A Cooking Support Squad Works For Several Reasons:

1. It’s great EXCUSE to socialize with like minded health oriented guys who love to cook and eat fresh home made food.
2. It gives us a chance to try those recipes that we never quite get to try and accumulate in the dusty corners of our cabinets.
3. It creates a sense of accountability to others- you can’t let the others down by not pulling your weight and doing your share.
4. The weight of a deadline creates an urgency that leads to action and creativity, especially in managing time.
5. It pulls you out of your old eating ruts- Most of us eat the same 15 foods over and over without even realizing how predictable we are.
6. Portion Control- Most guys despite eating a healthful diet tend to overeat and underestimate portions sizes. We portion our meals into freezable microwaveable containers and know exactly how many calories we’re getting.

How To Do It

If you want to start your own group it’s simple:

• Find 1-2 other guys who want to cook and are into eating healthy.
• Keep the group to 3-4 people or rotate if more want to join.
• Most home kitchens get crowded with more than 3 people cooking at once.
• Aim for 4-6 recipes with two portions per person.

Assign each person a food from these categories:

• BREAKFAST choose low cal versions of traditional foods like frittatas, pancakes, yogurt cereal parfaits and panninis
• SNACKS – usually anything easily portable and easy to transport on the road or at work
• LUNCHES/DINNERS- Divide the lunch and dinner category into a separate PROTEIN OR STARCH(for example one guy would make pork tenderloin another guy would make the butternut squash) or a combination “all in one dish meal” like chili, stews, casseroles salads.

Be open and allow for creativity just try to keep a balance so each of your meals contains a vegetable ( fibrous carb) a Protein ( meat fish, poultry eggs) and starchy carb ( sweet potato, barley)

Here Are A Few Recipes To Get You Started
(Most of these recipes can be found in my Good To Go cookbook)

Cottage Cheese Pancakes
These can be made ahead , frozen and reheated in the microwave for 45 seconds. Also make a great “bread” for breakfast sandwich with eggs and ham.

• 1 Cup of cottage cheese
• 2 egg whites
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 tbs of soy flour ( try Twinlab Veggie Fuel)
• 1/2 tsp of cream of tartar

Using a wire whisk or portable mixer beat the egg whites until frothy. Add cream of tartar and beat until still meringue like peaks form . Set Aside.
In a separate bowl mix the egg yolk cottage cheese and soy flour. Gently combine this with the egg white mixture and stir until combined. DON”T OVER MIX! Cook as you would a regular pancake using a pan sprayed with PAM cooking spray and a medium flame heat, cook until each side becomes lightly browned. Serve with low sugar pancake syrup , cinnamon, butter substitute, or add fresh berries and Greek yogurt topping. Makes a single serving 340 calories 30 grams of carbohydrates 2 grams carbs 8 grams of fat 0 fiber

Chicken Club Lettuce Wraps
A low carb alternative to bread based wraps

• 3 large green leaf, bib or iceberg lettuce leaves
• 1 cup of leftover cooked chicken
• 1/2 cup of diced red pepper
• 1 plum tomato diced
• 1/4 of a HAAS( the kind with the dark green skin) avocado
• 1 heaping tablespoon low-fat mayonnaise

Mix all the vegetable with the mayonnaise. Place in the center of the lettuce leaf wrap it up and enjoy!
Makes a single serving 320 Calories, 34 grams protein, 15 grams of carbs 13 grams of fat 3 grams of fiber