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I am making final changes to my diet plan. I need some advise on a few things I'm doing.

629 views 5 replies 4 participants last post by  cheflayne 
There are too many questions here to answer unfortunately.  I also don't get a good sense of what your skills are in the kitchen. If you are precooking chicken breasts to last you a week then yes, they will be very very dry.  

It's difficult to talk about "healthy" recipes or ingredients because as cooks and chefs our idea of healthy is probably different than yours.  Pesto for example I consider to be a very healthy thing.  I don't buy it in a jar, I make it myself of course and if you did the same thing then you'd be able to control the amount of olive oil/cheese/nuts you put in it.  You can also make pesto with mint instead of basil.   

When I lighten up my cooking it causes me to cook less and cook fresh rather than cook ahead of time.  I spend a lot of time every day washing lettuce and chopping vegetables for my daily salad.  A salad is great because you can load it with anything you want, vegetables (raw or roasted), grilled chicken or shrimp, beans, corn, tofu, egg, the possibilities are endless. I keep frozen vegetables such as peas and corn to add to pasta and rice dishes.  I keep a bowlful of chopped veggies for the whole family so that we can grab a quick snack of hummus and vegetables - carrots, peppers and cauliflower are our favorite raw veggies for dipping.  

Canned tuna fish is an incredible source of protein, I eat it once a week either in a sandwich or with a salad (nicoise).  Frozen shrimp are very easy to work with and I always have some in my freezer.  They thaw quickly and cook quickly too and I can put them in pasta dishes or omelets or most often I use them to top my salads.

Eggs are the best source of protein.  I keep hard boiled eggs on hand and they make a great quick breakfast or snack.  I also make lots of veggie filled omelets.

Warm potato salad is one of my favorite side dishes.  Cut red potatoes into quarters and steam until cooked.  Then toss with a little olive oil, salt/pepper and fresh herbs.  

You want to keep lots of herbs and spices on hand.  Dried chili flakes, oregano, thyme, curry powders, rosemary, fresh parsley and mint and basil all help liven up any dish.
 
Precooking things is great for casseroles, soups, stews etc. But if you want to precook chicken then you will have to get used to dry chicken without complaining about it /img/vbsmilies/smilies/licklips.gif Same thing with beef.
 
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