Category: healthy cooking

December 15, 2013

Weekly Food Prep

Upon entering Phase 2 of the South Beach Diet, I’d like to share what a typical menu looks like on this plan. No, I do not eat salads for every meal (hardly eat them at all!). And yes, I do cheat just a little bit. This week, I’m finally allowed to have a few carbs including one fruit and one starch, which will be quinoa.

Left to right: salsa meatballs over a bed of quinoa,

egg scramble and turkey sausage, broccoli/cauliflower, apples

Breakfast, 265 calories:

5 egg whites + shredded zucchini, mushrooms, onions and a sprinkle of cheese
3 breakfast turkey sausage links

Snack, 210 calories:

Apple with cinnamon
20 almonds

Lunch, 299 calories:

Quinoa + salsa meatballs with sauce (similar to this recipe, but with ground turkey)

Snack, 177 calories:

Raw broccoli and cauliflower with hummus
1/2 cup 1% cottage cheese

Dinners:

Turkey chili dogs (minus the bun)
White bean chicken chili
Taco salad
Something with turkey bacon
Etc.

I’m really loving the variety I’ve found with the South Beach and low-carb recipes out there. I brought a stack of cookbooks home from the library, flagged pages like crazy, and saved all the recipes I knew I would actually use to a Google document. Then, when I sit down to plan my menu for the week, I just scroll through to see what looks good. I’ve been sticking with eggs and sausage in the morning and just change up the veggies in the eggs because I don’t see myself getting sick of this breakfast. I try to keep the snacks easy too, usually along the lines of plain Greek yogurt with nuts, cottage cheese or veggies and dip. That way, most of the planning goes into lunches and dinners and prep time is still manageable. I also eat the same thing for breakfast and lunch every day to keep things simple.

Dinners, we typically plan like normal for the family, but I just switch things up a little bit for my diet. For example, this past week we had spaghetti on the menu. Instead of having noodles like Hubster and Peanut did, I used shredded zucchini that I roasted on the stove for a bit. I still eat hot dogs and burgers too, just without the bun or wrapped in lettuce instead. They still taste great! Really, you have to try it to dig it. We had pizza mozzarella burgers on the grill and it tasted so delicious wrapped in lettuce, I didn’t miss the bun. All the great taste is in the burger itself, not the bun!

Every night before bed, I pack all the various pieces of my lunch in my big lunch bag and stash it in the fridge. The next morning, I literally only need to grab the bag and go. This food prep plan keeps me on time for work, fully prepared and allows me to fully adhere to my meal plan.

What are you eating this week? What are your best tips for meal planning?

October 30, 2013

Seven Ways to Stay on Track on Weekends

My worst enemy for healthy living is the weekends. Hands down. All the progress I make during the week tends to be cut down by a few extra handfuls of food here and there. I’m not even talking about gorging on food, I’m just talking about a little extra. Like one handful of cereal and one handful of nuts and raisins, or something of that sort. Once in awhile, Hubster will bring home an extra donut, so there’s that. Maybe my metabolism is far different from others, but still, something’s got to give.

This past weekend, I decided to tackle weekends, and came out the other side with nary an extra pound. Here are some strategies that might be helpful to you if you are struggling with the weekend weight creep monster like I am:

1. Gather Weekday Leftovers: By far one of my biggest problems with weekends is meal prep. I always, without fail, prep for my work week on Sundays. However, I rarely prep for the weekends themselves. Most clean perishable food will not keep for 6 or 7 days. I think even 5 days is pushing it. So my strategy is to put aside extra leftovers from dinner during the week to save for the weekend. That way I don’t have to dedicate another whole night to food prep, but I’ll always have something healthy to nibble on without waiting.

2. Kitchen Makeover: One of the pre-season tasks for the 12WBT is a kitchen makeover. For mine, I had a stockpile of leftovers from a get-together at our house that were haunting me every time I went into the kitchen. Hubster has also been stockpiling yellow M&Ms for a baking project, so guess where the rest of the M&Ms are? In the kitchen! Buh-bye! I threw the extra treats away and forced Hubster to hide the M&Ms if he still wanted them. Call me wasteful, but to me, it’s more of a waste to continue fighting that inner battle and extra layer of outer fat than to throw away a wasteland of junk.

3. Conquer BBQs: Sure, right when I’m trying to get even more super-serious about my eating, a family member goes and throws a potluck-style bbq feast. Haha! We had fun with the party, but I had to use some restraint at the dinner table. Since the paper plates were section-style plates, I just put a little scoop of a few of the best looking dishes in each section. Have a small helping of what you’re really craving and focus the rest on healthy veggie-based dishes for the rest of your meal. And guess what? This past weekend, I didn’t blow any of my progress!

This is just a partial picture of what I was up against!

4. Carry a Water Bottle: at all times! I am really good about drinking copious amounts of water at work, where I’m like 20 paces from a Culligan water cooler. At home though–that’s a different story. I can now tell how dehydrated I tend to get on the weekends by how thirsty I am on Monday mornings. Knowing that sometimes thirst can be mistaken as hunger, I decided to make it my mission to glue a water bottle to my hand from the moment I woke up Saturday morning. I even chugged quite a bit down before that BBQ to make sure I wasn’t trying to satisfy thirst with food or fill my tummy with non-healthy things.

5. Stockpile Healthy Snacks: You can’t just throw away the junk, like step #2 suggests, without finding substitutions or you’ll fail. Make a mental or written checklist of the healthy snacks and meals you have on-hand right away Saturday morning, so you know what to grab. My list included plain popcorn, Greek yogurt and acorn squash. I also made sure those snacks were the first thing I saw in the fridge or cupboard too. Out of sight is out of mind, and I wanted to make sure the healthy stuff wasn’t out of mind when the donuts walked through the door.

6. Chew Gum: In between meals, chewing sugar-free gum is a healthy habit to get into. It signals that you’re done with your meal, making it impossible to continue grazing. Yet at the same time, it’s keeping your mouth and taste buds occupied (and cleans your teeth!) so you don’t continue eating out of boredom. Also, most food tastes gross after you’ve been chewing gum. This strategy really works wonders!

7. Distraction: I find that the more I think about food and hang out in the kitchen, the hungrier I become. So dumb. Leave the kitchen already! I’m never short on projects or goals to conquer, and I find that when I’m immersed in a DIY or writing project, I not only get that much closer to my dreams, but I also forget about food for awhile. There’s no extra grazing or fistfuls of this or that. You see, I spend a lot of my time in the kitchen. It’s one of the places that always has something that needs to be cleaned and always seems to have a meal in progress. But while those noodles are boiling, find something else to work on.

There you have it! Seven bona fide, tried-and-true ways to keep yourself from sabotaging your weight loss progress on the weekends. They definitely have been working for me, so I sure hope they can help you too!

I’m eager to hear: what other ideas do you use to keep your weekends clean?

August 19, 2013

Weekly Food Prep

Food glorious food! This is what mine will look like for the week. Spot any protein in there? This is what another week of following Jamie Eason’s LiveFit trainer looks like. Protein plus veggies mostly.

Breakfast:

Banana pre-workout

Smoothie with oats + frozen berries + protein powder post-workout

5 egg whites plus cooked veggies later in the morning

Snack 1:

1/2 cup cottage cheese + chives + chopped cucumber

Lunch:

Squash + brown sugar + raisins

Italian Turkey Burgers with spinach on Sandwich Thins

Snack 2:

If needed, I will have two hardboiled eggs.

Dinners:

Grilled chicken + sweet potatoes

Turkey sausage + potatoes + onions

Pork chops + Brussels sprouts

Turkey chili

Leftovers

Veggie burgers and…um…birthday cake:)

My week will consist mostly of clean eating (with the exceptions of Sandwich Thins instead of Ezekial bread). Saturday might be a different story. We’re having a late birthday party for me since I turned the big 3-0-. I can assure you there will be birthday cake involved, but I’ll still try to balance that will a lot of lean protein and produce. Otherwise, my entire week is planned out to a “T” exactly like shown above. Since the squash isn’t running dry in my backyard, I decided to incorporate them again this week. The chives, tomatoes and onions came courtesy of my backyard too. I love this growing season!

I can’t wait to try the new burgers and have delicious fruit smoothies for breakfast. This is how I spend my Sundays, peeps. Usually it’s church then grocery shopping with Hubster followed by meal prepping for the week. It’s a great way to ensure that the week is full of good things. It also helps me get to work on time when my food is all ready and bagged:) I even have all my vitamins set out for the week. Go me!

What’s in your lunch box this week?

August 15, 2013

How Does Our Garden Grow?

With green pepper bells and pungent smells
and pretty white onions all in a row.

Earlier in the season, I gave you a peek at the planting of my backyard superfood garden. Sadly, we lost our cucumbers, but we’ve been getting quite the harvest off of our humble garden these past few weeks. In fact, one week, I was able to put together an entire week’s worth of salads for my lunches with my abundant lettuce harvest.

Our acorn squash is getting a little over-zealous. Oh wait, I’m the one who was over-zealous by planting not one, but two squash plants in our meager plot. I do that every year:) I know I pack too much in, but I just can’t help myself when it comes to fresh garden veggies.

This week, I’m having a whole week of stuffed acorn squash for lunches. I shared the recipe here. It was just sort of put together with some things I had around the house and the farmer’s market.

I could lose a Peanut in all those squash plants!

While we were gone on our Mackinaw City trip for a week, my father-in-law kept our garden picked. We came home to this ginormous bag of snap peas. I ate from that bag for days and days. It’s so nice to be able to plan my clean eating weekly menu with my own backyard grown produce. It’s going to be a great season!

We have this neat program at work where you can donate all those extras from your garden to local food pantries. I think this idea is genius! We’ve always got too much zucchini or too many tomatoes or a plethora of herbs in our backyard, so why not share the green love? If I don’t eat them all myself, I hope to donate some acorn squash to this cause since that’s what’s currently taking over our garden:)

Did you grow anything this year? What do you do with your leftovers?

August 14, 2013

Clean Stuffed Acorn Squash

Healthy? check
Clean? check
Filling? check
Low-cal? check

What’s not to love about a recipe like that?

Clean Stuffed Acorn Squash

3 whole acorn squash
1lb ground chicken
1 cup cooked bulgar wheat
1/2 carton sliced mushrooms
1 cup chopped tomato
2 cloves garlic, diced
1 onion, chopped

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Slice each squash in half and clean out the seeds and pulp. Place the halves face down in a pan in 1-2 inches of water. Cover the skins of the squash with tin foil. Bake in the oven for 40 minutes, or until the flesh is fork-tender.

While that’s baking, start cooking your ground chicken on the stovetop until done. Drain grease, if there is any (the leaner the meat the better). Add in all your veggies and the bulgar wheat. Saute until everything is cooked through.

Once the squash is cooked through, let it cool a bit and then spoon the filling into the center of the squash and serve. Makes 6 servings.

I separated the stuffing into six different serving containers and wrapped the squash completely in tin foil in order to take it to work for lunches. I heat the filling and squash up separately and then scoop the filling inside the squash bowl at work. It looks like one heckuva meal and indeed it’s pretty darn filling. When I plugged the numbers into the Sparkpeople nutrition counter I came back with just 259 calories and loads of nutrients, vitamins, protein and all-around good stuff!!!!

This meal was a perfect match for the lunch option on the Jamie Eason plan and perfect for this harvest season. I hope to make a Southwestern version with the rest of the squash that’s coming out of my ears for next week. Check back for another taste-tested, Bounsee-approved stuffed squash recipe next week!

August 13, 2013

Weekly Food Prep

The bag of food that I brought to work this morning was rather comical. The sheer amount of food would have fit into at least two lunch bags. Oh my gosh! But it’s all super clean, super healthy food, mostly lots of greens and lean protein. It just takes up space, that’s all:) As I mentioned in a previous post, I’m beginning the Jamie Eason LiveFit series this week and trying to follow the plan as closely as possible.

Today was also chest and tricep day and my arms feel absolutely lethargic. When I try anything as simple as lifting my fork or opening a food jar, I feel shaky. Oh boy! I immediately fueled my muscles with a small smoothie consisting of 1/2 scoop of Perfect Fit protein powder and some frozen berries. Many know, and as I’ve learned through my studies with NASM, that fueling with a bit of protein and carbs within 1/2 hour of strength training makes a huge difference in results. That fuel is quickly used for muscles, but you only have that short 1/2 hour window to take advantage, and I made sure I did. I also stopped to stretch my chest throughout the day today since I know I’m going to feel it soon if I don’t.

I really take pride in eating this well, so I really hope the results are for this program are all they’re cracked up to be.

Breakfast (total 359 calories):

1/2 scoop protein powder + 0.25 cup frozen berry smoothie
1/2 cup quick oats + cinnamon + 0.5 Tbsp honey
5 egg whites + veggies (tomatoes, spinach, onion and broccoli)

Saute all your veggies and just add egg whites

Snack 1 (282 calories):

2 Chicken Muffins served inside lettuce leaves
Broccoli with Mrs. Dash seasoning

Lunch (266 calories):

1/2 acorn squash stuffed with ground chicken, bulgar wheat, onion, mushroom, garlic and tomato.
1/2 cup cucumber

Snack 2 (366 calories):

2 Chicken Muffins
Kale salad with just a tiny sprinkle or raisins and walnuts with an olive oil/balsamic vinegar dressing

Dinners:

We have steak, grilled chicken, whole wheat spaghetti, turkey sausage and pork chops planned for the week. I’ll pair my lean meats with something like a 1/2 sweet potato for my starch and Brussels sprouts for my veggies, as required by the plan.

Bedtime Snack:

1/2 cup cottage cheese or Greek yogurt with 1 tsp sugar-free jam (for muscle growth while I sleep)

Yes, this is a LOT of food, much of it high in protein, with a low caloric price. That’s what happens when you start eating cleaner. You can actually eat way more. As in, a whole grocery bag full, judging by my trek to work this morning. Ha!

When I prepped my food last night, it was quite the debacle. I was getting so tired and the food prep seemed to be taking forever (although so worth it!). I went to put something in the fridge and bumped the door. Two entire shelves of condiments fell and messed up the whole kitchen floor. Then, I went to mop up the mess and accidentally put cooking oil in the mop bucket instead of vinegar–the jugs look the same! This was all after forgetting an entire jug of protein powder in the cart at Walmart and running all the way back across town to claim it. After mopping, the floor was still sticky. I just wanted to go to bed after all of that. Luckily, I was finished with my food prepping and Peanut was already asleep so I took the opportunity to duck away. Hubster promised to mop again today. He can be sweetheart sometimes!

I was able to get most of my produce from the farmer’s market this weekend. A few tomatoes, onions, and sprigs of broccoli came from my very own backyard garden. The acorn squash was definitely from my huge backyard supply. I look forward to eating stuffed squash for at least the next two weeks. I hope to share a few of my recipes as I create them. This week, I will be able to share my chicken bulgar-stuffed squash, since that’s what I whipped together for my lunches. It took me awhile to eat that whole sucker today!

And so, Week One begins!

July 10, 2013

Weekly Food Prep

This past week, I prepped all of my meals on Sunday, which is becoming quite a regular habit for me. For a little something different, I used the Quesadilla and Crepe recipes from Blogilates. I kept my snacks pretty simple.

Breakfast: Crepes with banana and strawberries
Snack: Grapefruit
Lunch: Quesadilla with pico de gallo
Snack: 2 hard-boiled eggs (one yoke removed)

Making the crepes and the quesadilla tortillas at the same time was a little bit time-consuming, but it was totally doable. I had to make two crepes per day and two tortillas per day for five days, totaling 20 circles. You can see how that might take awhile. Usually, while the batter was cooking, I was busy working on something else, like cutting veggies or boiling eggs. Seriously though, for the time it takes to prep one day for an entire week, it’s more than worth it. I’m eating super clean and healthy AND making it to work on time because all I have to do is throw my pre-portioned meals in my bag and go.

I’m really loving Cassey’s Cheap Clean Eats series. If there’s anything about food prep that I love, it’s when the food is affordable, easy, fast, and clean. This can sometimes be quite a lot to ask for, but with resources like Cassey’s and Tosca Reno’s, it certainly is possible.

I hope to continue building and sharing meal plans like this in the hopes that I might be able to inspire clean eating in your meal schedule too. Seeing what resources I’m using, what snacks I’m munching on, how I’m prepping meals, and how I’m spacing out meals, I hope that you might be able to help you make food prep a normal part of your schedule too. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask.

How do you prepare for the week?

May 29, 2013

My Superfood Garden

The term “superfood” sometimes carries a stigma of being too overly-trendy or of-the-moment, gone-tomorrow variety since it’s been used with such abandon. This week it’s acai berry, next week it’s chia seeds. While some of those foods definitely live up to the criteria of superfoods (whatever those criteria actually are), I think that there are some truly miraculous unsung heroes of the backyard garden variety.

This week, Peanut and I got dirty and planted a garden in our little plot of land on this earth. My mom likes to buy my garden plants for me as my birthday present–the perfect gift for a health-loving lady. Peanut likes to help plant, but mostly he gets distracted by trying to find as many worms as possible while I’m digging.

Here’s a rundown of what we’ll be harvesting this year and the corresponding health benefits from one of my favorite books, 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth.

Bok choy: contains indoles which have been linked to a lower cancer risk. For a whopping one cup of the shredded vegetable (9 calories), you get loaded up with calcium, potassium, beta-carotene, and vitamin A.

Green pepper: Loaded with vitamins C, A, K and potassium.

Lettuce: not listed

Broccoli: contains isothiocyanates which shut down carcinogens, helping to prevent various cancers from lung to esophageal cancer. It can also inhibit the growth of some tumors, including mammary tumors. Lutein and zeaxanthin in broccoli have been shown to prevent macular degeneration. There are also other antioxidants, vitamins and phytochemicals that are scientifically proven to fight all sorts of cancers. It tops all experts’ top 10 lists of healthy foods.

Cucumber: not listed

Onion: Onion is hands-down a prime cancer-fighting food. The effects of onions on three cancers studied include stomach, prostate and esophageal cancers. They also help build stronger bones and significantly reduce mortality rates from coronary heart disease. Onions are highly anti-inflammatory, antibiotic, and antiviral. Sulfides in onions also may help lower blood lipid levels and blood pressure.

Beans: Offers about 10% of the RDI of folate in a prime ratio of folate to amino acids that allows it to be absorbed properly by the body. One cup will give you about 4g of fiber and a bunch of vitamins and minerals: calcium, vitamin A, potassium, manganese, beta-carotene, lutein, and zeaxanthin.

Tomatoes: tomatoes are of course rich in lycopene, which has shown to be a strong proponent against prostate cancer. Other strong evidence points to lycopene’s effects on stomach, lung, pancreatic, colorectal, esophageal, oral, breast and cervical cancers. It’s also a heart-healthy vegetable, reducing heart attack risk, slowing the thickening o arteries, and reducing blood pressure. Lutein in tomatoes is a protector of eyesight. Not only that, but they are also packed with other beneficial vitamins.

Acorn squash: a fiber powerhouse, packing 9g of fiber per cup. In other words, they are highly filling for a very low calorie budget (115 calories). High fiber diets themselves protect against heart disease and cancer. It also is overflowing with potassium and even contains some iron.

And I didn’t plant just any ole tomatoes. This “Health Kick” variety definitely had my name written all over it. 50% more lycopene? Sign me up!

I also had Peanut help me plant a small backyard herb garden–just about the only garden I haven’t overloaded yet.

Parsley: now, if I were going to invent some weird new-age cleanse diet, I would definitely add parsley to the mix. All kidding aside, the often “optional” herb is actually a strong detoxifier and deodorizer. The chlorophyll also helps to stop bacterial growth and counter toxins. The mild diuretic properties aid in kidney function. Diabetics may benefit from the herb’s ability to reduce blood glucose levels.

Basil: not listed.

Oregano: Rich in a whole assortment of nutrients like calcium, magnesium, zinc, iron, potassium, copper, boron, manganese, vitamin C, vitamin A and niacin. It has an impressively high antioxidant content–more than most fruits and vegetables. Compounds in oregano have anti-fungal, antibacterial, anti-parasitic, and anti-inflammatory properties. It can actually inhibit the growth of at least 10 microbes.

We also have a few beds around the garage for our perennial edibles, including asparagus, rhubarb, chives and mint. I could break those down for you too, but I’ll leave that research up to you. They’re all amazing powerhouses, I assure you.

Now, you may be thinking that you need to own a 3-acre plot of land to grow this stuff. My garden is just 8′ x 11′ . Admittedly, I somehow tend to overpopulate my garden every year (at the nursery, my eyes are way bigger than my garden), but this small plot is definitely sufficient for your standard-issue salad fixings with all the health benefits.

And let’s be clear, gardening isn’t just for cute retired grammies. It’s also for anyone from the hip, urbanite to the low-income family. If you’re ready celebrate the marvelous miracle of regular veggies, you’re ready for a garden.

See, and he’s only four!

What are you planting this year?

Now, go get those pretty little hands dirty!

May 1, 2013

Healthy Creamy Cucumber Recipe

Spring reminds me most of cookouts in my grandparent’s backyard where they always served creamy cucumber salad–along with corn-on-the-cob and hamburgers of course. Creamy cucumber salad is one of my all-time favorite things about summer. As cucumbers come into season, creamy cucumbers become part of the regular meal rotation.

This week, I’m enjoying an extremely healthy take on the dish. This was an experiment for me, but after testing it for several day, I have to say it’s quite amazing, especially after marinating in its own juices for several days. I’m happy to say that this experiment was a success and I’ll be using this recipe in place of the old mayo-loaded standby. Healthy, easy and clean are always my style.

Healthy Creamy Cucumber Salad

Ingredients:
2 cucumbers, sliced
1 sm carton plain Greek yogurt
1 can chickpeas
3Tbs vinegar
1tsp sugar
1tsp dill
1/4 Tbs onion powder
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
You may choose to peel your cucumbers first, but I feel like it amounts to throwing away valuable nutrients, so I leave my peels on. Mix all ingredients thoroughly in a mixing bowl. This recipe makes about 5 servings.

I like how the onion powder adds taste to the Greek yogurt. I’m normally not a fan of subbing Greek yogurt for mayo, but the onion powder makes the swap perfectly acceptable to me. That’s just what it took to give the yogurt extra flavoring without all the fat. And of course the Greek yogurt has so much more nutritional value than mayo.

Bon appetite!

April 30, 2013

Weekly Food Prep

This week, my menu was based upon the TIU nutrition plan of course, because the Bikini Series is in full swing and I want to make my best efforts. You can see the full spread below. I’ll break it down by meal, so you can see an example of what I’m eating each day.

Breakfast: Protein Pancakes with Peaches (pictured below) + Bombshell Spell
Snack: Grapefruit pieces + 1c Almond Milk
Lunch: PB&J Wraps + Apple
Snack: Creamy Cucumber Salad (recipe coming tomorrow)
Dinner: We’ve got grilled chicken, steaks, salad, and stir fry on the menu. Sides will be strawberries, dates and Brussels sprouts.

I was barefoot, rocking out to some old-school Jackson Browne on my record player last night while prepping my food for the rest of this week. Hubster and Peanut were nesting down for the night, so I got a lot done. Spring is in the air, so my palate desires all things tropical, fresh, and light and my feet desire to be untethered. It’s a good feeling.

I used my very own meal planner printable to plan out the meals and formulate our shopping list. Then, I hung the sheet on the fridge so I can reference it each day. I tend to forget what we have to eat or what to pack for work unless it’s written down somewhere.

You’ll see quite a few mentions of things like the Bombshell Spell and Perfect Fit Pancakes out there in the Tone It Up community. These recipes are taken right from the TIU plan. If you’re curious to know more about the Tone It Up Nutrition Plan, leave a question in the comments section and I’ll try my best to answer them. Otherwise, there are tons of free lean, clean, and green recipes on their blog to test out too.

Bombshell Spell + Almond Milk

I know some people hate seeing what you’re eating online, but I’m not one of those people. What are you eating this week?