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Let's face it. Nutrition is often the hardest part of being healthier. So I've got a few meal and snack ideas for you to try. I'll spare you the long blog posts that so many like to include with their recipes... <3
Chicken Salad
2 Cans chicken breast (or rotisserie chicken, or cooked/shredded chicken)
6oz non-fat greek yogurt
Diced onion (I like red onion best) - I don't measure this, just however much you like
Diced celery - again, I don't measure. "some" is enough
Salt, pepper
Optional ingredients to choose from (maybe not all of them at one time though?): diced apples, sliced almonds, dill and/or pickles, hard boiled eggs, bacon bits, diced peppers, buffalo sauce
Serve this with whole grain crackers or butter lettuce "wraps"
Cottage Cheese Scrambled Eggs
2 eggs
1/3c of non-fat cottage cheese
1-2 tbsp nutritional yeast (I never measure things, so I'm guessing)
Mix the eggs and cottage cheese in a bowl first. Pour into hot pan, sprinkle the nutritional yeast on top, then start stirring until everything is cooked. These end up being "soft" without being undercooked, and cheesy without the cheese. I almost always eat it with whole grain toast with a little butter and honey, fresh fruit or tomatoes if I have them.
Taco Salad
2lbs lean ground beef (I usually get 96/4)
Diced onion (I use white, or whatever I have on hand) - however much you like. Half an onion? All of it? You do you, boo.
Salt, pepper, cumin, garlic, chili powder, coriander. You'll probably want more of these than you originally think. Don't ask me how much, follow your heart.
Cook this in a big pan on low heat, add in a little water or beef stock, stir stir stir. Cover and forget about it for an hour or two. Hell you can even put this in the crockpot and let it go all day (definitely add some liquid if you do this).
You could add in diced tomatoes while it cooks.
Serve with black beans, salsa, lite sour cream, reduced fat cheese, avocado, on top of a bunch of lettuce.
Shrimp Pasta
Uncooked, peeled, deveined shrimp
Pasta of choice (Barilla makes penne with extra protein that I typically use)
Cajun seasoning (this can get spicy so be careful)
Diced onion (white or yellow is best)
1Tbsp butter
Chicken stock
Lite sour cream
Parmesan cheese
Toss the shrimp in cajun seasoning. Spray a hot pan with a lil oil, and put those shrimp in there. let them cook on one side for a while, add butter, and flip them to get fully cooked. (You should probably go ahead and cook your pasta now and dump it in a colander once it's al dente.) When the shrimp are pink, you can take them out and add the onions in until they are cooked (translucent). Turn the pan up to medium-high heat and add in some chicken stock, maybe a cup? Give that a good stir, let it bubble for a few minutes to reduce the liquid, then turn the heat down to low. Add in the sour cream (1/2 cup might be good) and stir until it's smooth. Sometimes the lite sour cream doesn't get really smooth and if that isn't okay with you, use regular sour cream. Once that's ready, add the shrimp back in along with the pasta and a little pasta water, and let all of it warm back up. Sprinkle with cheese.
Here are some other ideas for a busy week of eating at home.
Prep a couple pounds of ground beef, in a crockpot, with salt and pepper and some water or stock. Can do this with chicken breasts as well.
Bake up some diced sweet potatoes and onions with spices (garlic and paprika are my fave).
Make a big batch of rice and/or quinoa.
Buy canned beans (black beans, kidney beans, whatever).
Buy veggies like zucchini, peppers, broccoli, cabbage. They are all easy and pretty quick to bake in the oven.
You can mix and match above ingredients for quick, easy meals throughout the week.
Other pantry staples I keep on hand: oatmeal (look for low/no sugar), whole grain bread, protein pasta, grits, whole grain crackers, protein pancake mix, vanilla protein powder.
My best advice for pretty much everyone is this: Ask yourself what you need to add to your nutrition to make it as well-rounded and nutrient-packed as possible. Being overly restrictive is not sustainable and often leads to an unhealthy relationship with food. When we look for ways to add in whole grains, lean protein, lots of fruits and veggies, often we'll start cutting out the over-processed things because we feel satiated without them.
Let me know if this was helpful and if you try out any of these ideas!
<3 Your Friend, Katy
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