Dinner idea help please
 

Ok so yesterday's dinner idea was a total hit with my family but a total flop when I plugged it into fitday, note to self stromboli has too many cals, so anyways I need to find some ideas for dinners that would satisfy the other 3 members of my family yet allow me to easily stay under my daily calorie goal. It's really starting to get chilly here so we've been doing alot of soups and totally getting burned out on that.

Can someone help me with some ideas for kid friendly meals that are low in calories?

I can't offer much help, but what I do is, I will cook for me and my husband, just a regular meal, than eat a much smaller portion and eat a BIG ol' salad with it... sometimes I eat a whole bag of salad if I think I might eat too much of the dinner (I eat the salad beforehand to fill me up)... and a whole bag is only 45 calories! I usually sprinkle some parmesan cheese on it (2tsp is only 25 calories) and some tasty dressing (I can't do light dressing!!) but even the full calorie dressing isn't bad, like 130 for 2 tablespoons.. so the huge salad would be like 200 calories if you ate the whole bag... I usually don't though, that's a lot of salad!...then have a small portion of whatever you cooked so it winds up being only a 500 calorie meal for me...

Hope that helps!

Good advice from eatnothingalive (love that name!).

It's so difficult to keep everyone happy when you have a family to feed! I'm pretty much eating the same foods I've always eaten, but in MUCH smaller portions. For instance, I love making chicken or veal schnitzels and I used to eat two at a meal. Nowadays, I'm just as happy with one piece and a LOT more veggies. I've also found that they taste just as good if I use one tbsp. of oil instead of two when I make them. At breakfast, I now have one piece of toast instead of two. It's little changes like this that make a big difference in the long haul.

My new lifestyle has to be FOREVER if I want to keep the pounds off, and for me that would be unrealistic to think I could watch my family eating yummy stuff while I'm eating something less tasty.

Fitday is a great way to keep track of your calories (I'm doing a similar one - Nutridiary). I was amazed to find I was snacking on over 400 calories just in cheese and nuts each day!

Good luck to you in your weight loss efforts (and keeping your family happy at dinner time) :goodluck:


yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a
gift - that why they call it the present!

What about fajitas? You can get some good low-calorie tortilla shells, they're pretty quick to make -- if you're super-harried and have the money you can probably buy prechopped meat and presliced veggies, either fresh or frozen. A lot of the calories come from what you top them with, and that's easily varied from person to person. I find salsa and a dollop of LF sour cream does well. Just trying to guesstimate: 100 calories for a huge LF tortilla, 80 calories chicken, 30 calories veggies, 40 calories oil, 10 calories fajita seasoning, 30 calories salsa, 40 calories sour cream? That's 330 calories, and you could cut out the sour cream even.

What about pizza. You can ask to have a few slices to be all veggies and lite on the cheese. The rest of the family can eat what ever they want on it.

Thanks for the ideas ladies. I think I"m gonna give the fajitas a shot tomorrow night. Kids are going to grandmas tonight so I'm just gonna eat a salad and let hubby fend for himself.

We do fajitas at home all the time, and I've got all the data plugged into nutridiary... in fact, we just had them tonight! One of my fajitas is just about 200 calories:

1 tortilla (I buy the small ones-- 90 cals)
1- 1 1/2 oz chicken (or have an all-veggie one to break it up)
1 oz or so of grilled peppers (add onions if you like)
4 g of regular sour cream (just a sm dollop)
6 g of salsa
today I added in a bit of avocado (8 gr)
there's a small bit of oil on the grilled veggies, so I add that in...

they are really yummy, and like I said, you can make an all veggie one if you want. Tonight I had 3 and they were great!


We've also done tacos with ground turkey -- another item each person can customize, so you can add more veggies if you like.

I kind of have this same problem - my teenaged son can eat circles around me and not gain an ounce. I do what others have suggested ... vary the amounts. I tend to stick to a loose formula for dinners:

• 3-4 oz meat for me, more for my son
• 1 c cooked vegetables or 2 c raw
• 2 grain servings
• 2 or less fat servings

Usually, for the two of us, I cook three portions of meat: one for me, and two for him. I also insist he eat a certain small amount of whatever vegetable we have with dinner. I also often make a light dinner, and have my son "round it out" with whatever else (a taco from Taco Bell, ramen noodles, etc.).

Well didn't get the fajitas made last night but definetly doing it tonight. I hope it goes over well with the rest of the crew. But then again usually anything that they can put salsa on works pretty well.

What I like to do is to take my favorite recipes and revamp them to have fewer calories. It takes a few minutes to plug the info into FitDay, but it's worth it if it's something you'll make again.

For instance, you can take a simple homestyle-favorite like Chicken and Dumplings and make a quick and easy meal that's healthier.

What I do is boil a couple of chicken breasts in lightly salted water, then when the chicken is done, take it out and set it aside. Then cut up a few low-carb or low-fat flour tortilla shells and throw them in the pot where the chicken was and boil them until done. In the meantime, cut up the chicken into pieces and when the dumplings are done, drain out all but 1.5- 2 cups of broth (or more depending on how much you're cooking) and add 1 can of reduced fat cream of chicken soup to the pot with the chicken and stir until mixed well. Wa la! You can add a can of veg-all, peas, corn, or serve the veggies on the side. It's actually pretty good.

My point is, you can take almost any meal and make it lighter. I also love http://www.allrecipes.com because it lists the recipe's calories right on the page and you can also scale down the recipes to the # of servings you want. They also have a subscription to special light recipes, too. Hope this helps!

I think that making a big pot of veggie and bean chili or pasta sauce with veggies over rice or pasta is an easy/healthy thing that most children will eat. You can also have "breakfast for dinner" with cereal, fruit and toast
or

pancakes, frozen veggie sausages and juice :)

Off topic: Mandy, you have the cutest signature ever and I want one like that! Where did it come from?

Fajitas where a major hit around here! Couldn't believe it. Thanks for the help ladies. I think tomorrow I'll just make meatloaf and mashed potatoes but eat a really big salad instead of much of the meal.

And I agree Mandy that is the cutest signature.

meatball (lean beef) and veggie stir fry

Hmm that sounds interesting. Usually I use leftover steak or chicken in the stir fry.

Hmmm...I know I'm getting into old threads now (I must be in a chatty/writerly mood this month)....

There are FF hot dogs out there in the 45 cal/each range. You could just skip the bun (or get whole wheat buns). Add your condiments and away you go! Also, another pitch for vegetarian versions of hamburger patties. You could make hamburgers for the other members of the family and substitute a Boca or Morningstar patty for yourself (someone in another thread recommended the spicy bean flavor as especially good). If you're open to trying vegetarian options, there are "crumbles" sold in the freezer section by both Boca and Morningstar that are hamburger substitutes (these are textured vegetable protein). If you use those in a casserole dish that you want to adapt I'm not sure that anybody will figure it out unless you tell them ;) There's a chain in the South that sells frito boat things and they have a vegetarian chili with the crumbles and they have to reassure people all the time that no, it's NOT actual hamburger in there :)

That was me recommending the spicy bean burger -- and the FF hot dogs! Good job to put them in this dinner thread!

I didn't even think about fajitas and I love em!! Thanks for the recipe :D . I've been trying to come up with normal foods that fill me up and still stick to my low cal diet.


Mandy- Cool recipe site.. I added it to my favorites...After the christmas shopping is all done I will definitely check that out :smug: .

I don't do hotdogs but thanks for the suggestion. I've never been a fan of TVP either. My mom used it one time in chili and after like 3 bowls she told me the truth. I was so mad at her. But on the other hand it's got me thinking maybe I should give it another shot. I think she'd absolutely flip if I told her I was cooking with tvp. She's been so surprised in all the healthy changes I've made in our house, not just food wise, that I think this might put her over the edge.

That's funny about the tvp. I remember one time my dad thought he was "putting one over" on us by serving some exotic meat (elk, moose, god knows what). Well, it was GAMEY and duh, I could tell. I just didn't like the sneak attack approach :)

I think a lot of those tvp options have REALLY improved in recent years--having a market sure gives the manufacturers the incentive to produce tasty things. These days, it's not just the vegetarians turning to the tvp/soy products, but health conscious folks like us. I always think of cardiac patients too since there is NO saturated fat (no animal products). If I really want a hamburger, then I'm craving the actual meat, but for processed stuff and casseroles, well....I find the tvp just as satisfying and definitely a "bargain" in the calorie (or fat gram if that's what you count) game. btw, my little hotdog soapbox--I actually like tvp hotdogs better because I don't have to think about what mystery meat is ground up in what I'm eating (ears, lips, noses, tails, etc.). BLECH. :dizzy:

I might give the hot dogs a try. The ear nose feet thing is what's kept me from eating hot dogs in the past.

Hey Ambabs! I've been experimenting with low calorie recipes online a lot lately, here are some of my favorites (that my boyfriend likes too!!).

Tuna Cakes! (I like these with hot sauce - no bun)

1 can of your favorite tuna fish, drained (light, packed in water)
1/4 cup onion, chopped
1/4 cup bell pepper, chopped
1/4 bread crumbs
1 egg
salt, pepper, Tabasco and / or your favorite seasoning, to taste
cooking spray
Mix tuna, onion, bell pepper, bread crumbs, egg and seasoning in a medium bowl until ingredients are well combined. Form the mixture into two equal sized patties.
Coat a nonstick pan with cooking spray and place over medium heat. Add patties and cook 6-7 minutes, or until golden brown. Spray the tops of the patties with a little more cooking spray before turning. Cook for about 5 more minutes or until golden brown. Serve immediately.
Per Cake - Cal - 199, Fat - 3.9, Protein - 26.6, Carbs - 14.1
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CRISPY BAKED FILET OF SOLE

1 1/2 pounds sole fillets *I've used tilapia, halibut and flounder and it comes out great!
3/4 cup finely chopped onion
1/2 cup acceptable vegetable oil *I don't add this
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
2 teaspoons grated lime rind *I skip this
1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
1 tablespoon light soy sauce
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper
Vegetable oil spray
1 1/4 cups plain bread crumbs
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley
2 tablespoons finely chopped green onion

Rinse fish and pat dry. Set aside. In a small bowl, combine onion, oil, lime juice and rind, ginger, soy sauce, salt and pepper. Set aside. Lay fillets in a baking dish and pour liquid mixture over all, turning fillets to coat evenly. Cover and refrigerate for several hours or overnight. Preheat oven to 450 F. Lightly spray a baking dish with vegetable oil spray. In a pie plate, combine bread crumbs, parsley and green onion. Stir to mix well and set aside. Remove fillets from marinade and coat with crumb mixture. Place fillets in prepared baking dish and bake 15 to 18 minutes, or until fish flakes easily with a fork.

Calories: 339
Protein: 22 g
Carbohydrates: 17 g
Total Fat: 20 g
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CHILI CON CARNE (Freezes really well. I usually make rice for my boyfriend to eat it with and I eat broccoli or green beans smothered with the chili, yum!)

1 cup dried pinto or kidney beans
3 cups water
1 tablespoon acceptable vegetable oil *I don't use this
2 cups chopped onion
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 pound lean ground beef
2 cups chopped tomatoes
1 6-ounce can no-salt-added tomato paste
3/4 cup water
2 to 3 tablespoons chili powder
1 tablespoon cider vinegar *I add extra at the end to taste
1 to 2 teaspoons minced garlic
1 teaspoon oregano *I add extra at the end to taste
1 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 bay leaf

Place beans and 3 cups of water in saucepan. Bring to boil and cook for 2 minutes. Do not drain. Set aside for 1 hour. Return beans to heat, adding water to cover if necessary. Simmer for 1 hour, or until beans are tender. Drain and set aside. Heat oil in a large, deep skillet, Dutch oven or stockpot over medium-high heat. Add onion and bell pepper. Cook until onion is transparent. Add meat and brown. Pour off all fat. Add beans and remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer 1 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally. Remove bay leaf before serving.

Calories: 229
Protein: 18 g
Carbohydrates: 20 g
Total Fat: 9 g

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Chicken Picatta (this is the BEST ONE!! I've made it 5 times already, frozen the breasts and eaten them later, made it for guests... soooo good!)

1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil *I use the cooking spray instead
8 green onions, thinly sliced on the diagonal
2 cloves garlic, crushed or minced
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 to 3 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil *I use cooking spray
2 tablespoons low-sodium chicken broth
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice *Kind in the bottle works too
2 tablespoons capers, rinsed, drained, and chopped if very large *I haven't made it with these yet, and it's still AMAZING
2 tablespoons dry white wine (optional)
2 tablespoons dry sherry (optional)
Black pepper to taste
1 small lemon, thinly sliced (optional)
2 tablespoons chopped parsley (optional)

Rinse the chicken breasts and pat dry with paper towels. Place between sheets of plastic wrap and flatten slightly with a meat mallet or rolling pin. Set aside. Heat a large skillet over medium heat, add 1 teaspoon olive oil, and sauti the green onions and garlic just until tender, about 2 minutes. Remove from the pan and set aside. Put the flour on a plate and lightly coat both sides of the chicken. Shake off excess flour. Lightly brown chicken in the skillet over medium heat, adding a small amount of oil as needed. Return the green onions and garlic to the pan. Add the broth, wine and sherry, if using, lemon juice, and capers. Sauti over high heat until heated through, about 2 minutes. Stir in the pepper. Serve on a warmed platter and garnish with lemon slices and chopped parsley, if using. *I add extra lemon at the end!*

Calories: 212
Protein: 28 g
Carbohydrates: 10 g
Total Fat: 6 g

Hope you find something you like! Ah... stromboli! I LOVE IT!! I grew up on it - my great, great Aunt from Palermo's recipe - talk about fattening!! If I ever find a diet-friendly version, I will pass it along!!

:) Ees

Oops, keep thinking of something else! I'm obsessed with food, if ya can't tell!

I bought myself these really good chicken sausages from Trader Joes - they have only 90 calories and 4 grams of fat per link. You can probably find another version at any grocery store if you don't have a Trader Joes. Whenever I want fast food, I fry one in cooking spray, steam a whole bunch of veggies and bake a small potato (in fry-slices) at 400 degrees for about 20-30 minutes on a baking sheet, lightly sprayed (flip once, seasoned with hot salt or just salt and pepper). Sometimes I'll cut strips of chicken and bake those (without breading them, although lightly breaded is not that bad). I eat the chicken or sausage with a mustard and the fries with a low sugar ketchup - YUM!! My boyfriend buys Italian and Polish sausages for himself - so I will usually make two of those for him, and we are both happy!! He just bought cans of sauerkraut for next time!

Okay, I think that's all I have for now!!

Have you tried grilled chicken caesar?I never tried this before until I went into the grocery store and seen south beach boxes clearanced for .99 a box. Cheap enough, I tried it. Kids loved it!
The following week I went and bought the stuff I needed to make my own.
I'll post what you need if you want to try it.. Its really delicious!

2 wheat tortilla's (small)
Crafts low fat cheese (I think no more then 1 tbls)
1- 1.5 oz of chicken strips (or your own chicken cooked throughly)
then add about a tablespoon of caeasar salad dressing (optional of lowfat)

Have you ever tried the Joanna Lund "Healthy Cooking" series? Her recipes are all healthy, low-cal, low-whatever and they taste good! A good source for finding these cookbooks at a very low price is bookcloseouts.com. She has two crockpot (slowcooker) cookbooks, one for using Splenda, one for using indoor grills (George Foreman, etc.) plus many many more. One of my favorites is the "Healthy Cooking with the Man in Mind." Most of the recipes call for using an 8x8 baking dish and serve 4 -- so portion control is pretty easy. Most libraries carry some of her cookbooks or they can get them.

Kimberly

dinner ideas
 

I use the soy crumbles for chili and casserols and the taste is wonderful and no one would ever know. It saves on calories and is bettr for you. I try to do two vegetarina dinners a week as well as all vegetarian breakfasts..( well oatmeal, or yogurt smoothies are not meat, you know,lol)

It is so much more difficult when there are picky family members to deal with. My daughter recently came to stay...for a while and she is ...picky. It has made my dieting a bit harder. But it can be done. she hates soups and I love them and use them all the time. Even when I dont have soupl, I can have a cup of clear broth first (5 or 10 calories) to begin MY meal and it helps to stay the pangs of hunger. She is not at all in favor of soy products and I just do not tell her. she never knows and eats with complements, sometimes. I just smile and say 'thank you'

I think trying to lower calories in your family's favorite recipes is a great idea. You could begin with a salad or soup or broth and take smaller portions as was mentioned in the thread. this way everyone will be eating healthier and your efforts will be easier and maybe new habits will begin.

O2BN...Vienna

every single crumb tattles on me

wannaBaloser

I'm really lucky in that my husband is a meat and potatos man. I make a perfectly ordinary supper .... protein, vegetable, potato .... But I make more than one vegetable and don't eat the potatos. I'm also more careful what meats we have, the leaner the better. We also have chicken and fish a lot more.

Spaghetti: Serve the sauce over pasta for the kids and over chopped veggies (broccoli, zucchini, peppers, onions, tomatoes) for you. You could use seashell-shaped noodles and add a few into your portion, also work some of those veggies into the kids' portion. I can eat just about anything if it's covered in Ragu! Of course, a homemade spaghetti sauce could be less fattening, but Ragu isn't so bad when it's just served with veggies.

Turkey burgers: These are GOOD! You can eat yours without the bun, though I firmly believe you need whole grains in your diet and should eat it on a whole grain bun. Add in lettuce and tomatoes (the kids can have cheese, too). Serve with coleslaw, carrot/pineapple/raisin slaw or Waldorf salad.(leave the sour cream out of your portion).

Turkey sausage: I just discovered this, and OMG, is it good!

Try the very lean cuts of beef available. 93% lean ground sirloin can be used to make burgers, meat loaf, whatever you like. Flank steak is lean.

I cut out red meat from my diet almost 100% about a year ago. It's actually out about 97% but I'm getting there. I use ground turkey where I used to use ground beef and the family never knew the difference.

I'm not a sausage fan but I really like turkey bacon.

Perdue also makes Italian turkey sausage that's awesome in Italian dishes.

I eat my turkey burgers like you would eat a steak. I top it with a tablespoon of cheese and add tomato slices. It's not as good in the winter when the tomatoes are not from my garden but it's still good enough.

Thanks for the fajita ideas. I bought some stuff to make fajitas & chicken wraps from the grocery store yesterday. I can't wait to make them tonight.

I make stir fry quite often, it's so good! Cabbage, shredded carrots, zucchini, red bell pepper, bean sprouts, mushrooms, onion, scallion and a tiny bit of meat. I like to use chicken and shrimp. I serve this with a little bit of rice.

Shannon

Speaking of fajitas....my husband loves nachos...the kind that are a big chip, loaded with junk! We came up with a low cal version using taco shells busted in half, refried beans, chicken, cheese and pico. Each 'nacho' was 95 calories. My big appetite hubby was very satisfied with 5 of them for a meal.