Puerto Rican Style Dishes

MyKids04

I need help.
See I have been sticking to my diet and my family is suffering. See me and my two older children are Puerto Rican and I married a Black man and we had two kids. Well last night I made baked chicken breast with steamed veggies for dinner and a garden salad.

Everyone ate and did not say much but this morning my daughter told me when was I going to start cooking our food again.

And she is reffering to red rice and beans, pork shoulder, pastellios ( puerto rican style beef patties ), ETC. all seasoned with Adobo, Sazon and Sofrito. Well I don't know how to make any of those dishes to be low cal.

I need help anyone know any Puerto Rican diet dishes that will make my family happy again please let me know.

JenSteck

Like my husband always says...google it.
here is one example I found.
http://www.ma.iup.edu/Pueblo/latino_cultures/recipes.html

http://www.sistertosister.org/recipes <<< this one had a lot too.

okay...now I'm hungry. I'm thinking some of these recipes will be used in my near future...YUM.

April0815

bump

Deb1971

bump
We just came back from Peurto Rico and fell in love with the food. Tostones are the best.

tryingagain2

try using lo sodium chicken broth in place of oil to cook the rice dishes ...for example saute the garlic/onions or sofritio in it....its yummy and lo cal!

rice and beans is VERY good for the entire family ....try adding more bell peppers and veggies to it if you can....big salads but zesty dressings...maybe some lime juice....and just keep the tostones to a few nights a week maybe....canola oil is good! : )

how bout adding some boneless chicken breasts to the rice and beans....it cooks up so moist! mm mm good!

I'm italian, my hub is pr and we make lots of variations....I'll try to think of some more!

:flowerforyou:

msarro

Sazon con achiote isn't that bad for you actually, especially with rice and beans. Actually rice and beans isn't that bad in general. Try subbing in brown rice - beans are super healthy for you to begin with. Just watch the amount of salt

Don't know about the pork shoulder or the pastellios, I gave them up when I stopped eating meat

sabbles

we make empanadas with seasoned ground turkey, instead of beef.

instead of frying, trying spritzing plantains with oil, and baking.

For arroz con pollo, use chicken breast and low sodium chicken broth. (for some reason, my family has never used pork in rice and beans.)

Instead of pork shoulder, try seasoning porkloin and baking, or grilling. Also, try pork chops or any leaner cut of pork.

Any of these meals can be served with a side salad.

sabbles

additionally, a favorite in my house is adobo chicken: season the chicken breasts with a light layer of olive oil and adobo, then bake. Serve with fresh corn on the cob, and mango slices.

super yummy!

MyKids04

Its been some time that I checked my topics but thanks guys for your post.

brightlight257

Bump.

This is so helpful!

agbmom556

Rice bowls -rice, meat veggies
Our whole family eats them I measure mine out.

Queenmunchy

Skinnytaste has some great recipes. Her carne guisada, pollo guisada, arroz con pollo, picadillo, tostones, and empanadas are some of my favorites.

http://www.skinnytaste.com/latin-recipes/

ritzvin

The trick for the rice & beans for me is to dilute the rice & beans with a LOT of vegetables (add 1-2 bags of frozen spinach, for instance, is an easy way). It drops the calorie density a lot while still being very similar to what you are all used to.

My boyfriend spent 7 years in Puerto Rico for grad school (originally from Colombia), so lunch HAS to be 'rice & beans' or it doesn't count. I batch cook large pots of rice/vegetables/beans/meat A LOT. You can tailor the calorie content and protein content per serving pretty well, by varying how much rice and how much meat you add to a LARGE amount of vegetables. Despite adding a much larger volume of vegetables to the caldero than rice (which I pre-cook to the side in a rice cooker while simmering the frozen & canned vegetables and meat), he seems to be happy with it (though he will pick out specific things he doesn't like, such as olives, if I happen to add them. His brother will pick out green beans). I especially like to add a lot of spinach for nutrition and volume and mushrooms and snap peas which I love. When done, I portion into containers (typically 12-16 of them) and stick in freezer and calculate the calorie per serving on MFP (which generally ranges from 250-400). (I don't have time to cook most days - so I have always typically batch cooked). He can bump up the calories if he wants by adding an arepa or hard boiled egg or eating a second serving or, as he frequently does, adding a banana and ketchup on top.

I can't help you on the pastelillos - I have no idea how to get those healthy. If the pork shoulder is getting chopped up and going into rice or another dish, then a smaller amount diluted into the lower calorie items can help. On its own will be hard.

ritzvin

Example for the rice/beans. Slightly higher calorie than usual: I usually add 1 more bag of frozen vegetables than I did in this batch but ran out; and I used a generous amount of pork sausage for the meat instead of a rotisserie chicken; and I used 1/4 rather than the usual 1/8 cup of oil). (Most of the listed amounts correspond to 1 can/1 bag/½ bag of beans or frozen vegetables).

lulalacroix

Wow. Old post is exceptionally old.

dklibert

Not authentic but yummy! soupspiceeverythingnice.blogspot.com/2015/10/spaghetti-squash-with-sofrito-and-beans.html