Please give me...

QuirkyIntellect

your simple, healthy recipes. 

I've been working really hard on my diet and exercise. I'm rocking the workouts, and making little changes for H and me hasn't been that bad. But food is honestly my biggest challenge. I know it sounds silly, but I never realized how much I didn't know about healthy eating until a few weeks ago. I've always known "eat lean protein, fruits and veggies, whole wheat, and drink lots of water" but I get bored with that because I don't know many healthy recipes or combinations of food. And I'm working on portion sizes too.

My mom is coming to visit starting late Wednesday for a week. I need recipes that will easily feed 3 people, and be healthy and filling. My mom has diabetes and her meds make her feel hungry all the time, but I don't keep lots of snacks in the house (to battle my lack of willpower at the moment). I don't want her to be uncomfortable or super hungry the whole time she's here. But I don't want to eat crap food the whole time either. Not when I've been doing so well. 

Help, advice, recipes please!! Oh, and I'm not a really great cook, so simple is key too. TIA!

picksthemusic

check out healthy living with ellie krieger. she's got great easy recipes and good tips for making small changes to your everyday routines/eating. i highly recommend her cherry walnut bars for a quick and healthy breakfast or snack.

 

Johlise

I don't have anything... but a good tip to remember when you are baking anything and the recipe calls for ex: 1 1/2 cups sugar, you can half the sugar and only do 3/4 cup. Still tastes great and less sugar.

jennuinne

An easy, healthy thing to make is chili.  I use ground turkey (or go vegetarian).  Saute lots of bell peppers, onions, (green chilis & jalapanos -- as much as you can take), chili powder & garlic.  Add tomatos (I used diced and/or stewed ones w/ green chillis), add kidney beans, pinto beans, or whatever beans you like and the turkey and let simmer for at least an hour (the longer the better).

 Cut up green onions or chives to garnish.  You can aslo use a little fat free cheese or sour cream (or greek yogurt).  One cup is a good size, and I think about 300 calories.  The more veggies, the better.

Other than that, we normally do some version of chicken or fish w/ veggies and rice, but that's not very exciting.

KST_

Two of our simple, and pretty quick standbys:

Grilled veggies and some chicken. You can marinate the chicken to add some extra flavor and less calories than a sauce. We like to grill onions and peppers, then we will also add zucchini, eggplant, summer squash. We're not a big fan of mushrooms, but those would be good, too. Serve over brown rice or quinoa. Start the rice or quinoa cooking, then once that's started, prep your veggies. We put peppers on whole, slice the zuccini and squash lengthwise so they don't slip through the grates. We slice the onion into thick rings and put on a skewer so they don't separate.

Our other healthy standby is STIRFRY. The longest part of it is veggie prep. Best thing about stir fry is you can use ANY veggies you have on hand. Ideas: peppers, onion, carrots (take longer), celery, bokchoy and cabbage, green beans or snap/sugar peas, the list goes on. You can do this vegetarian and then we add in nuts - usually peanuts or cashews - for your protein. We often just eat a big bowl of it without any rice. For things such as shredded cabbage, bean sprouts, or greens like spinach, toss them in at the end to just lightly wilt and not turn to mush. SAUCE: we usually mix up our own some combination of seasoned rice vinegar, sesame oil, low sodium soy sauce, chili oil, ginger, garlic, five spice blend, cayenne, the garlic black bean paste you can buy in the Asian section of the grocery store adds TONS of flavor.

karebear219

A good rule of thumb is to avoid anything really processed and try to eat a lot of colors. (Have you ever noticed how brown unhealthy food is. Bleck).

One of our new favorite dinners is roasted red potatoes, baked drumsticks (skin removed), and esparagus. Fajitas are always good, just take it easy on the cheese and sour cream.

My favorite snacks:

whole natural almonds, low fat string cheese, wheat toast with organic peanut butter, greek yogurt

jennlin

i would definitely pick up some snacks for your mother. my dad is diabetic and is CRANKY when hungry. i would hate to whip up a meal if your mother suddenly felt the urge to eat.

some snacks i'd keep are:

whole wheat crackers, nuts, sliced/cleaned veggies, beef jerky (not pepperoni sticks), sugar free yogurt, hard boiled eggs.

one of my fave healthy/quick meals is brown rice with fish and some sort of green side (peas, beans, broccoli). season the fish with just pepper and lemon and put in a pan with a little bit of water and let it simmer slowly. 

Tygirljojo

I've found ground turkey to be a good substitute for ground beef for recipes such as meatloaf and tacos (and if you want to make the tacos even more healthy, try ground chicken breast).  I also switched when ordering from like Chipotle and Qdoba, to naked burrito/burrito bowls - each one of those large tortillas runs about 150-200 cals and for me, they didn't really do anything.  I also agree with PPs on chilis - they're filling and have a ton of flavor, plus if you want, they're another recipe you can subsitute ground turkey for the ground beef in.

Depending on the dish I make, some stir-fries I will eat with brown rice instead of white (I find spicy dishes or ones with a strong flavor tend to hold their own well paired with brown rice).  Also, I've recently discovered quinoa as an amazing grain substitute - texture is between brown rice and couscous, and it's technically not a grain but is a pretty decent source of protein.  I like this recipe for making quinoa as a side dish.  Oh and one of my fave "guilty" treats is 6 oz of regular (aka full-fat), plain greek yogurt with honey I add to taste.  I it!  A nutritionist my work brought in a few months ago told me that buying plain yogurt and adding in your own honey is good because you can control the amount of honey, plus "you will never add in as much sugar or honey as the pre-sweetented ones."

Portion sizes are my challenge as well - two things that really help me keep track and realize just how much I am eating is a food scale (I bought a digital one from Amazon for $20-25) and a food tracking site (I like myfitnesspal.com).  As for water, I've discovered my biggest thing is texture - so now I actually order club soda when at a restaurant (vs. coke/diet code) and I get 2 liter bottles of Lemon-Lime Talking Rain for when I'm at home and want a drink, that way I get the fizz like soda but no calories and I'm actually happy with that.

KST_

Ditto the soda water! That's what I live on as I've NEVER been fond of plain water, no matter how filtered.Talking Rain and Cascade Ice are both local to PNW and frequently go on sale. Cheapest for TR is usually $1/2 liter but while Cascade Ice usually goes on sale for the same amount, I have found it for 88cents before! You can get natural with no flavoring, or have fun with various flavors. My favorites are CI: citrus twist and TR: Pomegranate Lime.

Tygirljojo

KST_:

Ditto the soda water! That's what I live on as I've NEVER been fond of plain water, no matter how filtered.Talking Rain and Cascade Ice are both local to PNW and frequently go on sale. Cheapest for TR is usually $1/2 liter but while Cascade Ice usually goes on sale for the same amount, I have found it for 88cents before! You can get natural with no flavoring, or have fun with various flavors. My favorites are CI: citrus twist and TR: Pomegranate Lime.

Ooh, I have yet to see that flavor - I'm going to have to keep my eyes out for that!  My work stocks sodas for the employees and plain and Lemon-Lime are the two TR flavors they stock, thus why I also tend to default to the lemon-lime.