Diegomayra

Due to the terrible economy there has been a role reversal at my house. I am now a returning student and my wife is now the primary bread winner. I have taken on the role of House-Husband.

I constantly look for new flavors and snacks that are healthy and nutritious for my wife and I, however, it can be a battle to find those "go to" recipes that we all rely on.

I'll start by sharing a recipe that works for us. Hopefully through our mutual feedback we can find some tasty and healthy recipes.

This recipe I found on www.allrecipes.com :

California Grilled Veggie Sandwich

You get 2 tbsp. Mayo and 1tbsp. lemon juice and 2 minced garlic cloves and mix as a spread. I spread this on halved ciabatta bread cover with feta/mozzarella and toast lightly.

I cut up 1/2 cup of red bell peppers, zucchini, and squash and toss with pepper and salt with a sprinkle of olive oil. I placed them onto a foil covered oven pan and broil.

Place onto Ciabatta bread and consume with delight.

I reduce portion size(s) of bell peppers, zucchini, and squash if I add chicken, which is equally as good.

According to allrecipes.com it contains 393cal. 23g fat 22mg Chl.

RonH

Sorry to hear about your dilemma. I know exactly what you're going through. My job (actually my entire department) was out-sourced in 2000 when I was 55. I never was able to find a job that paid anything close to what I had been making. Surprise, surprise!! I became a house-husband and continued in that role until I retired (I'm now 65).
Meals and recipes are hard for us guys to plan. I guess it's because our mothers didn't teach us to cook.
There are lots of good, healthy, and inexpensive meals and recipes on lots of websites. Bicycling magazine has a few recipes in this months issue.
I also like some of the recipes on Dr. Oz's website, like this one we fixed the other night. It was delicious.

LINGUINE AND QUINOA MEATBALLS WITH TANGY TOMATO SAUCE
Thought your favorite Italian meals were a no-go on your new diet? Wrong! Using quinoa as a secret ingredient, this spaghetti and meatball dish is just as healthy as it is delicious.

Ingredients
Serves 6

The Sauce
1/4 cup olive oil
1 large onion, finely chopped
3 celery stalks, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced crosswise
1 large carrot, quartered lengthwise and thinly sliced crosswise
1 tsp hot red pepper flakes
1 (28 oz) can tomatoes, chopped, with juices
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

The Meatballs
3 tbsp canola oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 lb lean ground beef
1 1/2 cups cooked quinoa
1/2 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese
1 egg
3 tbsp fresh parsley leaves, very finely chopped
1/2 tbsp salt
3/4 tbsp freshly ground black pepper
1 lb linguine
1 large handful fresh basil leaves

Directions
To make the sauce, heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onion, celery, carrot and red pepper flakes, and cook until tender, 10 to 15 minutes. Add the tomatoes, garlic and vinegar and simmer for 20 minutes longer. Season with salt and pepper to taste and set aside to keep warm.

To make the meatballs, preheat the oven to 425˚F. Heat the canola oil in a small skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, partially covered, until very soft, about 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the beef, quinoa, Parmesan, egg, parsley, salt, pepper and cooled onions. Stir until a smooth, homogenous mixture has formed. Roll the meat mixture into 2-inch balls and set them on an aluminum foil–lined baking sheet in neat rows. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until nicely browned but still soft to the touch.

In a large pot of boiling water, cook the linguine al dente. Serve the pasta with some meatballs and sauce. Top with a sprinkling of torn basil leaves.

$ick3nin.vend3t

Green Tea & A bowl of Muesli. The breakfast of champions...

Perfection.

Serves 1.

Directions.

Pour into bowl of choice, add dairy/soya/ or rice milk & consume. Awesome for time efficiency. Can't be mucking about with appliances & ingredients, got barbells to pull, roads to ride...

Diegomayra

Thanks for the recipes.
I am definitely going to try these out. I like the simplicity... pour and go with a refreshing tea.

The meatballs and linguine is a must! Anything that has Basil has my immediate attention.

ARider2

It is always nice to have a salad on the side using as many locally grown organic veggies as possible. Make a simple homemade dressing like the Maple Dijon Dressing below and the salad will taste delicious:

Maple Dijon Dressing

1/2 cup good olive oil
3 tablespoons white wine vinegar
1.5 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1.5 tablespoons maple syrup
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Wisk above ingredients together into a bowl. Chill and serve on salad.

For two side salad portions I would normally use about 2 to 3 tablespoons of the dressing and toss the salad in the dressing about 3 minutes before serving. Refrigerate any leftover dressing and it will be good for up to one week with a good stirring before use.

palesaint

I am a big fan of couscous. Either packaged or bulk.

Butternut squash is the best. In winter I half it and roast with garlic and onions in the oven. Scoop out and puree into a soup. Other times of the year I peel and cube the squash and saute until soft with just a dash of oil. Season to taste and enjoy. Delicious!

Sliced tofu, pan fried in a bit of oil and services with steamed veggies over rice is also fantastic.

Head over to www.allrecipes.com and search your heart away with the tons of recipes they have. What sets them apart is the vast community that tries and reviews the recipes. Easy to find a recipe that has lots of positive reviews. This helps eliminate the "not sure if this will be good" feeling.

hisse

A lot of the simpler things are actually fairly healthy when you control the portion sizes. Being creative is nice to freshen things up but it gets tough to do constantly. To fill in the blanks the easiest solution is to fall back on proper portions of the 3 piece dinner : 1 serving lean meat, 2 servings vegetables/grains. Generally this is best done with one of the vegetables being something high carb which is most likely potatoes or rice. If you were for example to have a 4oz pork chop, 1 cup of broccoli and 1 medium baked potato you would fall into the range of about 400-430 calories. Assuming dinner is usually the largest meal of the day this is a sustainable size. You can switch out meats and vegetables to seem like hundreds of combination's without much effort and keep a fairly healthy diet.

If however you want something more exotic I definitely suggest checking out some vegetarian and indian cook books. You can find lots of healthy and interesting meals and snacks in these. I know for many both of those seems scary but I have two reassuring statements to go along with those suggestions : 1) Indian doesn't have to be spicy if you don't want it to be and 2) Vegetarian doesn't mean salad, there's a lot of really interesting options out there that you could incorporate once or twice a week, and with some if you don't mention that they're vegetarian many people won't realize.

pchopper

I really like mashed cauliflower, very close to mashed potatoes but of course virtually no carb, high fiber. I mix in sauted onions, salt, and just a little instant potato flakes for texture.

koffee brown

Eating healthy is something I've had to relearn in the last few months. I invited a friend over for lunch in a similar situation and not only was she full, she felt so friggin healthy afterwards that she said she actually felt like she was more productive when she went back to work. Here's my recipe:

Grilled turkey burger with side salad (2 burgers):

With ground turkey breast (let's go with 4 ounces), season with: 1/4 teaspoon of paprika, 1 dash of parsley flakes, 1 heaping tablespoon of major grey chutney, 1 tablespoon of smoked tabasco, 1/4 diced celery stalk, and 1/4 diced (peeled) granny smith apple. Marinate in the fridge after mixing well together overnight.

When you're ready, all you have to do is grill the patties- heat the pan and throw the patties on and grill to your liking (rare, medium rare, etc.). When you remove the patties after you cook them, be sure to drain the juice and leave the juice in the pan.

Add to 1 slice of whole wheat, multi-grain bread. You can add a dab of ketchup or mustard or mayo... but make sure it's low fat or fat free and really- you only need a dab. The patties are so flavorful!

For the salad, I keep it mostly on the green side, so I always make half the salad spinach, then the other half is some type of lettuce. I add green onions, slice up a bunch of mushrooms, green bell peppers (just a little- they're really strong, so like 1/8th of a pepper), and top it with 1/4 cup of avocado slices. When I use dressing, I always go for the fat free and go for the heavier tasting fat free, like the caesar salad fat free.

I also always have at least one 500 ml (16.9 oz) bottled water.

The grilled turkey meat is actually a recipe from when Wolfgang Puck came on Oprah. I watched that day because I knew my mom loved turkey burgers, but they always were really dry when I made them. Now I get it- adding that extra stuff creates a zing!

koffee