First of all, weight loss journey and lifestyle changes aside....I love to cook. Period. Fact of life.
Second of all, I do a lot of healthy cooking and have adapted some things to be better for me and my family.
Third of all, I went on a huge cooking/baking binge over the holidays and just had a ball.
I had been looking for a forum based on cooking, with discussions, etc. and found a really awesome one and joined and have been posting there. Lots of knowledgable cooks there. All sorts...food snobs (), home cooks, etc. I've really enjoyed finding my way around and reading about everyone's successes and ideas, etc.
Here is the problem I think I may have with this forum. I am thinking about food and recipes WAY TOO MUCH lately. So I started looking to see if there is a "healthy, low calorie or light" recipe section. There was none I could find, although there is a healthy section. But there is not a dedicated section for recipes of that nature. I posted a thread about it and in the meantime found another thread similar to mine and the mods there just pretty much vetoed it when asked in the past. Unsure why....
So....do I stay away from that board for a while?? I've really enjoyed it but know I don't need to be thinking/planning food with some of the ideas given there....at least not for right now.
I really like FoodNetwork and the Food Channel. I love watching the shows, I love learning about different foods and how to prepare them in new ways, BUT the more time I spend watching these shows the more I just want to eat. So I can relate; so I have to be very careful about which shows I watch and how much time I spend watching them. As you say, I think you have answered your own question.
I don't understand why there isn't more action in our own 'food' forum here at Chicks.
It can be hard and if you think you can't hang around there without having food on the brain, maybe taking a break from it wouldn't be a bad thing. Or you could find recipes on there that sound good, and use your time experimenting with ways to make them healthier. I also love to cook/bake, and adapting recipes is one of my favorite things to do.
There are so many excellent food forums around that there's bound to be another similar board that's a little more welcoming to creative low-calorie/light dishes. If there isn't one, maybe you can unleash some of your inner Emeril on the food forum here--I for one would love to read it.
Rather than give up being a "foodie," maybe you can just channel that creativity elsewhere. Shouldn't have to give up something you love--especially not when so much of what goes into a great-tasting meal also goes into a healthful one. Careful preparation, forethought, and planning are integral both to great cooking and to weight loss, so enjoying both should be very doable.
Hi PPenguin-I like our food area here, lots of good ideas. On the recipes, though, lots of them are tailored Weight Watchers (points) or diabetic exchanges. I like to just see the calories and fat content myself.
Hi Lauradee! I do like to experiment, but also don't have a lot of time to waste on possible failures. Hope that makes sense. I would just like a source for tried and true healthy/low cal./light recipes.
I've been doing some searching....will report if I find anything interesting.
have you tried allrecipes dot com? they are great and all the recipes have been tested and reviewed....kinda like the "Amazon" of food!
Actually, I signed up there today! They have a "healthy" area!
Nola Celeste said: "Careful preparation, forethought, and planning are integral both to great cooking and to weight loss, so enjoying both should be very doable."
Annie-Oe of the things that helps me is doing a re-make of a lot of the recipes I see on foodnetwork and find online. For example, a lot of the recipes call for a ton of olive oil for sauteeing...I just use a spray of it from the mist making thingy and if I need more, I use water or broth instead. I sub ground chicken or turkey (I only use the white meat, no skin and I grind it myself), or even home-ground pork loin which is almost as low in fat as poultry for recipes that use ground beef. If I want beef, I grind my own from london broil and get almost fat free. For non-baking foods that use sugar, I cut way down, sometimes as much as 2/3 less. I use fat free 1/2 & 1/2 in place of regular for cream soups and sauces. And of course spaghetti squash or "pasta ribbons" made from zucchini instead of pasta for some dishes. Lemon and lime zest can really perk up a low fat marinade or brighten any mediterranean or latin dish.
Dunno if that helps, but there are lots of ways to lighten up regualr recipes. It just takes practice and it's better to start with too little of something since you can always add more. Also, the aromatic spices are excellent for making big flavor without adding a ton of calories.
If you want, I can go over to that other place and b***h slap 'em for ya ;-) Real foodies eat well even with special needs such as allergies or calorie restrictions! (Or in my case, a low budget and calorie restriction)
Thanks guys! I didn't mean to go over to the other place and try to change things. But I searched and found a link to a question similar to mine and they were NOT very receptive of the idea to that poster. It was very odd. Almost as if they didn't want to be labelled or something.
Thanks for the tips everyone! I know some of them and use them sometimes.
Barb-Have you used fat free half-and-half in place of heavy whipping cream? The current fave at my house (Creamy Potato Soup) calls for a cup of heavy cream and I wondered if the ff half-and-half would change it for the worse or go unnoticed.
Barb-Have you used fat free half-and-half in place of heavy whipping cream? The current fave at my house (Creamy Potato Soup) calls for a cup of heavy cream and I wondered if the ff half-and-half would change it for the worse or go unnoticed.
I'm not Barb , but I've used skim milk in place of heavy/whipping cream, and I haven't noticed much difference. However if I make something I usually start with the milk so I don't miss what I haven't tried.
Like Joyful I have a bookmark to the healthy section of Allrecipes and use that a lot.
Last edited by patchworkpenguin; 01-13-2011 at 11:07 PM.
Annie-I've done it that way in savory dishes and it's been fine. The consistency is less viscous than the heavy cream, more viscous than skim milk would be. I also used it one time in panna cotta-big mistake for that. It needs the fat in the heavy cream to give it body.
I use the f/f kind in pumkin soup ahd in carrot soup, and I would use it in my coffee because it seems richer than even the 2% milk, almost the same as the regular 1/2 and 1/2, except that it's more expensive. You could also try using maybe 3/4 of the f/f kind and 1/4 regular. See if the fam notices or not...
I have a lot of friends who are foodies, but not food snobs. They know I cook leaner than I used to, but they don't know which things they are eating that have been remade, so I think I've got it pretty well. No complaints from the peanut gallery whenver I am cooking!
Oh and if you're interested in a cookbook, there is one by Devin Alexander that has a lot of remade foods in it, and most of them are less processed than hungry girl. It would give you a good idea about how to slim down recipes. Her spaghetti sauce is amazing-my newest favorite and as good as the super high cal version I used to make. Also a recipe in there for homemade italian sausage and breakfast sausage, both which make a super lean version that tastes great.
B
Last edited by angelskeep; 01-13-2011 at 10:57 PM.
Reason: falling asleep and can't type ;-)
I love to cook also, do it all the time - in fact I cook more now since I've been mindful of what I eat and trying to get fit than I did before. I don't see any reason at all that the two have to be at odds.
Nor do I particularly seek out "light" or "healthy" recipes; I don't own any "light" or "healthy" cookbooks but everything I cook is healthy and on my plan.
I think if you like the forum and get something out of it, you don't need there to be a "light" or "healthy" section in it. That doesn't stop you also from joining other forums that do have such sections. I guess I just don't see what the problem is - read the forum if you want to, make the recipes that appeal to you as being on your plan or adaptable to your plan. Or, don't. Either way, no need to fret over it.
It has healthy recipes and not so healthy ones lmao. But it also has forums that seem nice and active. I just discovered them myself but I posted a question and got replies super quick.
And the forums are broken up into sections and they have a specialty forums for like diabetic, gluten free, vegetarian, low fat, low carb, & food allergies.
I Think I Made A Big Mistake...
), home cooks, etc. I've really enjoyed finding my way around and reading about everyone's successes and ideas, etc.
, but I've used skim milk in place of heavy/whipping cream, and I haven't noticed much difference. However if I make something I usually start with the milk so I don't miss what I haven't tried.
