Couple of things for "healthy meals". One, if you struggle to enjoy a salad, think about just putting something warm on it. A fried egg over easy adds relatively little calories, but tons of flavor and makes it seem special. A steak salad, with fresh strawberries and spinach, along with s small amount of nice balsamic is really filling, and if you pre-slice the steak even 4 ounces really feels like a meal. My wife tries to put spinach underneath everything, even sausage and peppers. Cuts down on the amount of carbs, adds some veggies.
Two- if you get bored with chicken breasts, but want to avoid pork and other really fatty meats, boneless, skinless chicken thighs make stir fry, fajitas, and most chicken dishes way better and easier to cook. They've actually been hard to find during the pando, but buy in bulk and freeze 1-1.5 pound servings. I make a homemade pad thai (deconstructed for the kids to just chicken, scrambled eggs and peanut noodles) and they are perfect with lots of veggies.
- I also love smoothies with the following: banana, full-fat plain yogurt, pb, frozen spinach (not much), frozen cherries (not much), frozen blackberries (some) and frozen blueberries (lots)
Farro has been a revelation lately. I made this last night, I don't really have a recipe:
Creamy asparagus and mushroom farro:
1 cup dry farro
Mushrooms
Asparagus
Cashew milk
Flour
Low sodium vegetable broth
Olive oil
Half a large yellow onion
Salt, pepper
Bring 2 cups vegetable broth, 6 cups water to a boil. Rinse the farro and add to pot. Return to boil, reduce heat to medium- high, cook for 30 minutes.
With about 20 minutes left, dice onions and sautee in olive oil on medium heat in a large pan. Add sliced mushrooms after 2 minutes. Cook down for 5-7 minutes, then add a few tablespoons of cashew milk. This is just to add creamy texture. Salt and pepper.
Strain cooked farro, set aside 1/4 cup of cooking liquid. Add cooking liquid and asparagus to mushrooms and onions. Add a few pinches of flour, until it starts to thicken. Cook until asparagus is tender, then add farro, stir to combine/ coat.
Adding herbs like rosemary, thyme, etc. would be excellent, a splash of lemon juice, or top with a little parmesan. Or all of the above.
Hey Peter, I totally get what you mean about the demoralization around seeing your weight creep back up. I've watched my weight yo-yo quite a bit in the past 5 years. But don't forget, we've shown ourselves that we can reign in the calories it in the past, so at least we can be confident that we have it in ourselves.
I've been on a big grilled kabob kick recently, it's definitely one of my favorite way to get veggies in my diet. I made this Greek style chicken, red onion, and red bell pepper one last night and it was great:
Couple of things for "healthy meals". One, if you struggle to enjoy a salad, think about just putting something warm on it. A fried egg over easy adds relatively little calories, but tons of flavor and makes it seem special. A steak salad, with fresh strawberries and spinach, along with s small amount of nice balsamic is really filling, and if you pre-slice the steak even 4 ounces really feels like a meal. My wife tries to put spinach underneath everything, even sausage and peppers. Cuts down on the amount of carbs, adds some veggies.
Two- if you get bored with chicken breasts, but want to avoid pork and other really fatty meats, boneless, skinless chicken thighs make stir fry, fajitas, and most chicken dishes way better and easier to cook. They've actually been hard to find during the pando, but buy in bulk and freeze 1-1.5 pound servings. I make a homemade pad thai (deconstructed for the kids to just chicken, scrambled eggs and peanut noodles) and they are perfect with lots of veggies.
These are a few of my go-to recipes for when I feel that I shouldn't just eat an entire ribeye for dinner:
- This is great in summer (we do pita or pita chips) : https://smittenkitchen.com/2017/07/hummus-heaped-with-tomatoes-and-cucumbers/
- More of a side but very tasty: https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2015/09/sichuan-style-smashed-cucumber-salad-recipe.html
- Pine nuts are expensive so we just leave them out of this: https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2009/08/orzo-with-cherry-tomatoes-capers-lemon-recipe.html
- I also love smoothies with the following: banana, full-fat plain yogurt, pb, frozen spinach (not much), frozen cherries (not much), frozen blackberries (some) and frozen blueberries (lots)
Farro has been a revelation lately. I made this last night, I don't really have a recipe:
Creamy asparagus and mushroom farro:
1 cup dry farro
Mushrooms
Asparagus
Cashew milk
Flour
Low sodium vegetable broth
Olive oil
Half a large yellow onion
Salt, pepper
Bring 2 cups vegetable broth, 6 cups water to a boil. Rinse the farro and add to pot. Return to boil, reduce heat to medium- high, cook for 30 minutes.
With about 20 minutes left, dice onions and sautee in olive oil on medium heat in a large pan. Add sliced mushrooms after 2 minutes. Cook down for 5-7 minutes, then add a few tablespoons of cashew milk. This is just to add creamy texture. Salt and pepper.
Strain cooked farro, set aside 1/4 cup of cooking liquid. Add cooking liquid and asparagus to mushrooms and onions. Add a few pinches of flour, until it starts to thicken. Cook until asparagus is tender, then add farro, stir to combine/ coat.
Adding herbs like rosemary, thyme, etc. would be excellent, a splash of lemon juice, or top with a little parmesan. Or all of the above.
Hey Peter, I totally get what you mean about the demoralization around seeing your weight creep back up. I've watched my weight yo-yo quite a bit in the past 5 years. But don't forget, we've shown ourselves that we can reign in the calories it in the past, so at least we can be confident that we have it in ourselves.
I've been on a big grilled kabob kick recently, it's definitely one of my favorite way to get veggies in my diet. I made this Greek style chicken, red onion, and red bell pepper one last night and it was great:
https://www.dinneratthezoo.com/greek-chicken-kabobs/