[hcl777]

Hi everyone.

Sorry if this question has been posted already (I'm new here), but does anyone know any good recipes they use for the "two servings of vegetables" for lunch and dinner with the Nutrisystem plan?

Most cookbooks, even vegetarian cookbooks, seem to load up on salt and sugar and oil for any vegetable recipe that requires cooking. Seems that the easiest thing to do is just to have a salad, but while I love a good salad as much as anyone else, I can't see myself eating 60 salads a month!

Thanks!

[Newgie]

Make soup out of them. Flavour them with some chicken or beef broth and some other spices.
Most times I just dump my NS entree on top of my veggies. Pasta type ontop of zucchini or green beans or spaghetti squash. Beef stew types ontop of cauliflower/carrots. Flavours them up nicely.
I also put canned tomatoes on veggies, add some cajun or other spicey spice in it.

[Newshinyme]

Hi,

Welcome to the boards and to NS.

What I do is for lunch I have a salad most days. And cooked veggies for dinner.
At lunch, I start with green leafy vegs for the salad and then as the 2nd veggie, I mix different raw veggies to make a cup: raw tomatoes, carrots, peppers, onion..whatever tickles my fancy and I also vary the protein I add to it (chicken, feta cheese, cheddar cheese, tuna...). That way I am eating a different salad everyday.
For dinner: I use an indoor grill, and just grill a variety of vegetables: asparagus, mushrooms, peppers, onion, zuchini....
Or I make a stir fry with a variety of vegetables.
In both cases, I just use a spray of PAM and season with herbs or just a bit of salt.
For the stir fries, you can always add a bit of water (very little at a time, as needed) to your pan if the veggies are sticking to it.

Have you noticed the Nutrisystem Buddies thread here? Come join us!

http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/showthread.php?t=159875

[hcl777]

Wow...that's great advice, thanks to both of you! I actually have a George Foreman grill sitting in the closet that I never considered using for veggies.

I will most certainly be on the Nutrisystem buddies board...thanks

[checkersk]

I have been trying to have salads but have been using italian dressing. I just can't eat a salad without dressing. I'm wondering if anyone knows of any homemade, lo-cal dressing recipes? What kind of dressings do you use?
I've been looking around on the net but a lot of them seem to contain dairy or oil. Balsamic also contains a lot of sugar. Any suggestions on how I can reduce the calories in my dressings are much appreciated.

[Newshinyme]

Hi cthewig,

I used to always use the Salad Spritzers, unfortunately I think they have been discontinued (at least in Canada). There are several commercial dressings that you can find that are fat free and that come in at about 10-15 calories per serving. My current favourite is an organic ginger soy one I just found (totally reminds me of japanese food )
I also keep a batch of homemade dressing made with: Raspberry vinegar, SF maple syrup, salt and basil (recipe calls for olive oil but I've been reducing the amount of it and next time I will make it without it).

IMO the secret is not only what dressing you use but also how much of it you use for your salad. When I am at home and I know the nutritional info for my dressing I will use about 1 tbsp. for a gigantic salad (3-4 cups probably) and I find that even then it's plenty and I am only adding about 10 cals.
Another trick I use is: instead of mixing the dressing right into my salad, I will serve it on a little container on the side and I will dip the fork in it and then pick up some salad. That way you are getting all the flavour without the quantity. You'd be surprised at how little you use (usually half of a tbsp.)
I've done internet searches for "fat free salad dressing" and gotten some, but they'd need some tweaking and I've never got around to it since I can find healthy, no chemical added commercial alternatives.

Good luck!

[checkersk]

The idea of dipping the fork into the dressing is so simple! I'm not sure why I thought that I needed more dressing than that. I suppose that I just was stuck in old habits. Thank you for the suggestions, Newshinyme! I will give them a try. Good luck with your weight loss.