A new year...a New you Week 2 challenge "Renew, Reuse, Recycle"
mamarundrc
Posts: 1,577 Member
Lets face one simple fact, most of us have struggled with weight because we LOVE food! Food is comfort, Food is energy, and sometimes it just tastes damn good. This weeks challenge is going to be focused on food and nutrition.
Pick 1 (or 2 or 3)
1) Renew: Renew your commitment to health by trying a new food, or a new healthy recipe
2) Reuse: Love your recipes? Take one of your favorites and find a way to make it healthier (substitute for healthier ingredients, add more veggies, switch from 85% beef to 93% fat beef)
3) Recycle: No time to really cook or prepare a healthy meal. Repurpose left overs and make them into something new! For example, If you are eating Rotisserie chicken for lunch all week, find creative ways to use it- put in on a salad, make it into chicken salad, add to stir fry veggies.
Post your recipes and food adventures here. If you are doing option 2, post the original recipes with what you did to healthify it. I challenge everyone to do this for at least one meal. You can participate in this as many times as you want. The more we post the larger library we will have for recipes and ideas on how to make food healthy yet still delicious!
Pick 1 (or 2 or 3)
1) Renew: Renew your commitment to health by trying a new food, or a new healthy recipe
2) Reuse: Love your recipes? Take one of your favorites and find a way to make it healthier (substitute for healthier ingredients, add more veggies, switch from 85% beef to 93% fat beef)
3) Recycle: No time to really cook or prepare a healthy meal. Repurpose left overs and make them into something new! For example, If you are eating Rotisserie chicken for lunch all week, find creative ways to use it- put in on a salad, make it into chicken salad, add to stir fry veggies.
Post your recipes and food adventures here. If you are doing option 2, post the original recipes with what you did to healthify it. I challenge everyone to do this for at least one meal. You can participate in this as many times as you want. The more we post the larger library we will have for recipes and ideas on how to make food healthy yet still delicious!
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Nice challenge!
I already did option 1 today. I tried a hashed meat recipe with lean ground beef. Combined it with boiled potatoes and green beans. It was a more tradition dutch meal. We barely eat stuff like that and i remembered why. It was boring. So i added some chipotle bbq sauce, to give it some kick.
Tomorrow i will try this recipe:http://www.goodtoknow.co.uk/recipes/443217/kofta-meatballs-in-red-curry-sauce#UM041DoKgMrdyzpl.32
I love this style of food and this a lowcal version, so does this count as option 2?0 -
ohhhh good challenge, will have to have a think about this
thanks 0 -
Great challenge! I too will try my best!0
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Eatinh healthy and making at least one skinnytaste recipe each day this week.0
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ravenzwart wrote: »Nice challenge!
I already did option 1 today. I tried a hashed meat recipe with lean ground beef. Combined it with boiled potatoes and green beans. It was a more tradition dutch meal. We barely eat stuff like that and i remembered why. It was boring. So i added some chipotle bbq sauce, to give it some kick.
Tomorrow i will try this recipe:http://www.goodtoknow.co.uk/recipes/443217/kofta-meatballs-in-red-curry-sauce#UM041DoKgMrdyzpl.32
I love this style of food and this a lowcal version, so does this count as option 2?
Anything counts! Make it fit however you want.. I just wanted to find a creative way to get a collection of healthy recipes together.0 -
I have one for today. This best fits #2 I think. I LOVE sausage and peppers and it is not very healthy. Today we did sausage and peppers for dinner. We used Al-Fresco Roasted Garlic Chicken sausage. Peppers and onions and carrots (for some crunch) sauteed in olive oil and a little bit of butter. We served it over 1/2 cup Farro. I at a nice big portion and it was less than 500 calories.
I meal plan this weekend and shop on Sunday. I am hoping to have a bunch more for next week!0 -
I'm doing 2 for dinner today
Instead of going out for burger & chips. I'm making homemade burgers, with sweet potato wedges & carrots
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Trying a new recipes tonight (1). We are making Apple Cider Braised Pork shoulder. http://allrecipes.com/recipe/slow-cooker-apple-cider-braised-pork/detail.aspx
Ingredients:
1 (4 pound) boneless pork shoulder roast
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 shallots, sliced
1 rib celery, chopped
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
2 1/2 cups apple cider
4 cloves garlic, peeled
1 bay leaf
1 1/2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1 pinch cayenne pepper, or more to taste
2 tablespoons cold butter, cut into small pieces
1 tablespoon chopped fresh herbs (Italian parsley, sage, or thyme)
Directions
1) Season pork with salt and black pepper. Heat oil in a large skillet over high heat. Sear pork on all sides in the hot oil until browned, about 3 minutes per side. Transfer pork to the slow cooker.
2) Reduce stovetop temperature to medium; cook and stir shallots and celery in the skillet until they begin to soften, 3 to 4 minutes. Pour in apple cider vinegar and cook, scraping up any browned bits, until liquid is nearly evaporated, 4 to 5 minutes.
3) Pour shallot mixture over pork shoulder in the slow cooker. Add apple cider, garlic cloves, and bay leaf. Cover, set slow cooker to Low, and cook until fork-tender but not falling apart, about 6 hours. Turn pork over every 1 to 2 hours. Remove pork roast to a plate and cover loosely with foil.
4) Pour remaining liquid from the slow cooker through a fine mesh strainer into a large saucepan; place over high heat. Discard bay leaf and other solids. Bring sauce mixture to a boil, decrease heat and cook, skimming fat from the top, until reduced to 1/4 of the original volume, about 10 minutes.
5) Remove sauce from heat and stir in Dijon mustard and cayenne pepper. Slowly whisk in cold butter until incorporated. Sprinkle in fresh herbs and season with salt and black pepper to taste.
Cut pork into 1/4-thick slices and serve with sauce poured over the top.
I will post a review after we eat it. Hopefully we will have some left overs that I can re-purpose for lunches through the week.0 -
Mmm mamarundrc souns nice, curious after the review!
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I did option 2) Tacos
ground turkey (93% lean, 7% fat) cooked in a little olive oil to prevent sticking
taco seasoning (20 calories per serving)
lettuce (used instead of tortilla or taco shell)
salsa
tomatoes
shredded cheese
This turned out really good and was way healthier than the traditional version of tacos. I usually add sour cream to regular tacos but decided since I had the fat from the cheese, I would omit the sour cream.
I had 2 tacos (about 2 oz meat each) and figured that the total calories were only about 250 and total fat was about 18 grams. I will definitely make this again. My husband is in great shape but trying to become more "defined" and ate this as well. My kids (who are not on a health craze-used flour tortillas instead of the lettuce wraps).
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mamarundrc wrote: »Trying a new recipes tonight (1). We are making Apple Cider Braised Pork shoulder. http://allrecipes.com/recipe/slow-cooker-apple-cider-braised-pork/detail.aspx
Ingredients:
1 (4 pound) boneless pork shoulder roast
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 shallots, sliced
1 rib celery, chopped
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
2 1/2 cups apple cider
4 cloves garlic, peeled
1 bay leaf
1 1/2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1 pinch cayenne pepper, or more to taste
2 tablespoons cold butter, cut into small pieces
1 tablespoon chopped fresh herbs (Italian parsley, sage, or thyme)
Directions
1) Season pork with salt and black pepper. Heat oil in a large skillet over high heat. Sear pork on all sides in the hot oil until browned, about 3 minutes per side. Transfer pork to the slow cooker.
2) Reduce stovetop temperature to medium; cook and stir shallots and celery in the skillet until they begin to soften, 3 to 4 minutes. Pour in apple cider vinegar and cook, scraping up any browned bits, until liquid is nearly evaporated, 4 to 5 minutes.
3) Pour shallot mixture over pork shoulder in the slow cooker. Add apple cider, garlic cloves, and bay leaf. Cover, set slow cooker to Low, and cook until fork-tender but not falling apart, about 6 hours. Turn pork over every 1 to 2 hours. Remove pork roast to a plate and cover loosely with foil.
4) Pour remaining liquid from the slow cooker through a fine mesh strainer into a large saucepan; place over high heat. Discard bay leaf and other solids. Bring sauce mixture to a boil, decrease heat and cook, skimming fat from the top, until reduced to 1/4 of the original volume, about 10 minutes.
5) Remove sauce from heat and stir in Dijon mustard and cayenne pepper. Slowly whisk in cold butter until incorporated. Sprinkle in fresh herbs and season with salt and black pepper to taste.
Cut pork into 1/4-thick slices and serve with sauce poured over the top.
I will post a review after we eat it. Hopefully we will have some left overs that I can re-purpose for lunches through the week.
This was delicious! The only problem I had was that it was so good that I over ate a bit. The pork itself was pretty bland but with a little bit of the sauce it was really good. We served it with roasted red potatoes (olive oil, salt pepper and garlic powder) and some sweet peas. It was a good meal. I can't really estimate the calories 100% because we didn't use as much sauce as the "serving" calls for but I would think I normal single portion would be 250 cals, 25 g protein, 10g carbs, 10 g fat. If this is done with a pork loin roast, you could easily cut down on those numbers. It would be easy to get this meal under 500 calories with some minor adjustment.0 -
#2 I love Tuna Salad but hate using Mayo. Today I made a Dijon dill Tuna salad with NO MAYO. I used 1 can (3.5 oz) solid white albacore Tuna in water, 1 oz plain greek yogurt (Chobani 4%), 2 tsp Dijon mustard, 1/8 tsp sea salt, 1/8 tsp black pepper, and 1/4 tsp Dill. It tasted awesome and was only ~140 calories. I had it in half a whole wheat flatbread pita and had a nice lunch for ~240 calories.0
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1 and 2 sort of
I am bored with Breakfast. I usually eat an English muffin with almond butter. It gets very redundant. I do not have time to make breakfast in the morning so I had to find something that could be prepare ahead of time and reheated. So I decided to try an egg casserole. I have a recipe for a broccoli, ham and egg bake. It is good, but not great. It always comes out too salty. I decided to adapt the recipe to fit different ingredients.
Chicken sausage, onion and pepper egg bake (6 servings)
4 links sweet Italian chicken sausage chopped into bite size pieces (I use Al Fresco brand)
1 red bell pepper (diced)
1/2 large yellow onion (diced) (you could use red as well, didn't have any in house)
4 cloves garlic (minced or crushed)
5 eggs
1.5 cups liquid egg whites.
1/2 cup shredded part skim mozerella (or any other shredded cheese you like)
cooking spray
Preparation
1) Preheat oven to 375F
2) In a skillet, cook the sausage, onions, pepper, and garlic until fragrant. Transfer to a greased casserole dish (I just used cooking spray).
3) In a bowl mix together the eggs and egg whites. Pour into the casserole dish
(note: I have tried these with egg beaters and just egg whites and the consistency is kind of rubbery. I recommend at least half real eggs to keep the consistency)
4) Sprinkle cheese evenly on top.
5) Bake for 35-45 minutes
6) Enjoy
I cut this in to 6 squares (9x13 baking dish). I store them in individual containers in the freezer. They hold for a few weeks. It is a protein packed breakfast, guaranteed to keep you full for a while. It runs ~250 cals, 28 g protein, 5 g carbs, 8 g fat.0 -
Yup, I got another new recipe. THis was DELICIOUS.
Grilled chicken and Soba Noodles with Miso Vinagrette
Ingredients:
3 oz uncooked SOBA noodles
1/2 cup shredded carrots
2 tbsp canola oil
1 tbsp white miso
1 tbsp lower sodium soy sauce
2 tsp dark sesame oil
1-1/2 tsp minced fresh ginger
1 tsp honey
1-1/2 cup red cabbg
1/2 cup sliced green onions
1 tsp black sesame seeds
4 (4 oz) chicken cutlets
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp salt
1)Prepare SOBA noodles according to package directions. Add carrot during the last minute of cooking. Drain; rinse with cold water. Drain
2) Combine oil and next 6 ingredients through honey in a large bowl, stirring with a whisk. Place 2 tbsp miso mixture in a medium bowl. Add noodle mixture, cabbage, and green onions to remaining mis mixture; toss to coat, sprinkle with sesame seeds
3) Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper, Add chicken to reserved 2 tbsp miso mixture, turning to coat. Heat a grill pan over medium high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add chicken to pan, cook 3 minutes each side (or until done).
This makes 4 servings 329 cals, 13 g fat, 30 g protein, 25 g carbs. This is definitely on our list of foods to make again!0 -
@mamarundrc you're on a roll. Rethinking is not my strongpoint, so i'm sticking to new recipes. I'm still searching for one to use the leftover greek yogurt for a dinner in a way that my partner also likes what i've cooked....0
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ravenzwart wrote: »@mamarundrc you're on a roll. Rethinking is not my strongpoint, so i'm sticking to new recipes. I'm still searching for one to use the leftover greek yogurt for a dinner in a way that my partner also likes what i've cooked....
I LOVE to cook. It is something I discovered as I started to explore the world of clean(er) eating. I am actually becoming pretty good at throwing things together in a pinch. I love food and am finding that I can make healthy food taste pretty good.
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mamarundrc wrote: »Yup, I got another new recipe. THis was DELICIOUS.
Grilled chicken and Soba Noodles with Miso Vinagrette
Ingredients:
3 oz uncooked SOBA noodles
1/2 cup shredded carrots
2 tbsp canola oil
1 tbsp white miso
1 tbsp lower sodium soy sauce
2 tsp dark sesame oil
1-1/2 tsp minced fresh ginger
1 tsp honey
1-1/2 cup red cabbg
1/2 cup sliced green onions
1 tsp black sesame seeds
4 (4 oz) chicken cutlets
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp salt
1)Prepare SOBA noodles according to package directions. Add carrot during the last minute of cooking. Drain; rinse with cold water. Drain
2) Combine oil and next 6 ingredients through honey in a large bowl, stirring with a whisk. Place 2 tbsp miso mixture in a medium bowl. Add noodle mixture, cabbage, and green onions to remaining mis mixture; toss to coat, sprinkle with sesame seeds
3) Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper, Add chicken to reserved 2 tbsp miso mixture, turning to coat. Heat a grill pan over medium high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add chicken to pan, cook 3 minutes each side (or until done).
This makes 4 servings 329 cals, 13 g fat, 30 g protein, 25 g carbs. This is definitely on our list of foods to make again!
This is from Cooking LIght Magazing Jan/Feb 2015 edition.0 -
Poblano, Chicken, and Mushroom Quesadillas (cooking light magazine Jan/Feb 2015 pg 126).
Ingredients
1 large poblano pepper (we used anaheim since we couldn't find poblano)
10 oz skinless boneless chicken breast
1 tbsp canola oil, divided
1.5 cups presliced cremini mushrooms (we used baby bella)
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tbsp minced fresh oreganon (we used 1 tsp dried oregano)
1/4 tsp kosher salt (we used sea salt)
dash of ground red pepper
8 flour tortillas (we used 4 Josephs Flax tortillas)
4 oz Mexican cheese blend (~1 cup) (we used only half cup)
1/2 tsp grated lime rind
1 (5.3 ounce) container plain 2% greek yogurt (we used Chobani 0%)
Preparation
1. Preheat broiler to high.
2. Cut poblano in half lengthwise; discard seeds and membrane. Place poblano halves, skin sides up, on a foil-lined baking sheet; flattened with hand. Broil for 8 minute or until blackened. Wrap tightly in foil. Let stand 5 minute. Peel; coursely chop. Place poblano in a bowl.
3. Place chicken in a skillet, and cover with water; bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Boil 1 minute. Remove pan from heat; cover and let stand 15 minutes or until chicken is done. Remove chicken from pan; cool slightly. Shred chicken with 2 forks. Add chicken to poblano.
4. Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add 1 teaspoon oil; swirl to coat. Add mushrooms; saute 5 minutes or until tender. Add onion and garlic. Cook 2 minutes. Add mushroom mixture to poblano mixture. Stir in oregano, salt and red pepper. Top one side of each tortilla with 2 tbsp of cheese and 1/3 cup poblano mixture. Fold tortillas in half over filling.
5. Wipe pan clean with paper towels. Heat pan over medium heat. Add 1 teaspoon of oil; swirl to coat. Add 4 quesadillas to the pan and cook 1 minute on each side or until golden. Remove quesadillas from pan, and cut each into 3 wedges. Repeat with remaining oil and quesadillas.
6. Combine rind and yogurt in a small bowl, stirring with a whisk. Serve yogurt mix with quesadillas
Serves 6 (original recipe) (serving size 4 wedges and 1.5 tbsp yogurt mix)
Calories 280
Fat 10.5 g (sat 3.6g, mono 4.2g poly 1.6g)
Protein 21g
Carb 25 g
Fiber 2g
chol 44 mg
Iron 2 mg
sodium 566 mg
Calc 286 mg
SUPER Delicious! I had 2 tortillas (6 wedges) modified recipe for MFP recipe estimate of 466 cals, 36 g carbs, 18g fat and 52 g protein. This is definitely going to be something we will make again.0
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