Healthy Lunch Meal Prep Made Easy

Meal prepping has become a pretty big thing. There are countless blogs, pinterest pins and websites dedicated just to the art of meal prepping. If you're anything like me, you love the idea of meal prepping, you see the benefits, you know it would help you stay on track with healthy eating during your busy week but you're overwhelmed with the wealth of information, recipes, how to's etc.

I have been lunch meal prepping for a little over a month now and Love Love Love how it's helped me stay on track. I've stayed on track to the tune of being down two pants sizes..... can I get a "raise the roof". (no? ok, I'll do it myself......*happy dance...raise the roof...Happy dance*)
Phew, ok, I'm done celebrating. Back to business.

Taking the time to meal prep my lunches has saved me time, calories and mental block as to what to make for lunch at that moment when I'm absolutely starving and am battling between what my taste buds want and what my fitness goals need. Have you been there??? Those battles for me usually resulted in a grilled cheese sandwich and chips. :( not such a great option.

I hear people say things like, "I don't have time to meal prep" or "I really want to, but I don't know where to start." Sometimes I hear..."Doesn't that get expensive eating dinner type foods at lunch"??

So, I decided to break it down for you to show you how easy and cheap lunch meal prepping really is and hopefully help you on your road to making this a routine that can assist you with your health and fitness goals.

FIRST, Buy your ingredients
                                      
For this weeks meals. I bought
-Bag of Chicken Breasts
-Bag of Steamable Green Beans (I got these from walmart)
-Bag of Sweet Potatoes
-Cottage Cheese
-Salad Greens
-Eggs
-Light Italian Dressing

I bought all these items from Aldi and spent just about $15.00 for them all.  I wont use everything in it's entirety for this week. So the break down per meal is less than $3.75. Not bad. Pretty affordable right?

Ok.

Step 1.
Place either 3-4 LARGE chicken breasts (or 5-6 small ones) In crock pot and cover with 3/4 bottle of italian dressing. Turn on High and let cook for 4-5 hours.
You will want the remainder of the dressing for your salads this week.

Step 2.Prepare Sweet Potatoes- Poke three small holes in each potato and wrap with foil. Place on baking sheet and cook on 450 for 1 hour. When your timer goes off, check and see if they are slightly squeezable. If you can squeeze them with your over mitt on, then they are done. I always cook more than I need for just my meals so I can grab them easily for snacks or dinners as well. *Plus my kids LOOOOVE sweet potatoes*

Step 3- Boil your eggs- I usually boil several because they are a great snack..full of protein. *great for throwing in your gym bag for after your workouts*

Step 4- Cook your steamable green beans in the microwave. 

Step5- While your chicken is cooking, your potatoes are baking and your eggs are boiling. Measure out your salad, Cottage Cheese and Green beans into your containers.

For this I use

1/2 c Cottage Cheese

2 cups of Salad Mix (topped with chopped cucumbers)

1 cup Green beans

I decided I wanted a lil variety for the week. So I am making two containers with salad to put my chicken on, and two containers with a starch item(my sweet potato) and veggies.

The end result will look like this \/

                                                       \/

By then your eggs should be done boiling- So peal two to add to your containers.

Put your containers in the frig.

Then all you have to do is wait for your potatoes and your chicken to be done.

Once they are done. Place one medium potato in your containers and 4-6oz of chicken. Be sure to spoon out some of your left over dressing over the chicken.

(I don't add the chicken to my salad, til I'm ready to eat it. Sometimes, I like it cold, sometimes I like it warmed up and I can't warm it up if it's already on the lettuce. So I store the left over's separately.)

And Voila!! 4 healthy lunch meals that are prepped and ready for a quick grab.

All the Prep Time only took me about 45 minutes today. From start to finish. That of course is not counting the cook time for the potatoes and chicken. But while those are cooking, I can do whatever else I need to get done. 

As you can see, this method is easy, cheap, and quick. 

I know we all lead busy lives, with work, families, kids, sports...whatever it is you do.

But one thing I've learned is that, If I have 1 hour of time to sit and do anything like watch t.v, read, sew, look through facebook, or pinterest 

I HAVE TIME TO MEAL PREP!

Seriously, we all HAVE the time, somewhere within our week. The question is will we TAKE the time to make this skill and healthy routine a habit for our lives.

If you've ever wanted to try lunch meal prepping, I encourage you to try it. You wont regret it!!!

I believe in you. You CAN do it!!

Happy Cooking!! XOXO

Pumpkin Cheese Ball with Graham Cracker Crust {includes THM variation}

Well, it's the holiday season and you know what that means!!!!

FOOD!! Lots and LOTS of food along with parties and get togethers. All things that make the holidays so wonderful in my book.

It really is the most wonderful time of the year.

If you're like me, you have lots of places to go that you need to take something to share.

Today I decided to make a pumpkin cheese ball with graham cracker crust to share with our church small group!

This was SOOO easy..and soo delish!!

Here's what I did.

~Two containers of Pumpkin Cream cheese. 

(I got these from Aldi but I saw some at walmart as well.)

~And one package of Graham crackers.

Scoop out all the cream cheese onto a plate and spread it into the shape of a large ball in the center.

I crushed up about 3 full size graham crackers and smushed them all along the sides.

Yes, I said "smushed". :)

THE END RESULT

This was so easy you can whip it together literally within 5 minutes and it makes a lovely dish to take to any holiday event!!!

TRIM HEALTHY MOMMA Version

 Regular or low fat cream cheese, pumpkin puree, a little cinnamon with a sprinkle of pumpkin pie spice and stevia or truvia to taste. Mixed well with a mixer. Taste it. Form into a ball and cover with chopped almonds or walnuts for an S dessert. 

Pair together with Gwens Low Carb Cinnamon Dippers and you're golden for a TRIM HEALTHY MOMMA version.

Happy EATING! :)

Weight Loss Wednesday- Skinny Chinese Food

Well Howdy Friends,

I hope you've had a splendid week of weight loss success. 

I have done well this week, so HOORAY!

Every now and then I get a serious craving for chinese food!!

I LOVE chinese food. Panda Express and me are BFF'S which is possibly why I'm trying to lose weight. {ha}

Unfortunately for me and my chinese cravings, Chinese food is not weight loss friendly. So I decided to start trying to make some of my favorite dishes at home in hopes to not only save money but some calories. Or pts if you're a weight watcher.

So I present

 SKINNY SWEET AND SOUR CHICKEN WITH CREAM CHEESE WON TONS

Here's what you'll need.

boneless, skinless chicken breasts(one per person depending on size)

brown rice

LA CHOY sweet and sour sauce

Won ton Wrappers (usually in the produce section)

Cream cheese ( I usually use low fat)

Broccoli

Fortune Cookies (opt)

First Cut up thawed chicken into small bit sized chunks. In a baking dish cover and coat with Sweet and sour sauce. Bake on 350 for 40ish minutes. or until cooked through.

Next take won ton wrappers and lay out on a cutting board with a small bowl of water.

Soften 1/2 a block of cream cheese(depending on how many you're making) and stir.

place 1/2tbsp of Cream cheese in the center of won ton wrapper, apply water to the edges of wrapper with finger and press it closed in a triangle shape.

Continue to do that til you have the desired won ton amount.

on a sprayed cookie sheet, BAKE on 350 for about 5 minutes on each side until golden brown.

Make your rice ( I use minute boil in a bag rice cause I'm all about easy..or as my daughter would say, Easy Peasey Lemon Squeezy) :)

I steamed some broccoli and VOILA! Chinese food!!

It's so yummy and satisfying, but it's also easy and lower in calories and pts than your local Chinese place.

Here's the breakdown

1/2 c rice

2 tbsp Sweet and sour sauce

4 oz chicken

1 cu broccoli

4 wrappers

2 tbsp low fat cream cheese

1 fortune cookie

517 Calories for the whole shebang!!! 

Or 14 PTs PLUS

14 pts may sound like a lot..and it is more than a typical dinner. BUT its less than going to a chinese restaurant for sure! So if you're craving chinese, this is the way to go. :)

Well there ya have it folks. A Yummy, EASY PEASEY way to make a Chinese favorite that wont wreck havoc on your weight loss efforts!

HAPPY EATING 

And may this week of weight loss be kind to us all! :)