Before I started working, I doubled up on a few of our meals and popped them into the freezer. I have found this a huge help! It saves so much time in the evenings, leaving me with plenty of time to spend with my loved ones instead of slaving away in the kitchen.
This passed week I discovered a great blog called "Organize yourself skinny" (www.organizeyourselfskinny.com). The author is also a busy mom who decided to change her lifestyle for the better. On the blog she gives loads of tips on how to prepare healthy nutritious food in advance. There are some delicious looking recipes and inspiring ideas. Two of which I am going to try out this week: spiced apple oatmeal cups and salad in a jar.
I baked a batch of the spiced apple oatmeal cups this afternoon and the mere smell of them from the oven got my tummy rumbling. The recipe includes fragrant cinnamon and nutmeg, apples and chopped up walnuts. I have used pecan nuts in the ones I baked today because that's what I had in the cupboard. I will have one of these for breakfast with some yogurt. Each cup works out to 188 calories.
For lunch I have made myself salad in a jar. It is a layered salad which is packed in a glass consol jar. I can hear you asking, "but won't the salad wilt?". The trick (apparently) lies in the layering and ensuring the jar is air tight and that it stays upright until you want to eat it so that the tomato juice and dressing doesn't touch your delicate salad greens. Once you are ready to eat, you shake it up, tip it into a bowl and voila! A healthy lunch in a few seconds! For my jars this week I have used a balsamic vinigerette and a honey and mustard dressing. Salad ingredients include tomatoes, cucumber, red onion, mini mielies, carrots, sprouts and feta. For protein I have used tuna (mixed with oreganum and spring onions) and rotisserie chicken. All of this is topped off with some butter lettuce.
My meal plan for the week looks like this:
Breakfast: oatmeal cups and yogurt / boiled eggs and toast
Midmorning snack: fruit
Lunch: salad in a jar
Mid afternoon snack: home made biltong and chive dip and crudités / fruit
Suppers:
Monday - beef stroganoff on buttered cabbage (from Raising Superheroes) which I prepared on Sunday.
Tuesday - bobotie and rice (freezer meal)
Wednesday - slow cooker Hawaiian Chicken and rice
Thursday - family dinner night at my in laws (and my mom-in-laws scrummy food).
Friday - courgette spaghetti and mince
Saturday - braai and salad (the weather is supposed to be great again)
Sunday - roast chicken and veg
So that is my meal plan for the week. Other things on my "agenda": to replace sugar with xylitol, limit myself to 3 cups of coffee, TO DRINK A LOT OF WATER and to get back to gym.
Have a splendid week!
Until next time
XX-L
