Weight loss efforts

Gail and I are, as of this morning, back on Weight Watchers. So if any of you have any really good, simple, low-fat & moderate calorie dishes to share, I'm all ears. My previous repertoire of WW-friendly dishes got stuck in a rut of repetition and boredom last time, and something new would be welcomed. All my cookbooks except for the Julia Child set are boxed up in storage, where they will remain for the moment.

Robert, Hi.....

One hates to be a spoil sport but for low calory how about tournedos Rossini - artichoke hearts poached in butter,topped by a tournedo ofbeef, that topped with a generous slice of goose liver and over all a fine demi-glace sauce. And, if you care to do it a la Alain Ducasse, the goose liver topped with crisply fried bacon. Probably about six million calories per person and to the devil with Weight Watchers.

Best
Rogov

Good for you Robert. I know a lot of people have had success with WW.
Here's a healthy, but very tasty recipe. Just omit the cheese. You won't miss it.
The only changes I make to it is shredding the chicken breasts vs. chopping them. Also, run my immersion blender though it a bit (leaving some beans whole). I think both changes make for a nicer, creamier texture.

(RCP) White Chili

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 onions, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
4 cooked, boneless chicken breast half, chopped
3 (14.5 ounce) cans chicken broth
2 (4 ounce) cans canned green chile peppers, chopped
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 1/2 teaspoons cayenne pepper
5 (14.5 ounce) cans great Northern beans, undrained
1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese

Directions:
1. Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onions and garlic and saute for 10 minutes, or until onions are tender. Add the chicken, chicken broth, green chile peppers, cumin, oregano and cayenne pepper and bring to a boil.
2. Reduce heat to low and add the beans. Simmer for 20 to 30 minutes, or until heated thoroughly. Pour into individual bowls and top with the cheese.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © 2010 Allrecipes.com

Matilda's Chicken Marengo Illegitimus

Slice up a quantity of chicken breast fillet into small pieces. Brown these quickly in a hot pan; use some of that spray-on olive oil spray, or else splash some olive oil on a paper towel and wipe it over the heated pan if you want to keep the oil content down. Remove the chicken, wipe on some more oil, and sautee a sliced onion and a clove or two of garlic. Remove these too, add another wipe of oil, sautee some sliced mushrooms. Place all of these in a casserole dish with 2 cups chopped canned tomatoes (or equivalent fresh-cooked tomatoes), a bay leaf, maybe some thyme or rosemary, a splash of white wine if you like, and cook ... no idea how long, I judge it by looking at it ... about 3/4 hour maybe. Fifteen minutes before it's ready, adjust the seasoning (black pepper, or chili pepper, or paprika; some chopped parsley). Eat it with steamed greens, or salad, and maybe some rice (you're allowed half a cup?), or maybe a small steamed or jacket-baked potato.

Cut the sugar and high fructose corn syrup (read labels, it's in everything processed). Eat high quality fats and don't fret much about the quantity. The "fat" thing is all shuck and jive and is causing lots of weight gain and sickness.

Agreed with Chef. More than that, and with no humor intended, a fine way to diet is to eat whatever you want but to eat only 1/3 to 1/2 of the portion placed in front of you.

Best
Rogov

while I was living in Japan - my wife and kids would go back to the US for the summer and I would "bach" it for a few weeks. Was my annual weight loss drill drill..and it worked

couple of things.....first, invest in a bamboo steamer and a rice maker (machine)

I woul often come home at night and steam veggies and chicken in the bamboo steam r(or fish) - just a touch of lemon juice or soy sauce

Second - I would often make brown rice and then re-use it....would stir fry firm tofu, then add in brown rice and maybe some leftover steamed broccoli, a little soy sauce or sriraka sauce....can be eaten for breakfast lunch or dinner

Yup, what the last three said, limit white flour foods and include some aerobic exersize. I think those suggestions are much better, cheaper, and will produce better results than WW.

DRew

Those are all good suggestions. The benefit of the WW regime, moreso for Gail than for me, is that it helps with the discipline more than anything else. And WW these days is more flexible in what doos you get to eat, plus it gives you a means to convert one's own recipes into a WW-points value for use under their system. My issue is that I tend to repeat the same dishes to the point that they become boring and less appealing over time, and thus the bad habits have an opening to creep back in. Hence the request for new ideas.

One that I am going to try this week is Dale Williams' balsamic glazed brussels sprouts recipe (from the bs thread of recent weeks - and no, I'm NOT referring to the bovine by-product!).

Good for you Robert. I know a lot of people have had success with WW.
Here's a healthy, but very tasty recipe. Just omit the cheese. You won't miss it.
The only changes I make to it is shredding the chicken breasts vs. chopping them. Also, run my immersion blender though it a bit (leaving some beans whole). I think both changes make for a nicer, creamier texture.

White Chili

...........

This ought to be interesting.....Buck being such a chili purist.....first, the recipe calls for beans.....second, its white!!!

I can't speak to the shuck and jive part but certainly the first half of Chef's post is dead-on: watch the sugar. My partner does WW and we are eagle-eyes on all package goods. I marvel some days at the insane places that corn syrup appears (e.g., canned pureed tomatoes?).

And it's not just the Wicked HFCS Witch. Anything that drives the body to produce insulin is going to create an opportunity for fat to form in your flesh.

Good for you Robert. I know a lot of people have had success with WW.
Here's a healthy, but very tasty recipe. Just omit the cheese. You won't miss it.
The only changes I make to it is shredding the chicken breasts vs. chopping them. Also, run my immersion blender though it a bit (leaving some beans whole). I think both changes make for a nicer, creamier texture.

White Chili

...........

This ought to be interesting.....Buck being such a chili purist.....first, the recipe calls for beans.....second, its white!!!

Actually the no-beans chili purist is Cowboy. I happen to like beans in my chili.

Good for you Robert. I know a lot of people have had success with WW.
Here's a healthy, but very tasty recipe. Just omit the cheese. You won't miss it.
The only changes I make to it is shredding the chicken breasts vs. chopping them. Also, run my immersion blender though it a bit (leaving some beans whole). I think both changes make for a nicer, creamier texture.

White Chili

...........

This ought to be interesting.....Buck being such a chili purist.....first, the recipe calls for beans.....second, its white!!!

Actually the no-beans chili purist is Cowboy. I happen to like beans in my chili.

My bad....and you like white chili as well?

I've still got to be convinced that a chili that isn't red still can be called chili with a straight face, but I'm willing to give it a chance.

I've still got to be convinced that a chili that isn't red still can be called chili with a straight face, but I'm willing to give it a chance.

Okay, call it Chicken and White Bean Stew.
Everyone who's had it loves it.

Cut the sugar and high fructose corn syrup (read labels, it's in everything processed). Eat high quality fats and don't fret much about the quantity. The "fat" thing is all shuck and jive and is causing lots of weight gain and sickness.

Like Daniel, I agree with Chef, too. I don't worry about fats, just carbohydrates and I've lost 10 pounds since September and 40 over the past three years. They do now make low carb burrito shells now which has reopened burritos as a dinner choice for me.

[Jenise]

Like Daniel, I agree with Chef, too. I don't worry about fats, just carbohydrates and I've lost 10 pounds since September and 40 over the past three years. They do now make low carb burrito shells now which has reopened burritos as a dinner choice for me.

It works! Bob and I each lost about ten pounds during our year of incarceration, in spite of drinking a bit more wine than we did before (so few other ways to entertain ourselves), no doubt due to decreased carb consumption given the difficulty of preparing that kind of food.

I got a little creative tonight. I cooked two 8-oz bison burgers on the Foreman grill, with a few shakes of a garlic & herb seasoning mix (salt free). The side was where I experimented. I sauteed a thinly-sliced fennel bulb (with tops also) in 4 tsp of EVOO until the leaves were wilted, maybe 4 or 5 minutes, added 1/2 cup of Emeril's fat-free chicken stock and a couple of grinds of sea salt, let it simmer until the stock was almost evaporated (about 2 or 3 more minutes), then mixed in 2 cups of cooked basmati rice left over from last night's supper. When the rice was hot, it was ready. Turned out to be quite tasty, but Gail has asked me to 'leave' the leafy part out next time, and save it for a salad, and the texture disagreed with her.

As for the Foreman grill, I know it has shortcomings, but for certain things it works well for me. It's like a microwave, ya gotta know and accept it's limitations, and everything will be fine.

Like Daniel, I agree with Chef, too. I don't worry about fats, just carbohydrates and I've lost 10 pounds since September and 40 over the past three years. They do now make low carb burrito shells now which has reopened burritos as a dinner choice for me.

It works! Bob and I each lost about ten pounds during our year of incarceration, in spite of drinking a bit more wine than we did before (so few other ways to entertain ourselves), no doubt due to decreased carb consumption given the difficulty of preparing that kind of food.

Damn, when I was teaching culinary arts in the jail in Tennessee they didn't allow me to bring wine into the facility. You must have been in a high tone jail.

What Chef said about high fructose corn syrup and excessively sweet processed foods.

Other tips for losing weight:

Avoid eating out. When you're presented with an overly large portion at a restaurant, the impulse is to try to eat it all.

Cut down on booze. Alcohol has two bad effects on weight management: (1) it gets metabolized directly to acetyl-CoA, which is the direct precursor to storage fat, and (2) it numbs will-power and and inflames the appetite, both of which effects will tend to make you consume more.

Eat slowly. In our modern, hurried society we wolf down our food, and in the process we tend to consume more than we would if we take the time to fully chew and savor each mouthful before swallowing. Taking more time will tend to stimulate the satisfaction reflex sooner than if you wolf down your food.

Exercise. It burns calories directly. It promotes increased muscle mass, which burns more calories even when you are at rest. It reduces stress.

Cut out carbohydrates, including starch but most especially refined sugars. Eat more protein.

And ultimately it's going to come down to pure mathematics: you need to cut down on caloric intake and increase caloric expenditure.

Good luck. Being successful takes willpower and dedication, and a permanent change in lifestyle.

-Paul W.

Reduce carbs, particularly those with high GI index. I drink booze in the form of red wine and liquor and the pounds still peeled off.