Eat, Move, and Be Healthy: Dinner Planning & 7 days of dinners

Ok...It's five-o-clock p.m. and you know its time to start thinking about whats for dinner. How many of you find yourself trying to scramble up items, looking in your fridge, and then eventually getting take-out. That for sure happens to me when I don't plan ahead. I find myself not having all the ingredients for recipe, or that I should have thawed the meat earlier, or started the crockpot meal in the morning. Bradon and I always end up at Cafe Rio or something. Planning dinners saves money & time when it comes to your busy week. When I plan a week ahead I'm able to go to the grocery store with my list and get exactly what I need, then I don't have any excuses when it comes to dinner. I plan around work, family parties, etc...If I work late one night, then I try to make enough leftovers the night before. I found this awesome meal planning sheet here. I'm sure you can find them all over the internet as well!

7 DAY DINNER PLANNING EXAMPLE:

I made this list last week and went to the grocery store on Saturday to get all the ingredients that I needed...I have not tried the turkey meatloaf yet but I will post if it is yummy!

BALSAMIC CHICKEN WITH BALSAMIC ASPARAGUS

Balsamic Braised Asparagus

-1 bunch of asparagus

-salt, to taste

-pepper, to taste

-low-fat balsamic vinaigrette

-Preheat oven to 425. Rinse and trim woody bottoms off of asparagus. Place in an 8x11 glass dish with spears facing each other in the center. lightly spray with cooking spray, flip, and lightly spray again. Sprinkle with salt and pepper as desired and bake for 15 minutes, or until bright green and fork-tender. Once plated drizzle with balsamic vinaigrette

Got this recipe from the Happy Herbivore Cookbook

Side salad for appetizers!

BALSAMIC CHICKEN:

Chicken:

-Salt & pepper

-4 boneless skinless, chicken breasts

Sauce:

-1/4 cup chicken broth

-1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

-1 T. dijon mustard

-2 T. lemon juice

-2 garlic cloves, minced (or 1 tsp. pre-chopped garlic)

-1 T. olive oil (plus a little more for pan)

Directions:

1. In a bowl mix together broth, vinegar, dijon, lemon juice, garlic, and olive oil until well blended

2. Heat about 1/2 T. olive oil in a large skillet over med-high heat

3. Sprinkle salt and pepper on both sides of chicken

4. Add chicken to hot skillet and brown on both sides

5. Add sauce to pan and over chicken, being careful since the pan is very hot and sauce can splatter. Bring to a boil and stir up the bits of goodness on the bottom of the pan. Turn heat down to med-low.

6. Simmer for about 6 minutes or until chicken is done and juices run clear.

7. To serve, spoon the delicious, slightly reduced sauce over the chicken.

TIP: If you know you will be in a hurry, you can make the sauce ahead of time and freeze in a zip-lock. Let thaw with chicken that day!

KANSAS CITY CHICKEN WITH BROWN RICE (Crockpot meal)

-Serves 6-ish

4-6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1/4 cup low sugar ketchup

1/2 cup apple cider vinegar (P.S. this stuff is so good for you!!)

1/2 cup stevia or sugar

1 onion, diced

1 T. soy sauce

1 cup low-sodium chicken broth

Place the chicken to the slow cooker and season with salt & pepper. Cook the chicken for 3-4 hours, or until chicken is tender and able to shred. An hour into the cooking process, drain ½ of the chicken liquid out of the Crockpot. In a large bowl, combine all the other ingredients. Whisk well. Pour the sauce over the chicken. Cover the Crockpot and cook on low for another 2-4 hours. Shred the chicken and stir together. Serve with brown rice, on tacos, over a salad, or in soup. It is delicious!!

**FREEZER MEAL: freeze ½ of the chicken for later in a ziplock bag.

For this nights dinner I placed chicken on top of brown rice with some veggies on the side. I usually freeze half of it and then later in the week thaw and use for tacos or burritos! It is tasty in any dish. For lunch the next day I also added the chicken to a salad. Feel free to use it how you want!

INSTANT VEGAN ALFREDO RECIPE:

(Don't be scared off by the word vegan, it was a meatless, protein packed dinner! Delicious! I found this recipe out of the Happy Herbivore Cookbook)

Ingredients:

12 ounces silken tofu
1 cup non-dairy milk
¼ tsp nutmeg
⅛ tsp garlic powder
⅛ tsp onion powder
½ cup nutritional yeast
2 tbsp whole wheat pastry flour
2 cups whole wheat pasta, cooked

Instructions:

Blend tofu with non-dairy milk, nutmeg, garlic, onion and a light dash of cayenne pepper (optional, or alternatively, add a drop or two of hot sauce) until smooth and creamy. Transfer mixture to a saucepan and whisk in nutritional yeast, flour and 1 tbsp vegan parmesan (optional). Cook over medium heat and allow to thicken. Taste, adding salt and black pepper to taste and adjusting other seasonings (more Parmesan, more garlic, etc) as desired. Toss with 2-3 cups of cooked whole wheat or brown rice pasta and vegetables if using. Serve immediately.

Other mid-week recipes:

I love trying new things throughout the week and here are a few things that I would like to share that I thought were worth mentioning!

"PURPLE DRINK" AFTER WORKOUT (or anytime) ICE CREAM

-1 cup coconut milk

-1 scoop vanilla protein (I used the Plant Fusion kind)

-4 frozen strawberries

-handful of frozen blueberries

-handful of ice

Make sure you have a pretty good blender to make this with an Ice cream button option. (Blendtec, Vitamix, ninja, etc work great). Put liquid and protein in blender first, then the rest of ingredients. Mix on "ice cream" setting. It is so thick it tastes like frozen yogurt. Who says ice cream can't be a good snack!

POPEYE'S ICE CREAM:

I didn't make this recipe yet, but tried it @ costco when I bought my blender. It was SO yummy and didn't taste like it was healthy at all!

-3/4 cup coconut milk (other other milk product)

-1/4 cup agave nectar syrup

-1 scoop vanilla protein

-1/2 advocado, peeled & pitted

-2 cups spinach, lightly packed

-11/2 T. Vanilla extract

2 1/2 cups ice cubes

Mix together in a blender and serve!

PUMPKIN STEEL CUT OATS WITH BANANA & ALMOND BUTTER

Follow this recipe here to make the steel cut oats overnight. Or you can make them on the stovetop according to the packaging directions.

-3/4 cup cooked steel cut oats

-2 T pureed pumpkin

-1/2 scoop vanilla protein

-a couple shakes pumpkin pie spice & cinnamon

-1 packet of stevia

-1/2 banana

-a scoop of almond butter

Mix together and add bananas & almond butter on top! It is yummy and never gets old!

I decided to try to make some homemade gluten-free cereal and found what looked like a good recipe online, but it didn't turn out too tasty, so I'm not going to share the recipe!