Tag: Healthy Snacks

Sunday Meal Prep

On By SaraIn Meal Prep1 Comment

You know what amazes me? How out of all of the expenses that we have as adults, one of the only essential ones we have any control over is our grocery budget! We have control over all non-essential costs (or at least most), but when it comes to essential costs like bills, food and gas, we are pretty much out of luck. The grocery budget can make a huge impact on weekly costs…I know it does on ours.

So this week I decided to rejuvenate my efforts to reduce our grocery expenses while still keeping a focus on healthy eating. No easy task! That being said, I think I did a pretty good job this week! I did try a couple things this week I’ve never done before in my attempts to keep our budget lower and still healthy. I made homemade vegetable stock and cooked a dish using chicken drumsticks. I know, neither of these sound particularly adventurous, but I have never cooked either of these before. I have never even cooked chicken with any sort of bone in.

In my re-focusing on budget as well as health, I did some extra research when creating my menu this week. A few of the recipes came from this site and while I was originally unsure about how good recipes coming from a government resource would be, I was pleasantly surprised by how well these turned out! The Barley Jambalaya, Couscous with Peas and Onions and Quick Tuna Casserole all came from free cookbooks on this site. 🙂

So on to this week’s meal prep! Enjoy!

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Molly’s Chicken, Couscous with Peas and Onions, Saucy Green Beans and Barley Jambalaya.

For the Molly’s Chicken, make sure to read the comments section. There are a lot of good ideas in there! As for the Saucy Green Beans, check out the recipe below if you have missed it in previous posts!

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Our regular salads, looking delicious as always!
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This is mostly our freezer foods, excluding the Quick Tuna Casserole. The tuna casserole I forgot to photograph earlier, so it got included in this one instead! Also present are enough breakfast burritos for over 2 weeks, smoothies and vegetable stock.
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I really like how this tuna casserole turned out. It definitely was quick and so tasty!
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Smoothies! My favorite post-workout food, now prepped in the freezer to be pulled out the night before!

These are quite possibly the best smoothies I have ever made and sadly I can’t tell you how to make them. I kinda just threw things in, blended it for a long time (I really need a new blender) and voila! Very Berry Smoothies! I promise, I will try to record the ingredients and amounts next time!

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My first attempt at homemade vegetable stock! I think it turned out pretty well, though I’m sure there is room for much improvement.

For these, I used vegetable scrapes from previous meal preps that I had frozen with this in mind. I love that I could make all of this stock out of scrapes that would have otherwise just gone in the trash can!

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And last, but definitely not least, our sweets and treats! All of the weekly favs are there, including our newest addition: Cookie Dough Protein Bites!
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Seriously, these Cookie Dough Protein Bites are awesome. Make sure to check out this lovely lady for the recipe!

That’s it for this week! What have you been cooking? Do you focus much on budget meals? I would love to hear some of your healthy budget-friendly meals!

Sara (1)

Want to get started meal prepping yourself? Check out these posts for my top tips and my staple recipes!

Need some extra inspiration? Check out last week’s meal prep for other recipes and ideas!

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I will also sometimes add red pepper flakes to this while it is cooking for that extra kick!

Sunday Meal Prep

On By SaraIn Meal Prep1 Comment

Hey everyone! Welcome to this week’s meal prep!

I honestly don’t have a huge amount to say for this week. I made a few new recipes, all of which turned out delicious! This week was a week of firsts…First time cooking with mushrooms and first time cooking with pizza dough. I’m a little behind on my skills, huh?

Now on to the meal prep! Make sure to check out the new recipe at the bottom!

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As you can see, the weekly regulars are all present, with a new addition!
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I’m sure you’ve noticed that we like our treats, and these are no exception! These are peanut buttery, chocolate-filled balls of energy and tastiness! Seriously though, they take 5 minutes and are really good. The only change I made from MySweatLife’s recipe is that I used chocolate protein powder instead of vanilla. I’m sure they are delicious with vanilla, but all I had was chocolate, so that’s what I used!
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Quick Shepard’s Pie, Pasta Primavera, chopped veggies for Veggie Pizza Rolls and sliced red onion for sandwiches and other random meals.
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This Pasta Primavera was a new recipe for us, and a first time cooking mushrooms for me. I love how this recipe turned out! I will definitely be making this again.
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The cut up veggies above turned into this wonderful dish halfway through the week! This was the first time I ever used pizza dough and I have to admit, I was a little nervous and I had a hard time making them into rolls. They turned out great though, and the process definitely got easier partway through!
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This bean soup is one of my favorites….hearty, filling and healthy! Check out the recipe below!
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Our salads for the week turned out wonderful! I am so happy that I found Mason Jar Salads and decided to give them a try. They make healthy lunches so much easier!

That’s it for the week! I’m having a lot of fun trying out new recipes right now. Mixing it up is really making my meal prep so much more enjoyable! Do you do anything to make your meal prep fun or more enjoyable? I love cooking, but hours in the kitchen can get a little monotonous. Trying out new recipes adds some excitement for me!

Sara (1)

Want to get started meal prepping yourself? Check out these posts for my top tips and my staple recipes!

Need some extra inspiration? Check out last week’s meal prep for other recipes and ideas!

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Sunday Meal Prep

On By SaraIn Meal Prep1 Comment

This week has a few really good new recipes, but sadly not quite as good of pictures as I usually try for. With the trip to the ER right after this meal prep got done (check out the beginning of this post if you are confused), I didn’t get the photos taken until about halfway through the week. I’m sure you aren’t surprised to hear that the delay meant a decent amount of the food was mostly gone!

So without further delay, enjoy this week’s meal prep!

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I feel pretty safe in saying that these Skinny Chicken Enchiladas were the big hit for this week! These were delicious! Lately I’ve taken to chopping up some extra veggies for steaming to go with dinner after work as a healthy side dish. I’m really liking this new habit!
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For this Sausage, Kale and Potato Soup, I kept half and froze half. It freezes really well!

I did have a funny incident with this soup! I was separating it into containers, picked up a mason jar filled up for the freezer and it split in half! Soup everywhere! The dogs were pretty happy about that. To say I was a bit startled would be an understatement! I got the mess all cleaned up and got back to cooking, but it just goes to show that not everything goes smoothly each weekend! 🙂

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That little bit of chicken in the upper right is all that is left of the delicious Greek Yogurt Parmesan Chicken! Also shown are my Saucy Green Beans and Potato Soup.
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This potato soup is much more tasty that the first picture shows! Check out the recipe for this and my Saucy Green Beans below!
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This picture is from a couple weeks ago, but much better than what I could take halfway through the week. All of these were made this week too, since these are some of our favorites: Sweet Potato Banana Bites, Peanut Butter Banana Oat Muffins and grapes with cheese cubes.
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This picture was from last week, but these are the same salads I made this week. This taco salad is one of my new favorite types, while Boyfriend is still sticking with Shredded Buffalo Chicken!

And that’s it for this week! Make sure to check out the recipes below!

What are you making this week?

Sara (1)

Want to get started meal prepping yourself? Check out these posts for my top tips and my staple recipes!

Need some extra inspiration? Check out last week’s meal prep for other recipes and ideas!

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Sunday Meal Prep (A Day Late!)

On By SaraIn Meal Prep1 Comment

Ever have one of those days where everything is going perfect…until right at the end, when life decides to throw a curveball? Sunday was one of those days. I promise there is a good reason for this post being a day late!

I seem to have been even more accident-prone than normal lately and yesterday was no exception! After I had finished up my meal prep and was making a post-workout smoothie, I managed to cut my ring finger on my right hand rather deeply. After some wavering, Boyfriend and I decided to go to the ER to be on the safe side. The second ER visit in two months!

It’s a good thing we did. I ended up needing 5 stitches and a tetanus shot as well! By the time we got home I was exhausted and didn’t have the energy to write and publish my post. So here it is, just a day late!

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Our favorite snacks! I am really loving this cheese-grape combo right now. It’s my favorite snack for my first break at work!
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Island-Style Pulled Pork, Spicy Chicken in Tomatoes with Roasted Asparagus, some cut red onion for random use (I love adding red onion to sandwiches), and some cut veggies to steaming later. The chicken is a new recipe and turned out delicious!
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Another comfort food fav: Turkey Chili Mac with Jalapenos! I love this twist on the classic and it’s one of my go-to recipes for mac and cheese!
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These are the same ingredients of the taco and shredded buffalo chicken salads show in my last post, with one exception. I added some red bell pepper and green onions to the veggie mix for the taco salad. I really like those additions!

And that’s it for this week! Hopefully there will be no more ER-related delays anytime soon! I’m getting pretty tired of being continually injured for roughly the past two months! 🙂

What are you cooking this week? Did you do any meal prep this weekend? Any new recipes?

Sara (1)

Want to get started meal prepping yourself? Check out these posts for my top tips and my staple recipes!

Need some extra inspiration? Check out last week’s meal prep for other recipes and ideas!

Sunday Meal Prep

On By SaraIn Meal Prep6 Comments

Hey everyone! So….you know how a couple weeks ago I said I didn’t see myself changing up my salads anytime soon? I was wrong 🙂 I don’t know if it’s the limited activity level or what, but I definitely had the itch to try out some new stuff this week! Since I made multiple types of salads, I have put together some infographic-style pictures to break down how I put our salads together.

Enjoy!

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Snacks and Sweets! I am loving the addition of cubed cheese with my grapes, which is my first snack of each day. This one is a white cheddar with Habanero and is delicious!
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Along with our breakfast burritos, I decided to experiment with freezing Tuna Quinoa Cakes and cooked quinoa. Hopefully it turns out well!
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I decided that I have been having a little bit too much to eat for my breakfast, so decided to reduce the size of my breakfast burritos. I also switched from white to wheat tortillas.
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The full spread of meals…plus two photobombing pups!
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Balsamic Pork Chops with Roasted Balsamic Asparagus and Chili con Carne with Brown & Wild Rice.
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Greek Yogurt Parmesan Chicken with Saucy Green Beans, some leftover taco meat and tuna quinoa cake, and a couple hardboiled eggs!
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The Chili con Carne again, with brown & wild rice and steamed veggies. I wanted to add a little extra about this dish….This is the first recipe I have made from this new cookbook and I love it! I am so impressed and thrilled that these ladies put out their cookbook. I found them on Instagram through the BBG community and they are a constant inspiration to me! It looks great ladies! Check out their site for more information!

And now for the salads!

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For those of you that have been here for a while, this is the original jar salad that I started off with. It’s as delicious as I remember!
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Salad with Loaded Turkey Meatballs. I just discovered this site and I love it already!
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Taco Salad! I honestly wasn’t sure about this one when I put it together. I wasn’t sure if I would like the taco meat cold, but it turned out wonderful! Both this salad and the turkey meatball salad are inspired by this post.
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Both of these are Boyfriend’s salads. The Shredded Buffalo Chicken is another one that you have seen for weeks. It’s definitely still one of our favorites. He also had some with the Loaded Turkey Meatballs.

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And that’s it for this week! What are you cooking up this week? Anything new?

Sara (1)

Want to get started meal prepping yourself? Check out these posts for my top tips and my staple recipes!

Need some extra inspiration? Check out last week’s meal prep for other recipes and ideas!

Sunday Meal Prep

On By SaraIn Meal Prep1 Comment

Hey everyone and welcome back for this week’s meal prep! This week was pretty quick with a lot of really tasty dishes, so let’s get to it!

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As always, our salads are pretty much a requirement. I’m still in love with the Buffalo Shredded Chicken, so I don’t think our salads will be changing up anytime soon, though if you have any other great protein sources for Jar Salads I would love to give them a try!

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I made enough breakfast burritos to last us a little over two weeks! We have just recently changed up the ingredients a little and I love the difference of adding in sautéed onion and bell peppers.

As always, the Sweet Potato Banana Bites are a favorite snack. I would love to hear your ideas for some new snacks to add in to the rotation!

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Root Veggie Bake with Andouille Sausage and Italian Sausage Kale Ziti are my two repeat dishes this week. As for the new dish of the week, this Jalapeno Popper Chicken came together great and smelled delicious!

That’s it for this week! What are you cooking this week? I would love some new ideas as I’ve been in a little bit of a rut and would love to add some new food to our regular rotation of dishes.

Sara (1)

Want to get started meal prepping yourself? Check out these posts for my top tips and my staple recipes!

Need some extra inspiration? Check out last week’s meal prep for other recipes and ideas!

 

Sunday Meal Prep

On By SaraIn Meal Prep1 Comment

Hey everyone! Welcome to another installment of my weekly meal prep. I am very excited to say that unlike last week, this week was much better and more fun for me! I don’t know what was going on with me last week, but I’m glad it’s over!

This week was pretty fun for me, including one of my favorite stews 🙂 I know that it’s a bit warm out for a heavier stew, but I saw it when I was deciding on the menu for this week and it just sounded too tasty to pass up. Check out the recipe at the bottom of the post! Continue reading “Sunday Meal Prep” →

Sunday Meal Prep

On By SaraIn Meal Prep1 Comment

Hey everyone! Welcome to this week’s meal prep! This week was a bit weird for me. While normally I enjoy meal prep and cooking in general, there are some days where it is just a chore. This Sunday was one of those days. Not only did it feel like a chore, but it felt like it took much longer than it actually did. I’m just thankful that it was a relatively small amount of cooking to be done, instead of one of my marathon days. I pushed my way through to the end and was very glad to be done.

At least the food was tasty, including a new recipe!  Continue reading “Sunday Meal Prep” →

Sunday Meal Prep

On By SaraIn Meal Prep1 Comment

Do you remember the first dish you cooked? I do. Up until I was around 20 yrs old, I couldn’t cook. I could make pasta, but that was pretty much it. Then one day, kinda homesick and missing my mom’s wonderful cooking, I decided to make her jambalaya. I honestly don’t know what I was thinking, but I went out, got all the ingredients, and got to cooking. It took forever! I was so slow at everything!  Continue reading “Sunday Meal Prep” →