Healthy, tasty recipes... (Full Version)

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LadyConstanze -> Healthy, tasty recipes... (4/5/2012 12:42:59 AM)

A friend of mine recently had a fairly traumatic surgery, now he's a picky eater and before his surgery he liked junk food a lot (which contributed to his health problem), I've been cooking fairly healthy for him and he likes it, but after 3 or 4 months I'm running out of recipes... Any ideas? Especially stuff that can be made fairly easily when I'm gone and he has a house keeper... (the last house keeper was a bit of a disaster, her idea of making food were microwave dinners)



Hillwilliam -> RE: Healthy, tasty recipes... (4/5/2012 7:32:49 AM)

Here's what I'm doing tonight.

Put some pasta on to boil.

While it cooks, heat a skillet and put in some olive oil and butter (not fucking margarine, real damn butter).

When that heats, add about a third of a chopped onion and a tablespoon or so of chopped garlic and saute until the onions are almost clarified.

Add a handfull of sliced fresh mushrooms and a handfull of thawed, peeled shrimp.

By the time the shrimp are nice and pink, your pasta should be al dente.

Drain the pasta and pour it into the skillet. Toss the pasta and sauce together for a few seconds and plate it.

Add shredded parmesan and eat.

I don't know what it's called but it's damn good.
If you want, you can substitute a thinly sliced leftover grilled chicken breast or pork loin chop for the shrimp and/or add in some sliced roma tomatoes just before the mushrooms.

If you like different stuff in there, go for it. You're making it for yourself, not me.



LaTigresse -> RE: Healthy, tasty recipes... (4/5/2012 8:12:18 AM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: LadyConstanze

A friend of mine recently had a fairly traumatic surgery, now he's a picky eater and before his surgery he liked junk food a lot (which contributed to his health problem), I've been cooking fairly healthy for him and he likes it, but after 3 or 4 months I'm running out of recipes... Any ideas? Especially stuff that can be made fairly easily when I'm gone and he has a house keeper... (the last house keeper was a bit of a disaster, her idea of making food were microwave dinners)


Oh there are dozens of variations of salads I love for summer. For the easy, I would start with the packaged Romain lettuce mix and grab whatever is handy that will work together. I can chop a braeburn apple, some feta, a few raw walnuts or pecans, drizzle some good balsamic vinaigrette and voila. Or dump some black beans, cheese, chopped cooked chicken breast, tomatoes, salsa, maybe a little plain yogurt or sour cream and a few crumbled tortilla chips for texture. Lately it's been a simple chopped avacados, tomatoes, feta and the vinaigrette.

Kashi makes a wonderful pilaf thing that makes a ROCKING meal for me. I cook up a bag of it. Use a little chicken broth to 'sautee' some chopped green peppers, onion and corn until just past crunchy. Add a can of mexican seasoned chopped tomatoes and a can of spicy seasoned black beans. Mix the whole thing up and put it in those wonderful Glad or Rubbermaid individual serving containers and freeze. If I have it, I grill some chicken breasts and chop those up to toss in also. But it is so good without, you don't need it. Easy and healthy, ready to take to work frozen dinners.

For breakfast I've been on a fruit and yogurt kick. Plain yogurt, some fresh fruit, a few chopped walnuts. I can put it together ahead of time, bring it to work if I don't have time before.

All healthy meals that taste good and are filling.



kalikshama -> RE: Healthy, tasty recipes... (4/5/2012 8:12:48 AM)

Healthy, tasty, easy are all subjective but you could have a browse through Rachel Ray's 30 Minute Meals: http://www.foodnetwork.com/30-minute-meals/



Aylee -> RE: Healthy, tasty recipes... (4/5/2012 8:14:31 AM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: LadyConstanze

A friend of mine recently had a fairly traumatic surgery, now he's a picky eater and before his surgery he liked junk food a lot (which contributed to his health problem), I've been cooking fairly healthy for him and he likes it, but after 3 or 4 months I'm running out of recipes... Any ideas? Especially stuff that can be made fairly easily when I'm gone and he has a house keeper... (the last house keeper was a bit of a disaster, her idea of making food were microwave dinners)


Salads. Eggs can be hard boiled and peeled in advanced. Meats, chicken, shrimp, steak, can be cooked and sliced in advanced. Many veggies, celery, carrots, cucumbers, can be prepped in advance. Or you can just make a huge bowl of salad and portion it out. Make more every few days. Cheese can be bought grated or crumbled or you can grate it in advance.

Portion salad into bowl or on plate, add grape tomatoes, meat, egg, cheese, and a light dressing. Viola! Healthy food.

Baked potatoes. Microwave potato, add some chicken, broccoli, and cheese.

A couple of other suggestions:

Buy him smaller plates to eat off of.
Have him double recipes and freeze extra portions.
Eat a light soup before entree.
Steam bag veggies.
Weigh out hamburger for individual patties and freeze.



LaTigresse -> RE: Healthy, tasty recipes... (4/5/2012 8:45:17 AM)

I also will grill several different things at once, while I've got the hot charcoals, then freeze to be eaten later in the week.

I just love love love those inexpensive Glad type containers for storing individual servings in the freezer to use later.



LadyHibiscus -> RE: Healthy, tasty recipes... (4/5/2012 9:07:05 AM)

I guess I don't understand the concept of "recipes" for most meals. Recipes for baking, sure, and for sauces and the like, but really once you know how to cook, it's just assembly, right?

I really do not enjoy cooking, and during the times it's "just me" I do the most basic stuff that requires the LEAST CLEANUP. For me, that's the true key, and in my opinion one of the biggest lures of those microwave dinners because you can just heat them and toss the container.

Build a pantry of basic things that are okay for his diet and digestion---I am not sure what the anti-rej drugs are doing to his system but they can't be happy. There are lots of staples that cook quickly that can be enhanced with veg, spices, that sort of thing. Is there a grocery service that delivers? Or a neighbor that can be trusted to shop? If proper food is RIGHT THERE or readily available, it's easier to deal with it. I don't need to tell you to avoid all that fake, fat-free, processed crap!

I am not a fan of frozen foods myself, but it is possible to cook up batches of things that can be frozen and reheated. There are a couple of shows on the cooking channel that deal with this... Rachel Ray has one, too, I think. Not to my taste, but interesting!




LaTigresse -> RE: Healthy, tasty recipes... (4/5/2012 9:29:22 AM)

LadyH, I think it depends upon your background. With most things I don't have recipes per say. I've just learned what does what, what goes together, what enhances what......and run with it.

I do the, stare into the fridge for a minute, stare into the cupboards for a minute, peek into the freezer......ponder how much time and effort I want to put into something, what sounds good........and start dragging stuff out and create something. Not everyone has the cooking background to be able to do that.



LadyHibiscus -> RE: Healthy, tasty recipes... (4/5/2012 9:44:56 AM)

I guess not. A friend of ours didn't know that there were spices other than salt and pepper until we explained it to her.

And, not everyone has the same taste in food, in that some folks really don't have a refined palate, or simply prefer bland things. For me, the cleanup is the issue. Last fall, I wanted greens and chicken with tortellini alfredo. So, Buitoni sauce and torts, bought a roasted chicken, got the mixed field greens. One pan to wash to deal with the boiled pasta, another to deal with the sauce! SCRUBBING! All that for two meals of food. Hmph. (was really good, though, and so is their pesto sauce!)



MistressDarkArt -> RE: Healthy, tasty recipes... (4/5/2012 12:04:21 PM)

Mixed greens (preferably w/argula) with sliced beets, lightly toasted sunflower seeds (hulled, of course), chopped egg or tofu steak, a sprinkling of crumbled blue or reggiano cheese, and a light dressing (preferably made with apple cider vinegar.) Easy peasy.



MistressDarkArt -> RE: Healthy, tasty recipes... (4/5/2012 12:05:26 PM)

PS: Nice to see you posting again, LadyC.



Hillwilliam -> RE: Healthy, tasty recipes... (4/5/2012 12:24:49 PM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: MistressDarkArt

chopped egg or tofu steak,

I'm sorry but tofu is not intended for human consumption.

[:'(][sm=stickineye.gif][:'(]



LaTigresse -> RE: Healthy, tasty recipes... (4/5/2012 12:33:58 PM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: Hillwilliam


quote:

ORIGINAL: MistressDarkArt

chopped egg or tofu steak,

I'm sorry but tofu is not intended for human consumption.

[:'(][sm=stickineye.gif][:'(]


A man after mine own, black, little meat eating heart. Generic Dude likes it but I just cannot find a reason to eat it.



LadyHibiscus -> RE: Healthy, tasty recipes... (4/5/2012 2:35:54 PM)

I do like tofu AS TOFU. Not as an ersatz anything.



angelikaJ -> RE: Healthy, tasty recipes... (4/5/2012 2:56:40 PM)

Lentils are easy to prepare.
You can spice them the way you like, add the vegetables of your choosing, add in brown rice or barley if you wish... and you have a big pot of healthy lentils.

I like the fruit and yogurt thing as well.
I get plain non fat yogurt and sometimes greek yogurt if it is on sale (a quart of each) and then I add my vanilla and frozen berries: whatever happens to be on sale; a few packages.

Sometimes I will add in a bit of uncooked oatmeal in the morning to my bowlful of berried yogurt.



LadyConstanze -> RE: Healthy, tasty recipes... (4/5/2012 10:44:35 PM)

OK, I cook quite well and went through a bunch of Italian and Asian dishes, I know salads and love them, however he does not like salads, in fact he's a guy who likes American basics (which fucked up his health in the first place so we don't want to go there again), he does like my sweet and sour Chinese dishes though I don't want to do them too often, I did lasagne, pies, stews, Terryake dishes, lemon chicken... The whole works, I am basically looking for something that will educate his taste buds but is not too far out there, shrimp is something he can only have every couple of weeks due to the meds, he's on a shitload of medication, improved leaps and bounds in the last 4 months, started to work out, regained his appetite, is gaining muscle but he's also regaining a bit of a paunch, which has me very worried. So quite healthy dishes (no salads, it was actually quite hard work to convince him that he has to eat a small salad with dinner) would be greatly appreciated. I'm not worried about complicated recipes, though we are trying to find a house keeper (the last one couldn't cook or thought cooking was putting a ready made dish into the microwave - finding a house keeper who cooks in LA is a bit like a needle in a hay stack), so stuff that isn't too complicated for the house keeper would be nice, as I made him a list and a book with recipes. it's just that I can't stay here forever and put my life on hold and I want to create something that is sort of fool proof...



Hippiekinkster -> RE: Healthy, tasty recipes... (4/5/2012 11:02:55 PM)

Press some extra firm tofu. Cut into 1/2-1" cubes or 1/4 x 1-1/2" (more or less; my preference). Fry it until golden. Drain. Freeze on a tray, then bag it.

Get some wide Chinese noodles. Cook until almost done. Freeze about 2 cups per container.

Buy frozen stir-fry veggies.

Buy satay sauce.

Thaw noodles. Stir-fry veggies until cooked but still crisp. Add noodles. Add tofu (however much). Add satay sauce. Heat thoroughly.

Voila.



LadyConstanze -> RE: Healthy, tasty recipes... (4/5/2012 11:51:31 PM)

OK, he doesn't like salads and tofu is not even an option, and sorry, noodles aren't really the most healthy of choices, if they were, I'd have about 1001 Italian pasta recipes, but unfortunately with noodles or pasta you get too much carbs, and tofu - I'm not a meat eater at all - but tofu is the most taste free food available, I can understand that he draws the line there. Tofu only has some taste if you marinade it, now if you use soy sauce, you got the sodium issue, again a big NO NO for a transplant patient. Tofu also has the side effect that it's often made from genetically engineered soy beans, havoc for somebody on a lot of meds.

Basically his immune system is artificially lowered, so I don't want to run any risks.

The whole cooking I do is basically from scratch to avoid additives, the guide line from Cedars stresses fresh veg (dunno why frozen should be avoided but I rather not stray from the guide lines), super well washed, mindful of the source, the same with fruit, preferably something that can be peeled, then again sugar content, carbs, sodium, sugar content all that has to be within the guidance parameters. I've never used much salt when cooking, but now have to do it completely without.

A lot of the dishes here would be something I'd love to try for myself, but unfortunately nothing I can feed him, we progressed to the point where he can actually stray from the usual oat meal for breakfast and twice a week can have something more adventurous, though a piece of dry toast is hardly what I call exciting...



KMsAngel -> RE: Healthy, tasty recipes... (4/6/2012 1:40:43 AM)

you sound like you would benefit from getting one of the american diabetic association cookbooks. you may need to adjust carbs even after that, but it's a much more balanced diet, and tasty while still vy healthy. they probably have a 'quick' cookbook that has short lists of groceries rather than full on gourmet. might also be an idea to make up large stocks of his new favourites and freeze in small batches so if you can't find a housekeeper, he can just nuke and eat.
pity i'm not in LA, i need a job and im a decent cook!



kalikshama -> RE: Healthy, tasty recipes... (4/6/2012 4:59:40 AM)

quote:

I'm sorry but tofu is not intended for human consumption.


After one year at a yoga retreat center and two at an ashram, tofu is now a
[sm=hardlimit.gif]

I'm sure it's no coincidence that I met a lot of chefs right about that time. The things I would do for steak...



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