Thought I would share a few of my favorite Modified meals, foods, and dressings.
First disclosure....I hate all things fish, seafood, etc...if it lives an aquatic lifestyle I won't eat it.
Second....my husband and I are pretty plain when it comes to eating.
Meats I can have on the program have to be lean or extra lean. Minimum of 93%lean. Serving size is 5-6oz, weight after cooking.
Meats -
* Basic is plain grilled Chicken, steak, pork obviously.... I really love putting tinfoil shaped in bowls with wood chips in between the burners of our gas grill so that the meat gets lightly smoked too. Makes it taste ahhhhh-mazing!! I lightly spray the chips down with water so they take a bit to heat up. I cook the meats on low (I like steak med/rare) so that by the time it starts smoking the meat is nearly done cooking. I turn up the heat to med and keep a squirt bottle ready to spray out any flames that grow too big. We have fun experimenting with different types of wood chips and different meats. Hickory and Oak are awesome on steak. Apple and Cherry are our favorites on pork. The chicken doesn't pick up that much flavor, you just get a bit of smokiness.
* Buffalo Burgers. Yes...burgers. Well, kind of. I take a lb of 93% lean ground beef and separate it into quarters. Two of the portions I put into a bowl and pour some Franks Hot Sauce on to it. I mix it well into the meat with my hands then form two burger patties with it. My husband doesn't like buffalo so the other half of the meat is formed into two regular burger patties for him. While he is doing his magic on the grill, I am dicing up tomatoes and gently separating leaves of iceberg lettuce so they stay huge and whole. I weigh my patties, trim off any extra weight so that it gets to be my allowed range of 5-6oz then I crumble it up with a fork. I use the giant leaves of iceberg almost like a taco wrap and stuff it with tomatoes and some beef. It is delicious!!! I generally use 1-2 whole tomatoes and 8 leaves of iceberg. It's meaty, buffalo-y, crunchy, juicy...just incredible
* Turkey Chili.
A lb of extra lean ground turkey. I was hesitant to use any canned tomato products as I don't know how they are preserved/sodium content/hidden extras etc. I used 4 tomatoes, 2 bell peppers, an onion, 3 cloves garlic, kidney beans, a summer squash and a zucchini. Some chili powder - maybe 1-2 teaspoons - I just pour it in. My husband hates chunks of veggies so I puree the veggies (except the beans) with my magic bullet/blender. I cooked the zucchini and squash in the oven to soften them while I chopped all the veggies and cooked the turkey in a pan. The pureed veggies made a great sauce. Dumped the pureed veggies, cooked ground turkey, beans, and chili powder into my crockpot and let it go for a few hours. So good. Even better the next night when it had time to settle and thicken. Now I cook it a day ahead and it is perfect.
These are some that have become regulars in my household and when I go out to eat that is when I usually do a straight grilled chicken salad, no cheese/croutons/dressing etc from the restaurant. I bring my own dressing.
Which brings me to the dressings I have found that I love!!! Some dressings that are "diet dressings" I think taste awful...these are the two I have found that even non-diet people love.
My program says we can use dressings that are under 25 calories for 2 Tbsp (not easy to find!!!) and zero grams of fat.
Maple Grove Farms of Vermont to the rescue! Found them in Shaws and Stop&Shop. Two of their flavors (that I have found) fit the requirments. (Most, if not all, of their selection is also gluten free - in case any of you need that)
1) Fat Free Balsamic Vinaigrette.
For 2 Tbsp - 15 calories, 0 grams of fat, 120mg Sodium, 3g Total Carb, 2g Sugars, 0g Protein.
2) Sugar Free Raspberry Vinaigrette. (Their "Fat Free" Raspberry Vinaigrette had too may calories to fit the requirements.)
For 2 Tbsp - 5 calories, 0 grams of fat, 180mg Sodium, 1g Total Carb, 0g Sugars, 0g Protein.
Hope this helps someone.