Ok, so I know that I would lose weight more quickly if I could just COOK!! So I'm looking for some easy to put together healthy meals that will be easy to cook throughout the week. Thanks in advance!! I'm looking forward to them!
Stir fry. The best thing about it is that you can choose which veggies to put in. I hate peas, so no peas in my stir fry. I use a sweet and sour sauce: Sun Luck Restaurant Style
I HATE coming home after work to cook a meal. What works for me is something like this. Sunday-Cook a main meat (either a turkey, ham, chicken, etc.) Have a good meal with fresh cooked veggies. Monday- Heat it up and eat it again, adding plenty of veggies as needed. Tuesday-Make a hot dish out of it or something similar. Tuesday night- boil eggs. Wed- Make egg salad sandwiches on wheat buns and have a large salad with it. Wednesday night- Soak split peas over night and cut up fresh carrots, onion and celery and put in fridge. In the morning, throw it all in a crockpot with a ham shank, adding pepper, basil, and a bay leaf, cook on low all day. Friday- Go out for fish dinner. Those are just some of the things I do for healthy,easy, cost effective meals.
Variations of stir fry: peppers, bok choy, cabbage, mushrooms, teriyaki sauce (homemade or store bought) w/ either udon or soba noodles spinach, mushrooms, onions, tomatoes w/ lemon juice, whole wheat pasta, and a little cheese chiles, jalapenos, tomatoes, onions, bell peppers w/ hot sauce and pasta Chop 2x the veggies you need, freeze the rest. Cook 2x the meat you need, freeze the rest. Live off the frozen veggies and precooked meat when you're exhausted!
Can you go super simple? Once a week or so, we have "baked potato bar" dinner. Baked potatoes with your choice of butter, sour cream, broccoli, chicken, bacon, cheese, or whatever makes it hearty and good to you. This is something my daughters like (I remember you have a girl around their age).
I also love a week when I have been organized and have everything on hand and prepared in advance so we can just grab and cook. For example, here are some easy ones that don't take a lot of cooking knowledge since I'm not getting home until after 6:30 anymore and depend on hubbie and young adult kids to start: Fajitas in about 15-20 minutes: Preslice peppers and onions in one bag Sliced chicken breast in another (or frozen shrimp) Shredded cheese in another Have husband/kids stir fry them and add sauce (bottled is better than dry packets) Heat can of refried beans and tortillas Salad Stir fry: Preslice chicken or beef and marinate in one bag Either precut vegetables (recommended) or buy already cut up Call kids/husband to start rice in rice cooker Quickly stir fry everything and add sauce Serve with mandarin oranges or pineapple or ? Spaghetti Precook Italian sausage or turkey Italian sausage with mushrooms and bag for later use Dreamfields pasta (low-carb) which my family can't tell (a miracle) If it was just me, I would add other vegetables Jar of pasta sauce (Safeway brand much lower in sugar than many brands Add a can of Italian diced tomatoes Salad Pork Roast and bonus meal Cook pork roast in crock pot (big enough for 2 meals) Potatoes apple sauce veggie of choice Carnitas Break up extra pork and reheat in canola or olive oil with onion you chopped in advance, add green salsa Tortillas, guacamole Baby carrots and other veggies I presliced on Sunday I also love my George Foreman grill - a quick way to cook just about anything. I like the Bear Creek dried soup mixes. They cook in about 15 minutes and you can add extra meet or vegetables to make them even better. Often last 2 meals - pair with salad, garlic bread, etc.
My new goal is to do dinners for $10 or less, and we're doing really really well cutting out our carbs. It's made for interesting mash ups. The other night we made a ground beef, red pepper and onion mix. We had mixed veggies on the side. We've done marinated fish from Trader Joe's and tonight we had Corn Beef (also from Trader Joe's) with mashed butternut squash on the side. Last night I let dh have fish sticks because he was sick, but it was buy one, get one free on the packages so I got two night's dinner for the cost of one. So the $10 budget makes me get creative with meat and veggies, cuts down on lots of extras that we probably don't need to eat, has really helped with food waste (we HAVE to eat the leftovers) and I've dropped 5 pounds since starting it. Oh-I just thought of another favorite. I love to cook up chicken thighs, boil them, cut them up and put it in cream of brocolli soup. Or sometimes I'll take cut up chicken thighs and put bbq sauce on it and just eat it like that. I could eat chicken thighs every night for the rest of my life, though, I think.
Salad! Cook up a piece of chicken in a few minutes, season it...pop it in a salad with the things you like and add your dressing! My husband and I try to do this once a week, I'll chop the veggies that go into it...he cooks the chicken and we combine! Wa La! Last night we had chicken, cucumbers, black beans, corn, carrots, croutons and chipotle ranch dressing. So good and took so little time. Tacos! Cook a meat, add lettuce, tomatoes, cheese...done! Pizza! We buy a dough and sauce from the local pizza place...add your toppings, and only takes about 10 minutes. You can add whatever you want on top...all the veggies you want! Chicken & Broccoli! I love the both of these and they both cook very quickly.
I try to have some pizza crusts on hand--the Bubllalee (gosh, how do you spell that). I always have some Prego Spaghetti sauce on hand, and usually have some cheese in the freezer. Easy to make pizza, with any leftovers that may be in the refrigerator. I have also used English muffins and tube biscuits.
Thanks guys!! These sound good! I love fajitias so those are definitely going to be something we do. And I do love salads and have the stuff to make them. So that's another we'll be eating. I need to start sitting down on Sat or Sun and planning out the meals for the week. That would help me a great deal!
we do the same thing as MissWull. I buy a bag of salad, throw two boneless chicken breasts to brown in the skillet and while they are doing that, chop different veggies, boil a couple of eggs, plus low fat cheese, garbanzas. It is always so good. Try it with lean roast beef or tuna. It never gets old.
I hate cooking. I eat out extremely often (I hate to admit how often). Even though I eat out a lot, I try to burn it all off at the gym. As I'm almost 30, it's been difficult to stay thin, but I'm determined to never be overweight!
Get some meat rubs or seasonings and or sauces you really like. It's amazing how many nights we just cook chicken, pork chops or steak with whatever seasoning or sauce, in a pan on the stove, with a pan of veggies and some rice or quinoa in the rice cooker. Meat, veg, grain. I like my separate. BF usually cuts his all up together. When it gets a little warmer, it's usually the meat and veg on the grill, and we often skip the grains in lieu of more veg or some potatoes or sweet potatoes on the grill.
Also check out Woman's Day Month of Menus. They have a new one every month. http://www.womansday.com/Articles/Recipes/Month-of-Menus!.html
My life got so much easier when I started to plan on Sundays. I look through the sale circular and choose a menu partly based on the sales. I take a lot of shortcuts when there are specials. I would never buy the precooked packages of grilled chicken but they were a bogo last week so I got some. I don't eat all that healthy but I do recommend planning so you don't eat out as often.
Dust off your crockpot. Here are some family favorites: 1) Chicken breasts, 1 can cream of chicken (98% fat free) 1 can cream of mushroom (98% fat free) a can drained rotel. When you get home cook some minute rice. Place rice on plate, add chicken and a little of the sauce, compliment with veggies or salad. 2) A whole chicken, add some water (or chicken broth) leave it the in the crockpot while at work. Compliment with anything (Another thing I might do is bake a chicken on Sun and eat it on Monday) 3) Roast and a few cans of french onion soup (or most red meats) Hope those help.....
I believe Rotel is a can of diced tomato. Some of them have diced jalapeno in them. I use it to make chili. I make chili usuing ground turkey and usually only use half the package and add extra veggies and 2 kinds of beans. Even in salads, if I don't have chicken or other meats I add beans. It is a good source of protein and has little or no fat.
I thought of another one. I have a big crockpot so when I bake a chicken I do two. We eat one with whatever you want and shred the other one to use on tortillas, or pita bread bread, chicken salad or whatever.
I meant a can of rotel drained. Rotel is what you put with velveta cheese to make queso. It is like a chunky salsa so it adds a good flavor (but not spicy).
I like to make a big patch of veggie soup: cabbage, carrots, celery really anything you want. I add veggie stock, water and a can of diced tomatoes. I let it simmer and freeze in patches. I bring for lunch or eat as a snack when I get home from work.
Thanks again guys! Going to the store tomorrow so I'm going to make sure to pick up some stuff to make some of these meals!
We have a huge garden at our farm/cottage. We also raise chickens for meat (we tried eggs but since we are only at the farm in the summer it was too much of a hastle to go over and feed them regularly so we are instead buying them from a local farmer.) Our farm kitchen is much bigger than our house one so I try to cook big batches of stuff at the farm and then bring them to our house for the week. In terms of what I cook, I start with what I have handy and go from there - I use The Zucchini Cookbook and a bunch of magazines such as Country Women. Basically I find regular recipes rely too much on food that I cant source locally. We buy fruit and dairy from the grocery store and that it about it!
Today while I was out and about I had this in the crockpot: Chicken (as little or as much as you want...I used a lot) 1/2 can salsa (I used 3/4) one can diced tomatoes with chiles Corn Beans Onion I put in a leftover bell pepper from the fridge Chili Powder S&P 1/2 block of cream cheese (stir in after you shred the chicken, with about 30 min left to cook) This is a very forgiving recipe. I added and took out, depending on what I had on hand (I didn't have tomatoes with chiles, so I added extra spices, and we didn't have black beans in the pantry, so it's beanless) Its good alone, over rice, or in a tortilla.
Sounds Great!!! I have already done my menu for this week, but I think that will be on next weeks!!! This week I am cooking a full chick by crock pot. What is left over will be marinating over night in some mexican spices and the next night is going to be chicken nachos. The family is excited about that one.
I recommend you register on the Body Building forums and post in the female section. Best thing I've ever done. I've learned some much about nutrition and working out and have lost 40 pounds.
If you do make it, make sure to use tomatoes with chiles. Or, add a small can of diced chiles (or part of one). I didn't have any on hand and think it needs a bit more kick.
