Slim Down with Home Cooking: Easy Recipes for Weight Loss

Dujam Jakasa
6 min readJul 4, 2024

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Photo by Maarten van den Heuvel on Unsplash

Why Home Cooking is Your Secret Weapon

If you feel as though you have been going around and around in circles with your weight and not getting the results you want, the answer might be closer than you think. In fact, it could be right in your kitchen! When it comes to weight loss, home cooking is the answer. When you cook at home, you know exactly what is going into your food. You can keep an eye on portion sizes and make sure calorie bombs such as dressings and fried foods stay away from your plate. Not only that, you can avoid the excess calories, sugar, and additives found in take-out foods and the empty calories of extreme convenience foods such as TV dinners. But where do you begin to navigate this healthy culinary adventure? Don’t worry, here are some great recipes to get you started!

The Temptation of Convenience Foods

Between work, running errands, picking up kids and running to baseball practice, it is tempting to rely on carry-out or ready-made meals to quickly satisfy our hunger — and we know that they are loaded with unhealthy fats, sugars and empty calories. Every day, people tell themselves: ‘I don’t have time to cook,’ or ‘I’m not good at cooking healthfully’. But you don’t need to be intimidated. Home cooking isn’t, in fact, time-consuming and complicated.

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Breaking Down the Myths

And the question you might have, is that: ‘If I’m not out of the house running errands or gathering things, how can cooking at home actually help me with weight loss?’ Number one, because your portions will be right-sized, and your ingredients and preparations will serve your goals. And when you control those things, you are most likely to have food that’s going to work and keep you satisfied. And number two, you’re not going to miss out at all on amazing food at home. You can have good, clean, delicious food literally on the daily, and it doesn’t have to be that weird green smoothie. Brianna tells a tale of roasting chicken two ways — one that was salty, juicy and delicious, and one that was so salty she thought it would explode. So hang with Brianna, she’s going to make things very easy for you. She’s also going to be your friend in the kitchen and on this journey.

Ready to Discover Easy Recipes?

Wondering what the most succulent recipes for easy weight loss are? Look no further. Fresh ingredients, balanced nutrition and mouth-watering flavors — those are the three components of this exactly practical lifestyle. Start out with the easy-to-cook recipes that shouldn’t be intimidating for those living solo, whether you’ve just met or have been together for years.

Easy Recipes for Weight Loss

1. Veggie-Packed Stir-Fry

You can’t get faster, easier or healthier than a veggie-loaded stir-fry. Pile in any mix of colorful veggies — bell peppers, broccoli, carrots and snap peas are some of my go-tos. Sauté in a small trickle of olive oil. Add lean animal protein (chicken breast) or tofu to ensure plenty of protein. Season with low-sodium soy sauce, garlic and ginger. Scoop it up and onto a small serving of brown rice or quinoa.

2. Grilled Chicken Salad

Grilled chicken salad is a healthy option for lunch or dinner. So, you take some mixed greens, add some grilled chicken breast, some cherry tomatoes, cucumber and red onion for some added crunch and you can’t forget about the avocado! Then its drizzled with a light vinaigrette of olive oil, lemon juice and some Dijon mustard. You’ll get your protein and healthy fats all in one bowl, which means you won’t feel hungry for a while.

3. Quinoa Stuffed Bell Peppers

Spicy quinoa stuffed bell peppers are a great light but filling meal. Cook your quinoa according to package directions, and then mix with black beans, corn, diced tomatoes, and add your favorite spices (cumin and paprika work great here). Stuff mix into halved peppers and bake until peppers are tender. Add a sprinkle of cheese on top to taste.

4. Zucchini Noodles with Pesto

Zucchini noodles, or zoodles, are a great low-carb meal (you can find spiralizers to make noodles from zucchini online or at kitchen supplies stores). Lightly sauté the zoodles and mix it with homemade or store-bought pesto; add in cherry tomatoes and grilled shrimp for a complete low-calorie meal, high in taste.

5. Baked Salmon with Asparagus

Baked salmon with asparagus is so elegant and simple to do. Simply put your salmon fillets on a baking sheet. Sprinkle with lemon juice, garlic and dill. Add your asparagus spears all around the salmon and season with a little olive oil and bake until your salmon is cooked, and your asparagus is soft. This is a nutritious meal loaded with the healthy omega-3 fatty acids and fiber.

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Start Your Home Cooking Journey Today

Being a culinary pro at home is not that difficult neither. People that ask for cooking at home dinner recipes asking for some easy recipes are not looking for something to elaborate. They just need a few easy recipes that can fit in their weight loss program. What people forget is that sustainable slimming is a slow process and needs to be accompanied by a bunch of small changes in the daily life, even if every single one of these changes is minute! By cooking at home instead of ordering takeaway, you are hitting seriously the first nails in your weight loss road! So here it is! Growing lean at home really takes some easy recipes… 1. CHICKEN TIKA KEBABS Preheat oven to 200C/gas 6/fan 180C. Fill a large pan with 1 inch boiling water and add rice, reduce the water’s temperature and cook till rice is done. In the meantime, place chicken breast on chopping board and whack them thickly with a rolling pin to flatten them. Stir yogurt, egg, lime juice, cumin, sea salt and cayenne in a glass pie dish. Add chicken, sit them immersed in marinade, cover with cling film and refrigerate for 10 minutes or until you’ve got your rice done. Line a baking tray with foil, toss in cubed red pepper and add chicken. Sprinkle with zest and cook for 20 minutes until chicken reaches an internal temperature of 75C/170F. Trim off cling film and serve with the joined right-rice. 2. LEMONY CHICKEN ON COURGETTE NOODLES Boil a large pot of salted water. Fill a deep pan with extra virgin olive oil and set the heat over medium-high. Toss in chicken and cook it for 3 minutes on every side, then remove and marinate with lemon juice, salt and pepper. Get a courgette finder and remove courgette into spaghetti-like threads. Join pasta in hot water along with 1 teaspoon sea salt. Crush the garlic in the middle of a shallow dish, add flour and mix up looking like breadcrumbs. Drain the courgetti over a colander, run it under cold water and squeeze all the excess water out. Heat 2 inches of oil over medium-high heat in a high-sided pan until it reaches 180C/350F on a thermometer. Dip a courgette in the flour mixture. Using a spider, plunge it in the hot oil and cook it for 2–3 minutes or until golden. Drain on kitchen paper. Toss 1 teaspoon arrowroot in warm oil. Add courgetti, drizzle with a teaspoon more oil and stir-fry for one minute. Crush the garlic in the middle of a shallow dish, add flour and mix up looking like breadcrumbs. Halve the chicken, then cut it up into thin bits. Dip in the flour, then mix in the pan with the courgetti, remove from the heat and add lemon zest.

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With these recipes and tips in your arsenal, home cooking is sure to add a delicious gastronomic element to your weight-loss journey. Bon appétit!

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Dujam Jakasa

I’m an avid writer who understands that anything is possible when you eat, live and exercise right. I want to share knowledge that I have gathered in my life.