Simple Fitness for Busy Moms: New week, new recipes!

Sunday, July 13, 2014

New week, new recipes!

I have had a terrible week, eating wise. We went out of town & ate bad, then we had a get together this weekend and are terrible. BUT, this weeks a new week & I'm going to get right back on track!!! We all have bad weeks, it's ok. Don't beat yourself up! Start again this week!

I have found two super good recipes. I hope you enjoy!

Cheesy BBQ chicken.

3 chicken breasts
1/2 oz shredded Gouda cheese
1/2 oz mozzarella cheese
2 tbls BBQ sauce (I'll admit, I used a bit more)
1/4 cup of red onion, thinly sliced
Fresh cilantro leaves

Preheat oven to 400 degrees
Lightly pound chicken between parchment paper until thin
Rub chicken in BBQ sauce
Place cheeses, red onion, and cilantro in middle of chicken, roll it up with chicken, place tooth picks in chicken to hold it in place. Cook for 20-25 min!

Cheese Mac & cheese,,,credit withpeanutbutterontop.blogspot.com

2 1/4 cup whole grain medium shells, or pasta of choice

1/4 tsp. onion powder

1/4 tsp. paprika

1 tsp. dried basil

1/2 tsp. garlic powder

3/4 cup 0% plain Greek yogurt

2 cups Go Veggie Cheddar Shreds, or cheese of choice*

Salt & pepper, to taste

1 small head of cauliflower

1 cup baby spinach

1/4 cup unsweetened almond milk

Chicken:

(1) 8 oz. boneless, skinless chicken breast

1/2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil

1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper

1/4 tsp. dried oregano

1/4 tsp. smoked paprika

1/8 tsp. garlic powder

1/8 tsp. onion powder

Salt & pepper, to taste

1/4 tsp. dried thyme

1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

Garnishment:

1/2 cup Go Veggie Cheddar Shreds, or cheese of choice

Dash of dried basil

Salt & pepper, to taste

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. In a Ziploc bag, combine the chicken, oil, lemon juice & seasonings. Close and toss to coat the chicken breast evenly. Place bag into the fridge to marinate for 30-60 minutes.

Cook the pasta according to the package, until al dente. While the pasta is cooking, cut the cauliflower into small florets and steam until they have softened. Place a non-stick pan over medium heat. Once heated, spray with non-stick cooking spray, add the chicken breast and season it with a pinch of smoked paprika, salt, and garlic powder. Cover the chicken with a lid and allow the chicken breast to cook through, flipping every 3-4 minutes. When cooked, set aside and allow to cool before dicing.

Once the pasta is cooked, save 1/4 cup of the pasta water & strain the rest. Place the pasta back into the pot with the baby spinach, stir, and cover to allow the spinach to wilt. In a mixing bowl combine the pasta water, Greek yogurt, almond milk, cheese, and seasonings. Once mixed, add in the cooked cauliflower and transfer the yogurt cheese mixture to the pot of pasta and stir well.

Spray a medium baking dish with non-stick cooking spray. Scoop the pasta mixture into the dish, spread evenly, and garnish with cheese, seasonings, & diced chicken. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until the cheese has melted. If you prefer- set the oven to broil on high for just 15-30 seconds to crisp the top. Be sure to watch to prevent burning! Enjoy!

*Don't feel as though you need to use this cheese. This is just the cheese that I use. Swap for any cheddar cheese you prefer.

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Meal Prep

I want to say, you will not be successful if you do not meal prep. It's too much food, too much cooking, and too many times you will want to talk yourself out of doing it. I personally don't like leftovers. I have to eat it & remind myself food is fuel!! I make all my meals for Monday-Friday on Monday & then I might cook a little over weekends. Now that my metabolism is better I cheat more over the weekends, so I don't like to waste food by meal prepping. I wouldn't recommend cheating for the first two weeks of this diet so your metabolism will stabilize.

Carb Cycling

I hit a plateau about 6 months into my fitness regiment & noticed messing around with my carbs helped get me to my ultimate goal of 18 percent body fat (I stopped looking at the scale, I'm about ten lbs heavier than I was before kids, but in a smaller pants size,,,the scale lies!). I don't recommend necessarily starting with carb cycling, start simple, one step at a time, but I want to explain it, as that is what I do & I will talk about it a lot in my meal plans. Everyone has a different take & There are a million ways to implement it, so I will just tell my version & you can research it If you want further info.

Healthy carbs that you'll want to eat are brn rice, oats, sweet potatoes, and brn rice pasta. For my snacks I have fruit, eat your fruit early in the day because it is a complex carb. I have popcorn with no butter & light light light salt sometimes. If you pick a protein bar or shake, pick one with low carbs. Quest bars are high in carbs, so I eat them in the mornings or closer to my workouts.

So if you notice I eat 1/3 cup of oats in the am, 1/2 cup carbs for meal 4, then 1/4 cup carbs at meal 5. On a low carb day I might lower this or keep it the same. On a high carb day I will eat more carbs. Most of the time I add healthy carbs to snacks, I eat a full 1/2 cup with my meal at night. I still leave out carbs of meal 6.

My carb cycle is simple, when I've had a intense workout, especially when I've worked my legs or back I eat high carbs, most other days I keep them lower.

Hopefully as I blog this will make more sense!

Basic Meal Plan

Meal 1--1 scoop protein shake. (Check your label, muscle milk, for instance is high in calories & carbs, try muscle milk light. My fave is protein 7) an apple or banana, 11 almonds or teaspoon of peanut butter. (I love flavored peanut butters from trader joes & sprouts.)

Meal 2--4 egg whites & 1/3 cup cooked oatmeal add an ounce of cheese to eggs or avacado & tomato. I buy egg whites in a carton. So much easier than cracking eggs.

Meal 3--snack, could be same as meal 1 or try protein bar ( read your labels! I love quest bars)

Meal 4--4oz chicken breast, grnd turkey, or 5-6oz talapia, veggies, 1/2 cup of rice, sweet potatoes, or rice pasta, and a fat, 1/4 avacado, 1 oz of cheese, or a teaspoon of Peanut butter.

Meal 5--same as meal 6, except remove carbs or only have 1/4 cup.

Meal 6--1 scoop protein shake.

*you can rearrange meals & snacks to your own schedule, for instance, I workout at 5 am, so I eat a fruit & pb before I go & have my protein shake right after. That's my meal 1. If you'd rather eat eggs right when you wake up & eat the snack later go for it. Just make sure you get all your meals in!

*this diet is formulated for a woman, men get double the amount of food. So for men, 8 egg whites in stead of 4 & 8oz meat instead of 4 oz, 1 cup brn rice instead of 1/2, and so forth. No fair!