Meal Prepping

It is no secret that I have been meal prepping for the past several months.  I typically post pictures on instagram, so if you follow me on there, you've probably seen them.

I've had several people ask how to go about meal prepping, so I thought I'd share my process.

I meal plan on the weekends.  I plan my breakfasts, lunches, and suppers.  I write out exactly what I plan on eating and then make my grocery list from that plan.

I generally make a list of all of the dishes that I need to cook/bake/prepare for the week and the amount of time it will take me to complete them (from prep to cook).  This helps me use my time wisely so that I'm not in the kitchen all day long.

I pretty much use my whole counter space when I'm prepping and cooking.

After the food is cooked, I split it all up into containers for the week.  I use my meal calendar to tell me how many containers of each food I need for the week.  

I am not a morning person at all.  So this helps me in a couple of ways:  

• I can pack my lunch box at night and just grab what needs to go in there according to my calendar; OR
• I can just grab it in the morning.

Either way, it's super quick and I don't even have to think about it.  

When I don't meal plan or meal prep, I feel like my week is all out of whack.  This helps me keep on schedule and helps me achieve my goals (both fitness and for the week).

If you try meal prepping, let me know how it goes!!

Quinoa Egg Muffins

Ah...yes!
A new recipe!

I am excited to share this recipe with you this week.
I made these muffins on Sunday morning and have eaten them for breakfast this week!
Quinoa is a little different from anything I've ever had.
I don't even know what to compare it to, but I really like it.
It's super healthy for you and has lots of protein in it.
I found this recipe here.

Here's what you need:

• 1 cup cooked quinoa
• 1 cup diced veggies (I used zucchini, an orange pepper, and broccoli)
• 1/2 cup reduced fat feta cheese  (I didn't use the cheese)
• 2 eggs
• 4 egg whites
• salt and pepper

Here's what you do:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
• Whisk the egg and egg whites together.
• Then combine all the ingredients in the bowl.

• Line your muffin tin with liners and spray them with cooking spray.  (The recipe called for 6 liners, but clearly I needed more than that.)  Also, make sure you coat the liners very well with the spray!

• Bake for 30 minutes or until cooked through and golden brown!

Nutritional Info:

Serving Size:  2 muffins

Calories:  185

Fat:  7 g

Carbs:  15 g

Fiber:  2 g

Protein:  16 g

WW Points Plus:  5

Blessed

I had just about the best weekend. ever.
It was really good!!

It was such a beautiful Friday evening.
We ended up just hanging out together,
watching Shark Tank, and eating ice cream. :]
Oh, and I made brownies for our outing on Saturday night...
I LOVE that I found a Bible verse on my egg carton...
I'm loving Aldi a little more each day.

On Saturday morning, we went to go see Tyler's grandparents.
They really aren't too far from us {about an hour and 45 minutes}.
It was a beautiful drive.
Being in the city, we don't get to see the changing of the crops.
The beans are changing into that pretty gold color and the milo is a dusty red.

I do love this sign that we saw. :]

Saturday afternoon, our Life Group was getting together for a little party.
A guy from our group was kind enough to invite us out to his family's house.

We even got to go in a cave.
It was sweet!

We even saw a couple of bats!  
They are really interesting creatures...

We finished off our night with a hayride {to the cave and back} and roasting some marshmallows for s'mores over the fire.
It was an absolute gorgeous day and night for our party.
We really couldn't have asked for a better day.

I love spending time with these new friends and getting to know them better.
God really knew the desires of my heart.
He gave us these people with the same interests as us.
He may tell us to "wait" when answering our prayers.
That's really hard...and y'all know that I struggled with it for a long time.
But He has THE best plan.
He had a better plan than I ever could have hoped or imagined.
He did immeasurably more than I could have hoped or imagined. (Eph. 3:20-21)

I just can't tell you or explain how full my heart feels.
I am so excited to see what God has in store for us here.
I can tell it's gonna be great!

Today has been very relaxing.
Church was wonderful.
Lunch was wonderful.
As we were trying to figure out what to eat {we need to go to the store}, Tyler got excited as he figured out he could make his chili.  So he did.
It was good...and perfect for this chilly day.

Oh yeah, we woke up to very chilly weather.
It was amazing.

This afternoon, I made us a breakfast casserole for the week.
I like to use Sundays as days to "gear up" for the week ahead.
I try to get all the lunch stuff ready, so all we have to do is "grab and pack."
I decided to make a yummy casserole for breakfast so I don't have to wonder what I'm going to eat.

I used this recipe, but this time I put sausage, mushrooms, and green pepper in it.
It is yummy. :]

How was your weekend?  Did you do anything special? 
Tell me about it!!

Happy Monday!

Easy Egg Breakfast Casserole

Last Sunday I shared a photo of the breakfast casserole that I made for this week.  So I'm going to share that recipe with you today!


Ingredients:

• 1 dozen eggs
• 1/2 cup milk or cream
• 1/4 tsp salt
• pinch of pepper
• 1 cup ham, small cubes
• 1-1/2 cups shredded cheddar or monterrey jack cheese
• 2-3 cups veggies, cut in small or thing pieces and sauteed

Directions:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

• Saute the veggies (this gets the water out of them.  If you don't saute them, cut them extra tiny and only add 2 tbsp of milk instead of half a cup.  If you don't saute the veggies, the eggs might be a little wet and not stay together very well)

• Crack the eggs into a large bowl, and beat with a wire whisk until all the yolks are broken and well blended.  Add the milk, salt, and pepper.

• Add the meat, sauteed veggies, and cheese.  Stir until well blended.

Pour into a greased 9x13 pan.  Place into the preheated oven and bake for 30-45 minutes (or until center is set).  Glass pans will cook faster than metal/stone pans, so you might want to watch it closely the last 5-10 minutes.

And wa-la!  I put ham, green onions, and yellow and orange peppers in this casserole and has lasted the entire week.  As I said before, I'm not a morning person, and this has helped tremendously with my morning routine.  It's healthy and quick!  

**side note...I had all these ingredients in my refrigerator.  I had them from other meals, so you can put whatever you want into your casserole!

Happy cooking!!