So we're on day 5 of the new year and everyone's resolutions should still be in full effect. My #1 resolution was to start eating and cooking healthier, I have a few ideas of my own, and thought I would share and hopefully get some feedback and ideas from everyone else!
So far I've been living on chicken, fish and veggies. For me the biggest challenge is portion control so I find if I cook in proper portions it makes everything easier.
First I am digging my huge chicken salad.
I start by making my chicken: in a skillet I rinse and place some chicken tenders (again, portion control, full breast is too big, I find 2 tenders is an appropriate size, finished about 3oz) I don't quite cover them with water, and I sprinkle a shit load of my chicken seasoning all over it, cover, bring to a boil, and let it boil covered for like 15 minutes... remove the chicken from the water, let cool slightly adn then shred for topping the salad.
Now, my chicken seasoning goes like this: 2Tb kosher salt, 2Tb paprika, 2Tb garlic powder, 1Tb cayenne pepper. I combine all of that and put it in a shaker... I use it for all my chickens.
For the salad, I get either some baby spinach or hearts of romaine, sliced tomato, cucumbers, carrots, mushrooms and whatever veggies I have on hand, I go over the whole thing liberally with fresh ground black pepper, add my chicky and whatever dressing I'm in the mood for... but again, portion control, you can ruin all the benefit of a salad by slathering a fatty dressing all over it... which is why I use so much pepper, I've even just used straight lemon juice instead of dressing, it's yummy with the pepper.
Which brings me to my lemon pepper fish
I buy frozen filets since I'm nowhere near a body of water suitable for fresh fish. I thaw the filets and put them in a hot pan with a touch of olive oil, I pepper them generously, cover and let them go for 3 minutes.
After 3 mintues, I flip them, I cut a lemon in half, and make a thin slice for each piece of fish in the pan, I take the remainder of the lemon and squeeze it all over the fishes, pepper them generously again and place a slice on each fish, cover and cook for an additional 3 minutes, or until they're flaky
I serve that over rice and steamed veggies, it's fantastic!
Last night I made vegetable stew, which takes a bit more time and prep.
In an 8 quart dutch oven, I saute two medium onions, three cloves of garlic minced, one bunch of hearts of celery and 1 peeled and cubed butternut squash. Salt and pepper each layer and let it sit for a few minutes. then I take 7 red potatos, cubed with the peels on, add them to the pot and let them get all yummy (again salt and pepper) at this point things are getting loud and sizzly so I add about two cups of low sodium low fat chicken broth and one can of Campbells condensed chicken broth and one can of water. Two 14oz cans of no salt diced tomatos... one package of pre-sliced carrots, one package of sliced baby portabellos, 1ts dried basil which I crush in my hand, 1 ts dried thyme which I crush in my hand and whatever other yummy herbs you like... then I cover and let it simmer for about an hour, stirring occasionally.
I then serve it over elbow noodles and add a pinch of parm/romano cheese and voila! Veggie stew!
I sometimes cook up turkey sausages and then cut them up and put them in there, or the poached chicken from earlier or whatever.
yum!
My phone's memory is full, I need to clean it out so I get better pics
So far I've been living on chicken, fish and veggies. For me the biggest challenge is portion control so I find if I cook in proper portions it makes everything easier.
First I am digging my huge chicken salad.
I start by making my chicken: in a skillet I rinse and place some chicken tenders (again, portion control, full breast is too big, I find 2 tenders is an appropriate size, finished about 3oz) I don't quite cover them with water, and I sprinkle a shit load of my chicken seasoning all over it, cover, bring to a boil, and let it boil covered for like 15 minutes... remove the chicken from the water, let cool slightly adn then shred for topping the salad.
Now, my chicken seasoning goes like this: 2Tb kosher salt, 2Tb paprika, 2Tb garlic powder, 1Tb cayenne pepper. I combine all of that and put it in a shaker... I use it for all my chickens.
For the salad, I get either some baby spinach or hearts of romaine, sliced tomato, cucumbers, carrots, mushrooms and whatever veggies I have on hand, I go over the whole thing liberally with fresh ground black pepper, add my chicky and whatever dressing I'm in the mood for... but again, portion control, you can ruin all the benefit of a salad by slathering a fatty dressing all over it... which is why I use so much pepper, I've even just used straight lemon juice instead of dressing, it's yummy with the pepper.
Which brings me to my lemon pepper fish
I buy frozen filets since I'm nowhere near a body of water suitable for fresh fish. I thaw the filets and put them in a hot pan with a touch of olive oil, I pepper them generously, cover and let them go for 3 minutes.
After 3 mintues, I flip them, I cut a lemon in half, and make a thin slice for each piece of fish in the pan, I take the remainder of the lemon and squeeze it all over the fishes, pepper them generously again and place a slice on each fish, cover and cook for an additional 3 minutes, or until they're flaky
I serve that over rice and steamed veggies, it's fantastic!
Last night I made vegetable stew, which takes a bit more time and prep.
In an 8 quart dutch oven, I saute two medium onions, three cloves of garlic minced, one bunch of hearts of celery and 1 peeled and cubed butternut squash. Salt and pepper each layer and let it sit for a few minutes. then I take 7 red potatos, cubed with the peels on, add them to the pot and let them get all yummy (again salt and pepper) at this point things are getting loud and sizzly so I add about two cups of low sodium low fat chicken broth and one can of Campbells condensed chicken broth and one can of water. Two 14oz cans of no salt diced tomatos... one package of pre-sliced carrots, one package of sliced baby portabellos, 1ts dried basil which I crush in my hand, 1 ts dried thyme which I crush in my hand and whatever other yummy herbs you like... then I cover and let it simmer for about an hour, stirring occasionally.
I then serve it over elbow noodles and add a pinch of parm/romano cheese and voila! Veggie stew!
I sometimes cook up turkey sausages and then cut them up and put them in there, or the poached chicken from earlier or whatever.
yum!
My phone's memory is full, I need to clean it out so I get better pics
