3-Ingredient Flex Recipes for a Weight Loss Win
Article posted in: Nutrisystem for MenCooking a healthy meal can be a pain: It can be tough to know how much of your favorite meal makes for a healthy portion. And if it’s a new meal, you run the risk of burning it, undercooking it or worse, making something you just don’t like. Plus, if you’re in the middle of cooking and discover that you forgot an ingredient, it can be really frustrating.
That’s part of why members love Nutrisystem. Nutrisystem takes the guesswork out of whether a food is on-plan, and it also takes the work-work of cooking it out of the equation. With so many ready-to-eat and easy-to-heat Nutrisystem foods, you don’t have to cook at most meals to lose weight. Just pair your favorites with four servings of non-starchy vegetables each day and you’re on the right track.
But what about cooking your own meals? Enter our 3-ingredient Flex recipes that will keep you on track with your healthy lifestyle!
Part of what makes Nutrisystem so successful for so many people is that it doesn’t just help you lose weight. The program helps you prepare to keep the weight off with Flex Meals, meals and snacks you eat out or prepare at home using our simple guidelines on what makes a meal filling and healthy.
That doesn’t mean turning into a chef: Your Flex Meals can be just as easy as eating your favorite Nutrisystem foods. These 3-ingredient recipes are about as simple (and delicious) as it gets—and they’re all perfectly portioned to fit in with your healthy lifestyle, whether you’re losing weight or keeping it off.
1. 3-Ingredient Eggplant Fries
Most Americans don’t eat their vegetables. In fact, information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicates that fewer than 10 percent of us are getting three cups of vegetables per day. And we all know how good they are for us for disease prevention, healthy skin and more. According to Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, vegetables even help with weight loss, starting with their high fiber content. For every 10 grams of fiber you eat, you’ll have as much as four percent less fat around your belly.
One way to make getting your vegetables easier: Turn them into fries. These eggplant fries are just the veggie with curry powder and cumin, sprayed lightly with cooking spray. In just 25 minutes, you’ve got a snack or side that’s fun to eat and will help you get your four recommended non-starchy servings per day.
2. 3-Ingredient Sweet Potato Muffins
Another way to get your vegetables and fiber: Make them sweet. These simple sweet potato muffins add the belly-slimming benefits of rolled oats to the cup-shaped equation, resulting in a packable, poppable breakfast that will help you get full and stay that way until lunch or your next scheduled snack. And with a touch of maple syrup lifting the naturally sweet flavor of those orange tubers, it’s lightly sweet enough to calm a morning sugar craving. Make a pan of five in just 20 minutes, and you can have one every morning of the week.
3. 3-Ingredient Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
Oatmeal can help control blood sugar, lower cholesterol and keep you full, but most oatmeal raisin cookies are loaded with sugar. These three-ingredient offerings are just as sweet, but save you the blood sugar spike and all those calories by using bananas as a sweetener instead. Mashing up two overripe bananas not only sweetens the batter, but helps the oats and raisins bind together for a filling, satisfying snack you can feel great about.
4. 3-Ingredient Ranch Croutons
Croutons can add crunch and flavor that help keep salads from getting boring. But the store-bought ones can be a little… creepy. They’re loaded with preservatives, and the calories can quickly add up—a half-cup of one national brand is 140 calories, which could take your salad from low-calorie to unexpectedly belly-busting.
The great news: Making homemade croutons is easy, lower in calories and best of all, tastes better than store-bought. In just 20 minutes and with some ranch dressing mix, you can add zip, zest and crunch to your salad that will make it feel gourmet while keeping you on-plan.
5. 3-Ingredient Skinny Mango Sorbet
This tropical treat will cool you down on a hot summer day or help you dream of a vacation on a cold winter evening. Either way, with just frozen mango chunks, unsweetened pineapple juice and unsweetened almond milk, you’re headed for the coast with a sweet, chilled treat that you’d never guess was safe for weight loss. But it’s just one SmartCarb!
6. 3-Ingredient Banana Pancakes
This recipe is like magic: With just eggs, ripe banana and cinnamon, you can make real pancake batter—that pours, cooks, cuts and tastes just like regular pancakes. With a touch of maple syrup and the natural sugar from the bananas, you’re getting a breakfast treat that’s just as sweet as the traditional cakes, but with far fewer calories. These three-ingredient pancakes are so good that they don’t feel like a “diet substitute”—they might just be your new favorite weekend morning meal.
7. 3-Ingredient Peanut Butter Cups
These peanut butter cups are almost too beautiful to eat: With a stripe of chocolate topped with a layer of peanut butter flavor, they’re a tempting, two-toned dessert you’ll impress yourself by making. But your friends and guests don’t need to know that they’re so easy: Each cup is just melted chocolate chips topped with a melted mix of peanut butter and coconut oil, all frozen inside a mini muffin tin. Simple—and simply delicious.
8. 3-Ingredient Chocolate Peanut Butter Protein Bombs
Protein isn’t just for bodybuilders. The muscle-building nutrient digests more slowly than carbohydrates, meaning it can help you feel fuller for longer. But you don’t have to pile your plate with chicken at every meal to get these benefits: These protein bombs bring the belly-filling nutrient with the flavors of your cheat food favorites—creamy peanut butter and chocolate from mixing in the powder from a Nutrisystem shake. With cream cheese to hold it all together, it’s a satisfying, filling bite that you’ll love snacking on.