Breakfasts Hints for Low Calorie Diets

The start of the day is the best place to start watching what you eat and getting into the mind set for the rest of the day.

1. 200 calories for breakfast can include a lot. Aim at 1500 calories for the day and it leaves you with a whopping 1300 calories. Include a lunch at 300 calories, fairly easy to do (more later), and you're left with a 1000 calories for the rest of the day! If you have dinner at 500 calories, you're left with an optional 500 calories for snack or for adding to a meal.
2. Add cucumbers, tomatoes to your breakfast without breaking the calorie bank. 1 medium tomato is 15 calories. Cucumber 1 medium 45 calories so figure a few slices for about 15 calories.
3. Like fruit for breakfast. Most fruit are under 100 calories. Oranges 62 calories, apples (Gala) 74 calories. You can take the calories out of your optional 500.
4. If you like fruit, have the fruit instead of the fruit juice. Adds bulk.

One of my favourite breakfasts is a pita pizza
.

Pita Pizza

(169 calories)

1 medium pita (124 calories)
3 slices of tomato(5 calories)
2 tbsp shredded light mozzarella cheese ( 40 calories)
Optional add slices of green pepper, sweet onions, a dash of oregano...

Cut sliced tomato into small pieces, and spread on pita. Sprinkle with mozzarella. Put under broiler for a few minutes until golden brown. Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste.

View my other blog Self Publishing Notes and Facebook Group, Recipes Low Calories for more fun and info.

200 Calories or Less Breakfasts

Dieting or taking care of what you eat is never easy, but it can be if you have a plan. The plan can be as easy as having a list of prepared recipes you can rely on.

In my search to find a plan that works for me, I've devised this one. Two hundred calories for breakfast, three hundred calories for lunch and five hundred for supper. I try for 1500 calories per day which leaves me with 500 calories for all the little extras, which includes snacking at night. I find that 500 calories gives me a lot of leeway, so I don't feel like I'm sacrificing too much. It's great to be able to indulge without feeling guilty.  

To make the plan work, I've prepared a list of recipes for breakfast (200 calories), for lunch (300 calories), and for supper (500) calories, and snacks of 100 calories or less. The recipes are not exotic, nor do they rely on food most people wouldn't have in the cupboard. 

Here are some breakfast recipes for 200 calories or less. I'll be adding the recipes for lunch, supper in snacks in the very near future, so keep posted, or join below to be notified when the new posts come in.

Cheesy Egg Wraps 

Serves 2 

1/2 cup egg beaters (60 calories)

1/2 ounce light cheddar grated (35 calories)

salt and pepper to taste

2 whole wheat or flour tortilla (200 calories, 100 calories, each check label)

cooking spray

Spray cooking pan, Add egg beaters, cook on medium until beginning to set, Flip. Add cheddar and cover until set.

Place half of egg and cheddar, on each tortilla. Roll and enjoy! i also like tucking the end in, placing the tortilla on a pan on medium heat until tortilla begins to brown. Yummy!

Traditional Breakfast

Bacon and Eggs

Serves 2

1/2 cup egg beaters (60 calories)

1 slices bacon (34 calories)

4 slices Weight Watcher Bread (100 calories)

1 tsp Becel light margarine (18 calories)

Cook the bacon, and crumble. Cook egg beaters and when almost done, add crumbled bacon. (The taste of bacon goes much further this way. Toast bread.  A tsp of light margarine doesn't go very far, so spread very lightly. 

Also check out earlier blogs,  Easy Vegetable Frittata and Jerry Lewis Eggs. 

Ice Cap My version

 Iced Cap (my version) 

Love Timmy's Ice Caps especially now in the summer season.
Just checked out the calories ....0h, 0h  


My ice cap 51 calories for 1 medium Tim Horton's medium with milk 280 calories, medium with cream 360 calories, large with milk 440 calories, large with cream 511 calories.  


6 coffee ice cubes (I place my leftover morning coffee in ice cube trays and freeze, a tsp of instant coffee also works. Use regular ice cubes)
1/2 cup 1% milk
3 tsp Splenda (adjust to taste) 
Place ice cubes in blender and pulverise. Add sugar and milk. Blend on highest speed until frothy. Pour in large glass. Add a straw. Voila! Enjoy!!! 
You could also try it with a dollop of chocolate.

Popsicles Strawberry Cream Pops

Strawberry Cream Pops
Serves 6, 55 calories each with sugar, 33 calories with Splenda
2 cups fresh or frozen strawberries
1 cup plain sugar free yoghurt
1/4 cup sugar or Splenda
Pour strawberries in blender. Process until pureed. Add yoghurt and sugar, Blend. Pour in cups or mold. Freeze. Add stick when almost frozen solid.

Cool Summer Treats

Hot summer weather is here, so thought I'd pass along some low calorie treats to help cool things a bit.

Frozen Chocolate Cream Treats
Makes 6 servings
70 calories using instant pudding
23 calories each with sugar free pudding mix

1 pkg Chocolate Instant Pudding mix
2 cups 1% milk

Mix well. Pour into pop molds or paper cups.
Freeze. Insert wooden stick when the popsare almost done.


Raspberry Pops
6 servings, 25 calories each

1/2 cup raspberries
1 1/2 cup plain low fat yoghurt
3/4 cups water

Mix well, pour into molds and freeze. Add stick when almost frozen solid.

Meatballs and Gravy 26 calories per meatball

Remove

 Sunday Night Dinner

It's very difficult to have beef and not have too many calories. Here's how I made the meatballs. Very easy, they turned out delicious. A little difficult to do this by the pound or kilogram, so will do it with the amounts I had.

Meatballs and Gravy
24 calories per 1 in meatball, Gravy(below) add a few calories more.
1.3 lbs of extra lean ground beef
7 crackers
1/2 onion chopped fine
enough water to moisten the crackers
1 tsp dill weed
a few drops hot sauce
( Vary the spices as you like. )
Add cracker and spices to bowl, moisten with water. Add meat and mix well. Make one inch meatballs, this should make a little over 40 meatballs. Place on cookie sheet lined with foil and spray with cooking oil. Bake a 400 for about ten minutes or until done. Make the gravy and put meatballs in gravy and let simmer for a few minutes.
Gravy
I used Bisto. Much less calories then regular gravy. I did not use any of the fat from drippings. Used 1 tbsp bisto for 1 cups water. Adds one or two calories to each meatball. ( about 45 calories in all for the gravy)

Spaghetti Sauce

Spaghetti Sauce

Here's the Spaghetti Sauce I made today. Delicious! Makes 8 cup, 59 calories per cup, traditional from 150 to 200 calories per cup

1 28 oz can tomatoes
2 tbsp tomato sauce
3 oz extra lean ground beef1 medium green pepper chopped
1 medium red pepper chopped
1 cup mushrooms sliced
1 onion chopped
2 cloves garlic chopped
2 medium carrots sliced thin
2 tsp italian spice
few drops hot sauce
Cook meat and onions then add all the other ingredients. Cook until vegetables are tender.
I cup of cooked spaghetti is 170 calories, and it seems I can never stop at one cup. So to night I also cooked half a small spaghetti squash. Placed it on the plate with the spaghetti. Very good and very filling!

I find that I don't need a lot of meat in a spaghetti sauce. A little doesn't seem to affect the taste that much. The other trick is to add a lot of vegetables. The carrots are especially nice, they add sweetness, so I don't need to add sugar. Vary vegetables and spices. I usually add a tsp of oregano, 1/2 tsp of basil and a bay leaf, but today just added the italian spice.