Tired of the same old thing!

kwilson23144
kwilson23144 Posts: 14 Member
edited November 20 in Recipes
Hi everyone!! So obviously I'm trying to eat healthy but as I've been going along I find that I keep eating the same old thing. Chicken mostly. And it seems that Pinterest has all the same old recipes just tweeked in different ways. Does anyone have any healthy dinner recipes that are different and a little outside the box?? It would be greatly appreciated!! :)

Replies

  • schmidt8211
    schmidt8211 Posts: 1 Member
    I hear you!! Here is what I'm making for dinner tonight. It's chicken -but a little different.. instead of a bun-I'm placing on a lettuce leaf! 733f3ogu760k.jpg
  • Geocitiesuser
    Geocitiesuser Posts: 1,429 Member
    A little expensive but sometimes I like to go to the fresh seafood section of the grocer and buy sea scallops, fresh shrimp, and/or lobster. Then I just sear it in a pan.
  • kwilson23144
    kwilson23144 Posts: 14 Member
    HeidiCooksSupper wrote: »
    Feel free to watch my diary. I tend to make different things every day because I like to cook. You can always ask me what the strange list of supper ingredients turned into. Don't use tonight as much of an example. It's probably going to be just a Trader Joe's Turkey patty next to summer squash and those Thai cucumbers.

    A recent non-chicken example of a meal was baked stuffed portobello mushrooms next to a pile of green beans with a few potato chunks in pesto. Last night we had a Asian-inspired chicken and rice salad next to a pile of Thai-style marinated cucumbers. Earlier in the week we had a baked layered dish of sweet potatoes and ricotta cheese sort of like a lasagna. Even earlier, it was a bulgur wheat, veggies & fresh mozzarella salad. Oh, yes, and there was some beef stuck in there. I made a big pot of red pepper "bolognese" and we had some of it on spaghetti one night. The rest is in the freezer.

    Oh wow that all sounds super delicious!! I'll definitely follow your diary!! Thank you for the help!!
  • kwilson23144
    kwilson23144 Posts: 14 Member
    schmidt8211 wrote: »
    I hear you!! Here is what I'm making for dinner tonight. It's chicken -but a little different.. instead of a bun-I'm placing on a lettuce leaf! 733f3ogu760k.jpg

    We do BBQ chicken a lot actually! But the lettuce leaf sounds like a really great substitute for the bun!
  • HeidiCooksSupper
    HeidiCooksSupper Posts: 3,839 Member
    HeidiCooksSupper wrote: »
    ... I tend to make different things every day because I like to cook. You can always ask me what the strange list of supper ingredients turned into. Don't use tonight as much of an example.

    Ignore that. New plan for tonight: Salmon/rice patties/croquettes with the Thai-style cucumbers.


  • EllaLeahB
    EllaLeahB Posts: 310 Member
    Have you ever tried zoodles? I make those quite often and sometimes put pesto over them or make a meat sauce whether I use beef or ground turkey and sometimes I'll even use ground chicken. You can make pork tenderloin, baked yams, roast squash, broccoli or even bake a potato and have a side salad with it. Just a few random ideas. I just started a whole another way of eating so I'm not really eating lean meats, definitely different from what I've ever done before.
  • thewindandthework
    thewindandthework Posts: 531 Member
    edited July 2017
    I don't have any recipe suggestions because I'm not really a recipe kind of person, but I can certainly tell you where most of my inspiration comes from.

    It's the internet and markets, in conjunction. Here's what I do.

    I am blessed and have access to three wonderful supermarkets with lots of nice produce and spice sections, one smaller one with sad produce but great spices and condiments (especially in the Mexican grocery section), and a tiny Asian market chock full of fascinating stuff, from Turkey all the way to Japan. I look at what they have and either make note of what's interesting or go ahead and buy it if it's affordable and/or irresistible.

    Then I Google the interesting ingredients to get an idea of how they're used, and what flavors tend to be paired with them. I formulate a plan, gather whatever ingredients I don't have, and cook away.

    And the more I learn, and the better-stocked my pantry and fridge are, the easier it gets to improvise a Greek lunch, or a Thai dinner, or a Mexican brunch, or whatever strikes my fancy.
  • tumsashrinks
    tumsashrinks Posts: 21 Member
    Something I am currently doing: a cookbook challenge. If you have a cookbook (with healthy recipes or recipes that you can tweak to fit your caloric needs), try to cook every recipe out of it. Usually, they will differ from each other since the author wants to showcase what they/you can cook. I tend to find a few recipes that share ingredients and cook them in a row so it's easier/cheaper to buy stuff without wasting. And you don't have to cook every meal out of the book, of course, but it's fun to try new stuff. I am currently going through "The Oh She Glows Cookbook" by Angela Liddon and have found quite a few recipes I love and want to cook again, it also helps to find new combinations of ingredients that I can reuse in my own versions of the dish.
  • Andy10725
    Andy10725 Posts: 68 Member
    grind chicken mixed with grind turkey to make a good red sauce spaghetti. I would advice making your own broth but you can use those can one if you wish.
    Ingredients:
    Garlic
    Tomatoes
    Grind chicken & turkey
    Union
    Broth
    Basil
    Mushroom

    Follow the typical meat sauce recipe procedure and u will be fine.

    You can sub tomatos with those can paste if you wish. Broth as always is the key to all cooking. Would recommend making your own but those can one is fine too.
  • mjbnj0001
    mjbnj0001 Posts: 1,266 Member
    It was 90-ish today here, and I was sitting by the pool thinking how I was going to prep dinner tonight - based on boneless chicken breasts - and I had a sudden, "I can't eat another chicken breast this week!" moment appropriate to this message thread. You'd think that all the marinade-flavoring versions I use, this wouldn't be a problem, but it was today.

    I'm also cheap, and wasn't going to shop to replace the on-hand chicken with something else.

    So rather than doing the BBQ-grilled chicken I tentatively planned (typical, but good), I was inspired to grind the chicken and make grilled chicken patties. The store-bought ones are always tasteless slushy plops. This was my first attempt at grinding my own chicken. I often render cooked chicken in the food processor for chicken salad, but this was a first, being raw.

    Mine were likewise a bit slushy until they cooked and got firm, but had good flavor. Here is a basic ingredient list (your times, amounts and etc. will vary):

    - 3+ lbs boneless chicken breast, minced (I used my food processor, 10 1-second bursts on each pound, pre-cubed to about 1-1.5" sizes).
    - 1/2 large red onion, minced in the food processor
    - 2.5 large stalks of celery, minced in the food processor
    - 1/2 cup panko bread crumbs as a binder (should have used more)
    - 3 large eggs, beaten
    - season to taste:
    -- salt
    -- black pepper
    -- cayenne pepper
    -- garlic powder
    -- "poultry blend" herbs (I used Litehouse brand)
    - mix thoroughly, but don't overdo it and make a mush mess.

    This made 12 hefty burgers, taking 6-6-2-2 minutes (I'm a several-flips guy) on my grill to reach proper cooked temp. I have to post the recipe into MFP to get a macros approximation. I ate mine as-is, wife and daughter used BBQ sauce topping. I used my veggie-grilling plate inset for the patties, as they would have dripped between the grill rods. I minced the veggies and chicken separately in the food processor, as I was unsure of the chicken results.

    For an improvisation, the result wasn't bad. If this looks similar to a chicken loaf recipe, I'd guess I'd admit they might be cousins, LOL. Fairly fast and easy, too.
  • bruby28
    bruby28 Posts: 4,123 Member
    Marinated pork chops , cauliflower mashed potatoes , salmon topped with mango salsa or avocado , tuna salad , egg salad , toast with cottage cheese and avocado , marinade chicken in tastier ways - citrus fruits , cilantro , hot sauce , honey mustard etc. Turkey meatloaf , big stir fry lots of veggies add chicken little soy sauce on top of brown rice or quinoa, turkey burgers topped with homemade guacamole , bratwurst with onions and mushrooms , shrimp with lots of veggies , a big salad with fresh fruit / veg/ mozzarella / basil / shredded chicken .
  • SaraydaB
    SaraydaB Posts: 120 Member
    There´s a yoytube channel called Mind over Munch

    he posts really good healthy yummy recipes... check her out! She has everything
  • natshane94
    natshane94 Posts: 4 Member
    Firstly, I completely agree with you on the Pinterest comment. While I'm addicted to it, I do always add my own creativity to Pinterest recipes. One thing that I've come to love and learned from Pinterest is meal prepping, especially when it comes to cooking for my lunch. I'd make smoked/grilled/baked chicken and cut it into smaller chunks to be stored for the whole week in the refrigerator. Then I'd just do Asian sesame chicken stir fry, or multigrain wrap pizza (I bake the wrap) topped with veges and chicken, or even do a cold sandwich using the same chicken I prepped earlier. You can still be eating chicken, but there are endless ways you can cook them :smiley:
  • NapalmZygote
    NapalmZygote Posts: 17 Member
    edited July 2017
    I just made Kung Pao Shrimp based on the recipe from http://chefsavvy.com/kung-pao-shrimp/ (minus one tbsp Kikkoman and plus one tbsp water for the sauce) and a couple other minor tweaks. With one third cup (uncooked) basmati and omitting peanuts, I came in at 486 calories. Really good... not boring... only drawback, lots of sodium but 10/10, will make again. Guten Appetit, Smacznego, and Enjoy :)
  • NapalmZygote
    NapalmZygote Posts: 17 Member
    Geocitiesuser wrote: »
    A little expensive but sometimes I like to go to the fresh seafood section of the grocer and buy sea scallops, fresh shrimp, and/or lobster. Then I just sear it in a pan.

    Shrimp is a go-to for me as well. Calories per gram is pretty low, and it's versatile: use in Asian, Italian, and Mexican dishes. Big fan.
  • HeidiCooksSupper
    HeidiCooksSupper Posts: 3,839 Member
    thewindandthework wrote: »
    I don't have any recipe suggestions because I'm not really a recipe kind of person, but I can certainly tell you where most of my inspiration comes from.

    It's the internet and markets, in conjunction. Here's what I do. ... Then I Google the interesting ingredients to get an idea of how they're used, and what flavors tend to be paired with them. I formulate a plan, gather whatever ingredients I don't have, and cook away.

    Exactly! You'll be amazed the number of recipes for seeming strange combos there are out there. Just try searching a couple vegetables with the word 'recipe' and you are off to the races! Example? Google 'sweet potato red cabbage recipe.'
  • kwilson23144
    kwilson23144 Posts: 14 Member
    SaraydaB wrote: »
    There´s a yoytube channel called Mind over Munch

    he posts really good healthy yummy recipes... check her out! She has everything

    I watch her channel!! She's awesome!
  • erica_today
    erica_today Posts: 185 Member
    My grocery list is all chicken most of the time just need to try new things with it. There's tons I never get tired of chicken because all you can do with it.

    I'll list my meals I've made this week

    *Chicken alphabet soup
    *Chicken and cheesy rice (with broccoli)
    *Chicken Parmesan (a serving of pasta with tomato sauce usually doesn't break my bank and you can always bake your crusted chicken but I always fry in olive oil still)
    *Chicken enchiladas(I don't fry my tortillas, I make the filling with chicken cheese sauce onions and roll in a warmed tortilla then put in a pan that has a layer of sauce on the bottom top with more sauce cheese black olives and chopped scallion and baked to melt cheese then top with shredded lettuce and lite sour cream)
    *shish kabobs (made a marinade with soy sauce, brown sugar, pineapple orange juice, scallions, fresh ginger, garlic, red pepper flakes and blended the skewer with veggies I do onion, bell peppers, zucchini and mushrooms)
    *Thai peanut chicken (its a package of breading I buy in the store and its to die for. It comes with a garlic sauce to coat the chicken then you bread it in this Thai peanut mixture and bake served with brown rice and broccoli)
    *chicken panini(good bakery bread, chipotle mayo, avocado, cheese, sun dried tomato and shredded chicken then grilled)
    *chicken parm lasagna(I have left over sauce and a box of lasagna noodles so why not)
    *in n out burgers(idk who has had in n out on the west coast but I can make their burgers exactly)
    *brisket rib tips(these are cheap and delicious and easy to cook)


  • mvbrown
    mvbrown Posts: 3 Member
    I know it is chicken but I make garlic lime chicken fajitas and they seem to be a hit for all of my family members. They used to sell those premeasured spice packets which is where I got the recipe. Yummy.
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