Friend me. Sometimes I'm kinda funny.

EmmaFitzwilliam

Have you tried baked chicken? I use this method:

http://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-cook-the-best-chicken-breasts-in-the-oven-cooking-lessons-from-the-kitchn-211453

The chicken stays fairly moist, and picks up a lot of flavor from whatever spices you use before you bake it.
Because I'm not averse to canned or pre-prepped foods, I make some pretty easy dinners. I bake the chicken, then portion it out into 5-7 ounce portions. My roommate and I both like Indian food, so I will dice two portions of baked chicken, and add that to a skillet with a diced red onion, some garlic, and a jar of simmer sauce. Serve as is, or over broccoli slaw. (When I am willing to spend the calories on grains, I include a portion of rice for myself, in lieu of the broccoli slaw.)

Another option is diced red onion, garlic, and a can of diced tomatoes with 2 portions of chicken.

This is another of my go-to recipes (minus the cheese).

http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/salsa_verde_chicken_bake/

It also works with marinara sauce in place of the salsa verde.

shrinkingletters

Eh, why not.

shmalan

If I don't comment this evening it's because I've burned my house down trying to use this place some people call "the kitchen". Thank for all the ideas and recipes. I'll let you know how they turn out.

EmmaFitzwilliam

editorgrrl wrote: »

EmmaFitzwilliam wrote: »

Why do you call it a "salad of sadness"?

Please don't blame OP! I was trying to make a point that you can eat anything in moderation and still lose weight. I never, ever waste my calories on meh food.

I agree. Even my low calorie foods are foods I enjoy. One of the happiest surprises was realizing that most snack foods were really pretty "meh" compared against to some of my favorite healthy foods.

"Oh, no, I must forego 140 calories/ounce of "sugar, fat and salt" in favor of 89 calories/cup of fresh, ripe raspberries! Woe is me!"

"No, Br'er Fox, please, not the 42 calorie Dove chocolate square! No!!!! I would much rather have the 100 calorie sweet, yet dry fig newton."

And sometimes I spend the calories for *really awesome* food - but if I spent 10% or more of my calorie goal on a food, that food gets my *entire* attention for as long as it takes to eat it, savoring and tasting each bite.

(Down 74 pounds (of 95) in 14 months, while still embracing a philosophy of "While we live, let us LIVE!" I will trade my rate of progress for never having felt I was condemned to an ascetic existence of nothing but "salads of sadness".

It's all about balance - portion control (especially with the energy dense foods!), really appreciating the occasional energy dense food choices, and finding nutrient dense foods that you genuinely enjoy.

SurelyShannon

"You don't make friends with salad" it's a sad truth.

noraofthefuture

Oh you're a funny one add!

bb1lopez

Add me, I need a laugh to help me along this lengthy weight loss process

s_y8s

Friended

kirstenkelly298

I definitely agree with eating what makes you happy in moderation! You can lose weight eating a lot of "bad" foods, just comes down to portion control. If I want to have a high calorie meal, I exercise extra that day and I am able to remain under my calorie goal.

http://www.skinnytaste.com/

Check out that website for AWESOME "diet" food! And most of her recipes are fairly quick simple to make, they definitely do not require a chef.

babybluentexas

This is what I made for dinner tonight. Hatch chili stuffed pork chops (HEB premade them), and I topped it with a quinotto with chia seeds, and made some sweet potatoes and spaghetti squash. See my diary for calories. Think you would be surprised!

shmalan

I will one day find my swolemate and she will cook for me . I ended up getting my calories by a fruit smoothie with a protein powder last night and for lunch today. I tried cooking last night and my smoke alarm went off for burning chicken. Cooking is just not my talent.

shmalan

TLentz76

good one..

babybluentexas

shmalan wrote: »

I will one day find my swolemate and she will cook for me . I ended up getting my calories by a fruit smoothie with a protein powder last night and for lunch today. I tried cooking last night and my smoke alarm went off for burning chicken. Cooking is just not my talent.

Aww.. It's so fun though. Ok I'm probably a kitchen nerd.

babybluentexas

Just get one of these...

999tigger

Quite a funny gif, but id have to kill you, Good luck though youll do fine.

RodaRose

babybluentexas wrote: »

This is what I made for dinner tonight. Hatch chili stuffed pork chops (HEB premade them), and I topped it with a quinotto with chia seeds, and made some sweet potatoes and spaghetti squash. See my diary for calories. Think you would be surprised!

That is the most amazing low calorie meal I have every seen. So beautiful.
I am curious about the quinotto.

Annaleighmarie

Hey there shmalan ,I guess you would start to feel like a bunny after eating so many salads! Maybe eat some eggs or grilled chicken..? I'm afraid ,I can't be of much help in the eating healthy area since if you want to be healthy you should probably do the opposite of what I usually do. Anyway,good luck on your weight loss journey!

sidricks

I look forward to my salad every day. Thankfully lol. Buy one of those pre cooked roasted chickens and tear it all apart and keep it in your fridge. Use on sad salads, wraps or just to snack on

firephoenix8

Ok...less cooking. We can do this!

This is one of my favorite lunches for work, especially because one prep session = 4 meals. No cooking involved. I usually add a few Kettle chips and some unsweetened tea, for about 350 calories. http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/salmon_salad_sandwiches.html

This one is technically a salad, but I've never found it very...salad-y. Also no cooking involved. I'll be real honest and say I buy lime juice in the little squeeze bottles in the produce section and leave out the cilantro. I get 231 calories, via MFP. https://www.eatthismuch.com/recipe/view/chicken-and-avocado-salad,33519/

For this one you have to boil pasta, and you probably want to add a vegetable of some kind to be really healthy. I get 201 calories per serving as written, via MFP. https://www.eatthismuch.com/recipe/view/veggie-tuna-mac,48545/

I haven't made this yet, but I'm planning on it next week. Maybe pizza would be worth a little cooking? http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/broccoli_rabe_chicken_white_pizza.html

Frozen spinach and cheese ravioli...all you do is warm the spinach with some oil in a skillet while boiling the ravioli, for 263 calories. http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/florentine_ravioli.html

If you like Mexican food, this one is nice. You mix up a filling of black beans, cheese, salsa, and avocado, put it in tortillas, and heat them in a skillet. If you want you could skip the skillet and heat them in the microwave. EatingWell says 377 calories. http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/black_bean_quesadillas.html

The other thing is if you bake chicken or white fish, you can easily add seasonings to make it a different taste on different days. I like doing a little honey with some butter, black pepper and a generous amount of cayenne pepper; or cover the filets with spinach and douse liberally with vanilla extract with a bit of salt. Spices like cayenne, garlic, black pepper, etc are basically free, so play with them. I often just smell the bottle to see whether it smells like what I'm in the mood for.