Stuffed Peppers

*****Insert picture here*****

Its been a while since a 'No Big Deal Recipe' has been prepared... But tonight I made stuffed peppers (I took a picture and will post it soon)

What you need:

2 tsp. Minced Garlic

2 Onions

1lb. Ground Turkey

1 Jar Healthy style spaghetti sauce

Cooked Brown rice

6 or 7 Bell peppers

How to do it:

Start by chopping the onions and cooking them in a pan with the Garlic. Add the ground turkey and brown (I threw a little Italian Seasoning in at this point). When the Turkey is cooked, add the rice and about 1/2-3/4 of the jar of sauce. Mix thoroughly.

Cut the tops off of the peppers and clean out the seeds. Stuff the peppers with the goodness that you just cooked. Then place them in a glass oven-safe dish, and pour remainder of sauce in the bottom of the pan. Bake until Peppers are cooked. ENJOY!

Chicken Stir-fry

I have a turkey stir-fry recipe on here, and this is very similar except I used Chicken instead.

Stuff:

Chicken breast

Peppers

Onions

Minced Garlic

Low Sodium Soy sauce

Low Sodium Teriyaki sauce

Oriental hot sauce

2 Tablespoons of Orange juice

Brown Rice

Start off by tenderizing the chicken and cubing it.  After that, pour the orange juice over the chicken along with the soy sauce, season with spices (see previous post about spices).  Place that in the fridge to marinate for a while.

Cut up the peppers.  This time I used two red, one green and one yellow, but use what you want (or what is on sale).  I then placed them in my pan and cooked them with the soy and teriyaki sauces and spices.  When the peppers are almost all the way cooked, dump them into a bowl to keep them off to the side.

Then cut up your onions and place them in the pan with the garlic and maybe a bit of spray butter.  After the onions and garlic cook for a while add the chicken and all of the juice that is left from the marinade.  Cook all of it until the chicken is a few minutes from being fully cooked, then add the peppers back in, and cook until it is all finished cooking.

While the chicken is cooking put the rice on in the rice cooker.  After you have finished cooking the rest of the stir-fry, and have dished it out, add the rest of the juice left in the pan to the rice cooker, it will give the rice a sensational taste.  If you dont want to try to time all of that correctly you can just add some of the soy or teriyaki sauce to the rice while you cook it.

I made 6 large meals with this, And combined the 6 meals have about 115% of your daily allowance of sodium.  While that seems like a lot, these 6 meals will last me 3 days!

Spices

Since I usually use all of the same spices when I cook, I decided to mix them all together so that I only have to open one container when I cook.

I mixed equal portions of:

red pepper flakes

black pepper

cayenne pepper

mrs. dash extra spicy

coriander

paprika

chili powder

portion and a half of:

seasoned no salt

cumin

and half a portion of:

all spice

I used the cuisinart to chop up the bigger stuff, and then mix everything together.  So far... I love it!!

Pudding

I was watching The Food Network, and Semi-Homemade with Sandra Lee to be exact.  She made pudding and added a scoop of instant coffee to it.

I use fat-free sugar-free instant pudding, and I decided to give it a whirl.  So I got some skim milk and the chocolate pudding mix and a scoop of instant coffee.

IT WAS DELICIOUS!!

Also I put a dollop of Cool Whip Free on it, it made it even better.

No new recipes...

Sorry that I haven't posted any new recipes, I have been making my old ones recently.  I have also been spending more time in the gym.  I am doing more cardio in the morning, and on my days off I try to spend atleast 2 hours in the gym.  Also we qualified for a free 6-month membership to the YMCA, and we have been going to work out as a family (we dont actually work out together, we just travel there and back together).

Although I haven't posted any new recipes, I have been adjusting old recipes.  Basically just using different amounts of spices and using new spices.  I have been using more cumin and more coriander.  Also I found some 'Seasoned No-Salt', a no sodium seasoned salt, it doesn't taste just like the good stuff, but it still adds some good flavor.

If you have a recipe that you would like to see a healthier way to make please let me know!  I will see what I can come up with to try and make it healthier.

Does weight really matter?

From the Start Micah kept telling me not to weigh myself and that weight doesn't matter.  I never understood that, because to me my weight has always reflected how I looked.

After about 4 months of working out and dieting, I had lost 25ish pounds and alsmot 4 inches off of my waist.  I went on leave and to training for 5 weeks, and in that 5 weeks I wasn't working out that much or dieting correctly.  I only put on about 10 pounds, but my waist probably grew 2-3 inches.  And I just felt like a huge waste when I looked in the mirror.  Before the 5 weeks I could see ribs and make out 2 abs, now none of that.  Even though I only put on 10 pounds, and have already lost a few of those pounds from a few days of dieting, I still feel huge.

What Micah had me do, since I didn't understand the why weight didn't matter.  He had me weigh myself and the beginning of the diet and then wait two weeks to weigh myself again.  After two weeks I was surprised at how much weight I had lost.  Then I was constantly checking to see how much I lost, and people at work kept asking how much I lost, so I always checked.

I don't feel good about how I look, but I now have motivation to lose the inches again.  I want to throw away my scale, but I don't think my wife would approve.

I don't expect people to understand why weight doesn't matter, but maybe this will give some insight.

Kick-ass Marinade

This is the counter full of all the ingredients 

This is the actual marinade all mixed-up

Dry needs:

Ground coriander

Ground cumin

Chili powder

Onion Powder

Paprika

Crushed Red pepper flakes

Black Pepper (Freshly ground if possible)

Wet needs:

Minced garlic

Worcestershire sauce

Canola oil

Butter spray

Hot sauce

Mix the Dry stuff first, then add the wet stuff.  let sit for atleast 10 minutes before you marinate your meat.

**There are no measurements, I just put the amounts of each that I wanted... I know that isn't very specific, but that is how I cook.  Sorry**

Chicken Salad Sandwich

This sandwich isn't exactly what the recipe says, 

but a good look of the chicken salad

Chicken Salad:

Canned Chicken

Kraft Free mayo

Dill Relish

Onion Powder

Hot sauce

Sandwich:

Sugar free whole wheat bread

Butter Spray

Leaf lettuce

Hard-boiled egg white slices

A slice of cheese

Toast the bread, spray the butter on it.  Then layer the  egg slices, lettuce, cheese, and chicken salad.

Grilled Turkey and Swiss sandwich

****NOT A DIET RECIPE*****

Since it is the holidays, and everyone needs a good cheat meal, I thought I would post this delicious sandwich that I came up with a few Thanksgivings ago:

Needs:
Left-over Turkey
Left-over Stuffing
Left-over gravy
Swiss Cheese (2 slices)
Bread (2 slices)
pepper

Start off by putting some turkey and stuffing in your pan with a little bit of gravy, and of course pepper. Heat that deliciousness, set the heated 'goods' to the side. Butter one side of one slice of bread, place buttered side down in pan, and smother just a little bit of gravy on bread. Then place one slice of swiss cheese down. Place 'goods' on top of swiss, then place the second slice of swiss on the sandwich. Add just another little bit of gravy then the last piece of bread buttered side up. Grill and flip until golden brown, or desired crispness.

Like I said, this is not a diet meal, but it is a good meal!

Enjoy

Confessions

So for the past three weeks or so, I haven't done a real workout... I was travelling to NY and TX and wasn't able to eat the way that I wanted to or workout the way I wanted to. And for the past week, I have been on vacation and celebrated Thanksgiving twice and Christmas once. Before this week of vacation, it looked like I only gained a few pounds. However, I feel like my stomach is bigger, which means that I have lost some muscle. I think it will take about a week of hard core working out and dieting to get back to where I was and back in the routine.

Turkey Stir-Fry

This was my first attempt at making Stir-Fry.  I was unable to find a no-sodium soy sauce, but I was only able to find a low-sodium soy sauce

***Disclaimer: This recipe has more sodium than every other recipe on here!***

This is the meal with rice

This is the meal without rice

Needs: Ground Turkey (could also be made with chicken breast)

Peppers (I used a frozen pepper medley)

Onion

Brown Rice

Minced Garlic

Low-Sodium Soy Sauce

Butter spray

Chop all of your peppers and onions to be roughly the same size.  I sprayed my pan with butter and dropped in the turkey.  As the turkey was cooking I added about 2 teaspoons of soy sauce.  When the turkey was finished cooking, I placed it on a paper towel on a plate.  I then added a few more sprays of butter to the pan with about a teaspoon of garlic and the onions and peppers, while this was cooking I added about 2 more teaspoons of soy sauce.  When the peppers and onions were done cooking I added the turkey to the pan with the peppers and onions, I then added less than a dash of the soy sauce.  I cooked and mixed the peppers and onion with the turkey.  I then portioned out three serving of the stir-fry.  Then I added the cooked brown rice to what was left of the stir-fry, and mixed it all together.  I then portioned this into three servings.

This is a picture of all 6 servings

The 6 servings total have roughly 705 calories, and about 50% of your daily value of sodium.  The meals without rice, have no carbs.

Stuffed Whole Wheat Pitas

One day the baby had just laid down for a nap, and I knew that I didn't have much time to make something and eat it.  I came up with the following:

Needs: sliced or ground turkey

salsa

shredded pepper jack cheese

desired spices

hot sauce

whole wheat pita (mini or regular)

Cook turkey with desired spices and hot sauce, mix in salsa and pepper jack cheese.  Cut Pitas in half, stuff them, and enjoy.

Turkey Tacos

I pack my lunch in little to-go GLAD containers to make it easier to take to work

This is the meal made with lettuce

this is the meal made with rice

So my boss told me about how his wife made turkey tacos, so I decided that I would try it out.  However, I didn't have any taco seasoning, so I improvised.

Items:

Ground Turkey

Mexican chili powder

Paprika

Crushed red pepper flakes

Mrs. Dash southwest chipotle

Hot sauce

Chopped Onion

Butter spray

I sprayed my pan with some of my no calorie butter spray, and put the turkey in the pan.  I used the seasonings and hot sauce on the turkey while I cooked it.  Once it was done I added the onion to cook it with the meat and spices.  I was happy with the look and taste when it was done.

To serve it, I was planning on using whole wheat tortillas, but instead I decided to use brown rice.  After I cooked the rice I put it in a new pan and added the seasonings and then the meat and mixed it all together.  I didn't use all of the meat, because I wanted to save some to make a no carb meal.  For the no carb meal, I chopped up lettuce and mixed it in with the meat.  This meal should be pretty good!  Im excited about eating it!

The ground turkey has about 130 calories per serving, and the brown rice has about 150 calories per serving.

Baked Buff. Chicken

ITEMS:

Chicken breast

desired spices

Butter spray

Frank's buffalo sauce

Hot sauce

Season the chicken and place it in a glass pan.  Spray butter and add hot sauce, pour Frank's buffalo sauce on the chicken.  You can make this ahead of time and let it marinate some, or place it right in the oven.  Cover the chicken with foil, bake at 375 for 25-30 minutes, uncover and broil for 5-10 minutes.  Serve with celery or any green

This is a no carb meal, but you may serve it with brown rice for the carbs if wanted.

NUTRITION:

The Chicken Breast has 130 calories per serving and the buffalo sauce has 5 calories per serving, and thats it for this recipe.

Churkey Cordon Blue

ITEMS:

Chicken breast

Sliced turkey

Cheese

desired spices

butter spray

egg white

whole wheat flour

flaxseed meal

butterfly the chicken breast open to look like a heart.  Feel free to pound it if desired.  Season chicken, lay cheese and turkey on chicken.  Roll chicken tightly on itself and secure with toothpicks.  Season both flour and flaxseed meal.  Roll the chicken in the flour, then egg wash, then flaxseed meal.  Lay cordon blue in a greased pan, seam side down.  Then spray butter on cordon blue.  Bake at 375 for 35 minutes.  Serve this with green beans or asparagus. 

This is a very low carb meal, but if you want it to be no carb, then don't bread the chicken, just roll it up then put it in the pan and spray with butter.

NUTRITION:

The chicken Breast has 130 calories per serving, the Turkey has 30 calories per serving, the calories in the cheese will depend on what kind of cheese you choose.

Now...

Now, that you have gotten my background and where I came from weight wise, I will enlighten you on some of the dishes that I have prepared.

Life style

So just changing your diet will help you cut a few pounds, but if you workout you will lose even more weight.

I work 12-hour shifts, 7-7, the following is my workout and eating schedule:

0445: Wake-up

0515: Get to the gym for cardio

0600: Eat a Granola bar and a protein shake with skim milk

0800: Old fashioned oatmeal with cinnamon for flavor

1030: Eat a meal of meat and carbs

1200: Gym for calisthenics and cardio, half an hour each

1500: small serving of fat-free sugar-free jello or pudding

1700: Eat a meal of meat and veggies

1930: Protein shake (if Im hungry)

2130: Sleep

I have lived this schedule as close as possible for the past 4 months and have seen awesome results.  Now my situation is kind of odd, I was only able to stick to this workout schedule for 4 days a week.  The other three days I had my daughter and wasn't able to make it to the gym, but I stayed on the diet.  Had I been able to workout everyday, I would have lost the weight faster.

progressive pictures

This is me in my semi-formal uniform around 180-185 pounds 

This is me on the golf course around 185-190 pounds

This is me recently around 174 pounds

Shopping list

So to start this diet, you gotta know what you can and cant eat.  When picking out food, watch the calories, fat, sugar, sodium, and carbs.  THIS IS NOT A LOW/NO CARB DIET, but you should try to cut carbs later in the day.  I try to only eat carbs early in the day and before I workout, that way I have time to work off the carbs throughout the day.

Meats:
Turkey
Chicken
Salmon
Pork
Veal
Veggies:
Green Beans
Broccoli
Asparagus
Peas
Peppers
Onions
(Basically anything green)
Carbs:
Whole Wheat pasta
Whole Wheat bread
Brown rice
Sweet potatoes

Old fashioned oatmeal
Spices:
Mrs. Dash
Pepper
Crushed red pepper flakes

Cinnamon

Paprika
Toppers:
Hot Sauce
Parkay butter spray

Frank's Buffalo sauce

Mustard
Post workout:

Granola bars

Oranges

Cereal bars

Random:

Egg whites

Kraft free mayo

Dill relish

Sugar-free Fat-free pudding

Sugar-free Fat-free jello

Some sort of Protein mix (I use Body Fortress)

Skim milk

Using this shopping list you can come up with a number of different recipes.

My goal is show you some of those recipes.

The start

So I decided to start this blog to give some ideas of how a person can lose excessive weight.  I started this diet back in mid-July.  I weighed about 195 pounds give or take a pound.  I was planning to attend a wedding in mid-August and my wife wanted me to wear my dress blues.  So, I decided that I needed to drop a few pounds to try and look a little better in my uniform.

A guy I work with, Micah, lost over 100 pounds with a very strict diet and basically living in the gym.  I wasn't able to put that much effort into this, due to my wonderful family at home.  He gave me a shopping list (that will be in the next post).  I took his suggestions of meals and ran down the shopping list and came up with some pretty awesome meals.

After the first two weeks I lost about 8 pounds, then I didn't really keep track but around the two month mark I had lost around 15 pounds then at 3 months I had lost 20 pounds.  Now, after 3 and half months, I have lost about 25 pounds, I weigh about 170 pounds give or take.  I have also lost 3 inches from my waist.  I am in better shape, feel better about myself, and all of my clothes are too big.