Welcome to the thread! I get a lot of really good ideas here.

Also, I know it's not necessarily diet food - but I made this when I was having some major tooth work - and lightened it up a bit by using smart balance, splenda, half and half - and no creamed corn (it was just as good): http://www.accessatlanta.com/atlanta...of-866584.html

Thanks :D I was here awhile ago but been slacking on trying new things. With spring here I figure it was a good time to get back for some inspiration!

Thanks for the recipe, I will try it this weekend. He has been hesitant to eat much, I will tell him it is dental surgery & 3FC approved ;)

I *sorta* had the day off today - got roped into working til 3:30, then I hit the co-op again. I had to buy more of the organic local tofu, plus the $2 local baby spinach. I made seat-of-my-pants curry - garlic, ginger, basil EVOO, onion, pepper, tofu, veg broth, light coconut milk, green curry paste, basil, sriacha (sp?) sauce and baby spinach. Yummy!

I also bought some local organic raw curry sauerkraut. HOLY crap is it delicious! They had a jalapeno sauerkraut, too - had to get a jar of that, too.

Eating out the next 2 nights, so no more cooking til next week.

That sounds AMAZING! Tonight will likely be kimchi rice with leftover flounder or bay scallops, and some leftover kale salad.

Riddy - your post made me think about shopping habits. I feel like I have finally figured it out when it comes to shopping for my boyfried and I.

I am interested in how everyone does their food shopping - do you stick to one store or shop numerous places???

I usually go to Kroger once a month and stock up on my essentials - canned foods - beans, soups, etc., 5lb bag of organic carrots, pickles, pasta, cottage cheese, sour cream, block cheese. I also go to Sam's about once a month for bread, frozen chicken tenders, 5lb ground turkey, sliced turkey, mini cheeses for lunches. I order all my beef online about once every 6-9 months though I will pick up a pound here or there at the farmer's market or Whole Foods. The rest of the month I go to the market down the street from my house about 1-2 times a week. There I buy vegetables, fruits, spices, anything else I need for that day or week's recipes. Once the market opens in our downtown square I will be going there once a week for locally grown lettuce and other vegetables. It sounds like a lot of shopping but it really isn't.

I start at the discount and Asian markets. I get almost all of my produce, herbs, juice, seltzer, canned goods, tofu, frozen veggies, shirataki, milk, eggs, rice, beans, noodles, condiments between two stores. I can even buy single cups of Chobani for .99 there, ground turkey/chicken, cheese, etc.

I go to BJ's about once a month to pick up a rotisserie chicken, hummus, chicken breasts, a large container of plain Chobani and cases of water.

I buy certain items at Trader Joe's maybe once every two weeks - juice boxes, apple/banana crushers, blue cheese, peanut butter and almond butter, broccoli slaw, mandarin chicken, low sodium broth, breads/tortillas/pitas, turkey jerky, and usually just browse for the rest.

I go to a regular grocery store (Stop and Shop) once a month to get a few things I can't find other places - flatout bread comes to mind.

There is another store I frequent maybe once a month because their seafood and filet mignon are fantastic and they have great sales on all of it often. It's local and never frozen.

In the summer I like to browse farmers markets once a week or every other week if I have the time. They're open such limited hours so I don't always make it in time!

GREAT question.

I usually to go a store called Sprouts here once a week for my produce (it's very inexpensive there) and some meats. They have these individually portioned fish fillets in different kinds that I love. They also have inexpensive bulk spices and sometimes really good deals on ground chicken/turkey and seafood. Once Trader Joe's gets here, I'll probably go there once or twice a month as well.

About 2 or 3 times a month I go to Kroger for my "processed" items (drink mix, peanuts, yogurt, cheese, etc. -- I don't eat a lot of processed food but there are a few things I use) as well as beans/rice.

I'd love to do one stop shopping, but the prices at Sprouts offset it. :)

Tonight's dinner - I have fallen in LOVE with those stuffed zucchini. That's for dinner tonight with roasted broccoli and rice pilaf.

I shop at... 4 stores, sometimes 5 depending on the sales. I go to a store called Aldi (Owned by the same people as TJ's, but its like, discount, and so much cheaper, lol) and get veggies and off brand things. They have 2 packs of green peppers, a multi pack of zuchinni, things like that.. Then I'll go to WalMart for my Light Buttermilk Ranch dressing and anything else they have on sale. If I need bread, I go to the bread store, which is a discount place we have. We have a Schwebels bakery and a Wonder bakery within about 10 miles of my house, so they will have my 35 cal a slice bread for 60cents a loaf, and I load up the freezer. I mainly shop at a regional store called Acme.. thats closest to my house and I get most everything there. I'll go to Sams once a month too, for household things and for bulk veggies like my big tubs of spinach and such. I shop EarthFare for my organic stuff and because they send out freebies via text and email. I'll go to Giant Eagle too, for the stuff that I can't get at the other places, because GE is a bigger "name" store and they have more of things I can't find. LOL. I drive a lot. :lol:

Sometimes I stop at the mexican market, because they have ah-mazing meat, and I go to the asian market too because they sometimes have deals on veggies and all my spicy stuff. :D

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Dinner tonight is a version of this:

http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Ravioli-Lasagna

I'll be using cheese ravioli's for DH and I'll be layering mine with spaghetti squash and veggies... maybe a ravioli or two, but nothing crazy, lol.

YUM. And a spinach salad, as always. I have zumba tonight so I'll run home and eat my salad, make dinner and then zumba. Hopefully DH will stick it in the oven so itll be hot when I get home! :)

I didn't know Aldi is owned by TJ's. We have them here but I have never been to one. Next time I am near one I will have to stop in and check it out.

I should check out some of the ethnic markets in my town, there is one in particular I have been meaning to check out that is close to my house. We also have this awesome store called Jungle Jim's that has food from all over the world http://www.junglejims.com/ Sometimes I wish I had more people to cook for!

Tonight I am probably doing an easy pasta dish, my bf is still recovering from his dental procedure. I also am going to make black bean salsa since I have a ton of leftover cilantro. I am trying this recipe because I am interested in the seasonings - http://allrecipes.com/recipe/black-b...sa/Detail.aspx but without the peppers since I don't have any and scaled back to 1 can instead of 4.

I LOVE Aldi. It's very inexpensive, and they have some really neat stuff. They have a dark chocolate bar called Moser Roth which is REALLY GOOD :D.

I always forget about Aldi - it's just not in my regular traffic pattern, even though it's just a couple miles away.

I do the bulk of my shopping at the regular grocery store. I will buy chicken at BJ's to freeze because they have packages that are already divided into 1 1/2 pound vacuum packs. I like to try different things from the health food store and the co-op, but that's not usually more than once a month.

I want to go to the farmer's market more, but I also want to sleep in on Saturdays. ;)

And Munchy, my throw-it-together curry was delish! I am getting more confident in my skills with mixing Asian/Indian flavors without a recipe.

Aldi was my lifesaver when I was trying to support a family on a budget. I tend to go to PriceRite now because they have a bigger selection of produce, but Aldi rocks.

Last night was tuna noodle casserole, not the healthiest of meals especially topped with butter and cheddar cheese. But the bf is still not able to eat much since his procedure.

Tonight I am feeling kinda lazy so I might make a personal pizza with turkey pepperoni or veggie with olive oil, light mozz, feta, kalamata olives and red onion. I like the Mama Mary crusts, they have 340 cal and 10 g fat for a whole crust which, I don't think seems too bad.

If I can get some motivation - butternut squash risotto is always good :)

Dinner tonight - 265 Calories, 10 carbs

6 ounces of Baked/No skin chicken (170 calories)
1 cup of Raw Spinach (15 cals)
1/2 cup of Cauliflower (25 cals)
1 teaspoon of low sodium soy sauce (10 cals)
1/2 cup of beef broth (10 cals)
1 teaspoon of "I can't believe it's not butter" (35 cals)
A dash of Mrs. Dash (haha) - (0 cals)
Garlic Powder (0 cals)
Pepper (to taste - 0 cals)
Onion Powder (to taste - 0 cals)
Olive Oil Pam Cooking Spray (0 cals)

Bake chicken 40 minutes at 425 degrees. Take out of oven let rest.
In another pan, heat pan up with Pam spray. Put in your cauliflower on one side, then on other side slice up your chicken and put chicken in and then your spices on top of everything. I like my chicken nice and crispy and this is an excellent, non fat way of doing it. Let ingredients work together for a few minutes then add your soy sauce, teaspoon of fake butter and 1/2 your beef broth and on top of it all add your spinach. Let it sit there for a minute or so and then stir it all together and then add rest of your beef broth.
Let cook 1 more minute then serve.

Optional add but was out of it tonight - 1 cup of white mushrooms (15 calories or so) and excellent source of Vitamin D! It also has incredible flavor after it's been soaking in all those ingredients.

You should take a look at this Skinny Tuna Noodle Casserole

For pizza crust, I always use flatout light (90 cals, 9g fiber). It's like a thin crust pizza with whatever toppings I want and you can't beat 90 calories! :)