Easy Turkey Burgers

I won't lie, I am the queen of bargain hunting. Zach, my dear husband, can definitely attest to this. And one area that my bargain hunting goes into overdrive is during meal planning and grocery shopping. I love a good deal, and I love seeing our money be able to stretch while still providing good, nutritious meals for us.

One fantastic recipe that I experimented with and loved that meets the standard of being nutritious and budget saavy are turkey burgers! I have absolutely nothing against beef, and I will admit I love a good hamburger. But sometimes, beef, especially the beef you want to eat (farm raised and extra lean) is pricier. So most of the time, we stick to options like chicken, turkey and fish. At our local Sam's, we can get a great deal on ground turkey, which is where this recipe starts!

Feel free to use this recipe as a base and build on with what you and your family love, and of course experiment with all those yummy toppings, too!

Easy Turkey Burgers

Ingredients
- 1lb ground turkey
- 1 cup quartered cherry tomatoes
- 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
- 1 egg
- 1 Tbsp onion powder
- 2 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp black pepper
-2 tsp paprika
- 1/4 tsp salt

Directions
1. Heat a griddle to 350 degrees, or use a heavy bottomed skillet heated over medium high heat
2. Place all ingredients in a large bowl.
3. Mix gently with hands (don't overwork it), make sure everything is incorporated.
4. Form into 4 to 6 patties, depending on your size preference.
5. Flatten out with your hand into a patty shape, place on griddle or skillet.
6. Cook through, about 6 minutes per side, until juices are clear and it is no longer oink in the middle.
7. Place on a toasted whole wheat bun and top with things like sliced tomato, onion, avocado, crispy bacon, etc!
8. Enjoy!

What is your favorite thing to top a burger with? Do you love something on the inside of your burger too? 

Meal Plan For YOU

Meal planning can seem overwhelming and daunting when you start on a journey towards health or if you aren't used to it. So many options, so many opinions, so little time. My biggest piece of advice? Find something that works for you in your life! 

You want to make sure that your meal plan follows these rules:

1. Allows you to get good, dense nutrition into your body. 

2. Do something that you can make a lifestyle! Avoid crash diets like the plauge.

3. Consider your schedule. Allow for something that will give you options while also keeping you healthy. 

4. Evaluate and reevaluate! Try different ways and see if it works for you or not.

5. Save time, money and food by PLANNING! Even if it doesn't go 100% according to plan, creating any type of plan will help you save in these area. 

There are many ways to meal plan! You can plan out all your big meals, snacks, etc. You can write down all your dinner options but leave the day you have them open. You can rotate through a few choices for the whole week. You can have the same lunch or breakfast all week. The options are limitless. And I have tried a fair few different ways to meal plan! I have found that different types of meal plans work better for different seasons.

A season that I'm trying to be more totally focused in nutrition, I will plan out all meals and snacks. Sometimes I make a list of different options to rotate through if we have a busy week! Find what works for you, reevaluate and if its working, keep it. If not, try another approach!

This model is more loose and leaves you room to choose what you want for the specific day, but gives you structure so you save money and stay on track with your health!

BREAKFAST OPTIONS

-Shakeology (with PB and a serving of fruit)

-Sauteed kale and scrambled eggs

-Egg "muffins"

LUNCH OPTIONS

-Dinner leftovers

-Turkey sandwich on whole wheat bread with sliced tomato, avocado and mustard with fresh veggies

-Spinach salad with grilled chicken, feta cheese, cranberries, nuts and vinaigrette

DINNER

-One unplanned or cheat meal (because sometimes you need to work that in!)

-Chicken sausage with sweet peppers and onions over hot brown rice, with steamed broccoli

-Turkey burgers on whole wheat bread with avocado, tomato, and sweet potato fries with steamed broccoli

-Zucchini noodle pasta with ground turkey spaghetti sauce, whole wheat garlic bread

-BBQ chicken stuffed sweet potatoes with spinach salad

-Stuffed bell peppers with veggies, ground turkey, and pepper jack cheese, with hot brown rice

-Leftovers night

SNACK OPTIONS

-Shakeology

-Cheese and apples

-Fresh fruit serving

-Fresh veggies with ricotta cheese

-Greek yogurt with fruit

DESSERT

-DIY Strawberry Ice cream

-Revamped "cookie dough"

-Shakeology chocolate bars

Turkey and Veggie Soup

Summer is quickly approaching and that means soon warmer weather will be the normal. But, as we have experienced this past week in Atlanta, we can still have a few cold days left before the heat fully arrives.

What does that weather mean? One last chance for a hearty soup before the cool soups make their appearance on the dinner table.

This last week I experimented with the ingredients I had around the house to make our hearty turkey and veggie soup. The great thing about this recipe is that it can definitely be made to what YOU have in your kitchen and what YOU like.

But for a base recipe, here is what we used!

Ingredients

1lb ground turkey

2 tsp cooking oil or butter

1 onion, chopped

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 green bell pepper, chopped

1 sweet potato, cubed

4 cups raw kale, chopped

1 cup baby carrots

4 cups chicken broth

1 can diced tomatoes

1 tsp basil

1 basil leaf

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp onion powder

1 tsp paprika

Directions

1. In a large heavy bottomed pot (such as a dutch oven) over medium high heat, heat up your cooking oil or butter 

2. Add you chopped onions, sautee until soft and translucent. Add your garlic in and cook for one minute. 

3. Add in the chopped green peppers, and potatoes.

4. Add chicken broth and bring to a boil. 

5. Add kale, bay leaf and diced tomatoes and reduce heat to medium low. Let cook for about 10 minutes, covered. 

6. As that cooks, brown your turkey with all of the seasonings mentioned above added in with it.

7. After turkey is browned, add to soup, mix and cover. 

8. Let cook over medium low, stirring occasionally for about 25 minutes. 

9. Garnish with cheese and plain Greek yogurt if desired! 

Enjoy these last few days of warm soup weather before the fall. This is an easy and yummy way to get veggies in! Experiment with what you have and make it fun. 

What's your favorite soup? 

Butternut Squash Lasagna

Y'all. Seriously, this was so good. I tweaked a recipe that I found a bit and made it our own, and absolutely loved it. This recipe is absolutely a keeper and one that we will be having again in the Cason house! Lasagna is such a comfort food, so I love finding ways to clean it up and add some more nutrients in any way that I can. This recipe is dynamite!

Butternut Squash Lasagna

Ingredients
Half of a butternut squash, cubed and COOKED
2 cups ricotta cheese, divided
1/2 cup of milk
1/2 tsp salt, divided into two 1/4 tsp
1/4 tsp nutmeg
10 oz uncooked spinach
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese, divided
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp cooking oil
10 oz whole wheat lasagna noodles
4 slices of provolone cheese
1 tsp Italian seasoning
2 tsp onion powder
2 tsp basil

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 F

2. Prepare your lasagna noodles! Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil and cook noodles until just tender. Drain and run cool water over them, set aside.

3. Prepare your butternut squash filling! Combine your butternut squash, 1 cup ricotta cheese, 1/2 cup of milk, 1/4 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp nutmeg in a food processor, and process until creamy. Set aside.

4. Prepare the spinach filling. Heat cooking oil a medium skillet over medium high, add minced garlic and cook about one minute. Add spinach to skillet and cook until wilted. Remove from heat and add to bowl. Combine with 1 cup of ricotta cheese and 1 cup mozzarella cheese. Add 1/4 tsp salt, 2 tsp onion powder, 1 tsp Italian seasoning, and 2 tsp basil. Mix together and set aside.

5. Grease a 9x13 baking dish lightly. Divide your  butternut squash filling into thirds. Put 1/3 of the mixture on the bottom of the baking dish. Cover with lasagna noodles.

6. Add 1/2 of your spinach mixture on top of the noodles, and follow with another layer of noodles. Add another layer of butternut squash, followed by noodles and then the rest of the spinach filling and noodles.

7. Finish with the last 1/3 of the butternut squash mixture, top with 1 cup of mozzarella. Cut each piece of provolone in half, and layer across the top.

8. Cover with foil, bake for 30 minutes, uncover and cook for another 10 minutes.

9. Serve and enjoy!! 

Green Machine Pancakes

Pancakes, one of the classic American breakfast options. Unfortunately, I have never been their biggest fan. Mostly because I don't like eating sweet foods for breakfast. But, when I got married, I discovered that my husband loves pancakes.

So I end up making them quite a bit around here for him. I don't usually eat them myself, again, because I don't like sweet foods for breakfast. But when I found a clean recipe of panckes , I had to try them!

I have made several variations of these healthy pancakes for Zach and he definitely approves! The recipe is simple to vary based on your tastes, so I will include the base recipe as well as the green machine version.

Base Recipe - Clean Eating Pancakes (makes about 4-5 pancakes) 
Ingredients
1/3 cup rolled or steel cut oats, uncooked
2 eggs
1 banana

Directions
1. Place all ingredients in a food processor, blend until smooth.
2. Use a 1/4 cup to measure out pancake batter.
3. Cook over medium to medium high heat as regular pancakes

GREEN MACHINE PANCAKES
Ingredients
1/3 cup rolled or steel cut oats, uncooked
3 eggs
1 banana
1 loose scoop of Greenberry Shakeology

Directions
1. Place all ingredients in a food processor, blend until smooth.
2. Use a 1/4 cup to measure out pancake batter.
3. Cook over medium to medium high heat as regular pancakes

And there you have it! Clean eating pancakes that you don't have to feel guilty about eating. They will fill you up and leave you satisfied and nourished! You can also vary the vase recipe to include any fruits or other things you want to put in, or even top them with!  Have fun with the recipe!

What is your favorite pancake combo? 

"Healthy Stuff" Bowl

Even after traveling all over the world, and having my fair share of rice and beans in Africa and Asia, I'm not sick of it. In fact, I love to dress it up!Last night I was running low on time to cook, and needed to use up some bell peppers we had left over in the fridge. So I decided to improvise and experiment.

Enter in the "healthy stuff" bowl. Like several of my other recipes, this can be very early customized to your personal tastes, as well as what you have on hand.

Healthy Stuff Bowl

Ingredients
(Makes 4-6 servings)
1 lb ground turkey
1 1/2 cup cooked brown rice
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 onion, chopped
2-3 cups rough chopped kale (just depends on how much green you want!)
2 tsp cooking oil
1 Tbsp garlic powder
1 Tbsp onion powder
2 tsp black pepper
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
1/2 tsp chili powder
1 1/2 cups tomato sauce

Directions
1. Heat up your cooking oil in a large skillet over medium high heat.
2. Add in your onions and chopped bell peppers, cook until tender.
3. Add in the ground turkey, and brown through, mixing with the vegetables.
4. Season with the garlic powder, onion powder, black pepper, red pepper, cumin and chili powder.
5. Add in kale and 1/3 cup of water, cook and mix until it begins to wilt.
6. Add in the cooked rice and tomato sauce, stir and mix together until incorporated.
7. Cover and cook on medium low for 10 minutes, stir occasionally.
8. Enjoy!

If you wanted, you could add in black or red beans. Or substitute the brown rice for quinoa! The possibilities are truly endless. Experiment and find out what you like, too! But if you are short on time, this is an easy one to throw together and have a balanced meal.

What about you, do you like rice and beans or do you have to spice it up a bit to eat them?

10 Weekly Meal Staples

When I used to open my refrigerator or pantry, I used to find only a few predictable things, if that. Generally, when I went to the grocery store, I did it on a whim and got whatever seemed right at the time. That ended up leaving no food in the fridge or wasting food later down the road.

However, since I have started meal planning, our fridge and pantry tend to be very predictable in quite a few healthy staples. This is helpful particularly when I have the munchies, and reaching for a healthy snack is actually a real option now.

Laying a good foundation of some healthy staples to keep around in your kitchen can be a great key to your success with staying on track with health and nutrition. So I'm going to share some of our top favorite staples that you would likely find on a weekly basis in our kitchen!

1. Spinach or kale. Lately it's been kale, but every week I make sure that we have a stock of some leafy green to throw in smoothies, beef up our veggie intake, and have a great source of nutrients.

2. Eggs. Yup, whole eggs! I've never really liked just egg whites, and studies are showing now that the cholesterol found in eggs is the good kind, not the bad. Eggs are a fantastic source of protein, and a super easy breakfast choice!

3. Sweet Potatoes. These are quick to chop up for roasting along side baked chicken, easy to throw in whole to bake, and all around a delicious source of nutrients! Generally we eat these more than regular potatoes, but you can find regular potatoes in our pantry every now and again too.

4. Greek Yogurt. Good ol' plain Greek yogurt has so many uses! Did you know that you can substitute it for sour cream? Or you can sweeten it up naturally too? So many good uses, and it packs a great punch of probiotics!

5. Carrots. I have a tendency to want to snack on something crunchy...anyone else? Carrots are great to have to curb that crunch craving, and you get a serving of veggies in! These are also great to just throw in some soup or with a roast.

6. Bananas. We go through some bananas, let me tell you! Great "fast food" pick when you are running out the door, really hungry and need something fast that packs an energy punch.

7. Shakeology. Love the stuff! I usually have my Shakeology in the morning or after my workout. It delivers an incredible punch of super food nutrition, gives me energy and also helps curb my sweet tooth!

8. Chicken. Of all meats, chicken is probably the most used in our house. It's fast, easy to throw in the oven with some seasoning, and then you can shred it, chop it, put it in soup, tacos, pretty much anything you want!

9. Zucchini. Since I was given a Vegetti by my sweet husband, we normally keep a supply of zucchini handy in the fridge for some zucchini noodles (or zoodles) at least once a week. We've experimented with a lot of different recipes that are fantastic!

10. Rolled Oats. Super cheap, healthy, whole food. I pick up a container of oats usually once a week and we have it for breakfast with a banana. No instant oatmeal here, just the old fashioned stuff. Seriously, it's so much better and doesn't take a long time to cook.

While of course the contents of our fridge and pantry vary from week to week, generally you can find these staples in there most any week. It's crazy to think back to the way I used to eat, used to grocery shop, and how my cupboards and fridge used to look.

They used to be filled with bread, pasta, lunch meat (the bad kind), heavy calorie sauces, cream, leftover sandwhiches from work. Honestly, nothing good or nutritious. As I've told before in some of my stories,  I hardly ever ate any fruits or vegetables, ever. I honestly am not sure how I kept skipping out on that.

But I am glad to say that I love the change, I enjoy eating fruit and vegetables now, and I love keeping our fridge and pantry stocked with things that will nourish us and help us be healthy. What do you keep in your fridge and pantry? What's one staple you just couldn't live without? 

Spaghetti Squash Burrito Bowl

Typically, when I make spaghetti squash, I tend to stick to italian style recipes. Spaghetti squash with pasta sauce, spaghetti squash lasagna boats, and the like. Well, I came across an interesting looking recipe on Pinterest for a burrito bowl in spaghetti squash, so I thought that I would recreate my own burrito bowl.

I must say, they turned out super delicious! And these could absolutely be done with various ingredients, based on your own personal tastes.

Ingredients
(makes 4 servings)
2 spaghetti squash
1 can of white beans
1 can of tomato sauce
2 tsp cooking oil
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
1/2 green bell pepper, chopped
1 lb ground turkey
1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 packet low sodium taco seasoning

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Cut spaghetti squash in half, and clean out the seeds. Place cut side down onto a baking sheet. Bake for 45 minutes, or until the inside is tender. Remove and let cool.
3. While spaghetti squash is baking, heat 2 tsp cooking oil in a large skillet, and sautee onion.
4. Add in minced garlic, sautee for one minute, or until fragrant, and then add in the chopped bell peppers. Cook until tender.
5. Add in the ground turkey, and brown.
6. Mix in taco seasoning until full incorporated, cook for 5 minutes.
7. Add in the can of drained white beans, and can of tomato sauce, let simmer for 10 minutes.
8. Divide the filling between the four spaghetti squash boats, cover each with 1/4 cup of cheddar cheese and sprinkle with the chopped cilantro.
9. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes, or until cheese is browning and bubbly.
10. Enjoy!

There you have it, super delicious spaghetti squash burrito bowls! If you wanted to, you could substitute out the white beans for black beans, and even mix in fresh salsa or fresh chopped tomatoes if you wanted to!

Who is ready to try some spaghetti squash burrito bowls?

Kale and Tomato Salad

Kale was one of those foods that when I started getting healthy and looking to eat better that I really didn't care too much for in the beginning. It tasted bitter and sharp to me, and I wasn't sure what all to do with it.

I ended up using it in smoothies mostly, because you don't taste it as much when it's blended up with some delicious fruit. But the past few months I have been branching out even more and trying new recipes with kale. The conclusion, I love kale now!

This week I experimented and made a sauteed kale salad that I will definitely be doing again! It was a bowl of tasty goodness that is just exploding with nutrients. You could definitely tweak this recipe to fit your own tastes with other spices that you enjoy. This is the base recipe that I used, feel free to experiment!

Kale and Tomato Salad
(two servings)

Ingredients
1 tsp cooking oil
2 cloves of garlic (or more if you love garlic, I know I do!)
3 cups of kale (chopped or torn to medium to smaller sized pieces)
1 cup of cherry tomatoes
1 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (or more if you like it spicy!)
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 tsp sesame seeds
A few splashes of soy sauce *optional*
Season according to your own tastes!

Directions
1. Heat your cooking oil in a medium skillet over medium high heat
2. Finely mince your 2 cloves of garlic and sautee in the skillet for about one minute
3. Add in your kale and tomatoes and stir around with your garlic. Cook until the kale begins to wilt slightly.
4. Season the kale with all of your seasons, correct to your own tastes.
5. Stir all together, cook until the kale is wilted and the tomatoes are heating through.
6. Top with your sesame seeds and enjoy!

Who's ready to try some kale and tomato salad?? Do you have a killer kale recipe? Please share it with me, I would love to try it!

Zoodle Pad Thai

Zucchini and Thailand collide in this delicious dish! I have been absolutely loving my Vegetti lately (it's what makes these "zoodles"- aka zucchini noodles), and decided to make a dish with an Asian flair from one of my favorite Asian countries- Thailand.

I created a veggie pad thai dish not long ago and loved it, and decided that I would substitute the whole wheat noodles for the delicious zucchini noodles to add in an extra servings of vegetables! It's actually even easier to make with the zucchini noodles because they don't have to cook longer.

So, here we go! 

Zoodle Pad Thai (Optional with chicken)
6 servings
Ingredients
-6 medium zucchini
-2 tsp cooking oil
-1 head of broccoli, cut into florets
-1/2 an onion, finely chopped
-3 cloves of garlic, minced
-1 red bell pepper, chopped
-1 green bell pepper, chopped
-1/3 cup peanut butter
-2 Tbsp soy sauce (plus more to taste)
-3 Tbsp coconut milk (more to taste if needed)
-Pinch of crushed red pepper
-1 Tbsp Sesame seeds (plus a few extras for garnish)
-2 chicken breasts, cut into smaller pieces (if using chicken)

Directions
1. Use a vegetti or other spiralizer cutter, cut all of your zucchini on the "thick" setting, set aside.
2. Heat your cooking oil in a large skillet, and also bring a medium pot of water to a boil (one that you can fit a steamer basket into)
3. Sautee your onion until translucent, add in garlic and sautee for a minute, until fragrant.
4. Add in all of your other chopped veggies.
5. Sprinkle and mix in your sesame seeds and let the whole mixture cook over medium to medium high heat for 5 minutes, until veggies begin to get tender.
6. Add in your chicken, cook until done, mixing with veggies.
7. Mix together your peanut butter, soy sauce, and coconut milk, to make your peanut sauce. Add in a pinch of red pepper, and pour over chicken and veggie mixture.
8. Cook for 5 minutes over medium high heat.
9. While the veggies and chicken are cooking, steam the zucchini very briefly. I prefer my zucchini noodles with more crunch. The longer you steam them, the smaller they get, so you can vary it according to your taste.
10. Remove and toss with the chicken and veggie mixture.
11. Top with a few red pepper flakes and sesame seeds, and enjoy! 

So, who is ready to try using zucchini noodles??

Crock-Pot Southwest Chicken

When I saw a recipe for "southwest chicken" my mouth started watering. What sweetened the deal even more was that it was only a few ingredients, minimal preparation, and maximum deliciousness! Honestly, this recipe could not get any simpler, and you can adjust it to your own tastes.

This chicken is delicious, simple, full of nutrients, protein, and you can put it in or on whatever suites your fancy. We used this southwest chicken in some romaine heart lettuce cups, and I (of course) drizzled it with some hot sauce, and BAM. Dinner is made.

Here's how to make your own crock-pot southwest chicken! Note that this meal can also be made, put into two gallon zip bloc bags and frozen for later use.

Ingredients

1 16oz jar of salsa of your choice

1 can of corn, drained

1 can of black beans, drained and rinsed

3 to 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1/2 package of cream cheese (could substitute for Greek yogurt as well) ** optional **

Lettuce wraps, brown rice, corn tortillas, or whatever you want to put your chicken in or on

Cheese, hot sauce, Greek yogurt, whatever toppings you want to use

Directions

Put salsa, corn, beans and chicken in the crock-pot on low. Cook for 6 to 7 hours. During the last 30 minutes, if you are adding cream cheese or Greek yogurt, mix in now. Serve over your lettuce wraps, tortillas or brown rice, and top with your favorite toppings! 

If you are looking to add in more veggies, chop up some onion and a bell pepper and add it to the mix! If you want to add some extra heat, try chopping up and mixing in a fresh jalepeno. The possibilities are endless. 

Who is ready to try this super simple crock-pot recipe?? 

Crock-Pot Teriyaki Chicken

When our oven caught on fire right before Christmas and was out of commission for about a week, I dug around for some spectacular crock-pot recipes that I could cook, save some time, and get around not having an oven.

I found quite a few recipes that are fantastic and are definitely going in my go to meal planning because they are quick, easy, and most importantly, healthy! Isn't it nice to have minimal prep, set your crock-pot, then come home to a hot meal ready for you? I know I love it!

This teriyaki chicken recipe was one of the ones that I found, and love!

Be sure to try this recipe out for yourself, you could serve it over hot brown rice, or even some zucchini noodles!

Ingredients
Medium to large bag of carrots
1 onion cut into large chunks
4 garlic cloves
2 cups of fresh cut pineapple (or two cans undrained)
*1 1/4 cup of teriyaki sauce (about one regular sized bottle)
4 chicken breasts

Directions
Combine all ingredients in your crock-pot, cook on low for 6 to 7 hours, then serve over hot brown rice or zucchini noodles!

*If you are freezing your crock-pot meal before use, split between two bags, and only use 1 cup of teriyaki sauce, then add the additional 1/4 cup when you are cooking it.

And it's as simple as that! Honestly, it doesn't get much easier. Prep time is minimal, and you come home to a hot, healthy meal! Who is going to give this a try?

Meal Plan Series #4

Vegetables were never my favorite growing up. I didn’t outright hate them; I just never enjoyed eating them. That’s a habit that I took into my later years of life too, unfortunately. I would eat a salad occasionally, and buy a bag of broccoli when it looked good while grocery shopping (only to find it unused and moldy two weeks later).

But for the most part, I never cooked vegetables, and felt pretty lost when it came to adding them into a meal plan without it getting old and repetitive really fast.

So I created a meal plan that focused on a few different recipes that you can try for yourselves that incorporate vegetables in a brand new way! I learned these recipes this year, and I must say that my vegetable intake is much better now, and I actually love eating veggies!

While this meal plan is very veggie-heavy, you can pick out the recipes you like and incorporate them into your own meal plan! Maybe even make it a goal to try a veggie focused dinner one or two times a week to ease yourself into making veggies a more prominent part of your life and nutrition.

Take a look at the meal plan! I have a few of these recipes already in my blog, and will include the rest in the near future, or you can look them up online or Pinterest as well!

Cauliflower Mac and Cheese

Zucchini Burgers

Here’s your grocery shopping list, and as always, make sure to check your fridge and pantry first to utilize what you already have!

So which recipe on here looks the best to you? What veggie focused recipe are you going to try?

Meal Plan Series #3

Life gets busy. We all know that. Especially around the holidays, it can get crazy! That’s where crock-pots can be a saving grace. And even better than just the crock-pot? Crock-pot freezer meals! You can prepare all of these dinner recipes in advance, throw them in the freezer, thaw it the night before and have your dinner for the night and lunch the next day ready to go while you work!

All you have to do is set aside a little bit of time to prepare them, and get your breakfast and snacks squared away for the week, which can be super easy! It's so important to have healthy meals, even if you are busy...in fact, it may be even more important so your body can continue to operate at it's best! So, take some time, get some ideas from this meal plan for easy make ahead meals that are healthy and will keep you going, but not keep you in the kitchen all week! 

Here's a look at the meal plan. All of the recipes for these can be found on Pinterest, and I'll also be posting some with my own twist soon as well! 

This is your grocery shopping list, take a look around your pantry and see what you have there first! A lot of these ingredients like diced tomatoes, canned corn, and the like might be lurking in the back of your pantry begging to be used! And of course, you can add your own favorite vegetables to these recipes, too!

Just because you have a busy schedule doesn't mean you can't have great home cooked meals that are healthy and full of nutrition. It might take a little bit to get used to prepping it all in one go (but even then it doesn't take long), but it's well worth the effort for meals that are ready without a lot of active cooking time for you in the week!

What's your favorite crock-pot recipe? Share below! 

Meal Plan Series #2

Clean eating. What is it? What can you eat? What can’t you eat? There are a ton of different definitions and ideas out there about what exactly clean eating is and how to go about it. For us today, I’m going to take the super simple definition of it and use it to show you a “clean” meal plan!

Our simple definition of clean eating? Cut out processed foods, excess sugar, and focus on eating whole foods as much as possible so your body gets real, dense nutrition that keeps you healthy.

Again, there are many ins and outs of clean eating, and many ideas, but we are not going to get into that today. Clean eating doesn’t have to be some big scary thing, and it definitely does not mean that you can’t enjoy your food!

There may be certain seasons of your life that you want to make sure your body is in peak physical condition. Maybe it’s summer swimsuit season, maybe it’s a wedding or reunion, or that you just want to kick start your body. I’m going to tell you from experience that nutrition can truly make or break your results.

If you put clean, whole, healthy foods in your body, it will thrive. Feed it crap and processed, chemical foods, you’re going to have some problems. So, if you’re looking for a meal plan that will help your body nourish itself and give yourself a little kick start, give this simple meal plan a try!

Of course there are so many other clean eating recipes out there, and they are delicious! I kept this meal plan simple and somewhat repetitive to help with meal preparation. It’s easier to (and cheaper usually) to buy in bulk, and easier to prepare in batches so that you are setting yourself up for success when you want to clean up your diet for a week (or for life!).

Here is the grocery shopping list that you can use to see what you already have in your pantry and fridge, and what you still need!

More specific recipes will be coming soon to go along with this meal plan! Be sure to keep checking back on the blog this week as I release two more meals plans…one “busy and on the go” meal plan, and a special meal plan that features some delicious veggie inspired recipes if you are looking to fill your diet with more vegetables!