Today’s episode covers all the vegetables I ate while losing weight. I share tips on where to get them from grocery stores like Aldi, Fresh Thyme, Pick n Save/Kroger and more. I also cover recipe ideas and how I used them to make filling flavorful food.
Thanks for listening! Feel free to reach out at links below
Today’s episode covers all the vegetables I ate while losing weight. I share tips on where to get them from grocery stores like Aldi, Fresh Thyme, Pick n Save/Kroger and more. I also cover recipe ideas and how I used them to make filling flavorful food.
Thanks for listening! Feel free to reach out at links below
Hi I'm Thomas welcome to the parachute advice. My life has taken a lot of twists and turns and on this podcast I will dive into those. The goal is to help everyone listening learn from my experiences and hopefully avoid some of the mistakes I've made hi welcome to today's episode of the parachute advice podcast, I'm your host Thomas today we're going to cover some of my favorite vegetables to pair with your main protein source. As I've mentioned several times and we'll keep mentioning until you're sick of hearing it. Being prepared is key to your healthy eating success this is why I also keep core items on hand at all times so that no matter the situation I can make a complete healthy meal out of just a few items around the house, core to a complete meal is not just the main dish of protein but the sides are extra things you eat with it. This is also a great way to add volume to meals while not adding a ton of calories to help keep you satiated. I love being able to use vegetables in particular to feel full longer while not overdoing it on the calories plus it's also a great way to get tons of nutrients in other forms this even includes protein too many vegetables are high in protein. Let's cover some of the key ones now for vegetables frozen spinach this is one of my go to shoes I probably have this in almost every meal or every other meal. I get it from multiple sources and in many forms, if I'm mixing it into rice I might use the 12 ounce Frozen blocks just open it and toss it into the pot with the water and then let it thaw bring it to a boil and add your rice, if you want to portion out for something like a skillet or pasta aisle by the the bags of Frozen chopped spinach this is way easier to portion out. Frozen broccoli I like this into forms as large flower rats and chopped frankly I think Kroger says the best chopped broccoli. But I've seen it in other places too this is another great filler mixed in with a starch or use a bag of broccoli florets chopped up with chicken and some Korean barbecue sauce or teriyaki sauce you have a quick stir fry, but just remember when using pre-made sauces always measure because they can be high in calories due to the sugar and fats include. Take my meal just a few weeks ago when I mixed in both spinach and chopped broccoli in a Cheesy oatmeal for a huge side dish. Frozen chopped kale mustard or collard greens are also another great option. These are like frozen spinach but they have a much more robust flavor and texture again tossed into Skillets pastas or mixed with starches I think Myers here as the best chopped frozen kale out there. There's some other brands that have chopped mustard or collard greens but Myers has the best frozen kale and I think it's reasonably priced rice cauliflower is a great way to add volume when you're cooking but I'll just tell you right now it's not rice. It's good but it's not rice a trick I will use this to add one cup of cooked rice and then two cups of rice cauliflower and you'll get the equivalent of two cups of cooked rice for about half the calories of the two cups of rice. When you're cooking rice cauliflower make sure to put it into a nonstick pan with a mist of cooking spray and really cook it hard. You want to dry it out and almost brown it a little bit so it has a better texture I'll also mix rice cauliflower with a brand called Paul mini rice together. They make a great low carb meal and more closely mimic The Taste and texture of rice Paul mini rice, and Paul mini pastas are all made from hearts of palm and have a more crunchy texture similar to rice or a carp as I mentioned they make rice spaghetti and linguine and angel hair pasta. All of the many products that I've tried have been great I get these at all these for a really really good price Trader Joe's also as a great rice cauliflower fried rice kit in the freezer section from time to time that I'll get, vegetable Melodies are also great for both stir-fries or to add to a broth to make a soup I'll often get a Ramen or miso broth look in your grocery stores ethnic or Asian section for some great box bras or just get chicken broth in mixing a bag of vegetable melody some cooked noodles or rice for a hearty soup for dinner with the vegetable mounties make sure they don't have an added sauce or added oil that will drastically increase calories as always read the label there's also some vegetable maladies, that are labeled Asian stir-fry mixes that actually have pasta already added and I'm not saying that that's a bad thing just know what you're getting so you're not surprised by the extra calories, all right Aldi dinosaur broccoli tater tot B I love these I'm like a kid at heart when it comes to these but let me tell you right now. They're not tater tots they don't taste like tater tots they never will be like tater tots but they're still really good, mr. with a little cooking spray and cooked in the air fryer they come out great this is one where I've noticed that flavor has a big impact on calories as well. I get the all these broccoli ones because they are lower calories in the sweet potato version so if you like sweet potato that's fine just know that there's a calorie difference like I said vegetable maladies are great and they even have some that have rice already mixed in as well like I mentioned earlier with the pasta, these are great with some added protein to make a quick dinner canned and fresh mushrooms. I personally don't mind can mushrooms especially when I'm going to be cooking them plus they're great because they're shelf-stable and last forever so I can stock up on them and keep them on hand quickly drain them maybe chop them and toss them into a skillet or into a soup or a side dish and they'll give you a great earthy meaty flavor with very little extra added calories. Another great mushroom option is that your local Asian market, dried shiitakes or other mushrooms are a great way to add great item to add a meaty flavor to stir-fries I love to add shredded rehydrated black fungus to Super Ramen if you've eaten out at a Chinese restaurant you've probably had black fungus it said, black almost rubbery like Noodle and many of the soups rehydrated toss that in it's great I love the texture the flavor and the added filler. Frozen chopped onions green bell peppers or meal starter kits like a blend of bell pepper and onions are great for making dinners or adding something additional flavor to your meals. These are great way like I said to add flavor add volume without a ton of calories and because they're frozen they last forever so you don't have to worry about using up fresh items in your fridge. Can tomatoes like diced fire roasted or Italian seasoned are nice for stews soups or rice bakes in the oven. Just make sure they don't have added sugar fats or other things that can up the calories. Cannon pickled beets are an acquired taste but when I love beets can be high in natural sugar so watch the calories in General but they're nice change of pace is a vegetable side or even frankly as a snack. Baby potatoes are an easy side dish I like to cut them in half and place them cut side down on a cookie sheet with about a tablespoon of fat like butter or bacon fat that I've saved for making bacon roast them at 400 degrees Fahrenheit until they're cooked through with a crispy bottom and a soft creamy interior sprinkle them with some kosher salt and they're. Canned whole potatoes is something I discovered when I bought my air fryer cooked in an air fryer they are great, what I really love is because of the fact that they are cooked in the can the salt that they use to preserve them gets all the way through the potato so they don't even need seasoning, you can simply cut them into wedges miss them a little non cook nonstick cooking spray and maybe a Sprinkle of seasoning like barbecue spice and Chris them in the airfryer and they'll come out great they'll be crispy on the outside and creamy in the middle, sauerkraut is another simple side dish with some chicken sausages if you get fresh sauerkraut or refrigerated sauerkraut and don't cook it it can be a great source of probiotics. Kimchi where do I start with kimchi I could eat this every day, it's great just on its own as a side dish or mixing two things I will go to I will often drive to h mark 2 hours away to get my kimchi because I think they have the best selection and the best quality. A great use for kimchi is in kimchi fried rice you can Google a ton of recipes on how to make this but my fast go-to method is in a large nonstick pan at 325 grams of vegetable oil, heat till smoking tossed in toss and leftover white rice and then cook till Brown to bed. You could mix in instead of leftover white rice you could use Palm in here just don't use cauliflower fried rice. Or cauliflower for this dish because you already are getting a lot of cabbage from the kimchi. Then you add the chopped kimchi other vegetables of choice and then maybe top it with two poached eggs or sunny side up eggs a little bit of fear cocky, or chop seaweed and you're good to go if you have space in your daily calories measure out some low-fat male to top it as well, this is a great place to add a little bit of fat in your diet with the use of mail and it adds a creamy texture to the to the kimchi fried rice as well as additional flavor, finally like I mentioned several times I keep very few fresh vegetables on hand mainly because I live alone and they just don't get used fast enough. Three items I do like to keep on hand as fresh vegetables and work well together in multiple ways is onions tomatoes and cucumbers. Cucumbers for a great low calorie snack or filler with your meal I love sliced cucumbers with a little nature seasoning or everything bagel seasoning and I'll top it with maybe a little bit of mustard or sharat sir sauce tomatoes sliced with some salt and pepper a great snack as well. Onions are used a lot for my sandwiches or Justin cookie same with both cucumbers and tomatoes think about how filling a sandwich can be with a slice of tomato onion and cucumber. Like I mentioned several times for me these are so low calorie and now that I'm on maintenance I just treat them as a freebie item and don't even track them. But if you are eating right up to your daily calorie count or your early in the process I would make sure to measure and log your onions tomatoes and cucumbers just to be safe. Finally another Grace you great usage for me is in a salad, chop some onion cucumber tomato some fresh herbs make a little dressing out of let's say, soy sauce maybe a little bit of oil toss in a protein or carbon your choice and you have a great well-rounded filling meal this is a great place to use a grilled chicken breast or some cooked shrimp or maybe even some cooked quinoa or farro, also I'll pick up zucchini eggplant and squash to roast in the airfryer I like to do a huge batch of this on Sundays and then portion up for use throughout the whole week another thing that's great in the airfryer is frozen Brussels spouts, what I'll do is I'll throw them in the microwave dry them off miss them a little bit of cooking spray and roast them at the tie is setting in my air fryer until they get a crispy outside I'll also do the same thing with frozen Petit whole white onions, while not exactly the same they will with with the right seasoning almost mimic a Bloomin Onion from Outback like I said miss them with a little bit of cooking spray. Tossing them at toss them in like a seasoning salt and roast them until they're brown and crispy on the outside for both of these like I've mentioned I like the pre thaw them in the microwave and Pat them dry so that they Brown faster and get crispy on the outside, another great option is spring mix lettuce there's so many options you can do with this from a simple side salad. Or two topping it with canned tuna imitation crab salad one great option for a salad as a side to an egg bake. Check out some of the examples I post on Instagram where I've made a large egg bake and served it with a nice side salad. I also just take salad almost every day to work for lunch because I like to save my calories for later in the day. I personally get my salad from all these their salad is organic price reasonably and usually has the longest shelf life of any side out there. You can go on a Sunday and buy a tub of lettuce which will make five meals that's good for seven to ten days if you store it right in your refrigerator. So what I'll do is I'll portion out on Sundays my five containers with salad dressing for the week to take as lunches also don't forget canned vegetables as well, these are another great option to just warm up and eat as a side dish or add to a dish I tend to stick to Frozen only because I find them less watery but canned works well to side note rarely discussed about Frozen and canned vegetables. Is that they're usually actually picked at the peak ripeness since they won't travel well there are immediately Frozen or canned so if handled correctly can't taste better than quote fresh produce. Also don't be afraid to venture out on the vegetable front look at things while you're at your local Asian market or store like an H Mart. They will often have great selections at a reasonable price. For example take baby bok choy I love using that multiple ways cut in half and steam it serve it hot or cold with a simple sauce of soy sauce black vinegar and rice wine vinegar or and a bit of garlic and ginger. You can even thicken that mix with a little bit of xanthan gum so you're not adding calories but it sticks better or use cornstarch another thing I'll do is cut the baby bok choy in half place it cut side down in a pan with a little bit of cooking spray and brown them. If you like them cook more first steam them before you brown them. Recently I discovered bitter melon at the Asian market this is definitely an acquired taste but it makes a great unique side dish, I cut it in half and remove the seeds and then slice it in a Halfmoon shapes then saute it with a bit of oil chili flakes garlic and ginger season with salt and pepper and serve one great thing about bitter melon is because of how strong the bitter flavor is it goes great with something that's a little bit richer like a fattier protein. You can also do things like braised cabbage this is a great filling side dish I'll slice my cabbage. Added to a Crock-Pot with a flavored liquid like broth and some vinegar and cook till soft and then thicken with a bit of cornstarch I hope these have given you some great ideas for cooking there's a lot more where this came from and I'll share more in the future as well as remember you can always check out my Instagram page parachute advice on Instagram, for great cooking ideas just remember eating on a diet doesn't have to be boring or light on flavor or volume. Both can be accomplished while still sticking to your plan thank you for listening please join me again for future episodes. You can contact me at parachute advice podcast at gmail.com again that's all one word parachute advice podcast at gmail.com. You can also follow me on Instagram at parachute advice again thank you for listening and please like And subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Music.