Hi all,

I'm cracking down (losing vacation weight) and looking for some new meal ideas. Is there already a thread somewhere I can look at?

If not, I was hoping you'd share some of the things you eat pretty regularly. I'm looking for easy peasy with few ingredients that I can make quickly. I also would like to try my hand at the BFL protein/carb/fat approach.

Meg, a question for you...I read you eat egg whites, an egg and 1/2 cup of oats for breakfast. Do you mix the oats in with the eggs and then cook them together?

Here's a recipe I enjoy:

1/2 cup Quaker Oats (not instant)
1/2 cup nonfat cottage cheese
4 egg whites
cinnamon and vanilla to taste

Cooking Instructions:
Mix in blender and cook like regular pancakes.

Serving Suggestions:
I eat mine with 1/2 TBSP of strawberry jam. VERY filling.

Thanks for any help! Karyn Lee

KarynLee,
I use that basic pancake recipe to make all sorts of variations. My base is
1/4 c oatmeal
1/4 c fiber 1 cereal
1/3 c ff cottage cheese
4 egg whites

I make a spinach quiche pancacke by adding 1/4 c shredded ff cheddar and 1 1/2 c spinach leaves to the blender, then sprinkling 1 tablespoon meatless bacon bits on top as it ccoks.

Apple Pie version: add vanilla, splenda and cinnamon to the blender, pour contents into pan and add 1/2 c. diced apple on top while it cooks. Flip it and cook intil the apple is slightly carmelized. Eat with sf pancake syrup.

Pumpkin pie version: add 1/2 c. pumkin pack (NOT pie filling) to basic recipe in blender. Add splenda and pumpkin pie spices to taste. Serve w/ sf syrup.

Take a look at the recipe thread on the Ladies who Lift forum- there are a lot of other good recipes there.

Another new favorite of mine is a really simple chili made from ground turkey breast, crushed tomatoes, black beans and chick peas. Spices to taste.

Happy eating!
Mel

My meals are so boooooring .... but in a goofy way, it kind of takes the emphasis off of eating because something tastes good and shifts to eating it because it's good for me. If I eat basically the same thing all the time, my meals become no-brainers. No more standing in front of the frig asking myself what I feel like eating. We're all different when it comes to that ... some people would go nuts eating the way I do.

Breakfast is one whole egg mixed in with 1/2 cup of Eggbeaters (which are egg whites for lazy people ), cooked like an omelet in a nonstick pan sprayed with PAM. I cook the 1/2 cup of oatmeal in the microwave and then add in Splenda and cinnamon. It's my favorite meal of the day!

However, in a wild burst of imagination last night, I ate eggs for dinner (DH is out of town) AND cooked them differently: I mixed Splenda and cinnamon in the egg mixture, cooked them as usual, and then poured 1/4 cup of SF syrup over the concoction and heated the whole mess up.

Mel's our creative cook and I know Ilene makes lots of interesting concoctions, so I'll just go hide with my chicken breasts and salads.

Thanks, Mel. Those variations are awesome and I found the recipe thread you mentioned - tons of info there. Thanks!

Meg, I probably shouldn't admit this because now I feel like a total dork. I was inspired by your eggs / oats post yesterday and mixed the oats INTO the eggs this morning. It was kind of yucky! While forcing it down, it occurred to me that you probably didn't mean you mixed the two together!

Don't feel like a dork! Actually some people do eat them mixed like that! I'm not sure how, exactly -- but I've read it. Besides, some of the best concoctions out there are from people experimenting and mixing different things together. SOMEONE had to be the first one to mix yogurt and cottage cheese together, which I think is awesome. Of course, the first person who mixed peanut butter and chocolate together is the incarnate.

Karylee did you check out the "Favorite Concoction" thread.... there are a few interesting ideas there too...

~~I do love to blend frozen strawberries with cottage cheese and Splenda...
~~Cottage cheese blended smooth with vanilla and splenda...
~~Grated apple into 1/3c of cottage cheese with some splenda and cinnamon...

sometimes I add vanilla protein powder to all of the above...

Oh, and ... Disolve favourite sf Jello, mine is raspberry or strawberry in 1/4c water add to 2c CC and 2c frozen strawberries... blend till smooth....refrigerate...

My version of Protein pancakes:

1/3c cottage cheese
1/3c oatmeal
1/3c egg white
I will often add 1/4 tsp ground flax, wheat bran, wheat germ, sunflower seeds..

Cook like pancakes... Serve with sf syrup...

A quick dinner: a brown rice pilaf mix, cook as usual. Add in 1 can of drained chickpeas, 1 can stewed tomatoes and some sauteed onions.

Another quickie: Fry some crumbled tempeh (a soy protein cake, nothing like tofu) with onions and mushrooms. Also good served with cooked soba noodles and a dash of soy sauce.

Breakfast: oatmeal with sliced bananas and applies, sometimes raisins.

These might be higher carb than you want, but they are very high fiber, low fat and quite filling.

oh dear... i shouldn't be reading this thread, let alone adding to it!!!!!

i'm just finishing breakfast: a scrambled egg with 3 tbs lean ham, 1 oz cheddar, some fresh asparagus, and a small slice multigrain toast with butter. the dog finished the egg... i'm still working on the toast..

meg - if you decide to delete this post, i'll understand!!!

Delete it? It sounds simply wonderful! I'm on my way over right now! Be there in -- oh, seven hours or so. Don't forget to put the coffee on!

One of my goals in cooking/eating, is to try something new each week. I love to cook. This can be a mixed blessing because cooking/investigating new recipes can sometimes be a trigger. But its not something I intend to give up, so I follow one rule. Never read cookbooks when hungry, even slightly hungry. Immediately after a satisfying lunch today I looked thru some cookbooks I purchased at a garage sale this morning. I found two things I intend to try soon -- cabbage rolls, and a risotto. I will modify them to my needs of course.

ONe of the reasons I like to try new things is because when I rely on my old standards, even if they are lean, I am more likely to fall into my old eating habits just because of old associations with that food. I have been trying more new lower cal stuff lately and have found it so much fun. And it keeps me interested in finding new things in my quest for a new stable of recipes to rely upon, and its not increasing my appetite at all, jsut making consumed food more satisfying.

Here is a quick dessert/snack type thing. Sugar free jello made according to directions, with the addition of lemon zest and a dash of fresh lemon juice to the mix. Does that improve sugar free jello!!! My current favorite is to pour dark cherry with lemon over sliced bananas.

Jan

I don't know who, or in which thread, posted the cheesecake recipe using cottage cheese, egg, and vanilla, but it's pretty danged good.