Healthy Cooking Ideas

[Biffins]

Starting a new thread to get some ideas flowing about good healthy cooked meals.

Pretty much open to any ideas, but the ones I myself will be posting, will be primarily meals which tend to leave 1-3 days of leftovers, making them great for people on the go, who can't cook every night but still need balanced meals.

[Biffins]

Chicken Stew

Serves 6-8 people

Preparation
2-3 Carrots (Skinned, Roughly Diced)
1-2 Small Onions (Diced)
1-2 Cloves of Garlic (Thinly sliced)
Assorted Herbs (Oregano, Rosemary, finely chopped)
1 Can of Tomatoes w/o juice (or ~4 chopped tomatoes, no juices)
1 Cube of Chicken Stock


Pre-Cut 2.5 lbs of Boneless, Skinless Chicken thighs. Remove fat
Pre-Cut 4-6 pork sausages (Use spicy sausage if you like some zip)

(Optional)
1-2 Pinches Red pepper
Pre-Cook Cannelini Beans
- Soak overnight
- Place in cold water on stove, and boil - Do not Boil water first then place in or texture will be wrong
- Once cooked, remove immediately from hot water and cool them off in a bowl of cold water, place aside

Directions

- Pre-Heat a large pot on high heat. Get the pot extremely hot
- Add a few tsp of extra virgin olive oil. No need to measure exactly
- Toss in carrots and onions and lightly salt. Do not overstir, you want these to burn slightly and become soft in texture
- Toss in garlic once carrots / onions are on for a few minutes
- Add in herbs
- Add in tomatoes
- Stir ingredients, let the tomatoes steam a bit also
- Add in cube of chicken stock (cube is ~1 inch, usually wrapped in foil)

Couple minutes after tomatoes are added:
- Add 1/2 bottle of white wine
- Add up to 1 cup of water. Start with 1/2 cup, and add more as needed. You barely want to cover the vegetables in the pot
- Stir as needed
- Add sausage
- Cook until broth is boiling

- Once boiling, add chicken, with a pinch of salt. The chicken since it is pretty thin does not take too long to cook. You should very easily be able to tell when the meat is cooked through. Turn the heat down to low/medium once the chicken is nearing completion
- Add red peppers (optional)
- Add beans in towards the end, they are just being warmed up, do not cook them long in the warm broth - they have already been cooked!

- Taste the sausage once the chicken looks done to be sure everything is cooked through.
- Add in some more salt. You want the sauce to be on the edge of salty, since the only salt you've added was a hair at the start, the chicken stock, and a dash with the chicken

Serve with fresh ground pepper


I usually make this large of a batch for 2-3 people. This will provide roughly 2-3 days of lunch or dinner for me, so it is definitely worth the money it costs to make, and a healthy, tasty lunch/dinner to boot.

[Ryowen]

If you are an amateur when it comes to food and cooking. A good source of information is your local grocery store. Ask the people who work in the fish and meats section for great tips on choosing the right meat and they will always give you more than one way to cook it.

In Texas, the store H-E-B rules the entire state and it lives up to its reputation. Its an awesome grocery store I will frequently ask the people who work there for cooking tips, they have been a big help for me.

[gorte]

All the following recipes are healthy and low salt. The oil that comes out from the cooking of the meals can be drained off but for the most part are good oils.


Lamb Curry (Indian) (hotness level: weak-mild)

Ingredients

Lamb Cutlets, trimmed, roughly chopped (in thirds per cutlet)
1 Onion, diced.
2 tblspn ginger, grated.
10-20 mint leaves, finely chopped.
1 Chilli, chopped (size varies on hotness)
3 tomatoes, diced.
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped.
1 tblspn, Alagappa’s Meat Curry Powder (any good meat curry powder will do)
½ Cinnamon stick (whole)
lemon juice – whole lemon (lime optional)


Method

1. Heat up pan with canola oil, brown garlic, then add onion. Stir until translucent. Make sure liberal amount of oil as it forms the base of the juice.
2. Add ginger, cook briefly, do not burn above ingredients.
3. Add in lamb to brown. Just make sure evenly cooked on outside (sealed)
4. Add curry powder after meat browned, stir well to mix the powder in.
5. Add diced tomato, chopped mint leaves, chopped chilli, cinnamon stick, lemon juice.
6. Simmer at least 1 hour, any longer will just tenderize the meat. Allowing to sit overnight is optimal.


==============================================================


Dry Beef Curry (aka Beef Rendang) (Hotness level: mild-hot)

Ingredients

2 finely chopped onions
garlic
1 tblsp grated ginger
ginger 1 teasp ground turmeric
½ teasp chilli powder
2 tblsp chopped lemon grass
1 ½kg trimmed cubed chuck steak

method

1. Fry off onions in oil with garlic, ginger, ground turmeric, chilli powder and chopped lemon grass until the onions are soft.

2. Add steak and sear over high heat till brown all over. (don’t allow to stew – simmer in its own juices).

3. Add 300ml water, scraping the bottom of the pan to lift the spicy cooked bits into the sauce.

4. Reduce the heat and allow to simmer with the lid on for 1 ½ hours until the meat is tender.

5. Remove the lid, turn the heat up and allow the liquid to evaporate therefore thicken the sauce.

==============================================================

Fried Curry

Ingredients

2 cloves garlic
1tblsp fresh ginger
2 teasp ground cardamom
1 teasp ground nutmeg
1 finely chopped red chilli
2 tblsp lemon juice
1½kg chicken thighs
½ cup cashews

Method

1. In a bowl combine garlic, ginger, ground cardamom, ground nutmeg, and chilli with lemon juice.

2. Add chicken thighs to the mixture and allow to marinate.

3. Fry over medium heat till cooked through and browned all over.

4. Stir in cashews and ¼ cup water.

5. Cover and allow to simmer for about 15 minutes until chicken is cooked through.



=================================================

Warm Beef Salad

Ingredients

1 Porterhouse steak (per serving)
Assorted Garden leaves (baby spinach, rocket, that curly red one! etc etc)
Tomato (up to you, cherry or chunky cut normal)
Carrot
Red Onion
Butternut Pumpkin

Dressing:
Olive oil
1 tblspn Dijon whole grain mustard
Juice of 1 whole Lime or Lemon
Splash of Balsamic Vinegar
1 tblspn sugar (brown preferred)

Method:
Prepare Salad first, can always chill until steak cooked.

Dressing requires a basic mix together of all ingredients until sugar has liquified. Add individual amounts more to taste.

Slice up 1mm thin slices of pumpkin with sharp knife. Use canola oil to line pan since olive oil on extremely high heat produces carcinogens. Cook on frypan or bbq until pumpkin slices are floppy, a little translucent, they will become sweet to the taste.
Take off heat once cooked. Add to salad.

Cook steak as per standard. Once ready, allow to sit for 2 minutes on frypan/bbq with heat turned off. then slice into strips and place ontop of salad and serve.

If you dont have time for the dressing, you can just add straight balsamic vinegar, or a mix of olive oil and balsamic. All these dressings can be used on almost any garden salad.

The pumpkin adds a nice extra dimension to the old boring salads.

I hope you can try some of these and enjoy!

~gorte

[Musin]

Hey guys!

I found some really good protein bars! These things are freaking awesome. I've eaten cliff bars and the typical protein chocolate bars but these don't even taste like any other bar I've tasted. It almost taste like a kit-kat bar.

Power Crunch Bars!

http://www.vigorousliving.com/pocrba12perb.html

Most of the flavors I've tried are really good. But my favs are peanut butter fudge and the double chocolate.

Not only do they taste like a regular candy bar, on top of that they use whey protein, not soy. According to their box, they use micro peptides; according to their company allows for easier absorption to the body (I have yet to read anything that proves that).

For certain diets there are some draw backs in its stats. High in protein and low in sugar are its high points but it has a pretty high fat content. 12 grams fat/5 grams saturated no trans fat. Granted this doesn't really fit the ideal low fat type of bar, it has a low sugar count which I favor over a low fat count. So for me this bar has legendary stats espeically for my style of eating; I stay away from high fructose sugars (complex sugars i.e. candy, sugar drinks etc.).

Tell me how you guys like'em!


Edit: For Gorte, these melt TimTam's face

[Tache]

Hmm I might pick up some of those, they look pretty good actually.. a lot of that fat is probably good far from the peanut butter though, no?

Also the ingredient is listed as sugar, not high fructose corn syrup, which is very good

[Biffins]

Just from what I hear, as a general rule of thumb, be real careful with protein bars. A lot of the time the protein is low quality, and you are almost always better off making something yourself, or substituting it if possible. Then again, if you are on the run etc, it might be the best thing given those circumstances.

[Bleedo]

Why don't you list some healthy eating advice for those of us who 1) don't have the time to prepare those complicated dishes listed above and 2) are too lazy even if we did have the time. :-D I signed up for a gym the other day so I guess I should start eating better too but meh, That shit you guys put above takes way too long to prepare. I usually do like salads from Wendy's or like Cool Wrap/Fruit Cups from Chick-fil-a... It's the best I can think of

[gorte]

i'll get some quick and easy healthy ones when i have some time to write them up for you bleedo :D

the warm beef salad is actually really quick and easy to prep. the salad leaves can be bought premixed from supermarkets, splash some balsamic vinegar or a salad dressing on that, and roast the pumpkin at the same time you do the steak. 5 mins prep, 10 mins cooking time, voila!

the great thing about cooking is you can substitute almost anything for something slightly easier or premade, yet still maintain the healthy level if you make sure you buy quality... (ie cutting off excess fat, buying predone dressings with less fat content)

but yeah, i'll write up some more quick n easy recipes :)

[Donjo]

Why don't you list some healthy eating advice for those of us who 1) don't have the time to prepare those complicated dishes listed above and 2) are too lazy even if we did have the time. :-D I signed up for a gym the other day so I guess I should start eating better too but meh, That shit you guys put above takes way too long to prepare. I usually do like salads from Wendy's or like Cool Wrap/Fruit Cups from Chick-fil-a... It's the best I can think of

I'd be interested too. I'm still in college and live with my parents so I usually have whatever is being made (which is usually pretty healthy) but in under a year I'll be on my own and I'm a pretty lazy guy when it comes to food. I know some people really like cooking but I don't like making stuff that takes longer to make than it takes to eat if I can avoid it.

[Biffins]

Here's the thing though. The recipe I posted above for the chicken stew, while it may take about 45 - 60 minutes on one day, then provides 3-4 meals afterwards at 2 minutes of heat-up time only. That is kind of how a lot of cooking is really. But I'll give a few things you two could do for easy meals.

Salad
Preparation:
Buy 1-2 heads of romaine or green leaf lettuce and a relatively large Tupperware bin (Glad brand, or w/e. Something that fully seals). Wash the lettuce once you get home, getting most of the dirt and such out. Cut off what looks to be the browning parts of the ends, and dice it up into edible sized pieces. Wash it again, and let it dry. Put a paper towel on both sides of the tupperware bin (line the bottom with a towel, and cover the top of the lettuce with a slightly moist towel).

That should take about 5-10 minutes, and is easily enough lettuce for a week. You want to keep the towel(s) slightly moist so the lettuce doesn't completely dry out while in your refrigerator.

Then take your pick of some easy vegetables, say carrots, cucumbers, tomatoes, etc., and skin/slice them up, same thing in a tupperware bin that has some damp towels in it, to help hold the moisture in while refrigerating.

So now you have lettuce, and toppings. If your grocery store sells chicken breasts that are not fried, buy 1 or 2 of those fresh (cooked that same day), and when you get home, cut them up and remove the skin / fat. Toss some of it on top of the lettuce / vegetables, and voila, a nice chicken salad, great filling lunch or dinner.

I recommend avoid pre-made dressings unless you absolutely can't stand vinegar-based dressings. Not only are they more expensive, but you often will get cheaper ingredients in them. I always use, with no exception, a dressing with just: Salt, pepper, extra virgin olive oil, and balsamic vinegar. Buy a reasonable amount of each of these 4 ingredients for just your dressing, and you will find they also can be used in numerous other things, sharing your costs evenly.

Vegetables

While not a whole meal in itself, they are quite simple to prepare, and if done properly, actually taste really good. No this is not your grandmas old recipe of just boiling them and eating them sans proper seasoning, because that makes me sick just thinking about it.

Preparation
Buy about 2-4 handfuls of green beans OR 2-4 crowns of broccoli at your grocery store. For green beans, just make sure they do not have holes in them. For broccoli, you want to make sure they do not feel rubbery when you squeeze them, as that is a sign it is old and been on the shelf for some time. A good sign of freshness is if the broccoli is relatively firm, and a bit heavy for its size. Also, the bottom of the stem is not overly brown.

When home, cut off just the ends of the green beans, and cut them into relatively even sized pieces. If broccoli, cut off stems and cut pieces in half if necessary to ensure that the size of the broccolis are relatively the same. This ensures that they will all boil evenly.

Boiling: Pre-boil a decent sized pot of water relative to the amount of vegetables you bought.

Also, if you have a pasta strainer, that is to say a plastic/metal bowl with holes in the bottom, set that out. Be prepared once your vegetables are near done boiling to dump the hot water & vegetables directly into the strainer in your sink in order to get them cooled off asap.

Green Beans: Place into the already boiling water for roughly 4:15-5:00 minutes. At about 4:15 you want to pull a piece out with a wooden spoon, rinse it with ice cold water, and taste it. If it is crunchy, wait another 15 seconds. if it is good textured, immediately stop the burner. I find that about 4:30-4:45 is often the right amount of time. It all depends though on how small you cut the pieces.

Broccoli: Boil for approximately 3:30-3:45 minutes. Same instructions as green beans otherwise.

Once the beans or broccoli are done boiling, immediately dump the water and vegetables into the strainer and get ice cold water on them asap. The longer it takes for you to cool those vegetables down, the longer they will continue to cook. If you are new to this, I recommend having a big pot with ice-water in it ready and off to the side. Dump out the veges and boiling water into your strainer, then immediately get the veges into the ice cold water to cool them off.

Now that your vegetables have been cooked, place aside all that you will eat in one meal, and put the rest in a Tupperware bin with damp towels in your refrigerator, and those are ready to heat up and eat anytime.

Heating up the Vegetables
Heating the vegetables is simple. The way I always do it is to pre-heat a wok / pan and get that pan as hot as possible. Then, add a bit of extra virgin olive oil. Wait about 15 seconds, and that oil should appear to be bubbling. Add your vegetables right in, they should start crackling. Do not over-stir the vegetables, About every 20-30 seconds, stir the vegetables. All you are doing here is heating them up, you are not cooking them (as you have already done that!). To find out when they are near done, just grab one out of the pan and check the temperature. Add in salt / pepper, and a touch more olive oil and you are all set.

If you enjoy spicy foods, add in some red peppers to the veges for a nice zip. I find also that some diced up chili skins also works really well with broccoli. Note: do not use the chili seeds unless you want a really really hot addition to the vegetables.

Both of these snacks/meals take about 10-15 minutes of prep on one day, and then are simple the next few times you need something to eat.

-Eric

[Fabalous]

i read up on a new lifting//w/o routine i think would go great with these meals.. shoudl cut the fat and put you in mondo shape

after doing some research it supposidly works all of the muscle groups and many more that normal weight lifting cant accomplish

here's alink if anyone is interested: http://www.martialartsmart.net/prjt001.html

[greekrefugee]

lmfao

n1

[Azurai]

I have a good recipe:

Donuts

Ingredients:
1 dozen Donuts

Preparation:
Take Donuts out of box.

Eat Donuts.

Makes 1-12 servings.

[Musin]

I have a good recipe:

Donuts

Ingredients:
1 dozen Donuts

Preparation:
Take Donuts out of box.

Eat Donuts.

Makes 1-12 servings.

Haha!