So I need to change ALL my food choices...

ChantiC

Something Super easy for Breakfast or Lunch and cheap to make

Crustless Broccoli or Spinach Quiche

4 large eggs
1 c. milk
1/2 c. diced onion
1 c. light shredded cheese of your choice
2 c. cooked broccoli or spinach
salt and pepper

Wisk together the eggs and the milk, spices. You can use 8x8 pan or even muffin tin to make smaller portions. Spray Pans with spray oil well. Layer bottom with broccoli or the spinach and onion. Spread 1/2 c. of that light shredded cheese evenly. Then pour the milk and egg mixture on top. Then lastly spread the rest of the cheese on top. Bake at 350 for 1 hr. It will be done when the cheese on top is golden and when you take a toothpick and insert it in the middle and it comes out clean.

This recipe is great to freeze. You can make quiche muffins out of it and they taste good in the microwave the next day too. Good protein and very basic

DebMc150

I get a Rotisserie Chicken from Sam's once a week. take the skin off - it is the best part (but fatty) but the rest of the chicken is great. I put it in zip bags. When I am packing my lunch or dinner I just pull a bag out. Add it to a chinese vegetables La Choy - you can get a can if you don't do fresh veggies and stir or heat and eat from micro.

I also buy a bag of already cooked and pealed shrimp - put those in zip bags. And they are ready to go for any meal also. Just mix with your favorite veggies.

My husband grills once a week for me also when the weather is nice. Salmon, Tuna, lean steak, Turkey burgers. Everythng is zippered up.

Minute rice makes brown rice in cups that take 60 secs I think in a micro - I don't eat rice anymore - but when I did - that was great - I could zap one cup and my husband and I would share.

I premeasure everything on Sunday and zipper it up and only take out what I need- No extra - I lost 150 lbs over 20 years ago - I still struggle with the last 20 - which I am determined more than ever now to get rid of now and just started back this weekend to tracking. you can friend me - we love to cook and I can help you with simple things.

kristen6022

Everyone has time to cook. It's all about priorities. Not having time to cook is just another excuse we make to keep being unhealthy.

Take a few cooking classes. Look for recipes with ingredients you like and alter them to make the recipe healthier. Get a crockpot - you don't need to know how to cook... basically throw a bunch of stuff in the morning and you have dinner for a week.

judychicken

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Ready2Rock206

First of all I doubt you need to change ALL your food choices. And you're insane if you think you can completely change every single thing you eat in one day. :flowerforyou: Start by changing a few things. If you never cook from scratch start by cooking non-processed foods like twice a week. Work your way up in baby steps. Try a few new things and then when you're more comfortable try a few more new things. Looks like you got a few good ideas here to get you started!

VaingloriousVictoria

I love to cook, but I am like you...I have very little time! Here are some tips for you. (It's all about planning!)

1. Buy a crock pot/slow cooker. Use this to cook several meals at a time. Portion the meals out into small containers, and then eat them for lunch or dinner the next day. If you like variety, freeze what you don't eat. The key here is to portion your food out after you have it cooked. Otherwise, you may overeat. Trust me on this one...

2. I like the suggestions others have made about chicken, etc. Mrs. Dash has a variety of low-sodium seasonings, but I like the McCormick with the sodium. To each their own, right? Use a flavor to season your chicken, beef, etc. before you cook it up. You can grill it or pan fry it - whichever works best with your ability. Once it has been cooked, slice it up, weigh it, and package it up for future use. You can even prepackage salads in little containers, put the meat in little baggies, and then toss them into your lunch kit.

3. Again, several people have mentioned this already, but I'm going to bump it and mention it again. Little snacks are great. If you can eat things rich in protein, you'll be less hungry. Try some of these suggestions: mozzarella cheese sticks, tuna snack kits, and jerky are some of my favorites. Veggies are great! Try pre-packaging some carrots, celery, or cherry tomatoes.

4. Be careful snacking on lots of fruit. Lots of natural sugars here...My nutritionist tells me to treat fruit like a dessert.

5. Watch out for foods that are already made for you. Frozen meals are notorious for having lots of sodium and being high in carbs. Read your labels!

I wish you the best of luck!

janicemitchellcross

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kwirky1

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bathsheba_c

Honestly, I have four recipes that I use to make just about everything I eat. If you need an idea for seasonings, I find that a mix of garlic powder, paprika, salt and pepper works good for just about anything from seasoning bread crumbs to sprinkling directly on poultry.

1. Baked chicken
-Put chicken parts on a foil-lined baking sheet
-Season or brush with marinade or bread
-Bake at 350F for an hour

2. Chicken breast
-Cut chicken breast into pieces
-Marinate or bread
-Put on a foil-lined baking sheet
-Bake at 350F for half an hour

3. Red meat of any kind
-Place meat in a foiled line, deep baking pan
-Drizzle with soy sauce and garlic powder
-Broil until desire level of doneness.

4. Breaded, fried anything (chicken breast, turkey breast, veal cutlet, fish)
-Beat an egg in a shallow bowl
-Create bread crumb mixture in a wide plate
-Dip first in egg mixture, then in bread crumb mixture
-Add to fry pan and cook on one side until crumbs are browned
-Flip and cook for a few more minutes
-Note: Fish needs a slightly lower flame than meat

Aquarian

I usually cook a cup of rice and a cup or two of vegetables for lunch. You just need to add salt to the veggies, not even oil if you are going for low fat.

sarahslim100

Find a good cookbook-kids one and learn from it. Have friends show you how to cook-i ask all the time and im a good cook.

For brekkie i have weetbix with fruit, or toast with eggs/ricotta and tomato or pear/sardines/scrapping of avocado. My metabolism is so much better now having brekkie.

For lunch roast pumpkin,sweet potato,eggplant, carrot, parsnip, mushroom..not potato too high gi, with rosemary and olive oil. Fills me up more than my previous lunches so i dont snack

Snacks..greek yoghurt with honey and nuts/fresh fruit, fruit-max 2 pieces per day, glass of plain milk

Dinner- lots of variety. I love salmon steak with lemon juice, corn and veggies/ salad (spinach/rocket/fancy lettuce). Get lots of ideas from michelle bridges crunchtime & no excuses cookbook.

upgetupgetup

I never thought I'd be a Sunday bulk cooking person, but it makes life so much easier. I put off trying it for a looooong time (honestly I hated the idea of food not being the freshest, and it sounded annoying to do). But 1 hour's work on Sunday means lunch and dinner take exactly 10 minutes to prepare until Wednesday. I invested in Glasslock storage containers, which keep things in decent shape for a few days.

I marinate the chicken in garlic, olive and a bit of lemon juice for about an hour, grill them, cut them up into portions and stick em in glassware. I get lots of variety through the week. Greek: add tzatziki sauce - Greek yogurt, garlic & dill - and some tomatoes. Korean and other Asian style: 1 tablespoon of a marinade drizzled over top. Mexican: chili. Italian: cut up and put in a tomato or pesto sauce with some brown pasta <- can chuck some cut up broccoli in the pasta water for the last 6 minutes and you've got a meal in a bowl. American chicken sandwich: tiny bit of mayo, celery, onion, rye bread.

Add some fiber to lunch and dinner - sweet potato, brown rice, you can cook the same time on the Sunday.

Last add some veg. Bag of salad if you want, or some other boiled green, takes no time at all.

Breakfast: eggs & toast or oatmeal.

I have easy sliced meats on hand too: lean ham, turkey. Ham and some low fat cheese on rye bread, heated in a toaster oven's great in the morning if I don't want eggs.

I do keep a couple of lean cuisine-type microwave dinners in the freezer for days I REALLY can't be bothered.

Tools:
- digital scale to weigh portions
- Glasslock containers
- meat mallet to even out chicken breasts (so they cook evenly)

upgetupgetup

Also, on portions and meal timing. It doesn't matter how often you eat or when, reeeeally, for 99.99% of people. But even though it might not make a difference as far as 'fat burning' or whatever, eating around every 3 hours has really helped me control my appetite. So my chicken portions are 4-5 oz each.

This is really different from the 3 squares a day, which I never thought I'd stop.

dakitten2

In addition to a slow cooker (crockpot), I'd opt for a George Foreman Grill. I have both and I use the GF Grill every single day. Mine has interchangeable plates that you can cook tons of things in.

Also, making large pots of soups or stews and freeze them in individual portion sizes. Also you can make a pizza in 5-7 minutes using Flatout Flat Breads and I have several varieties I make that are all less than 300 calories for a typical medium size pizza.

deb3690

Have you seen those bags of mixed carrots broccoli and cauliflower int he market? Pop some cups of that in a double boiler with water and steam them til they are soft enough for your preference (less is more). splash with some lemon juice and you have a terrific start on appropriate foods! Not hard and it tastes really good...combine with rice for more interest. add a quartered potato once in a while....Give it a try!

HayleeWho1122

i love easy healthy recipes! Here are some hope it helps.

Bean dish (you can excludes any of theses that you don't like) served cold
1. A can or 2 of drained black beans or pinto or both
2. can of drained corn
3. chopped tomatoes
4. canned sliced olives
5. lemon or lime juice
6. cilantro
7. avacodo
8. chopped onion


Chicken pasta
1 Chicken
2.gluten free pasta
3.half and half
4. lemon juice
5. chili garlic sauce (or just fresh garlic and chili flakes)

KenosFeoh

Ack! Don't forget to punch holes in the potato before you put it into the oven, or the steam won't be able to escape, and it will explode.

I recommend a crock pot. They usually come with a recipe book. So easy!

bix301

I just realized yesterday how many calories was in the yogurt I was eating. 190! So, I switched to the Kroger brand carbcutter and that is 60 cal.

wibutterflymagic

Why do you need to change your food choices? Same thing as I told you in your other post. Calories in vs calories out.
You can waste your time playing around with silly things, or you can get results, your choice.

Preparing nutritious meals is not a silly thing. If you put crud into your body you're going to get crud out of your body. Eating only processed or fast food is not going to make your body perform properly. Anyone that thinks that only eating smaller amounts of crap is good for you is fooling themselves and will have a big wake up call when their arteries are clogged and they have cancer from all the fat and man-made ingredients.

Now to address the post at hand. I've recently found using plain greek yogurt is really good in tuna and chicken salad. It's just as creamy as mayo and adds some zip. I make mine with a little chopped celery, onion, seasoning salt and pepper. Some chopped apple in the chicken salad is really tasty too. You can make sandwiches or have it in a salad or with your favorite crackers. The chicken, veggie and rice meal is one of my staples. I also like using cream of chicken and/or cream of mushroom soup with it too. I try to make something on Sundays that will last me most of the week for lunch. Some recent meals have been: meatloaf(turkey or hamburger), homemade soups and chili---you can make big batches and freeze smaller portions to take out when you want them. I make my own spaghetti sauce and freeze that as well----very simple, a big can of diced tomatoes, a big can of italian seasoned tomatoes, tomato paste, chopped onion, carrots, mushrooms and black olives(depending on what I have) add some additional spices: garlic powder, oregano, thyme, basil. Let is all simmer for about an hour. You can then use the sauce for anything. Spaghetti with or without meat sauce, over a chicken breast topped with parmesan or mozzarella etc.

silencethelamb

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