I love food. I love food so, so, so very much. But let’s be honest with ourselves: eating ourselves into oblivion isn’t exactly the best choice we could make in our lives, especially if you want to be healthy.
I was a takeout food addict, and still struggle with relapses. After all, who can resist the call of delicious convenience? Some perhaps would find it easy, but I know there’s those of us who can’t. Seeing as I love writing recipe takes (no matter how poorly they do) I decided to do one that replaces all of the typical best takeout-cheat-meals. I am going to try it in a different format that makes for a quicker read, so let me know what you guys think in the threads below.
Without further adieu, here are some alternatives to your favorite crap food meals!
The Cheese Burger ~ The Jalapeno Turkey Burger
Forget the ground beef and pork, processed cheese, and bacon. Opt up for an extra lean ground turkey, low fat cheddar cheese and a whole wheat bun to make for a much lighter version of the classic takeout burger. This burger recipe is yummy, it has a mild kick to it, and it’s easy to make – literally I can make about three burgers in twenty minutes if I have to.
All you need is 1 lb extra lean ground turkey, 2 Tbsp of diced pickled jalapeno peppers, ¼ cup of whole wheat bread crumbs, 1 large egg, ½ shredded light cheddar cheese, and then you’re seasoning. I personally use salt, pepper, garlic powder and paprika.
Just mix your ingredients together, jalapenos, cheese, and all, and form into patties. Try to keep them a little on the thinner side, considering turkey isn’t like ground beef where being medium rare is okay to eat, so it’s important to be sure that sucker is cooked. From there, you just have to fry your patties up in a bit of cooking spray until they’re browned on both sides and reach an internal temperature of ___ and you’re ready to assemble. I use a light mayo on my turkey burger with a bit of Dijon mustard, arugula, and tomato – but you can dress it however you like, just be wary of your sugars. Put that sucker on a whole-wheat bun and you’re ready to have a great meal.
Chinese Takeout Chicken ~ Honey Buffalo Chicken w/ Rice
Lets be honest: we’ve all looked up how to make orange chicken, General Tao chicken, Kung Pao chicken, etc. You always need cornstarch, and it takes anywhere from 10-20 minutes to assemble the sauce alone. So, rather than spending all of that time making a sauce, I’m going to give you a recipe that is so simple that you can make it in nearly half of the time, especially if you have leftover rice or minute rice.
All you need is a few chicken breasts (I tend to use about two or three), some honey, your favorite hot sauce, some sesame seeds, a little garlic, and your favorite rice (I go with brown minute rice or instant basmati rice). You can add all kinds of vegetables to this dish, whatever your preference is. I tend to go with peppers and snow peas, then I top it with fresh green onions.
You just need to chop your chicken into roughly 1 inch cubes, cook them up in a little cooking spray along with your veg, and toast your sesame seeds. Literally, for that all you have to do is toss them in a hot pan and jiggle them around until you see their colour just beginning to turn. From there, you mix up about a ½ cup of honey with a ¼ cup of your favorite hot sauce before adding your toasted sesame seeds and seasoning it with garlic. Toss your chicken in it and throw it over some rice and you have a great Chinese-food knock off. If you want a little more of an Asian flare, add a touch of soya to your sauce or your rice.
Delivery Pizza ~ Whole Grain Pizza Bread
This recipe is seriously so unbelievably easy that I find myself making it every time cash is short but I still want pizza. Rather than paying for delivery, you can make a super simple, delicious pizza bread that only requires a few simple ingredients, without the hassle of having to find a premade pizza dough or, god forbid, make your own.
All you need is a THIN whole grain baguette, a sauce of your choice (I tend to go with a premade bruschetta or pesto), a fat reduced cheese of your choice, and an array of preferably healthy toppings. If you can find turkey pepperoni, score – but if you can, get some lean ham or turkey and use that instead, or heck, even opt up for a vegetarian version if you want.
All you need to do is cut your baguette down the middle to make two lengths. Spread your sauce across the bread and then top with cheese. Add your toppings and pop it in the oven for – get this – 15 minutes. If you want to kick it up, make a light Caesar salad with it (refer to my salad take for the recipe here: https://www.girlsaskguys.com/health-fitness/a23725-random-light-recipes-w-rj-salad-edition).
Nice short and sweet take today, I hope you all enjoyed this more laid back, to-the-point format. If you do I may try more takes like these in the future, if not then oh well, I still had fun making it.
Have a great, happy, healthy (or not, it's the weekend, you can cheat if you want) and safe weekend everybody.
What Girls & Guys Said
Opinion
2Opinion
Chinese food is pretty good, I would like that honey buffalo chicken with rice
I can appreciate this. I think for a lot of people this could work for, for me not so much but i can still appreciate it :]