Free Online Recipes - Cont'd

2. Scrambled Eggs and Oatmeal With Yogurt And Fruit

This is a great breakfast meal that will keep you from getting hungry for HOURS. The fat in the egg yolks keeps you satisfied while the thick oatmeal will keep your digestive system busy for a long time. Lots of fiber to work on!

6 whole eggs - not egg whites, WHOLE eggs! They're not bad for you like many people seem to think. The yolk is where most of the nutrients are. Tastes a whole lot better with yolks, too. Adjust the number of eggs to your preference.

1 gob of Smart Balance margarine to coat the bottom of the pan. Cooking spray will work for this as will olive oil.

1 dry cup of Quaker Oats - either the Old Fashioned or 1 Minute oats are fine here. Adjust the quantity of oats to your preference.

2 cups of water (basically, double the amount of oats you put in).

A bunch of fruit - whatever your favorite fruit is. I find berries or grapes work best because you don't need to cut them up. Wash them before eating them.

1 Thing of yogurt - this is the technical term for however much yogurt you want to put in the oatmeal. If I have individually packaged yogurts, I'll just dump one of those in. If I have a bigger container, I'll scoop a pile of yogurt in until it looks like enough. You'll figure out how much you want to put in.

First, get the fruit ready. Wash it up and put it in a small bowl. Crack the eggs into a bowl/cup and scramble them. If you're talented, you can crack them with one hand and not slop them down the sides. After cracking about 30,000 eggs in my lifetime, I'm still not talented. I managed to do it once then the next time I ended up with a dripping fistful of egg and shell.

** On a side note, it IS possible to squeeze an egg with one hand and break it. A friend of mine once told me that you can't put an egg in the palm of your hand, squeeze it and break it. He said it wasn't possible (he was a physics major). So I grabbed an egg and squeezed it REALLY tight. Three seconds later, it exploded so hard the yolk popped out and flew 6 feet across the room and actually landed right in his shirt pocket!

So anyway, THAT being said, measure out a cup of oats, dump it in a good-sized bowl, then add double the amount of oats in water, e.g. 1 cup of oats, add 2 cups of water. You can adjust the water later, depending on if you like your oatmeal a little soupy (like I do) or masonry thick (like my wife does).

Nuke it for about 3 1/2 to 4 minutes. While that's going, turn on the stove and get the pan for the eggs heated up. Throw a gob of Smart Balance margarine in the pan (that's a great brand - it's actually a reasonably healthy margarine and tastes good). Olive oil works really well here, too, as does non-stick spray. With the olive oil, it's a good idea to have a spray bottle for it so it doesn't all pool up in the corner that your stove burner leans to (you know what I'm talking about).

Make sure the whole bottom surface of the egg pan gets covered with something slippery or you'll regret it later when you try to keep eggs from getting all crusted up and nasty along the sides.

Pour the beaten eggs into the pan and watch them cook. Stir them around once the bottom starts to get solid. Keep stirring and scraping the sides off to avoid the crust I mentioned above.

Your oatmeal should be done about the same time the eggs are. So put the eggs on a plate and set it aside for now.

Take your bowl of oatmeal out of the microwave then dump the yogurt in, then the fruit. Stir it all up (not the eggs, just the fruit and yogurt) and you're good to go.

This meal will keep you going for hours!

3. Meat and Taters

"Meat and potatoes" might be a cliché but for me, there's not much that works better for supporting muscle growth than a nice piece of meat (or chicken or fish) and a big bucket of potatoes. And if that sounds corny, it should, because sometimes I'll throw some corn in with the potatoes.

Let's talk about potatoes first, then I'll give the inside scoop on how to cook meat (I think I can hear my wife laughing in the background as I write about my cooking skills...).

First, grab 3 or 4 good-sized potatoes. I try to get red potatoes since they can't be stored as long as other potatoes therefore they're fresher when you get them rather than having been sitting in storage for a year.

I prefer to microwave potatoes since it's faster than boiling and they turn out really well. Wash any crud off them then slice off any questionable areas. Stick a fork or knife in them a few times to "aerate" so they don't explode in the microwave (unless you enjoy scraping your dinner off the sides).

For each potato, figure on about 3 to 5 minutes of cooking time, depending on the size of your potato and power of your microwave. You'll know they're done when you can easily stick a fork right through - just don't leave the fork in the microwave or you'll be in for a surprise.

Dump in a big bowl, mix in some margarine (or if you're on a low-fat kick, pour some ketchup in it), add some sea salt and you're set. You can also throw in can of corn (nuke it first - not the can but the corn) to spice things up.

As for the meat, if you're good with a gas or charcoal grill, more power to you. You're a better cook than I am and I don't know why you're even reading this part. If you have one of those George Foreman countertop grills, those work really well for meat (especially the ones that you can pull the grill things off and put them in the dishwasher - the ones that you can't remove are a pain in the butt to clean, so if you're going to get one, get the removable grill version). Follow the instructions that came with the grill for the meat or chicken or fish you're cooking.

If you've got some chicken breasts that you just want to "fire and forget" rather than tend to on a grill, throw them in pan, pre-heat the oven to about 400 degrees, dump some spices on them (whatever you like), cover with tinfoil to keep the juices in, and cook for about 30 minutes or so (SET THE TIMER!). If you want to get REALLY fancy, slice up a lemon and toss a few slices on top with some black pepper.

There you have it. Meat and potatoes. Perfect for a big post-workout meal that will help you pack the pounds on.

I also like to use potatoes, corn and ground beef (or sirloin) to make "Lazy Cook" Shepherd's Pie. Microwave the potatoes and corn as above. Boil the meat as in recipe #1, then dump it all into a big bowl and stir. You'll be 5 pounds heavier by the end of the meal!

Conclusion:

As you can see, cooking tasty food for building muscle doesn't have to be hard and recipes don't have to be these complex things that take hours to make and require more than very basic cooking skills. With my recipes, if you can do a few simple things without burning yourself, that's about all the skill you need.

And if you're interested in learning some recipes for fat loss, I've got 3 excellent ones that I can share with you as well! Go back up to the top of the article and reread it. It's the same stuff...now just eat less of it...

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Nick Nilsson is Vice-President of the online personal training company BetterU, Inc. He has a degree in Physical Education and Psychology and has been inventing new training techniques for more than 16 years. Nick is the author of a number of bodybuilding eBooks including "Metabolic Surge - Rapid Fat Loss," "The Best Exercises You've Never Heard Of," "Gluteus to the Maximus - Build a Bigger Butt NOW!" and "The Best Abdominal Exercises You've Never Heard Of" all available at http://www.fitness-ebooks.com . He can be contacted at betteru@fitstep.com.

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