eat it.

 

[cowgirl836]

I need to try chili in the crockpot sometime. Do you have to brown the meat first still?

 

[BKLYNCyclone]

My family really likes the riced cauliflower. You cut the heads off the cauliflower and throw them in a food processer. Process until it looks like rice. Saute over medium heat with olive oil, pepper&salt until it caramelizes a bit.

Great stuff.

 

[Cyclonick182]

My favorite is to use beef stew meat. Come up with whatever mixture of tomato paste, broth, beans, onions, peppers, seasoning etc. that you like. Put everything in a crock pot and stir until everything is mixed well and then add the raw stew meat. The meat essentially breaks down into tiny pieces of roast in the chili. I've done the same recipe with cubed chicken breast as well.

One thing I always do in my chili is put in some frozen sweet corn about an hour before you eat it.

That sounds really good. Well thanks to CG, Roundball and you, I'm going to have to make this over the weekend.

 

[Cy$]

Nick, find out your body fat % and I can help you find out how many calories you should eat.

Food I recommend:

Low-fat granola
Fresh corn
Whole-Wheat Pasta
Baked Potato with skin
Cooked Brown Rice
Fat-free beans
Fruits like Apples, Bannanas. No fruit juice
Most vegetables
Almonds, peanuts, cashews (only eat like 30 a day, these have fats, but they are healthy)

Eat mostly:
Low-fat(no-fat) dairy- cheese, yogurt, cottage cheese.
low-fat ham, turkey
Fish: catfish, salmon, tuna (cooked)
Cooked ham, tenderloin, rib, loin chop
Cooked shrimp, clams, crab, lobster
Skinless chicken, turkey.

1) Look on the back of labels. Lots of cholesterol, sodium, sugar, stay away from it.
2) Lots of protein, vitamins, buy it.

Look for both of these when you buy food

My rule is if a food has half of it's calories from fat, I'm not buying it.

My favorite breakfast food is Kashi Cereal. Some protein and has very little fat. Also tastes very good, especially vanilla.

 

[roundball]

I need to try chili in the crockpot sometime. Do you have to brown the meat first still?

If you're using ground meat, then yes; it'll basically disintegrate otherwise. I've never tried it with stew meat like FarminClone does, but might have to give it a shot.

 

[cowgirl836]

If you're using ground meat, then yes; it'll basically disintegrate otherwise. I've never tried it with stew meat like FarminClone does, but might have to give it a shot.

Chicken is the only meat I've tried in the crockpot.....so this is good to know.

 

[FarminCy]

I need to try chili in the crockpot sometime. Do you have to brown the meat first still?

If using burger then yes. But if you use stew meat, roast, chicken breast, etc than just let it cook all day in the chili. As the meat cooks it falls apart in the chili so you have little pieces of essentially shredded beef, pork, chicken, whatever throughout the chili.

 

[cowgirl836]

That sounds really good. Well thanks to CG, Roundball and you, I'm going to have to make this over the weekend.

I am not that good of a cook and this is one thing that is fairly easy to make and hard to screw up unless you just completely overload it on a spice.


Oh! I forgot we add Worcestershire sauce to ours as well.

 

[Gonzo]

Nick, find out your body fat % and I can help you find out how many calories you should eat.

Food I recommend:

Low-fat granola
Fresh corn
Whole-Wheat Pasta
Baked Potato with skin
Cooked Brown Rice
Fat-free beans
Fruits like Apples, Bannanas. No fruit juice
Most vegetables
Almonds, peanuts, cashews (only eat like 30 a day, these have fats, but they are healthy)

Eat mostly:
Low-fat(no-fat) dairy- cheese, yogurt, cottage cheese.
low-fat ham, turkey
Fish: catfish, salmon, tuna (cooked)
Cooked ham, tenderloin, rib, loin chop
Cooked shrimp, clams, crab, lobster
Skinless chicken, turkey.

1) Look on the back of labels. Lots of cholesterol, sodium, sugar, stay away from it.
2) Lots of protein, vitamins, buy it.

Look for both of these when you buy food

My rule is if a food has half of it's calories from fat, I'm not buying it.

My favorite breakfast food is Kashi Cereal. Some protein and has very little fat. Also tastes very good, especially vanilla.

Unfortunately that rules out most soups unless you go with the low sodium variety.