Your Healthiest Meal?

[taxlady]

There is more to this than meets the eye, for example, a healthy meal is different for a sedentary office worker than one for someone who does heavy manual work.

I agree.

 

[Jing]

I agree.

Yep, me too. Much depends upon who's eating!

 

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

There is more to this than meets the eye, for example, a healthy meal is different for a sedentary office worker than one for someone who does heavy manual work.

I understand your point. I also know that each of us have different dietary needs, depending on age, activity level, availability of foods, likes and dislikes, etc. This isn't supposed to be a discussion to nail down the one, healthiest meal, ever. Instead it was an exercise in thinking about what to you is the healthiest meal. I've seen some great examples in this thread so far.

The goal of this thread is to get as many great and healthy recipes as possible, and maybe in the process, inspire others with less cooking experience, to try new, healthier meals.

Maybe we should post recipes with our entries.

Seeeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North

 

[taxlady]

If people want to post recipes, I think they should go in the appropriate forum and put a link here.

 

[Kayelle]

If people want to post recipes, I think they should go in the appropriate forum and put a link here.

+1
Not to mention any recipe labeled as "healthy" will have critics. My recipe for a "healthy" Pasta Carbonara would send Vegetarians, Vegans and those set against white flour over the edge.

 

[Addie]

+1
Not to mention any recipe labeled as "healthy" will have critics. My recipe for a "healthy" Pasta Carbonara would send Vegetarians, Vegans and those set against white flour over the edge.

+2. The question was "what do you consider a healthy meal" not 'what recipe do you go to for a healthy meal.'

 

[taxlady]

+1
Not to mention any recipe labeled as "healthy" will have critics. My recipe for a "healthy" Pasta Carbonara would send Vegetarians, Vegans and those set against white flour over the edge.

White flour? Do you mean in the pasta? That's easily remedied by any of us who don't want white flour. I just use Italian, whole grain pasta.

 

[GotGarlic]

White flour? Do you mean in the pasta? That's easily remedied by any of us who don't want white flour. I just use Italian, whole grain pasta.

Yes, it can be, but that never seems to be a given - it always has to be pointed out, which kinda spoils the spirit of a post.

 

[PrincessFiona60]

Going on about what ingredients you think will be attacked also breaks the spirit of a thread.

How about rewinding back and just talking about our healthiest meal? With the knowledge that some people cannot eat it without adapting it to their particular diet needs. Also knowing that if someone asks about an adaptation/substitute they are not attacking your recipe, they are trying to fit it to their dietary needs/preferences.

 

[Kayelle]

White flour? Do you mean in the pasta? That's easily remedied by any of us who don't want white flour. I just use Italian, whole grain pasta.

Ahh, but then it would be your recipe, not mine.

 

[KatyCooks]

And in the spirit of the thread - what I consider to be a healthy, but also very tasty meal?

I often have a smoked salmon chilli salad. It not only looks good, but it tastes good and it does you good too!

Hot-smoked salmon salad with a chilli lemon dressing | BBC Good Food

Oh, and it is dead easy to make.

 

[PrincessFiona60]

Yum, that sounds good Katy!

 

[KatyCooks]

Yum, that sounds good Katy!

Hot-smoked salmon is getting a little tricky to come by in my neck of the woods. (It's a completely different product to cold-smoked salmon.) Is it commonly available in the US?

 

[PrincessFiona60]

Hot-smoked salmon is getting a little tricky to come by in my neck of the woods. (It's a completely different product to cold-smoked salmon.) Is it commonly available in the US?

It's not impossible, but it is expensive. I need to buy a stove top smoker and smoke my own. I have lots of salmon, love the stuff.

 

[Steve Kroll]

I don't know. I like to think I cook healthy most of the time. There really isn't any one meal I feel is the "healthiest". At our house, we just try to follow a few guidelines:

• Meat isn't always the star of the show. Veggies can often take center stage, with meat (or some other protein) being a supporting actor. Instead of eating a 16-oz steak with a side salad, we'll sometimes have a big salad with small pieces of steak as one of the ingredients.
• Burgers and pizza can be healthy, too. Just don't overload with cheese and don't eat them every night.
• Fish is your friend, but no more than once or twice a week. And try to avoid mercury-laden varieties.
• Everything in moderation and don't stuff yourself. Even so-called "healthy foods" aren't healthy if you eat too much of them.

I used to be somewhat militant about food, but have given up on that, as it takes some of the fun out of life. Plus, as we all know, what's considered healthy today, might not be tomorrow.

I simply try to eat more of the foods that make me feel better and less of the foods that don't.

 

[Katie H]

I don't know. I like to think I cook healthy most of the time. There really isn't any one meal I feel is the "healthiest". At our house, we just try to follow a few guidelines:

• Meat isn't always the star of the show. Veggies can often take center stage, with meat (or some other protein) being a supporting actor. Instead of eating a 16-oz steak with a side salad, we'll sometimes have a big salad with small pieces of steak as one of the ingredients.
• Burgers and pizza can be healthy, too. Just don't overload with cheese and don't eat them every night.
• Fish is your friend, but no more than once or twice a week. And try to avoid mercury-laden varieties.
• Everything in moderation and don't stuff yourself. Even so-called "healthy foods" aren't healthy if you eat too much of them.

I used to be somewhat militant about food, but have given up on that, as it takes some of the fun out of life. Plus, as we all know, what's considered healthy today, might not be tomorrow.

I simply try to eat more of the foods that make me feel better and less of the foods that don't.

Our eating philosophy is much like yours, Steve. Although, I've never been, and Glenn hasn't either, much of a pizza or burger eater. This is a bit of a bonus when it comes to choosing healthier meals.

Most of the time I plan our meals around an outline of "some carbs, some fats and some proteins." All these an take different faces, such as lentils acting as the protein.

I also make everything from scratch, which makes it easier to eliminate any cooked out fats from stocks/broths/sauces/soups. I always chill everything and skim off the fat. The dog or the birds get that. I hate to waste anything that can be eaten by some creature, human or otherwise.

As an example, we had homemade turkey soup yesterday. The soup was made from stock cooked from the Christmas turkey carcass. The meat, trimmed from the same carcass. The stock was chilled and ALL the fat was removed. To that I added tomatoes, onions, spinach, fresh mushrooms, garlic and plenty of herbs. For the carb, I made papparadelle, which was added to the soup. Our fat was the butter that was put on the homemade baguette, a little more carb, we ate along with the soup. There was not a single preservative in our meal and it was yummy.

Cooking from scratch, canning a lot of what we eat and not using commercially-produced canned foods also allows me to keep an eye on our salt intake, not that that is an issue. I've never been much of a salt eater and my dad always said if I ever had to go on a salt-free diet it wouldn't phase me in the least. Most of the time I use half the salt recommended in a recipe and go up from there if I think it's necessary.

Yes, we do eat rich, luxurious things...but not often. As a result, they're a treat and we relish them when we do have them. That's also an aspect of healthy eating/healthy meals.

 

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

Our eating philosophy is much like yours, Steve. Although, I've never been, and Glenn hasn't either, much of a pizza or burger eater. This is a bit of a bonus when it comes to choosing healthier meals.

Most of the time I plan our meals around an outline of "some carbs, some fats and some proteins." All these an take different faces, such as lentils acting as the protein.

I also make everything from scratch, which makes it easier to eliminate any cooked out fats from stocks/broths/sauces/soups. I always chill everything and skim off the fat. The dog or the birds get that. I hate to waste anything that can be eaten by some creature, human or otherwise.

As an example, we had homemade turkey soup yesterday. The soup was made from stock cooked from the Christmas turkey carcass. The meat, trimmed from the same carcass. The stock was chilled and ALL the fat was removed. To that I added tomatoes, onions, spinach, fresh mushrooms, garlic and plenty of herbs. For the carb, I made papparadelle, which was added to the soup. Our fat was the butter that was put on the homemade baguette, a little more carb, we ate along with the soup. There was not a single preservative in our meal and it was yummy.

Cooking from scratch, canning a lot of what we eat and not using commercially-produced canned foods also allows me to keep an eye on our salt intake, not that that is an issue. I've never been much of a salt eater and my dad always said if I ever had to go on a salt-free diet it wouldn't phase me in the least. Most of the time I use half the salt recommended in a recipe and go up from there if I think it's necessary.

Yes, we do eat rich, luxurious things...but not often. As a result, they're a treat and we relish them when we do have them. That's also an aspect of healthy eating/healthy meals.

I like the say you think!

Seeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North