5 Easy Meal Planning Tips!

People always ask me how to plan out their meals in order to ensure healthy choices throughout the day and week. Let's face it, we ALL have busy lives. I've actually tried to not use the word "busy" lately, because in reality, I do make time for things that are important to me, like working out, reading, spending time with my husband, and cooking! Meal planning is important to me because when I know I have healthy food at home, I eat healthy food! #duh

Meal planning has become a weekly priority for me, but I know that luxury is not possible for everyone! And trust me, not all meal prep is making gourmet meals from scratch! Sometimes, I just scan my kitchen (ahem freezer) and create some random, healthy food that will keep  my hubby and I fed and happy until our next meal. SO! Here are 5 of my easy meal prep tips!

1. Don't overthink it!

Sometimes, we complicate our lives by thinking too much. When you are meal planning and prepping and don't have much time to devote to it, think quick and easy meals that hit all the food groups. My go-to meals are lean protein, veggies, and some kind of healthy carb. So that can either be grilled chicken with rice and salad, or ground beef patties with roasted sweet potatoes and green beans, or tuna salad with some veggies and crackers! Anything goes, as long as it covers those food groups: lean protein, veggies, and a healthy carb.

2. Shakeology!!! 

Shakeology has been a life-saver for me, especially since starting my new job as a renal dietitian. Sometimes, I have to be at work as early as 6am, and it has been SO easy to whip up a shake on my way out the door. I also have been making my shakes mid-morning at work as a snack if I take my magic bullet with me. The best part? I KNOW that I am getting a healthy dose of good nutrition and a ton of superfoods no matter what else may happen the rest of the day. 

3. Freezer food to the rescue! 

Don't knock freezer food, it can actually rescue your meal prep woes! I always keep a huge bag of frozen veggies in my freezer, as well as frozen grass fed beef, ground turkey, and chicken breasts. I also like to have frozen berries on hand to top my oatmeal with. I will also freeze leftovers, like this lentils and brown rice dish I made a month ago! I froze whatever was left, and it helped me when I was in a food emergency last week!

Freezer food can really help you when you are in a bind! Defrost a meal or some meat, cook it up, add some veggies and some seasonings and you are good to go!

4. Think greens/veggies. 

What I always make sure to have on hand is vegetables, whether fresh or frozen. It's so easy to whip up a quick salad, or add some steamed veggies as a side dish (see above!) You can even dip some veggies in hummus as a quick, delicious, and filling snack! Greens are SO nutritious and keep us full, plus they are so pretty to look at when you stare at your plate! The greens/veggies I love are spinach, kale, arugula, cucumbers, broccoli, carrots, and sugar snap peas! 

5. Have your essentials always on hand! 

One of the most popular recipes on my blog has been my spicy sausage and taters dish. Here is the link in case you haven't tried it yet!

http://www.tveenverano.com/the-joyful-harvest/2014/10/15/spicy-sausage-and-taters

This is seriously one of the easiest meals to whip up, plus it tastes amazing! It is so versatile too: you can have it with eggs in the morning, or pair it with a salad for lunch!

The key with this meal is that I always make sure I have spicy jalapeño chicken sausages from Trader Joe's on hand, plus some kind of taters (yukon gold or sweet potatoes). I ALWAYS have these on hand. This meal is so tasty and quick, and it's a great way to get some protein and carb into my day without overthinking it. Some other essentials I always have on hand include: eggs, carrots, hummus, gluten free bread, peanut butter (DUH), kale, and spinach. By keeping my home constantly stocked with these foods, I have an emergency stash of healthy options waiting for me when I am in a hurry or don't have time to go to the store to get my groceries!

I hope these tips help some of you with meal planning and prepping! I'd love to get some more ideas from you all on how YOU meal prep! Share one of your favorite meal prepping tactics in the comments below! :) 

Adding Variety to Meal Planning

I've heard it said time and time again that the more simple you keep your meals, the higher the chances that you will stick to your healthy eating goals. While I agree with this to some extent, I do think there are a few exceptions to this piece of advice. Keeping meals simple helps us when we are planning because we don't have to overthink what we want to eat. I know that I do this from time to time, especially during busy weeks. If I have some of my beloved frozen turkey burgers from Trader Joe's in my freezer, BOOM, meals for the week. If I have some sausage and sweet potatoes, I whip up a casserole and call it a day. But sometimes, especially when you are finding yourself eating out of boredom and dreading your next meal, it's time to rethink the mundane simplicity of your every day, go-to meals.

I've been feeling this kind of boredom lately. And I am a big lover of food, so when I don't look forward to my next meal...it's a problem. I realized that all I've been eating are salads with the same dressing, and some kind of protein, usually my turkey burgers. I love those turkey burgers, but sometimes, a girl needs some variety! These past few weeks, I have been giving myself so many more options when it comes to my meals. My only "rules" are gluten free (I started sneaking that pesky bugger in during and after the holidays...not a good idea), and minimal sugars, processed carbs, and processed foods in general. All else is totally game.

Let's start with breakfast. Usually, I eat veggie scrambles. Every. Single. Day. And while I love eggs, eggs every day can get a tad bit repetitive. Last week, I made some protein pancakes instead. I hadn't made pancakes in FOREVER, and I decided that I would make them again. They don't take that long to make, and are still healthy when you pack them with some protein (I used Jaime Eason's Lean Body for Her Vanilla Whey; best whey I've ever tasted!). These turned out great and added some nice variety to my morning.

I also hadn't had oats in what felt like a very long time, so yesterday morning, I microwaved my oats (short-on-time syndrome) and topped them with some chopped walnuts and blueberries. This kept me full for a WHILE and I thoroughly enjoyed my warm mushy breakfast.

And speaking of blueberries, I've just been having them as a snack lately too! On Saturday, I was pretty hungry in the mid morning, but it was almost lunch time and I didn't want too much to fill me up. So I opted for a nice bowl of bloobs and they hit the spot!

Lastly, last night, I decided to have a vegetarian dinner. I am a huge, HUGE, meat eater. I was actually vegetarian a few years back in grad school, but because of some of the health problems I experienced, I decided to add meat back into my life, and I have never looked back. But as much as I love meat, having it at every single meal can get annoying and kind of gross. Last night, I heated up a can of Amy's Organic low sodium lentil vegetable soup. I added a WHOLE lot of spinach to the pot to make it more vegetable-y (yes, it's a word), and the spinach of course shrank. Then, I added a bag of Trader Joe's frozen brown rice. The whole meal was ready in about 5 minutes, made two servings so I am all set for lunch today, and is the perfect winter stew!

If you want to add more variety to your meals while still keeping them healthy, I recommend getting started in a few easy steps:

1. Take inventory of what you have at home. I realized I have so much frozen tilapia, chicken, grass fed beef, and a mahi mahi burger that are just waiting to get eaten. You can season these meats up differently every time you cook them and get a different flavor each time.

2. Make a list of all the meals you could make adding and combining these foods. I brainstormed that I could use the chicken as a stir-fry with vegetables and some coconut aminos, I could make it into a vegetable casserole, or I could eat it with some marinara sauce and lentils (such a great combination!) I could make the grass fed beef into taco meat, or into little sausage patties. There are so many things we could create if we actually knew the foods we had on hand!

3. Start today. Start changing up your schedule today. You can still eat healthy foods while adding variety to your meals and not getting stuck in the same patterns every day. For me, getting stuck causes me to reach for variety in the form of not so healthy foods. I'd rather change up my daily meals knowing that they are still healthy and look forward to eating every day of my life!

I hope this helps someone out there who finds themselves in a food rut! What is your go-to meal every day, and what do you think you could do to spice up your meal plan a bit?

Thanksgiving Short-week Plan!

I am so excited Thanksgiving week is here! Christmas is my favorite holiday, but Thanksgiving has always been a close second. I love spending time with family and reflecting on God's uncountable blessings and what I am thankful for.

This week is also a short week at work! Just 3 days! Which is great since I worked all weekend getting trained to be a Certified Lactation Educator! It was such an amazing and informative week at work, but I am mentally exhausted and can't wait for a few days off!!

Here is my tentative meal plan for this short week. I've only planned my meals for work days since thanksgiving + leftovers will probably make up the rest of the week! Also, I am still not counting calories (yay!) and update on that coming soon!

Meals:

11/24: B: sausage, taters, veggies L: turkey with gluten-free peanut sauce, brown rice, carrots, hummus S: nuts D: out with parents!

11/25: B: sausage, taters, veggies L: Mahi Mahi burger, brown rice, veggies S: nuts/quest bar D: probably out!

11/26: B: sausage, taters, veggies L: turkey burger, salad, carrots, hummus S: nuts D: probably out!

And then the family time begins!! I can't wait!

As far as workouts go, I plan to be very on top of my workouts this week! I want to stay in my routine and build on the strength I've been developing!

11/24: I had my personal training session this morning. We worked on chest, triceps, and shoulders, then I did a 2 mile run/walk

11/25: RUN! I am at 45/100 miles for Christmas...being sick really set me back! I hope I can get some decent mileage in this week!

11/26: Log book workout (legs), cardio

11/27: Log book workout (biceps/back), cardio

11/28: run...if I have time before shopping of course!

11/29: rest day

11/30: run/toning circuit before church!

And that's about it! I'm hoping the first 3 days of this week fly by and the last 4 days take their sweeeeet time! That's possible, right?? :)

Okay Monday, let's do this!

Food & Fitness Plan: 11/10-11/14

Hello friends! I hope you all had a fabulous first week of November. I have been loving this month so far and am looking forward to a colder more wintery week...or at least wintery for California! This week's plan is going to consist of a few new recipes and hopefully a some runs. I came down with a nasty cold last week which really effected my running plan. I am feeling much better today and hope to be as good as new in order to run this week! But first, the food plan:

Pre workout options: * I spied these yummy looking pumpkin bagels at Target a few weeks ago and have been wanting to try them. Yesterday, I finally took the plunge and bought them.

I am trying to treat myself a bit more in this whole healthy eating journey without going overboard. I decided that pairing half a bagel with either a fat or protein source would help me enjoy these delicious carbs while still balancing my plate! So as a pre workout option, I may have half a bagel with some fat or protein! I have been eating them with a 1/2 T of Trader Joe's cocoa swirl cooking butter and it's AMAZING!

* banana w/nuts * low carb tortilla with peanut butter * hard boiled egg

Breakfast options: * veggie scramble * egg tacos * hard boiled eggs * healthy whole grain French toast * a bar if I am in a rush!

Lunch options: * Sausage minestrone soup (recipe coming soon!) * Mahi Mahi or Turkey burgers from Trader Joe's w/salad * I bought the Thai Green Curry Sauce from Trader Joe's I am hoping to experiment with this week! Maybe with some chicken...yum! * I also bought some ready-made meatballs from Trader Joe's to have as a quick meal option.

Dinner options: * my Mama's beef and potato casserole...SO GOOD! * out with my parents possibly * any lunch option as dinner would work too!

Dessert options (yes, dessert!) * I made a super healthy single crusted apple pie yesterday that came out tasting delicious! It satisfied my apple pie craving and only has 120 calories/slice...no joke! I'm glad to have a healthy dessert option this week if my sweet tooth kicks in. And don't worry, I will be sharing this recipe soon as well!

Fitness Plan:

11/10: training session (back and biceps) with a lateral elliptical workout...I love this elliptical machine! It moves you up and down and side to side so it targets every leg muscle!

11/11: run + TIU kettlebell workout

11/12: logbook workout from my trainer (legs), lateral elliptical

11/13: run + possible workout with my friend!

11/14: logbook workout (chest, triceps, shoulders) from my trainer, some kind of cardio

11/15-11/16: run, strength training, random!

I am doing the Tone it Up 100 miles by Christmas challenge. I've reached 19 miles so far and am hoping to make a dent in my mileage this week since I am feeling a bit better!

That's all for this week, folks! Here is a bit of Motivation Monday for you before I end this post:

It all starts in the mind! If you keep your thoughts positive and focused on God and His strength, peace and strength will follow. As one of my favorite passages, Colossians 3:1-4 states:

"Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory."

Have a great Monday!