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Recipes

While avoiding sugary, fatty, and greasy foods, I pretty much eliminated most of my options, so I went looking for new foods (or new spins on old food) that were healthy (or at least, not UN-healthy), but also tasted good.  This is a difficult chore for me because my tastes are pretty narrow to begin with and I'm a steak, pizza, fried chicken, and burger kind of guy.  I don't get into these health crazes or fads and I'm not one of those "my body is my temple" kind of people.  I just like food that tastes good and LOTS of it!

Unfortunately, over time, that just makes you fat, look bad, and isn't that great for your health.  So, I've been in the process of losing weight (36 pounds as of this writing).  I've been experimenting with trying to make crappy tasting food taste good, like salads.  I'll be posting successful experiments here in case you're one those people like me that just doesn't get into these "light" foods.

Extreme Salad

This is a zero (or near zero) fat salad that's loaded with flavor and is so hot the insides of your ears will burn.  Don't think I'm kidding here!!!  The amounts below are just a guestimate.  I've never measured it myself.  I just throw it in.  I think these amounts are about what I'm using.  This will make one very large serving, or up to 4 moderate servings (just depends on how hungry you are or how much you can handle).  You may need to tone down the red pepper depending on your tolerance for spices.

1. Get a big mixing bowl and dump your lettuce into it.  Get a steak knife and chop it all up.  You want small pieces.  Then add everything else, except for the red pepper, black pepper and salad dressing.
2. Mix it all up.
3. Add your salad dressing (it's fat free, so don't be stingy).
4. Add your red pepper, then your black pepper (by putting the red pepper on the wet dressing, less of it will puff up in the air burning your nose and eyes).
5. Mix (slowly, until the red pepper is all wet... You don't want that puffing up in the air into your face!).  When you start sneezing (and you WILL), aim AWAY FROM THE SALAD BOWL!!!!
6. Eat

Have a cold beverage nearby.  This is extremely spicey.  Hint:  The chemical in spicy food clings onto your tastebuds.  The only known thing to break this chemical down is milk, so you may want to have a glass of cold milk on standby.  If it's too hot to handle, take a swig of milk and slosh it around in your mouth.  It may take several swiggs.

If it's just too danged hot for you, make another salad, minus the red pepper, but add some of your already made salad to it and mix it up well.  That way, you're not wasting your first salad and are diluting it with your new one.  Wrap up what you don't eat with celephane.  It should last in the fridge for a couple of days.

This is a good food that you can actually fill up on and still lose weight.

Extreme Turkey Burger

(yah, I'm going to overuse the heck out of the word "Extreme")

Black Angus beef is, by far, the BEST burger meat I've had, until I perfected my Extreme Turkey Burger.  Trust me, this is freaking awesome!  This makes 4 turkey burger patties.  You may need to tone down the red pepper depending on your tolerance for spices.  But, you'll need more than you think because you lose a lot of the spiciness while cooking.

Warning:  I know I shouldn't have to mention this, but something tells me I shoud anyway.  You're going to be working with raw meat.  This means you have to take precautions that you don't cross contaminate while preparing.  Once you have the meat fully prepared, put the 4 patties on a plate.  Then, clean up all your utinsils bowls, and counter top.  Wash your hands thoroughly!!!  Use hand sanitizer.  Keep the hand sanitizer handy while you're cooking (but not too close to the heat, since it is fammible, after all).  Use the hand sanitizer on the counter and clean it up good.  After you place the meat on the grill, put that plate in the sink, re-wash your hands and sanitize them again.  Clean and sanitize the counter where you had the plate just a moment ago.  Get a CLEAN plate to put the COOKED meat onto.  The cooked meet should not touch ANYTHING that touched the raw meat.

1. Put your ground turkey meat into a mixing bowl.
2. Add all the stuff.
3. Mix it up.  Just use your hands (wash them first, please).  Squish it all up and mix it until it's even.
4. Take 1/4 of it and roll into a ball, then flatten into a patty.  Do that 3 more times, til you've got 4 patties.
5. Put some PAM cooking spray on your out door grill (turkey sticks to the grill!!) or onto your George Foreman Grill (bottom AND top!).
6. Grill.  You've done this before.  You know when they're ready.  But, you should know that turkey cooks FASTER than beef.
7. Eat.

I recommend just eating it as is.  Don't put it in a bun (besides, buns are loaded with carbs).  Don't add ketchup or mustard or lettuce, or anything else.  Just eat it as is.  Turkey has a lot less fat than beef.  But please, don't eat more than two in one sitting!!