Ideas for Low calorie side dishes "Preferably home-made"

Anyway, I tend to think of side dishes as of two kinds. First, whatever seems interesting to do with vegetables that day--I like roasting and sautéing and often having a mix rather than just one. Usually I don't do salad for dinner or have it in addition to cooked veggies (or sometimes put the cooked on the salad). Second, some kind of starch or starch substitute. This is the optional one, for me. If I want to cut the calories in a meal I replace it with a second or third veggie dish. Also the starch substitute may include what's really a veggie dish, like winter squash or roasted root veggies (carrots, turnips, parsnips, celeriac, beets, etc.). But quite often I have both veggie side dishes and a starch and just watch the portion size of the starch. (For the record, I'm including grains or grain-like foods as starches, so am referring here to corn, potatoes, sweet potatoes, quinoa, rice, barley, lentils or other legumes, etc.--basically any standard side-dish made up of something other than a non-starchy veg.)

Sometimes I do something like pasta or a stir-fry-like or stew where the side dish becomes part of the main dish and includes everything in one, and you can reduce the calories in these by using spaghetti squash or other winter squash or some other veg in the place of the pasta or rice, etc., but it's also just as easy to include the higher calorie starch if you prefer it and just modify serving sizes to have more veg and protein and less of the starchy portion. (This also makes me happy since as a kid I'd always be told that in with pasta one should use only a little sauce, whereas the sauce was my favorite part. Now I can make my veggie-heavy and delicious sauce and eat as much as I want on a little bit of pasta.)

execrate2k15 wrote: »

Can some one please post your ideas and recipes for Low calorie side dishes "Preferably home-made"
ie: No processed food

Thank you

I just posted a link to a free low fat recipe book in my stream. It may have some.
http://amzn.to/1E8yh3H

I try to share links to free books I find whenever I find them. If you don't have a kindle, you can always use the kindle app.

I really like orzo as a side dish, mixed with a little lemon juice, olive oil, pine nuts, goat cheese, and whatever herbs I have on hand. I don't know if that meets your low cal criteria but I like it because it is good warm or cold.

My other favorite side, especially when weather warms up and we start grilling more, is a black bean and corn salad. There are lots of ways to make this based on what you have on hand, but I usually start with some version of this:

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/black-bean-and-corn-salad-ii/

This is another one that is great for leftovers (especially if you omit the avocado although I love the avocado in there).

This week I prepared marinated pork chops on my George Foreman while the pasta boiled. On the crusty grill I put thin sliced bell pepper garlic and onion for a minute. Meanwhile I whipped low fat Philadelphia cheese with some Greek yogurt. The "cream sauce" I mixed in with the pasta and the veggies. Light "Alfredo".

We have grilled veggies pretty much every single night. We cook them on an actual outside grill (BBQ). So easy, just make a little pan with tin foil, spray with some low cal cooking spray, mound in the veggies (literally ive shoved everything on there at one point or another - sweetcorn from the can, cherry toms, cabbage, broccoli, onion, garlic, cauliflower, carrots etc etc.) spray over the top with the cooking spray again and put some sea salt, black pepper and ground garlic on top, and shove on the bbq/grill for about 20-25 mins. SO TASTY.

Acg67 wrote: »

execrate2k15 wrote: »

Can some one please post your ideas and recipes for Low calorie side dishes "Preferably home-made"
ie: No processed food

Thank you

Take any known side dish recipe, portion it to make it "low cal" WOAH

Lol, I will often have a Big Mac with parfait for a quick lunch. Had an open faced BBQ chicken sandwich (actually grilled but we) with a side of steamed broccoli. The broccoli is filling with good macros and dose a lot to curb calories without shrinking the portions too far. I also like them so that helps

I can see how portion control would get tough for those on a sub 1500 budget but for my self (2k) I can usually was pretty well without feeling like I'm eating to little or using less dense filler. But it can help some days.

I just skimmed this thread, but I didn't see any love for dried beans! Make a bag on your day off and have it at several meals as either part of the main or a side. Best way to boost your fiber intake.