I need really yummy, okayish on the calories, dinner recipes! But nothing too healthy!

JustaNoob
JustaNoob Posts: 147 Member
Okay.. so lunch-- I am good. I can eat a chicken breast with brown rice and broccoli all day-- no temptations. My breakfast is good.

But for dinner I need something that tastes dang good so that I pass by all the fast food places on my way home. If I have chicken breast and broccoli waiting for me, you better believe I'm stopping by the Chick Fil A on the way home, instead.

So this past week, I did awesome because I made myself this amazing pasta dish from Budget Bytes... but I spruced it up a bit by subbing in chicken sausage and using less pasta.

Looking for some more dishes where I can do stuff like this. Not wanting super healthy like cauliflower rice, zoodles, or a salad. But I do need the serving to be at about 500-600 calories and higher on the protein. Carbs okay and fats okay.

So let me know what y'all have!

Replies

  • goal06082021
    goal06082021 Posts: 2,130 Member
    Oh I got hella recipes. Some questions for you, first, though:

    1. How many people are you cooking for, is it just you?
    2. Do you want recipes that you can eat all week, or do you like to cook more often than that?
  • JustaNoob
    JustaNoob Posts: 147 Member
    Oh I got hella recipes. Some questions for you, first, though:

    1. How many people are you cooking for, is it just you?
    2. Do you want recipes that you can eat all week, or do you like to cook more often than that?

    Oh good questions! It's just me and I normally just cook one dinner recipe and eat on it all week.
  • goal06082021
    goal06082021 Posts: 2,130 Member
    OK!

    I made a batch of kimchi jjigae this week for Korean week over at r/52weeksofcooking. I doubled the recipe, which made A LOT of food (over 2kg) for like 60cal per 100g. A hearty-size portion is about 500g, so about 300-350cal for that, and I served it over rice and ramen noodles for another 200-300 cal. I'd consider 600 calories for dinner to be a pretty light dinner. Can modify the spiciness level to your liking - if you're not into spicy, use mild kimchi and don't add the gochugaru (or gochujang, which is what I had on hand). You can probably get prepared kimchi at the grocery store/nearest Asian market if you don't want to make it yourself. I used a 1lb boneless pork roast that I had in the freezer, and I used a package of silken tofu, but I think I should probably have opted for a firmer one as it kind of fell apart. It wasn't terrible, though.

    This vegetarian moussaka also made A Ton Of Food - we got 8 total servings out of it, I ended up freezing half of it and it reheated beautifully a few weeks later. It's about 400cal per serving, which is impressive considering the sheer quantity of bechamel sauce it's made with, and it's plenty filling.

    Cincinnati-style chili is a monthly-ish staple in our house, my husband loves it and I'm a Cincinnati native so I'm legally required to also love it (not that I don't, I'm just tickled by how much he likes something I grew up eating). The key thing to remember is that Cincinnati chili is basically meat ragu with Greek spices in it, so a soupier texture is OK, but you can absolutely simmer it an extra hour or two if you want it thicker. It's traditionally served either on tiny hot dogs (a coney) or over spaghetti (a "way"), covered with finely-grated sharp cheddar cheese; diced red onion, black/kidney beans, and oyster crackers are optional. A three-way is spaghetti, chili, and cheese; four-ways add onion OR beans; five-ways add onion AND beans. Oyster crackers are good for crumbling on top if you like crackers in your soup. A three-way the way I make it comes out to about 700 calories - still not terrible for dinner IMO, but you can also be more conservative with the cheese than I usually am, LMAO. I usually go for two ounces, one is really plenty.

    And finally, this bean and sausage pottage. I've made it a few times; we get 4-6 servings out of it, and I could probably make it lower-calorie by using the chicken sausage it calls for instead of pork, but I prefer pork sausage so I just deal with it. Maybe I'll give chicken sausage another try next time it comes up in the rotation, I just haven't cared for the ones I've tried in the past.
  • JustaNoob
    JustaNoob Posts: 147 Member
    @goal06082021 Sweet! Thanks... I'm digging the variety here! None of this is stuff I would have thought of on my own and I love when I can throw a few servings in the freezer!
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,876 Member
    Do you use spices and herbs...marinades, etc. I make all kinds of good stuff that is both healthy and delicious...but yeah, just some plain old chicken and rice and broccoli is pretty boring.

    I'm making broccoli beef tonight...some flat iron steak cut really thin across the grain and marinated in soy sauce for a bit and then stir fried in my wok with some toasted sesame oil while I blanch the broccoli. Once the beef is cooked almost through but not quite I pull it out and add thinly sliced sweet onion along with a bit more toasted sesame oil until soft and translucent and then add the blanched broccoli and stir fry that around the wok for 5 minutes or so before adding my sauce which is pretty much soy sauce, cornstarch, some brown sugar, garlic, and plenty of minced fresh ginger. Then throw the beef back in until cooked through and the sauce thickens and I serve over rice usually. I sometimes do this with chicken thighs as well.

    It's also starting to get pretty nice out around here, so it's going to be burger grilling season here soon...might even do that Sunday evening. We're sans kids on Saturday night, so I'm going to sear some nice tuna steaks to medium rare and do some butter rice pilaf and some kind of veg.

    Nutritious can also be very delicious and doesn't have to be boring at all.
  • Strudders67
    Strudders67 Posts: 978 Member
    I regularly make large servings of cottage (or shepherd's) pie, moussaka, chilli, bolognese, fish pie, chicken & veg pasta bakes or tuna pasta bakes as well as curries and stirfries - and freeze them in portioned bags or tubs. Not sure they'd last a week, but you could certainly cook a large batch and eat it for a few days. I'd go off things if I was eating them every day, but over a period of time I've built up a lot of variety in my freezer.

    All of my meals are at or under 600 cals as my maintenance number is only 1340 and I can't do OMAD. If a recipe potentially involves a high calorie (or, in my case high carb) count, I'll enter the rough info into the MFP Recipe page first and see how it works out - and tweak things to get the numbers down if necessary.

    With bolognese, I spiralise some courgette and pad out my pasta rather than replace the pasta. If I do a stirfy, I'll usually cook more veg and serve my stirfry on a large plate of veg rather than have rice. With Shepherd's pie and cottage pie, I use low-fat meat, pad it out with lentils and more veg and just put a thin layer of potato on top.
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,481 Member
    Simple recipe: chicken adobo (make it with chicken thighs)
    1 cup of soy sauce
    1 cup of white vinegar
    2 tablespoons of minced garlic
    2 cups of water

    Toss it all into a pot and cook until chicken is done. Serve with white rice and any vegetable . Yum.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

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  • vivianwang42699
    vivianwang42699 Posts: 5 Member
    I always make burritos(or say beef roll) with wheat wrap(or sometimes vegetable wrap), lettuce, low-fat cheese, beef/chicken, and any vegetables I would like to add to the burritos. It's pretty fast and tasty, like the real calzones in D.P. Dough.
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  • Speakeasy76
    Speakeasy76 Posts: 961 Member
    edited March 2021
    I have SO many recipes I couldn't even list them all here! What I would suggest is going to the Eating Well website and either searching for recipes of signing up for their newsletter. They have such a wide variety of recipes, and it can be varied as far as types of diets. I've found all dinner recipes are typically anywhere from 350-500 calories, and I can often find things my family will like. I'm also not into things like cauliflower rice or zoodles, either and occasionally enjoy salads, but typically those are for lunch. They have real ingredients and aren't afraid to use real pasta, flour and cheese!
  • JustaNoob
    JustaNoob Posts: 147 Member
    Thanks for the feedback and recipes! I went with burgers from the grill this week after reading @cwolfman13 suggestion.

    I definitely marinate and can enjoy my "healthy" foods too-- I am just trying to control my night time eating. I've noticed if I have some really yummy things planned and organize my calories in a good way, then I don't feel the need to go overboard at night.