It’s the new year and while it is not one of my New Years Resolutions to lose weight, I am continuing my efforts to lose a pound or ten. I have been struggling with the grocery budget as well as trying to keep it healthy and lo cal. I have been following Amelia’s progress on her weight loss challenge and she is also looking for lo-cal diet recipes that cost under $10.
It doesn’t seem like that would be a hard goal to reach but with the cost of food (we have blown the grocery budget this month with 3 trips to the store) it is a little more challenging than it seems. Amelia has me searching through my recipes and not finding many that are both frugal and lo cal.
One of my favorites is Salsa Chicken. Boneless chicken breasts are marinaded in a salsa marinade and then grilled or broiled.
Salsa Chicken
1/3 cup lime juice
2 tsp minced ginger
2 cloves minced garlic
2 Tb olive oil
2 tsp chili powder
1 cup Salsa
1 1/2 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts
Mix first 5 ingredients in a small pan and bring to a boil. Stir in Salsa and allow to cool. Put chicken breasts in a plastic bag and marinade for 2 – 24 hours in the refrigerator.
Grill or broil chicken breasts, turning once and basting with some marinade when you turn them until done. Make sure that chicken is done all the way through.
I use frozen bags of chicken tenderloins. These cost approximately $7 for 5 lbs so this is a very economical main dish. Salsa is a staple in our house so I always have a jar open in the refrigerator.
The recipe makes 6 servings at 225 calories per serving.
Do you have any frugal lo cal recipes to share? I will pass them along to Amelia as well. If you have one online, I will include it in an upcoming frugal lo cal recipe post so shoot me a link.
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I think chicken breast is a great way to save money and have a low calorie meal! I like to do variations of my seasoning for the chicken breast. Like sometimes I’ll have it in my salad or shred it into strips to make a quesadilla.
Hmm, well I focus more on carbs than calories but we’ve been working on lower carb and lower fat, also, basically eating just grass and water.
No really, let’s see. Anything with chicken breast is good, if the ingredients are bought at the right price.
I like chicken breasts with Barbecue Spice on them but that’s too high in sodium for the man person now that he has to have low sodium. But if sodium isn’t an issue, that spice is great on poultry, beef, and in beans. Mmm!
Frittatas are as thrifty as the ingredients and pretty low in calories depending on what you put in them. I really like them with a side salad or steamed vegetables.
Baked macaroni and cheese can be fairly low in calories, too, depending on the dairy you use.
Thinking on this some….
That Salsa Chicken recipe looks real good
I don’t have any good recipes myself, but I would say a great tip for you… is to switch your drinks to water, you’d be surprised how many calories that saves 
My easy low calorie recipe!
INGREDIENTS:
1 198g tin of sweetcorn, drained
1 300g tin of broad beans, drained
1 410g tin of petit pois, drained
1 bag plain long grain microwave rice
250g baby plum tomatoes, halved
1 large red pepper
1 tbsp capers, crushed
2 cooked breasts of chicken
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
1 tsp Dijon mustard
PREPARATION:
1. Open, drain and rinse all the canned ingredients.
2. Cut the red pepper into long thin strips, skin the cooked chicken and cut into small chunks
3. Place the rice in the microwave and cook following the instructions on the packet.
4. Then place all the ingredients in a large bowl and mix together.
5. Place the olive oil, balsamic vinegar and mustard in a small bowl and whisk to form a smooth dressing.
6. Add the dressing to the salad, toss well and serve.