I am browsing through a stack of my wife’s magazines that I have sitting next to me, looking for some great, easy and inspiring recipes. Ideally I am looking for items that are easy to portion out as 4 oz (112 grams) of meat and a bunch of vegetables. Finding whole meals that include the veggies or veggie side dishes really is the hard part by the way. I have grown a taste for vegetables now, but I really had a hard time with them when I was young and quite large. That said, most vegetable dishes that I see in magazines still make me feel nauseated (Why is it chefs have to be so creative with questionable ingredients… I hate eggplant).
In any case, I have come across the best collection of recipes in one article that I have ever seen. These are generally great meat items with a fantastic vegetable side: 20 minute meals The recipes are from the magazine Real Simple. I was very impressed with this magazine by the way. Sure, it contains a whole host of subjects that are specifically for the person who runs the household (assuming someone does in your house), but still, the recipes are generally very healthy. You can browse all of the recipes on the website here, or you can tell the website what your main ingredient is, how you are going to cook it and how long you have and it will tell you all of the recipes that it has for you here.
For portions, I generally assume that a half a chicken breast is 4 oz. As well, 1 regular sized pork chop is one portion, or you can have 2 fast fry pork chops. I normally buy 8oz steaks and cut them in half for a portion. Remember how big that appears and you can automatically determine your own portion sizes for everything. You can get very used to how much meat you should be eating. As for vegetables, go to town. Eat as much as you want. I tend to have 2 vegetable side dishes with my meals, one cooked with my meal, and one from a can or out of the freezer (canned corn, or a frozen vegetable mix). The vegetable side dishes in the 20 meals at Real Simple look great and worth trying. You never know if you are going to like them and seriously, every vegetable side dish you find that you actually like, will increase your chances of losing weight and getting fit dramatically.
My favorite recipes from this article are:
Chicken with grilled peaches and arugula (you could switch the arugula with any salad)
Grilled Pork Chops with Maple Syrup Sweet Potatoes (but skip the sweet potatoes, I thought they were grilled peppers in the picture and that got my mouth watering, so no sweet potatoes, grill up some peppers that have been marinated in olive oil and balsamic vinegar).
Grilled Salmon with Cucumber and Celery Salad (or swap in a greek salad).
Chicken Kebabs with Grilled Corn and Tomato Salad
Seared Lamb with White Bean and Mint Salad (not so sure what I think of the White Bean Salad, but it would definitely be worth a try).
