Some people around here are watching their weight. We’re trying to lean into our healthier habits.
One of those habits is portion control. If a colorful, attractively plated and garnished meal is placed in front of you, it will satisfy you. You’re not so tempted to take seconds or thirds.
Color and texture always help. Mac and cheese is great, but a big bowl of it gets monotonous. Husband Eric ordered lobster mac and cheese once, a luxury dish and delicious for sure, but halfway through he was getting tired of it. He ended up taking a lot home.
The rest of us had protein, a vegetable and starch on our plates. It helps to vary what you’re eating in one meal.
A healthy, light meal of salmon, jasmine rice and sautéed spinach.
It doesn’t have to be a big portion. We try to watch the size of our protein, which is tricky because “one serving” at the meat or fish counter is always more than we usually eat.
Last time I bought fish fillets they were almost a half-pound each. There’s no way you can ask the employees to give you part of a piece of fish.
It was too late; they were on the scale and getting wrapped. So we had them, but I didn’t finish mine. I’d served a salad and white rice, and ate some of everything, but the portion of fish was too much.
Instead of buying two individual steaks to cook at home, now we usually share one. We aim for 12 to 14 ounces in size — that’s just enough to satisfy our steak fix. And of course, there’s salad and potato and vegetable.
One steak is enough for two diners.
If we are eating at a steakhouse we’ll order the smallest filet, usually 6 ounces. We did that at Ruth’s Chris on Wolf Road in Colonie a few weeks ago.
Speaking of potatoes, now I buy one big Russet to bake and we share it, partly because it’s hard to find smaller ones. I slice it down the middle, Eric takes his half with butter and sour cream and salt, and I usually just salt the other half. A good Russet potato tastes delicious on its own, I think.
It’s a perfect meal: one good steak, one big potato and salad.
One of our favorite easy meals is baked chicken thighs. I season them well — lately we’ve been using the mixture from Gibson’s Steak House in Chicago. They are so forgiving and usually are done in under 45 minutes. They sit at room temperature for a while before cooking, like steak. I make just two.
Last week I put barbecue sauce on them near the end of cooking in honor of the warmer weather. They were delicious, and we don’t ever get tired of them.
Shrimp is great. You can prepare it so many ways to keep it interesting. We get pretty good shrimp in the local supermarket and I always have a bag in the freezer. I like the 16-20 size for most recipes.
Scampi is a favorite, but we also like a quick recipe for teriyaki shrimp. I use jasmine rice and sesame ginger salad dressing, and everything goes together. If I have green onions, I slice some thin on the bias to garnish, for color.
Food.com has a great recipe for curried shrimp. You start by heating curry powder (Penzy’s is good) in melted butter. By the time you cook the onion, garlic and ginger, your kitchen smells heavenly.
Shrimp and grits is a favorite. We’ve had the New York Times' super-spicy Cajun shrimp and we like sticky honey-garlic butter shrimp. You can guess what’s in that.
We love the Allrecipes sautéed garlic sticky pork chop recipe that has lots of sugar. I cook one large, boneless chop and serve it sliced. Cardona’s Market in Latham carries pork chops that have been injected with fat. I’d prefer to get pork that was naturally less lean, but make do with these. They don’t need brining.
Dumpling night is fun. We pick up several kinds of dumplings, spring rolls, steamed buns or egg rolls from the freezer section at our favorite market and I serve some of each with different sauces. There’s usually sweet-and-sour sauce, Thai chili sauce and I make teriyaki sauce. All the plates and bowls fill the table. It’s colorful and interesting. And light.
We had an interesting encounter with farro. It’s filling and has lots of fiber. We both liked it the first night we had it with a pork chop and green salad. That was about as much as Eric wanted. I couldn’t waste the rest, so I had it for lunch over several days, adding it to homemade chicken soup until it was gone.
We splurge, too. For Eric’s birthday I made an enormous pan of beef-and-sausage-filled lasagna, and when we take out we try to make better choices. Plum Blossom Chinese restaurant in Troy has great food, but we order pints to go, not the full meals with spring rolls and fried rice.
Green salad before meals is filling and tastes good. I vary it enough to keep things interesting and try to complement the flavors of the rest of the meal.
Most nights, dinner starts with a salad.
Most days start with a bowl of fresh fruit. In the winter I practice cutting grapefruit and orange supremes, and add whatever looks good in the market.
Of course we can’t eat sensibly all the time, and I’ve learned to give myself grace for the occasional lapse.
If we watch what we eat most of the time, then splurges are OK. We’re not feeling deprived, and it’s working pretty well.