what he said, but specifically "do it yourself" stir-fry. get the veggies (frozen is fine), get the meat (frozen shrimp or scallops, or cut up strips of chicken), and just experiment with low-fat oil (or butter/margerine - just keep it small as you don't need as much as you might think, 'cause the meat will add some on its own) and semi-random spices (experiment: think Ratatouille!) mix with cooked pasta (cook that separately) or just eat with *small* amounts of rice (half a cup easily serves 2).
we just did one yesterday with leftover diced ham & frozen peas - boiled the rigatoni, added it to the frying pan with the peas, the ham, some olive oil, rosemary, minced garlic, black pepper (from a pepper mill), and then stirred over medium heat 'til the meat was warm. low fat, almost no salt outside of what was already in the ham as part of the curing process, and no "processed" chemicals of any type, i.e., no preservatives.
the trick to keeping these quick is to have some sauces handy (keep an eye on marinades, but again, use a lot less than you might think or you'll get all the salt and calories you're trying to avoid), and to prep the meat earlier when you have the time. i.e., get the chicken & cut it into strips BEFORE freezing it, so all you have to do is thaw it and it's ready to go.
as for tea? I love drinking unsweet/unpoisoned ice tea, i just hate making it. the only place that consistently has pre-packaged tea for me is Trader Joes.
Wegmans gets some in the summer, but it's disappeared from the shelves by winter.
other low-cal (but not "diet") teas i like include some Honest Tea flavors.
I don't like brewing tea... but making refrigerator tea is super easy... and I'm keeping some going now (usually only a summer thing, but I'm also trying to cut back on the soda thing, and use far less sugar in my tea than is in fizzy stuff). Red Rose is the best I've found so far for it... just put however many teabags you feel you need in a pitcher (I usually use 9 bags in a 2-quart... but I also like it weaker than most people, so end up watering it down from there).... hanging near the top if possible (works with a teaball as well, but not quite as good, if you get the metal taste into the water)... fill it with water, preferably filtered (picks up the tea faster/better and knocks out some more of the bitter flavor for some reason), then shove it in the fridge overnight (ok, really less time than that, but...).
I usually start a second pitcher when the first is nearly empty.
Oh, and squire-liz, I've got the same issues with veggies, only they don't like me either ... at least the green ones tend not to if I have more than a tablespoon at most (other than some lettuces). If you come up with some good ideas beyond stir-fry (which we do too much here - and DH has a heavy hand with the oil), I'd love to hear them!! I've been in on-and-off search for a *decent* dietitian to work out a meal plan with for years now - too many say "oh you can eat x... so do that", without giving me any ideas of how... or what goes with it, or how to balance the rest out. (um, yeah... I stink at meal planning, always have)
Ah, see... I just use one of the two Pyrex pitchers we have... and stick them in the dishwasher with the rest of the dishes when empty (unless I get inspired to just give it a soapy swipe with the bottle "brush" I bought to use to wash it and my travel drink containers). The advantage of using the tea bags - I just toss those out.
(heck... I hate cleaning *anything* that is expected to get dirty again within a week... so I'm not making extra annoyances for myself beyond what can be helped)
well, that's what recipe books are for, often. plus, you can check out the marinades section and some salad dressings work well, too. just keep an eye on calorie count and sodium count - if it seems to high, put it back on the shelf or just remember to use "half" (a round figure) of what it might seem to take.
we just did one yesterday with leftover diced ham & frozen peas - boiled the rigatoni, added it to the frying pan with the peas, the ham, some olive oil, rosemary, minced garlic, black pepper (from a pepper mill), and then stirred over medium heat 'til the meat was warm. low fat, almost no salt outside of what was already in the ham as part of the curing process, and no "processed" chemicals of any type, i.e., no preservatives.
the trick to keeping these quick is to have some sauces handy (keep an eye on marinades, but again, use a lot less than you might think or you'll get all the salt and calories you're trying to avoid), and to prep the meat earlier when you have the time. i.e., get the chicken & cut it into strips BEFORE freezing it, so all you have to do is thaw it and it's ready to go.
as for tea? I love drinking unsweet/unpoisoned ice tea, i just hate making it. the only place that consistently has pre-packaged tea for me is Trader Joes.
Wegmans gets some in the summer, but it's disappeared from the shelves by winter.
other low-cal (but not "diet") teas i like include some Honest Tea flavors.
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I usually start a second pitcher when the first is nearly empty.
Oh, and squire-liz, I've got the same issues with veggies, only they don't like me either ... at least the green ones tend not to if I have more than a tablespoon at most (other than some lettuces). If you come up with some good ideas beyond stir-fry (which we do too much here - and DH has a heavy hand with the oil), I'd love to hear them!! I've been in on-and-off search for a *decent* dietitian to work out a meal plan with for years now - too many say "oh you can eat x... so do that", without giving me any ideas of how... or what goes with it, or how to balance the rest out. (um, yeah... I stink at meal planning, always have)
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(heck... I hate cleaning *anything* that is expected to get dirty again within a week... so I'm not making extra annoyances for myself beyond what can be helped)
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