My Favorite (Healthy) Recipes

So I have been on a little health kick lately. It has been a little over a month now and I am really liking it. The best part is that I have actually lost weight, though I have no idea how much because I refuse to weigh myself. My routine has pretty much been eating 5 small meals a day:

Breakfast: oatmeal and a glass of low calorie orange juice (Tropicana with calcium)

Snack: Fruit of some sort

Lunch: a sandwich on whole grain with deli chicken or grilled chicken and vegetables with brown rice

Snack: Strawberry-banana smoothie or low-fat yogurt

Dinner: whole wheat cheese pizza with low-fat cheese

Dessert: low-fat ice cream (skinny cow or weight watchers variation)

I also go to the gym at least twice a week and run for a little over an hour on the elliptical and I do strength training at least once a week. Once the weather gets cooler I plan to add a 40 minute jog around the neighborhood to my routine.

Some of the recipes that I have made and like are:

Low fat pizza:

I use my other pizza dough recipe except I swap half the flour with wheat flour and I use unbleached flour for the remaining white flour. I recommend cutting the flour back to about 2 1/2 cups though because the wheat flour seems to absorb the water more which can make the dough tough. I also use low fat mozzarella cheese (I like the Weight Watchers brand). The recipe will make 4 pizzas. I cook 2 at a time and refrigerate the second pizza and the remaining dough (I have gone up to 2 nights with the extra dough and it tastes fine). I would also recommend reheating the extra pizza in the oven...not in the microwave.

Strawberry-Banana Smoothie:

1 ripe banana
3-5 frozen strawberries (depending on the size)
5 ice cubes
2T orange juice (fresh squeezed or from a carton...doesn't matter)
1T fat-free milk
1/2t sugar or sweetener for extra taste (optional)
Cool whip to top (optional)
This smoothie is awesome, but this recipe is not exact. I usually just eyeball everything.especially the liquids. Add a little at a time because you can always add more.

Grilled Chicken and Veggies:

Fajita Marinade:
Juice from 1 orange
Juice from 2 limes
1t cumin (I always add more)
1 clove garlic (I usually use a heaping teaspoon of the already diced stuff)
4T olive oil
1t salt
Crushed red peppers (optional)

Marinade chicken or steak (1 recipe=up to 2 lbs meat) for at least 4 hours and cook on the grill. I eat it with grilled zucchini and onion on top of brown rice (see picture), but it doesn't really matter. I got this one from Tyler Florence on foodnetwork.com

Kebab Marinade:
3 cloves garlic
2 t paprika
1/2t turmeric
1t cumin
1t kosher salt
1/2 t fresh ground pepper
1/3 C red wine vinegar
1/2 C olive oil

Marinade chicken or steak for at least 4 hours. Recipe=1 1/2 lbs meat. Again I eat this with grilled onion and zucchini (slice, place on skewers, brush with olive oil, sprinkle with garlic salt and pepper, cook directly on the grill)