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As I continue my weight loss journey and settle into my new home, I’ve gotten much better at managing my meals. It’s not about spending hours in the kitchen; it’s about making delicious, low-calorie meals that I can enjoy over multiple days.
The two best things I use to help me is meal prep containers to store my leftovers and allow me to quickly heat them up whenever I'm hungry, and my air fryer, perfect for my love of fries and reheating those stored away meals.
Favorite Meal: The Taco Bowl
One of my go-to meals is what I call a taco bowl. It’s a flavorful mix of black beans, taco seasoned ground beef, fresh pico, cottage cheese, and air-fried potatoes. And to top it all off, I make a creamy Greek yogurt sauce with ranch seasoning and cilantro for a delicious, green touch.
Ingredients:
- 1 pound of lean ground beef
- 1 can of black beans
- 4-5 russet potatoes (depending on size)
- Low fat cottage cheese
- Mild pico
- No fat greek yogurt
- Taco and ranch seasoning packet
- Cilantro
- Optional: lite mayonnaise
Instructions:
- Cut your russet potatoes into cubes, season however you like, then throw them in the air fryer for 20 minutes.
- Add your can of black beans to a pot and heat them up.
- Take your ground beef, cook until medium, then add your taco seasoning packet.
- While everything is cooking make your green ranch sauce by adding greek yogurt, ranch seasoning, and fresh cilantro into a blender, and mix until you're satisfied with the taste.
- Optional: add lite mayo to the ranch sauce to make it creamier.
- Once everything is done cooking, plate, and you're done.
This usually makes me 3-4 meals that I can easily reheat throughout the week, and I love using the green ranch sauce for other recipes like my next favorite.
Another Favorite: The Healthy Burger
I also love making burgers using keto-friendly buns that are low in calories. It’s convenient, high fiber, keeps the burger feeling indulgent without all the extra calories, and without the need for so much lettuce. I like to add caramelized onions, provolone cheese, pickles, mustard, and a bit of ketchup. Plus, I air-fry some russet potato fries to go with it the same way I make the potatoes for the taco bowl.
I make 4 burgers at a time to last me throughout the week again. All I have to do is quickly reheat, assemble the burger, then it's ready to eat.
Quick and Easy Favorites
For days when I want something simple, I make three-ingredient spaghetti with lean ground beef, protein pasta, and a creamy basil sauce from Trader Joe’s, any tomato basil sauce will work all the same though. It’s quick, delicious, and keeps well in the fridge for easy reheating.
And of course, I enjoy a classic sandwich with multigrain bread, turkey, provolone, light mayo, and some kettle-cooked chips on the side. Another quick low calorie meal I can quickly grab from the kitchen.
Final Thoughts
If you are here because you are starting off your weight loss journey and want to be able to eat foods like these on your journey but don't know where to start, I encourage you to read my A Guide to Sustainable Weight Loss, or read through my blog posts about Fitness & Wellness.
All of these meals help me stay on track with my weight loss goals, and they make it enjoyable with that perfect balance between flavor, nutrition, and convenience.
I have struggled before to stay on track because of laziness, and then some days its just easier to grab fast food rather than cook, especially when you're craving that burger or pasta. That's why it was important to me to make it easily accessible at home, and now I share it with you.