Recipe Round-Up From My 20 Pound Weight Loss

For the longest time weight loss was an epic struggle for me. I am a foodie meaning I love food. The textures, the smells, the atmosphere, the experience, the memories…and most of all, the tastes. Eating is my hobby.

Naturally, I thought in order to be thin, I’d have to give up flavor, fatty foods, and fun in general. That kind of sacrifice never appealed to me, so portly I remained for the majority of my life. My desire to be thin never outweighed my desire to eat delicious food.

Then, I discovered that I didn’t have to choose between the food I love and weight loss.

And neither do you! Given the right recipes, there is plenty of delicious food AND weight loss to be had.

I made the best of both worlds come together: delicious food and weight-loss!

Maybe this isn’t new information to you, but it was to me. People always told me it was possible to eat yummy food while losing weight. But they lied. Every recommended and suggested “tasty,” “healthy” recipe I tried SUCKED.

The recipes were often too much work and called for obscure ingredients, without much payout in the flavor department to make it worth it. Or the end product tasted far inferior to what I was used to eating.

Trust me when I say I’m not about to dish up a bunch of mediocre recipes you will have to gag down in the name of weight loss. I wouldn’t wish that upon my worst enemy. So, friend…no. Mom will never do that to you.

Weight-loss has been a delicate dance for me.

A constant struggle between loving life and food, and the need to lose weight. I found my groove when I decided I’d rather eat LESS of something delicious than MORE of something unremarkable just because it was healthier.

Sounds obvious and great in theory, but there’s a pretty major problem with this plan. You simply can’t eat less of something delicious for 3 meals every day and be satisfied. You will get hungry. There’s no way around it.

Less of the tasty stuff isn’t gonna fill you up like more of the tolerable stuff will. Eventually, your hunger will drive you mad, to the brink of binge-sanity, and right off the deep end. Not good for weight loss.

In order to achieve sustainable and consistent weight loss, it is paramount to eat things that satisfy your soul and taste buds everyday.

Sometimes satisfaction comes from a lightened up version of your favorite dish. Maybe 2 perfect cookies is what hits the spot. Or you might find a whole homemade pizza brings the joy you’re looking for.

The tricky part is exercising your power to STOP eating when you are comfortably satisfied. Moderation is key, and satisfaction leads you to moderation. They work together as a team.

The ability to stop eating indulgent food when you are satisfied is a powerful thing. Almost superpower level prowess, actually. And it’s easier to do when you’re not starving and when the indulgent food isn’t off limits.

To assist you in your quest to eat the tastiest of foods in moderation, you need to fill in the hunger gap with some lighter food options. And newsflash! These lighter, healthier foods can, and should, also be delicious. Let me show you my ways…

Below you will find satisfying recipes and recipes that will fill you up.

Pepper these into your food rotation and you will be able to keep counting calories indefinitely. (Sidenote: You need to eat more. This system doesn’t work so well in a 1200 calorie day.)

Here are Mom’s Favorite Crave Killing Recipes. These are ALL my favorite meals from my 20-lb weight loss journey. Enjoy!

Pizza

Ah, pizza. At one point I legit thought I would never lose weight because I couldn’t resist pizza. Once during my attempt at a sugar detox, I banished myself to a bedroom to avoid eating pizza with my family. How sad is that?

I hope this doesn’t sound familiar to you. If it does, and you’re currently living this way, please take my hand. Let me lead you to greener, cheesier, pepperoni-filled pasture.

Now, I am not someone who feels satisfied after one or two slices of pizza. Yes, I can and have stopped after one or two. But I hate it. I want an entire plate of pizza. Not to mention I want that pizza piled high and oozing off the sides of said plate.

Because of this desire, nay…need, nine times out of ten I make my own pizza rather than opting for takeout. The pizzas I make hit. the. spot. By making my own I get to enjoy a lot of pizza (the whole darn thing, in fact), in all it’s saucy, flavorful glory. There is nothing more satisfying than eating an entire pizza whilst losing weight.

Feel free to use the base crust from these recipes and top it like a regular ol’ pizza. I either buy a jarred or canned marinara sauce or make it myself. Then I top with pepperoni (never of the turkey variety), bell peppers, black olives, and onions.

My ENTIRE pizza ends up clocking in under or around 700 amazingly delicious calories. A 700-calorie pizza is totally doable when you take the plunge to eat more calories in order to lose weight.

Here are 3 of my favorite specialty pizzas:

Low-Calorie Jalapeno Popper Pizza

Calorie-Friendly Taco Pizza

Mom’s Calorie Friendly Chicken and Artichoke White Pizza Recipe

I realize all those recipes are from my own kitchen, but what can I say? No one does weight loss pizza as well as Mom! My brain and belly are full of additional pizza concoctions, I just need to take the time to write them down. Stay tuned.

Creamy

I’m literally always craving something creamy. Unfortunately, “creamy” is usually the death of diets. Butter, heavy cream, and sour cream – oh my! Put them all together- oh yes!

Chicken alfredo used to be one of my favorite meals, and now I rarely eat it because 1. Alfredo sauce is wicked calorie dense and just not worth it. It would take great sacrifice throughout the day to make room for it within my calorie goal. 2. I satisfy my need for creamy food by making tasty soups instead.

A creamy soup always makes me feel happy and cozy. Plus, you don’t have to put much effort into lightening most of them up either. Soups always tend to be fairly low calorie for a decent sized serving.

Here’s some of my favorite creamy soups:

The Best Broccoli Cheese Soup

Every time I make this someone asks for the recipe. Instead of half and half I use 2% milk and it’s still super creamy and lives up to its title.

Creamy chicken tortilla soup

I haven’t made this yet, but a Kid posted it as a go-to soup. I trust my Kids because they are all foodies like me, so I plan to make this recipe ASAP.

Award Winning Cheeseburger Soup

This one is on the higher end of calories per serving. But when you consider how many calories you’re saving compared to eating an actual cheeseburger with fries, it’s pretty significant.

Sometimes you need a cheeseburger and fries, but if you’re looking for a decadent soup reminiscent of that flavor, without the additional fat and calories, there’s your ticket.

White Chicken Chili

This is my favorite white chicken chili recipe. It’s so good, I used to make it even when I wasn’t dieting. It’s perfection. I even use full fat cream cheese, because that’s how I roll, and it’s still low in calories.

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Sweet

Chocolate Cherry Smoothie

This thing has my heart. It has saved me from sucking down so many a milkshake! Plus it’s shockingly filling. I only swear by it if you use this protein powder, this milk, and these cocoa nibs. Don’t mess with perfection.

Delicious Carrot Cake Overnight Oats

I don’t care that it’s cold oatmeal – it satisfies my need for carrot cake! It’s a weird need, I’ll give you that. Weird or not, it’s a non-issue now that I’ve perfected this cream-cheesy creation!

Crustless Pumpkin Pie

I love custard pie. This is a great way to get the custard texture and sweet flavor, without the calorie-laden crust and gobs of sugar! Plus, you’re eating fruit that has the nutritional profile of a veggie! Mmmm. BRB, gonna go make it now.

A Note About Cookies and Brownies

If you LOVE fresh-baked, homemade cookies and brownies (who doesn’t??), here’s a great way to enjoy them without eating the entire batch. ONLY bake them if you can pawn them off on other people.

Simply bake your favorite recipe, eat or set aside one or two – or three depending on your goals and desires – and give the rest away IMMEDIATELY.

If I had to choose between eating fewer real deal cookies or brownies or more of their healthy, wannabe imposters, I will always choose the real thing. Healthy substitutes have NEVER, EVER held a candle to an honest-to-gooey-goodness cookie and brownie for me. They’re just not worth it.

The real deal, however? Always worth it. That satisfaction keeps me going happily on my calorie counting way. Sometimes satisfaction trumps healthy in the long game of weight loss…so just eat the real cookie or brownie. Mom said so.

I limit myself to 3-4 cookies…a day (ha!). Eating lower calorie foods the rest of the day is a sacrifice I’m willing to make for them from time to time. It’s ALWAYS worth it to me.

In case you don’t have a favorite cookie or brownie, here are mine:

The Best Chocolate Chip Cookies

The key here is the bake time: 7-8 minutes. You will take them out and think they are still raw. Do NOT put them back into the oven. Let them sit a minute or two longer on the pan before transferring to a cooling rack.

They taste like baked cookie dough, which I realize sounds ridiculous because that’s exactly what cookies are, but trust me. You’ll understand what I mean when you take your first bite. Please make sure to eat one straight outta the oven. Mind blowingly delicious. I get asked for this recipe all the time.

Brownies

That is the recipe but the following tweaks take these brownies from amazing to perfection.

1. Using a hand mixer, combine the first 4 ingredients until light and fluffy
2. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix.
3. Pour batter into a metal pan. Metal is non-negotiable.
4. Reduce bake time to a random, precise 23 minutes. Forget the toothpick, just take them out at exactly 23 minutes.
5. Omit the nuts or I will hunt you down.
6. Don’t slather chocolate icing on these and rob yourself of the perfect crackly crunch.
7. Let them cool completely. If you have godlike willpower, they’re even better the next day.

Restaurant Foods at Home

Homemade Caesar Dressing Without Anchovies

The buck stops here. This is hands down my FAVORITE salad dressing. It’s not low calorie, per se, but it is at least BETTER for you than eating Caesar dressing from a restaurant and here’s why.

Prior to finding this recipe, I would order Caesar salads when I went out to eat. BIG MISTAKE. Salads like this at restaurants pack just as many, if not more, calories as a burger and fries.

With this tasty recipe I can easily control the add-ons at home and create something both delicious and weight loss conscious. Less parmesan, fewer croutons, grilled chicken instead of fried, and portion controlled dressing. Easy peasy. Delicious.

Better Than Take Out Fried Rice

You should hear the sounds my friends make as they eat this. This meal is a common request from guests, and a dinner staple in our house. I often crave fried rice. I love it!

The problem is, when I go to a Chinese restaurant, I never get ONLY fried rice. I get the sauce-drowned meat and veggies along with it, plus the eggrolls, wontons, and fortune cookies. Fried rice made at home is easy to measure and log. It also saves me from all the delicious deep fried appetizers the restaurants have to offer!

Restaurant Salsa

I crave Mexican food almost daily. Like pizza, it used to epically derail my diet. Making this salsa at home has been a power play for me. I can make a meal out of chips and salsa, all within my calorie budget.

At home I serve this salsa up with a measured portion of my favorite tortilla chips. I’m not tempted to get the Queso cheese dip and a full entree on top of it like I would easily order at a restaurant. Craving satisfied, calories under control.

Buffalo Chicken Dip

Chicken wing cravings are real. And chicken wings are a slippery slope. Like, can you really only eat a couple? No. No, you can’t. It’s physically impossible.

Satisfy your Buffalo wing cravings with this dip. It’s DELICIOUS. Believe it or not, I prefer scooping this dip up with celery sticks rather than chips. I know, I know, crazy right? I’m a huge chip fan, but there’s something about cool, crisp, fresh veggies that complements this dip so well!

You must give this recipe a try! You’ll save yourself from the millions of calories waiting for you at Buffalo Wild Wings.

Bread

Homemade pitas

Again, this one here is not light on calories, but hear me out. I used to be powerless against bread. I was like a moth drawn to its yeasty flame, like I’d never have a chance to eat it again. If it was around, I wolfed it down.

When the pandemic hit, I started baking all our bread…and never stopped. It was kinda like immersion therapy for me. My illogical need to eat all the bread dissipated.

More than likely, you will not go to the extreme with all the bread baking, but you must try these pitas. You will see how ridiculously easy these homemade pitas are to make, and taste how delicious they are, and then you’ll understand why they make me easily pass the bread basket at restaurants.

I often whip up a batch of these pitas, on a whim, and eat only one. Since they are easy to make and readily available, I don’t feel the need to pig out!

I eat homemade, fresh from the oven bread so regularly, I am NEVER tempted to nibble on complimentary bread when dining out. It’s usually subpar to what I’m used to enjoying at home. So if you are struggling from a bread addiction, perhaps try making these at home once a week. I’m telling you, it worked for me!

Please try these! They are, no lie, the BEST pitas I’ve ever had. They actually bake up with a useful lil pocket, which I gladly fill with greek chicken (I only make the chicken from this recipe, the rest wasn’t my favorite) and homemade tzatziki sauce. Or I just dip the pitas in hummus.

And there you have it!

I will grace you with more favorite crave killing recipes in future posts! I’m going to have to make this a multi-part series, or else this blog post would quickly turn into a novel. Mainly because I could talk about food all day. No exaggeration.

I hope you try some of these recipes and let me know how you like them. Losing weight is attainable and, dare I say, enjoyable, if you figure out how to eat in a way that fits your tastes and lifestyle.

These recipes will help you do just that! Combine these recipes with this planner to see how you can easily plan to eat the foods you love into your life and lose weight.

Did you know?

Healthy recipes are great, but they aren’t going to solve all your weight loss woes. For everything else, from undying support and friendly camaraderie to calculating the appropriate calorie range for your body’s needs, Mom’s Kids is the only weight loss group you’ll ever need.

Let me teach you how to Live Free from diets and restrictions. I’ll show you how to take control of the foods you love and lose weight. (Just in case you didn’t know, I track my food with Noom i conjunction to Kids while using the planner. It sounds like a lot, but it’s not when it’s fun.)

Don’t forget to follow me on Instagram and pin this to Pinterest for easy reference!

Recipe Round-Up From My 20 Pound Weight Loss

Then, I discovered that I didn’t have to choose between the food I love and weight loss.

Weight-loss has been a delicate dance for me.

In order to achieve sustainable and consistent weight loss, it is paramount to eat things that satisfy your soul and taste buds everyday.