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Sacrilegious: Lighter, Healthy fare?

ThunderBunny
ThunderBunny Posts: 132
edited November -1 in EggHead Forum
In order to make up for a completely botched spatchcock on Saturday, I put the petal to the metal yesterday and whipped up a batch of wings and a pizza. Both were delicious - not perfect, but delicious. The learning curve is very interesting. I keep learning little things I would change up for the next cook. I kind of like that.
While (and believe me on this) I have absolutely nothing against pizza and wings, I don't eat such heavy fare on a routine basis. Is the Egg also practical for healthier, lighter dining or is that asking too much of something designed as a grill/smoker.

P-S; just as I was feeling pretty smug about my progress last night, I flipped over to Throwdown with Bobby Flay after the game and suddenly felt very inadequate as I watched Flay and his challenger make grilled chicken that made me want to dive through my high def TV to get a taste of.

Comments

  • Sounds like you made a good call for the Super Bowl Sunday cooks.

    As to the lighter fare, check out my post earlier today. The stuffed peppers I did were pretty light and healthy. If you wanted to cook something like them as an entree, you could add diced chicken or just go vegetarian on them. They were filling enough to make a meal.

    You can also grill fish and veggies on the BGE. Asparagus, beets, leeks, peppers, onions, and of course, corn all grill very well. I have also seen grilled romain lettuce, but I have not personally tried it.

    Some fruits like pineapple, apples, peaches, apricots, pears, and nectarines also grill up well for dessert dishes.

    There is so much good stuff you can grill, it is almoste a shame to limit yourself to strictly beef, pork, and skin on chicken. Have fun.
  • Fidel
    Fidel Posts: 10,172
    The egg is awesome for chicken, seafood, veggies, paella, soups.

    Anything you can cook inside you can cook outside.
  • not to be a total jagweed, but what about just eating less?
    we all tend to cook a steak per person, but usually e are just fine if we split one, and have grilled vegetables (zukes, summer squash, etc.) on the side.

    i'd bet many of us (including me) just simply eat way more than we need to
  • Well that sounds good in theory...

    But with all the good food coming off of those eggs, it is hard not to stop. Just one more rib is not going to hurt me... :lol:
  • i'd love to eat without any restraint too.
  • Jupiter Jim
    Jupiter Jim Posts: 3,351
    This is how I see using the egg and the lighter fair.
    First of all in reality it is just another source of heat that can be used for almost any type of food.
    You can reach very high temps for searing or very low temps, we can add wood for a smoke flavor and last it is an awesome oven and you can bake anything that you would bake in the old metal box in the house on the Egg as well. The Egg also keeps meat very moist.
    So if you are used to cooking more light and healthy foods find a way to do it on the egg. Adapt what you would cook in the house on the stove/oven, use the same healthy ingredients you have before the egg.
    Take corn on the cob, I like real butter, salt and pepper and the pepper is the only ingredient that is good for us. The corn is just ok but turns to sugar. But you can cook it on the egg in the husk and a light spray with EVOO is better for us than butter. Might not taste as good and I don’t have the will power to say no to butter but due to high blood pressure I will give up the salt.
    Some people like asparagus on the egg but they wrap them in bacon and that is how I like them but a little EVOO and no bacon will work.
    A good friend of mine cooks boneless turkey breast and he even takes the skin off as well. He tells me it is just a moist as with the skin on. I love the skin!!
    I'm not an expert, just my thoughts based on cooking on the Egg.
    Jupiter Jim

    I'm only hungry when I'm awake!

    Okeechobee FL. Winter

    West Jefferson NC Summer

  • UKMatt
    UKMatt Posts: 113
    I've been on a bit of a health kick recently. We don't do low carb or weightwatchers - when we're trying to eat healthy we try to limit calories and control portion size (to a normal portion!).

    We've found quite a few things we like to cook on the egg:

    - Fish tacos - blacked in a cast iron pan with a light spray of olive oil, low fat tortillas, zesty sour cream (cilantro, lime juice and fat free sour cream) and plenty of mango salsa (mango, red onion, habanero, tomato, cilantro)

    - Pork tenderloin cooked a bunch of different ways, the favorite being marinaded char sui style (limit the marinade) and served with tons of veggies and brown rice.

    - Tandoori Chicken using skinless breasts, raita with mint and fat free yogurt, fruit chutney and a healthy veggie side dish (fave is garbanzos, tomatoes, spinach and onion with spices, ginger and garlic, all done in a cast iron pan)

    etc - Epicurious is great for recipes and you can filter on low fat or low calorie etc.

    HTH
    UKMatt
  • Yum! Those are great suggestions, UK Matt.
    Interesting thoughts, all! And again, don't get me wrong. I sit at work and dream about the steaks, the butts and pizzas. That stuff is marvelous weekend food, but I prefer my day-today diet a little lighter.
  • UKMatt
    UKMatt Posts: 113
    ThunderBunny wrote:
    Yum! Those are great suggestions, UK Matt.
    Interesting thoughts, all! And again, don't get me wrong. I sit at work and dream about the steaks, the butts and pizzas.

    Oh me too! Our current plan is to eat healthy in the week, get some exercise which allows us to eat a sensible amount of really unhealthy stuff at the weekend!

    UKMatt
  • Hoss
    Hoss Posts: 14,600
    A really OLD man once told me...Never EAT,DRINK or SLEEP as much as you would like to! ;)
  • golffer
    golffer Posts: 144
    receipt for this - marinaded char sui style ?
  • Well yeah! Just 'cause you want to eat healthy, doesn't mean you have to eat RAW! It's a cooker...so cook on it. You don't want ribs and brats all the time? Cook veggies, fish, etc. You haven't had asparagus in the springtime, until you've given it a light coating of olive oil, a sprinkle of salt, and then grilled it.

    Try grilled romaine with a light vinaigrette.

    Ratatouille.

    Grilled fresh fruit. Baked apples. Make some bread. Stuff a nice lean pork tenderloin with spinach, sun dried tomatoes, feta and pine nuts and grill or roast that bad boy.

    People tend to automatically connect grilling with high-fat foods, but that's their loss. The rest of us know better.