Need some low calorie, high protein, low sodium snacks, and meal Recipes

[Mizmelzy]

I am looking for some recipes that are low sodium, low calorie, and high protein recipes. Preferably something I can make in large quantities and then partition them off into meals for during the week.  Makes very quick meals so that I have time to hit the treadmill in the evening and get to bed at a decent time.

But last doctors visit my blood pressure was high normal and I now have to watch my sodium intake too. Yay.  

Thanks!

Mel

[DonnaR57]

I feel your "pain" -- I too have to watch my sodium intake. Do you have a slow cooker (i.e. Crock Pot)? I just made a high protein, low carb, low sodium meal in it today, called "Succulent Steak". I served it with a vegetable and a starch, but you could eliminate the starch or put a whole grain in there of some sort. 

SUCCULENT STEAK - needs about a 4 qt slow cooker

1 to 1-1/2 lbs round steak

1 cup chopped onions (I use frozen ones for fast prep)

1 small 4-oz can mushrooms (bits & pieces or slices, your choice), drained and rinsed (to get rid of the sodium)

1/2 cup fat-free, low-sodium beef broth

2 tsp reduced sodium Worcestershire 

Layer the first three ingredients like this: onions, piece of steak, mushrooms, onions, piece of steak, mushrooms, in the slow cooker.

Mix the broth and the Worcestershire together, pour over the steak/onions/mushroom mixture in the Crock Pot. 

Cook on Low about 8 hours -- a little less if your cooker is pretty new (they cook at a slightly higher temperature than the old ones).  

Serve with no-yolk wide egg noodles, whole grain noodles, or mashed potatoes. The beef broth/Worcestershire makes a nice au jus gravy.  Also serve with a vegetable or a green side salad. 

Donna 

[Mizmelzy]

That sounds yummy! I will definitely have to try that!

Thanks!

Mel

[queen2b]

That sounds very yummy and quick!

[DonnaR57]

You also requested ideas for snacks:

1) The age-old "go-to" of celery and peanut butter. Get a brand of peanut butter that's lower in sodium. A substitute for peanut butter might be hummus, if you like that.

2) Roasted but not salted (or lightly salted) almonds, raw almonds, raw walnuts. 

3) Nutrient-dense, a little higher in calories, but good anyway: avocado. 

4) Good old Jello pudding mixes, the dry kind listed as "sugar-free, fat-free". You make it in about 2 minutes with a bowl, a whisk and 2 cups of fat-free milk. This is about 70 calories, no fat if you use fat-free milk, which makes it high in calcium. I put mine in small plastic Glad single-serving containers to toss in my lunchbox or grab from the fridge.

5) Cut up vegetables. Either spend the time prepping them yourself, or buy them that way. Baby carrots, grape tomatoes, celery sticks, cucumber slices, or whatever you like to eat raw.  Non-starchy veggies are best, but the fiber you get is important to help you feel full and not want to binge on the fattening stuff.

6) FRUIT.  It's the start of the best season for fruit.  This will get you a taste for sweet without the heavy load of calories. I love berries, peaches, cantaloupe, watermelon, apples and bananas.  There's a thread in here about how much fruit is too much, which I've read, but the only problems I've ever had with fruits is frequent trips to the bathroom due to the water content of melon.

7) Popcorn, air-popped, or the kind you pop at home where you can control the amount of oil. You can also control the amount of salt and butter in the kind you make with an air popper or in an electric popcorn maker at home. The stuff in bags has an ingredient to simulate butter that is somewhat toxic, so I only eat those when I'm traveling, then I can stick one or two in a suitcase. I'll choose "smart pop", 100 calorie bags. 

Those are my "go-to" snacks.  

Donna 

[DonnaR57]

Another one of my "go-to" recipes. For this one, you need some cut up chicken, turkey or beef, a big bag of frozen vegetables that are already cut up, a little bit of EV olive oil or canola oil, reduced-sodium soy sauce, and make your favorite type of rice as a side.  You'll also need a wok or at least a decent sized fry pan.  

The kind of veggies I buy are in a 16 oz bag. I'll either buy the "California blend", "stir fry blend", a mixture of broccoli and cauliflower, or similar  

STIR FRY

Start your rice in whatever manner you want to make it. I use a rice cooker and just go with a smaller amount of white rice since I rarely have time to cook brown rice!  

In a wok, heat up a little bit (less than a tbsp) of olive or canola oil. Add the cut up meat, and cook it very quickly, constantly stirring. Chicken should be pretty white (as should turkey), beef should be browned.  This will take about 5-7 minutes depending on the heat of your wok or your stove. Remove, put it in a bowl, sprinkle a little soy sauce over it and let it sit.

Put another small amount of oil in the bottom of the wok, and when it's hot, add the veggies. I add mine still frozen. Sprinkle with a little bit of water (you won't need much if they're frozen).  Break up any lumps of veggies. Cover and let them cook, stirring periodically, until they're heated through and hot. This could take 15-20 minutes.

Add the meat back to it and stir fry it all again together. You can keep it warm until the rice finishes.  

A little bit of rice covered by this mixture, and you have a meal with loads of leftovers that you can repackage and take for lunches. To reheat in the microwave, just heat up on "Reheat" (usually "8" setting) for about 2-1/2 minutes.  

This whole meal takes about 40 minutes to prepare, so you could make it on a Sunday evening and have meals from it during the week.  

Once you get the hang of this, you can change out the meats, the vegetables, and more. Stir fry at home is one of my more favorite meals. 

Donna 

[queen2b]

Thank you. Will definitely try.

[queen2b]

This is great Donna. Thank you

[DonnaR57]

Two more easy Crock-Pot recipes that are healthy. Serve either of these with some sort of steamed vegetable and either brown (healthier) or white (less healthy) rice, or a baked potato. 

SMOTHERED STEAK

3 - 4 qt Crock Pot works, makes 3 servings

1 lb round steak or sirloin tip steak

1 can "Healthy Request" or low-sodium Cream of Mushroom soup

1/2 tsp garlic powder (do NOT use garlic salt if you want to keep it low sodium)

1/2 tsp onion powder (do NOT use onion salt if you want to keep it low sodium)

Place the steak in the Crock Pot. Pour the Cream of Mushroom soup over it.  Sprinkle with the garlic powder and onion powder.  Cook on Low for about 6 hours. Makes a very tender steak. This can be served over rice, potatoes, or even noodles (we use "No Yolk" extra-wide egg noodles). 

"BARBECUED CHICKEN PARTS"

About a 4-6 qt Crock Pot

A bunch of chicken leg quarters, or (better yet) boneless, skinless chicken breasts and/or thighs

a small bottle of your favorite low-sodium/reduced sodium barbecue sauce

Put the chicken parts in the Crock Pot. Gently pour over some of your favorite barbecue sauce, enough to cover all of the chicken parts. Cook on Low about 8 hours.  Serve with a vegetable and some low-sodium baked beans. 

Donna 

[Mizmelzy]

All These sound so good. I do have an air popper and love to make lots of popcorn.  I can eat a whole big bowl of it, but then I'm not really low in calories.  Then I usually add a little butter flavored spray which has no calories or fat in it.   And add some salt. Unfortunately now the salt needs to be less. So I did get some popcorn flavoring that has about 5 calories  and no sodium. So that has helped.

Mel

[AZToast]

Just getting started so the above recipes are fantastic!

Other things i've found that have helped create new ideas are the Walden Farm's products. 

[DonnaR57]

I believe I have Walden Farms "maple syrup" in my cabinet, or at least I have in the past.  Read your labels carefully, though.  Another label to check that's overall pretty good is Taylor Farms, who put out a lot of good salad mixtures.   Real food!

Recipe of the day, something I concocted last night for dinner that turned out very good. I did it in a pressure cooker, but it could be adapted for a slow cooker or (for those who are a wiz with theirs) Instant Pot. 

BEEF-BROCCOLI

You need:

about a pound of "stew beef", browned, or just cut round or sirloin steak into small pieces

a bag of Green Giant Broccoli florets -- already cut up for you!

1/2 cup or so of sliced carrots - I used frozen

1/4 cup reduced-sodium soy sauce and 3/4 cup water, mixed together

a shake or two of onion powder (NOT onion salt)

Brown your stew beef.  At the bottom of whatever you decide to cook it in, put the browned stew beef and shake it with onion powder.  Put the broccoli florets and the carrots on top of it.  Pour the soy sauce & water mixture over it.

Pressure cooker: put the lid on, lock it, bring it to pressure, let it rock for 10 minutes.

Crock-Pot: put the lid on, turn it on to Low, cook it for 6 hours or so.

Instant Pot:  well, I'll let you all figure this one out, I don't have one.

You can serve this over brown rice (better for you, takes a couple of hours to cook, or use Instant Brown Rice), white or jasmine rice. We did jasmine rice. Yum.  I'm thinking it would also go pretty well with whole-grain or no-yolk noodles.

My husband loved this, and said that green peas might be a good addition, too.

Donna 

[DonnaR57]

Another recipe, fairly low sodium, low fat, low carb, good protein. Uses up chicken, so if you buy a rotisserie chicken for dinner one night, save meat from it for this meal.  Or just pan-grill a few chicken tenderloin pieces.

CHICKEN AND RICE CASSEROLE

Use a 4 or 5 qt slow cooker; I use a liner for easy clean-up!

1 cup long-grain rice, uncooked

3 cups water

2 tsp chicken bouillon granules (I use the no-sodium Herb-Ox, 2 packets)

10-3/4 oz can 98% fat-free, low-sodium cream of chicken soup

16-oz bag frozen broccoli

2 cups chopped, cooked chicken

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/4 tsp onion powder

1 cup (or so) grated fat-free cheddar cheese (or whatever fat-free cheese you like)

1.  Combine all ingredients in the slow cooker.

2.  Cook on HIGH for 3-4 hours. 

Makes 6-8 servings.

Per serving (8):

Calories 214, calories from fat 33

Total fat 4 g

Sat fat 1 g

Cholesterol 36 mg

Sodium 559 mg

Total carb 26 g

Fiber 2 g

Sugars 3 g

Protein 19 g

Note: If casserole is too runny, remove lid from slow cooker for 15 minutes but leave the cooker on HIGH.  

Donna 

[DonnaR57]

Here's another Crock-Pot recipe for busy and/or lazy cooks. This is becoming a go-to dinner for us, and you can vary it a little bit.

ITALIAN CHICKEN

3 lbs (or thereabouts) boneless, skinless chicken -- breasts or thighs work best

1 pkg Good Seasons Italian dressing mix (don't make it, though, you just use the contents of the pkg)

1 can (10-3/4 oz) Healthy Request Cream of Mushroom soup 

1 can (4 oz) mushrooms, slices or "bits and pieces", drained

8 oz either fat-free sour cream or fat-free plain yogurt

Put the chicken in the bottom of the Crock-Pot.  Sprinkle the Italian dressing mix over the chicken. Dump the contents of the can of soup on top, then the mushrooms (but make sure you drained that can first). 

Cook on Low for 6-8 hours.  About 15 minutes before serving time, grab a slotted spoon and a bowl and lift the chicken pieces out of the juices.  Stir in the sour cream or yogurt, cover, and heat it until warmed through.  

When ready to serve, put the chicken on a bed of rice, noodles, or mashed potatoes and ladle the sauce/gravy on the top. 

Note: You can use regular cream of mushroom soup, or whatever brand you like. You can make it with fresh sliced mushrooms. The first time I made it, I didn't take the chicken out like the recipe said. I just added the sour cream, stirred, and put it all over the noodles.  I serve this with a vegetable or a small salad, depending on what we have in the house.  

Calories: 340/serving (8 serving meal)

Calories from fat: 70

Total fat: 7 g

Sat fat: 2.5 g

Cholesterol: 150 mg

Sodium: 750 mg (can be lowered by rinsing the mushrooms as well as draining them, and buying as low sodium cream of mushroom soup as you can)

Total carbs: 11 g (does not include the noodles, rice or potatoes)

Fiber: 0 g

Sugars: 4 g

Protein: 55 g

Donna 

[Olive_oil]

I use some no salt herbs, ginger, tumeric, and curry. 

I'll try to add the names next post. 
It's late...need to get sleep.