The Glade 4.0

So I do most of the cooking around my house. I'm not an inspired cook and am getting bored with what we eat. Was hoping you guys had some ideas for me. I don't like spending a whole lot of time on it either. We try to avoid bread/starch carbs with dinner but if we do, its usually a small amount. Usually try to stick to a meat, vegetables, and sometimes fruit. We don't really eat fish. Perhaps new ways to do vegetables? We tend to steam most of what we eat and use pepper and occasionally a little butter.

Anybody have anything they can share? Maybe not even necessarily a whole meal but good ways to do vegetables? Or a good way to do chicken/beef without having to dunk it in a fattening sauce?

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The Dude abides.

If you subscribe to the "olive oil is good" theory, you can whip up some zucchini/squash and tomatoes. Saute a bunch of garlic in olive oil, throw in the zucchini, and saute for a couple more minutes. Throw in some tomatoes, along with oregano/marjoram or thyme (or your choice of Italian seasonings), cover and reduce heat to low. Let simmer for about five minutes, stirring occasionally.

For carbs, try couscous (Middle Eastern/North African pasta). It's the best, takes about 5-10 minutes to prepare (usually you just boil water, remove it from the heat, throw in the couscous, cover and let it sit for five minutes). Makes a really good base for peppery things ... so, you could saute up some olive oil/garlic/green or red peppers, throw in some tomatoes, and you're good to go.

Yeah, OK, so there's an olive oil/garlic theme going on in my life. I'm not a low-fat kind of guy, I guess. I am blessed with a high metabolism.

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This cold and dark tormented hell
Is all I`ll ever know
So when you get to heaven
May the devil be the judge

BBQ, just lightly brush a little sauce on, don't smother it. Also consider the planks we've discussed in previous threads. They add great taste.

BBQ the vegetables too. Ears of corn BBQ'd are wonderful, but most of the squash (slice about 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick), roots, and peppers BBQ well. That or cut larger and Kabob them.

Marinate and turn the lamb (or beef) into shish-kabob, add onions, pineapple, bell peppers, mushrooms and whatever else gets you saliva glands wet.

Try some more unusual meats, buffalo, ostrich, goat, venison, are javalenas edible?

Be creative with making a salad, use a decent vinaigrette instead of a creamy dressing. Make a spinach salad, add strawberries, small orange slices, almond slivers, and a little feta or other less salty goat cheese.

And, add garlic to your seasoning stores, fresh garlic is best but powder works for the less adventurous.

Dang, where you live they sell the chili pepper wreaths every other block, go get one of them and start using the chilies immediately. Start making salsa and add a little in as seasoning. Look up some of the thousands of ways to use chilies in small quantities.

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The U. S. Constitution doesn't guarantee happiness, only the pursuit of it. You have to catch up with it yourself. B. Franklin

"A mind needs books like a sword needs a whetstone." -- Tyrion Lannister, A Game of Thrones

This time of year, Cottage Cheese salads are also nice.

Peppers, cucumber, tomatoes, celery, chopped and tossed with some low-fat cottage cheese.

Alternatively, lettuce-free salads can be quite nice- chopped cucumbers, tomatoes, celery, onions, some feta or mozzarella cheese and a nice vinaigrette.

We tend to eat sauted vegetables served over whole wheat pasta and tossed with olive oil a good bit.

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Darksiege: You are not a god damned vulcan homie.

No fish? But it's quick and healthy as well as delicious!

Yeah - I just don't like it. It tastes like, well... fish.

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The Dude abides.

Its all japanese style (or american style recipes converted into japanese-esque) but Ive been digging justbento.com recently. Its all dedicated to prepping a bento (boxed lunch) in 20-30 min each morning with maybe a little prep the night before...

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Assuming that all fish tastes like 'fish' is like thinking that beef, pork, and lamb all taste like 'mammal'.

Was out at dinner with a friend recently, a Japanese restaurant named Miyage's, and she ordered the Bento Box Dinner with Teriyaki Salmon and Seafood Tempura.

She spoke as to how wonderfully different the Salmon was from any other time she has had salmon, and yet it was still very much salmon. She also went rhapsodical (she is a real foodie) about the several different types of whitefish and the shrimp in the generous portion of extremely lightly battered and friend seafood tempura.

What you need to do is find a foodie that loves fish to introduce you to the more mild fish flavors to accustom your pallet to piscatorial cuisine.

And for goodness sake, sushi is huge, get a friend to take you to a good sushi place and introduce you to the various types of sushi and sashimi. You would be suprised how wonderful good raw fish properly stored and prepared can taste.

Easy on the wasabi, and try just a small taste of the ginger first.

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The U. S. Constitution doesn't guarantee happiness, only the pursuit of it. You have to catch up with it yourself. B. Franklin

"A mind needs books like a sword needs a whetstone." -- Tyrion Lannister, A Game of Thrones

Speaking of Sushi.... I must link this every time



Totally serious, this is

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Invest on a rice cooker and start cooking up brown rice. Cook up a large batch one night, then make fried rice with the leftovers the next night, or just reheat for a side dish again. I'm amazed at how much better brown rice tastes...I'm actually not fond of most long grain white rice, but brown is another story.

Edit: whoops, just re-read the OP and saw that you avoid starch carbs...but I'd still recommend the rice cooker for the times you do indulge. It's set and forget for 40 minutes while you fix other stuff.

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Women are from Hoboken, men are from Trenton. ~ Jimmy Kimmel

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Do you own a wok?

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Ezekiel 23:19-20 

It takes more than 20 minutes to cook, but far less than that for prep:
Chicken of any kind, a tiny bit of butter, veggies and seasonings of your choice wrapped up in foil and cooked for an hour of so. Kinda fail proof and the ways you can mix/match veggies and seasonings are nearly endless. Not to mention the entire meal is done in one dish.

On the same note, try throwing roast, onions and carrots in a crock pot with a packet of onion soup mix and enough water to cover it. Cook all day.

Actually 20 minute (ish) meals:
For some awesome green beans, boil them with some olive oil and crushed garlic until they're just barely done, then dunk them in cold water when you go to drain them. This works for stuff like squash too. Turns out nice and crispy.

If you do want to try some starch, try wheat noodles. Cook some mushrooms, onions and fresh sage and add to the pasta with a little bit of butter and parmesan. You can add in other stuff too. Squash, asparagus and bell peppers work really well. And this is a good side or dinner on its own.

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Green beans cannot be awesome if they are crunchy. They must be soft and salty and have a bit of bacon! But since this thread is about reasonably healthy food, I digress :p

However, I'll wholeheartedly agree with the crockpot suggestion!

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Women are from Hoboken, men are from Trenton. ~ Jimmy Kimmel

Peel about 5-6 potatoes
cube the peeled potatoes
take one packet of Lipton onion soup mix and put it in a container with a lid.
Add the cubed potatoes
Add 1 tablespoon vegtable oil.

Put the lid on the container and shake till the potatoes are evenly coated.

Bake at 350 till done!

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Dream as if you'll live forever...
...Live as if you'll die tomorrow

Vivere Senza Rimpianti

As far as super easy and quick:

Grab a big bag of frozen shrimp at Costco or similar. You can boil them in about 5 minutes. Put em in a bowl, add olive oil, salt, pepper, oregano. Maybe some old bay or whatever seasonings you like.

Steam up some broccoli and you're good. Lean protein, good fats and good carbs.

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“Strong people are harder to kill than weak people, and more useful in general”. - Mark Rippetoe

Boiled... shrimp?????

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Ezekiel 23:19-20 

No seafood for me.

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The Dude abides.

They're good! How about chili?

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“Strong people are harder to kill than weak people, and more useful in general”. - Mark Rippetoe

Sure, but Hormel ain't healthy.

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The Dude abides.

Brown meat, put in pot with seasonings and diced tomatoes and stuff. Simmer.

Eat.

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Holy shitsnacks!

Package into portions and freeze. When hungry, thaw a portion while boiling some whole wheat pasta (shells are best). Add some beans and corn to the pasta water at the end, and drain. Stir thawed chili and hot pasta until heated.

One of our summer staples is grilled meat and asparagus.

We'll typically do either pork chops or chicken breasts. Since it's just the 2 of us, we'll usually put 2 chops or 2 breasts into a ziplock bag along with a quantity of marinade. There are a bazillion varieties out there, some purchased, some made. We'll buy bulk and package up a bunch of these and freeze them. Take it out the night before. Toss them on the grill and you're all set.

For the asparagus, we'll toss it into some alluminum foil along with some soy sauce and sesame seeds. That also gets tossed on the grill.

Add a couple cold beers and dinner is served in about 15 min.

What seasonings?

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The Dude abides.