Category Archives: meal planning

Meal Plan Yumminess

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It’s been a while since I posted a meal plan and I’m back with a delicious week of meals to share with you. I’ve been faithfully planning and prepping and have started to get a little bored with the same old meals. This week, I added a few new recipes.

Do as much prep as you can over the weekend. I chop omelet veggies, make overnight oats, boil eggs (last 5 days if they don’t crack!), make mason jar salads, and do whatever else I can to prepare ahead of time. Notice this week is heavier in cooking the first few days but then relies on leftovers to get through the week.

Not listed is a Chocolate Chia Pudding dessert I’ll be making when I sign off from here because chocolate. Yum.

Sunday: 

B – Egg white omelet made with egg whites, shredded cheddar/jack, onions, mushrooms, and spinach served with a piece of toast with olive oil butter. TIP: Do your breakfast prep for the week by chopping onions and mushrooms that have been cleaned with a paper towel (no water!) and storing in mason jars – you still have to cook; but the chopping is the time-consuming part so this saves time in the morning!

L – White Bean Caprese Salad (added chopped raw videlia onions) served on spinach/romaine lettuce.

D – Baked tofu (press, cube, toss with Italian salad dressing and bake) mixed with zucchini carpaccio (pictured with this blog). Note to self: invest in a mandolin.

S – Boiled egg; cucumbers and Zesty Carrot Hummus – you seriously must try this! DELISH!

Monday:

B – omelet with toast

L – Loaded Sweet Potato

D – Strawberry Cucumber Salad (with balsamic glaze – yes please!) and (Chicken) Sausage Stuffed Zucchini Boats. 

S – Apple with Laughing Cow Cheese

Tuesday:

B – Overnight Oats (were prepped over weekend so easy breezy breakfast) with a sliced banana.

L – Leftover White Bean Caprese Salad on lettuce/spinach

D – Leftover Sausage Boats and Strawberry Cucumber Salad

S – Kefir and blackberries

Wednesday:

B – Overnight Oats with banana

L – Leftover Loaded Sweet Potato

D – Baked fish, steamer vegetables, quinoa

S – Egg salad (egg, mayo) with carrots

Thursday:

B – Overnight Oats with banana

L – Mason Jar Salad (prepped over weekend) with a boiled egg and blue cheese crumbles

D – Fish Bowls (leftover fish, quinoa, chipotle, jalapeno, veggies, sour cream – whatever is on hand and needs to be eaten but with a Mexican twist).

S – Apple with carrot hummus

Friday:

B – Omelet with toast

L – Leftover Loaded Sweet Potato

D – Turkey burgers (tomato, lettuce, red onion, avocado, cheese) and fries (yes – the splurge meal happens for me too!)

S – Kefir and blackberries

Saturday: 

B – Overnight Oats

L – Mason Jar Salad with tuna packet (buffalo tuna is so yum).

D – Turkey Burger Bowls (chopped burger, lettuce, tomato, pickles, blue cheese and the rest of the chopped food that needs to be eaten!

S – Carrots with carrot hummus

Thanks for the inspiration as always to Clean Eating Magazine (just the recipes please people, not the articles! Food is NOT “clean” or “dirty” unless of course, it needs to be washed), SkinnyTaste (easy, low calorie, and crazy good recipes) and this week to my new find, Minimalist Baker.

Let me know if you try any recipes this week and if you like the Meal Plan posts!

Overnight Oats

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“Getting what you want is simple, but not easy.” – Mel Robbins.

I believe this is true when applied to nutrition. I think many of us know WHAT to do – nutrition is really simple once you get away from the hype of the media and uneducated bloggers. We just struggle with ACTUALLY DOING IT – it isn’t easy!

To further my mission of “heart healthy nutrition made easy,” I bring you a way to fit a healthy breakfast into your meal planning. I love the ease of the week when I take the time to do meal preparation on the weekends. In fact, my husband and I have only eaten out about 8 times since the year began five months ago. That was not our goal; but is a happy unanticipated consequence of having a plan in place.

One of the best perks of meal prep is having a hot breakfast for very little work. I’ve been accomplishing this with overnight oats and with pre-chopped vegetables for omelets or “scrambles” if I’m in a hurry. Mason jars are AMAZING for keeping my chopped onion and mushrooms (cleaned with a paper towel, not water) fresh through the week!

However, in my work with my patients lately, I have been hard pressed to find an overnight oats recipe online that works for all of my patients – especially those working on blood sugar control. Once you add oats, dairy, and fruit together, you’ve got a small jar carbohydrate delight that is just an overload for the morning meal.

Note – carbohydrates are NOT bad. Carbohydrates are AWESOME! However, many people tend to eat tooooo many of them. So, please DO NOT ban or severely limit carbohydrates; but many of us could do with reigning in our portion sizes a bit.

Without further ado – my basic overnight oats recipe is below. This serving provides 215 calories and 30 grams of carbohydrates per jar. Feel free to add more fruit and nuts and other assorted yumminess to fit your needs and preferences.

Oh and by the way, Mel Robbins 20 minute video is so worth the time!

Click the recipe title for a printer-friendly version!

Simple-Overnight-Oats

Serves one

Ingredients

1/3 cup of old-fashioned or quick cooking plain oats

2/3 cup of unsweetened almond milk

1 tablespoon of chia seeds

1 Tablespoon peanut butter powder (no sugar added)

1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon cocoa powder

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

  1.  Put all ingredients into a Mason jar or other container and stir to combine.
  2. Store in refrigerator at least overnight (can be made up to 5 days in advance and stored in fridge!)

To serve: This can be eaten cold or hot (microwave 1-2 minutes but do NOT microwave in a plastic container).

Nutrition per serving (entire recipe): 215 calories, 8 grams fat, 7 grams unsaturated fats, 1 gram saturated fat, 0 grams trans fat, 0 milligrams cholesterol, 165 milligrams sodium, 30 grams carbohydrates, 10 grams fiber, 8 grams protein.

NOTES:

The chia seeds act as a thickener (in addition to be a great heart healthy food!) but they are expensive so you can try leaving them out or substituting ground flaxseed.

For those counting carbohydrates to manage blood sugar:  Don’t forget to add your carb grams for any fruit or sweeteners you add!

Spiralized Sweet Potato

Happy New Meal Planning!

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I returned to work today and the majority of people are focusing on meal planning as their current focus with their renewed enthusiasm of a new year. Meal planning and preparing foods ahead of time is a wonderful way to have a successful week in terms of meeting your nutrition goals. Two quotes come to mind:

  1. Ben Franklin is purported to have said: He who fails to plan, plans to fail.
  2. Mel Robbins kind of said (forgive me Mel, I paraphrase your Ted talk): You can have anything you want – it’s simple; but it’s not easy.

By the way, I really encourage you to invest 20 minutes in watching Mel’s Ted talk. I watch it every time I need a  motivation boost.

In the interest of helping others who struggle with meal planning, I decided to share my meal plan for this week and links to recipes where possible. I warn you though, this takes time and effort. Expect to spend a good 4 hours in the kitchen… but then relax because your food for the week is DONE!

Sunday:

B = egg white omelet with mushrooms, onions, spinach, shredded cheddar cheese(veggies chopped on Sunday for the week), L = green salad (veggies chopped on Sunday for the week) with Asian Sesame dressing with chicken salad (canned chicken, olive oil mayonnaise, red onion, celery, red grapes, black pepper); Zesty Lime Shrimp and Avocado over brown rice, vegetable soup (garlic, onion, tomato, zucchini, low sodium chicken broth, black pepper, red pepper flakes, basil).

Monday:

B = overnight oats (made for week) with oatmeal, unsweetened almond milk, chia seeds, peanut butter powder, cinnamon, cocoa powder, and vanilla extract with banana sliced into it in the morning, L = Zesty Lime Shrimp on romaine, D = Mexican Sweet Potato Casserole, broccoli, Snacks = yogurt, crackers.

Tuesday:

B = omelet, L = tofu sandwich (chipotle baked tofu, lettuce tomato, whole wheat bread), vegetable soup, D = Mexican Sweet Potato Casserole, brussels sprouts.

Wednesday:

B = omelet, L = green salad with chicken salad, vegetable soup, D = pork chop, edamame pesto pasta (copied from a recipe book so can’t link sorry!) with grape tomatoes, sauteed squash and mushrooms.

Thursday:

B = oatmeal, L = tofu sandwich, vegetable soup, D = pork chop, leftover pasta, green salad.

Friday:

B = omelet, L = green salad with chicken salad, D = Mexican Sweet Potato Casserole (from frozen), broccoli.

Saturday:

B = omelet, L = sandwich, crackers, D = a leftovers meal with whatever remains!

My snacks aren’t planned day by day but they include celery/carrots with hummus or peanut butter; yogurt with grape nuts; or crackers with cheese.

I hope this helps!