Healthy? Tasty? Food ideas!

[OceanEyes28]

I am eating right now (as usual) and I had an idea. Sometimes it can be difficult to think of a healthy but interesting meal idea, especially if you're not in the habit of doing so. The first time I had to live by myself and meal plan, I thought, "What did I ever eat before?"

So! I thought.... why not make a thread? See what other people eat when they make good choices.

Right now, I'm munching on this:


Whole wheat wrap: Best I could find at the time. It's got a few grams of fiber, and in my ideal world, I could have found something gluten free, but I didn't see anything. However, I do enjoy that it is a rectangle.

*Wild smoked salmon: Omega 3s, baby. Wild salmon is a way healthier option than farm raised salmon. Farm raised salmon can have an unhealthy omega 6 balance, and that's not what we waaaant.

more on salmon:

Wild salmon eat a diet of mackerel, sardines, krill, and other fish, which is where that lovely pink color comes from. This diet makes wild salmon full of omega 3 fatty acids. Farmed salmon, on the other hand, is fed grain and then dyed that attractive pink color. That makes them very low in omega 3 fatty acids and way higher in inflammatory omega 6s. And that's just the beginning.

*Spinach: Locally grown! Vitamin K, A, C, calcium, folic acid, magnesium, iron, antioxidants.... I'm Popeye!

*Goat cheese: Sheep and goats are less likely to be factory farmed, which makes for less hormones and antibiotics. And it's just plain delicious. Probably my favorite cheese.

*Olives: They contain good things that are anti-inflammatory, improve immune function, help prevent damage to DNA, and protect your cardiovascular system.

And then cold water to drink.

For a snack/small meal later, I'm juicing some carrots, part of a beet, and part of a red bell pepper and then cooking a few brussels sprouts that I'll sprinkle with cheddar.

If I need another meal later, I'm making another wrap with ground bison, black beans, and cheese. And various spices, turmeric being one of them. Or I'll just make that tomorrow. I can get into why those things are good for you in another post.

So if you guys have healthy meal ideas and care to explain why they're awesome, I'd love to have some new options.


*My knowledge of these foods comes in part from the book The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth by Jonny Bowden. Highly recommend it.

[Block]

Dude! You should get this book. The misses and I have been making recipes out of this as of late and most of them have been quite delicious. The instructions themselves on how to prepare / cook some of the items are quite terrible, but the outcome is quite delicious and leads to some creative meals of your own if you're willing to tweak them about.

[Michael Swayne]

You can't go wrong with a nice fruit salad. The contrast of citrus and sweet, the colors of many fruits, the good wholesome simplicty of it all. Lately, I had my brother do my grocery shopping for me (and I will never let him do it again!), I asked for a variety of fruits so I would have snacks other than the cookies and cakes.

He bought red and green grapes, strawberries, and bananas. Even with these choices, you get a great combination of different textures and flavors. It was the only thing he actually got right that trip.

[kupo]

i could om nom nom this thread
spinach salad with a bit of red wine vinaigrette....cheap, delicious and good for you im gradually trying to eat better as far as meals go so this thread could be of some irl use. for snacks, fruit is always a great default....veggies, crackers and cheese, yogurt. mangos are quite in abundance down here so i'll cut/mash one of them up and mix it in with some plain yogurt and granola...its quite amazing.

[Ms. Block]

So couscous is super easy and quick to make. I boil 1/2c water, add 1/2 couscous and stir constantly- it should soak up all the water in <5min. Then, while it's still hot add fresh spinach, black olives, and feta or mozzarella cheese. The spinach just steams a little on the hot couscous so it doesn't get too soggy. Black beans are pretty good added in if you're looking for some extra protein.
Hmm it seems most of the suggested recipes have similar ingredients. Another quick idea is to add edamame to the couscous.
I hope this helps!

[Sinister]

So yeah, you should have a hot bowl of Miso soup. Leeks, Mushrooms, Celery, Carrots, Seaweed, Dashi stock, Miso paste and Green Onions. I have a bowl of it right now. It's good when your stomach feels a little sick. I know that sounds ridiculous, but the truth is, if you've never had it, it tastes equivalent to Chicken Noodle soup, cept better.

-Sin

[Kaiden]

Depending on tastes and what type of healthy food you want to eat. Here are some recipes I make if I feel like eating healthy.


Breakfast: Eggs and Spinach

1/2 cup Tomato, diced
1 cup of spinach leaves
6 egg whites
1 1/2 ounces of feta cheese, crumbled
1 tablespoon fresh basil, chopped up

cook the veggies first and set aside then cook the egg whites however you like, usually an omlete for me with the veggies, cheese and basil inside. Just as easy to scramble it all together though.

Lunch: Chef Salad

Equal amounts of Fat-free turkey and low sodium ham chopped up, some fat-free mozzarella cheese, shredded or chopped, 2-3 Cherry tomatoes, Some Romaine lettuce and some low-fat dressing. The amount of these all depending on your own portion controll. Don't stuff or starve yourself.

Dinner: Steak and Arugula salad

A 6-9 oz steak depending on how much you eat.

some arugula, cherry tomoatoes(halved), and some artichoke hearts.

Mixed the arugula, tomatoes and artichoke hearts on a plate and pour some Balsamic vinaigrette over them and slice your cooked steak to put on top.

[Unknown Entity]

I'll go with salads first, because I like a good salad. My favourite salads are caesar salad and greek salad.

With greek salad though, all you really need is tomatoes, cucumber and feta cheese, but you can add in all sorts of other goodness like bell peppers and olives, and I've seen it a few times with berry fruits. It tastes even better with a tiny sprinkle of sea salt, pepper and lemon juice.


My mum does this really yummy dinner with grilled salmon steaks, baby/new potatoes, and either a bistro salad or steamed broccoli and carrots. Portions may vary, as she cooks for four people when we do this:

1 salmon steak per person
1 or 2 broccoli
10 carrots (there about)
1 bag of baby/new potatoes

If you're feeling lazy:
1/2 a bag of pre-sliced bistro salad (lettuce, rocket, beetroot...)

Place the salmon steaks on a tray, and put a light drizzle of your oil of choice (we used groundnut oil), and sprinkle with pepper and sea salt (very light on the salt!). Then you bung them under the grill at about 180/200C*, and get to work on the veggies.

Bring a large pot half filled with water to the boil. Slice the potatoes, and add them to the water when you've finished. Let them boil away so that they become soft and the skins become loose.

Peel (optional) and chop up the carrots evenly, and put them ready in your cooking pot with the steamer ready to go. Chop the broccoli and put them in their pot too, with the steamer at the ready. Put them on the steam about now.

The salmon steaks should be half done by now, depending how fast or slow you are, so take them out and flip them over to grill the other side. Be sure to add a little more oil, sea salt and pepper, and put them back under the grill.

You can take a small break now - have a drink, do some of the dishes, dance to your music, blaah...

Potatoes should be done now. Drain the water in the sink, and then put a dollop of [healthy] butter on them and give it a little mix.

Put the broccoli on the steam, and wait a short while longer...

Steaks should be done - when they've gone a tad crisp (not burnt!) at the edges, you know they're done. Take them out, and put one (recommended, unless you want two) to a plate. Add the potatoes. Carrots and broccoli should be done now (if not, they should be ready shortly), and then add them.

Finish with lemon juice and/or pepper (both optional), and hey presto!

*Our oven is old, and it might not work properly according to your ovens. Just keep an eye on things... or if you know better, cook it how you wish.

It's all filling stuff, so you really don't need a large portion.

EDIT: Can also be done with tuna steaks with a tweak here and there.

[OceanEyes28]

I love you guuuys. Thanks for the ideas.

Today, I made raw avocado soup. Before you balk, I swear to god it's tasty. I made my dad try a spoon of it and now he's eating himself a bowl.

Here's how I did it.

2 small/medium avocados
1 lime juiced
small handfull of basil
2-3 cups young coconut water (you can use a fresh coconut, or you can do what I did and use the stuff that's already bottled. I used VitaCoco (with no flavors, ofc))
-also I threw in some of the coconut milk beverage by So Delicious. Unsweetened. Just a dash.
1 inch knob ginger (again, you can use ground stuff, but fresh ginger has a way better flavor for a soup like this, so I went fresh. Peel off the flaky bit and throw in the juicy yellow part)
Some fresh dill - I dunno, I sort of did this by looking.... a few springs will work? You can add more if you need to
Part of a pepper (I used like half an inch to an inch of a serrano pepper)
A couple inches of cucumber, chopped (save the rest)

Blend all of that together! I have an immersion blender, but a regular blender works well. Get it the consistency you want and then do this:

Chop up however much cucumber you want to add, and throw that in for texture. Maybe it's just me but I like crunchy cucumber. Also, peel off the skin first.

Take a green onion (those small tube looking things that come in bunches) and chop that up and add it in.

NOW YOU HAVE DELICIOUS SOUP.

[Maridia]

Something I tried last night was orgasmic. Turkey chili. Ground turkey, put it on the stove, mix in some brown rice, kidney beans, fresh salsa, then you can be lazy and mix in pre made taco spice, or if you know what spices they are put them in one by one. You can even mix in peppers, though we didn't have any in the fridge. It's good enough to eat straight or you can use something like tostito scoops...I know there's alot healthier chips I've seen but I don't roll like that sucka.

[DragonHeart]

I made an amazing Greek salad the other day, homemade dressing and everything. Seriously, it was the best salad I've ever had. I used a modified version of the recipe on Pioneer Woman's blog (recipe is here); the only changes I made were to use black olives as I don't like the Kalamata ones much and to dice the red onion instead of slicing it. The only thing I'll do differently next time is to make sure I have a nice fresh loaf of bread to go with it. That or a wrap.

And yes, it is a ridiculous amount of salad if you use it as is.

~DragonHeart~

[OceanEyes28]

OH MY GOD. You guys.

Okay, well first of all I started a blog of mostly raw recipes and go look.
Before I Forget...

Second, you guys gotta eat this:
My New Roots: Chocolate Fudge and Self Love

I just made some with almond butter and they're so freakin good. I didn't use as much maple syrup as the recipe calls for and used stevia for some of the sweetener... and holy crap. I filled the muffin cups halfway up and they're like Reese's cups that aren't really bad for you. I mean, yeah, they count for calories and there's some maple syrup involved... but maple syrup has a lot of good enzymes and nut butter and coconut oil are both really good for you and cocoa powder has antioxidants and YOU SHOULD MAKE THIS. Awesome thing about them is you don't have this craving to eat a thousand of them like candy made with processed white sugar. You eat one and are delighted and satisfied and then you move on with your day. Huzzah!

[seanb]

I won't go into the whole recipe, but I do enjoy my vegetarian curry,
which consists of lots of lovely crunchy vegetables; mainly broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, green beans, peppers, mushrooms, maybe chickpeas and a dash of sweetcorn,.. sometimes hazelnuts.. and often, I add a sliced boiled duck egg on top.. or a chicken egg, depending on whats down the garden...

This makes for one buckin hearty meal, that would keep ya yoked all day.
Its pure fuel, and its pure beaut.

[Chez Daja]

I'm big into cookery... I like to make wraps similar to those posted by OceanEyes but generally rather than using fish (I'm not a fish fan and never have been unfortunately), I use chicken with a little chilli powder, a tablespoon of water and a tomato all cooked together. Still heathy, just different.

Something else I like to make are rice-stuffed bell peppers. Cut out the inside of a pepper, fill it with the rice of your choice -- pretty simple stuff and filling enough to keep me going all day although many would say that it's boring.

I do a lot of aubergine based recipes too. Boil an aubergine until it's soft then allow it to cool before cutting it in two and slicing out the middle; layer the inside thinnly with bread crumbs and sliced tomato and mozzerella. Bake in the oven for around 10 - 15 minutes on a medium setting then fill the aubergine with rice or scrambled egg.

I also make a mean miso soup but I haven't got the recipe memorized and since my partner is asleep, I don't think he'd appreciate me banging around the house looking for my recipe book.