Flex Meals

I've been trying to avoid making flex meals because I was nervous about my ability to make food compliant with the program until I've lost more weight and gotten more confidence. Tonight, however, my inlaws were visiting, and I wanted to be able to make a tasty dinner that I'd be able to eat, too.

Here are the guidelines for making a flex dinner:

Dinner
2 Fat Serving
3 Lean Protein Serving
1 Vegetable Serving or Fruit Serving 2 Tbsp. Fat Free Dressing (if desired)
1 Low Glycemic Carbohydrate Serving
2 Vegetable Serving

I decided to make one of my favourite meals- Chicken Cordon Bleu. The name conjures up a fatty chicken breast dripping with cheese and ham, breaded and fried until it's greasy, maybe with a cream sauce on top. This substitute is delicious and has a fraction of the calories. It's also very high in protein (make sure to save one serving from earlier in the day!).



4 3oz chicken breasts, pounded thin
2 oz shaved fat free ham
2 oz fat free Swiss cheese
0.5 cup whole wheat breadcrumbs (Italian spiced if you can get them)
0.5 cup eggbeaters
4 tsp olive oil

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Take the thin chicken breasts and place 1/2 oz each of the ham and cheese in the middle and fold into a roll; secure with toothpicks. Dip the rolls in the eggbeaters and then into the breadcrumbs. Take a glass baking dish and pour the oil into it. Place the chicken rolls into the pan and bake for 35 minutes. Makes four servings.

For my side dishes, I made wild rice (1/3 cup is a low GI carb serving), steamed asparagus with a little lemon juice and garlic margarine for flavour (2nd fat serving), and a big salad with spinach, romaine, red green and yellow bell pepper, baby bella mushrooms, shallots, and tomatoes with fat free dressing. The eggbeaters and breadcrumbs are such a small serving that they could probably be counted as free foods.

It was fabulous- everyone enjoyed it, even the people who aren't watching their weight. It has a fraction of the fat and calories but all the flavour.


I've also tried to jazz up a few of the other Nutrisystem meals as well. I find the chili pretty boring, and it's disappointing that it is not one of the meals where you get to add a carb. Who doesn't love chili with rice or crackers? However, if you're one of the lucky fortunates who does get a carb with dinner, you might like this modification.

Chili with Beans (Dinner):


I chopped up onions, tomatoes, and green peppers and sauteed them in olive oil for my fat serving, and then poured the chili over top and let it simmer until the sauce had thickened. In the meantime, I took some Garden Fresh Gourmet Pita Chips and arranged them on the outside of a plate. Seven chips is a carb serving and they're very filling. I split mine in half so that it would look like more, and then poured the chili in the middle, topping with cheddar cheese (saved snack protein) and fat free sour cream. It was delicious- like eating nachos with chili sauce. Suddenly those little cups of chili have become more appetizing!

Florentine Sauce with Chicken Fettuccine (Dinner):


I know this is a discontinued item but apparently they are still available at Big Lots stores in the United States with long expiry dates- I just bought 23 from another Nutrisystem client and they're good until July 2011. If you can't get them, the modifications can be used on any of the NS pasta dishes, lunch or dinner. I just love this meal!

I chopped up onions, bella mushrooms, tomatoes, and green peppers and sauteed them in olive oil, and then dumped the pasta entree in the pan. I added 2oz of chicken (saved protein serving) and 1/2 tbsp bacon bits for a little extra flavour, and cooked it until everything was well mixed. It was a huge bowl and absolutely delicious. You have to eat your veggies anyway, and salad gets boring after a while!


Grilled Chicken Breast (Dinner):


I had a lot of fun with this entree. I've been missing my Subway Chicken Pizziola sub, so I decided to try and duplicate it at home. The above picture is the chicken breast cut into strips and seasoned with basil, garlic, and oregano. Then I took a whole wheat roll (to be added with the chicken) and split it in half, and placed the chicken on top. I topped it with half a serving of turkey pepperoni, pizza sauce (free food) and 1/2 oz mozzarella cheese (saved protein). I baked it for ten minutes and it was fabulous. I didn't take a picture of it because it's really hard to see much beyond a bun and the cheese but it definitely satiated my Italian sandwich craving.

I served it with an Italian style side dish- roasted tomatoes and onions. I chopped up the tomatoes and onions, drizzled with olive oil and seasoned with basil and oregano. Yum!


Cinnamon Bun Bar (Breakfast):


As soon as I took this out of the package, it was reminiscent of the Apple Strudel Bar. I bit into it and again it was sickeningly sweet. I love sweet things but I couldn't handle this. The frosting did taste like that used on a cinnamon bun though and there was a nice cinnamon flavour, but the heavy sweetness just overwhelmed it for me. I like the regular Cinnamon Bun better- it's dense, cinnamony, but not as sweet.

Mint Chocolate Crunch Bar (Dessert):


Yum! This tastes just like a Nestle Crunch Bar but with mint flavouring! This is going to be increased on my next auto delivery for sure. It definitely kicked my chocolate craving.


I'm feeling more positive again. I know I can do this... I just have to want to. My biggest obstacle is myself.

The search begins!

So I'm a little crazy- I've always been the kind of person who gets things when other people said it couldn't be done. I like being able to find a way to do it. Of course, in weight loss, this is usually a good thing- I find a healthy way to make things that I like. With Nutrisystem, some of that is coming out, but the crazy in me is trying to find a way to get hold of discontinued meals. I think I'm nuts, because even if I find something I love, odds are that I'll never be able to find it again! But, I want to try as many things as possible, so there it is. Since Nutrisystem food has such a long shelf life, maybe I'll be finding discontined items for a while. I hope to keep finding the Beef Tacos, now that they are gone from the Canadian site. I have to ration the few I have left!

Florentine Sauce with Chicken Fettuccine (Dinner):


This was my first discontinued find, and it was delicious. Why on earth did Nutrisystem get rid of these??? The chicken and noodles were in a rich, creamy sauce with spinach. It tasted too decadent to be a weight loss entree! I am trying to hunt down more of these as well.


Peppermint Cookie Patty (Dessert):


I was expecting to love this since I adore mint and cookies, and it got good feedback on the Nutrisystem boards. It just didn't do it for me, though. It is basically a chocolate coated soft, chewy mint patty- there was no crunch from a cookie. I was expecting the mint to be more of the soft, melty kind like in After Eight bars. Having to chew the mint really made me think of bad mint bubble gum. With so many great desserts to choose from, I'm not going to waste any more time on this one.


Apple Granola Bar (Breakfast):


OK, this was the first item I've actually taken one bite out of and thrown in the trash. It tasted dry and crumbly, and the fake apple taste was just overwhelming. I couldn't possibly eat it. I used to read posts about people throwing away items and I said to myself, at about $3 a pop, I wouldn't be that wasteful, but I guess everyone has their breaking point! I am really not a fan of the fake flavours- would it have been so hard to put in some dried apple chunks?


Apple Strudel Bar (Breakfast):


I had some trepidation about this, since I'd had the Apple Granola Bar the day before. I took a bite and the icing and heavy sweetness of the strudel bar seemed to mask most of the fake apple taste. I'm not crazy about this and I won't order it again, but I was able to eat it. It was much better than the other bar.


Sloppy Joe Mix (Dinner):


I decided to try the Sloppy Joe Mix with pasta instead of a bun, like I speculated in my last post. OMG, this is diet food??? You've got to be kidding me. I prepared the Sloppy Joe Mix following package directions except that I only microwaved it once- I didn't want it to thicken up too much. In a saucepan, I added chunks of my favourite veggies- onions, bell pepper, mushrooms, and tomatoes, and added the Sloppy Joe Mix on top. There didn't really seem to be enough sauce, so I got the idea to add a half cup of fat free cottage cheese for my protein serving. I prepared my pasta serving (I use Catelli Smart), and dumped it into the saucepan to mix, and then served it. It was rich, cheesy, and delicious. Dan had a bite and he wanted to eat it himself! I am definitely adding more of these to my next order.


Beans and Ham Soup (Lunch):


When I first opened the can, this looked very unappealing. The soup had separated, leaving a clear liquid floating on top. Fortunately, I had a recipe up my sleeve to try with this! Cut up two fat free/low fat hot dogs (no more than 100 calories total), and dump the soup on top. Then add a tbsp of Splenda Brown Sugar Substitute, and a few squirts of ketchup and mustard. Stir until blended, then microwave for two minutes. It tastes like weiners and baked beans. I was sure I took a photograph of the finished product, but I can't seem to find one so I suppose it smelled so good that I was too eager to dig in! I'll get one next time. This was delicious and I'll be ordering more!