Low Cal Ideas

Low Fat/Low Carb Egg Salad : The Trick

Ok, so I accidentally discovered this one, and it may sound a little gross when I tell you how I made it, but it’s a low fat alternative to egg salad. I love egg salad. It’s funny, because I used to hate it as a kid and never wanted any part of hard boiled eggs. Hard boiled eggs in a salad!?  Oh, that was the worst when I was a kid, I thought my parents were totally nuts for thinking this combination was tasty!

Now, I love to add a hard boiled egg to my salads. But the difference is, I only allow myself half of the yolk. As you know, the yolk is the fattiest part of the egg, and it also contains a lot of cholesterol. It’s really good tasting though, and it actually does offer some nutrients that the egg white, it’s lesser calories, high protein counterpart, does not.

In one large hard boiled egg, there are about 77 calories, and just the yolk accounts for 59 of those calories. The egg white, even though it’s larger in surface area than the yolk, only has about 17 calories in it and it’s a great source of lean, fat free protein.

So, my low fat egg salad alternative is as follows. All you do is take a hard boiled egg, I like to use jumbo eggs since they give more egg white. Throw away half of the yolk.  Chop it up into small squares like you would for regular egg salad. Mix with about 1/4 to 1/2 cup of low fat, small curd cottage cheese.  I like to add a dash of sea salt and pepper – voila – low fat, high protein, no mayo egg salad – yum-o!!!

I actually discovered this little trick one morning at work because I was running low on my usual cottage cheese and had brought a hard boiled egg with me to eat plain. I’m pretty adventurous when it comes to mixing foods and experimenting, so I figured why not mix the two, they’re both low fat sources of protein that are filling and nutritious.

So I mixed them and add a little salt and pepper. It’s a nice low carb snack or part of a meal if you like egg salad but don’t want all the fat.  Kept me full for a few hours too!

The Best Low Fat Dressings Choice Goes To…..

My choice for the best lowfat and low calorie dressings has been decided for a while.  It’s because this particular brand has the tastiest dressings at the best calorie counts, and with the least artificial “weird” taste that often accompanies these lower fat versions of the fattier creamy dressings on the market.

In other words, they make you feel like you’re indulging, but really you’re saving about 30-50% of the calories that are in their higher fat, non low calorie counterparts.  Wish Bone has the best low fat and low calorie cream dressings I think, hands down.

Their zesty Sweet and Spicy red french dressing is one of mine and my husband’s favorites. And another favorite is their low fat Creamy Caesar, which unfortunately is really hard to find at grocery stores any more.

Another good low fat creamy caesar dressing that’s good, but not as good as Wish Bone brand, is Marzetti.  It’s got that same pungent taste that a lot of good caesar’s have, thanks to the anchovi oil (I know, sounds gross, but it really makes for a tasty caesar dressing!), but just not as much flavor overall as the Wish Bone.

I really like mixing the Sweet and Spicy French lowfat dressing with a low fat ranch. It makes a nice sort of thousand-island-ish sort of flavor, and creams up the french a bit more too, making it taste a bit more indulgent. Believe it or not, Wal-mart has a pretty tasty low fat, low cal ranch dressing that’s also easy on the wallet at less than two bucks for a bigger bottle.

One thing you have to be careful of when you’re using low fat or low calorie dressing is that you don’t use more of it than you would a normal dressing, since we tend to do that subconsciously when we use a low fat/cal product. You can easily over do it on a light dressing too, and defeat the purpose of a healthful, low calorie salad in a couple extra pours of the bottle.

Try measuring it out into tablespoons, and keeping it to one serving or 1 1/2 servings, depending on how big the salad is. You’d be surprised at how far some dressings go in coating your lettuces and veggies with just the right amount of zesty flavor!

Protein Brownies that Taste Like Real Brownies?

I got this interesting email recently that I thought I’d share with our readers. Who wouldn’t want that chewy, chocolaty taste of real brownies, but also packed with muscle-building, lean-making protein?  Well, if you’re into protein bars and protein shakes and things like that, you may want to read about these. I’ve included all the information for these brownies here so if you want to check them out and try them, go ahead.

What caught my eye is that they have no sugar alcohols. Those are the sugar substitutes that make a lot of people’s stomachs upset, including mine. They have been shown to cause excessive gas and diarrhea in some people as well, and these brownies supposedly capture a sweet taste without these little nasty sugar alcohols, which is interesting.  I have not tried them yet, so if you try them out, please leave a comment for other readers to enjoy. Thanks!

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New Healthy Gourmet Seafood Prepared Dishes from Lillian’s

So, I just found out that Amazon will be carrying some really delicious new seafood meals that are healthy and groumet, by one of the biggest suppliers of healthy tilapia fish and other types of fish and fish health products called HQ Maritime.  This is one of the first times I’ve seen package, gourmet, healthily prepared seafood products that are frozen and are ready to be shipped to your door ready to eat, they just need to be microwaved.

I figured since we live in such a go-go society this was well worth the communication, because I think I might be trying these out. It seems like getting fish to cook right is hard, and it’s really such a  healthy dish to eat.  I know there have been many times that I’ve tried to make healthy grilled or seared fish recipes at home like I’ve tried in good restaurants, and so often they just don’t taste right, or I overcook the fish, or the fish tastes weird and therefore ruins the dish.

These gourmet fish dishes by Lillian’s brand are supposed to taste fresh and very tasty, making it easier for you to stick to a healthy, low fat diet that is rich in protein, healthy omega 3 fats, and good for your skin.  Plus, whenever I eat fish, I notice it is a wonderful natural appetite suppressant, suppressing the appetite for hours after you eat it.

Some of the offerings are as follows (they make me hungry just looking at the titles, I’m quite the fish connisseur lately) :  Lillian’s Healthy Gourmet Sweet Chili Citrus and Orange Miso Tilapia meals, as well as Lillian’s Healthy Gourmet Gluten-Free Spicy Green Curry and Roasted Tomato Tilapia meals.

Eventually they will be adding several more which include some exotic Moroccan spiced tilapia, cajun seasoned tilapia, and an orange asian one and some other really interesting and exotic sounding flavors, but for now they just will have the aforementioned flavors available on Amazon.com.

Some of the meals featured will be gluten free as well, so those with gluten intolerance willbe able to enjoy them as well (from what I’ve seen, they’re made with rice noodles) and it looks like the calorie range may be 300-400 calories, the perfect amount for you to add some fresh steamed veggies to for a complete meal at home, without leaving the house and going to a restaurant.  I’ll let you know when I’ve tried them and how they taste!

Light Veggie Wrap Recipe

So, I think I’ve discovered my latest favorite lunch idea. It’s meat free, and taste delicious. Even my husband thinks it’s filling!  I’ve also discovered a favorite new grocery item as well, which this veggie wrap uses. It’s really not a wrap, per se, but you can wrap it a bit. It uses a flat bread. The flat bread I use is the Flat Out whole grain flat bread one.  It’s only 100 calories and very tasty and filling.

It’s got lots of fiber too, which is why it is so filling. One word of caution though, because of it’s high fiber content, it also can get soggy if you make it in the morning and put any type of liquid or mayo or anything on it, so I’d assemble it right before you eat it to avoid this.

Here’s how I make my wrap.  Let me start with the ingredients – it may sound like a lot, but you can make this for several days in a row with these ingredients, with minimal work.

Ingredients list :

Tomatoes, 2

Cucumber, 1

1 T olive oil

Garlic or garlic powder

Red onion, to taste

Broccoli sprouts, organic preferably

Washed baby spinach leaves

Hummus of choice, I like to use sun dried tomato hummus personally

Ok, you’re all set.  Begin by dicing the tomatos, red onion and the cucumber up to make a sort of “salad”.  Add the olive oil and that garlic. You may also add a tad bit of parsley if you’d like and sea salt for flavor, or whatever seasonings you have to flavor it.  This is the bulk of your wrap.

Get the flat bread out, and spread it generously with hummus. Try to buy low calorie hummus by the way, some of them are loaded with unnecessary oils that add to the fat and calorie content.  I’ve found that buying store brand is usually the best.

Now, add a layer of baby spinach leaves. Then add your mixture of red onion, cuke and tomato, trying to get the liquid out before you add it to the wrap.  Add the broccoli sprouts as well, and be generous, they’re super healthy and low cal!  Wrap it all up like a burrito.  You may need to eat it with a fork if it’s coming out everywhere, as it does when I make it since I load it up with so many veggie.

Wishbone Light Dressings are Great

I’m not a huge fan of a lot of the creamy light dressings that are out there, but I refuse to dump dressing on my salad that makes it just about as bad for me as eating a cheeseburger and french fries, which pretty much relegates me to finding a suitable, tasty dressing for my salads and side salads when I’m eating lunch or dinner.  I have salads on and off. I don’t eat them every night with dinner, but I often will eat a side salad with dinner for a few months, then not touch a salad with dinner for months and instead opt for extra veggies on my plate.

Something about salads I guess I just get burnt out on after a while.  Plus, living in Ohio, it’s not exactly like I get the best veggies to put on them in the dead of winter. The tomatoes taste like sawdust and the cucumbers are pretty much flavorless as well. The only veggie I can count on tasting good always is the red onion that we so generously pour on the salads.

We’re on a salad with dinner jag again, and at the grocery store, I found these Wishbone light dressings that I didn’t think I had tried yet. I really like the Wishbone dressings normally, so I figured these were a good bet.  I was right, they’re great.  I got the ranch one and the house french, which is a lighter colored, creamier version of normal french dressing. Both are around 60-70 calories per serving and much lower in fat than their non-light counterparts, so that’s a pretty good concession for such great taste.

The ranch is really great. You only need about one to two tablespoons of it on a side salad, and it tastes flavorful and rich and is seasoned with all the right combinations of ranch dressing seasonings you can get.  It doesn’t have the weird after taste that low fat or fat free dressings often have at all either, it just tastes like it’s not low fat.  My husband really enjoyed the french one as well, and you can even mix them if you’d like – that’s what I sometimes like to do, to add a bit more creaminess with the zest of french.

Adding salads to your meals definitely helps to fill you up, and it adds a lot of vitamins, fiber and nutrients so that you feel fuller and satiated for a longer period of time.

Applebees Has 500 Calorie and Under Meals

I must say, I’m not personally a huge fan of the Applebees chain of restaurants, but I have to give them kudos for being one of the only chains that offer lower calories options that don’t make you want to run for the more “exciting” menu options of burgers and fries when you get a load of their descriptions.

They are Weight Watcher’s approved, and all are 500 calories or less, which is ideally what just about everyone should be sticking to for their meals, especially at dinner time when most of your calories aren’t going to be burned off any more for the rest of the day.

My husband’s brother actually works out of town most of the time, and Applebees is one of this favorite choices because they offer these tasty, nutritious and calorie appropriate meals. He’s super body and health conscious, so these meals are a pleasant surprise, especially from a chain, to those that are health conscious.

Among the menu choices are light fish that are grilled and seasoned, an herb and garlic chicken breast dish, a mexican style fajita type of roll if you’re wanting naughty mexican but want to be nice to your thighs, an onion soup with cheese, and a few other tempting sounding dishes. It’s refreshing that they offer hearty meals that are actually hot instead of just the plain old salads that many other places offer to satisfy their dieters.

All of the 500 calorie and under meals come with generous portions of low cal, high fiber and vitamin content veggies too. This is a great way to fill up with out overloading on calories. I recommend the loading up on veggies strategy to anyone, whether you’re out enjoying a meal or cooking at home. Your meals should ideally be about 2/3 veggies and 1/3 meat and/or starch (your “main dish”).

There’s just something that is more satisfying about an actual hot meal I guess, so these are better for helping you to feel good about what you ate when you’re leaving a restaurant where there are a ton of BAAAAAD choices.  And, on the flip side, by the way, if you’re ever at Applebees and you’re in a naughty mood, and you want a dessert that is postively to die for (I know, who’d have thought it, at a chain restaurant no less), try this Maple drizzled blondie.

It’s a warmed up blondie (a cake-cookie like vanilla baked good) with a generous scoop of vanilla ice cream on top, and a side of this absolutely amazing maple cream sauce (also hot).  It is TO DIE FOR. Of course it’s not low calorie – not even close, like I said, it’s only if you’re in the mood to indulge. And I highly recommend you split it or else you’ll want to throw up you’ll be so full.

Pineapple, Glorious Pineapple!

Ah, summer is right around the bend. And I’m starting to really get into eating fruits again, which is quite a refreshing twist (no pun intended) from my usual cravings for salt, fat and carbs in the winter time.  So of course, I’m not only trying to take full advantage of craving foods that are actually good for me, but I’m literally savoring every bite of them and geniunely enjoying their sweet juiciness, their texture, and their completely amazing natural taste.

I even find myself wondering, how did nature make such a perfect food?  I mean really, it’s amazing the choices we have to eat here on this green earth without ever touching processed foods again in our lives if we didn’t want to.  Imagine how much healthier we’d all be!

Pineapple is the fruit that really gets me going. I think that this fruit, when it is perfect, ripe, and grown in the right environment, it can literally be one of the most delicious, unaltered foods you have every put your mouth around.  Pineapple is not only awesome tasting when it is “in season”, but it is also, in my opinion, best when it is grown in Costa Rica.  For some reason, that region is actually great for growing the best tasting pineapples ever.

Believe it or not, I actually got to drive through the pineapple groves of Costa Rica too, and they are vast and beautiful, and you can actually smell a sort of sweetness in the air – it’s very cool.  Pineapples have a natural acid in them called Bromelain too, which is a natural digestive aid, so they actually help to cleanse the digestive tract and colon. Don’t believe me? If you’re ever constipated go out and buy a raw pineapple and eat quite a few pieces, you won’t be constipated the next day!

Truvia, My New Favorite Natural Sugar Alternative

Well, I’ve officially found a great new sugar substitute that does not have the nasty after taste nor the chemicals that so many other sugar substitutes have. It’s called Truvia, and it’s not cheap, but it’s also very tasty, and does not have that same after taste that the chemical ones that aren’t good for you have, like Equal and Sweet n Low, which contain aspartame and saccharin. Do you remember Tab, the first diet soda, and how awful it tasted? It’s because it was made with saccharin. That was before we knew how bad these chemically altered sweeteners were for the human body.

I myself was a user of Sweet n Low for years. I really thought that I was doing something healthier for my body by eating this sweetener, which is made with saccharin, instead of eating sugar, and the fact is, that not only was I not saving significant calories, but I was also loading my body with chemicals that eventually convert into some sort of formaldehyde.

Artificial sweeteners have been linked to a bevy of health problems, most prevalently, they have come up as potential candidates for being a cancer causing agent, or carcinogen.  Then, about five years ago, I found out about Stevia as my interest in natural health and eliminating as many unnatural things from my diet as I could, increasing my holistic outlook on medicine and living.

Stevia is a plant, and there are certain part of that plant that are reaped to make the stevia powder that is used to sweeten drinks, cereals, you name it. It is supposed to not affect your blood sugar at all, and has no calories.  It also has not been linked to any major health problems, since it is all natural.

Truvia is actually made with “the sweetest part” of the stevia plant, and some other natural ingredients. It supposedly is all natural, and I hope it’s true and something doesn’t come out about it being a lie, because I REALLY like the flavor of this natural sweetener. It is not bitter like pure stevia extract and powder can be, or overpowering with an aftertaste at all, but it’s very smooth and natural tasting, almost like real sugar, but I daresay even a bit better of a sweetness.

I’m going to keep my eyes and ears peeled for any bad press on this Truvia stuff, because I’m hooked on it for now, and am hoping that it truly is all natural and healthy to consume. By the way, they are also having coupons online for a dollar off, I’ve been using them while I can since it runs almost $4 for a box of only 50 packets, so I’d try to use those while I can if I were you, get the deal!

Delicious Low Fat Vegetable Soup

So, I’ve told you before how I’m crazy about making soup, especially in these cold, dreary months where you are locked indoors for weeks on end before you see a sunny day where you can actually be out and about without freezing your nanos off.  Well, I just got a recipe from a friend that I tweaked a bit to make it my own.  I’m going to share that recipe with you in a moment, but a word about this and other low fat soups that use a lot of broth as their base first, and lots of veggies.

Soups can be very filling. They are, after all, hot liquid, and this fact alone makes the other foods you eat with them sort of swell in your stomach, and for some reason just hot foods alone make you feel fuller, for what reason exactly I’m not sure. They are a great natural appetite suppressant.

They are a great way to not only warm you up in the winter, but I like them because they are the ideal side dish to a healthful, low calorie meal. They help to fill you up and keep you satisfied, and yet they still contain few calories because they consist mainly of broth, which contributes minimal calories, a lot of fiber rich veggies, and maybe some kind of starch in minimal content, like a brown rice or a whole grain pasta.

That’s what this soup uses, a whole grain pasta, and the whole pot of it only uses about one to one and a half cups of whole grain pasta, I like to use the kind of whole grain pasta that also has omega 3′s added to it, I think it’s made by Barilla, so that it adds not only extra nutrients to the soup, but it also helps contribute to keeping you full, since omega 3 fats actually make you think you’re fuller, faster.

Ok, enough with talking about this soup, let’s get on with how to make it!

I’m going to list all the ingredients. All you do is put them all together in a stock pot, bring them to a boil for a minute, then turn it down to simmer for as long as you’d like so the flavors all blend together. I like to simmer mine for a while, it just gives a better flavor.

Here’s the ingredients :

4 cups of either chicken or vegetable broth, fat free (most of them are naturally fat free)

1 can of black beans, drained

1-2 cups (depending on how you are watching your carbs) of whole wheat rotini pasta

1 bag of mixed vegetables (corn, peas, green beans carrots)

2 cans of petite diced tomatoes. You can use regular too, I just prefer petite in soups

2 Tablespoons of Italian seasoning

3 cloves of garlic, crushed or garlic salt

1 bay leaf (you will take this out when it’s done simmering, it’s simply to infuse the flavor into the soup while it is heating initially)