Mar
26
I got a lot of good feedback from readers about my last healthy meal post so I thought I turn it into an irregular series of sorts and occasionally post up ideas for more healthy, easy and cheap meals. The healthy part is obvious, but I’m also trying to show people that healthy eating doesn’t have to mean spending a lot of time or money.
One of the emails I got contained a meal idea from another Trader Joe’s shopper and I thought I would use that for this next post. So thank you Joe R. for your email and here’s Joe’s chili recipe.
The Ingredients
- One can of Trader Joe’s chili. I buy the vegetarian kind but feel free to substitute a brand with some meat if you want. Try to stay away from the all meat kinds.
- One bell pepper. Joe recommended the green kind for this but I’m still a secret fan of the yellow peppers. Recipe works fine either way.
- One half cucumber.
- One quarter large onion.
Preparation
Slice up all the vegetables into small pieces. By small I mean no larger than a 1/4 inch. Dump everything into a pot with the chili and stir thoroughly. Now heat the whole thing up until the chili starts bubbling a bit. Keep stirring as you heat it up to make sure everything is getting warm. Note, I tried to heat this up with a microwave and it didn’t come up quite as good but still very tasty.
That’s it, once the whole thing is warm, put it in a bowl and eat.
Total Preparation TimeFrom beginning to end, this took about 15 minutes. Most of that time was spent heating. If you use the microwave you can turn this into a 10 minute meal.
Total Cost
Can of chili is anywhere from $1 to $3 depending on type and where you buy it. Vegetables cost another $2 or so at the local produce store. So total cost is somewhere around $3.
Calories
Calories for this meal are around 450 with the chili contributing most of that. The can of chili had around 350 calories. Nutrient mix was great with the chili having 14g of fiber and 16g of protein. Add in the veggies and you have a well balanced meal.
What Didn’t We Do?
Notice a few things about this meal.
- No dinner roll - No need for bread. It’s nothing more than empty calories.
- No dressing - Instead of eating the vegetables as a separate salad which needs dressing, we mixed them into the main course.
- Less meat - I picked a vegetarian chili, but you could have done one that contained some meat. Just stay away from the all meat brands.
- No sodas - As usual, we didn’t choose to add any drinks to our meal other than water.
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Ok, canned chili doesn’t sound like a healthy meal but when you toss in some veggies, it’s actually not that bad. Would it have been better if I had made the whole thing from scratch? Sure, but I don’t have time for that so this was the next best thing.
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Comments
7 Responses to “Healthy Meal Ideas - Chili Lunch!”
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“No dinner roll - No need for bread. It’s nothing more than empty calories”
You know, I had internalized this ‘rule’ quite well and as a result very rarely eat bread, rice, or pasta. I have long viewed them as empty calories. Recently I started working with a dietician to get my eating in order and she keeps telling me to eat more bread. It’s not just empty calories, it’s also a kind of starch that releases very slowly and helps your body maintain constant glucose levels. Having most of your starches come from fruits, etc, is less good than having them come from breads. Breads/rices/etc are an important part of a balanced diet which is why they have been around as part of just about every culture for such a long time!
I’m not saying wheat products in general need to be eliminated, only the useless dinner rolls or bread baskets that we seem to add to every meal. The occasional wheat or rice product is not bad, but most Americans seem to eat a diet which consists primarily of heavily processed meat and wheat / corn products. That’s just not healthy.
Gal
I agree that the typical American diet has too much of the things you have mentioned. I just don’t think it’s relevant to this post — a meal without a solid starch component is going to leave the person who eats it heading towards something sugary a few hours later because it isn’t a balanced meal. And they won’t understand why — they’ll figure they don’t have enough ‘willpower’ or whatever, after all they just had a nice healthy lunch. Some bread added to this meal (maybe with a bit less chili) will turn it into a more balanced meal that is less likely to lead to wanting extra fruit or junk food later. It isn’t just ‘empty calories’.
Well, I think we’re going to have to agree to disagree on this one. I don’t believe all meals need to have starches in them that come from grain products.
I usually find that meals with a good amount of protein and veggie based carbs keep me feeling fuller a lot longer than meals with a grain component like pastas.
Gal
Although, if you have any research on the issue, I’d love to see it. I’m always open to learning new things
Gal
I have to agree that if your bread component is of the whole grain variety, it isn’t empty calories.
I love your vegetarian chili, but a salad, even with fat free dressing would have been a good side dish………….:)
I’m a big fan of fresh stuff.
I disagree LisaN.
The whole point of this meal is to mix up the veggies with the main course. That way you don’t really need a side salad.
Most side salads are just lettuce anyway, which does nothing for me on either taste or the nutrition. Plus fat free dressings are still filled with calories. I’d much rather mix in some fresh vegetables directly into the chili and enjoy it that way.
Gal