Hi! I was wonderin if you know of a recipe I can use every day that doesn't require to much work and doesn't crunch my dollars. I am trying to eat healthy and and lose 10 pounds! I eat 5 meals a day, two snacks, breakfast, lunch, and dinner! Dinner is my biggest concern. It has to be the smallest meal and something so easy I can make every day! Not to mention something I enjoy eating as well!

Chemar's recipe sounds wonderful, but, her definition of an easy recipe is more time-consuming than mine.

Some quick suggestions, when cooking cheap and healthy for one:
1. Throw some brown rice and either split peas, or dried lentils into a pot with appropriate amount of water (see directions on back of packages). If you want to add some diced carrots, green peppers, whatever, while you're cooking, you can. Or you could add tomato soup, or cook in chicken broth instead of water. Takes awhile to cook, but, not much of your time. Just start it early and let it cook while you do other things.
If you don't add veggies to the rice mixture, serve some on the side.

2. Tuna sandwiches (on 100% whole wheat bread), or add egg to canned tuna and cook into tuna burgers. (I find that using the tuna can to shape the burgers works well.) I wouldn't recommend eating tuna more than 2-3 times a week, though, because of possible mercury poisoning. Sefve with a vegetable and/or fruit.

3. Make a 3-bean salad with a can of green beans, a can of kidney beans, and a can of lima beans, or some other 3rd variety of beans. Will keep for several days, so you don't need preparation time each day. Serve with something whole grain.

4. Fat-free cottage cheese is another good meat-less protein, that can be served with a whole grain, and a fruit and/or vegetable.

I need to take my own advice. Thanks for getting me thinking about this, Silly Me. Should work for noon meals alone at home, when I can eat healthy without other family members complaining. Using the same recipe every day isn't a bad idea. You don't have to think and plan ahead much. And, I've heard that you often eat less if you eat the same thing daily.

A nutritionist on another site recently suggested only veggies, salad, quality fat and protein and no rice, potatoes.....at dinner. You are less active in the evening and carbs need to come in the daytime when you're active. I might try that too, cooking what I think my family will like, but picking and choosing which food groups I eat.

~ Faith

I just recently bought cottage cheese, and I was having such a hard time taking it in. But im getting better at it, it would help if I knew wht went good with it. Tuna and egg sounds good and I've already sarted the whole wheat eating! Im wondering if whole wheat carbs are bad at night though, since I sometimes cook egg whites and slap a slice of cheese with two slices of whole grain wheat. Sometimes I just tell my poor husband to cook! I just can't stand to cook all the foods my kids and hubby wanna eat. Thank goodness he is supportive!lol as far as the rice goes, I can't eat brown rice, no matter wht I put on it. Its just so gross to me. Is there a brand or substitute for it that taste as good as regular rice and healthy for you?

You want a healthier rice substitute?

I've got a GREAT ONE FOR YOU!!!

It's called QUINOA (pronounced keeenwa)

I use this all the time.

I cook it (I buy the one that is pre-washed and pre-rinsed). Just follow instructions. Takes no time at all.

You can do with it EXACTLY WHAT YOU'D DO WITH RICE.

I, however, SPROUT IT!!!

I sprout everything I can get my hands on. Then I lightly stir-fry (not the Quinoa, doesn't need to be stir-fried).

So I just put all my sprouts in a bowl, (I sprout lentils, beans, legumes, whatever), I sautee them for one minute,

Then I throw everything in a bowl, grate some carrots, add some Quinoa (sprouted, or some that I've cooked up already),

add some breadcrumbs, some onions, some eggs,

Make a mixture. Make some patties.

cook them like you would cook hamburgers.

I spray the pan with no -stick, and sometimes put some canola oil. They get all crispy.

Believe me, if you want a healthy FAST thing to make. (You can make up a whole batch that you can use for many days).

So for instance, make a batch on Sunday, and your whole family will be eating healthy all week.

And if you want to get creative, (The quinoa has protein and so do my sprouts), but if you don't have any of this and just want to use plain old left over veggies, then add a can of tuna, and mish up the whole thing, and you'll have tuna patties.

Today I made tuna croquettes for Alan. Same as patties, only shaped differently.

I said "why not add my sprouts, my quinoa, etc, to the tuna.

So I put everything in the bowl, added the bread crumbs, the eggs, (I use egg subsitute or egg whites), added the onion, made the mixture, shaped them into croquettes and I cooked them up in the pan.

My husband will have this with his spaghetti tonight. it's his favorite dish.

What do I put on top of the tuna croquettes? A dash of honey.

See, we eat mainly vegetarian in this house, so we need to find protein sources.

The quinoa has protein, the tuna has protein, the sprouts HAVE LOTS OF PROTEIN.

We are in protein heaven.

P.S. these pattie things that I make are SO delicious, believe me.

Get your kids involved in making them. They'll learn how to operate in the kitchen and it will be good for them to learn this as they grow up.

The funniest thing ever, iwas wanting a cooking channel this morning with this famous italian guy, he just so happend to be cooking with that exact ingredient! "Quinoa" I had no idea wht it was but it looked dilicious! Oh and as soon as I get all ingredients, ill be sure to try the patties! Its so funny, the other day I was tryin to feed my son a tv. Dinner and he says " mom that's not healthy I want wht your eating" lol.
Thank you all for your help!

Silly Me --

I love cottage cheese, so I don't have any trouble eating it. I don't know; I sometimes just cook a regular meal for my family, that includes starches, and eat cottage cheese instead of the starch for me.

I don't know what the nutritionist would say about whole wheat products for dinner. She, personally, has cut out most gluten in her own diet. I don't think I could manage that. But, I'd have to think that whole wheat starches would be better for you than those with lots of white flour, no matter what time of day.

I also like brown rice. I prefer the texture to the softeness of white rice. But, my daughter doesn't care for it. I find that she doesn't complain (or, possibly even notice) if I mix 1/2 brown rice with 1/2 white rice. It actually tends to resemble white rice and the brown rice is barely detectable.

~ Faith

Are you referring to Rocko Despirito (spelling???).
He cooked on the last season of The Biggest Loser, and mentioned Quinoa.

I looked at my husband and said: "HAH!!!"

1 stick butter (I use Parkay)
2 c. buttermilk baking mix or Bisquick
1 (8 oz.) sour cream

Melt butter, mix with buttermilk baking mix, add sour cream. Spoon into ungreased muffin tin and bake at 450 degrees about 13 minutes. Yields 1 dozen.

These are really good....and so easy to make. I make several batches at once and freeze them.

New Potatoes In Creamy Dill Sauce

1 1/2 lbs. New Potatoes (about 22), quartered
1/2 Cup Philly Chive & Onion Cream Cheese Spread
1/2 Cup Milk
1/2 tsp. dill weed

Boil potatoes until tender. Drain and return to pot.

Microwave cream cheese spread and milk for 1 minute. Stir until smooth. Pour over potatoes along with dill and mix to coat.

Yummy!!

Prawns have been selling at bargain prices here lately, and seeing I like them so much.... DH and I have been buying them while they're plentiful and fresh, and cooking lots of different prawn dishes. Because they were so yummy, I thought I'd share a couple of the easier recipes with you.

The ingredients I've quoted you below are for two adults, so you may have to adapt them to suit your own needs.

Fettuccine with Creamy Garlic Prawns:

Ingredients:
300gm (about half - 3/4 lb) raw prawns ... peeled
3 cloves garlic, minced
½ glass of white wine
½ cup of chopped chives
Cup & 1/4 thickened cream (10 fl oz or 300ml)
Dash of Virgin Olive oil
Salt and ground pepper

~100g of Fettuccine per adult ( a small handful for 2)

Method:
Fill a large saucepan with salted water(salt is optional) and bring to the boil. Add pasta and cook, stirring occassionally. Cook until pasta is al dente (or as soft as you like it).

While the pasta is boiling .....

1. Toss together the prawns, garlic, chopped chives and a touch of salt & pepper.
2. Heat oil in a pan, wait until hot then sear the prawns until they just start to change color, then pour in the white wine and bring to the boil.
3. Remove the prawns from the pan and pour in the cream, boil the sauce until thickened then re-introduce the prawns to the sauce.

You can either serve the pasta and then pour sauce over, or alternatively mix the pasta and the sauce together and then serve. Sprinkle chopped chives over the top and enjoy.

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Fettuccine with Basil & Garlic:

Ingredients:
300gm (half- 3/4 lb) raw prawns ... peeled
8-10 small cherry tomatoes
2-3 tablespoons Virgin Olive oil
100gm (small bottle) of Basil Pesto
2 cloves minced garlic
Parmeson Cheese to garnish
Salt and ground pepper

~100g of Fettuccine per adult...a small handful for 2.

Method:

A. Preheat oven to 450F.(230C). Place tomatoes on an ovenproof tray. Drizzle with a little of the oil. Sprinkle with salt & pepper and roast tomatoes until heated throughout.

B. Fill a large saucepan with salted water(salt is optional) and bring to the boil. Add pasta and cook, stirring occassionally. Cook until pasta is al dente (or as soft as you like it).