On the Menu

I don't know about y'all, but I'm kinda fascinated by what other people eat during the day.

I think it's because I feel like I'm in such a routine and constantly eat the same things over and over again. But I'm always on the look out for new, healthy meal ideas for us to try as a family to spice things up in the kitchen. Don't get me wrong, the things we make for dinner are really good and healthy. And I'm not just saying that, they legitimately taste good - not bland and boring like I thought healthy food was suppose to taste for so long.

Through my journey of learning to be more health conscious and through coaching, I found some really good, healthy recipes that I love and even my picky husband will eat with no complaints. I don't feel awful eating them, but I also feel satisfied when done. I don't feel deprived like I was used to for so long.

So, I thought it would be fun to share what's on our menu this week and share what I eat in a day. And maybe, y'all can snag some of the recipes that we've tested, tried, and fell in love with for you to try at home too. And I'm totally not opposed to recipe swaps going on either - this girl right here is in need of some new ones, so bring on the healthy foods!

Before I share our menu for the week, I'll give y'all a little back story.

Many of you probably already know - I lost a lot of weight doing 21 Day Fix.

Even though I've lost most of my weight I have to lose (still a work in progress), I still follow the same 21 Day Fix eating plan. Yep, you read that right. Even though I quit coaching, it's still the plan I follow. Why? Because it just works really well for me.

Totally not trying to sell anybody on the program, but my honest thoughts on it - it taught me how to eat RIGHT. After having a bun in the oven and gaining a lot of weight, my body struggled with losing the extra pounds I put on. I tried counting calories and logging my food every day, but over a span of eight weeks, I essentially got no where. Talk about a punch in the gut. It took the wind right out of my sails, and I felt defeated. Finally, I gave 21 Day Fix a try, and it was just what my body needed. I learned pretty quickly, that it wasn't my body struggling to lose weight, it was me being uneducated about what my body needed - and probably more so about what my body didn't need.

I was eating a lot of carbs - yes, beans and corn are carbs, and there is such a thing as too much cheese and avocado. Heartbreaking for a girl that loves her some Mexican food. This plan just helps me keep my portions in check, and helps me stay on track with what food groups I need to eat. Does that mean it works for everybody? No way! It might, but there are plenty of other healthy options out there. This is just what works for me, and what I find easiest to follow.

(And honestly - I might have some Beachbody coaches want to kill me for saying this - you can totally do the 21 Day Fix meal plan without signing up for 21 Day Fix - minus the workouts and group accountability if that's what you're into.)

So, keep that in mind as you're looking through my plan and checking it out in case you're wondering how I decided what to eat and how much to eat at each meal or snack. 

Disclosure: I'm totally not an expert at this, I'm just sharing what works for me right now. :)

Breakfast

Meal Replacement Shake - Typically, I have my meal replacement shake at this time - especially when I'm working because it's so quick and easy to do as we rush out the door. I use a blender to mix it up, and add spinach in to give my body some extra veggies. Right now, I'm drinking Shakeology - but have been doing a lot of research on other meal replacement shake options too to try out in the future. There's not an end-all, be-all option out there for meal replacement shakes (even though I probably said there was when I was coaching). It's just my current shake of choice right now.

Snack

Red grapes (1 cup) - I have my first snack around 10am. I like having a fruit at this time since I'm not super hungry, but I know my body needs some fuel in order for me to make it to lunch. This week, I'm having grapes since they were on sale. I try and buy only fruits that are in season. If not, I'd go broke in the produce department!

Lunch

Oven Roasted Chicken Sausage & Veggies w/ Quinoa - This is probably one of my favorite lunches EVER. It's so easy and quick, plus it's so easy to make in a really big batch to prep for the entire week. I wanted something really simple and easy this week since it'll be really busy trying to get ready for our family vacation. I'll probably do a post about this meal in the future, but really all you have to do is cut up chicken sausage and whatever veggies you like, roast them in the oven and serve over quinoa. I like to have it with a dollop of plain Greek yogurt and a squeeze of lime juice. 

SO yummy!

Snack

Green Apple + Deli Turkey - I've been splitting this snack up in the afternoon. I was having a green apple with Greek yogurt as my protein, but I found that it was a lot of sugar that honestly left me feeling starved by dinner time. So to switch out one protein for another, I added in the deli turkey before my afternoon workout for an energy boost. After my workout, I've been having my other fruit for the day, which is a green apple since they are relatively cheap too!

Dinner

I pick three or so dinners to make each week. We never ate leftovers before, but the more leftovers we eat, the less this girl has to slave away in the kitchen. So needless to say, me and leftovers are pretty tight these days. Since we're going on vacation next week, I wanted to use some things up in our fridge and pantry. This is what I came up with that worked really well. I'll share the recipe links too, and yes - these are all healthy meals - even the lasagna roll-ups(!!!).

Meal One - Grilled Chicken w/ Roasted Veggies + Wild Rice

Summer has got me wanting all things grilled! I was buying chicken for our enchilada soup, so to use the other half of the value pack, I thought we could grill out one evening with some marinated chicken. We had some fresh green beans leftover from the previous week in our fridge that needed to be eaten, and I had a box of wild rice in the pantry too. I absolutely love wild rice, so instead of piling it on my plate like I used to, I just measure out my portion now before eating. :)

Meal Two - Enchilada Soup

This meal I kinda threw together. I combined a few of our favorite Crockpot soups to come up with this one, and it's pretty darn delicious. We had some enchilada sauce in our pantry, so I thought Enchilada Soup would be perfect and inexpensive too. Plus! It will last us at least two nights. (yay, leftovers!) I'll do an independent post about this goodie too, but for now - here are the ingredients, and literally, you dump it in the Crockpot for 8 hours on low and hit the road.

Ingredients: Three chicken breasts, two 10 oz. cans of enchilada sauce, one 14 oz. can of black beans, one 7 oz. can of diced green chile peppers, one 14 oz. can of fire roasted tomatoes, one 10 oz. can of Rotel🌶, one cup of frozen corn, one diced green pepper, one 14 oz. can of chicken broth, two tbsp. of minced garlic, one packet of taco seasoning. 
Serve with any combination of the following . . .
Avocado, Shredded Cheese,Tortilla Strips,Plain Greek Yogurt, Cilantro, Squeeze of Lime Juice

[Serving size 1 1/2 cups]

Meal Three - Lasagna Roll-ups

Never in a million years would I have guessed that any kind of lasagna would be healthy.

But I learned that it's all in how you make it and how much you actually eat.

I found this recipe pretty early on when I first started 21 Day Fix, and I've gone back to them several times for an easy meal that lasts us two nights. I already had marinara sauce, ground turkey meat, frozen spinach, and whole wheat lasagna noodles on hand, so this one was an easy one to add to our menu this week.

Confessions of a Fit Foodie blog is one of my absolute FAVORITE places to find yummy healthy meals. They're all 21 Day Fix approved too, which is nice for the 21 Day Fixers. But really, my husband likes most every meal I've made from her blog, and he's not worried about healthy eating one little bit. It's been such a game changer for us in the evenings. 

I like to add an extra veggie with this one, so since zucchini is SUUUUUPER inexpensive, I'll roast some in the oven while the lasagna bakes.

Spinach and Sausage Lasagna Roll Ups Recipe

So, that's it y'all.

Easy, healthy, and yummy.

What are some of y'all's go-to healthy weeknight meals or snacks?

I'd love to hear them!