I enjoy cooking. Actually, I love cooking. I thought I'd start with a couple of desert recipes since the weather is starting to warm up.

The challenges I go through in meal preperation are finding different meals that are still healthy and fit within my times I have calorie counting necessities/obsession (I'm about to start another physique transformation contest).

I'll update this thread weekly.

Chocolate chip muffins
� cup unsalted butter, 4 whole omega-3 eggs (or can not use O-3 eggs), � cup coconut milk, 1 tsp vanilla extract, 2 cups whole wheat flower, 1 tbsp cocoa powder, 1 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp splenda, � cup chocalate chips, � cup dried fruit (chopped), 6 scoops chocolate protein powder.

Preheat oven to 350. Put all ingredients together in a mixing bowl and stir with a wooden spoon until combined. Lightly coat a non-stick muffin pan with spray and fill each muffin tin almost ot the top. Place in the oven and bake for 10 minutes or until the top is set. Now, cool and store in the fridge/freezer.
Serves 6 large or 12 small.
Small serving-
279 calories, 13 grams fat, 26 grams carbs, 15 grams protein

Strawberry coconut pudding (I LOVE this one)
� cup low-fat cottage cheese, � cup coconut milk, � cup frozen strawberries, 1/2 tsp splenda
Combine all ingredients into blender or food processor and puree until smooth. Add more strawberries to thicken or water to thin.

Serves 1 large or 2 small

Small serving details-
135 calories, 8 grams fat, 6 grams carbs, 11 grams protein
I like to put this one in the freezer and let set until it�s basically a frozen yogurt. I know the cottage cheese sounds weird�but trust me, it�s fantastic.

KT - where do you find recipes like this?

DH has taken up baking and I love it - the problem is that I am in the process of loosing weight (11 lbs so far!) and most of the cookies and things he make are so loaded with calories I can usually only nibble on half a cookie or so here and there...

ETA: Great recipes by the way - I'm gonna forward them to DH and see if he wants to add them to his repertoire.

Congrats on the weightloss! Losing weight can be a tough challenge and very frustrating.

My recipes come from a couple of different places. There's a great thread on a weightlifting forum I'm on where people post recipes with pictures and there's some fantastic stuff! These are guys/gals that are very into fitness and still want good tasting food. The two recipes I posted above are from a book called Gourmet Nutrition published by Dr. John Berardi (he's a nutritional biochemist specialist).

Couple of more recipes...

Granola Bars
3 cups oats, � cup cranberries (or other berry), � cup walnut meal, 1/3 cup almonds (sliced), 1/3 cup coconut milk, � pure honey, � cup coconut (grated), olive oil cooking spray.

Preheat oven to 350. Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl and stir until incorporated. Lightly coat a 9x9 inch square pan with spray and transfer mixture to pan. Press the mixture down until flat and even and pushed into all corners. Bake for 12-20 minutes depending if you like it chewy or crisp.
Serves 4 large or 8 small.
Small calorie stuff-
248 calories, 11 grams fat (mostly polyunsaturated), 30 grams carbs, 5 grams fiber, 7 grams protein

Stuffed Zucchini
2 zucchinis (medium, halved lengthwise), olive oil cooking spray, � cup finely diced onion, 1 tsp. minced fresh garlic, � cup portobello mushrooms (small diced), � cup finely diced tomato, � cup low fat feta cheese (crumbled, � cup crushed pecans, � cup tomoto sauce.

Preheat the oven to 375. Cut zucchini in half lengthwise. Using a spoon and knife (if needed) remove the white flesh (do not discard the skin or flesh). If the green skin breaks don�t worry. Preheat a large non-stick frying pan on medium heat. Lightly coat with spray and add the white zucchini flesh, onion, garlic, and mushrooms. Saute until onions are lightly browned and liquids have evaporated. Then remove from heat. Add tomato, feta cheese, and pecans to the pan. Stuff the zucchini peel with the heated mixture. Reform the peel around the stuffing. Add to a baking sheet and cook in the oven for 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and serve on warm tomato sauce.

Serves 1 large or 2 small
Small calorie stuff-
234 calories, 14 grams fat (mostly monounsaturated), 19 grams carbs, 10 grams protein

Vibes,

I'll post more and more recipes. I'd recommend start cooking some of these and have 4 meals a day using the small servings.

Eating 'healthy' is such a vague term. Few people really know what constitutes a 'healthy' diet; they typically follow the food pyramid or go along with what they saw in the latest Cosmo. The leaner you want to get, the harder it becomes.

And exercise is important. Even if it's bodyweight stuff. And women it becomes more important with age because of osteoporosis. Well...and it's kinda cool just feeling strong. And who doesn't like to look better? You look better--you feel better. You project more confidence.

Eating and 'dieting' can be tricky because we can run out of food choices. We have to enjoy what we do. If we don't, we become unhappy and success goes down the drain. A guide when following healthy eating:
Keeping your calories in check.
Concentrate on unprocessed and low in sugar carbs.
Quality and ample protein
Tastes good
Healthy fats over bad fat
Watch the quantity and quality of carbs

I recently attended a nutrition seminar hosted by my chiropractor (who I am seeing for back/leg issues). The details are too lengthy to get into here, but in short, the "food pyramid" is completely unrealistic. Instead, the focus should be on (from bottom to top), water, whole foods and supplements.

According to this pyramid, 25% of one's water intake should occur first thing in the morning! As to "whole foods," the guideline is simple: If man made it, don't touch it! When looking at meats, whenever possible, go organic. Choose grass fed versus grain fed (the ratio of Omega 6 to Omega 3) is much closer. Supplements to consider are fish oil, probiotics and multi-vitamins.

Eating 'healthy' is also an activity. Some things to consider about eating:

• Fork down between bites.
• Don't do anything else when you're eating.
• Eat at the right times.
• Chewing is the first step to digesting (30 to 70 times for each bite). I.e., "don't gulp."
• Don't save food.
• Don't eat brown food (brown, as in "old").
• Don't microwave food (microwaves change chemical structure).

Extreme? Well, when you consider two-thirds of Americans are overweight (obese, not just "heavy"), maybe not!

There is also a book that may deserve some attention. It's called Eat Right For Your Type, by Dr. Peter D'Adamo. The jury is still out on this, but I have a friend who swears by knowing what one should and shouldn't eat based on one's blood type.

Congrats on the weight loss, Vib!

I love healthy eating & exercise. After a couple of years of making many small changes, I obtained my goal weight last year and have stayed with 5lbs of it since.

One of the best changes I think I have made is stocking up on healthy FAST things to cook from Trader Joe's (which I am obsessed with) to ensure that we cut way back on restaurant/takeout/fast food.

Here is a quick healthy Trader Joe's recipe, Shrimp Fajitas:
Bag of tail off frozen shrimp
Bag of frozen fire roasted onions and peppers
sliced mushrooms (optional)
Hand made TJ tortillas
TJ authentic salsa
Greek yogurt (in place of sour cream)

Sautee the veggies first with a little bit of olive oil, once they are almost done throw in the dethawed shrimp (you can do add them frozen but it comes out better if they are dethawed) Add whatever spices you like, I usually add salt, pepper, garlic powder and smoked paprika.

While the shrimp and veggies are cooking, throw the tortillas wrapped in foil into the oven (you could probably use a microwave but we don't have one). Serve with the salsa and greek yogurt and that's it! Takes about 10-15 mins!



One other recipe that I make for breakfast is 2 pieces of TJ rustic whole grain bread toasted smeared with a laughing cow light cheese with 1/2 of a smashed avocado.

I know it sounds weird but I found the recipe when I was researching the MUFA diet. A few people were raving about it so I tried it. It is so filling, healthy, yummmy & easy to make.

KT Thanks for the great advice! And thank SusieQ, as well.

Actually for all that I have struggled to lose weight these last 10 years, this has been the easiest process ever.

For me, I had to teach myself and train my body to healthy portion sizes. I grew up on fast food - in high school it was fast food 3 meals a day and I love it. My body doesn't. So I have been working on learning what a correct portion size is - and using a website to track my caloric intake every day.

It was amazing - I went to get a Blizzard and then when I looked up how many calories those things have, I said "It isn't worth it. This blizzard is good but it isn't worth using up half my recommended caloric intake for one day on a little ice cream". And slowly my eating habits have changed. Since we've had to cut back a lot financially I'm cooking a lot more so I have much more control over what exactly goes into all my food.

I stick to 1200 calories a day, but that is also a minimum, not just a max. I don't want to starve myself because then I will just be defeating the goal since by starving myself my body with fight harder to keep its energy stores. I try to work out 3-5 days a week (depending on DD's nap schedule) and now that the weather is good I get us out for walks or work on the garden.

So to continue my thread jack: moderate exercise, controlling my portion size and monitoring my caloric intake have made it so I have lost about 1 lb a week over the last few months. Slow but steady - and I got 20-25 more lbs to go. It's not too difficult. I never feel hungry or like I'm starving myself and a few times a week I get to indulge in DH's cookies (yum!)



This is pretty much what I am doing. Unprocessed foods as much as possible. I cook from scratch as much as possible. Good lean meats, not a lot of empty carbs. I'm focusing on life-style changes. If I can't commit to do it every day for the rest of my life I don't do it. And a couple days a month I give myself a day off to indulge - enjoyed some Papa Murphy's Pizza yesterday and ate as much as I wanted until my body said "I'm getting full" then stopped. (Herbed Mediterranean Chicken Delight is hands down the absolute best pizza on the planet)

I have never felt healthier in my life. Ironically enough, losing my job has eliminated SO MUCH stress from my life which I think is positively contributing to the weight loss.

All this to say - I really REALLY appreciate your recipes as they are just the type of stuff I love to eat (the zucchini in particular).

/end t/j

Oh! I meant to post this last time. A lot of my friends rave about the site. I haven't tried any of her healthy recipes but have heard a lot of good things.

http://ohsheglows.com/

Oh, here we go again. Has all my hard work on this site been in vain?

It's COURGETTES, Vibrissa! Courgettes! There is no such animal as a zucchini!

I can send you a link to the portal https://how-to-boil.com/ with recipes. There is a lot to learn from there. Try it.