Great food finds with reasonable calorie counts

Hi! I just wanted to share a few great food finds. Most of my diet consists of fruits, vegs, whole grains, meat subs but it's nice to have a few packaged items to add in. I hope other people can share as well:

Ragu or Prego marinara sauce have no corn syrup or sugar as do most of the Classico brands. Some are as few as 50 calories per 1/2 cup serving.

Edy's Loaded frozen dessert: LOADED is right. It does contain sugar but is primarily made with skim milk and only has 110-130 calories per 1/2 cup serving (less than some "lite" ice creams)

Smart Balance light margarine: 45 calories per tbsp, good taste, no trans fats

Morningstar Farms mushroom veggie burger:110 calories, and good

Boca Original veggie burger: not bad for 70 calories

White cheddar rice cakes: great with a slice of ff cheese=snack for under 100 calories

Morningstar farms veggie chicken or "steak" strips: a great low-cal meal mixed with generous helping of steamed or pan-spray cooked veggies like mushrooms, onions, peppers, yellow squash, etc

Egg beaters: 30 calories per serving, great mixed with lots of veggies for a filling breakfast omelet

whole wheat pita bread: 100 calories as compared to 100 calories per slice of whole wheat bread. Great filled with any sandwich ingredients

Well's Blue Bunny fudge lites: 35 calories each, almost no fat, no sugar. A great way to beat a chocolate craving

Wed. Sep 12, 9:30pm

thank you, great ideas!

Wednesday, September 12, 2007, 9:44 PM

La Tortilla Factory Low Carb wraps - 80 cal for a burrito-sized wrap, tastes good, isn't all floury, doesn't dry out, has 10 g of fiber (that'll keep ya full) and makes a heck of a meal when filled with lean protein and chopped veggies topped with a splash of lite vinegarette. Have a piece of fruit on the side and you can have a lot of food and still keep it under 300 calories.

Thursday, September 13, 2007, 1:37 AM

^^ for neglible calories add some chopped cucumber (my grocery store sells little crunchy pickling cucumbers that are a perfect single serving) and red onion to those grape tomatoes and have a lite greek/italian salad :-) Very refreshing on a warm day!

Love threads like this - I get so many new ideas!

Thursday, September 13, 2007, 4:09 PM

I'm loving the new (to me) Bumble Bee Sensations tuna and cracker packs. They come in Lemon Pepper, Spicy Thai, and Sundried Tomato. It's about 200 calories, not to bad on the sodium front, and they're pretty good! I'll have one of those and a piece of fruit and call it a lunch.

Thursday, September 13, 2007, 7:05 PM

You can try the grape tomato dish listed above and add olives and red onion. I skip the salt because of the olives and I don't use oil. But it is really good.

I love the hot pickled veggies. They have cauliflower, celery, red pepper and carrot oh and pepperchini. Just a few pieces, it is a burst of flavor. and like 5 calories.

Jello with yogurt and fruit.
Take 1/4 cup cold water and sprinkle a large size jello over it. Let it sit while you boil 2 cups of water. (The jello softens and swells and easily melts in the hot water then.) Add hot water. Stir until dissolved. Add a 6 or 8 oz container of fat free/sugar free yogurt the same flavor as the jello, or vanilla. I use yoplait light. mix with a whisk, it is easier to get it to blend. Add the fruit of your choice and mix well.
Depending on what you choose it will drastically change the calorie amount. If Strawberry it is only 5 cal per strawberry. But a ring of canned pineapple is 30 cal. So choose accordingly.
Depending on how wet your fruit is you may add up to 1/2 cup more water. You may not add any. It makes about 3 and a half cups maybe 4 cups. When I make it, it is usually 200 cal for the whole thing. And tastes great.
You can also use fat free cottage cheese instead of yogurt.

Pickled asparagus- have you ever tried it?
take a slice of Deli ham and spread fat free philly cream cheese on it. Then put a piece of pickled asparagus on it and roll it up. Cut into 4 pieces. About 30 cal for the 4 pieces.
You can use dill picle instead but pickled asparagus is amazing.

I put this on another thread but maybe you didn't see it
frozen yogurt.
Take a yoplait light and put it in the freezer about 1 1/2 hours before you want it. Experament with the time, freezers are different. It is so yummy and creamy yet mostly frozen. And a perfect single serving.

For a slushy I use capri sun roarin waters, freeze for a couple of hours and then squeeze it until there are no large lumps. cut off the top or a corner and you have a slushy. 35 cal Takes me about a half hour to eat.

Zucchini is my new wonder food. I put it in everything. diced, "Fried" with pam. In a dish or all by itself. It is amazing. You want them small enough that the skin is tender so you can eat it. the big ones people are always trying to give away aren't much good except for zucchini relish. My oppinion.

Spagetti squash. Excellent as a squash and instead of noodles in a spagetti.

I can't believe it's not butter spay and fat free Philly cream cheese, couldn't have such a flavorful diet without them.

Whenever I make anything with meat in it I use maybe 1/4 of the meat that I would have and add veggies to fill in.
For instance: Last night I made enchiladas. I used 1 ground chicken breast, 2 carrots diced or grated, 2 zucchini diced, 2 onions diced, 2 large celery stalks diced, a can of diced tomatoes (could used stewed you just have to cut it up. and a packet of enchilada seasoning.
When I finished with it, It was about 700 cal including the tomato sauce in the pan. Everything included the enchiladas were 165 cal each and it made 14 enchiladas using 6 inch tortillas and 2 heaping Tbls of filling each. 2 oz cheese over the top of it all.
It was amazing.
I use veggies that way all the time, Meat balls, tacos, fajitas, Lasagna... You name it.
I love my diet.

If you are using pasta try the whole wheat or whole grain. I was shocked that it taste great and is better for you. And will fill you up more.

I love creamy salad dressing. But the calories.. So I take a Tbls of the salad dressing and add a Tablespoon or two of fat free sour cream and you still get flavor but it doubles or triples in volume for only 10 cal more per Tbls. So 2 Tbls of dressing is now 60 cal.
If I am using cesear dressing I do the same and add 1 tsp lemon juice. Makes all the difference. Also I will use the cesear salad spritzer on the greens first and then have the dressing to dip my fork into and the flavor is really good.

Ok and the craziest thing I do is if I am having a roll or bun of any kind I scoop out the middle. I weigh it first so I know how much I am saving. But it usually saves between 1/3-1/2 the calories. And I don't miss it. All I want is the textrue of the crust and taste of the bread. I don't need all the filler. People may laugh but I am the one losing the weight.
Enjoy everyone.

Friday, September 14, 2007, 5:15 PM

the yogurt jello thing

Wow! I've been daydreaming about something like that and you actually wrote it down! Can't wait to try it, as I do all sorts of goofy things too. I'm saving what you wrote for more ideas.

Thanks.
P.S. group hulashack is all alone, there may be an opening in fantabulous forties or fussy eaters or maybe foodies. We've been active lately and "feed" off each other's ideas.

Saturday, September 15, 2007, 7:11 AM

portabello "pizzas" top a portabello mushroom cap with lite cheese, veggies, sauce

a package of stirfry veggies with a lean protein-a good, filling meal

fruit smoothie with frozen mango, peaches, banana, soymilk, vanilla, a packet of splenda. Mix in some grape nuts and it's a meal

Great thread!

Sunday, September 16, 2007, 2:33 PM

hummus with raw veggies

Sunday, September 16, 2007, 11:38 PM

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