Healthy meatless meals

paulawhitegonzalez

Hello! As a Catholic who fasts during Lent, and as a person who is limiting her caloric intake to lose weight, what are some healthy options for meals that don’t include meat (fish is allowed)? For example, I love tuna melts but I know mayonnaise and cheese add on calories and fat. Are there healthier ways to make tuna melts so you can still eat something you love without as much guilt and damage to your diet? What are some other healthy meal options?

tcunbeliever

Minestrone soup, or any kind of veggie soup, so filling and still low cal.

I make tuna paties with just tuna, a little egg, and some crushed crackers or breadcrumbs, then form like a burger and fry...that might be a lower calorie version of a tuna melt if egg is allowed.

Salads are a good option if you like greens...you can use beans and mushrooms for protein.

Pasta dishes are another good option, particularly if you use a lot of veggies and a low cal sauce.

janejellyroll

When I was in a deficit, I found beans and vegetables to be a satisfying meal. You can do all kinds of flavor combinations - Italian spices and tomato sauce, Indian-style curries, chilis, etc so you can still feel like you're getting variety.

1-2 ounces of pasta mixed with vegetables and sauce is usually a reasonable amount of calories too.

estherdragonbat

I'm going through a seitan phase right now. (I'm working my way through the 1,000 Vegan Recipes cookbook in order and I'm in the seitan mains). This past week, I marinated seitan cubes, threaded them on skewers with cherry tomatoes, mushrooms, zucchini, and yellow pepper, and grilled them. 12 skewers at a little over 100 calories each (Weight of vegetables will vary, but for me, I got 4 servings of 3 skewers for 310 calories) and this vegan creamed corn recipe: https://theprettybee.com/gluten-free-vegan-creamed-corn/ made with unsweetened almond milk, came in at 139 calories for a 1/6 of the recipe serving.

lalalacroix

I'm a pescatarian. These are some of the meals I've eaten this week:

Baked whole wheat pasta with veggies and cheese.

Roasted veggies and baked tofu served over rice with sweet and sour sauce.

Large salad with refried beans and grilled tuna, topped with salsa and guacamole.

Mashed potatoes, grilled salmon and roasted broccoli.

zeejane03

My meal plan today:

breakfast: 2 slices whole grains/seed bread, toasted, with 2 triangles light cheese spread

lunch: serving of quinoa (it's a frozen steamers option that comes blended with herbs and kale), with sauteed mushrooms and onions (with 1tsp oil), cherry tomatoes, 1/2 cup riced cauliflower, feta cheese, shrimp and teriyaki sauce (all mixed together)

afternoon: green smoothie with spinach, low fat Greek yogurt, strawberries and a banana

supper: sweet potato burrito: tortilla shell filled with mashed sweet potato, black beans, taco seasoning and salsa

Comes in at around 1,400 calories.

lemurcat2

paulawhitegonzalez wrote: »

Hello! As a Catholic who fasts during Lent, and as a person who is limiting her caloric intake to lose weight, what are some healthy options for meals that don’t include meat (fish is allowed)? For example, I love tuna melts but I know mayonnaise and cheese add on calories and fat. Are there healthier ways to make tuna melts so you can still eat something you love without as much guilt and damage to your diet? What are some other healthy meal options?

Endless.

Anything egg based -- I often have omelets for dinner, and you can have a salad with hard boiled eggs on top, or make an egg-salad sandwich (try something like this for a higher protein, no mayo option: https://www.wellplated.com/healthy-egg-salad/).

Greek yogurt and cottage cheese are good meatless sources of protein.

Try other sorts of fish, if you haven't. I love a pasta with smoked salmon, lots of veg, and some olives or pine nuts, and/or feta. Cooking salmon or cod or trout, among many others, just plain with a lemon (or lemon and butter if you have the cals) on it is great. Have veg and a starch on the side. (You can get these frozen pretty easily, which can be cheaper.) Tuna steak is amazing if available -- I hate canned tuna, but love tuna steak. Since you do like canned tuna, think of something like a salad nicoise. A couple of examples (but once you have the basic idea you can adapt and make it much simpler):

https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1015078-nicoise-salad-with-basil-and-anchovy-lemon-vinaigrette

https://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/nicoise_salad/

For fish, I'd also say shrimp are a really easy addition to a pasta or stir fry, and I'd highly recommend checking out or buying Mark Bittman's Fish cookbook.

Beyond fish, good options include beans and lentils and tofu and tempeh. One super easy option is a stir fry with rice and vegetabls and some tofu (Japanese seven spice and soy sauce are delicious without adding calories too). A bean-based chili or lentil stew or pasta with white beans and veg are some more easy and delicious options. I also enjoy a white bean and kale soup and a meatless version of a Cuban style black beans and rice.

Sunshine_And_Sand

For me, I feel Chili is a good meatless go to. It can be as easy (literally just opening a bunch of cans and packets and throwing them in the pot and cooking it) or as difficult (chopping lots of ingredients) as you want it to be. The beans or chickpeas you put in it are really filling to me and I don't feel deprived for not having meat with that meal.
A few of my favorites are sweet potato/black bean chili and pumpkin/chickpea chili.

glittergirlTO

For a healthier tuna melt I love some lemon juice, lemon zest and celery seeds, I also often add some dill and or dill pickles and red onion, and red or orange peppers for crunch.
Have you ever tried vegan mayo? Tyet sell it at most grocery stores or you can make your own healthy version using aquafaba (bean water) and healthy oil like cold pressed flax oil for an Omega 3 boost or cold pressed olive oil. There are also some really great low fat low cal vegan cheeses that melt and some delicious ones made from nuts. Mashing up an avocado or mixing in some hummus is tasty too. Or in place of cutting fat and instead cutting carbs and increasing veggies you can make your usual tuna melt but put them in zuccini boats instead of on bread, and just restrict the amount of mayo and cheese to suggested amounts 1tbs of mayo and 1 oz of cheese.

Panini911

I like vegetarian curries and chillies with lentils (and beans if you like). I actually almost always make these vegetarian...

t00lz

I’ve been using hummus a lot recently as an alternative to spreads like mayo or butters, don’t know if it works with tuna though 🤷‍♂️

janejellyroll

glittergirlTO wrote: »

For a healthier tuna melt I love some lemon juice, lemon zest and celery seeds, I also often add some dill and or dill pickles and red onion, and red or orange peppers for crunch.
Have you ever tried vegan mayo? Tyet sell it at most grocery stores or you can make your own healthy version using aquafaba (bean water) and healthy oil like cold pressed flax oil for an Omega 3 boost or cold pressed olive oil. There are also some really great low fat low cal vegan cheeses that melt and some delicious ones made from nuts. Mashing up an avocado or mixing in some hummus is tasty too. Or in place of cutting fat and instead cutting carbs and increasing veggies you can make your usual tuna melt but put them in zuccini boats instead of on bread, and just restrict the amount of mayo and cheese to suggested amounts 1tbs of mayo and 1 oz of cheese.

I love vegan mayo and cheeses, but the calories are usually around the same as for the regular versions. Is there a specific low calorie vegan cheese you recommend?

swirlybee

You can substitute Greek yogurt for the mayo or skip the cheese altogether. It won't be tuna melt without the cheese but still good. I'd also add more green to help satiety.

littlegreenparrot1

Ratatouille, I chuck in a handful of red lentils while it's cooking so it's a bit more filling.

Have it with pasta, on baked potatoes, use it as a filling for enchiladas, endless possibilities.
(For those who haven't come across it, it's a tomato based veg stew)

janejellyroll

jamesmiclee wrote: »

paulawhitegonzalez wrote: »

Hello! As a Catholic who fasts during Lent, and as a person who is limiting her caloric intake to lose weight, what are some healthy options for meals that don’t include meat (fish is allowed)? For example, I love tuna melts but I know mayonnaise and cheese add on calories and fat. Are there healthier ways to make tuna melts so you can still eat something you love without as much guilt and damage to your diet? What are some other healthy meal options?

What is the problem you want to solve? You have two challenges. One is you don't want to be hungry. Two is you want to be entertained by your food. To solve one, you need to eat more protein. Reason being, protein makes you feel full. Fuller than carbs. Suggest finding a healthy protein source like vegan 90+ protein powder, made from peas and soy, etc and available flavorless, so you can mix it with your regular food... or flavored if you wanna shake. The second problem is solved by this also. But how?

My experience with missing certain foods or wanting to eat certain things is, yes, I love certain foods but I only think about them when I am hungry. If I ate enough food already then I am not hungry. Example: I love pizza. But, I don't crave pizza right after I just ate. It just does not happen.

Satiety can be highly individual. While it's true that many people feel satiated by more protein, others find that fat or even carbohydrates is the macronutrient that helps them feel satisfied.

AnnPT77

jamesmiclee wrote: »

paulawhitegonzalez wrote: »

Hello! As a Catholic who fasts during Lent, and as a person who is limiting her caloric intake to lose weight, what are some healthy options for meals that don’t include meat (fish is allowed)? For example, I love tuna melts but I know mayonnaise and cheese add on calories and fat. Are there healthier ways to make tuna melts so you can still eat something you love without as much guilt and damage to your diet? What are some other healthy meal options?

What is the problem you want to solve? You have two challenges. One is you don't want to be hungry. Two is you want to be entertained by your food. To solve one, you need to eat more protein. Reason being, protein makes you feel full. Fuller than carbs. Suggest finding a healthy protein source like vegan 90+ protein powder, made from peas and soy, etc and available flavorless, so you can mix it with your regular food... or flavored if you wanna shake. The second problem is solved by this also. But how?

My experience with missing certain foods or wanting to eat certain things is, yes, I love certain foods but I only think about them when I am hungry. If I ate enough food already then I am not hungry. Example: I love pizza. But, I don't crave pizza right after I just ate. It just does not happen.

There's no particular reason to believe vegetarians need to use protein powder in order to eat sufficient protein (even if they are particularly satiated by protein, something that's very individual, not universal). There's nothing wrong with protein powder, but I don't personally find it tasty or satiating, so life is too short to eat that when I could have tasty food instead. (I've been vegetarian for 45 years; my 100g+ daily protein goal is appropriate for my size.)

OP, there are innumerable vegetarian options. Some things I've been enjoying lately that are nutrient-dense but relatively low in calories include:

* Black bean and sweet potato soft tacos (on Ezekiel tortillas, especially). A cheese like cotija is a nice addition, if you have the calories.

* Edamame/soy or black bean noodles with lots of stir-fried veggies, and a peanut sauce made from peanut butter powder, soy sauce or chili paste, rice vinegar, and seasonings (choose from grated fresh ginger root, minced garlic, finely chopped green onions, Szechuan pepper, or pretty much anything that sounds good).

* Whole-wheat mini-pita sandwiches with reduced-fat mozzarella (melted), smoked tofu, mustard, thinly-sliced sweet onion, and sauerkraut.

* For me, a very filling breakfast is oatmeal with mixed berries (frozen, thawed), nonfat Greek yogurt, cinnamon, a few walnets, and a bit of blackstrap molasses (yummy and high in potassium).

* Spaghetti squash with copious sauteed mushrooms and fresh broccoli, fire-roasted diced tomatoes (from a can), maybe some tempeh or seitan, and a bit of fresh-grated parmesan (fewer calories than you'd think for a small but flavorful amount). Lentils in the sauce is another option.

LookingBusy

If I need to cut a few calories, I will make tuna melts with all the mayo that I want, but instead of bread I will put it on slices of tomato or zucchini, then top with cheese and broil. They are super tasty and filling that way.

quoteloveunquote

We eat a lot of salmon and beans during Lent (tonight was salmon with salad and roasted asparagus tossedinto since leftover plain pasta from earlier this week). And tuna melts too-- I'll make them open faced and be careful about measuring mayo and cheese and pair a portion I can fit into my day with a salad or some other vegetable.

apullum

I just had this for dinner: https://kalynskitchen.com/spicy-sriracha-tofu-peanut-butter/

I bake the pressed tofu with just a spray of oil. I also roast some broccoli and then toss it together with the tofu and sauce. PB2 would probably work in the sauce if you wanted to lower the calories further.