Meal Prep Recipe: Chicken & Veggie Salad Bowl with Cilantro Jalapeno Hummus and Baked Cod Over Veggie Rice

Time for another meal prep!  Sorry if this one is not as inspired as some of my past ones have been, I was in the middle of moving to my new apartment and had to throw something together quickly. The good thing about this one is that it only took me about an hour to do!  Pretty simple for when you need to prep on a time crunch! Let's get to it

Ingredients Needed:

• 2 cucumbers
• 1 bunch cilantro
• 2 jalapenos
• 1 red onion (sweet will do as well)
• ~4-5 small to medium tomatoes
• 2 bags of spinach and lettuce salad mix
• 3 bell peppers (I went with an orange, red and yellow)
• 3 lemons
• 2 15 oz cans of garbanzo beams
• 1 bulb garlic
• 1 box brown rice (minimum 5 servings)
• 1 family pack boneless skinless chicken thighs
• 1 family pack of alaskan cod (I only got this because it was on sale for a good price!)

Chicken & Veggie Salad Bowl with Cilantro Jalapeno Hummus:

Chicken & Veggie Salad Bowl:

• Preheat the oven to 400 F
• Get out a baking sheet, cover with aluminum foil and spray lightly with oil
• Season chicken thighs (I used a mixture of red pepper flakes, pepper, salt, and some Mrs. Dash I had from a previous week's meal prep) and space them evenly on baking sheet.
• Put in the oven for 30-35 minutes
• Chop vegetables for the salad bowl and put them in as you like! This is where this dish can be changed so easily, just choose whatever vegetables are your favorite, no need to stick to this recipe. (Remember some of these will be used for the veggie rice)

Cilantro Jalapeno Hummus:

• I suggest making one bunch at a time, as my blender was crappy and didn't like handling both of the batches at once (food processor would work even better!). So I will just be giving instructions on how to make a SINGLE batch.
• Drain a can of garbanzo bean
• Stem, chop and dice 1 jalapeno
• Cut up the amount of cilantro you would like
• dice 2 cloves of garlic
• Put all ingredients into a blender, add olive oil as needed and season to taste with pepper and salt.

Finishing the Dish:

• Portion out the cut up veggies, chicken and hummus evenly into containers.
• When you are ready to eat, just add the salad mix and squeeze a half of lemon (or to taste) over the salad and get at it! (If you want to ahead of time, you can chop everything into more manageable size pieces before you put them in containers)

Baked Cod Over Veggie Rice:

Baked Cod:

• Preheat oven to 350 F
• Line baking sheet with foil and spray with oil. Space fish evenly on baking sheet and season to taste. I used a half of lemon, salt, pepper and of course, red pepper flakes.
• Put in the oven for ~30 minutes

Veggie Rice:

• Make enough brown rice for 5 servings.
• After rice has been cooked chop the remaining vegetables from the above entree and add to the rice and mix thoroughly. (I had peppers, onion, cilantro and tomatoes in mine)

Finishing the Dish:

•  Split fish and rice evenly among containers.

Viola that is all!  Hope everyone enjoys and I promise to make some more inspired meals for next week.  As always, stay healthy!

Workout Motivation

Since I feel like I have not posted much in terms of workout motivation, I am making sure to post some today.  As always, stay healthy!

Found at http://go-the-extra-mile.tumblr.com/ 

First Workout! Chest Workout

Hey guys just thought I would drop this workout for everyone to try out. This one is a favorite of mine, that I do when I need a good burn.  For those that like an additional challenge (which I usually do) , add an additional rep or two to the end of each bench press at 4 or 2 reps respectively.  For those that wonder, I use a one and a half to two minute rest per set, or less depending on my goals for that day.

Flat Bench:
20,15,12,10,8,6 (increase weight with each set)

Incline Bench:
20,15,12,10,8,6 (increase weight with each set)

Decline Bench:
20,15,12,10,8,6 (increase weight with each set)

Dumbbell Pullovers:
10,10 x3 (Drop set, get 10 with heavier weight and then drop for 10 more reps)

Push Ups:
150 (total reps)

Meal Prep Recipe: Fajita Chicken with Veggies and Black Beans & Personal Sized Stuffed Meatloaf with Roasted Veggies and Rice

Hey everyone, sorry for such a late post this week.  I have been out of town for work and hadn't gotten a chance to post the recipe from this past Sunday.  So without anymore waiting, lets get to it.

Ingredients Needed:

• 2 lbs of your ground meat of choice (think turkey or chicken, and if you are willing to spend the extra money, bison)
• 1 family pack of boneless skinless chicken thighs (usually contains ~7, if you need more protein, I would suggest buying two packs)
• 2 green peppers
• 2 jalapenos
• 1 medium red onion
• 2 yellow squash
• 1 head of fresh broccoli
• 1 bag of square cut carrots (or you grab them whole and cut them yourself)
• 2 cans reduced sodium black beans
• bunch of cilantro (I had some left over from a previous meal prep)
• 1 box of Uncle Ben's whole wheat brown rice
• 1 pack of low carb tortillas
• Mrs. Dash Fiesta Lime OR Southwest Chipotle Seasonings

Fajita Chicken with Veggies and Black Beans:

For the Chicken:

• Preheat oven to 375 F
• Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and spray with oil
• Place the thighs evenly spaced onto the sheet and season with Mrs. Dash seasoning of choice on both sides
• Cook for ~ 35 minutes
• You can slice the chicken after it cooks, or do it right before eating.

For the Veggies:

• Cut the squash, green pepper and red onion into similar size pieces (remember to save around half of a green pepper and about one quarter of the red onion for later)
• Heat up a large skillet or wok with oil in the bottom
• Toss in all of the veggies and saute until done.  Season with Mrs. Dash to taste.

Finishing the Dish:

• Drain and rinse both cans of low sodium black beans and split evenly among your 5 containers.
• Split the vegetables evenly among containers.
• Split the chicken among the containers (for even portions, some of my containers had 1.5 thighs instead of just one).

That should be it! Make sure to bring along the low carb tortillas for when you want to eat the meal.

Personal Sized Stuffed Meatloaf with Roasted Veggies and Rice:

For the Meatloaf:

• Set the oven to 400 F
• Take the remaining onion and green pepper and dice.  Dice the two jalapenos and add cilantro to taste, set aside in a bowl.
• Take the ground meat and put in a large bowl, season with pepper, salt, garlic powder and cayenne pepper and mix.  Add the bowl with the diced veggies and mix.
• Grab a muffin pan and spray with oil. Portion the meatloaf into the muffin pan evenly (mine had about 10)
• Top the meatloaf with a sauce of your preference (ketchup, Siracha, etc.)
• Put in the oven for 30-40 minutes or until done through

For the Roasted Veggies:

• Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and coat lightly with oil.
• Wash and cut the broccoli and open the bag of carrots.
• Spread the veggies on the baking sheet, and season with pepper and crushed red pepper flakes.
• Spray lightly with oil to coat.
• Put in the oven for 15-20 minutes (with the meatloaf) or until roasted to your desired texture.

Finishing the Dish:

• Prepare 5 servings of rice (about 5 cups cooked)
• Each container gets 1 serving of rice, 2 meatloaves and a portion of the roasted veggies.

Viola and that is it! As always, stay healthy.

Taking Meal Prep Requests!

Have a favorite meal that you want to eat everyday of the week, but it just isn't that healthy, or you don't know how you would cook it in bulk and at a low cost?  Well fear no longer!  I am now taking requests for meal prep recipes.  The idea is simple, either comment below or use the contact me box on the sidebar of my blog.  Each week I will pick a request and turn it into a healthy and low cost meal prep for the week.  I will also let you know when the recipe is up, how much it cost for the ingredients and how it tastes.

As always stay healthy.

Meal Prep Recipe: Sweet & Spicy Chicken Meatballs with Pineapple Salsa over Baby Spinach

It's meal prep time again!  Today I will post my recipe for my sweet and spicy chicken meatballs with pineapple salsa.  Lets get to it.

Ingredients Needed:

• 3 pounds ground chicken
• 2 cans of chopped pineapple (or fresh pineapple, whatever your preference)
• 1 medium red onion
• 2 red bell peppers
• 2 orange bell peppers
• 1 bunch of cilantro
• 2 containers of ready to eat baby spinach
• Honey and Siracha Sauces

For the Chicken Meatballs:

• Put all of the ground chicken in a large bowl and season with pepper, garlic salt, red pepper flakes, honey and Siracha. (This is going to be messy! Also if you want to spice these meatballs up feel free to add red onion, scallions, etc. to the mix to give them that extra bit of pop!)
• Cover the bowl and store in the refrigerator for 30 minutes to one hour to marinate (During this time I prepped the salsa and was cooking my chicken, rice and veggies for my other meals.)
• Once the meatballs have marinated, preheat the oven to 400 F, line baking sheets with foil and spray with oil. (As a short side note: extra foil wouldn't hurt on this one! If the sweet and spicy sauce leaks onto the pan and caramelizes, then clean up can be a little more of a hassle.)
• Make the meatballs whatever size you want, and depending on your macro intake/protein and caloric needs.  I made 14 giant ones, and had some for a snack while I was prepping the meals.
• Put them in the oven for 15 minutes.
• Pull the meatballs out of the oven, flip the meatballs and pour some sauce over them.
• Return to the oven for 15 minutes.

For the Sweet & Spicy Sauce:

• This is all about taste and personal preference for the sauce.
• I mixed some honey and Siracha sauce with some of the leftover pineapple juice from the salsa, and that was it! I liked mine spicy so I added more Siracha than honey.

For the Pineapple Salsa:

• Wash the red onion, red and orange peppers and the cilantro.
• Finely dice ~ 1/2 of the red onion and put in a large bowl
• Cut and dice 1.5-2 of each of the peppers and add to the onion
• Drain both cans of pineapple (Save some of the juice for the sauce!), and cut/dice into smaller pieces, and add to the other ingredients.
• Finely chop the cilantro and add as much as you would like, mine was a bit cilantro heavy because I love the taste, also season the mixture with salt and pepper.

Finishing the dish:

• Place baby spinach in the bottom of each container, as little or as much as you want.
• Split the pineapple salsa evenly between the five containers.
• Each container got two meatballs that were topped with additional sauce.

Viola and you are done! Enjoy and stay healthy!

UPDATED Snack Recipe: 3 Ingredient Banana Bread Cookies

So, I found this recipe a long time ago and I love it.  It is a very simple recipe and is a healthy snack for when you are craving something sweet!

Ingredients Needed:

• 2 large bananas (I think they taste better if they are browned)
• 1 cup rolled oats
• 1/4 cup chopped walnuts

How to Cook:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees
• Line baking sheet with aluminum foil and spray lightly with oil
• Mash the bananas in a large bowl
• Add oats and walnuts and mix together
• Put tablespoons of the mixture onto baking sheet spaced apart~ 1-2"
• Bake for 12-15 minutes (You want to make sure they are cooked all the way through or else the banana can spoil and won't keep for very long.)

Viola you are done!  I may try to throw some chocolate protein powder in one of my next batches and see how that tastes, will keep you guys updated.

As always, stay healthy

UPDATE:

I just cooked some tonight with a scoop of vanilla protein powder (as I didn't have any chocolate) and they were delicious. A must try!

Meal Prep Recipe: Ground Turkey Stuffed Peppers

For lunch this week I made some delicious ground turkey stuffed peppers.  My dinner resembled the Siracha Chicken that I made last week, only I changed up the types of vegetables I used (fresh this time) as well as the sauce I used on the chicken.  So for this week I am posting my recipe for the stuffed peppers that I made.  If you have any questions feel free to ask!

Ingredients Needed:

• 10 Bell Peppers (Yes 10, you will be eating two at a time.  I went with five red and five orange, as they are my favorites.  As an additional side note, you may want to make sure that the peppers have a flat bottom, or can stand up on their own, as it will make your life easier later.)
• 3lbs of Lean Ground Turkey (You can substitute any lean ground meat in here, but try to keep it <15% fat)
• 1 bunch of green onions
• 1 sweet yellow onion
• 1 can Hot RO*TEL diced tomatoes and green chilis
• 2 cans reduced sodium black beans
• low sodium spaghetti sauce of choice
• spices of choice

For the Peppers:

• Preheat oven to 400 F
• Line baking sheets with aluminum foil and lightly spray with oil.
• Cut the tops off all of the peppers, clean the insides and remove the seeds. (I prefer to save the tops of the peppers and cut any excess off for some bite size peppers to snack on.)
• Put the peppers top down on the baking sheets and put in the oven for 10 minutes.

For the Filling:

• Heat ~1 tbsp oil in a large skillet.
• While the skillet is getting hot dice half or all of the onion, and all of your green onions (Depends how much you want in your filling.)
• Sautee the onions in the skillet until they are just about cooked and add in the whole can of RO*TEL.
• Continue to heat until you get a nice simmer.
• Take your meat and start to put it in the skillet, crumble it as you do so that you aren't working with giant chunks of ground meat when you mix your filling.
• Season the meat to taste I used Chili Powder, Crushed Red Pepper Flakes, Pepper, Garlic Powder and a touch of Salt.
• Add in some of the green onions and cook until the meat is done.
• Strain the filling and get out all of the grease and excess juices in the bottom of the pan.

 Finishing the dish:

• By now your peppers should be done cooking and sitting on the side, turn your peppers over so that the opening is now face up.
• Spoon in 1 - 2 tbsp of the spaghetti sauce into the bottom of the pepper.
• Fill the pepper up with all the goodness you just cooked! (I tried my best when doing this to keep it lightly packed and the portions even so that I could know how much protein I was getting each day.)
• Top with another spoonful of spaghetti sauce and some green onions.

Viola and you are done!  If you plan on eating the peppers after cooking them, you can put them back into the oven for another 5-10 minutes, but I transferred all of my peppers into my containers for my lunches throughout the week.  I also added 1-1.5 servings of the low sodium black beans (strained and rinsed) for additional carbohydrates and protein for the meal.

As always, stay healthy.

Meal Prep Recipe: Spicy Siracha Chicken, w/ Veggies and Brown Rice & Baked Tilapia w/ Black Bean, Corn and Avocado Salsa and Spinach

This is my first meal prep recipe for the blog so please forgive me if I leave anything out, and if you have any questions feel free to ask!  Also, if you use this for anything please give me credit, thanks!

This recipe is intended to make 5 lunches and 5 dinners for the week with some left overs.

Ingredients Needed:

• 1 pack of chicken drumsticks (at least 10 per pack)
• 3 bags of Kroger Mixed Frozen Vegetables (I was lazy this time around and used two bags of peppers and onions and one that was a mixed bag but you can use whatever you like or cook them fresh!)
• 1 box of whole grain brown rice
• 2 Packs of Tilapia Fillets, (Not the Frozen kind!)
• 1 can black beans (low sodium)
• 1 can sweet corn
• 2 avocados
• 2 large bags of baby spinach ~ 5oz
• 1-2 Cups of Pico De Gallo (can be found in Kroger next to the produce)

For the Chicken:

• Preheat Oven to 375 F
• Cover baking sheets with aluminum foil and lightly spray with oil.  Place drumsticks on pan 1-2" apart.
• Spice drumsticks with whatever you would like, I did a mix of pepper, garlic salt and cajun seasoning and then brushed it with Siracha Sauce.
• Cook for 30 minutes then remove from oven and turnover.  Make sure to spice the other side
• Cook for another 35 minutes and you're done.

For the Tilapia:

• Keep the oven at 375 F
• Cover baking sheet with aluminum foil and lightly spray with oil. Place fish on pan and season to taste
• Cook for 30 minutes.

Black Bean, Corn, Avocado Salsa

• Combine the can of black beans and corn into a strainer and rinse thoroughly with water.
• After rinsing, place in a large mixing bowl
• Chop up the 2 Avocados
• Add the Pico De Gallo and chopped avocados to the bowl
• Stir and season to taste

Veggies

• Put a small amount of oil in the bottom of a large pan
• Add all three bags of veggies and cook until they are just about done.
• Strain  them if there is any excess water, and set aside

Rice

• Read the box......seriously, but make sure you have enough servings for each meal you make! (I had a little over 6 cups of cooked rice, which was perfect for me. A serving is usually 1 cup cooked).

Viola and everything is cooked and ready to be put into containers for your meals for the week.  I personally use the Glad Tall Entree Tupperware containers, as they seem to fit everything into one.

For the Chicken, Rice and Veggies.

• Split all Vegetables evenly among portions
• 1 Cup of Cooked Rice
• 2 Chicken Drumsticks

For Tilapia

• Add as much spinach as you would like!
• Add 1 cup of the salsa

In a separate container store the Tilapia (so when you microwave it, it will not wilt the spinach or heat up the salsa).

Add any leftovers to a container for a healthy snack when you are extra hungry.

That is it!  I hope everyone enjoys and stay healthy!

Hello everyone!

I am going to make this first entry short and sweet, as it is somewhat of my kickoff post for this blog.  This blog will be dedicated to my sharing of workouts, nutrition/meal prep ideas, motivational quotes and some of my workout music for anyone that would like to sit here and read about it.  I will be posting at least once a week when I do my meal prep to share my recipes with you, and depending on how my week is going I may post more.

Thank you for reading and stay healthy!