Meal Planning 101: Week 19

Remember how I always posted meal plans meant for Sunday on Monday? Well I found a new blog who does Menu Plan Mondays. So I'm just committed now to Meal Plan Mondays! It always worked a little better to post on Mondays, even though I usually use Monday also for Meal Prep Mondays. Meal Prep Mondays were never regular posts though, so I'll just sneak them in occasionally on Meal Plan Mondays. Also, is anyone else as obsessed with meal planning note pads as me?! I can't pass them up. Ever.

I'm full force back on the healthy train! Boot Camp Week 2 started today. Meal planning healthy meals and grocery shopping for them happened this weekend. Oh how I missed Sam's Club and my cheap big batches of produce and healthy things!

I also discovered Sugar Pears this week! How did I live so long and never know about the super cute mini pears?! I couldn't pass them up. To the menu! I'm starting a new thing this week where I bring lighter, smaller meals for lunch instead of leftovers, therefore creating more leftovers during the week, which isn't my reason, but a not so horrible side effect of my plan. And so, less meals on the menu list, but more things on the lunch ideas and make ahead lists. Fair trade right? 

Monday:

Crock Pot Philly Cheese Steak Stuffed Peppers (used this recipe, but altered it for the crock pot) and Roasted Green Beans and Potatoes

Tuesday:

Leftover Peppers

Wednesday:

Leftover Peppers

Thursday: 

Avocado Pesto Alfredo Linguine & Roasted Broccoli

Friday:

Leftover Linguine

Saturday:

Leftover Linguine

Sunday:

Crock Pot Greek Chicken, Pitas, Layered Greek Dip and Greek Potatoes (Staff Dinner Party - Greek themed!)

Extras: 

I think I was way too excited about food prep and menu planning again and went a little crazy with it! From Saturday to Monday I made the following:  

• Breakfast Fruit Parfaits layered with different fruits, cottage cheese, vanilla yogurt, and slivered almonds. I actually made 8! The recipe will come soon. I'm hoping they last until next week. None of the ingredients expire until way later, so I'm thinking maybe? We'll see. 
• Jar Salads, 4 more.
• Cookie Dough Greek Yogurt, for easy healthy take to work after lunch dessert. 
• Homemade Peanut Butter, so easy! Recipe also coming.
• Banana Bread, 5 batches. Ridiculous.

The amount of Mason jars in my refrigerator is just a little obsessive. I just love make ahead things and food prep! I have a problem. At least it's healthy though right??

Did I mention I made homemade peanut butter?? Still in love with it.

Lunch Ideas: 

And lastly, I'll throw in last weeks lunch pictures to maybe help you come up with healthy, non-eating out, lunch ideas!

microwavable edamame + hummus + 1 pita

bird's eye mushroom & green bean steam in bag risotto + green giant singles broccoli & cheese* + 1 pita

green giant singles broccoli & cheese* + kroger 90 second  cook in pouch red beans & rice

The little Green Giant Just for One sides are one of my favorite lunch items! They are the perfect way to make lunch a little more rounded and have a bit more substance. They have several varieties!

Salad in a Jar & Boot Camp

Remember that whole boot camp starting this week thing that I mentioned in my last post? Yeah. It started. It's not called boot camp to just sound cool, it's intense! Today is the first day that I didn't make audible noises every time I moved to or from a standing position. Getting up, sitting down, it all hurt. I also left a trail of things everywhere I went that I dropped on the ground of floor. Just today I was able to pick up the bar of soap that I dropped in the shower two days ago. Sorry Starbucks about that pink plastic spoon I dropped on the floor and couldn't pick up, it just hurt too bad!

I would say it wasn't as awful as I thought it would be, but I won't lie... It was pretty awful!  Life is good, I don't feel like I've been hit by a truck anymore, and I'm proud of myself! However, my apartment is a wreck because my week consisted of nothing but wake up, Jesus & Starbucks time, work, boot camp, eat something I didn't have to stand to make, sit until I could convince myself it was better to take a shower at night than in the morning when I'd hurt worse, shower, sleep, rinse and repeat. I don't remember the last time I went to be before midnight every night in a week. Several nights I went to be before 11!

A few things I learned the first week: Burpees were created by Satan himself. I suck at sprinting. I can sweat way more than I thought I could. My entire body turns red when I work out intensely. I can do a lot more than I thought I could. Weight Watchers gives more Activity Points for doing intense physical activity for a reason! It's apparently normal to gain weight the first week of starting new, intense work out programs (we all did!). Even when it feels like my heart and lungs are about to leap out of my chest, my body can apparently keep going. Working out with people makes a huge difference! I need to marry a personal trainer so I have a motivator for life.

Now to the food! For me, lunch can be the hardest meal of the day to make healthy choices for. It's the one meal we usually aren't home to eat. So today I bring you my all time favorite lunch idea!

A few things you probably already know about me.

1. I love any make ahead recipe.
2. I like food prep work A LOT.
3. I love anything with layers.
4. I love anything in a mason jar, anything. 
5. I don't believe in paying money to eat out for lunch breaks!
6. I'm not a fan of the whole get up early to pack a lunch thing.

If you share any of these things in common with me. This recipe, which is more of an idea, is for you! I don't do these every week, I like variety! But it's one of my go-to make ahead favorite lunch ideas. I love salad! Love it. But before this idea, it was impossible to bring salad to work for lunch without bringing everything and the kitchen sink with me to work. And who wants to be that much of a diva and have a lunch bag bigger than the purse and work bag we already have, or am I the only one who carries three bags to work? If you layer these salads correctly, they can keep in the refrigerator for up to four days! Last week I made two, but I've made four before and had them every day for lunch.

First let's talk a little prep. Prep! It can be so easy with the right tools. So many prep tasks can be done before.

I used to hate carrots in my salads. I liked them dipped in hummus or ranch, but hated them in salads for two reasons. 1. Carrots are hard to cut up into bite sized pieces! Every time I tried little carrot pieces would fling across the room. 2. Stabbing little carrot slices with a fork is equally as hard. Carrots meet mini food processor. It chops carrots in seconds to little crumbly type pieces, about the size of bacon bits. Perfect!

Other prep involves chopping whatever you want in your salad. I usually use whatever I have. For this one my prep involved boiling and chopping eggs, sauteing some pre-cooked frozen chicken pieces, and chopping green onions. That's it!

Then it's all about the layering and ingredients. The most important thing is to keep the dressing and lettuce as far away as possible. Keep the wet stuff on bottom and dryer stuff on top. I layered this batch of salad with the following ingredients in the order listed.

• strawberry balsamic vinaigrette
• green onions 
• finely chopped carrots
• julienne chopped cucumbers
• quartered grape tomatoes
• dried cranberries
• a little sprinkle of mexi-blend cheese (close to expiration date)
• a little sprinkle of feta cheese (close to expiration date)
• cooked chicken breast, seasoned with Tony's, pre-diced
• a little sprinkle of turkey bacon bits
• one boiled egg, chopped
• romaine lettuce (Keep stuffing it, lettuce compacts!)
• dried french onions (left over from holiday cooking)

Did I mention this recipe can also be used to clean out your fridge/cabinets? If it can be put in a salad, put it in! Be sure to bring a paper plate or large bowl with you to work to pour out the salad. The blog where I found the idea, said to shake it up and eat out of the jar, but that's never worked for me. Just slowly pour it on a plate or bowl and eat!

I saw a blog that posted weekly pictures of what she brought for lunch, no recipes, just ideas. It was useful to me, and I'd be willing to do that if it would be useful for you! Yes? No? Let me know and I'll start doing it! 

A New Year

It's the second day of a new year. A new year full of motivation, hope, and inspiration. Oh how I'm in desperate need of all those things and so excited about them. This isn't the first time I took an accidental two and a half month break, but probably the first time I've had real reasons. Warning - sad update, but do not despair, hopefulness will come at the end.

Since I last blogged, on October 11th, a lot has happened. My dad's health began to decline rapidly. On October 14th, my favorite day, I was blessed to be surrounded by loving friends all day. It made the news of finding out a transplant for my dad wasn't an option and no treatments would work. The news we received that day was that there could be months, weeks, or days left in his life. It was exactly one month and four days later that we lost him.

November was HARD! On the 6th he was hospitalized and started to lose memory. My brother and I got there on November 7th. We sat in the hospital waiting, praying, and crying until the 11th. The real world demanded work, so we had to go back. On Sunday November 18th, we got the call. Again I was blessed to be surrounded by loving, incredible friends and support that day. His memorial was the day before Thanksgiving. It was hard, but most of the time I felt better than I thought I would.

Then came December. December was way worse than I even knew it could be! For the rest of my life I'll feel the urge to hug anyone, stranger or not, when I find out they've lost a parent, spouse, or child. I wish we could all get together every year before Christmases without our loved ones to hug each other and talk about the ones we miss and the reality of how hard it is that the "Most Wonderful Time of Year" for most people is different for us now. It really is something you can't understand until you've been through it and it just plain sucks! Again, so thankful for friends and family that give hugs, read negative texts, deal with bad moods, help clean apartments, fold clothes, give gifts, don't get mad about unanswered phone calls, and take me in so I'm not alone even if I think I want to be.

And now it's January! I have officially changed my favorite holiday to New Years. It's so full of hope, motivation, inspiration, and renewal. It truly is a breath of fresh air. Of course I know I'll still have sad break down moments, but January and a new year feels like the sun coming out after a big scary tornado warning or hurricane landfall (can you tell I'm from Mississippi?). I'm [hopefully] getting chosen for boot camp that starts at the end of January to lose the weight I put on while I've done nothing but eat out or eat holiday food and leftovers since October plus more. Also, back to meal planning! Back to blogging healthy recipes (and meal plans). However, I can't promise not to blog some of the unhealthy hits I made for the holiday though. You didn't think I stopped cooking totally did you?!

I discovered one thing I can count on, no matter how sad I get, I will still cook impressive things for other people. I might be eating frozen pizzas and way too much drive thru food, but I'll make three delicious, impressive Wintermint cakes in one week and too many batches of poured icing sugar cookies to count.

And so... HOPE! I'm full of that stuff (hope) right now. So full of it that I actually made realistic achievable New Years resolutions. I even came up with objectives for my goals. This is serious guys! Of course I'll share them with you, because I'm all share-y like that.

1. Wait for it... Blog more! That one is for you. And me! Makes me feel good. How? Plan it! Use Mondays off to prep posts. I did 53 posts in 2012. I am aiming for at least 100 for 2013.
2. Exercise - Boot Camp will help me achieve this!
3. Lose weight - Boot Camp, blogging healthy recipes, meal planning.
4. Paint - This is the only one I don't have a plan for. I just haven't done it in years.
5. Read more - Make a list of books I want to read.
6. Listen to the Bible in a year - Downloaded the app last night!
7. Get new glasses - Stresses me out to pay for the eye doctor and glasses in the same visit. I'll make an appointment for one pay check and get glasses the next!
8. Call my Nanny more - I just set a reminder in my phone.
9. Save more - Set aside $50 every pay check (in hopes of maybe going to France to visit my cousin AND go to France).

Last but not least, I found a verse that is my most important and overall goal for 2013.

10. Psalm 145:2 Everyday I will bless you and praise your name forever and ever. - Talk to Jesus, read His words for me, and worship Him through singing (privately, not just during song time at church).

I really am so hopeful about 2013. My only New Years resolution for 2012 was to put myself out there and go on dates. I did it, but it wasn't good for me other than knowing it's better to wait for a Godly man to pursue me than have dating experiences. So here's to 2013!

Did you make any New Years resolutions?

Meal Planning 101: Week 16-ish

A day late! But, I was holding a baby for an hour and a half when I would have been typing/posting this last night. It was totally worth it and I don't apologize! I mean look at him. His name is Kaiden and he's two weeks old today. His mom is my friend, neighbor, and coworker. She is an RD with me and we both work in the same office. I saw her literally almost every day of her pregnancy. We all watched him grow in her belly and it's so beautiful to be part of his and their lives. Last night I cooked them dinner and while they ate I held him!

Some vitally important updates totally relevant to the meal plan at the end of this post.

I FINALLY finished moving in to my apartment completely. It's all organized and put together and beautiful. I even decorated for fall.

It was a simple thing, but this simple thing made me feel so much better about life! I meal planned and grocery shopped and even did Meal Prep Monday! You know all is right in my world when Meal Prep Monday happens. In addition to cooking for Kaiden's Mommy & Daddy on Meal Prep Monday, I also created a whole pumpkin collection of Overnight Oats! Kaiden's Mommy loves pumpkin as much as I do, so I made extras for her to have for breakfast this week. Recipes coming (by many requests) this afternoon!

Also, I think I'm going to always grocery shop at night now for a two reasons: less people AND baby carts! They never have the mini carts when I go in the day time. Totally worth the night Kroger visits.

Two more totally relevant (okay not really) factors to my meal planning success. I mean.. who doesn't feel better about life and more organized when you achieve perfect curls (I got a body wave) and create a nail polish station/drawer?!

Now that I've done that thing where I push my life on you while talking about food, I'll move on to the meal plan! And by the way, I only do this updatey push my life on you thing because as I type, I imagine sitting at my little back yard table, feeling the fall breeze, watching the leaves fall, wearing sweatshirts, eating something pumpkiny, and drinking coffee with you as we chat. You don't mind right? 

Sunday:

Leftover Crockpot Cranberry Chicken, Crock Pot Sweet Potato Casserole (washed & peeled potatoes, cut in half, cooked on low for 6 hours, mashed in crockpot with potato masher, added homemade marshmallow fluff, brown sugar, and pecans and cooked for another hour), and French Green Beans (green beans sauteed in French dressing)

Monday:

Crock Pot Chicken Taco Chili (with green onions, sour cream, and shredded cheddar for toppings), Perfect Brown Rice and Mexican Cornbread Muffins

Tuesday:

Leftover Chicken Chili

Wednesday:

Mushroom Stroganoff, Chopped Salad and Garlic Toast

Thursday:

Leftover Stroganoff

Friday:

Mango Salsa Tilpia, Wild Rice Pilaf and Butter Beans

Saturday:

Leftover Tilapia

Sunday:

Baked Corn Dog Muffins (inspired by this, but I'm going to use Jiffy and Turkey hotdogs), Broccoli and Balsamic Crash Potatoes (First I found this recipe then I saw this one and I couldn't shake the idea of having corn dogs - basic kid food - and balsamic potatoes - classy grown up food - together!  So I'm going to attempt to combine the two recipes.) 

Extras:

I made the new baby family a Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Pizookie with Pumpkin Spice Cool Whip (mix a little pumpkin and some pumpkin pie seasoning into a container of fat free Cool Whip) and Homemade Chocolate Sauce.

Made another batch of skinny Pumpkin Fluff to eat with apples. 

The aforementioned Pumpkin Overnight Oats for breakfast all week. 

I'm feeling bakey, so other things are sure to come from this! 

Crockpot Buffalo Chicken

I know I'm a posting maniac in the last two days, BUT I know most of you have the day off today for the holiday! So either you're cooking and ideas are helpful or your relaxing and have some spare time. What better to do in your spare time than catch up on blog reading and meal plan? Thus you need reading material, ideas, and inspiration. Also... I'm trying to get to my 100th post! On the post I'll announce changes to the blog and other fun things. This is the 95th in case you were wondering. :) 

This recipe has quickly become one of my favorites. You know I don't repeat recipes often. I usually wait at least 3 months to cycle things back around, unless I absolutely LOVE them. Well this one has been repeated! It's so stinking easy and soooo good if you like spicy things. Three ingredients! AND you don't have to thaw anything. 

Ingredients: 

• 3 lb bag of frozen chicken breasts
• 1 bottle of buffalo sauce (I usually use Frank's but I got this Texas Pete one for free from an RA and loved it just as much)
• 1 packet of dry ranch mix

Directions: 

Add chicken to a large crock pot. Sprinkle with ranch seasoning. Pour over hot sauce. Cook on low for 6 - 7 hours. Remove chicken from crock pot, leaving sauce in. Shred chicken with a fork and add back to crock pot. Cook on low for 30 minutes to an hour. 

That's it! I like to serve mine on some nice rolls or buns. I used onion rolls this time and they were YUMMY! I made a batch of healthy ranch dressing using 1 packet of dry ranch, 1 cup of non fat Greek yogurt, and 1/2 cup of skim milk (1/3 a cup is 2 points and I used much less than that) to spread on the buns. I topped each sandwich with julienned celery, matchstick carrots, and some reduced calorie blue cheese crumbles. 

This makes 8 good sized servings at 4 points per serving, not including bread or toppings. 

Summer Holiday Foods

Tomorrow is July 4th! I always say I'm not patriotic. Don't hear me wrong. I'm VERY happy and thankful for my country and freedom, my dad's a vet! I'm not anti-patriotism at all. I just don't consider myself patriotic. But somehow... I subconsciously wore red and/or blue yesterday and today! And all I can think about is BBQ and watermelon. 

If you're like me and only have the one day off in the middle of the week, you might not have made any big plans. Therefore you might not feel BBQing a whole lot of meat (and your grill might be broken like mine). Or maybe you want to eat a healthier holiday meal! I made this meal a couple of weeks ago and when I ate it, it made me think of summer holidays. It was so good and so fresh. So if you haven't planned what you'll eat tomorrow yet (or if you just need some meal planning inspiration for any summer day), be inspired! 

Easy! Thaw some frozen tilapia fillets. Spray each fillet with a little olive oil cooking spray. Salt and pepper each side, heavy on the freshly cracked black pepper. Slice a lime or two into rounds and bake with the fish. Squeeze a couple lime halves over the fillets. Bake at 375 for 14-17 minutes. Serve with lime wedges, garnish with some fresh cilantro. An average sized tilapia fillet (4 oz) is 3 points cooked. Lime, seasonings, herbs, and lightly sprayed olive oil cooking spray are all zero. Healthy and so yummy.

So easy. So fancy. So yummy. This would be EVEN better with grilled corn. I roasted mine in the oven since the grill is broken. Butter is not healthy, but corn is! One medium ear of corn is 2 points. And you only need a little pad of compound butter per ear of corn, which I estimate to be about a half of a tablespoon. 1/2 tablespoon of butter is 1 point. So a whole ear is 3, not bad for this treat!

Compound butters can be anything! They are so fun to make and slicing into your compound butter will make you feel like a real chef. Let some butter sit at room temperature. I did less than a 1/2 stick because it was just for me and my leftovers. You can do a whole stick and it keeps for a long time. It can also be frozen. I mixed finely chopped cilantro and scallion, softened butter, a little cracked black pepper, and some lime zest. Place your mixed butter blob onto some plastic wrap. Wrap it up and shape it into a little log. Chill until hardened or until you're ready to use.

And then this! My very first quinoa experience. I loved it! This was a perfect first dish to try quinoa in. I used her recipe exactly except I used a normal quinoa, not tricolor, I added a chopped avocado, and I used roasted corn instead of raw. Quinoa is a super food! It's really good for you and actually a grain.

If you're gonna use paper plates, use happy festive ones! Even if you won't just be staying cool at home and have a holiday gathering to go to, I promise your friends and family won't hate you if you come with any of these dishes in hand. Happy 4th! Eat some watermelon and watch some fireworks.

Meal Planning 101: Week 13

I'll keep it short and sweet! Meal plan and weekend recap because I know you love it when I force my life on you in the midst of food posts. 

Babies! I got to hang out with my best friend (and fellow bridesmaid) and her baby this weekend! Alice is the sweetest baby ever and I couldn't take enough pictures of her. She does this adorable thing where she hides her face when she eats. Just like a little Southern lady, always trying to look proper.

Finally bought a Roo Cup! 25 cent refills here I come. Why don't they make a Diet Coke Icee?! 

I've been a bridesmaid a whole lot. This rehearsal dinner was some of the best rehearsal dinner food I've ever had! No food pictures, but we were pretty. (My fellow bridesmaids said I looked like Belle! As in Beauty and the Beast, best compliment ever. She's totally my favorite Disney Princess.)

I love my friends! Was so happy to be part of Molly's big day.

AND I decided I want to become a person who has painted nails often. They were painted for the weddings, and I just loved it, like I always do. So I stocked up on some fun colors at a Payless BOGO sale. I peeled off all the weekend one while antsy yesterday at a meeting, but then painted them last night! I like this commitment.

Now the food. Still eating veggies with every meal! They are never ending but I'm totally not complaining.

Monday:

Leftover Edamame Rice and Veggie Stirfry with Rotisserie Chicken (from Walmart - I cheated! Was a tiring weekend and didn't want to cook.)

Tuesday:

Baked Chicken and Dumplings Casserole and Stewed Squash

Wednesday:

Leftovers

Thursday

Slim Potato Casserole and Grilled Ham, Cheese, Chip and Pickle Sandwiches

Friday:

Leftovers

Saturday:

Chili Con Queso Pasta Bake and Nanny's Salad (My best friends' grandmother's salad. Iceberg lettuce, tomatoes, mayo - I use fat free, and Italian dressing all tossed together. Simple but I love it!)

Sunday:

Leftovers

For lunch and breakfast this week, I'm obsessed with jars. I got some wide mouth pint mason jars and they are perfect for the popular Overnight Oats cold oatmeal concoctions for breakfast and jar side salads for lunch.

Meal Planning 101: Week 12

I know I seem like a slacker and haven't been keeping my "post a weekly meal plan every Sunday which usually means Monday" promise. You probably think I've been eating frozen things or fast food like the last time I did this. But I promise, I'm not! 

Last Tuesday I went to the Farmer's Market, we discussed that. Then my Aunt came to visit on Thursday and boy did she deliver on the promise to bring me goodies from Pawpaw's garden! 

There are blueberries, corn, squash, zucchini, okra, banana pepperx, bell peppers, jalapeno peppers, a watermelon and... The reason my meal planning has been lacking this week. 

TOMATOES! Oh my the tomatoes. I had tomatoes from the Farmer's Market AND Pawpaw's tomatoes. I could eat garden grown tomatoes like apples. No grocery store tomato tastes like these. I have lost count of how many meals have consisted of pretzels and a tomato sandwich. Soft bread, a little mayo, thick slices of tomato, salt and pepper. It's like heaven in my mouth. 

I hate summer. I do. It's HOT! We're possibly reaching record temps this week, breaking into the 100s and everything. But... there is one thing that makes me be positive about summer and not want to rush it away too fast. Tomatoes. And their sandwiches. 

Moving on to my not so involved distracted my local home grown fruits and veggies meal plan for the week... Seriously. I'm preparing you. It's not nearly as creative as it normally  is. I just want to eat veggies! 

Yep. I confessed in my prior post that for dinner one day I ate nothing but Blueberry Cinnamon Rolls with Lemon Cream Cheese Glaze. I'm owning it!

Sunday:

Blueberry Cinnamon Rolls

Monday:

Leftover Ginger Pepper Basil Scampi Trenne with Turkey Bacon and Breadless Heirloom Bruschetta Salad (A rambly mouthful that means I made a scampi sauce, melted down some Ginger Pepper Jelly instead of wine, fried up some turkey bacon, tossed it with a cool tricolor trenne pasta I found at Home Goods and lots of fresh basil, sliced a beautiful heirloom tomato and some basil and sprinkled it with salt, pepper and balsamic and didn't know what to call any of it because I just made it up.)

Tuesday:

Veggie Stir Fry (fresh squash and zucchini with onions and carrots) and Sliced Tomato

Wednesday:

Leftover Veggie Stir Fry and Edamame Rice

Thursday:

Spicy Baked Tilapia with Sauteed Squash

Friday: 

Rehearsal Dinner! One of my very best friends is getting married this weekend.

Saturday:

Wedding Reception Food