Exodus Strength

Hi all... I'm currently trying to cut from 25% BF down to around 15% and am really please with the current rate of success steadily dropping 3 or so lbs a each week.

The problem is that a lot of my meals taste a bit same old and sometimes dry... they are missing a good sauce of some kind... white wine and garlic over my chicken or Dianne or Peppercorn sauce over my steak... even Hollandaise over my salmon... it's just not there... it seems I either add gravy... which im sure isn't good when its as thick as i like it... or ketchup (Heinz which i truly cant eat without at the moment) but even that is high in sugars...

The supermarkets are flooded with ready-made sauces that consist of more calories than the meal i want to put them over and i just cant seem to find a compromise...

I figure there must be some healthy options out there and wondered...

but couldn't find a thread on this or a write up from the professionals

What sauces do you use to spice up your evening meal???

What healthy sauce recipes do the guru's have for us???

I wouldn't want to bring a girl round for a dinner date and cook her up plain old chicken breast with an array of boring steamed vegetables... i want sauce dripping and flavour's aromatizing the kitchen lol...

What are everybody's own ideas and recipes

I even try to keep variety in my meals but week after week
My diet consists mainly of a small portion of cereal in the morning with milk and a ready rolled wholegrain oats protein shake (sometimes swap eggs for shake), a healthy protein packed ready meal with no added or artificial anything for lunch a couple more whey protein shakes throughout the day maybe with a small portion of mixed nuts... then for dinner 4 nights a week consists of 2x 6-7oz chicken breasts with 100/200g of mixed vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower/ carrots/ green beans baby/ carrots/ baby corn cobs/ brussel sprouts etc. 1 night of rump steak with veg (and sometimes new potatoes baked potato mashed potato/ very rarely chips or home made triple cooked sweet potato fries (nice) oh and sunday i try and have the works Sunday roast with whole chicken/ turkey joint gammon joint to load up properly on carbs- provided i haven't had too many during the week.

Also sometimes i swap one chicken breast meal for fish like Talapia/ tuna/ cod/ Makerel/ Pollock etc etc...

Im looking for ideas i can integrate into these basic meals

Thanks guys

Welcome to the site, Virin. Good to have you here.

I'm tagging @platypus here for the thing Sean Herbison suggested to him for use on his chicken breast meals.

Plain old salt, pepper, and an acid work really well (lemon, lime or one of the fancy vinegars).

Most hot sauces are basically vinegar, salt, and peppers. Some have sugar (sriracha) but you probably won't use enough to matter. The fermented ones (Tabasco) or roasted ones (chipotle) add a lot of interesting flavors.

Vinaigrette is high in flavor, low in calories if you don't overdo the olive oil.

Plain yogurt gives you savor for not too many calories. Good basis for a sauce, if you add something salty like Soy sauce or Worchestershire. Full-fat Greek yogurt is nearly sour cream though, watch your portion sizes.

A can of sardines, especially the fancy smoked ones, are incredible in an Italian tomato sauce, assuming you like seafood/fish flavors. There's some calories and fat here along with the protein, but it's a very healthy kind of fat.

Wilhelm wrote: ↑Wed Aug 14, 2019 6:10 amI'm tagging @platypus here for the thing Sean Herbison suggested to him for use on his chicken breast meals.

SeanHerbison wrote: ↑Wed May 01, 2019 8:37 am

platypus wrote: ↑Tue Apr 30, 2019 7:01 pm - Day 3 of eating a pound of chicken at each meal and I nearly reached the breaking point. My favorite recipe has about equal parts sugar and protein despite the seemingly miniscule amount of sauce, so I've been eating pretty plain shredded chicken with a few spices. It doesn't sound that difficult on paper, but a pound takes about 45 minutes to chew and swallow.

You are very definitely doing it wrong.



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There are tastier ways to do chicken, but I'm not sure about easier. And I just ate 2/3 lb of chicken with slightly more potatoes in a little more than the time it took to read your post.

Chimmichurri is the best sauce/condiment ever. It's mostly olive oil, so it's healthy and low (no?) carb, but not necessarily low-calorie.

Also, good old yellow mustard has 0 calories.

Soy sauce and sriracha basically goes on every dinner I have of Rice + Protein source. Guess I should expand my horizon...

Root wrote: ↑Wed Aug 14, 2019 9:09 am Chimmichurri is the best sauce/condiment ever.

This is correct

Mustard variants are useful here. Dijon mustard does well on baked chicken.

Hanley uses Hunt’s ketchup on most everything.

Bertman Ballpark Mustard über alles

J Kenji Alt Lopez has a super easy trick to making GOAT chili mixes from his Chili Con Carne recipe; use it in a sous vide bag with breasts, or braise the breasts in it in a slow/pressure cooker or dutch oven, or paint it on shellac style as if it were barbecue (also if you make homemade barbecue sauce for the grill, skip molasses and add blended chipotles in adobo for kick and better flavor and less sugar).

https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/201 ... ecipe.html

Microwave technique here (stick blender really helpful):

Add dried chilies to a large heavy-bottomed Dutch oven or stockpot and cook over medium-high heat, stirring frequently, until slightly darkened with an intense, roasted aroma, 2 to 5 minutes. Do not allow to smoke. Remove chilies, place in a small bowl, and set aside. Alternatively, place dried chilies on a microwave-safe plate and microwave on high power in 15-second increments until chilies are pliable and toasted-smelling, about 30 seconds total.

Edit: Missed part two to get to paste/sauce | if the marmite/glutamate stuff sounds unpleasant, forget it, just peppers in broth are kick ass:

add 1 cup (240ml) chicken broth, using a flat wooden spoon or stiff spatula to scrape browned bits off of bottom of pan. Reduce heat until chicken broth is at a bare simmer, add toasted chilies to liquid, and cook until chilies have softened and liquid is reduced by half, 5 to 8 minutes. Transfer chilies and liquid to a blender. Add anchovy, Marmite, soy sauce, tomato paste, ground spices, coffee, and chocolate and blend at high speed, scraping down sides as necessary, until a completely smooth purée has formed, about 2 minutes. Set chili purée aside.

One possible pepper mix (if you have good Mexican, Indian/Pak, or Thai/Viet markets around, you can get really creative):

3 whole ancho, pasilla, or mulato chilies, seeded and torn into rough 1-inch pieces (about 1/2 ounce)
2 whole New Mexico red, California, costeño, or choricero chilies, seeded and torn into rough 1-inch pieces (about 1/8 ounce)
1 whole cascabel, árbol, or pequin chili, seeded and torn in half

this stuff:



you can also stir it into soy sauce to make it spread further, then you don't need to salt your food either

mgil wrote: ↑Wed Aug 14, 2019 3:12 pm Hanley uses Hunt’s ketchup on most everything.

Libel laws are real.

I used to eat a lot of lunches that were mainly "smoked" and brined chicken breasts. I'd do an intense brine of salt and brown sugar (2-3 cups water, 3 Tbs brown sugar, 1.5 Tbs kosher salt) for 6 (to 24?) hours or so and then grill them mostly indirect with a hickory chunk. I'd move them sort of direct to brown them. (I used to do a more complicated brine, but I couldn't tell the difference. So I simplified.)

Super simple. They were good enough to eat on their own. No sauce needed. But you can make a good salad with them or used them for enchiladas, etc. We used to do 6 breasts once a week, sometimes more, to use for a few lunches and dinners. Got sick of it though. . . .

cgeorg wrote: ↑Thu Aug 15, 2019 4:50 pm

mgil wrote: ↑Wed Aug 14, 2019 3:12 pm Hanley uses Hunt’s ketchup on most everything.

Libel laws are real.

QFT

perman wrote: ↑Wed Aug 14, 2019 2:14 pm Soy sauce and sriracha basically goes on every dinner I have of Rice + Protein source. Guess I should expand my horizon...

Second to this, but I use kikkoman teriyaki instead of regular soy sauce.

simonrest wrote: ↑Wed Aug 14, 2019 8:01 pm this stuff:



you can also stir it into soy sauce to make it spread further, then you don't need to salt your food either

Do the Kenji chili paste in my post above, and cut it 50/50 with simon's depicted sauce, or Sambal Oelek. Spoon out onto plainly cooked breasts/thighs/loin, about 1.5-2TBSP per 8oz meat depending on your heat tolerance, serve with some fresh veg or herb or both that you like (I dig bell pepper or cucumber).

Had to be done

I live in New Mexico, so if I want to spice up my food and make it taste good, I just add red or green chile

KringJ wrote: ↑Sat Aug 31, 2019 4:15 am Had to be done

God Bless Dom Mazetti. We will never deserve him