March Goals - Week 1

It's the first of March and I am heading into another chapter on my journey.  I set myself a goal to plan and make nearly all of our meals for the week.  My plan was to spend some time Sunday morning making a menu.  Then, from that, I could make my shopping list and head to the store.  Well, I was woken up Sunday and had less than 30 minutes to shower and get dressed for breakfast so my plan went out the window.  No problem though.  I had a general idea of what I needed to buy so we went shopping anyway.  I discovered a lot of stuff in the WinCo bulk section so we may start shopping there again.  (We had a bad experience with some rotten chicken there and it really turned us off.)

Here is my menu for the week:

Breakfast	Lunch	Dinner	Snacks
Overnight Oats	Salad with Chicken	Chicken Quesadillas	Clementines
Breakfast Wraps	Salad with Tuna	Chicken Broccoli Casserole	Cheerios
Carrot Bran Muffins	Mozzarella Salad	Lime Cilantro Chicken	Greek Yogurt
Leftovers		Steak and Roasted Broccoli	Popcorn
		Shrimp Stir Fry
		Jambalaya

As you can see, I haven't assigned days for anything.  It helps me to have a general plan but some days I come home and really just don't feel like cooking.  This week, my easy, minimal cooking meals are Chicken Quesadillas and Steak with Roasted Veggies.  I have all the  ingredients on hand for all of these dishes so it makes my week easy.

Monday
Last night I made us each a jar of Blueberry Overnight Oats for breakfast.  They really were delicious.  I will include the recipe for them below.  For lunch I had my normal salad with chicken, carrots and cherry tomatoes.  When I got home, I gave Roger the option of what he wanted for dinner and he chose Chicken Quesdaillas.  He loves them.  To save myself from all the carbs I did open face ones for me.  Cherry tomatoes, chicken and a little cheese on a crispy tortilla was almost like pizza!

Tuesday
Another new breakfast item for us today.  I whipped up some Healthy Breakfast Muffins last night.  They are packed with goodness including banana, carrot, oat bran and oatmeal.  (Recipe below)  I brought 2 for breakfast and then had a salad for lunch.  Today I didn't add any meat so that I could use the leftover chicken I had for dinner.  I mentioned to my sister, that I was going meatless today, and her question was, "How are you getting protein?"  I never even thought about that.  Luckily, I had a Special K Protein Bar in my desk.  Tonight I am making Creamy Chicken Quinoa and Broccoli Casserole.(Recipe below)  It's one of my favorites.

Wednesday
Last week, after my plateau, I reset my parameters on MyFitnessPal.com.  I brought my calories down from 2500 to 2000.  Monday of this week, I had 1536 and yesterday I ended with 1153.  A good thing about making dinner at home is that I control the ingredients, but my favorite thing is the leftovers.  I am not a huge breakfast fan.  I don't like waffles, pancakes, cereal or french toast so leftovers for breakfast are perfect for me.  My salad today is sans meat but I included some bocconcini (fresh mozzarella balls) for protein.  Dinner tonight is another new recipe, Lime Cilantro Chicken Thighs.  I will probably serve it with roasted vegetables.  I am really getting into cooking again this week, which makes me happy.

Thursday
Another day of Overnight Oats and Mozzarella Salad.  The Cilantro Lime Chicken turned out ok last night but I wish there was a bit more flavor.  The lime came through but I wanted more salt or spice.  Going to have to rework that recipe before I share it.  Roger is begging for something that isn't chicken so tonight I planned on Steak and Roasted Broccoli.  However, I forgot to take steaks out of the freezer so I suggested Shrimp Stir-Fry.  Well, Roger said he was tired of vegetables so he said he would make his own dinner.  I had Stir-Fry with Quinoa and it was delicious.

Today was a rough day.  I had my Oatmeal at 7 but I was so hungry that I ended up eating my salad at 10.  That left me with only a protein bar to last me until 5 when I would have dinner.  I ate it around 1 and was fine until I got home for dinner.  I don't know why I felt so hungry.  Yesterday I was pretty hungry when I got home but my daily calorie intake was 1598.  Tonight after dinner I am up to 1386.  I will probably have popcorn later tonight.  I find it to be really filling for very few calories.

Friday
I think I figured out my hunger problem the last few days.  Besides the Chicken on Wednesday, I haven't been getting enough protein.  Tuesday I had less than half of my daily intake, I was about 25% low Wednesday and 40% low yesterday.  To combat this, I got up this morning and made myself a quick breakfast wrap with a low carb tortilla, an egg and some crumbled bacon.  It got me 24 grams of protein and only 11 carbs.  I ate that at 6:15 and then my oatmeal at 8:15.  I had a garbanzo bean, mozzarella and tomato salad for lunch and then for snack tonight.  I made Steak and Roasted Broccoli for dinner before Roger left for his Poker game.  I spent the remainder of the night cleaning out my office/craft room.

Saturday
I was in full Spring Cleaning mode today.  I woke up at 7:30 and cleaned until 4 when Roger got home from the auction.  I literally went through every scrap of paper and piece of clothing.  I got through the office/craft room, the bedroom and 3/4 of the way through the cat/storage room.  I didn't eat all day so I rewarded myself with Pizza, finally.  I limited myself to the wings and 2 slices of pizza for a total of 1228 calories.  While this isn't the best idea, I am ok with the decision. I got a lot done and I got to indulge a little.

I honestly don't know where all the energy came from.  Let's be honest, you don't get to be my size by being active.  I live a very sedentary lifestyle but I just couldn't stop today.  Every time I sat for a few minutes I had to get back up and keep moving.  My body wouldn't let me rest.  I am sure I will pay for it tomorrow.  I hope this is a positive side effect of my new lifestyle.

I think I did pretty well on my week one goal.  I basically stuck to making dinner every night and I had lunch and breakfast everyday.  I hadn't really thought at all about my week two goal until I sat down to write this tonight (7:45 on Saturday night).  I think this week I want to focus on fitness.  My goal is to do 3 different types of exercises at least 3 days this week.

Check out the recipes below for two awesome breakfast ideas and one quick weeknight meal.  Also, you can find me on Facebook and Instagram (@KristyRunyon81) if you want to follow me on a day to day basis.  Check back in next Sunday to hear how my week went.

Blueberry Overnight Oats
1/2 cup Oats
1/2 cup Vanilla Almond Milk
1 container of Blueberry flavored Greek Yogurt
1 tbsp Vanilla Pudding Mix (dry)
Calories: 301   Fat: 4g    Carbs:  50g   Protein: 17g
Put the oats and pudding mix in first, then the yogurt and finally the milk.  Put the lid on and shake until combined.  Leave in the fridge overnight.  You can heat it up in the morning but I prefer it cold.
*You can add fresh fruit if you desire.  The flavors can be changed out depending on the yogurt or pudding mix you choose.

Healthy Breakfast Muffins

1-1/4 cups Oat Bran

1 cup Rolled Oats
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Salt
1/2 cup Brown Sugar
1 Banana, mashed
1 Egg
1/3 cup Vanilla Almond Milk
3 tbsp Light Olive Oil
1-1/2 cups Shredded Carrot
Yields 12
Calories: 128   Fat: 5g    Carbs:  22g   Protein: 3g
Mix mashed banana, almond milk, oilive oil and egg in a bowl.  Add in the brown sugar and mix until well combined.  Add in the oat bran, oats, baking soda, baking powder and salt.  Fold together until fully incorporated.  Then add the carrots and distribute them throughout the batter.  Spoon the batter into a 12 cavity muffin pan and bake at 400 for 22-25 minutes.
*You could add in nuts or dried fruits if you so desire.
**If you substitute the Olive Oil with Unsweetened Applesauce and also add Walnuts, the nutritional information changes to Calories: 132   Fat: 5g    Carbs:  23g   Protein: 4g

Chicken Broccoli Quinoa Casserole
2 cups Water
1 lb Chicken, cubed (Rotisserie is what I used)
3 cups Broccoli Florets
2 cups Low-Sodium Chicken Broth
1 cup Milk
1/2 cup Flour
1 cup Dry Quinoa
1/2 cup Shredded Cheese
Makes 4 servings
Calories: 338   Fat: 8g    Carbs:  48g   Protein: 22g
Mix all ingredients, except the cheese, in a large bowl.  Pour into a prepared 9x13 cake pan and bake at 400 for a total of about 45 minutes.  Check on casserole every 10 to 15 minutes and give it a stir so that the quinoa cooks evenly.  In the last 5 minutes, add the cheese to the top and cook until just bubbly.
*These are pretty generous portions so if you are serving with something else, this could yield 6-8 servings.

A Week Of New Recipes

It's always a struggle to figure out what to make for dinner and what to buy at the grocery store.  If I go to the store without a list, I just feel lost and to make a list without knowing what I am going to be cooking just seems reckless to me.  Those are the days you end up with cookies, chips and a random tub of guacamole when you don't even like guacamole.

In order to keep our grocery budget in check, I usually sit down every Saturday or Sunday and make a list of dinner for the week.  My list consists of five to nine different recipes that are either new or old standbys.  Then I take those recipes and write down everything in them that I don't already have in my cupboards.  This also helps me know when my staples are running low.  After I write own the needed ingredients, I will go through the sales ad for my grocery store.  For me, I only shop at Safeway, I have my favorite checker and I really like their new Just For U program which I can put coupons directly onto my club card.  After I check the ad, I assign the recipes each a day of the week, trying to alternate proteins and ease of preparation dependent upon what we have going on that day.

Last week, I had a pretty free schedule so I decided to make five new recipes, enjoy!

Monday:  Cheesy Chicken Casserole

We really liked this recipe.  I used rotisserie chicken leftovers and left out the peas.  My picky eater of a husband even liked this and said next time the peas would actually be ok.  This will probably be on our menu about once a month.  It was so simple.

Tuesday:  Crockpot Beef Stroganoff

This was pretty good.  We left out the onion.  I have adored Golden Mushroom soup since I discovered it about a year ago.  It is my favorite condensed soup to use.  I prefer my regular old Beef Stroganoff to this but I would make it again.

Wednesday:  Skinny Coconut Shrimp

I had a horrible day this day so I think my bad attitude tainted the recipe.  I bought the wrong shrimp, I waited too long to make it and we didn't eat until almost 8, which is really late for us.  I should have taken more time with this recipe and I think it would have been delicious.  I got irritated with breading each shrimp.  As it was we both liked it and I will make it again.

Thursday:  Swedish Meatballs

This recipe was a jumping off point for me, I kinda went out on my own.  I left out the allspice, celery and onion in the meatballs.  I did follow the meatball cooking instructions though and I thought it gave them a really great texture and flavor.  I enjoyed this recipe and was a little peeved we only had enough leftovers for one of us to take for lunch the next day, so next time I will make a slightly larger batch.

Friday:  Wing It!
We had some cat issues this week and we had to go to the vet on Friday.  We were supposed to try a baked Sweet and Sour Chicken but didn't have time for it so we picked up KFC.  That's what I love about having a plan, it can always change and its no big deal.  That recipe is now on for next week.

I am off to make my menu and see what I can make before payday/grocery day.  Have a great week and thanks for reading.