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Healthy Meal Idea/Recipe Thread (1 Viewer)

Northern Voice

Northern Voice

Footballguy
A quick search revealed a couple threads like this but none that have made it more than a few posts. I figured with there being a new "I need to lose weight" post every other week, plus all the new year's resolution/gym discussion that we could try and keep an ongoing thread for Heatlhy*** meal ideas and recipes. My idea would be to keep this first post updated and broken down by breakfast/lunch/dinner, as well as possibly fat loss/muscle gain type meals - any other suggestions, let me know.

***This is not the place to discuss what is/isn't healthy - there is enough of that in the Otis thread, in gussy's thread and in every other discussion about food on here. Rather, what I would suggest is that when you post a meal/recipe you include why you feel it's healthy. If it's because it's under 4-6-8-1000 calories, great! If it's because it's very low carb, great! If it's because it hits a certain ratio of fat/protetin/carbs, great! If it's because it included 6 servings of veggies, great! There are people here who will have all those as their goals for eating.

My hope/idea is that this could become like the running thread, where it doesn't matter if you are starting a couch to 5K or running a 100 miler, everyone is very supportive and helpful and contributes to a good community of ideas/motivation/encouragement

Breakfast

Oatmeal w/protein/berries etc. - link

Mini egg sausage quiches - link

Light breakfast omelettes - link

egg cups w/cheese/turkey bacon - link

Lunch

Dinner

Easy Spinach Lasagna - link

Crock Pot pork shoulder - link

Vegetarian Chili - link

Turkey stuffed peppers - link

Cauliflower fried rice - link

Tacos Carnitas - link

Kale w/bacon and beans - link

Spaghetti Squash bolognese - link

Chicken breast recipe - link

Margon;s Cuban Black beans - link

Snacks

Fat Loss

Muscle Gain

Tips/Suggestions/Products

 
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Last night we did a pork shoulder - cooked it all day in the crock pot and then shredded it and had it as a "burrito bowl" style meal - with 1/2 cup rice, corn, grilled vegetables, a little bit of cheese and salsa. To lower the sugar/calories we cooked it in an apple cider vinegar rather than beer and shredded it with salsa, rather than BBQ sauce. Based on roughly 100g/4 oz of pork (we do weight our food a lot these days because I have a tendency to take a massive piece of meat and call it one serving), it comes in under 600 calories, with a nice balance of fat/protein/carbs - and it was absolutely delicious - i love the apple/pork combination - in the past this meal likely would have seen the pork piled on top of a bun and topped with applesauce - this tasted just as good or better.

 
For breakfast, I usually eat in my car and make a quick breakfast sandwhich for the road.

It's not many calories (under 300) and is basically just:

100 calorie English muffin (toasted)

Canadian bacon

1 slice of American cheese

When combined, microwave for 30 seconds or so. If you have time and want to get fancy schmancy, make an egg to add to it or experiment with a different type of cheese (swiss, provolone, etc.)

 
eoMMan said:
For breakfast, I usually eat in my car and make a quick breakfast sandwhich for the road.

It's not many calories (under 300) and is basically just:

100 calorie English muffin (toasted)

Canadian bacon

1 slice of American cheese

When combined, microwave for 30 seconds or so. If you have time and want to get fancy schmancy, make an egg to add to it or experiment with a different type of cheese (swiss, provolone, etc.)
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I love a breakfast sandwich for the reasons you mentioned above - I was advocating in favour of Egg McMuffins in one of the previous threads. Basically as long as it's on an english muffin and a relatively lean ham/canadian bacon it's a very good meal.

Of course you can make it not so healthy in a hurry by going bagel instead of english muffin (+100 cals or so), sausage instead of ham/cdn bacon and/or processed cheese sauce instead of regular cheese.

 
Breakfast: I eat this 4-5 times a week.

One serving of steel cut oatmeal with 3-4 ounces of extra water. Add fresh ground ginger root, one scoop of frozen blueberries and cook. In the bowl waiting I have one scoop of vanilla protein powder, 1 tablespoon each of ground flax, crushed almonds and cinnamon. Add the hot oatmeal to the bowl and stir. The cinnamon eliminates the need for any added sugar. The extra water to the oats is needed because otherwise the protein, flax and almonds would make it too thick without. It will look a little thin until you add it to the bowl.

When I eat this for breakfast many times at lunch I am still not very hungry and have zero craving for any type of junk.

 
Da Guru said:
Breakfast: I eat this 4-5 times a week.

One serving of steel cut oatmeal with 3-4 ounces of extra water. Add fresh ground ginger root, one scoop of frozen blueberries and cook. In the bowl waiting I have one scoop of vanilla protein powder, 1 tablespoon each of ground flax, crushed almonds and cinnamon. Add the hot oatmeal to the bowl and stir. The cinnamon eliminates the need for any added sugar. The extra water to the oats is needed because otherwise the protein, flax and almonds would make it too thick without. It will look a little thin until you add it to the bowl.

When I eat this for breakfast many times at lunch I am still not very hungry and have zero craving for any type of junk.
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I love this. My wife and I bought a blender after Christmas and a tub of vanilla whey protein (we had been using rocky road flavour and just mixing with milk/water), so I've been looking at the shakes that incorporate oats/berries/protein powder - but this would feel like more of a meal - your point about the extra water was my only question - it dissolves the protein okay just by stirring?

 
breakfast I usually do 3-4 handfuls of kale chard spinach with half a banana some frozen fruit and maybe a tbsp of flax and chia

 
Easy Spinach Lasagna - My wife learned this recipe on a boat where they had limited galley space. Contrary top popular wisdom, you do not have to pre-cook the noodles for this recipe to come out good.

1 package lasagna noodles - UNCOOKED

I jar tomato sauce

1 package frozen chopped spinach

1 pint low fat cottage cheese

2 eggs

Mozzarella cheese

Thaw spinach (defrost in microwave and drain out excess water from package), then mix with cottage cheese and eggs in a bowl. This is your glop.

Put thin layer of sauce on bottom of a 9x13 pan

Lay down uncooked noodles, then add another small layer of sauce, then 1/3 of your glop, and some mozzarella (go easy on the cheese - 3 layers)

Add another layer of noodles, sauce, 1/3 of glop, and cheese

Add a third and final layer of noodles, sauce, 1/3 of glop, and cheese

Cover with aluminum foil and cook at 350. Take off aluminum foil after 50 minutes. Cook for about 15 minutes more until top starts to brown and look yummy.

Makes about 8 servings?

 
Northern Voice said:
Northern Voice, on 05 Jan 2016 - 11:21 AM, said:
Da Guru said:
Da Guru, on 05 Jan 2016 - 11:17 AM, said:Breakfast: I eat this 4-5 times a week.

One serving of steel cut oatmeal with 3-4 ounces of extra water. Add fresh ground ginger root, one scoop of frozen blueberries and cook. In the bowl waiting I have one scoop of vanilla protein powder, 1 tablespoon each of ground flax, crushed almonds and cinnamon. Add the hot oatmeal to the bowl and stir. The cinnamon eliminates the need for any added sugar. The extra water to the oats is needed because otherwise the protein, flax and almonds would make it too thick without. It will look a little thin until you add it to the bowl.

When I eat this for breakfast many times at lunch I am still not very hungry and have zero craving for any type of junk.
Click to expand...
I love this. My wife and I bought a blender after Christmas and a tub of vanilla whey protein (we had been using rocky road flavour and just mixing with milk/water), so I've been looking at the shakes that incorporate oats/berries/protein powder - but this would feel like more of a meal - your point about the extra water was my only question - it dissolves the protein okay just by stirring?
Click to expand...
Yes, when I first started making this I only added the amount of water called for on the oatmeal instructions. It made the final mixture way too thick after the protein was added. The oat mixture is boiling when you add it to the bowl so just stir for 30 seconds or so and it blends right in.

 
The lasagna recipe doesn't strike me as healthy/weight loss friendly but ok...

 
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Check out skinny taste, fit men cook, and Yummly. I have been tracking my recipes in Yummly and it is awesome!

Breakfast

Steel cut oats

Breakfast burritos. Scramble eggs, add bell pepper, onion, etc, wrap it up in a shell. I used to cook a batch for 5 for the week.

Dinner

Asparagus wrapped in turkey and grilled (fit men cook)

As far as protein powders I use ON. Tastes unbelievable compared to others.

 
coyote5 said:
The lasagna recipe doesn't strike me as healthy/weight loss friendly but ok...
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No, it's not a salad, but it beats cheeseburgers and fries for the family. I make it with a salad when it's Dad's night to cook. It's simple, my kids devour it, and my wife is happy with the night off. I eat a small piece and go heavy on salad if I haven't had an active day.

 
ragincajun said:
As far as protein powders I use ON. Tastes unbelievable compared to others.
Click to expand...
I've been using BioX and very happy with it - I did some research on the weekend, reading reviews etc... and it did very well on taste and nutritional content, though Optimum Nutrition was usually #1. I also had the fun discovery that protein costs about twice as much for us up here in Canada (ON for example is 89.99 for 5lbs, Biox $69.99 for 5lbs).

 
Northern Voice said:
Last night we did a pork shoulder - cooked it all day in the crock pot and then shredded it and had it as a "burrito bowl" style meal - with 1/2 cup rice, corn, grilled vegetables, a little bit of cheese and salsa. To lower the sugar/calories we cooked it in an apple cider vinegar rather than beer and shredded it with salsa, rather than BBQ sauce. Based on roughly 100g/4 oz of pork (we do weight our food a lot these days because I have a tendency to take a massive piece of meat and call it one serving), it comes in under 600 calories, with a nice balance of fat/protein/carbs - and it was absolutely delicious - i love the apple/pork combination - in the past this meal likely would have seen the pork piled on top of a bun and topped with applesauce - this tasted just as good or better.
Click to expand...
Sounds awesome

 
It's from a vegetarian book called "Thug Kitchen" (Great shtick by the way), they're pretty good:

http://www.getoffthecouchandcook.com/corn-bean-flautas/

A chilli that's not going to win any competitions, but it's good enough and very healthy (except when you put it over cornbread and fritos like I do):

1 small onion

1 28 oz can of diced tomato with juice

3 15 oz can of beans (whatever you like, I use 1 can white, 2 cans pinto)

1 pack of reduced sodium taco seasoning

1 pack of ranch dressing mix (sounds very odd, but it works, trust me)

1 package of Smart Ground (ground beef replacement, been hard to find lately, we've replaced with trader joes ground beef replacement which isn't quite as good as the Smart Ground was, but okay).

1. sautee the onions in a large pan for about 5 min or till translucent

2. add diced tomato, beans, taco seasoning and ranch dresing mix

3. bring to a boil and simmer for about 10 or so min

4. Add smart ground and simmer for 5 min.

You won't win any awards with that chilli, but it's been a staple at my house because it's good enough and very healthy. I am not a vegetarian or anything, but I had a good friend go with a plant-based diet and he came up with that Chilli recipe based on something else he found, we try to do 1 vegetarian type meal a week in our house and the 2 above are ones that have become staples in our household.

 
NetnautX said:
Protein powder? Not enough from meat?
Click to expand...
For me specifically, I try to stay close to a 40/30/30 ratio of calories from carbs/protein/fat, it seems to be a sweet spot where I can eat food I like but keeps me from going too carb-heavy and also allows a fair bit of protein in my diet for muscle growth/recovery. To stay near here and based on a 1800-2000 calorie day, I need to get quite a bit of protein, so a scoop for breakfast goes a long way. I've found eating this way, with some circuit training and cardio is helping me turn some fat into muscle, which is my primary goal right now.

 
Da Guru said:
Breakfast: I eat this 4-5 times a week.

One serving of steel cut oatmeal with 3-4 ounces of extra water. Add fresh ground ginger root, one scoop of frozen blueberries and cook. In the bowl waiting I have one scoop of vanilla protein powder, 1 tablespoon each of ground flax, crushed almonds and cinnamon. Add the hot oatmeal to the bowl and stir. The cinnamon eliminates the need for any added sugar. The extra water to the oats is needed because otherwise the protein, flax and almonds would make it too thick without. It will look a little thin until you add it to the bowl.

When I eat this for breakfast many times at lunch I am still not very hungry and have zero craving for any type of junk.
Click to expand...
this sounds great. I wish I had time/energy to actually make breakfast in the mornings. I usually down a protein/BCAA/Glutamine shake and then get breakfast about 2 hours later at my building, which has a cafeteria.

but maybe I'll try this on the weekend.

 
Been discussed in other threads but can't say enough about a fancy blender (Vitamix, etc.).

So easy to put a bunch of veggies in there and blend them up for easy snack or meal that is 100% good for you.

 
- Dump 16 to 20 oz of ground turkey in a big bowl, add in a cup of cooked brown rice (I usually use a 1/2 cup) , one egg (already whisked), 1/2 a diced onion, red pepper, italian seasonings, salt/pepper. Combine all ingredients.

- Hollow out 4-5 red/green peppers. Stuff mixture inside each.

- Place peppers in crockpot, top with a spoonful of sauce, and cook on low for 8 hours. Serve with more sauce.

 
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Bigger picture...what has helped me lose weight is that I'm very comfortable being repetitive with breakfast and lunch. I'm good with a 100 calorie Greek yogurt as I'm running out the door and a simple turkey sandwich or a salad with all healthy ingredients (red wine vinegar is the only dressing) for lunch every day. I just view that part of the diet as a routine and it's what I do. Being able to focus on just looking for variety for dinner makes things much easier, especially when we can throw things in the crockpot before we leave for work and have it ready when we get home.

Good snack is turkey pepperoni. The serving size to calorie ratio is something crazy...like 14 slices are 70 calories. I'm sure it's blasphemous to some but I love the taste and it's a good way to get protein quick. Just need to watch the sodium.

 
RUSF18 said:
Bigger picture...what has helped me lose weight is that I'm very comfortable being repetitive with breakfast and lunch. I'm good with a 100 calorie Greek yogurt as I'm running out the door and a simple turkey sandwich or a salad with all healthy ingredients (red wine vinegar is the only dressing) for lunch every day. I just view that part of the diet as a routine and it's what I do. Being able to focus on just looking for variety for dinner makes things much easier, especially when we can throw things in the crockpot before we leave for work and have it ready when we get home.
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I'm the same way, most days I have a protein shake for breakfast and a meat sandwich for lunch. Also usually an apple and a granola bar for snacks. This usually puts me in the 1000 calorie range headed into dinner where I can have a decent meat/carb/veggie dinner - hoping here to find lots of new options for that dinner meal, where I can only have baked or grilled chicken/rice/carrots so many times.

 
I know that this is very person-specific, but skipping breakfast is a great way to be able to eat an out lunch and a health dinner snack while staying under your caloric goal.

 
Maik Jeaunz said:
Maik Jeaunz, on 05 Jan 2016 - 1:41 PM, said:
Da Guru said:
Da Guru, on 05 Jan 2016 - 11:17 AM, said:Breakfast: I eat this 4-5 times a week.

One serving of steel cut oatmeal with 3-4 ounces of extra water. Add fresh ground ginger root, one scoop of frozen blueberries and cook. In the bowl waiting I have one scoop of vanilla protein powder, 1 tablespoon each of ground flax, crushed almonds and cinnamon. Add the hot oatmeal to the bowl and stir. The cinnamon eliminates the need for any added sugar. The extra water to the oats is needed because otherwise the protein, flax and almonds would make it too thick without. It will look a little thin until you add it to the bowl.

When I eat this for breakfast many times at lunch I am still not very hungry and have zero craving for any type of junk.
Click to expand...
this sounds great. I wish I had time/energy to actually make breakfast in the mornings. I usually down a protein/BCAA/Glutamine shake and then get breakfast about 2 hours later at my building, which has a cafeteria.

but maybe I'll try this on the weekend.
Click to expand...
Only takes 5-6 minutes. I but the McCanns 5 minute steel cut oats at Costco.

 
On the road today and didn't bring a lunch, so went with a chicken wrap from the grocery store. This is my usual quick grab lunch - usually made fresh with real food, decent options to choose from and if I don't go here, I'll likely end up at a burger or pizza joint.

Thoughts on other relatively healthy "on the go" lunches.

 
just saw this thread and I can add some pointers when I get more time. I do all my home cooking and have used fresh20 for over 2 years now for ideas and skills, especially in healthy, fresh and weight control areas.

the biggest things to me are limiting external foods where things are processed, salt content is unknown and many items are processed.

portion control is huge. I try to have a salad for dinner every night, then to limit my protein portion to get full. I have found that garbanzos, lentils and other beans are a great source of protein and can be quite filling.

a garbanzo/ceci soup with baby shrimp is filling. oven roasting split chicken breasts can then be paired with healthy sides. last night I made a light red sauce that packs great flavor.

2 tbps olive oil in small pan, heat medium, add 1/2 diced onion, sweat. add garlic clove for 1 minute. sprinkle in some oregano and basil dried. stir. add in around 8 oz. cherry tomatoes halved and about 2 cups chicken stock. bring to boil, reduce to simmer 1/2 hour.

fresh20 was big on teaching how to stock your pantry with 20 essential elements to pretty much cook anything. onion, garlic, salt, pepper, stock, spices, beans.

 
Quick lunch (or even dinner): ham, turkey, mustard/horseradish wrapped up in romaine. Usually will have some rice chips and hummus on side too.

 
I don't have an actual recipe but a healthy option for lunch: I eat the grocery stores instead of a fast food place for lunch when I'm in a rush (it takes the same amount of time).

Most of the grocery stores around my area have a prepared hot/cold food selection. It's always easy to grab a piece of lean meat or fish and mix in some veggies without planning ahead in a pinch. Wholefoods, Wegmans, Harris Teeter, all have great fresh food quick and easy.

I'm assuming this isn't a regional thing but I'm not 100% sure.

Obviously if you're in a rural area I doubt this is an option.

 
Favorite quick and easy recipe is fried cauliflower rice

1 or 2 heads of cauliflower- shredded in processor.

Saute shredded cauliflower in grapeseed oil (a few T.)

Add garlic, a little salt, pepper, green onion, low sodium soy sauce (a little soy sauce goes a long way so be careful and taste to your liking). Cook and add some type of lean protein (sirloin, chicken, shrimp). You can also throw in 3-4 eggs.

 
Breakfast:

I have the same breakfast almost every morning - Three egg whites and one yolk (you won't miss the yolks at all) - 78 + 17*2 = 112. Huge handful of spinach sautéed (2 cups) with olive oil (roughly 1 tsp), S&P and garlic powder - 20+40 = 60 calories. Combine and make an omelet using another tsp of olive oil - 40 calories. Without cheese you have a very filling meal totaling 212 calories. I typically add either pico de gallo or 1-2oz of cheese (100-200 calories) and a half of a cup of whole pinto beans (120 calories) . This keeps me going until 1-130 where I can have a small lunch without gnawing my arm off at 11:00 am.

 
I crack open one egg in a muffin top tin. I add some cheese and Turkey bacon. Put some seasoning in and cook for 10 minutes. Bacon egg and cheeese done for the week with no bread.

 
sbonomo said:
Breakfast:

I have the same breakfast almost every morning - Three egg whites and one yolk (you won't miss the yolks at all) - 78 + 17*2 = 112. Huge handful of spinach sautéed (2 cups) with olive oil (roughly 1 tsp), S&P and garlic powder - 20+40 = 60 calories. Combine and make an omelet using another tsp of olive oil - 40 calories. Without cheese you have a very filling meal totaling 212 calories. I typically add either pico de gallo or 1-2oz of cheese (100-200 calories) and a half of a cup of whole pinto beans (120 calories) . This keeps me going until 1-130 where I can have a small lunch without gnawing my arm off at 11:00 am.
Click to expand...
Obviously it's healthy enough as is but use nonstick spray when cooking the spinach and the eggs instead of the olive oil and you'll save the equivalent of a big day's worth of eating every month. Just throwing out a tip :thumbup:

 
AcerFC said:
I crack open one egg in a muffin top tin. I add some cheese and Turkey bacon. Put some seasoning in and cook for 10 minutes. Bacon egg and cheeese done for the week with no bread.
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No scramble before - just crack open in tin and cook? Also what temp?

 
I just threw this together last night and I love it for getting my greens. I got myself a big bag of kale from costco. Chop 4 slices of thick bacon (also from costco) and fry for a few minutes in a pot. Then throw in some chopped onions and a spoon full of garlic and let that go for maybe 5 minutes all on medium heat. Then fill that whole pot with kale (it will significantly wilt down as its cooked) and about a cup of water. Let that cook for maybe another five stirring it around as it does. Throw in a little salt if you so desire. Then drop in a 15 oz can of cannillini beans and cook for a couple more minutes to get them warm and you're done. You're looking at roughly 6 servings of kale, around 58 grams of protein, around 800 calories and 20 grams of fat so you'll probably want to split this over a couple of meals. The time and nutritional information is roughly correct. Its really tasty and from my calculations very good for you.

 
Swing 51 said:
AcerFC said:
I crack open one egg in a muffin top tin. I add some cheese and Turkey bacon. Put some seasoning in and cook for 10 minutes. Bacon egg and cheeese done for the week with no bread.
Click to expand...
No scramble before - just crack open in tin and cook? Also what temp?
Click to expand...
sorry. I do scramble before I pour in the muffin tin. 350 for 10 minutes. Let it sit for a bit. Then I put them in a chinese soup container and pull em out before I Ieave. Oh, and I put the spray oil in the tin so they dont stick
 
Northern Voice said:
VA703 said:
veggie lasaugna with zucchini instead of pasta
Click to expand...
Along the same lines, Bolognese or similar sauce with spaghetti squash instead of pasta works well.
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Had this tonight. A cup and a half of spaghetti squash is about 70 calories, so even if the sauce on it has a quarter pound of lean ground beef and a medium-ish marinara sauce, you're only looking at around 500 calories. We loaded the sauce with beef, mushrooms, yellow/orange peppers and onion - and lots of beef - delicious.

 
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