Recipes

Day 60: Updated Healthy Turkey Chili

March 8, 2012 by Ben

I’m 2/3 the way through Body For Life. Man, time sure flies. A while back I did a post with a recipe for healthy turkey chili. I was at the grocery store the other day and noticed that they started carrying an even leaner cut of ground turkey – 99/1!

Last time I used 93/7 ground turkey. I had to try out the new 99/1 ground turkey, which has only 1% fat. Instead of 8g of fat per serving, it only has 1.5g of fat. On a side note, if you get the extra lean hamburger – either 96/4 or 97/3, it will have around 4 or 5g of fat. My dad made the chili with that and said it was really good. If you prefer the taste of hamburger, that is a great option as well.

So, how was the 99/1 turkey chili? Allison said she liked it even better than the first batch I made with the 93/7 meat. The leaner cut of meat was quite good. I followed the recipe the same as before, but bought 2 of the 20 oz packages of ground turkey (that’s all they came in). So, instead of 3 pounds of meat in the pot, it was 2.5. It still was plenty for the batch. 1 cup of chili went from 272 calories and just under 6.85g of fat to 208 calories and, as Barney would say…wait for it…only 1.2g of fat! And, Allison and I agree the leaner cut of meat tastes better. Winning!

Now, for some pictures of the chili.

Nutritional Information for the 99/1 Ground Turkey:

Filed Under: Body For Life, Nutrition, Recipes

Day 30: Healthy Turkey Chili

February 7, 2012 by Ben

I made a big ‘ol pot of Turkey Chili today, and it is delicious – healthy too!

I used ground turkey instead of ground beef when making this chili. It is much healthier and lower in fat than ground beef. 1 cup of the turkey chili is less than 300 calories, less than 7g of fat, contains 24g protein & 27g of carbs (good carbs from the beans). When buying Ground Turkey, you should make sure you get the lean cut (i.e. 93/7). They also carry a 85/15 and the packaging looks the same except for the fat content – so beware! I entered all of the ingredients at my favorite calorie tracking website, fatsecret.com and it gave me all of the nutritional information. Serving size is 1 cup:

This recipe yields about 16 one cup servings. Ingredients needed:

3 pounds of lean ground turkey (93/7)
3 cans of dark red kidney beans
1 can of black beans
1 large can of tomato sauce
1 onion
4 cloves of garlic
2 cups of fresh salsa

Making it is super easy:

Brown Turkey in frying pan
Dump Tomato Sauce, beans and salsa into large pot
Sautee onion and garlic together in frying pan
Drain meat, add to large pot
Add onions and garlic to large pot
Add Chili Powder to taste to large pot
Simmer for a few hours, adding water and stirring occasionally as some evaporates

Mmmmmmm. Enjoy!

Filed Under: Body For Life, Nutrition, Recipes Tagged With: chili, turkey

Day 22: Spicing Up Your Cottage Cheese

January 30, 2012 by Ben

Many nights in the evening as my last meal, I’ll eat 1/2 cup of cottage cheese and some fruit (grapes, cherries, raspberries, etc). The cottage cheese is the protein and the fruit goes for the carb. I like cottage cheese, but it can get a tad bit monotonous after eating it routinely. I’ve found that if you add a little cayenne pepper to your cottage cheese it creates a nice little spice to it and changes things up.

It adds a nice little zip to the cottage cheese. If it were my dad, he would add some Tony Chachere’s Cajun Seasoning.
I’m on day 2 of week 4 now and still going strong. I hit the gym today for a solid upper body workout. Instead of doing the free-weight bench press I did the machine fly this time for the chest. I’m trying to start mixing things up so I’m not doing the exact same routine for each muscle group every time.

The Body For Life website recommends that you’re not supposed to eat for at least 30 minutes before a workout. After a workout you should immediately consume protein. I consumed two of the 8 oz Muscle Milk Light containers when I got home. The two together were a total of 300 calories and 40g of protein. I usually don’t have that much protein after a workout, but for the upper body workout it gets pretty intense. Maybe the extra protein will help the muscles grow faster. Honestly, I’m not sure if the extra protein will do that much. I think your body can only consume so much at a time…I should probably go read up on that.

I’m still a little guy, but I can see and feel the muscles starting to grow – and that’s a nice feeling.

Filed Under: Body For Life, Nutrition, Recipes, Workouts Tagged With: food, snack

Day 19: 210 Calorie Chicken Soft Taco

January 27, 2012 by Ben

So I made a great find at HEB (my favorite grocery store down here in Texas). They have a product line of fully cooked meats that are easy to prepare. Preparation just involves microwaving. I found some cooked shredded chicken and used it to make a delicious chicken soft taco that is only 210 calories.

Ingredients:

1/3 cup HEB Fully Cooked Shredded Chicken (but if you don’t have a HEB, you could cook your own chicken and shred it)
1 Mission Carb Control Whole Wheat Tortilla
1/2 slice Tillamook Pepper Jack cheese (or 1/2 oz of your favorite cheese)

The fully cooked shredded chicken:

The Mission Whole Wheat Tortillas are very tasty. If you’re going to have a tortilla, have one of these – not the all white super enriched flour tortillas. I actually prefer these over the white:

And of course, my favorite – Tillamook Pepper Jack Cheese:

Heat up the shredded chicken in the microwave for 60 seconds. Take out and place on tortilla. Then place the half slice of cheese on top of the meat:

Then, microwave for 20 or 25 seconds to melt the cheese and heat up the tortilla. One a side note, when heating up a tortilla in the microwave, place a paper towel underneath the tortilla. It will absorb any condensation and prevent the tortilla from becomming soggy.

Mmmmm….melty yumminess. Wrap up and enjoy! Add some salsa or tabasco if you would like for a zestier taste!

Nutritional Content:

Calories	210
Protein	20.5g
Carbs	14g
Fiber	10g
Fat	8g

Filed Under: Body For Life, Nutrition, Recipes Tagged With: mexican food

Day 14: 220 Calorie Egg Whites & Cheese Breakfast Sandwich

January 22, 2012 by Ben

I kicked off week 3 on Body For Life today with a super yummy egg white and cheese breakfast sandwich.

The great thing about it is that it has only 220 calories! It is made from egg whites and is loaded with protein and low in fat. To make it, first gather up your ingredients:

3/4 cup egg whites
1 piece of wheat bread
1 slice of cheese
PAM cooking spray

The egg whites I used were All Whites Egg Whites:

The cheese I used is Tillamook Pepper Jack that I got at Costco, but any cheese will do.

The bread I used is Nature’s Own Double Fiber Wheat, which is only 50 calories per slice. I also like it because it doesn’t have any high fructose corn syrup or artificial crap like many breads do.

Pre-heat the frying pan on a medium temperature (I did 5 on my gas stove). Once the pan is warm enough to where a water drop fizzles when dropped in it, spray the pan with PAM and pour in 3/4 cup of egg whites. Scramble the eggs until they are starting to solidy, but are still moist:

Gather the eggs towards the middle of the frying pan and place the slice of cheese on top of the eggs. While holding the cheese, use the spatula to gather up any extra eggs and place them under the cheese. Repeat on all four sides until the eggs are all under the square area of the cheese.

Once all of the eggs are under the cheese, turn the heat down a little (I turned my gas stove down to 4). Put the toast in the toaster now.

About the time the toast pops up, the eggs should be just right, having molded together into form with the cheese melted over the top of them. Gently run the spatula under each side to ensure that none of it is sticking to the pan.

Grab your toast

And plop the eggs and cheese down on top of it. It should fit perfectly. Enjoy!