Fish, Vegetable, & Grain Dinners
For many Americans, lean meals means popping a petite 300 calorie, 6-ounce entree into the microwave oven. I can’t help but wonder, reviewing the negative online ratings for many of these entrees, how companies can continue to sell them. Have millions of Americans sacrificed quality and quanity for convenience? Apparently the answer is yes.
The irony is with a little extra effort you can prepare healthy meals, like the one pictured, providing twice as much food for about the same number of calories. What’s the secret. Actually there isn’t any. But, here are a few tips.
1. Load up on vegetables. This dinner has about 6-ounces of broccoli providing about 40 calories without oil and cheese. The oil and cheese add about 80 calories.
2. Substitute lean fish or poultry for beef and pork. Five ounces of lean fish has about 100 calories. To save calories, broil or fan-fry foods versus deep frying which added breading or batter and over 100 calories of fat.
3. Go easy on grains. Grains aren’t bad, but should be eaten in moderation. The three-quarter cup serving of rice (100 g) has about 120 calories. About the same number of calories as a slice of bread.
Total calories for this meal is about 360 for 14-ounce (400 g) of food. That is 14-ounces versus 6-ounces for many frozen entree. Over twice as much food for about the same number of calories!
You can substitute 4-ounces (113 g) of skinless chicken breast which has about 125 calories.
Any vegetable or combination of vegetables can be substituted for broccoli.
High protein quinoa can be substituted for the rice or an ounce of pasta tossed with olive oil and cheese.
Any or all of these substitutions provide a substantial entree for about 400 calories. If your goal is a 700 calorie meal you have 300 calories or more for wine, salad and dessert. Items you must add to frozen entrees for a complete meal.
Here are links to recipes for preparing a low calorie fish dinner: