Preparing Meals in Advance

I am really into this lately, this is a great idea! When you prepare meals/snacks in advance it makes it so that you have a healthy option that is fast. You can also save $ by buying ingredients in bulk (if you freeze your meals) I have made one day a month a food prep day and try to make as many things as I can to freeze or put in the pantry. Usually on grocery day I will try to make some more snacks/meals for fast grabbage.

Here are some of the things I do to make healthy meals ahead:

Breakfast:

Mash Ups- I buy these and stick them in my fridge or freezer
9-grain pancake mixes - using this recipe, just mix all of the dry ingredients in a bag and then you just have to add the wet. I have 4 bags of pancake mixes in my freezer.
Freeze muffins- yummy recipe to come
Smoothy bags: In the summer I buy fruit (or grow it and then) freeze it in bags all ready to dump in the blender.

Lunches:

Beans- I like having these for lunch, I either make beans in my slow cooker and then keep them in a bag in the fridge or I open a can and rinse them and then put them in the fridge in a bag (for me opening a bag is way easier than opening a can and rinsing them, so I do it in advance and freeze a quart size bag and put another bag in the fridge)

Tortillas- I froze this recipe (before I cooked it) I have about a cup of dough in a snack bag and I have about 10 snack bags in a gallon sized freezer bag. Today for lunch I just took it out of the freezer, put it in the microwave for 2 minutes, rolled it out and cooked them. They turned out awesome! Christian loves these with beans!

Fast Veggies- I cut up and store in snack bags to put on your tortilla with your beans.

We have Sandwiches a lot too which are pretty easy.

Dinners:
I Make and freeze:
lean ground beef to add to meals fast
raw chicken in marinade ready to grill
Whole wheat pizza crust- recipe here
spaghetti sauce and chicken broth in ice cube trays
turkey burgers
sweet potato fries

In the pantry

I made little bags with all of my chili spices in them so I don't have to spend time looking for all of the spices
I made snack bags with granola, banana bars, nuts for an easy grab ( and since these are good for you, but high in calories the smaller bag helps portion control)
When I get home from the store I try to put the food in the pantry by meal. ie if I am making chili I will put the tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, 3 cans of pinto beans in a bag in my pantry. Then when I go to make chili I just pull it out and I don't have to go searching for cans.

I just started doing this and I love it! I look at my recipes with a different lens and look for what parts/whole thing can be prepared ahead. It has made my life so much easier. If I am making a meal I make as much/as many as I can and then freeze the remainder.

I will post more on this later, as well as recipes to make ahead.

Our bodies our amazing

wuhoo! It took just 6 months to get back to "normal" ! I seriously think that my body is amazing! Yes! Just think about it I made a baby, grew a baby, pushed out a baby, and now I am feeding the baby, all with my body! Seriously awesome! And no, I do not have a 6-pack and I do have stretch marks, but when I look at my body and realize what it can do I think it's great, and you should too!

I am now back to my pre-pregnancy weight, so although I have lots of goals for the new year, losing weight isn't one of them! (isn't that nice!).

It's a...

We had our 20 week ultrasound this morning and everything seems fine with baby.
It's a another BOY!! I totally thought that He was a She!! I really wanted a boy because I am totally not a girl mom (I'm clueless on hair, makeup, and accessories) . Wahoo! Two little boys. We are so excited!
Anyone have any boy names? There are so many girl names we like, but I think that boy names are tough! There are so many just blah ones!

Summer of Popsicles!

How I compete with miss Honey. pictures to come!
We have a sweet neighbor that gives out candy all the neighborhood kids. She even tells them to call her "Miss Honey".
So sometimes my little friends knock on my door and ask for something. Here's what I did: I went down to Bed, Bath and Beyond and bought 2 popsicle molds on clearance for 2.99 each. Each mold holds 4 popsicles. (I also used 2- 20% off coupons to save 60 cents each, if you want a coupon let me know, I have tons!)
Now, I fill my popsicle molds with 100% juice and sometimes I cut up fresh berries and throw that in too.
I love it that I can give them something healthy without all the sugar. One of the little girls said, "Homemade popsicles are my favorite!" Sometimes I have to fill my molds up several times a day depending on demand.
Christian eats about 3 popsicles a day. He knows how to open the freezer and get one out. He says "pawsica" So cute!

Veggie Pizza

Pizza Crust: (this is the best/easiest whole wheat pizza crust I have) If you have a better one let me know)

2 cups Wheat Flour, unbleached (you could also use a combination of whole wheat or spelt with the wheat flour)
½-1 tsp Real Salt or Himalayan Salt (depending on how salty you'd like it)
2 tsp non-aluminum Baking Powder
2/3 cup Water
¼ cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Combined dry ingredients and then pour in the wet ones. Roll out on a cookie sheet or pizza stone to desired shape and size (makes 1 large crust)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cook crust 25 minutes.



Pizza Sauce:
8 oz can of tomato sauce
1/2 TB agave
1/4 cup Olive Oil
fresh garlic, basil, oregano to taste

I just combine this in a bowl and then spread it over the crust.

Toppings:
onion (bountiful baskets)
tomatoes ( garden)
green and red bell peppers (bountiful baskets)
zucchini (garden)
broccoli ( bountiful baskets)
and a little cheese!

I roasted my toppings in the broiler for about 7 minutes with a little cococut oil.

Crock Pot Chicken Fajitas!

Don't you just love crock pot recipes? Just perfect for Sunday! We got a few bell peppers and an onion in our baskets this week so I decided to make this for Sunday dinner. Wish I had a picture!

Crock Pot Chicken Fajitas

2-3 Frozen Chicken Breast, skinless
2 & 1/2 cups natural chunky salsa
1 green pepper, sliced
1 red pepper, sliced
1/2 large onion, sliced
1/2 zucchini, sliced (mine was from my garden, yum! Nobody else like zucchini, but me so I had to sneak it in)
1 1/2 TBs fajita seasoning (if you don't have this just use chili powder and cumin or taco seasoning)

Place all ingredients in the slow cooker. Cover and cook on high 5-6 hours or 10-12 hours on low. Shred chicken before serving.

I put this all in the crock pot before church. Then when I came home I made some brown rice and steamed corn to go with it.
Then I got to work making the tortillas:

Whole Wheat Flour Tortillas:

2 3/4 cups Whole Wheat Flour
1/4 cup Ground Flax Seed
1/2 tsp Real Salt
1 tsp aluminum free Baking Powder
1/2 cup Coconut Oil
1 cup hot water

Combine dry ingredients. Mix in oil until flour balls up. Pour in hot water slowly and mix. Make into 2 in diameter balls and then roll out into a tortilla (mine are never perfect circles). Cook over medium heat in non-stick skillet (no oil needed since it's in the mix). Cook about 1 minute on each side or until tortilla bubbles.

Everyone ate some Michael, Christian, Me and my parents. It sounds hard but we got home from Church at 4:20 and we were eating by 4:50.

The best diet ever! Recipes!

I have been getting a basket of fruits and veggies from Bountiful Baskets every week. Yum TONS of fruits and Veggies for just $15 dollars! This is definitely saving my grocery bill.

I have a goal to eat (with my family) all of the produce before it goes rancid. We have to eat at least on fruit and one veggie EVERY meal! We are eating like crazy!

Every week I make my meal plan based on what we get in our basket. I thought that I could share my meals and recipes on the blog.