Low-calorie, easy recipes?

Does anyone know of a cookbook or Web site with easy-to-make recipes that aren't too high in calories?

I've always just eaten frozen meals, and I recently got married and would like to make meals for us. My husband is the kind who can eat whatever he wants, and he fills the house with foods that I wouldn't have in the house when I lived alone because I eat way too much of them (cheese and cookies are two prime examples, and my husband buys bagfuls of them!).

So I need to start planning meals and cooking, but I don't know much about cooking. The main thing I used to make was baked chicken breasts with a side of rice, but that's about it. And chicken and meat are so expensive here that I don't buy much of it. Any ideas of how to make easy, healthy meals that don't cost a fortune?

Some of the easiest, low cost meals I do are roasts, actually. It's much more cost efficient to buy a whole chicken rather than chicken breasts, and you can get a couple meals out of one. I usually stuff mine with some lemon wedges, onion quarters, salt pepper and then just stick it in the oven. Pork is pretty affordable for roasts as well. You can steam or roast some veggies to go with the meat, and you have a pretty low-cal, easy meal.

My other low-cost, low-effort saviour is my crock pot. I have a Mexican chicken dish in there right now. Because it slow cooks, you can use tougher (cheaper) cuts of meat, and they will come out nice and tender. You can find tons of healthy crock-pot meals online.

I definitely agree with Kate's suggestions - both very good.

Do you have a means of getting a Costco card? We've just started buying chicken breasts and salmon fillets in bulk and freezing them which has cut our grocery bill by quite a bit.

We've been trying to stay off of too much pasta and rice, so I use Low GI cookbooks. I also buy Good Food and Delicious every month and force myself to try at least one new recipe every week. Even if a recipe isn't low cal, it's pretty easy to alter it a bit with low-fat versions of ingredients, etc.

Our staples are turkey burgers (or pork - mince in general isn't too terribly expensive) flavoured with things like curry paste or pesto, fish cakes with mushy peas (if you have a food processor it's pretty easy to get cheaper types of fish and make your own), and fried rice (lots and lots of veg choped into a very small dice and stir fried, add sauce - I use hoisin mixed with soy sauce and a drop of sesame oil - and a couple of scrambled eggs and mix with cooked brown rice), and meatballs in tomato sauce over couscous.

Weight Watchers cookbooks also might work well for you - they tend to be pretty easy and always low cal. I've got a Shepherd's Pie recipe that came from a little freebie WW book (from a recent Good Food) that dh LOVES.

I do a lot of grilled chicken or fish (salmon, mostly), as I don't eat red meat. The George Foreman grill is my best friend! With that, lately I've been oven-roasting yummy veg like butternut squash, etc. It makes a wonderful and very low-cal and low-fat meal.

With that, lately I've been oven-roasting yummy veg like butternut squash, etc. It makes a wonderful and very low-cal and low-fat meal.

Mmmm. If I didn't live with a meat obsessed person, I'd eat that constantly. I cut up a potato, a couple of sweet potatoes, a red pepper, and an onion, toss them in olive oil and a bit of salt and pepper and roast that for about 40 mins and then add cherry tomatoes, halved mushrooms, and courgettes for another 10 mins or so. Then I add a dollop of low-fat hummus mixed with low-fat creme fraiche and a few toasted pine nuts! I think that's my favourite dinner but dh always says "it's nice. Where's the meat?" 

I cut up a potato, a couple of sweet potatoes, a red pepper, and an onion, toss them in olive oil and a bit of salt and pepper and roast that for about 40 mins and then add cherry tomatoes, halved mushrooms, and courgettes for another 10 mins or so. Then I add a dollop of low-fat hummus mixed with low-fat creme fraiche and a few toasted pine nuts!

That sounds like heaven!! I do the same thing (minus the red pepper)!! Unfortunately, even low-fat creme fraiche is out of bounds for me at the moment. Also hummus and pine nuts. 

Have you tried roasting asparagus along with the other veg? It's delicious!! I use those great giant floppy mushrooms as well. Soooo good! Sometimes I even just stick those mushrooms on 'the George' and do them that way.

Anne-that does sound good. And my husband is the same...I'll make something without even consciously thinking that it doesn't include meat, and he'll say "this is really good for vegetarian food."

We do have a Costco card, but no car yet and with the getting settled in mayhem haven't tried to get over there yet. I do like the idea of turkey burgers a lot. There is a book on Amazon called "The Holford Diet GL counter," does anyone know if that's a good source of ideas?

I've also never cooked a whole chicken, and for some reason am a little daunted by the idea. But I should give it a go, I've got to learn to cook more meals sometime. Or else get used to eating cheese and frozen pizza every night (which my husband buys -- that and breaded chicken fingers!). Maybe if I start making good, healthy dinners he'll stop bringing in so much junk food that I can't stay away from myself once it's in the house. Though he won't give up on the cookies, so I just told him to keep them out of my sight and don't eat them in front of me!

I do a lot of grilled chicken or fish (salmon, mostly), as I don't eat red meat. The George Foreman grill is my best friend! With that, lately I've been oven-roasting yummy veg like butternut squash, etc. It makes a wonderful and very low-cal and low-fat meal.

How funny is that our George Forman grill is my Best Friend as well since joining WW.   

I've also never cooked a whole chicken, and for some reason am a little daunted by the idea.

They're really easy, not much more effort than doing chicken breasts in the oven when it comes down to it.  I agree with kate's suggestions for stuffing one. I also normally stuff a whole chicken with loads of whole clean mushrooms, onions and put loads of thyme, salt and pepper or even lemon-pepper if i have it, then bake.

After we've had one meal of just roasted chicken with veg, I'll strip what's left of the chicken from the bones and make either chicken and noodles, using leftover broth or make chicken salad.  Sometimes we've done wraps or chef-salad type things with the left over bits. Ends up being not too expensive since you get at least two good meals out of one chicken.

I've also never cooked a whole chicken, and for some reason am a little daunted by the idea.

Like KateMate and Tristessa said, cooking a whole chicken is a lot more cost-effective than buying chicken pieces, because you can get more than 1 or 2 meals out of it, plus youve got all the yummy skin and bones, etc which you can freeze to use for chicken stock / soup later!

Typically, with 1 whole medium chicken, i would do this:

Meal 1-  Give 1 breast to DH and 1 leg to me, with steamed veggies
Meal 2- cut up remaining breast & leg to use in a curry or chicken tacos or enchiladas
Meal 3- all remaining meat (wings, back, etc) gets shredded and mixed with mayonnaise as a sandwich spread
Meal 4-  all remaining skin, bones, cartilage and other yukky stuff gets bunged into a freezer bag, and saved for making chicken stock or chicken soup at a later date.

All of that for 4 or 5 quid for a basic chicken, or slightly more ££ if you buy organic or corn-fed.  Just watch when your local supermarket has specials on whole chickens!   

I've also never cooked a whole chicken, and for some reason am a little daunted by the idea.

It's much easier than it looks!

It's much easier than it looks!

A lot of chickens here don't even include the bag of gizzards, so you just open the package, drain the chicken, pop it in a pan, season it up, and toss it in the oven.  Whole chickens are very low effort to cook.

What about beans?  We buy a bag of dried beans (very cheap) and soak and cook them all at once, then freeze then in portions (about 1 1/2 cups).  We like bean/lentil stews or curries or "burritos".  I make them all pretty much the same way, just switching up the seasoning and the beans. 

I chop up an onion and some garlic, sauté it in a non-stick pan with a little bit of oil.  Add a tin of chopped tomatoes and a tin of drained and rinsed beans (or about 1 1/2 cups of pre-cooked beans).  Add whatever seasoning you want - curry powder/paste, taco seasoning, cumin and chilli powder.  I usually add a crumbled stock cube too.  We serve it thick as a filling in tortillas with lettuce, tomato, onion and cheese.  Sometimes I'll make it saucier with extra water and add other veg, like sweet potatoes or cauliflower.  Then serve it over rice or cous-cous.  It's easy, fast (<20 minutes) and cheap. 

We also tend to bulk out our meals with sides and serve small portions of meat.  We find sweet potatoes, squash, and carrots to be pretty filling.  We always have bags of frozen veg around.  Cous-cous (not too filling, but fast) is great because you don't really cook it - just cover it in boiling water and let it sit for 5 minutes.  We are also fans of bulgar (also pretty filling), which we cook in chicken stock with sautéed onions and garlic. 

But I should give it a go, I've got to learn to cook more meals sometime.

Until recently, my cooking repetoire was really limited. In the US, I worked really long hours, and would eat out a lot more since it was relatively cheap to do so. Since moving here, however, I have tried so many new recipes, and my cooking has improved really rapidly. We hardly eat out now, because we enjoy making things ourselves so much more. A lot of things which seem really daunting are a lot easier than you think. Usually I just think of something I'm craving, or see a recipe that looks good and just give it a go. Now, I'm getting to the point where I improvise a lot more, instead of strictly follow the recipe.

So don't get overwhelmed, and have a look around this board...there are a lot of good recipes and ideas.

Turkey burgers are great. We had those just the other day. We also use turkey mince for chili, and bolognese sauce. It's a healthier alternative to beef, and once again, both of those last for more than one meal. Another very easy healthy meal we will do once a week or so is make omlettes. Just pile in whatever veggies you have and you have a meal in less than 5 minutes.

I was trying to think of some other things we have on a fairly regular basis that's not too expensive.  We do a quiche at least once a week.  I've got quite a few recipes if you want any.  They are so easy, especially if you buy the ready-made pastry crust.  The filling takes only few minutes to put together and they are really filling.  Not to expensive either, depending on the ingredients you use.  Our favorite is bacon and spinach and is so yummy and easy!