# Cooking Healthy Meals- Research Help Required!



## Zhizara (Oct 23, 2010)

I feel like I actually eat pretty healthy.  A dinner of Spanish rice for instance.  I use rice I've cooked (rarely instant), a can of diced stewed tomatoes, a handful of frozen mixed vegetables (cooked with the rice) and add about 1/2 pound of browned and drained onion with hamburger.  No unhealthy additives there.

I'm interested in your frying pan ideas and would like to add a couple for your consideration.  Lately, I've found that most frying pans have a heavy handle bracket.  The result of this is that the pan doesn't sit completely flat on the burner and doesn't heat evenly.  A good pan should also be able to be used in the oven for browning.  

I like to make a pan of hash browns by packing the bottom of the pan with frozen hash brown shreds mixed with precooked onion and seasonings.  I brown the bottom on the stove top, then put it under the broiler long enough to brown the top.

It doesn't stay under the broiler long enough to hurt the bakelite handle.  This is also true when making a kitchen sink omelet (Everything but the kitchen sink)  When the bottom has set, I add the cheese on top and then put it under the broiler long enough to melt the cheese, and the omelet puffs up really nice.  Again not long enough under the broiler to hurt the bakelite.

Back to your question about healthy eating, I do eat unhealthy things sometimes, but I don't make it a habit.  I treat myself occasionally, or a neighbor may bring over a loaded dessert.  I don't feel I need to deprive myself as long as I keep it occasional.


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## Fabiabi (Oct 26, 2010)

This pan idea is really simple, and totally healthy.
Use a small amount of olive oil to fry onions, garlic, mushrooms, pepper and tomatoes.
Add a tin of kidney beans and tomatoes.  Simmer and serve with wholegrain rice.
A very healthy simple veggie chilli.


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## Frenchys (Dec 11, 2010)

I can tell taht diets like mediteraneen or norse ones are really good, for my case, i lost 15kg... only but eating mediteraneen stuff and nothing else 

The is also the Scandinavian Diet wich is realy good for morale too (see my website)


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## babetoo (Dec 11, 2010)

as long as you keep to some rules , you will be fine. lean protein, a red or yellow veg. and a green one. keep baked goods to a minimum. also candy , etc. a small bite for a treat and that is all. add in a couple fruits and you are good to go.


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## Kathleen (Dec 11, 2010)

babetoo said:


> as long as you keep to some rules , you will be fine. lean protein, a red or yellow veg. and a green one. keep baked goods to a minimum. also candy , etc. a small bite for a treat and that is all. add in a couple fruits and you are good to go.



Maybe this will sound silly, but I've been trying to eat one serving of each color in the veggie/fruit color wheel.  Something white/tan, red/orange, orange/yellow, purple/blue, green, every single day.  Today, my meals had shallots, mushrooms, beets, oranges, and for dessert, there are purple/black berries in the pie.  I need something green....maybe I will have a bit of celery while watching a movie. (Hmm...would sauerkraut count?)  I find I'm less hungry and am wearing a pair of denims today that I've not worn in at least 4 years.   

When eating Mediterranean food, it is so easy to get all of the colors in!  The village salad with feta, cucumber, tomato, red onion, and black olives with a bit of balsamic vinaigrette is just yummy!  

~Kathleen


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## babetoo (Dec 11, 2010)

sounds like a plan, kathleen. and good for you on the jeans. i have put back some of the weight i lost this past year, while being so sick all the time. some is good but gotta watch it now. will follow some of the guide lines you mentioned.


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## Claire (Dec 11, 2010)

Kathleen, that is how my mother taught me, and I'm still convinced it is right.  The more color on the plate, the more balanced nutrition for your body.  We eat in a very healthy manner, but we still eat too much!  That said, Mom taught me to put as much color on the plate as possible.  She also taught me that the darker the color, the more nutrition.  In other words, a dark green leaf has more nutrition than a light green one.  White potatoes have less nutrition than red.  At the time I just took it as her word, then I learned the same stuff in home ec.  But, over the years, I think Mom was right, and I stay by her.  There are many exceptions to every rule, but going by color can't hurt you, in my opinion.


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## Kathleen (Dec 11, 2010)

I love the challenge of it.  I think I have been eating much more healthy foods since I have done it.  Once, after a few days of 'no time to really eat right', I picked up ingredients for a stew that had EVERY color in the rainbow in it.  It was delicious and I felt good making it.


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## CookLikeJulia (Dec 12, 2010)

I somehow,   aware of my diet. Sometimes, I lost control of eating fatty unhealthy food but, often we do eat healthy food like the one KA mentioned. Different kinds of color means a lot of nutrients packed in the meal. I'm starting to gaining my control on diet about 2 months ago and still going straight with my diet.


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