Always Prepping and Preparing

HELLO HELLO!

I hope you had a wonderful Memorial Day Weekend. I worked all day Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, but had off on Monday, and definitely took advantage of the amazing weather and the pool.

Memorial Day Weekend is usually about BBQ’s, Party’s, and going to the beach, but mine was quite different since I had to work. And I didn’t eat any of the typical Memorial Day Food.

I have, yet again, ANOTHER very busy week ahead of me so I did a lot of prep work this weekend because I find that prepping my meals as well as meal planning helps me eat healthy and feel less stressed all week long. I prepare big batches of veggies, cut up lots of fruits, and have most things already prepared so when it comes down to making the meal-all the hard work is done!

I cooked up a huge portion of veggies in a large wok including zucchini, yellow squash, onion, baby bok choy, baby portobello mushrooms, and red bell pepper. I like making my veggie dishes colorful because that way I know I’m getting lots of different vitamins and nutrients. Plus it looks pretty, and I’m a firm believe that you will most likely enjoy eating it if it looks nicer.

Whenever I prep veggies for the week, I always under cook them a little because I know I’ll be heating them up again and again, and I don’t know about you, but as much as I can’t eat raw veggies all the time, I HATE overcooked veggies. I feel like the life is sucked out of them (along with the nutrients). So I cooked all the veggies in a Wok with some coconut oil.

I put 3/4 of the veggies away in a Glad container for my lunches this week, and ate 1/4 of the veggies with TJ’s Yellow Curry sauce for dinner. It was sweet and spicy and just how I like it.

Prepping fruit also makes morning breakfast a breeze. I always cut up my very ripe bananas and freeze them in large quantities for smoothies. I typically opt for a protein smoothie, but yesterday morning I wanted REAL food. I had some oatmeal, fruit, and french press coffee. Just like my veggies-I like making my fruit colorful as well.

My oatmeal was the instant kind and was one packet of Quaker original with one packet of Quaker True Delights Wild Blueberry Muffin topped with some Chia seeds.

I was given the True Delights a while back to sample. I really like the flavors (Hazelnut Latte and Wild Blueberry Muffin), but I’m not a huge fan of the instant oatmeal as it tends to have a lot of unnecessary sugar and ingredients. I enjoy making the Old Fashion Oats and adding my own flavors. But yesterday I was in a pinch so I only had one packet mixed with an original.

This pineapple was so juicy and sweet, and I could have easily eaten the entire thing in one sitting. I ended up eating more after the pool.

In preparing dinner for Monday night, I made sure to make extra so we can have leftovers all week long. Last time I made Gina’s Slow-Cooker Eggplant Curry I thought about different recipes I could make in my slow cooker and decided to make Slow-Cooker Ratatouille last night. For this dish I sprayed the slow-cooker with olive oil and threw in 1 large eggplant diced, 1 large yellow onion diced, 1 C Organic Chicken Broth, 1 C Organic diced tomatoes, 1 Tbs chopped garlic, and set it on low for about 4 hours.

After the 4 hours I added 2 diced zucchini’s and another can of organic diced tomatoes, as well as herbs de provence, salt, and pepper. Then I let it sit on low for another 2 hours until everything was soft and the flavors had melded together.

I served this over brown rice with sausage for Chris, and with a spoonful of hummus and nutritional yeast for me. I knew I wanted fro yo later so I went easier on dinner.

I decided that I am not a fan of nutritional yeast. It weirds me out.

I have plenty leftover for future lunches or dinners this week, and the ratatouille tastes even better the next day.

After dinner Chris and I went to get Fro Yo (sorry no pic b/c I ate it faster then you can say Fro Yo) and see Sex and The City 2. I don’t know a better way to spend my Monday night!

Before I hit the pool yesterday I went to the gym for a nice little workout. I did 30 minutes on the stationary bike alternating levels, and I did 30 minutes of arms and stomach. I ended up pushing myself pretty hard in the strength area, and by the time I was done I was stumbling out the door. I couldn’t get home fast enough to make myself a smoothie. Not only does it feel like 100* out there, but I was STARVIN’ MARVIN!

My smoothie was so chocolatey and cold…it was perfect.

• 1 C Coconut Water (this made it SO sweet)
• 1.5 large frozen banana
• 1 scoop Sun Warrior Chocolate Protein
• 1/2 tsp Maca Powder
• 1 Tbs Hemp Seeds

With a side of veggies. Because who doesn’t love a side of veggies with their smoothie? I decided to not add sauce this time and just add some seasonings.

This morning I went back to the gym for 40 minutes of cardio before work. I worked hard and was a sweaty mess by the end. My cardio session consisted of:

• 7 min Standing Stationary Bike
• 10 min Elliptical
• 10 min Sitting Stationary Bike
• 13 min Elliptical

Again-starving I ran drove home very fast and made myself another chocolate, banana, coconut water smoothie. The same I had yesterday.

For lunch I had some of that awesome Ratatouille, and like I said it was so much better the next day. I stuffed an Ezekial whole wheat pita with fresh organic baby spinach and toasted till nice and warm and ate it with my ratatouille topped with reduce fat feta.

This was my first time trying the Ezekial pitas. Although they aren’t very sturdy and break easily they only have 100 calories and 7g of Protein per pita. I’ll take that anyday!

In the afternoon I always get sweet cravings so that already cut up pineapple came in handy! In this case-being prepared stopped me from running to the grocery store for a snack and getting something less healthy.

This weekend I am heading to San Diego for my brothers Thirtieth Birthday!!!! If you have been following my blog for a while, then you might remember that this is the weekend I was supposed to run my first marathon. I was supposed to be running in my very FIRST marathon this weekend in San Diego, but unfortunately I got a fracture in my ankle and had to have surgery resulting in me not being able to run the race. So this trip is a bit bittersweet for me, but I won’t let that get in my way of celebrating my brothers BIG birthday and having a blast. We are still going to the marathon on Sunday to cheer on some of his girlfriends friends who are running it. I will be running this race in the future…I don’t know when…but I know I will!

I have a packed week on my hands:

Tonight I had a work function after work, tomorrow I’m meeting an old college friend and her husband for dinner and drinks, Thursday I’m working extra hours and have to run a million errands and pack, and Friday I’m off to Sunny California!!!

See you back here later this week! I may be having another giveaway!!

Question: How do you prep and prepare your meals for the week ahead?

Tagged as: coconut water, Ezekial, hemp seeds, Maca, ratatouille, Sun Warrior, vegetable curry