It's crock pot freezer meal time

Well it’s that time again!  I have run out of my crock pot freezer meals and we are busy beavers with the kids’ sports every day during the week.  I plan on taking a few hours this weekend to put some together to get us through the next while.  I am a bit tired of my regular rotation of freezer meals so I grabbed a few new recipes to try this weekend.  I like to look for quick, easy recipes that don’t take a lot of prep time.  I also lean towards healthy, kid friendly meals. 

These are the new recipes I will be trying out and will be happy to report back when we try them.  Note – I prep the meals all the way up to the crock pot part, then toss them in a gallon size Ziploc.  I write the instructions with a sharpie on the bag and throw into the freezer until I use them.

Enjoy!

Salsa chicken

2 pounds (32 ounces) chicken breasts, boneless and skinless

1 cup salsa, homemade or purchased

1 cup petite diced canned tomatoes (choose low-sodium)

2 tablespoons Taco Seasoning

1 cup onions, diced fine

1/2 cup celery diced fine

1/2 cup carrots, shredded

3 tablespoons sour cream, reduced fat

Place the chicken in a slow cooker. Sprinkle the taco seasoning over the meat then layer the vegetables and salsa on top. Pour a half cup water over the mixture, set on low and cook for 6-8 hours. The meat is cooked when it shreds or reaches an internal temperature of 165°F. When ready to serve, break up the chicken with two forks then stir in the sour cream.

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Chicken stew

2 pounds chicken, without skin or bone

2 cups carrots, chopped

4 cups potatoes, chopped

1 cup celery, chopped

1 onion, chopped

8 oz mushrooms

1 tsp each garlic powder, thyme, oregano, marjoram, basil, bay leaf, black pepper

4 cups water with 1 tsp lemon juice added

Directions

Chop chicken, carrots, potatoes, celery, and onion and put them in the slow cooker.

Pour the mushrooms on top.

Sprinkle on the seasonings, pour in the water and lemon juice, and put the lid on cooker.

Let cook on high for 4 hours, or on low for the day.

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Balsamic chicken

Ingredients

6 chicken breasts, cut into strips

1 10 oz. bag of frozen vegetables (corn, peas, carrots)

1 onion, cut into wedges

1 green pepper, cut into strips

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

6 cloves garlic, minced

2 teaspoons ground oregano

1 teaspoon basil

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Directions

Place vegetables in slow cooker, then place chicken strips on top. Sprinkle garlic and spices over chicken, then pour balsamic vinegar over chicken. Cook 3-4 hours on high (or 6-7 on low). Half way thru the cooking time, remove lid, baste chicken with juices in slow cooker, and stir. Serve over rice or noodles

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Chicken and white beans

2 cans (15-1/2 ounces each) either Navy or Great Northern beans, rinsed and drained

2 carrots, sliced

1 stalk celery, sliced

1 small onion, diced

1/2 cup low calorie Italian salad dressing

1 cup water

salt and pepper to taste-

4- 3 ounce boneless, skinless chicken breast tenders

Directions

Place beans, onion, carrots, celery in slow cooker, put the chicken on top of bean mixture. Pour the salad dressing over the chicken. Add salt and pepper, if desired. Pour 1 cup water over all.

Cover and cook on low 3 to 4 hours, until chicken is thoroughly cooked.

The great wait

Having kids who are active in sports means lots of juggling of schedules.  Sometimes there are conflicts, other times there are tight windows of time to get things done.  This leads me to something I struggle with often….the great wait.

While your child is at practice, do you just drop off and pick up (literally not leaving the car)?  Do you walk them in and drop off and then do the reverse when it is pick up time?  Do you stay and watch the entire practice?

Well I think the answer varies.  It varies depending on your child’s age, the length of the practice, the sport involved.  For me when Riley has gymnastics practice (3.5 hours long) I do a combo of things.  Some days I drop her off and pick her up outside the gym in the loading lane.  Other days I go into the gym myself and work out (always trying to squeeze fitness into my busy mom life).  It just depends on what all I have going on in our lives that particular week.

Now for Denton, because of his age, I will always stay.  Or when it is swim class I am for sure parking my booty there for the whole time.  But as he gets older I am sure that will change.  However, staying with him during his practices makes it difficult to get other things done – like picking up Riley from her practice or cooking dinner/running unexpected errands (dogs are out of food – again???).  That is when it really helps having an involved hubby.  We can tag team the drop off/pick up but there is still that lost time waiting….

I want to hear from you Sports Moms.  Do you stay?  Do you go?  If you stay, what do you do to pass the time?  Leave a comment below, or share this with a friend who you know would want to chat about it.

A look inside my daily meal plan

People are always asking me how often they should be eating, or even what my daily meal plan looks like.  So today I thought I would give you a look at what a typical day looks like for me with my meal plan. 

I always try to keep it simple with easy snack ideas and quick recipes for dinner.  I recently did a few rounds of the 21 Day Fix and my eating was pretty structured then, but now I am back to my own plan, but I have incorporated the 21 Day Fix portions and style of eating into my everyday life.  Check it out below:

Breakfast (7am):  Shakeology – always, lol.  I usually make chocolate with 1 tablespoon peanut butter, ¼ banana and 6 almonds.  Delish!!!

Snack (10am): 1 whole wheat tortilla with peanut butter and ¼ banana (do you sense a theme here?  Haha).  Handful of grapes on the side.

Lunch (12:30pm):  Spinach salad with feta cheese, walnuts, cucumbers and grilled chicken.  I use my own homemade balsamic vinaigrette dressing (I’d love to share the recipe with you, hit me up!)  4-5 strawberries on the side.

Snack (3pm):  Roughly ½ cup plain greek yogurt with blueberries.  1/8 avocado sliced (so basically one half of one half of an avocado) on the side.  I sometimes like to add a few crushed red pepper flakes to them for a little kick.

Dinner (between 6 and 7 depending on our hectic kids’ sports schedules):  Steak (usually filet mignon) and grilled veggies with diced green chiles.  Our favorite is squash and zucchini.  For us, these types of meals are usually kid friendly meals because our kids love steak and veggies.  Your mileage may vary J

If I am starved between afternoon snack and dinner I may have a small snack to tie me over until dinner – a piece of fruit or some trail mix.

You’ll note I try to eat every 3 hours as it helps increase your metabolism while keeping you just full enough in between meals where you aren't ravenous and eating everything in sight. 

I also drink water, all day every day!  You need to be drinking half of your body weight in ounces every day.  It not only helps keep you feeling fuller, it aids in digestion and just overall makes your body work better!

My leftover food experiment

It is a familiar scene…dinner is over, the kids have been excused from the table.  You start to clear the plates and come face to face with 4 bites of Mac n Cheese they didn't eat, or that delicious looking pizza crust.  What do you do?  Scarf it down before anyone sees you of course!  After all, that salad you had for dinner just didn’t quite leave you feeling fully satisfied. 

Now most of the time our kids eat the same dinner we have – usually chicken, fish or steak and some sort of grilled veggies.  But there are times when what we are eating, they will not touch with a ten foot pole – kale anyone?  And let’s face it, sometimes we just don’t have the time or energy to play the “eat your dinner or you are going straight to bed” game.  So, we let them have something we know they will eat.  But the problem is, when there is leftover food on their plates, guess who eats it?  YOU!  After all that hard work you put in exercising, and all that willpower you had all day to eat clean and healthy, you are throwing it all out the window!!

I know it seems like a few bites here and there won’t hurt.  But take a look at the graphic posted above.  These pics are from one week of leftover food on the plates, from just ONE of my kids!!  If you ate their leftover food every night for just one week, look at all of that extra food you are consuming!  Not good!

My new trick in the house is to have the kids clear their own plate.  Doing this provides two valuable things:  1) they are learning responsibility and 2) no more temptation!!  The food goes right in the trash and you lose your temptation to eat it (I hope!).

Now if your kids are too young to do this themselves, I suggest asking them to place their napkin over their plate when they are done (or do it yourself).  Then when it is time to clear the plates, you don’t have to look at the food and can easily toss it in the trash.    Done and done!!

One of THOSE days

So today is one of those both kids have sports at the same time sort of days. Riley has gymnastics practice and Denton has swim. They overlap in time so after both of us have worked all day, hubby has to drop off Riley then both of us head to swim for Denton in separate cars because I have to leave swim early to go pick up Riley and then we all meet back home for dinner. Only problem with that is by the time we get home it is near 7 and there is no way we are starting to cook then. And we don't want to eat out, not very many healthy options to grab and bring home. Besides that gets way too expensive!

Crock pot to the rescue!!!

Every month or so I take a few hours on the weekend and I throw together some crock pot freezer meals. Basically toss all the ingredients into a gallon zip lock and label/write cooking instructions with a sharpie and throw into the freezer. I set it out In the fridge the night before and then into the crock pot it goes the next morning. 

When we get home tonight from the double sport night, dinner will be ready and I will be one happy (busy) Mom!

Here is the recipe:

Black Bean Taco Soup

1lb ground turkey

1 medium onion, chopped

1 package taco seasoning

1- 16 0z bag frozen corn

1- 16 0z can black beans, drained and rinsed

2- 14oz cans stewed tomatoes

1- 8 oz can tomato sauce

1- 4 oz can diced green chiles

Cook on low 6-7 hours

BOOT CAMP TIME

I am so excited to announce that I am accepting applications for our brand spankin new PiYo Boot Camp!!

What is PiYo?  Think high intensity, low impact and moves to help create that toned body you have always wanted! It is cardio, strength, flexibility training all at once which helps build lean muscle mass while burning TONS of calories - all without jumping, using weights or being rough on your joints!

I have been invited to be part of an exclusive boot camp starting July 7th. In our group you will have coaching by NASM certified coaches, nutrition guidance, support, motivation AND your chance at some killer prizes. You work out in the comfort of your own home and participate in the group online. Best of both worlds!!

How do you get to be part of this incedible opportunity? Well I only have 4 spots left, so act fast! Simply fill out this application by June 25th and I will review and select the 4 people I will be taking with me.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1hpagildqdxdQVF01JxH8aLlj7dT3gGFnwgNS7-33v_I/viewform?usp=send_form


Super excited!!!

Staying SANE as a working Mom

A working Mom is a special breed.  We are all things to all people – Mom, wife, employee, boss, taxi driver, housekeeper, chef, you name it, we do it!  But because of all of the roles we play (sometimes multiple roles at once, like working from home when your kid is sick) we have a lot to get done and last time I checked a day was only 24 hours long.  So I have come up with some strategies that work for me to keep my workweek somewhat tolerable ;)  Below are my tips on how to stay sane as a working Mom.

1 – Wake up 30 minutes earlier than you normally do and WORK OUT!  This is my favorite time of day to work out for a few reasons.  One reason is that I am the only one up in the house, so that means no interruptions from little ones or furry ones.  Another is that I love the feeling of leaving for work, facing my day knowing my workout is already over and done with!  Plus it gives me the added boost of energy I need to get through the day.  Besides, who has the energy to work out after working all day, cooking dinner, cleaning the kitchen, giving baths, bedtime routines, etc  etc???

2 – Shower in the morning (obvious for #1 above).  I used to be a shower at night kind of gal just so I could get that extra 10 minutes of sleep in the morning.  But I found it took me longer to get fully awake and focused without the shower helping me to feel fresh and awake!

3- Make lunches for kids and yourself (and hubby and whoever else) the night before a workday.   This will obviously help shave some time off the morning rush (or as I like to call it – laps around the house).  But it will also help you make wise food decisions as you will have more time to think about it.  Can’t tell you how many times I have thrown something “junky” into the kids’ lunch just because I was rushed and didn’t have time to cut up fruit.  Which leads me to…

4- “Pre” make lunch/snack foods ahead of time.  I usually carve out an hour or so on the weekends to pre make weekday food.  Hubby grills up the chicken for our lunches which I then chop up and put into pre-measured baggies ready to toss into our lunches.  I also chop up all of the veggies, fruit etc and put them into Tupperware so all I need to do when putting lunches together is decide which veggies and fruit I want to use.  I like to use homemade dressing (so much better for you) so I also make up a double batch of that, if I am running low. 

5 – Make freezer meals!!  I am really lucky because hubby cooks dinner a lot of evenings because he gets home before I do.  But…there are many nights where he works late, or has obligations in the evening so I am responsible for dinner.  There is nothing worse than starting to cook dinner at 6pm on a “school night” because that means a late dinner, and late bath, and late bedtime and so on.  So…about once a month I gather a bunch of crock pot/oven recipes and I make up freezer meals.  Basically you prep the meal all the way up until actual cooking time, then toss it all into a gallon size zip lock baggie.  Take a sharpie and write the cooking instructions on the baggie and throw them in the freezer.  The key here is to take out the meal of your choice the night before and let it defrost in the fridge so it is ready to throw in the crock pot before you leave for work (another lifesaver) OR put in the oven when you get home, depending on the recipe.

6- Use your lunch hour to run errands.  This is HUGE for me.  I do not have the time after work to run errands, and my weekends are already crazy as it is, so I utilize my lunch hour as errand time.  I do everything from shopping for birthday party presents, to picking up needed grocery items.  Thankfully my office has a refrigerator, but you can always pack a cooler with ice and leave it in the air-conditioned office.  Whatever you have to do to make it work.

7 – Do one chore every weekday after work.  Do you know the helpless feeling of spending your entire Saturday cleaning the house?  I do and I hate it!!  So what I do is break up my chores and do one of them every night after work.  For example: Mondays I clean the floors, Tuesdays the bathrooms, Wednesdays I dust…etc.  This way each chore takes me less than 10 minutes (except the floors, we have all wood and tile so it takes a while to sweep/mop) and I have a clean house and my Saturdays back J

I hope these tips help you better navigate through the work week, as they have become a saving grace for me.

To your health!

~F2