Stretch your meal's volume by making soup. When calories are restricted it seems like cravings and the will to stuff yourself increase. How can you stretch those meager diet portions? Make soup! For very few added calories, you can get a lot of milage bit of a little bit of food.Recipe: 1 cup chopped celery 1 cup chopped carrot 1 cup canned plum tomatoes 1 1/2 cups chopped onion 1 cup sliced mushrooms 8 oz chicken breast, cut into chunks 1 tsp salt 1/2 tsp black pepper 1 tbsp extra virgin oil 4 cups chicken stock 1 tbsp chopped basil Directions: Heat 1 TBS olive oil to a pre heated 4 quart sauce pan and add the onion, salt and pepper. Lower the heat and cook the onion until it's browned and well caramelized. Add the chicken and sauté with the onion until the chicken turns white - about three min. Then add the chicken stock, tomatoes, celery, carrots, mushrooms and basil. Bring to a boil, lower the heat and simmer for 20 - 30 min, or until the celery and carrots are tender. The entire dish contains:Calories: 880Carb: 44gProtein: 101gFat: 24gWith 1 cup no yolk noodles:Calories: 1083Carbs: 84gProtein: 109gFat: 25g

Healthy fish tacos are made really easily using a poached fish filet from a previous episode (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JF3NVKyfvrg&list=PLu9f_nDQuTh-crNahQVzHndTS-wZ1sgFG&index=3). Ingredients: 1 poached fish filet 2 tbsp prepared salsa (I like Willy's) 1/4 small avocado 1/2 cup shredded cabbage 2 tbsp Goya black bean soup squeeze of lime 1 oz low fat cheddar cheese (optional) chopped cilantro Directions: Spray a non-stick pan with cooking spray and slide in the fish filet. It can be cold, right out of the fridge. (That's the great thing about having these cooked ahead of time. All I'm doing here is crisping up the outside. Since the fish is already cooked, a few minutes in the frying pan isn't going to stink up your kitchen). While that's going on, lay out the tortillas and spread a little cheese down the middle. So, why the cheese? Other than the fact that it tastes amazing for very few grams of fat, I'm using it to replace the mayonnaise they use in Mexico. They do that for the same reason Americans slather their hamburger buns with mayo. You're basically water proofing the delicate, flower based item that would more easily fall apart if it got soaked with juice from the burger, tomatoes, ketchup, salsa, beans..... of course you can omit this step and just grab an extra napkin. If you did use the cheese, lay half a crisped fish filet on top of the cheese (the filet should have automatically split down the middle when you flipped it over), grab the tortillas up by the ends, and lay them back in the pan to melt the cheese. Once the cheese melts, slide the tacos onto a cutting board and pull them open. Top the tacos with shredded cabbage, avocado, black beans, salsa, cilantro and lime. For both tacos you get:Calories: 345 (not including the Corona)Carbohydrates: 13gProtein: 29gFat: 8.5g

This is a quick and easy way to insure you don't ruin two perfectly good (and not cheap) swordfish steaks. Ingredients: 2 - 6oz swordfish steaks 3 tbsp lemon juice 1 tbsp chopped parsley Salt and pepper to taste. Directions: Season both sides of the steaks with salt and pepper to your liking. Next, spray the surface of a pre heated non-stick pan - half at a time, or a spot just big enough accommodate each steak - and lay in one steak with each spritz. Cook 3-4 minutes on each side. Once the second side is cooked, add the lemon juice and the parsley. Continue to cook until the juice reduces by half. Transfer the steaks to a plate, and top with the sauce left in the pan. Each steak contains:Calories: 310Carbohydrates: 40gProtein: 13gFat: 2g

Shark is an incredible source of lean protein, if for nothing more than just its name, has “bodybuilder” written all over it. It has a taste and texture similar to swordfish, only less fishy.  It's readily available at most fish markets, and is relatively cheap compared to premium cuts of swordfish, Chilean sea bass and high end tuna. It's pretty versatile too. These kabobs are one of my favorite ways to cook shark. Under your oven's broiler, or on the grill, These shark kabobs can be made in bulk and used for several meals down the road.  Ingredients: 1 lb shark steaks, cut into 1 inch cubes 1 lb cherry tomatoes 1 lb large mushrooms 1 large onion, quartered and cut into 1 inch slices and  separated  ½ cup low sodium soy sauce 2 TBS lime juice 1 TBS honey 12 inch bamboo skewers Soak skewers in water for an hour prior to prep – this will keep them from burning during cooking. Alternately skewer onion, shark, tomato, and mushroom. Repeat until skewer is full. Set aside. In a small bowl, whisk together the soy sauce, lime juice and honey. Broil or grill kabobs on all sides. Basting with the sauce before and as they cook, every five minutes for 15 minutes, until shark is done.  This should make about four skewers, each containing: Calories 229 Carbohydrates 18g Protein 26g Fat 5g