I'll take anything you got!

MFPfriend

Hey guys! So I was in Germany all last year, in a study abroad program. I'm finally back home in America, and getting back into the swing of eating well.
Problem is, I'm living with my father this year, who is most definitely not the model of "good eating". I made him a deal- I get to choose the meals, I cook, and he'll clean.

Today's my first night on the job! I'm sort of excited, but I honestly have NO idea what to cook. We're pretty much an open book- my dad likes almost anything (except spicy foods), and so do I (also not including spicy foods and fish). Though, a meal with meat is a good idea so my father doesn't go crazy. I can cook, that's not the problem, I'm just completely lost on ideas.

While living with my mom, we usually had some-kind-of-meat, some-kind-of-veggie, and some-kind-of-starch. Now, that's okay, but it's REALLY basic and kind of boring.

So I'm open to any suggestions!! We're on a budget, but it's not too demanding (we just can't go all-out for our food). I'm doing a Google search, too, but I'm also looking for any new tried-and-true-MFP-approved meals.

Thanks guys! Have a great, healthy day!

00trayn

I found a cool blog called 400caloriesorless.com that has lots of suggestions on meals to cook and the portion sizes are 400 calories or less. It has more than dinners, but I've gotten a few good ideas on there. Also, check out Hungry Girl (website and cookbooks), lots of great suggestions there too.

pa_jorg

Make quesadillas with pre-cooked chicken, a veggie, a small amount of cheese and whole wheat tortillas. You can top with salsa or even BBQsauce.

Or how about breakfast for dinner and make veggie omelets.

echeindl

http://www.eatbetteramerica.com/default.aspx

Pretty much the best website for low-cal eating!

calikimi

I have a cook book I love called "I can't belive its not fattening!" when feeding my 6'2 280lb Fiance he refuses to eat "diet" food. There are so many great recipes that don't taste like diet food whatsoever! One of my favorites is the crouton crusted chicken! Yum

aippolito1

Trust me, it's not boring!!! At least, it doesn't have to be. It all comes down to variety, sauces & spices. Try fajitas! Get some corn tortillas (or flour - just watch how many you eat), cut up some chicken breast (or even ground beef - just make sure it's high on lean and low on fat, such as 85/15, 90/10, etc), sautee it in olive oil with some steak seasoning or even just some basil or italian seasoning. Once it's close to white, throw in some bell peppers & onion (frozen is easiest for me and doesn't go bad so it lasts longer if I'm not in the mood for it)... then you can add cheese & sour cream if you want or not. For fajitas, I love just adding a small dollop of reduced fat sour cream. You could also make some guacamole (just mash up avocado, tomato, onion, a TINY bit of sour cream, some lime & lemon juices, salt & pepper, voila! delicious).


My go to is meat, white rice (made in a rice cooker) and a veggie. Usually is chicken, rice, broccoli, or chicken, rice, spinach, or chicken, rice, peas, etc. You can add a little bit of butter & parmesan for more taste but this is seriously my go-to.

mamapoulsen4

My favorite websites are:

www.eatbetteramerica.com
www.pillsbury.com/recipes
www.skinnytaste.com

Tnrbeaner

One of my favorite go-to dinners is to spread a flat-out whole grain wrap with barbecue sauce, finely chop some candadian bacon or rotissiere chicken and sprinkle over the top, some chopped red onion and either fresh pineapple or mango salsa from the salad bar at the grocery store and then sprinkle with a little cheese of your choice. Bake at 350 until the cheese is melted and you have a easy and delish Hawaiin Pizza. And serve with a side salad.

mwilson57

I second the recommendation for www.skinnytaste.com! There are a ton of great recipes there!

mwilson57

I second the recommendation for www.skinnytaste.com! There are a ton of great recipes there!

bmccrory2

bump

MFPfriend

I love you guys! These websites are amazing! I can't wait to get cooking, I'm already writing my shopping list.
Keep 'em coming!!

Evotchka

What I usually do is go crazy on veggies in the store so that I have a lot of them at home and then I use the ingredients-search on Allrecipes.com to find something that has such and such veggie in it. Then again, I'm a vegetarian so the meat part is not an option anyway. Allrecipes usually shows the calories below the description plus there's tons of reviews with tips from other users. But thanks to all of the above for giving low cal cooking sites, I definitely need to check them out!
As for a quick idea tonight for you MFPfriend, something my mom would make when we were young:
1 pound carrots
2 sticks (for lack of a better word) leeks
1 pound lean ground beef
around 4 servings of brown rice

use a little bit of olive oil to cook the sliced carrots in a pan, after approximately 10 minutes add the leeks and some water plus a bit of vegetable boullion (I use Knorr and I use about 1/3 of a cube). In another skillet, cook ground meat until brown and spice to taste (here I would use just salt and pepper and some paprika sometimes). Cook rice as usual.
Then mix everything together, if you want to you can add just a tad of curry so that the rice just turns a little yellow.

Sorry for not very good directions haha, that's the way I normally cook, I just through it all together and eyeball most of it
Nowadays I obviously don't add the meat and use more leeks but my mom preferred more carrots actually. You can adjust that for your own taste

Hope that helps!
Guten Appetit