low calorie dinner suggestions

I've realized that by the time dinner comes I'm feeling kind of snacky but don't have many calories left for the day. This is typically the time of day that I binge, even if it's binging on fruit it usually results in at least 300 calories. I would rather use those 300 calories for an actual meal I can eat with my family.

Dinner is always the meal that scares me because I've noticed that I over eat during dinner and most of the meals I cook are unhealthy.

Do you have any low calorie recipes? My family is plain eaters. We don't like chinese, mexican, seafood, anything fancy. Very hamburger and french fry type of people.

AMber

You could make french fries at home...I love to get frozen crinkle fries and bake them as a snack (it's about 120 calories for 18 fries...not bad and it gets a grade of 'B' on CC!). with fries, you could make a healthy version of a hamburger with ground turkey.

I also like to make casseroles, lots of leftovers for quick lunches and dinners for a couple days afterwards. I've found many great recipes on this site. One of my favorites is called "Creamy Chicken Casserole" I think.

how about a boca burger (90 cals) on a light wheat burger roll (90 cals depending on brand) with an oz of light cheese (70 cals) and a side of broccoli (55 cals for a cup) for a grand total of 305 calories

Or grilled chicken salad.  grilled chicken breast cut up (150 cals), salad fixings of 1/2 cup lettuce, 1/2 cup baby spinach, shredded carrots, some cucumber slices, cherry tomatoes, mushroom slices (all about 120 cals depending on what you like), Tbsp olive oil and Tbsp of vinegar (140 cals) or a light dressing (about 60 for 2 Tbsp) for a total of 350 - 410 cals

Or a serving of whole wheat pasta (200 cals) with Newman's Own marinara (70) with ground turkey in the sauce (about 100 - 150 cals depending on how you like it) for a total of 370 - 420 cals

Just had this one the other day, one of my faves.  Marinade two portabella mushroom caps and about 8 asparagus spears in a ziplock bag in balsamic vinegar for an hour.  Then heat the oven to about 425 F.  Place mushrooms stem side up (but trim the stem before marinading) on a cooking sheet and the asparagus spears.  drizzle the balsamic vinegar over them and a dash of garlic powder (some parm cheese on the mushrooms if you like) and cook for about 15 min.  Mushrooms (45 cals), vinegar (about 40 cals for 4 Tbsp guessing), asparagus (25 cals), if using parm (45 for 2 Tbsp, one on each mushroom) and side of brown rice (200 cals) for a total of 310 - 355 cals

Salad with as many veggies as you want (lettuce, cukes, green peppers, onion, whatever).  I splurge and put on 5 black olives.  No cheese.  And I top with a breast of grilled chicken and balsamic vinegar.  That's about 400 cals and it's a huge filler.  It's great because you can feed the chicken to the family - grill it, bake it, whatever, just put yours on a salad.  On Sunday I grill 6 chicken breasts and then I can have a meal with the family one night and cut them up for my salads the other nights. 

There's no way 4 tbsp of vinegar has 40 calories... Vinegar has almost no caloric content, I thought.

Also, you'd have to use a lot of chicken to make a salad w/o cheese and only vinegar as dressing 400 calories... How much chicken are you talking?

SOUP!

i have this same problem... and its been hard making recipes kid friendly as well as diet friendly.

one of the things we love is fake tuna casserole... i use lipton alfredo noodles (with skim milk, no butter) with tuna, garlic powder, and either peas or green beans ( i like to use celery too but the kid doesnt like it).  This can be expanded to feed more people by using more tuna or more packages of noodles or both.  It ends up being right around 300 cals for a serving and is very filling.

i also make sweet potato fries instead of regular fries or make my own roasted potatoes instead of fries.  just takes a potato and some oven time, with a splash of olive oil or even pam.

i like to make a fake chicken parmesan with baked chicken (that i marinated in light italian dressing) and then at the end i sprinkle with mozzerella and put on spaghetti sauce.  1/2 cup sauce= a serving of veggies.

there are lots of ways to manipulate recipes!  feel free to msg me in my journal for more!

When I need a low cal dinner, I just pop a Healthy Choice meal in the microwave.  They are all usually under 300 calories!

as the first person said, bake your fries.  That cuts calories way down.  And by baking them, you don't add any trans fat to it.

My husband and I like to cook this meal for dinner for the two of us:

3 chicken breast strips (100 calories) [frozen bagged chicken]
1 baked potato (100 calories)
1/2 can green beans (38 calories)
salsa on the chicken (25 calories)
ketchup on the potato (10 calories)

total of:  273 calories.

We eat this probably 2-3 nights a week.  It's really good and very filling.  Sometimes we'll have a side salad with it with Fat Free dressing- it adds another 50 calories or so depending on dressing.

I eat mashed cauliflower pretty often - tastes similar to mashed potatoes, but not as starchy.  Cauliflower only has about 30 calories per cup, so it's very low-cal. I steam it for about 20 minutes, mashed it with a fork, and add-in a few teaspoons of milk and some "I Can't Believe it's not Butter" spray (0 cals), plus salt + pepper.  Sometimes I'll sautee a tiny bit of onions or garlic in a little margarine and add it to the mix for flavor. 

Another easy thing to do is roast vegetables (can serve it with a roast chicken or something?).  Just cut up whatever vegetables you like (carrots, onions, celery, peppers, etc), drizzle some olvie oil on them and a some spices(like salt, pepper, thyme, parsley, etc) and bake at the same temp as your chicken. 

hmmm mashed cauliflower, i will have to try that