Seeking your HMR Diet entree challenges! And turning up the volume to solve one of mine.
The HMR Diet Beef Stew entree has always one of my least favorite entrees. It wasn’t ever bad, per say, but it just never spoke to me and I never felt fully satisfied eating it alone.
A few months ago, I wrote about a device that I was finding super useful when I travel. And now I keep one in my classroom too! And it’s through the use of this tool that I have been increasing the volume of my entrees, finally finding a way to love the Beef Stew entree.
It’s super easy too! Just one chicken bouillon cube, 1.5 cups of water, and one Beef Stew entree. Throw them all in the mini crockpot and let sit for several hours. It has a super flavorful broth which permeates the chunks of potato and beef cubes, leaving me full and satisfied.
So is there an entree you are having trouble with or often avoid? I love a good challenge and also think crowd-sourcing is a fun way to find new ideas. So please also share your favorite entree “fix-up” here and hopefully it will help someone else!
The Healthy Academic 
I have started listing all my HMR Meal hacks on my food blog – http://foodmadeoflove.blogspot.com/
Thai Curry is the easiest one to amp up on Decision Free, and benefits the most
The HMR Veg Thai is ok. A little spicy, but not too much. They use Gardein as the meat substitute, and it’s actually good. However, the meal is a little boring. So, what to do…..
Two questions really – what are the options when you are only using HMR products, and what can you do once you add fruit and veg.
Flavorings
Mixing the Thai Curry with a Chicken soup makes it more like the curry you get in a restaurant, which tend to be quite soup like
To pump up the curry, try Green Curry paste – just watch out for calories. Some pastes are quite low – some are not so low. I find green curry paste is often the lowest calorie of the red, yellow, etc. types.
Fish Sauce is an added feature, but it can be salty, and the HMR meal has a fair bit of sodium
Some add Soy Sauce, which is a flavor, but see fish sauce. I usually skip the Soy Sauce
PB2 (Powdered Peanut Butter, 85% less fat) makes an interesting addition (but remember to measure accurately). Makes it more of a pad thai type meal. Add it to the chicken soup when you are adding the water. You may need to add a little more water as it will thicken
Chopped Green Onions – one onion is less than 20 calories, and it adds a little crunch and bite
Cilantro – fresh herbs are always free
Coconut extract (1/4 teaspoon) – I am not a huge fan, but some like it since coconut milk is definitely out, although technically a 1/8th of a cup of lite coconut milk would be about 22 calories…..
Lime – half a fresh lime, squeezed over the heated meal
Splenda Brown Sugar – just 1/2 a teaspoon packed is 10 calories
Garlic powder (rehydrate in the chicken soup)
Minced garlic, although I would probably only use it with vegetables when I stir fry them
Thai Basil
Hot sauce, such as sriracha
October 4, 2016 at 5:00 pm
Awesome! Thank you so much for sharing!!!
October 4, 2016 at 7:24 pm
New recipe for Healthy Solutions: Fried Lasagna.
Haven’t been a fan of HMR lasagna so I thought outside the box on this one. Canned mushrooms & minced garlic browned in pan with Pam. Combine with tomato sauce & spices & heat in microwave. Scrape sauce off of lasagna, cut into pieces & brown it in pan. I stirred it around to separate the pieces & layers. Add fried lasagna to sauce & enjoy!
October 4, 2016 at 10:33 pm
Oh that sounds like an easy and fun way to change it up for Healthy Solutions!
October 4, 2016 at 11:09 pm
my favorite addition to the five bean casserole is PB2 – makes it a version of West African Peanut Stew (a.k.a. Maafe) You can reconstitute the pb2 with chicken stock or water. You can add a little ginger, cilantro, green onion, jalepeno and garlic also. Once you get to adding vegies, sweet potatoes and tomatoes are the natural addition.
October 5, 2016 at 12:54 am
Oh I love that stew! I will have to try this HMR variation – thank you!
October 5, 2016 at 1:42 am
I like adding PB2 to the Five Bean Casserole to make a version of West African Peanut Stew, a.k.a. Maafe. PB2 (with some extra water or stock), grated ginger and garlic, cilantro, jalapeno and green onion. Once you get to add vegies then sweet potato and tomatoes are a natural.
October 5, 2016 at 12:57 am