Need some healthy recipes!

Pumpkin_Latte07

Alright my healthy friends, I need your help!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I'm very busy young woman with a tight schedule and tight budget. I would love some quick and easy recipes ideas that I could make for myself and my boyfriend. Fast food is not an option! I don't eat that crap anymore, However, I'm not really known for my cooking skills lol. I'm not a salad fan fyi, but I have nothing against veggies. So a good vegeritarin dish suggestions are perfectly fine! (FYI no recipes with nuts. I just hate nuts) All i seem to eat are light ham sandwiches with baby carrots. BORING! I need quick and easy meals, but if I'm not working then I'm on the go to either dance or class.
I weight over 240 lbs and i'm 5'5. My goal is to lose 50 lbs in the next 2-3 months (at least see some decent results) and lose 120 overall. I can and I WILL make this happen.

Drawberry

I bet you'd get really bored after a while of eating just sandwiches and carrots! Not quite sure how 'quick' this one will be, but it's a favorite of mine because I can use the chicken on all sorts of different dishes.

Italian Chicken:
1 boneless chicken breast
1 bottle of Italian salad dressing. Just pick your favorite.
Cooking spray/butter/cooking lubricant of your choice

Cut the chicken breast in half, and then in slices from each half.
Heat a pan large enough to hold all the chicken, and apply cooking spray (or other lubricant )and place the sliced chicken breast into the pan.
Lightly brown the chicken, cooking until no longer pink inside.
Using the Italian dressing of your choice, apply small 'squirts' from the bottle slowly so as to not drench the chicken and use too much dressing. You will not need much dressing at all.
Continue to cook the chicken until the majority of the dressing is no longer in the bottom of the pan and the chicken has darkly browned. (I like mine to be fairly burnt actually!)

Alternately you can place the Italian dressing into a large zip-top bag and place the chicken in the bag to marinate over night or for several hours prior to cooking.

I love cooking this batch up and sealing in a storage container in the fridge. I can heat the chicken up quickly to add to pasta, put on salads, or have alone with a side of peas. If you cook it ahead of time and store in the fridge it's very easy to heat up small portions for later. If you liked you could even put some of the chicken inside of a wrap.

A very quick and very tasty dish I love to make for a snack, or even as a light lunch or breakfast is a yogurt parfait.

1 container low-fat vanilla yogurt
1 container fresh strawberries (blueberries would taste great here too. I just don't have any!)
A box of your favorite low-calorie granola (granola cereal is my favorite to use instead of just bags of the stuff since you usually get stuff like almonds mixed in)

You can change the size of the glass you use based on if your just having a small snack, or a light lunch. For a lunch I would use a tall ice-cream glass or even a wine glass. For a snack I will use a short glass.

Simply pile in a spoonful of yogurt into the bottom, top with the strawberries (and other fruits you enjoy, just don't put the layer on too thick), another spoonful of yogurt and topped with more fruit and then a handful of granola. For the taller glasses you may use a bit more yogurt-just don't over too it with TOO much.

That one is really quick, and very tasty.

bozzalozza

I often use this site for inspiration for simple, healthy recipes that are lower in budget (mainly because the author tries to keep ingredients to the minimum).
http://thestonesoup.com/blog/start-here/

In particular you might like the '50 healthy meals, 10 minutes' page
http://thestonesoup.com/blog/2011/06/50-healthy-10-minute-meals/

MLgarcia3

Skinnytaste.com!

mmsilvia

Check out Hungry Girl. Everything is really good, easy & healthy. And, most of her reciepes are geared to 1-2 people.

aekaya

poorgirleatswell.com!

MariaAlbina

Skinnytaste.com!

This!

dadeys1

Here's a few of my favorites: Grilled Chicken Bruschetta with Oven Roasted Baby Red Potatoes and Buffalo Chicken Wraps. Good Luck!

GRILLED CHICKEN BRUSCHETTA
Servings: 4 . Serving Size: 4 oz chicken + tomatoes . Calories: 236.8

Ingredients:
1 box thin spaghetti (if desired), spaghetti not included in calorie count
above
3 medium vine ripe tomatoes
2 small cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup chopped red onion
2 tbsp fresh basil leaves, chopped
1 tbsp extra virgin oil
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste
3 oz part skim mozzarella, diced (optional)
1.5 lbs boneless chicken breasts or cutlets
Other grilling spices (optional)

Directions:
1. Combine onion, olive oil, balsamic, salt and pepper. Set aside a few
minutes
2. Chop tomatoes and place in a large bowl. Combine with garlic, basil,
onion-balsamic combo and additional salt and pepper to taste. Set aside and
let it sit at least 10 minutes or as long as overnight. Toss in the cheese
when ready to serve (cheese optional)
3. Prepare spaghetti per the package directions
4. Season chicken with salt, fresh pepper and other spices (if desired).
Grill the chicken cutlets on your indoor or outdoor grill
5. Top chicken with bruschetta and serve (with or without spaghetti)

OVEN ROASTED BABY RED POTATOES
10-12 baby red potatoes (cut into quarters, approximately 1-2" chunks)
2 Tbs olive oil
2 tsp Lowry's seasoned salt (to taste)
2 tsp Garlic powder (to taste)
Other Italian spices

1. Cut potatoes into 1-2" chunks, place in big bowl
2. Drizzle olive oil over potatoes, mix well
3. Sprinkle seasoning over potatoes, mix well. If desired, add some Italian
seasoning (oregano, basil, etc). I've also sprinkled them with a dry pork
rub. I used Drapers and they were really good.
4. Spread onto cookie sheet in a single layer. We use a Pampered Chef stone
cookie sheet and they baked nicely
5. Bake on 425 degrees for 30-40 minutes until tender


BUFFALO CHICKEN WRAPS
Servings: 5 Serving Size: 1 wrap Calories: 410 per wrap
Ingredients:
Approximately 1.5 lbs chicken (diced)
1 tsp garlic
1 tsp seasoned salt
1 tsp pepper
10 Tbs Wishbone fat free blue cheese dressing
8 Tbs Frank's Red Hot Thick Sauce
1 2/3 cups Weight Watchers Mexican Blend Cheese
5 Toufayan Low Carb/Low Fat Wraps
1 stalk celery (diced), if desired
leaf lettuce (if desired)

Directions
1. Spray frying pan with no stick spray
2. Sprinkle garlic, seasoned salt and pepper over diced chicken, mix well
3. Cook chicken over medium heat until done
4. Mix blue cheese dressing and Frank's Red Hot sauce. Vary mixture for
desire level of hot
5. Pour mixture over chicken, mix well
6. Reduce heat to low and cook additional 2 minutes
7. Place cheese in tortilla, top with chicken and celery
8. Serve, makes 5 wraps

Denfks

I'm not a meat eater, but I do cook it for my family. If you have a slow cooker, throw 4 pounds of your favorite lean mean in large slabs (chicken breasts, beef, or whatever) in with 1 small can of tomato paste, half a chopped onion (or a little handful of dehydrated onion), some garlic powder, 2 tsp of boullion, 1/2 cup of your favorite salsa. Let it simmer until it shreds easily - chicken takes less time (4 hours? unless you throw it in frozen), but I let the beef go for 7 hours. Once it shreds easily, just shred it up right in the cooker and it will absorb the broth into the shreds. Serve it up on warm tortillas with fresh veggies (like shredded cabbage, spinach, or lettuce and diced tomatoes) and cheese if you like it. You will have leftovers that freeze up really well or can be used to make enchiladas, tamales, etc. Works well for us, because I just eat tortillas with beans and veggies, and the boys eat meat.