Battling your partner in the kitchen: He wants hamburgers & I want fish (healthy vs unhealthy food)
I'm the one that does the cooking in the house, but my boyfriend never has a shortage of suggestions on what I should make. What can I say, I'm with a very opinionated man. LOL.
When I started this weight loss journey, I talked to him about the changes I was going to make in my diet and how it was going to affect the way that I cooked. I wasn't going to be frying a lot of food, I'd be replacing ground beef with ground turkey, we were going to be eating a lot more lean protein and vegetables, etc. He was fine with it at first.
And then he remembered that he likes hamburgers. And pork chops. And fried chicken.
So now he's asking me to buy ground beef again. And to make more of the foods he likes. Which, let's face it, I miss like crazy. I'd give my right arm to be able to eat like him and not gain a pound. But if I even look at a hamburger, my butt grows 3 inches.
I told him that I won't be making 2 different meals, but I will institute a cheat night where I cook something less than healthy. I want to see if I can make mix ground beef and ground turkey together to make a less fatty burger, but I kind of doubt that would fly with him.
Do you guys have any low fat, low calorie, "healthy but still yummy" recipes? I'm dying here.
4 comments:
Do your local grocers sell super-lean hamburger (95% lean)? It actually has fewer fat and calories per ounce than ground turkey, and works fine for everything that's made with hamburger.
I like to make black bean chili: super-lean hb, 1-2 cans of black beans, diced tomatoes, chiles and spices. Super easy, nutritious, and filling.
You can also make baked fried chicken; brush the pieces with mustard and then coat them with oats and spices, or low-cal bread crumbs, and bake. It's a good compromise.
Also, check Diabetic Living Online for recipes. Anyone can use them, and they have lots and lots of nutritious-but-healthy-and-tasty options. He doesn't need to know where the recipes came from. ;)
I only buy ground turkey. Burgers, nachos, tacos, spaghetti (made with spaghetti squash instead of pasta), you name it. I substitute ground turkey for it all. Maybe I'm fooling myself. But I notice people tend to not notice if I don't mention. I think generally people are unsuspecting and expect the chef to cook with the recommended ingredients.
My ex-husband hated mushrooms. I secretly replaced the meat in a recipe with mushrooms one evening, and he thought it tasted great. Well, at least until he paid the complement, and I let him in on the little secret. Then he was pissed. :)
I also like Cara's recommendation for baked fried chicken. I'm horrible at frying. I used crushed/ground crackers and spices for my oven fried chicken.
And I know there's a lot of nasty talk about tofu. It's typically more time consuming to prepare (at least in my opinion), but if you fry it right, it has a texture similar to chicken. It's virtually tasteless, so adding flavor is up to the chef.
Laura's Lean Beef is 95%-98% lean. I know Kroger and Walmart sell it, at least in TN. Might even be lower in fat than the ground turkey. I usually use ground turkey or Morning Star crumbles in spaghetti sauce, chili, and soups. However, if I'm really wanting beef, I buy Laura's.
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