Share your dieting recipes

michaelp

michaelp

michaelp

Associate
Joined
14 May 2012
Posts
390
Location
London
Tomorrow I am starting my diet and currently the meals I have planned are pretty dull such as simple chicken, brown rice and veg so was thinking the people of La Cuisine would possibly have some nice recipes that are a little tastier but will stick within the rules of dieting.

I was thinking about setting a cal, prot, carb and fat max but I think ill leave it open as even if I don't use it someone else might find it appealing.

It would be nice if you knew the nutritional values of the recipe but its something ill work out if I like the look of it and will post my finding's for it myself.
 
Last edited:
Lamb chops, sausages or pork chops with mashed potato and ratatouille - just go easy on the butter in the mash. Ratatouille is half an aubergine, half a courgette, 1 pepper, 2 cloves of garlic and a tin of tomatoes. Either roast it all together or bung it in a pan. Will do two enormous portions.

Salad base: lettuce, green beans, boiled new potato. Add to that your choice of chicken, tuna, pulled pork, boiled egg, bacon. Then dress with your choice of oil and vinegar; yoghurt, mint and cucumber; mayo let down with a bit of olive oil and lemon; oil, lemon and garlic. Additions include griddled courgette, aubergine and home made croutons.

Sausage casserole made with 1 pack of sausages (premium ones are lower in fat), 1 onion, 1 pepper, 1 tin of chopped tomatoes and two tins of beans such as borlotti or canellini. Brown the sausages, soften the onion and pepper, tip all the ingredients into a big pan and add enough boiling water to just cover the beans. Crumble in a chicken stock cube, a pinch of chilli and allow to simmer for 30-40 minutes.

Crispy polenta fritters. 75g polenta flour, 400ml water, 25g Parmesan, pinch chilli, pinch herbs. Get the water boiling and beat in the polenta, then the Parmesan, chilli and herbs. Pour it out onto some greaseproof paper and let it go cold. Cut it into sticks. Roll in dried breadcrumbs (you may need to brush them with a little milk to make them stick) and bake in a hot oven for 15-20 minutes. They go with almost anything in place of potatoes or pasta and are nutritious and low fat. Try with a small bit of steak, a portobello mushroom and onion gravy.
 
Last edited:
Cheers Jonny for your recipes I liked the look of these two so created the nutritional information for it. Not to on the dot since it depends on the individual ingredients but you get an idea.

Jonny69 said:
Sausage casserole made with 1 pack of sausages (premium ones are lower in fat), 1 onion, 1 pepper, 1 tin of chopped tomatoes and two tins of beans such as borlotti or canellini. Brown the sausages, soften the onion and pepper, tip all the ingredients into a big pan and add enough boiling water to just cover the beans. Crumble in a chicken stock cube, a pinch of chilli and allow to simmer for 30-40 minutes.
Click to expand...

I figured this one would be a good one to cook during the weekend and have it ready to eat throughout the week. I have worked out an estimate of nutritional values per serving dividing it into 4 portions with 2 sausages a portion.

265 Calories
11.9g Protein
8.45g Fat
19.6g Carbohydrates

Jonny69 said:
Crispy polenta fritters. 75g polenta flour, 400ml water, 25g Parmesan, pinch chilli, pinch herbs. Get the water boiling and beat in the polenta, then the Parmesan, chilli and herbs. Pour it out onto some greaseproof paper and let it go cold. Cut it into sticks. Roll in dried breadcrumbs (you may need to brush them with a little milk to make them stick) and bake in a hot oven for 15-20 minutes. They go with almost anything in place of potatoes or pasta and are nutritious and low fat. Try with a small bit of steak, a portobello mushroom and onion gravy.
Click to expand...

I liked the idea of having this as a side with chicken or other kind of meats instead of potatoes or rice.

Per Serving which is 1/2 the recipe.

191 Calories
7.95g Protein
7.05g Fat
29.15g Carbohydrates
 
Last edited:
For the sausage casserole, you can go big on the beans and not too heavy on the sausages. They are loaded with fibre and protein so will really fill you up and keep you feeling full without breaking the calorie bank. And if you soak dried beans overnight instead of using tinned, it's CHEAP! Even the premium mixed beans are CHEAP!

The polenta fritters should serve two :)
 
The two major things I did when starting to eat healthy about 6 weeks ago was to get a good quality steamer and with this I make sure we (the wife and I) make use of it at least 4 times a week with grilled chicken, veggie burgers etc.

The second this was to stop the takeaways.

Down from 13st 13lb to 13st 5lb without having to really try. Once I get to 13st it's time to hit the Gym.

Looking to get some good ideas here.
 
Since I'm doing them tonight, oven wedges have much less fat than chips. Quarter your unpeeled potatoes and boil for 5-10 minutes in salted water. Drain. Slather with olive oil and season with salt, garlic powder and mixed herbs; or salt, smoked paprika and garlic powder and roast in a hot oven for 35-40 minutes. Garlic powder is my magic ingredient of the year and goes on almost everything :D
 
I've cut right down on my carbs in the evening. Rarely have potatoes in the evening now. I like to mix it up with different meats, so I griddle a lot of meat and mix up my veg too.
Chicken, turkey, veal and beef are my tops. Turkey stir fries are great, noodles aren't bad either but I would often swap them out with bean sprouts.

When winter comes, it's soup time for me. I love making soups and they're great lunches and fillers. But we're not quite there yet...
 
Swordfish said:
Down from 13st 13lb to 13st 5lb without having to really try. Once I get to 13st it's time to hit the Gym.

Looking to get some good ideas here.
Click to expand...

Congratulations Swordfish doing well there you probably don't need it but here's a useful link to dieting.

I think stir fry is a good one specially if you swap out the noodles for bean sprouts I never thought about doing that but think its a good idea.
 
I'm down from 16st to 14st5 - want to get to 13 ideally. That's been cutting carbs a lot. I still have wine on the weekends but not in the week and I'm much more disciplined. I also ride a fair bit now and I've just started doing some weights, so hopefully it will continue to come off. Portion size is another massive one. I used to eat massive portions, now just slowly took that down and down, so now I don't need to eat as much and can't.

I've been going a couple of months at it, or something like that.
 
I've just started to diet and have a pretty simple way of doing things which isn't overly prohibitive for me and is producing good results.

I tend to have a small-ish breakfast when I get to work (200-250 cals) for me this is usually Belvita breakfast biscuits which are very filling.

Aim to eat no more than 400cal at lunch time (usually aim for 300) - I tend to either eat soup or sandwiches.

Make sure I drink lots of fluid to keep myself filled up between meals.

I then hit the gym 3/4 times a week and do a 2 mile run each time. I would estimate it's something like 200-250 cals burned as it takes me around 30 minutes atm (I'm very unfit at the moment and trust me I have to work my balls off even to achieve that)

This means that on average by the time I get home I will have consumed approx 500 cals (meaning that I can eat around 1000 cal for dinner [in theory] and still be doing well)

AND TO THE POINT OF THE OP!!!
Because of how I structure most of my days - I don't tend to worry so much about what I eat for dinner. I still eat well, but without feeling the need to count calories all the time. For one thing I don't ever eat chips at the moment - usually only rice/pasta and rarely mash/new/etc potatoes.

Pasta with tomato sauce
Easy as hell

1 tin tomato sauce
1/2 shallots
1 clove of garlic
salt and pepper

1. sweat the shallots in a saucepan with a little oil. Do this for a few moments so they become "translucent"
2. Add garlic and cook for a few more minutes
3. Add chopped tomatoes from tin.
4. Cook down until the mixture is much thicker and not at all "water-y". season as needed
5. Whilst cooking the tomato, put the pasta on to cook.
6. Combine and serve.

I often add a cooked aubergine or mushrooms to this dish also. It's really nice and better than buying.

Home-made Burgers

Lean mince (approx 160-180 g per burger - we make 3 from 500g)
1/4 onion
Balsamic vinegar (better is well....better)
Worcestershire sauce
Seasoning

1. Finely chop red onion and cook in a pan for 5 minutes to caramelise.
2. Whilst cooking add balsamic vinegar and cook down together
3. Take off the heat when nicely caramelised - do not over do them!!
4. Combine in a bowl with mince, a little worcestershire sauce and season.
5. Cook in a frying pan and serve.

I eat this dish with a little rice and a salad (not a big fan of salad so for me this is basically lettuce and cucumber - that's fine for me though!)

Fajitas
Lazy and tasty

2 chicken thighs (takes time to trim but much better quality)
1 1/2 onion slived
1 pepper (red/yellow/orange) sliced
Old el-paso kit

lettuce, cheese, cucumber, tomato etc to serve (all finely chopped to inset in fajitas)

1. Put the onion and pepper in a pan together and cook. It will take 10-15 minutes to cook these down to be eaten - by which point they will be nicely caramelised.
2. Cook rice to serve alongside - I start this just after the onions etc.
3. Add fajita mix and a small amount of water to blend.
4. DRY pan fry the wraps - they taste much better done this way as opposed to microwave.
5. Fill and serve with rice as desired.

We then add lettuce etc as mentioned above into the wraps and other condiments as desired (I sometimes add a smidge of sweet chilli, my dad likes hot sauce). A meal will tend to be 2 wraps with approx 50g of rice (wraps prepared as required)

As said before - my tactic is to be really careful during the day and allow myself for options in the evenings. With a target of no more than 600cal (ideally less) in the day it makes it easier to enjoy my evening meal. I doubt we ever go above 500-600 cals with these dishes anyway so 1200 ish daily average. (my dad is a very good GP and we've discussed this at length to ascertain if this is viable - he says it's utterly fine, so long as it works for me)

LONG ASS POST - sorry. Thought I'd just share my insight.
 
Last edited:
Personally I find most home cooking can be good for you.

For example, a Pizza Hut pizza is 3000+ calories when it is meaty (giggle) and has a stuffed cheesy crust. If you make a home made pizza with limited cheese, a base made from bread mix, a sauce that is just simmered down chopped tomato with some basil and garlic, and some decent salami to top it off, then you have a pretty healthy pizza. Of course it is not going to be as healthy as other meals, but because you've made it yourself you know what is in it and there are no preservatives.

A frozen pizza is both absolutely disgusting and awful for you. A takeaway pizza is loaded with calories. Eight pints of beer is easily 2000 calories, plus a 2000 calorie 10 inch pizza on the way home is awful! A pound of fat is around 3500 calories so you're adding some serious weight just by that!

I know this thread is on food, but drinking wisely can have a bigger impact on your weight than what you eat!
 
Last edited:
I really stuggle with the idea of dieting purely becuase if your on a diet that implies that at some point your going to come off the diet which will inevitably lead to weight gain, surely rather than dieting you should just look to adopt a healthy lifestyle that you can then sustain going forwards. For example I could never imagine an outright ban on anything I like eating as it would just make me want it more so instead I'd rather cut down instead and the very idea of calorie counting just puts me to sleep food is something I enjoy so turning it into a mental maths exercise isn't happening!
 
michaelp said:
Tomorrow I am starting my diet and currently the meals I have planned are pretty dull such as simple chicken, brown rice and veg so was thinking the people of La Cuisine would possibly have some nice recipes that are a little tastier but will stick within the rules of dieting.

I was thinking about setting a cal, prot, carb and fat max but I think ill leave it open as even if I don't use it someone else might find it appealing.

It would be nice if you knew the nutritional values of the recipe but its something ill work out if I like the look of it and will post my finding's for it myself.
Click to expand...

There is no need to make anything dull. Curries, stir-fries, BBQ, stews etc. are all great. Not many calories in herbs, spices and seasoning. You can make lots o healthy curries, not everything has to be swimming in ghee/cream/coconut milk.

My main dieting tip is to replace pure starchy carbs like rice/bread/potatoes simply with extra vegetables and make sure the whole portion size is somewhat smaller that you would normally eat, but not massively. Also, don't skip on any protein in favour of some useless diet pap. A good BBQ'd chicken breast or steak is very much a part of a good diet and will ensure you don't suffer any hunger pangs. In fact, when i diet I tend to eat much more meat, e.g. skip the home made potatoes fries and bread roll in favor of an extra burger!
 
QuickLink said:
I've cut right down on my carbs in the evening. Rarely have potatoes in the evening now. I like to mix it up with different meats, so I griddle a lot of meat and mix up my veg too.
Chicken, turkey, veal and beef are my tops. Turkey stir fries are great, noodles aren't bad either but I would often swap them out with bean sprouts.

When winter comes, it's soup time for me. I love making soups and they're great lunches and fillers. But we're not quite there yet...
Click to expand...

Yep, love having soups in winter, lots of variety and always filling. I ended up making some carrot soup this week as I had purchased a 4 kg bag.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom