Getting depressed with recipes

How do you feel about chicken? I had made some real yummy chicken meals lately that I would be glad to share. Also, if pizza is one of your loves, check out the 200 calorie pizza recipe in this forum. I made it last week and it really is excellent!

I know what you mean! I feel the same way! I guess the best way is to use healthier ingredients... use whole wheat flour for your pizza crust, and put a ton of veggies on it. I substitute low sodium chicken broth for oil or butter in most of my recipes (obviously depending what I'm cooking) and it cuts out those few extra grams of fat, and cuts down on the calories! Google is a great tool! I find a ton of recipes on there!

Can you get onto the BBCGoodFood website in the USA it has fantastic recipes and most of them have the calories. Its also fairly easy to adapt most recipes to make them skinny just by changing a few ingredients. I use fat free greek yoghurt instead of cream in loads of things. Have you heard of Cook yourself thin? I used to belong to that site and they have fab recipe books with low cal recipes in them. They are on the Channel 4 website in the UK too but I'm not sure if you can get that (I'm not very good at this whole online overseas thing lol) but its worth a look. The channel 4 website has other fab low cal recipes on it too.

Two things--one, you can choose recipes that you know up front are going to be lower in calories, you can modify recipes so that they are lower in calories and you can look at sites like dlife.com that are geared towards diabetics so they have some good lower-carb recipes as well.

Two--in the beginning, while you are trying to get things under control, I think many people find that they need a little more rigidity in their habits. I don't about others, but I rotated through pretty much the same 2-3 options for breakfast and 2-3 others for lunch for several weeks when I was just getting started. I think that is part of the commitment. Then, as you learn more about how to prepare foods and how your body responds, you can expand your choices.

Some things just aren't going to work, IMO. Commercial pizza for example. Not only did it contain substantial calories (for the amount of food you get), but it is low in overall nutrients as well. So, yes, you may have to change some eating habits.

But I think there are all kinds of great food choices out there that are filling, "rewarding", etc, but don't have to sabotage your weight loss efforts. Here are some of my choices (most are made from scratch):

Breakfast: omelettes with mushrooms, peppers, onions, and cheese--(Omega 3 eggs or egg beaters): 300 calories
Breakfast sandwich: Thomas Light Multigrain muffin or Arnolds Sandwich thin, 1 egg, red onion, green pepper, 2 slices turkey bacon, lite jarlsburg swiss cheese--300 calories
Breakfast sandwich: 1 Flatout wrap--the usual combo of eggs, mushrooms, peppers. onions, cheese, plus some black beans and salsa --maybe 400 calories.

These are all filling and yummy.

Goulash with barley and ground turkey (can also be made w/beef)
Turkey meatballs in homemade roasted red-pepper tomato sauce
Beef-lentil stew
Stir fried brown rice w/tons of veggies and leftover meat
Pork chops provencal---super easy
Spicy - rub pork chops with maple-butter-mustard sauce
Pasta primavera w/Chicken
Chicken pesto pasta
Beef Stroganoff
Macaroni and cheese with tuna and peas
Giant salads with grilled chicken or tuna (or canned tuna)
Grilled chicken and vegetables
Boca burgers w/onions, mushrooms, swiss cheese and barbeque sauce (on Arnolds)
Black beans, rice, and chicken andouille sausage

All of my dinners come in at around 500 calories per serving --and a serving is meant to be big enough for a meal (or with some of the more calorie - dense items, a big salad or steamed veggies fill things out

I think it is important to learn what foods are calorie-dense and which ones aren't --that way you can balance your meals and still have enough "bulk" without going over your calories.

It is also crucial to get rid of the "extraneous" stuff that adds little nutrition but adds calories --like buns, condiments, etc.

Last night's dinner for two was: one large boneless skinless chicken breast coated with Emeril's Essence Seasoning and extra oregano then grilled on George Foreman. Then I used a FlatOut light italian herb wrap for each person and layered on about 1/4 cup of black beans, about 5-6 mozzarella pearls, about 1/4 cup of fresh spinach leaves, a few slices of fresh jalapeno,and then 1/2 of the cooked chicken cut into cubes. I rolled the whole thing up like a burrito and popped it back on the grill to get toasty and melt the cheese. We had green beans and a small salad also. Absolutely delicious!

Azdak is right...for me as well it is much easier to eat the same breakfast and lunch for a work week, then switch it up the next week. It takes the thinking out of the getting healthier part.

Look for recipes that are dense in vegetables and proteins, not in white carbs (potatoes, rice, breads, etc.). If you can think of a dish, someone out there has made a healthier version, you just have to do the searching. Maybe expand your searching horizon as it were. Try these two websites: www.foodgawker.com and www.foodblogsearch.com. They will take you to bloggers who generally have pictures of the process along the way. Once you find a blogger who is focusing on healthy alternatives, look at their blog friends and generally they too will be similar in their blogs focus.
I love searching for recipes on these sites. They are what get me through when I am in a "food funk" and can't think of anything that sounds inspiring enough to cook.

For a suggestion, try making your own pizzas.
http://foodgawker.com/?s=pizza+dough&cat=0
Here is a link to some dough recipes. If you put on just a tad bit of cheese you will find that you can still taste it but do not need as much. Pile on the veggies and some turkey pepperoni if you like and either grill or bake. I have found too that you don't really need to let it rise first. It will rise on its own in the oven. And also, roll it out super thin. It is great that way!

Good luck!