Cooking for Manly Men

There used to be a time when if you wanted to eat bread, you had to make it.

No, I'm serious. Saw it on the History Channel.

Now, think about it, to consume a few hundred calories of carbs, you had to expend a couple hundred calories of energy kneading dough, manhandling a roller, and chopping wheat. . . or whatever else was involved in the tedious process of bread making. The result? No fat gain.

If you wanted to eat a pie, you had to make the pie, and this took, like, hours. True story. Ask your grandma. These days, I've seen whole pies for sale at Wal-mart for a couple bucks. Cheap, instant, worthless calories.

These days not many people cook. There aren't many stay-at-moms today, and even their lives are so hectic that even they can't cook but maybe one meal a day. So what do we do? We eat fast food, we use vending machines, we eat out more often, and we consume boxed and highly processed microwave foods.

Well, here's something I've noticed over the years: the more I cook the better results I get in the gym. If I look in the mirror and notice I'm slipping, I can easily look back and see why: too much "quick food," too many restaurant meals, too much snacking because I had no real meals ready to go during busy times.

You've heard this suggestion a hundred times: cook enough on Sunday to eat all week. Not a bad idea, but I've just found something to make it even easier: a slow cooker.

Maybe you've heard of these things, but they're new to me. Also called a crock pot, a slow cooker is a big canister you throw food into, flip a switch, and come back a few hours later to several healthy meals. Really, it's that simple. Most of these things only have one switch: warm, low, and high. Since that's the same number of settings as a leaf-blower, it's pretty man-friendly.

Here's the basic way to do it.

1. Get some broth or soup or combo of both.
2. Get some frozen veggies
3. Get some meat

Toss them all in the there and turn it on. Five to eight hours later, you have a crapload of meals, the tenderest meat you've ever eaten, and the tastiest veggies you've ever had. (Actually, I usually put the veggies in several hours later or they tend to cook to pieces. I just like them in bigger chunks.)

Here's some healthy bodybuilder-friendly recipes I've come up with:

Chicken Enchilada

Ingredients:

A whole bunch of chicken breasts with the fat trimmed off

A can of Progresso "Carb Monitor" chicken enchilada soup

Two bags of frozen veggies. I use broccoli and cauliflower.

2 cans of low sodium chicken broth

Toss it all in, turn it on, eat it a few hours later, save the rest.

Hearty Bodybuilder Stew

A whole bunch of lean meat

A couple cans of flavored stewed tomatoes

2 cans of low sodium beef broth

1 bag of frozen veggies

Half a bag of light red kidney beans

A dash of every seasoning in the kitchen and a shot of worcestershire sauce

Toss it in, flip the switch, cook it, eat it, burp, eliminate, repeat.

It's almost impossible to mess this stuff up. I find I can "slow cook" twice per week and take care of at least two meals every day. Makes it easy to increase my vegetable intake too. It's ridiculously simple.

Give it a shot. And since I'm an admitted newbie at slow-cooking, if you have some healthy recipes or tips, post them below!

More. More like this!

One can never go wrong posting healthy recipes, for, regardless of food being bu fuel, I do like to eat.

Well done. (Am I still allowed to say that?).

Wow. My Mom always kept a crock pot and what it was used for has always been a mystery. It sounds really simple and time conserving. I think I'll go pick one up.

Good blog.

The crock pot is my best friend. I can turn it on in the morning before I leave for work, and dinner is served when I get home. Usually, I select recipes that cook enough for two nights to cut down on my time in the kitchen. This method of cooking is really healthy and effortless. Also, there is only one pot to clean up!

I get most of my recipes at allrecipes.com. You can search by slowcooker method and bring up tons of recipes. You can do pot roast, stews, chili, soups, casseroles and a plethora of other meals in this machine.

Also, the newer crock pot models have a timer and warm mode. So if your meal only needs to cook 6 hours, you can set it to the 6 and then the crock pot will keep it warm until you are ready to eat. That's great if you have to be away from home for a long period of time and don't want your food cooking for over 8 hours.

Got me a small crockpot and loving it every time. If you learn to do two simplest things - crockpot meals and marinades - all your food troubles will be officially over.

marinades - wash chicken, add sauce, place in fridge. When hungry, saute' and serve over potatoes/rice/pasta and vegetables.

crockpot - Wash and season meat and veggies, place in crockpot, add sauce/soup/broth. Set and go.

Wow...I can't remember the last time I ate fries at McD's

I did eat a few packets of fries at Del Taco on my last bulking cycle...One mistake I wont be making again.

That was also my learning curve.

FFB -> diet is very important -> must learn how to cook

Unfortunately nobody wants to hear that, I guess it just makes too much sense....

More articles like this please, the average cook book just does not pay attention to how much you have to eat (and cook) to get 3000-4000 clean calories a day.

Chili:

1 lb browned beef
1 can kidney beans (drain)
1 can black beans (drain)
1 big can pork & beans
1 can diced tomatos
-chili powder, other seasons if desired
-Some V-8 vegitable juice, I like the big 12 0z soda can type. Easy.

Hell put in onions if you like, I just season and heat. I will tell you with all this fibre be prepared to hit the toilet often! I am even thinking of throwing in some finely chopped spinach

This whole thing must be like 8 bucks and makes enough for probably 5-6 meals

I have seen John Berardi make a similar chili

I've got a lean pork roast with bay leaves, rosemary, salt, pepper, and olive oil cooking right now. I'll add mixed veggies when I get home from work.

SLOW COOKER JAMBALAYA

1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch cubes
1/2 pound andouille sausage, diced
1 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes
1 medium onion, chopped
1 green bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
1 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth
2 teaspoons dried oregano
2 teaspoons Cajun or Creole seasoning
1 teaspoon hot sauce
2 bay leaves
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1 pound frozen peeled and cooked shrimp, thawed
2 cups cooked rice
In a slow cooker, combine chicken, sausage, tomatoes, onion, green pepper, celery, and chicken broth. Stir in oregano, Cajun seasoning, hot sauce, bay leaves, and thyme.
Cover, and cook on LOW for 7 hours or on HIGH for 3 hours. Stir in the thawed shrimp, cover and cook until the shrimp is heated through, about 5 minutes. Discard bay leaves and spoon mixture over cooked rice.

TACO SOUP (Slow cooker)

2 pounds extra lean ground beef
2 cups diced onions
2 (15 1/2-ounce) cans pinto beans
1 (15 1/2-ounce) can pink kidney beans
1 (15 1/4-ounce) can whole kernel corn, drained
1 (14 1/2-ounce) can Mexican-style stewed tomatoes
1 (14 1/2-ounce) can diced tomatoes
1 (14 1/2-ounce) can tomatoes with chiles
2 (4 1/2-ounce) cans diced green chiles
1 (4.6-ounce) can black olives, drained and sliced, optional
1/2 cup green olives, sliced, optional
1 (1 1/4-ounce) package taco seasoning mix
1 (1-ounce) package ranch salad dressing mix
Fat Free Corn chips, for serving
Low Fat Sour cream, for garnish
Low Fat Grated cheese, for garnish
Chopped green onions, for garnish
Pickled jalapenos, for garnish
Brown the ground beef and onions in a large skillet; drain the excess fat, then transfer the browned beef and onions to a large slow cooker or a stockpot. Add the beans, corn, tomatoes, green chiles, black olives, green olives, taco seasoning, and ranch dressing mix, and cook in a slow cooker on low for 6 to 8 hours or simmer over low heat for about 1 hour in a pot on the stove. To serve, place a few corn chips in each bowl and ladle soup over them. Top with sour cream, cheese, green onions and jalapenos

I thought this article was going to be about the cast iron skillet. The true tool of manly man cooking (indoors, the charcoal grill of course rules the outside)

great article!

My wife and I do this all summer to get us through those rush days when we're teaching. We especially make lots of soups, chilis, etc in individual sizes and freeze in glad containers. Grab and go. We'll make 24 healthy burritos at a time, slow cooker stuff, any number of things. Always works out wonderfully.

Let me recommend the book "500 low carb recipes for your slow cooker." We got it cheap on amazon.com. Avoid the nut mix recipes though - they're hard to make and easy to burn. Otherwise it's great.

How much do one of these cost?

Here's my recipe for what I call "Ramen Surprise"

- 12 Cups Water
- 8 Packages Ramen (beek flavor)
- 4 Lbs. ground beef
- 2 Onions, chopped.
- 1 Bell Pepper, chopped.
- 6 scoops unflavored protein powder.

Put the meat in with the chopped veggies, cook until the meat is done, probably high on all day until you get home. Cook the ramen noodles on the stove, and add flavor packets. Now add the ramen to the corck pot, stir in well, add protein powder, mix well.

The best part is that it can be blended later up for a handy high protein snack.

Enjoy!

What exactly would be the difference to praparing meals with a standard cooking pot on a low heat hob or in a low heat stove?
Just convenience or any other feature?

Here is a fvorite crock pot recipe for me:

6 to 8 frozen chicken breasts
A couple of small jars of salsa
A can of black beans

Welcome to the 21st Century, Chris.

OK, here is some I like.

Berardi's Chili. Just pop it all in the cooker after you brown the meat.

For breakfast:

1 Cup Steel Cut Oats
2 Cups Water
1 Cup milk or heavy cream (depends on how many calories you want)
1 Cup dried fruit (bananas, cranberries, cherries, etc.)
1-2 dash Cinnamon

Do this at night before you go to sleep and leave it on low. When you wake up, breakfast is just a scoop (or two) of Metabolic Drive/Grow! away.

Also, if you use the frozen chicken breasts you get at Costco/Sams, don't use as much liquid as the fresh breasts. You will end up with too much liquid.