Healthy recipes please ladies......

[Morganuk]

.........i'm so rubbish at diet food (or making any food in fact )

Low fat too please


I really do need to stop eating this takeaway/junk food but need some help please.

I'm going to weigh myself tomrrow and start my diet.

Thanks ladies

 

[mum's the word]

What are your favourite meats/veggies and what kind of food do you like-spicy/italian/traditional british? I love cooking, and eating so I'm sure I could come up with some easy recipes for you and will try to make sure they're low fat!

 

[Morganuk]

The only meat I hate is liver and kidney.
I love spices and veg and everything else you mentioned hun,


thank you

 

[mum's the word]

If you don't already have them, here are some things to put on your shopping list:
olive oil (personally i think those spray oils etc are pointless, your food needs to taste good and you can save calories elsewhere)
curry powder, I make my own but the pots of mixed curry spices are great
LOADS of tins of chopped tomatoes
tomato puree
mixed herbs (dry in sachets fine)
red lentils (check packs sometimes you can get ones you don't need to soak at all, or just for an hour rather than overnight)
natural yoghurt
chicken stock cubes
basmati rice (my fave)
penne pasta
onions
garlic (you can buy pre-chopped if not keen on peeling amd chopping it)
black pepper
chicken breasts
salmon
tuna in brine/spring water
frozen mixed veg (or fresh if you have time to shop regularly/prepare)
bags of frozen mixed fruit (sometimes called smoothie mix but are versatile)

 

[mum's the word]

PASTA SAUCE: I make a large pan of this and it keeps in fridge for 4 days or you can freeze portions, a teacher I worked with gave me this recipe, jars of sauce are either full of oil or low fat ones lack taste-this is a compromise,it's tasty and versatile, great with chicken, salmon, vegetables or just with pasta and a tiny bit of grated cheese (good at lunchtime)
1 large chopped onion
2 teaspoons chopped garlic
1 chicken stock cube
1 level teaspoon sugar (stops tomatoes tasting too acidic)
2 tins chopped tomatoes
1 tablespoon tomato puree
1 tablespoon olive oil
Fry onions and garlic til soft but not brown (6 mins or so), add tomatoes and puree, add stock cube when tomatoes gently bubbling then add sugar, simmer gently for 20 mins.
CURRY SAUCE
1 chopped onion
garlic optional, if you like it add as much as you like, I use 2-3 cloves
curry powder
2 tins tomatoes
tomato puree
1 tbsp oil
Same as pasta sauce, you'll find how much curry powder to use by tasting, add it when the onions and garlic are soft, again, make piles and freeze if you can, lovely with meat/fish/veg
SPICY RICE
1 onion
1 tsp garlic
curry powder
mixed veg (I use peas and sweetcorn)
1 small cup of rice or a large handful per person
Rinse and soak the rice in cold water for an hour if poss for best results, otherwise just rinse. Boil kettle, put drained rice in pan and add double the quantity of boiling water to rice and a little salt if you like, bring rice back to boil then reduce heat to a gentle bubble and slowly cook until rice has absorbed water. Fry onions/garlic til soft, add curry powder, fry for 3 mins or so, add mixed veg and stir til warmed through, add the drained rice and gently stir (don't stir the rice more than once when cooking, it spoils it by sticking). This tastes far nicer than it sounds and goes with most meals (esp curry of course!)

 

[mum's the word]

I think anyone can lose weight by eating very little/very boring or plain tasteless things for a few weeks, then you start to crave all the things you've denied yourself and the weight returns. When cutting down, I avoid: white bread (fills you for half an hour, is fattening then you're hungry again, try low sugar cereal for breakfast instead of toast, wholemeal pitta bread or bagels for lunch) Chips (for obvious reasons! rice and pasta don't have to be boring and are cooked just as quick) anything in batter, herbs/spices and marinades can perk up a piece of chicken or fish, excessive sugar (found in most things really, I'm going crazy for chocolate at mo, very bad and addictive!) a lovely dessert is cooked fruit with cinnamon and nat youghurt or custard for a treat and instead of 5 biscuits with a cuppa, crumble 2 on top.
Cooking has to become part of your day, and even though it's quicker and less of a mess to buy ready-prepared stuff, it's more expensive, usually full of fat/sugar/addidives and it's harder to choose healthy options, if you only have rice/lentils/pasta in the cupboard you plan your meals and think about your weekly menu in advance rather than a situation where your suddenly hungry so grab the quickest thing.
Sometimes I don't feel like cooking at all, so we have a take-away or ready meal and I always end up wishing I'd cooked, it never takes as long as you think and ALWAYS tastes better.

 

[mrs_metal]

Have a look at the slimming world magazine, that's got some quite nice recipes.

For nearly healthy chips, cut the chips about 1cm thick and par boil them for about 5 mins. Meanwhile heat the oven to 210 (or 190 if you have a fan oven) spray (or sprinkle) a bit of olive oil on a baking tray and heat it in the oven. Put the boiled chips onto the heated tray, spray a little more olive oil on top and cook for 30-35 mins. Shake it halfway through cooking to make sure it's not sticking.

Some slow cooked stews can be quite healthy, just be carefull what you're having them with so no mash with tons of butter , or even cook them with sliced or chopped potato in so you've got the whole meal in a pan. Or add a bit of curry powder to the stew to give it a bit of spice then you can have it with some boiled or steamed basmati rice.

Unfortunatly I know a few of the rules for healthy cooking but always get tempted by the less healthy stuff What I realy need is some willpower!

 

[Tangerinedream]

Spicy Parsnip Soup

5 parsnips
2 carrots
2 celery
2 onions
1 pint vegetable stock
Frylight
Salt and pepper

Peel and slice parnips longways into quaters and place into a baking tray, spray some frylight over the parsnips so they are covered and put in the oven for 30 mins at gas mark 5/190C.
Meanwhile peel and chop the rest of the vegetables. Make up the vegetable stock in a saucepan then cook the veg in the stock until they are tender. Turn the heat off then add the parsnips. season with salt and pepper and blend (really nice chunky). Add extra pepper if you like it spicy.

You can make a butternut squash soup with the same method. Use 2 butternut, chop in half, de-seed and put into the oven, spray with oil. Cook for 50 minutes instead of 30 then scoop the flesh out of the shell.