A frequent topic visited on these forums is the sameness of meals: chicken, chicken and more chicken is the usual complaint. Let me go on record here and now by pointing out that NO BODY TYPE requires the consumption of chicken 6 times a day. While it is true that some body types will have best results staying with Type A and B proteins, before you start feeling like sprouting feathers and pecking at people, I urge you to look at your full range of options.
Vary your preparation
Plain, dry baked chicken is probably the quintessential diet meal. Contrary to what you may think, all chicken is NOT created equal. Stirfrys taste nothing like chicken which has been marinated and broiled on kebabs. Boiled and shredded chicken mixed with enchilada or tomatillo sauce doesn't bear even a passing resemblance to a good whole roasted chicken (no, you only get the breast meat-- and with the skin removed, thank you!). Curried chicken tastes nothing like mesquite grilled chicken with homemade barbecue sauce. Chicken bacon tastes nothing like chicken chili. And try as I may, I can't get chicken marsala to taste even remotely like chicken vegetable soup. And I can go on, by the way!!
Here on this site, we have an extremely robust recipe forum brimming with over hundreds of variations to keep you busy for a while. No, you won't like every single one in there, and yes, you can expect some trial and error. But, it is safe to say there is something in there for every taste. It's just a matter of finding what's right for yours. I urge you to check them out.
Cook in bulk whenever you can
◦This is going to vary a bit depending upon your preferences and your lifestyle. Some folks take one day a week and do a mega-prep, cooking everything for several days at a time, prepping and packaging into meal sized portions, fridging or freezing the fruits of their labor. Then, all they do is pop things out of the freezer as needed, heat and they're ready to go!
◦Others may find it helpful to separate the uncooked foods into meal sized portions, re wrap in freezer wrap and freeze the lot, defrosting as many as needed for the next day. This is useful for people like me who prefer cooking things fresh. I'll defrost a small chicken breast fillet or turkey tenderloin sometimes, and whip up a quick grill or sauté. You could even try using this method in combination with the one above-- that is, premake some meals and perhaps do your dinner fresh.
◦Things such as crockpot dishes, chili, casseroles, homemade sausage and meatballs may be made in advance, divvied up into meals and frozen.
◦Or try grilling (marinate or use seasoning rubs for variation) several days worth of chicken breast and mixing up sauces to vary the taste: perhaps a barbecue sauce, a salsa and a teriyaki type sauce for different character.
Grind up that chicken!
If you can't get your butcher to do it, consider investing in an inexpensive meat grinder or attachment for your mixer (KitchenAid has one). If you're careful, you can probably grind it up -- though not to mush, please! -- in a food processor as well. Ground chicken breast is a great substitute for ground turkey breast and may be used in things such as sausage recipes, burgers, meatballs, chili, taco meat, Shepherds Pie or as a stuffing for peppers, cabbage, tomatoes or onions. It's a great way to really vary the taste of chicken.
Think in terms of recycling
Not paper and plastic, silly! Foods. If you buy a whole chicken for your family, it could be roasted whole, then the carcass can be used to make NSA chicken stock. That's recycling. Or you boil a few chicken breasts for broth, shredding the chicken meat after it's cooked. Part of this meat gets mixed with enchilada sauce or tomatillo sauce; part of it is eaten with salsa over shredded lettuce giving you three or four meals out of one. That's recycling. Or you divvy up your chicken breasts; cut up half for a stir fry or whatever use you wish. You grind the other half and make meatballs. You can use those meatballs in soup or you can make a pasta sauce and have them over rice pasta. The sauce, in turn can be used to flavor some of your veggies. That's recycling! Just because you've opted to make a huge quantity of something doesn't mean it needs to be eaten the same way day after day after day (or worse, meal after meal after meal). Before cooking, consider varying spices or marinades (see our Condiments Recipe Forum for ideas) perhaps dividing the chicken into two or more groups, testing out different seasonings and/or marinades, then throwing the lot of them on the grill. You can even make up a collection of sauces to vary your results further!
Don't forget those other Protein A and B foods
I can't name them here, but you can look in your Infinite Menu Planner. Again, look for ways to vary preparation so you're not eating a plate of dull, boiled or baked whatever it is.
And then there's Protein C...
Please don't tell me your body type doesn't get Protein C. Reread your materials carefully and you'll find it's an option for ALL body types at least one meal a day. However, some body types get far better results using Protein A and Protein B, so if yours is one of those, please bear that in mind and avoid indulging in Protein C too frequently. Every once in a while, a little steak with a mushroom wine sauce or a pork tenderloin really hits the spot.
Mix it up!
Put all the tips in the above paragraphs to work. If you've cooked at least some things in bulk, add in different foods to create an interesting menu for each day-- even if it's just something from canned NSA tuna, an egg white omelet or a smoothie, you can really mix things up!
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