Dinner Plans

I adore planning out meals for the week, shopping and then cooking each night.  I love the challenge of finding something that's healthy but interesting and delicious.  And now, lucky readers, I'm going to start sharing my plans each week, along with relevant recipes:

Sunday - Yakitori (chicken skewers) with green onions and miso sauce, served with brown rice
Monday - Light Italian Wedding soup (turkey meatballs, escarole, tomatoes and white beans)
Tuesday - Salmon with miso glaze and roasted baby red potatoes
Wednesday - Kale with white beans and sweet Italian chicken sausage
Thursday - Light Sesame Chicken with broccoli and brown rice

For the recipe, I'm going to share this simple miso glaze that we used on the chicken skewers.  It was absolutely delicious and covered about 4 skewers (1/2 lbs chicken thighs)

3 tbsp red miso
3 tbsp sake
2 tbsp mirin
1 tbsp sugar or honey

Whisk together the ingredients in a small saucepan over medium heat until sugar is dissolved.  On a hot, preheated grill, use to baste skewers of boneless, skinless chicken thighs and fat green onions cut into 1 1/2 inch lengths.  
As a side note, be sure to wait until the chicken is seared before trying to turn them.  They should release from the grill more easily once the outside is seared.  You don't need to use any additional oil with this.

The meal with chicken thighs and a cup of brown rice is 627 calories, 18% fat (12.4 g), 34% protein (52.8 g), 48% carbs (74.5 g, 5.7 fiber).

This is a calorie-dense meal, but it has a great balance of fat, carbs and protein.  Plus, it's soooo good!

Good Substitues

Egg whites for whole eggs
I used to think that the difference between whole eggs and egg whites only was minimal. But it's really not! Consider this:
2 large egg whites have 32 calories, 2.8% fat (0.1 g), 91.25% protein (7.3 g), 6.25% carbs (0.5 g with 0 fiber)
1 large whole egg has 83 calories, 66% fat (6.1 g), 31% protein (6.4 g), 3% carbs (0.625 g with 0 fiber)
The egg whites probably have a larger volume than the single egg, and yet the ratio of fat is much higher in the whole egg. If you're trying to lose weight and/or building muscle I highly recommend trying to substitute egg whites whenever practical. It really does make a huge difference in your nutrition! This is also why desserts like meringues, if you can get away without too much sugar, or with using splenda, are relatively guiltless.

Mustard for mayo
I'm not a huge fan of mustard. But, when you can't go with a dry sandwich, a bit of dijon gets you what you need without the added fat:
1 tablespoon of Dijon-style mustard has 15 calories, 100% carbs (3.75g, 0 g fiber)
1 tablespoon of regular Mayonnaise has 99 calories, 97% fat (10.67 g), 1% protein (0.25 g), and 2% carbs (0.5 g with 0 fiber)
even light mayonnaise isn't as low in calories as mustard:
1 tablespoon of low-fat Mayonnaise has 35 calories, 90% fat (3.5 g), 10% protein (0.875 g, 0 g fiber)

Red wine vinegar and salt for salad dressing
If you've got a salad that has enough tasty bits in it then you don't need a lot of dressing. Just a little vinegar and a sprinkle of salt is enough to bring the flavors together. If you can get used to using a little vinegar on your salad, then you can save yourself a lot of fat!
1 tablespoon of red or white wine vinegar has 0 calories (So few that it rounds to zero).
1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar has 20 calories, all from carbs (5 g, no fiber)
1 tablespoon of thousand island dressing has 58 calories, 85% fat (5.5 g), 0% protein, 15% carbs (2.175 g, 0.1 g fiber)
1 tablespoon of blue cheese dressing has 76 calories, 92% fat (7.8 g), 3.6% protein (0.7 g), 4.4% carbs (0.84 g, no fiber)

Soy milk for half and half

I'll admit that soy milk is an acquired taste and people with certain hormone disorders can't drink it. After comparing the stats for soy milk to half and half I began ordering soy in my coffee in the morning. Here's why:

2 fl oz of soy milk has 32 calories, 33% fat (1.2 g), 33% protein (2.7 g), 34% carbs (3.0 g, 0.8 g fiber)
2 fl oz of half-and-half has 79 calories, 78% fat (6.9 g), 9% protein (1.8 g), 13% carbs (2.6 g, no fiber)

Nonfat plain Greek yogurt for sour cream

Sour cream is lovely, but is it really worth the calories?  I find that when cooking, nonfat plain Greek-style yogurt is a fine substitute, especially given the caloric savings:
8 oz nonfat plain Greek yogurt has 132 calories, no fat, 73% protein (24 g), 27% carbs (9 g, no fiber)
8 oz sour cream has 246 calories, 88% fat (24 g), 6% protein (3.7 g), 8% carbs (5 g, no fiber)

Evaporated canned nonfat milk for cream
This substitution that works well when cooking cream sauces.  Evaporated milk should be less finicky about curdling than cream, which is an added bonus (but it will curdle if you add it to a too-hot pan).
1 cup ev. nonfat milk has 200 calories, 2% fat (0.5 g), 39% protein (19.3 g), 59% carbs (29.1 g, no fiber)
1 cup cream has 414 calories, 95% fat (44.4 g), 2% protein (2.5 g), 3% carbs (3.3 g, no fiber)

Chicken Salad with basil and apricots

Try this tasty chicken salad; I adapted it from a recipe in this month's Everyday Food Magazine:

3/4 cup nonfat plain Greek yogurt

5 dried Turkish apricots, minced

1 small celery stalk, minced

1/4 of a white onion, minced

1 handful of basic, torn (about 6~8 leaves)

2 small boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 3/4 pound)

1 clove garlic

1 tbsp white wine vinegar

salt and pepper to taste

First, poach the chicken. Set the breasts in a saucepan with a lid and cover with 1 inch of water. Bring the water to a boil, and let boil for 2 mins. Skim the foam off the top of the water, cover tightly with the lid, and turn off the heat. Allow to stand for 20 mins.

Slice up the chicken roughly and allow to cool slightly. When cool enough to handle, roughly cube (or shred if you like).

Mix the chicken with all the other ingredients in a medium-sized bowl. Add salt and pepper to taste, and chill before using.

This should serve 2.

For the salad only:

349 calories; 3.5g fat; 25.8g cabs (3.7g fiber); 53.1g protein

adding two slices of bread and some leafy greens adds about 175 calories, 1g of fat, 11g carbs (2.5g fiber), and 4g protein.

Rules of Thumb for Low Cal Eating

Following are some general guidelines that I find it useful to follow in order to eat low(er) calorie:

Avoid:

Full-fat Dairy (cheese, sour cream, whole milk, etc.)

White Rice

White Bread

Nuts - these can be healthy but they add a lot of calories

Egg Yolks

When eating out, choosing vegetarian dishes is often a great way to cut down on calories. Also, making swaps and asking for substitutions is often easily accommodated while eating out:

Ask for no cheese

Ask for a lighter (vinaigrette-style) dressing instead of creamy, and ask for it on the side

order a salad, and request that chicken or shrimp be added

order a bowl of soup and a whole wheat roll instead of a big entree

order corn instead of flour tortillas

order egg whites instead of whole eggs - especially when ordering an omelette at brunch

Obviously, you also want to avoid anything fried at all, and stick to low-fat proteins such as turkey, chicken, seafood and tofu.

Star Anise - Chicken Stir-Fry

Serve this over brown rice or shredded nappa cabbage or bok choi:

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into thin strips

1 cup shiitake mushrooms, stemmed and quartered

1/4 cup minced fresh ginger

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1 1/2 cups green onions

1 15 oz can chicken broth

2 whole star anise

1/2 tablespoon corn starch

Brown the chicken in a little grape-seed oil.  Set aside on paper towels.  Add mushrooms, onions, ginger and garlic and saute until cooked through.  Add back in the chicken, chicken broth and anise, and simmer for 10 mins.  dissolve the cornstarch in 1/2 tablespoon of water and add to the mixture.  Simmer for about 3 mins longer, until sauce is thickened.  Server over brown rice.

Star Anise - Brined Grilled Turkey Breasts

We bought some star anise and I've found two great recipes that use it and are delicious!  The first is brined turkey breast.  First, bring the following ingredients to a boil in a very large pot:

1/2 cup salt

3 quarts water

1 onion, chopped into large chunks

4 star anise

handful of black peppercorns, crushed

1/2 cup ginger, roughly chopped

1/4 cup honey or brown sugar

Let this cool completely (we made the brining liquid the night before) and then add one or two turkey breasts (do two if you want leftovers!  we added the turkey to the pot first thing in the morning and let it brine all day).  You can also double the amounts and do a whole bird if you're ambitious!

Next, make a glaze.  Simmer the following together in a sauce pan.

1/3 cup maple syrup

1/4 cup white wine

2 tablespoons dijon mustard

Grill the turkey breasts on low heat for about an hour (temp should be 165).  Brush with the glaze several times during the last 20 mins of cooking.

Tortillas

image from cookinglight.com

Next time you're out for Mexican and they ask, "flour or corn?" what should you say?  I was pretty shocked to see how these two seemingly similar foods stack up:

1 (yes, ONE) 6 inch (fajita sized) flour tortilla as 110 calories!

The same size corn tortilla has 45 calories.  Yes, that's right; corn tortillas have 65% fewer calories!  I think we know who wins this battle...