Cooking meat the Lean & Green way

MMMM........ Meat.  

Chicken covered in BBQ sauce.

Tilapia covered in lemon cream sauce.

Meat and sauces go hand in hand don't they?

Unfortunately most sauces don't really support weight loss.

This is what I call the magic trinity of Lean & Green spices.

Chili powder

Smoked paprika

Pepper

The smoked paprika is a must.  Standard paprika just won't give you the same....unami taste.  

One of the great things about these 3 spices together is they burst with flavor and aroma.  So much so you probably won't need salt.

Let's have a side-bar about salt.  

Notice it is missing from my list.  I love salt.  LOVE it.  I have maybe.... 15 different kinds of salt at any given time.  Salt is good.  Salt is great in fact... but we need to change how we cook with salt when we are trying to support weight loss.  

I used to salt everything.  Now, salt for me is a finisher.  We, as Americans use way too much salt.  A high sodium diet is bad.  Really bad.  So here is what I'm asking....stop auto-salting and "finish" with salt only when needed... you will begin to change your taste profile.  Cool huh?

Ok - back to making meat taste good without extra sodium, sugar, fat, etc.

Throw the meat into a non-stick pan.  The pan is key.  If you use regular pans you'll use more fat to keep them from sticking.  Remember... we are supporting weight loss here.

Lightly sprinkle w/ the magic trinity.

Cook, flip, sprinkle, cook.  

Should we salt now you ask?  Nope.  Because sometimes the meat goes into a dish where saltiness already exists and you won't need it... sometimes you will.  

I put a cellar of really good salt on the table to lightly sprinkle on only AFTER I've tasted it.

Another HUGE tip for success during weight loss it to pre-prepare meat.  

Lots of it.  

Here is what I do:

Heat up a large pan.  

(I know I know I just told you to use a non stick pan.  But this is the biggest pan I had and I wanted to cook LOTS of chicken.  I used a quick spray of Canola oil in it.  Trust me... it'll all be ok in the end.)

Put tons of chicken into the HOT pan, then pepper (don't salt) brown & flip & brown.

  

That is what we are looking for.

 

Now what I do is shred a bunch and put it in containers already portioned out.  Then I use them in recipes,  dump on salads, etc.  It makes Lean & Green preparation so much faster and easier to manage especially if you are only cooking for one.

 Enjoy!

Read my Getting Healthy story.

If you are interested in learning more about getting and staying healthy please contact me!

Jennifer Z. Lewis

 Certified Health Coach

Web site: teamlewis.tsfl.com

Email: teamlewishealthcoach@gmail.com
"Like" me on Facebook