blog

Sweet Potato Protein Pancakes

August 16, 2017 by Lindsay 83 Comments

These Sweet Potato Protein Pancakes are made in a blender with protein-rich ingredients like cottage cheese and eggs. No protein powder required and they make a great breakfast or post workout snack.

*This post was originally published April 2014. Text and photos have been updated*

Hi Friends!

These Sweet Potato Protein Pancakes were born out of necessity a few years ago. I hadn’t gone grocery shopping the previous weekend and was looking for something quick and easy for lunch. I combined some leftover baked sweet potatoes with a little cottage cheese and a couple eggs and voila! A protein-packed pancake that requires no protein powder. Added bonus? You can whip them up in the blender making cleanup a breeze.

Sweet Potato Protein Pancakes

A few things to note about these pancakes before we go any further.

If you’re looking for fluffy, traditional pancakes, these are not them.
There is no protein powder in these pancakes. They’re high in protein thanks to the other ingredients.
Not everyone will like these. They’re a little dense in the middle so some people won’t like the texture.
These do not taste like cottage cheese.

Here’s how you make them:

Patience is the key when cooking these. Pour in the batter, let them sit for 4-5 minutes, flip them and let them sit for a few minutes. Then, flip them again and let them cook a little more. You can’t have your heat too high otherwise they will burn, but the longer cooking time helps them solidify a bit more in the middle.

These dense, eggy pancakes continue to be a favorite of mine and both my kids love them as well! Enjoy these drizzled with nut butter or your favorite pancake topping. I often make a batch as part of my food prep and eat them cold throughout the week. They’re also great after a workout!

[clickToTweet tweet=”Try these Sweet Potato Protein Pancakes, no protein powder required, for a quick meal or snack!” quote=”Try these Sweet Potato Protein Pancakes, no protein powder required, for a quick meal or snack!”]

Enjoy!
–Lindsay-

Peanut Butter Chickpea Bars

August 11, 2017 by Lindsay 28 Comments

These Peanut Butter Chickpea Bars are perfect for breakfast or an after school snack. They’re healthy, kid-friendly and easy to make. Plus they’re vegan, gluten-free and dairy-free!

Hi friends!

Allow me to introduce you to a new favorite snack at our house: Peanut Butter Chickpea Bars. With back to school season approaching, I’ve had a couple requests for recipes that are good for packed lunches and after school snacks.

These bars certainly fit the bill! I’d been wanting to create something with the peanut butter chickpea combo for a while now. I was able to nail the flavor and consistency of these bars on the first try but finding a baking vessel took a few tries. The first time, I baked them in a 9×9 square pan and they were just a bit too thin. The next time I tried them in a loaf pan and they were way to thick. The third time, I baked them in the 9×9 pan and just left about an inch or so of the pan empty on one side and that got them to my desired thickness. They don’t really spread out while baking so it’s easy to leave some open space. You could also try them in an 8×8 pan.

Peanut Butter Chickpea Bars

I drizzled mine with chocolate but you could leave that off if you wanted. You could also mix some chocolate chips into the batter which I’m going to try next time.

I took these pictures while Little Miss was awake and was quickly reminded why I usually save photos for naptime. She made it quite clear when she was ready for the photo shoot to be over…and even helped herself to a bar.

I’ve got a pint-sized boss who runs the show around here. She lets me know when my photo shoots have gone on long enough! Peanut Butter Chickpea Bars coming soon. Baby & toddler approved!

A post shared by Lindsay L, RD (@theleangreenbean) on Jul 31, 2017 at 3:20pm PDT

Like I said, these are super simple to make in the food processor and require just a few ingredients. Squish helped me make a batch or two! Here’s how you make them:

I would recommend taking a taste of the dough before you put it in the pan. If it’s not sweet enough for you, you could add a little more maple syrup but both of my kids liked these just fine.

Want more chickpea recipes? Try:

Enjoy!
–Lindsay–

Blackberry Crumble Bars

August 7, 2017 by Lindsay 14 Comments

Serve these Blackberry Crumble Bars for a healthy dessert everyone will love! Make them with fresh or frozen blackberries and serve them for a party or a kid-friendly evening treat.

Hi friends!

Allow me to introduce you to this beautiful dessert! This recipe was actually published on my blog way back in like 2011 but a couple years ago I took it down because the photos were terrible. Believe it or not, these have actually been one of my favorite desserts to make at Christmas for many years because you can easily use frozen blackberries and they’re a fun way to add a little twist to more traditional cookie trays.

They’ve been on my list to reshoot for years and I’ve never gotten around to it. Until now. A couple weekends ago we went blackberry and peach picking and came home with A LOT of blackberries. I immediately thought of these bars and after testing them out with fresh blackberries and even successfully tweaking the recipe to make it a bit healthier, I knew it was time to share them with you guys!

Blackberry Crumble Bars

We gobbled up this most recent batch last week, enjoying them for dessert and even for an occasional afternoon snack. They do require a little bit of advance preparation because you need to give them blackberry chia jam time to cool and thicken, but making both the jam and the bars themselves is quite simple.

Here’s how you make them:

Aren’t they pretty!? I haven’t done it, but you could easily substitute your favorite berry if you’re not a fan of blackberries. Strawberries would be delicious!

[clickToTweet tweet=”Have a dessert craving? Try these Blackberry Crumble Bars for a sweet treat after dinner!” quote=”Have a dessert craving? Try these Blackberry Crumble Bars for a sweet treat after dinner!”]

Let’s chat:
Have you been to any you-pick farms this summer? What’s your favorite thing to pick?

Enjoy!
–Lindsay–

What is Choline?

August 4, 2017 by Lindsay 3 Comments

What is choline? Learn more about this essential nutrient, why it’s important, especially for pregnant women, and how to make sure you’re getting enough.

This post is sponsored by “Balchem, a nutritional ingredient supplier.”

Hi friends!

Today we’re kicking off something new and exciting on the blog today. As you guys know, I’m a Registered Dietitian. I’ve always had a passion for child nutrition and since becoming a mom myself, my interest in pre- and postnatal nutrition for moms has also grown. I’ve been thinking for a while now about starting a series that’s a bit more nutrition-focused to compliment the healthy recipes I share on the blog. I want to help educate moms about some of the nutrients that are most important for moms and kids!

When I saw the American Medical Association (AMA) release a statement on the importance of choline for developing infants, I decided it was the perfect opportunity to kick off the series! So, let’s get started.

First of all, what is choline? If you’re not sure, don’t worry, you’re not alone! Although it’s been recognized as an essential nutrient for almost 20 years, research has found that 65% of Americans do not even know what choline is. And, not only are we not aware of it, we’re also not consuming enough of it. In fact, according to a recent study, 90% of people are not consuming adequate amounts of choline.¹ For reference, the Recommended Daily Intake (RDI) is 550mg per day.². However, most women are getting less than half of the choline they need, even though it’s super important during pregnancy for both mom and baby.

Why is it so important? Similar to folic acid, choline protects against neural tube defects in early pregnancy and is important for healthy brain growth in babies. In fact, the importance of choline for both mom and baby prompted the AMA to release this statement, which mandates that all prenatal vitamins should now include evidence-based amounts of choline. Currently, most prenatal vitamins only include 0-55mg of choline, leaving the majority of pregnant and lactating women without enough dietary choline to protect the health and development of their babies.

So, you may be wondering, what’s the best way to ensure you’re consuming enough choline? First, consider including foods abundant in choline into your diet. Here are the top 8 Choline food sources: beef liver, wheat germ cereal, brussels sprouts, beef and poultry, collards, lima beans and edamame, whole eggs and salmon.

If you’re pregnant and looking to add more foods high in choline into your diet, here’s a sample meal plan that may give you some ideas. It’s also important to note that since the highest amounts of choline tend to be found in meat and eggs and other animal based foods, some vegans and vegetarians may find it difficult to consume enough choline through diet alone. Further, even if you are not following a vegan or vegetarian diet, it still remains challenging to meet the RDI of 550 mg per day through food sources. If you’re worried about your intake, talk to a Registered Dietitian or healthcare professional about adding a choline supplement or a multivitamin to your daily routine.

For more information on choline, and to learn more about how choline can fit into a variety of meal plans, be sure to check out these meal planning resources.

[clickToTweet tweet=”What is Choline? If you don’t know, you’re not alone. Click to learn why it’s so important!” quote=”What is Choline? If you don’t know, you’re not alone. Click to learn why it’s so important!”]

I hope you guys found this helpful! If there are other nutrients or nutrition topics related to pregnancy, child nutrition, etc. that you’d like to see covered in this series, be sure to let me know in the comments or via email!

Enjoy!
–Lindsay–

1.Wallace TA and Fulgoni VL 3rd. Assessment of Total Choline Intakes in the United States, Journal of the American College of Nutrition, DOI: 10.1080/07315724.2015.1080127. Published online February 17, 2016.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Food Labeling: Revision of the Nutrition and Supplement Facts Labels. 21 CFR §101. https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/ pkg/FR-2016-05-27/pdf/2016-11867.pdf. Revised May 27, 2016. Effective July 26, 2016. Accessed May 25, 2017.

How To Handle Toddler Meltdowns

August 2, 2017 by Lindsay 33 Comments

Learn how to handle toddler meltdowns! It’s a healthy way for kids to work through their problems and a good approach for parents to take with young kids.

Hi friends!

If you’re here because of the title of this post, let me cut right to the chase for you:

Question: How to handle toddler meltdowns?
Answer: Let them happen.

I planned to share a recipe with you guys today but then yesterday we had quite a day. Toddler meltdowns have been on my heart a lot lately so I thought I’d just share a few words on that instead. I would consider my son an expert on the subject of meltdowns and as such, I’m getting lots of practice dealing with them.

The bottom line is: I let my kid cry a lot. And here’s why:

Toddlers need to cry. It’s the best and sometimes only way for them to process their emotions, especially before they can put their feelings into words. I have a strong willed child – this is a good article on that subject. I compromise a lot. But I’m also willing to stand my ground. And that means he doesn’t always get his way. And he doesn’t like it. So he cries. And by cries I mean more like ear-splitting full volume wails coupled with his little body vibrating in anger, occasionally coming close to hyperventilating, often throwing himself on the ground…full on meltdowns.

And more often than not, I ignore him.

There is at least one point in every single day where I question what I’m doing as a parent. When I get totally overwhelmed, I like to go back and read articles I’ve saved over the past few years that help me feel somewhat validated, like maybe I’m doing ok at this whole parenting thing

A few weeks ago I read this article on Romper called 8 Thinks You’re Teaching Your Child When You Ignore A Tantrum and boy did it resonate with me. By ignoring him, often leaving him alone in a room if I can safely do so (ie if we’re at home), I’m hoping to teach him that his behavior won’t help him get what he wants. If I say no TV, and he screams and screams, the answer is still no TV. I don’t care if he does it for an hour. It’s not going to change my mind.

I am always checking on him to make sure he’s ok and safe, and I’m more than willing to hold him, encourage him to take deep breaths or give him a hug if he needs it, or talk about the problem once he calms down…but in the moment, I can tune out a meltdown with the best of them.

Of course, each tantrum is unique and I do vary my approach depending on the situation, especially if we’re out in public. That does NOT mean I give in when we’re in public just to keep him quiet. I still let him have his meltdowns in the grocery store or at the park…but if we are in an enclosed space or he’s disrupting a party or other gathering with his screams, I will typically remove him from the room and let him cry elsewhere.

In addition, I do my best to let him work through whatever is going on, without letting it affect my mood…but it doesn’t always work.

Let’s take yesterday as an example:

Yesterday I woke up to face day 3 of solo parenting as hubby was on a business trip. I had a sore throat and a headache and I was tired from staying up late to work after the kids went to bed. We were supposed to join our local moms group for a trip to a small farm not far from our house. I’ve been a member of this mom’s group since we moved a year ago but only went to a couple events last summer and then went on a bit of a hiatus after baby was born. So, this was pretty much a totally new group of moms and kids. As an introvert, putting myself out there to meet new people is hard for me, but it’s something I’ve been working on this year….so I got the kids up, ready to go and off we went to the farm.

Squish was excited when we got there, we introduced ourselves to a few people and things got started around 9am. Squish noticed some small tractors that he wanted to investigate. The rest of the group was heading in the opposite direction, towards the garden and chicken coop. I told him now was not the time for the tractors and we’d come back to them later. Instant meltdown.

Squish spent the majority of the next 45 minutes standing about 50 yards away from everyone else, screaming his head off while all the other kids listened politely, met the chickens, planted seeds in the garden, etc.

I wanted nothing more than to give in and let him do what he wanted so he would be quiet.

Does it suck when your kid is the one misbehaving? Yes.

Was it embarrassing for me that this was the first impression we were making on this new moms group? A little bit.

But I stuck with my philosophy and let him cry. When he calmed down and told me he wanted to go home, I did the following:
1) Asked him several times if he was sure. (Yes)
2) Told him about the things we would be doing soon like petting goats, riding a pony etc. (Don’t want to see pony. Want to go home)
3) Reminded him that if we went home, we wouldn’t be having a snack or watching a show. (Want to go home)
4) Put him and the baby in the car and went home.

When we got home, I gave him the option of playing with his toys or laying down in his bed. He screamed for another hour while sitting at the top of the stairs, and then laid down and took a 2 hours nap.

I used the time to finish a work project and re-read this article that I’d saved last week: The Train Analogy That Will Change How You See Your Child Crying.

If you’re a parent, definitely go read the article. Here’s what it says at the end:

So the next time your child is deeply frustrated, angry, or upset, remember what the job of a parent really is.

The job of a parent is to:

Provide comfort through the frustration.
Draw out our child’s cleansing tears.
Show empathy to our child’s struggle.
Allow the life lesson to be learned naturally—not through preaching.
Support our child’s journey through the emotional tunnel.

The job of a parent is NOT to get our child to stop crying as quickly as possible. Tears are a sign of parental success, not failure.

When Squish woke up from his nap it was like we’d hit the reset button on the day and we were both refreshed and happier.

So the next time your toddler has a meltdown, try this:

Let them cry. It’s not your job to get them quiet immediately. Move them to a different location if necessary but still give them time to work through it.
Remind yourself that you’re not alone. Other parents have been in your shoes. Phone (or maybe text) a friend for moral support if needed.
Remind yourself that ignoring a tantrum doesn’t make you a bad parent.
Take a deep breath…or two…or five. Both of you will be ok. It can be hard to watch and listen to your child scream but it won’t last forever and they’re learning valuable lessons.
When they’re done, give them a hug, talk about it and move on with your day!

I recognize that this approach might not work for everyone, and that’s ok. I’m certainly not a parenting expert…just an average mom doing the best I can.

But I wanted to share my experience in case it helps give someone out there some encouragement that they’re doing a great job as a parent, even if it’s hard and doesn’t always feel like it.

[clickToTweet tweet=”Wondering how to handle toddler meltdowns? Check out this approach!” quote=”Wondering how to handle toddler meltdowns? Check out this approach!”]

Enjoy!
–Lindsay–

Instant Pot Thai Peanut Chicken Soup

July 26, 2017 by Lindsay 13 Comments

This Instant Pot Thai Peanut Chicken Soup recipe is dairy-free and packed with summer vegetables. Perfect for a healthy lunch or dinner in under 30 minutes.

Hi friends!

You guys didn’t think I forgot about my Instant Pot did you? Don’t have one yet? Snag one here! (affiliate link) As you know, I bought mine back in November and have continued to use it pretty much every single week since then.

This most recent creation was an experiment that turned out SO well. It was loosely inspired by my Salmon Corn Chowder. For some reason, I crave chowder in the summer. I think it’s because I grew up eating this Easy Fish Chowder at my aunt’s house every summer. However, although I’m not completely dairy-free, I have continued to minimize my intake while nursing Little Miss…so my two go-to chowders were out of the running this summer.

Instant Pot Thai Peanut Chicken Soup

Instead, I grabbed a can of coconut milk from the pantry and took a risk combining some summer veggies like yellow squash, zucchini, peppers and corn with a non-traditional soup ingredient – peanut butter!

The end result was epically delicious – if you like coconut. The flavor of the coconut milk definitely shines through and it’s balanced well by the peanut butter. Then add a healthy squirt of sriracha and you’ve got yourself a spicy bowl of goodness! Plus it’s fast. A few minutes of chopping veggies and chicken, a few minutes for the instant pot to heat up and 10 minutes under pressure and boom!

Here’s how you make it:

Think you can handle it? I leave the sriracha out to let everyone add their own, but if everyone you’re making it for likes it spicy, feel free to add it in! The spicy kick is definitely what takes it to the next level.

[clickToTweet tweet=”Looking for a new summer soup? Try this Instant Pot Thai Peanut Chicken Soup for dinner!” quote=”Looking for a new summer soup? Try this Instant Pot Thai Peanut Chicken Soup for dinner.”]

Let’s chat:

What’s your favorite summer soup?

Enjoy!
–Lindsay–

6 Months of Food Prep

July 17, 2017 by Lindsay 11 Comments

I challenged myself to 6 months of food prep. That means every weekend for six months straight, I spent at least some time prepping food for the week ahead. Here’s what I learned and why I recommend it.

Hi friends!

Can you believe we’re already halfway through 2017? I thought I would pop in today to tell you about a little goal I set for myself way back in January. You guys know I’ve been a huge fan of food prep forever right? I think that it’s something almost everyone can benefit from and it’s my number one tip when it comes to healthy eating.

When Little Miss was born in November of last year, I (not surprisingly) had several weeks where I didn’t do any food prep. I had stocked the freezer in preparation, my parents were in town, my husband was off work, etc so it wasn’t really a huge deal. However, as the new year approached, I knew I would need to get back on track at some point. I’m not a huge goal setter, but I challenged myself to do at least a little food prep every weekend for the first 6 months of the year to help make life a little easier.

In January, we had a 7-week old baby and a 2-year-old toddler. My husband and I were both working full-time, I was watching the kids full-time and we also owned a CrossFit gym. There’s no question we were busy but there’s also no doubt that food prep was a huge help.

Here’s what so many weeks in a row taught me:

It really does become a habit. Sure there were weeks when I didn’t want to do it, but for the most part, after a few weeks I just automatically started thinking of it as part of my Sunday schedule and making time to fit it into my day.
You just have to start. Some weeks were easy, some weeks were hard. There were weeks when I prepped food with a screaming baby in the Ergo and a screaming toddler at my feet. There were weeks when I had to prep on Monday morning because we were too busy or the kids skipped their naps. There were weeks when I was so tired that standing around in the kitchen was the absolute last thing wanted to do. But I did some. Every week. And most weeks I found that if I just committed to half an hour, it wasn’t so bad and I usually got into a groove and ended up doing more. And I never regretted it.
We struggle without it. There are a lot of different ways to food prep. You can prep whole meals, meal components, just one meal or snack, etc. I tend to focus a lot on snacks, breakfasts for Squish and dinner components. When I don’t do food prep, there are a lot more toddler meltdowns because I can’t get his meals and snacks ready as quickly. I find myself doing more mindless eating and grazing because I don’t have healthy snacks easily accessible to keep me full. And we often end up eating out much more frequently because I’m too tired or too busy or too lazy to put together dinner if I don’t have a food prep head start.

So, the bottom line is…anyone CAN do food prep. Even if you’re busy or tired…you just have to make it a priority. But I promise it’ll pay off.

Just to be clear, no I don’t think you need to do it EVERY single weekend to be successful. Take a weekend off here or there if you need to, but I do encourage you to make it part of your regular routine! If you want more food prep tips, check out my ebook: The Ultimate Guide To Food Prep or any of the other food prep posts I’ve written. I also have a Freezer Magic ebook full of freezer-friendly recipes.

I rounded up all 26 of my food prep photos in case you want a closer look at what I typically prep or need some ideas! I also linked to the blog post I wrote for each week. Some have further details about our week including pictures of what I ended up making for meals with the food I prepped so feel free to check them out!

Week 1

Tuna Salad
Sweet Potato Bites
Instant Pot Almond Butter Chicken (was just ok. never ended up perfecting the recipe.
Instant Pot Pulled Pork Stuffed Sweet Potatoes
Squash Yogurt Dip
Carrots & Greek Hummus Topping for snacking
Salsa Verde – Just cut about 10 tomatillos in half and roasted them at 400 for 20 min, drained the liquid and put them in the blender with some chopped onion, garlic, jalapeno and cilantro.
Enchiladas – I mixed homemade salsa verde with pulled pork, black beans, red peppers, onions and cheese and used it as the filling for my enchiladas. Just portion it into a few tortillas, put some enchilada sauce in the bottom of the pan, add the rolled up tortillas, top with more sauce and cheese and bake covered with foil at 350 for about 25 min.

Week 2

Carrots
Asian chicken noodle soup. (Another recipe that’s still on my list to perfect enough to share – basically chicken noodle soup except with extra veggies, ginger, some soy sauce and rice noodles)
Zoodles for this Chicken Sausage Skillet
Lettuce for salads
Sweet potatoes – just slice a few slits and microwave 2 at a time for 6-7 minutes
Double batch of these Paleo Turkey Sweet Potato Meatballs – stuffed w/ mozzarella cheese
PB Banana Oat Muffins – in a mini muffin tin
Whole Wheat Yogurt Waffles – prepped for the freezer

Week 3

A double batch of Sweet Potato Protein Cookies (small ones for Squish to eat for snacks, big ones for me to eat for early breakfast when baby wakes up)
Egg wraps
Guacamole
Chicken Avocado Burgers (except I used turkey)
Veggie burger and egg bake (just chopped up 2 veggie burgers, mixed and poured 6 eggs over and topped with cheese. Baked at 375 for 20 min).
Greek hummus topping and carrots
Instant Pot Beef Stew

Week 4

Lentil Veggie Curry
Carrots for snacking
Banana pb sandwiches – freeze for a quick snack
Shrimp sauteed with garlic and thai chili sauce
Greek Hummus Topping
Sweet Potato Protein Cookies
Waffle french toast – just dip bread in a mixture of eggs and milk and cook on a waffle iron.
Tuna mixed with hummus & avocado and stuffed in mini bell peppers
Sweet Potato Bites
Roasted potatoes

Week 5

Chicken Orzotto (chicken, peppers, onions and peas with some orzo cooked right in the skillet)
Dairy-Free Lactation cookies
Lettuce
Garlic shrimp (just sauteed with some garlic and paprika)
Meatballs (just baked them in the oven instead of crockpot)
Leftover Sausage and Wild Rice Stuffing from Thanksgiving (thawed from the freezer)
Instant Pot Shredded Chicken (chicken + broth for about 10 min)
Sweet Potato Bites
Roasted sweet potatoes
Carrots
Egg Wraps
Greek Hummus Topping

Week 6

Roasted squash
Cheese stuffed meatballs – just basic meatballs with chunks of cut up string cheese in each one
Sweet Potatoes
Hummus topping
Roasted green beans – tossed in Italian dressing and roasted at 425 for 10 minutes or so
Homemade guac
Carrots for snacking
Popcorn Snack Mix

Week 7

Bacon-wrapped pork tenderloin
Instant pot shredded chicken
Roasted sweet potatoes
Carrots
Lettuce for salad
Coconut Oil Banana Muffins
Asian Chicken Noodle Soup

Week 8

Thai Chicken Meatballs
Dairy-Free Lactation Cookies
Carrots & Sweet Potatoes
Asian Chicken Noodle Soup
Egg wraps
PB Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal for Squish
Roasted Sweet Potatoes
Coconut Oil Banana Muffins

Week 9

Instant Pot Hummus Chicken
Cottage cheese bisquick pancakes- just replaced 3/4 cup of the milk with cottage cheese to make Bisquick pancakes as directed
Roasted sweet potatoes
Tuna salad
Egg Wraps
Hummus topping
Meatloaf- random recipe my sister chose to make while she was here
Sweet Potato Protein Cookies
Chopped veggies and lettuce

Week 10

Carrots, peppers & hummus topping for snacking
Sweet Potato Protein Cookies
Pulled pork in the Instant Pot
Roasted sweet potatoes & green beans
Chicken stuffed with fresh spinach & mozzarella cheese
Sweet Potato Bites
Egg wraps
Lettuce
Guacamole

Week 11

Instant Pot Asian Chicken
Coconut Oil Banana Muffins
Lettuce, Peppers, Carrots & Hummus Topping
Sweet Potato Protein Cookies
Lemon Energy Balls
No Bake Protein Bars
PB Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal
Thai Chicken Meatballs
Guacamole
Roasted sweet potatoes and regular potatoes

Week 12

Instant Pot Beef Stew
Sweet Potato Protein Cookies
Salsa Verde Chicken Casserole
Lemon Energy Balls
Crockpot Honey Garlic Chicken Thighs (to drop off for a friend with a new baby. I also made her some Freezer Chicken Tenders for her toddler and some Lactation Cookies)
Hummus Topping
Waffle French Toast (just french toast made on a waffle maker
Oven Baked Bacon (400 degrees for about 12 minutes)
Sweet Potato Bites
Cucumbers & Lettuce

Week 13

Instant Pot Asian Chicken
Bacon
Hummus Topping
Coconut Oil Banana Muffins
Sweet Potato Bites
Asian Shrimp Noodle Soup (no recipe)
Veggies
Pulled Pork (to go in that empty container. It was still cooking)’

Week 14

Week 15

Egg Wraps
Coconut Oil Banana Muffins
Veggies
Guac
Instant Pot Hummus Chicken
Sweet Potato Bites

Week 16

Sweet Potato Bites
Sweet Potato Protein Cookies
Instant Pot Shredded Chicken
Carrots and Cucumbers cut into fun shapes for Squish
Roasted Sweet Potatoes
Hummus Topping
French Toast Waffles
Baked Fish – to use for fish tacos
Blueberry Cauliflower Freezer Smoothie Packs
Veggies
Bisquick Banana Pancakes – mixed mashed bananas, some yogurt, some bisquick and a splash of milk

Week 17

Week 18

Week 19

5 Minute Breakfast Hash
Carrots
Turkey Tenderloins in this marinade
Lettuce
BBQ Chicken for lettuce wraps – just baked chicken, peppers, onions, corn and black beans mixed with bbq sauce.
Hummus topping
Ground beef & mushrooms for tacos
Corn on the cob and sweet potatoes for sides

Week 20

Sweet Potato Protein Cookies
Carrots
Lettuce
Baked Chicken
Roasted veggies for the babe
Baked bacon
Strawberry oatmeal for Squish
Asian flank steak marinade
Dairy-Free Lactation Cookies– this is actually the second half of a batch I made and frozen so I just pulled out the dough balls and baked them!
5 Minute Breakfast Hash
Hummus Topping

Week 21

Ground Beef
Chopped veggies
Lettuce
Farro
Sweet Potato Bites
Hummus Topping
Sweet Potato Protein Cookies
Instant Pot Hummus Chicken
Egg Wraps
Roasted Potatoes
Oatmeal

Week 22

Hummus topper
Chicken Avocado Burgers
French Toast Waffles
Nut-Free Toddler Traill Mix
5 Min Breakfast Hash
Lettuce, Watermelon, Roasted Green Beans and Carrots
Coconut Oil Banana Muffins
Chicken and Black Bean Enchiladas
Sweet Potato Bites
Farro
Tuna with Hummus

Week 23

Homemade Oat Cereal for the baby
Chicken and Lentil Curry (similar to this except with chicken added
Bacon
Zucchini Carrot Apple Muffins
Watermelon
Hummus Topper
5 Minute Breakfast Hash
Pesto Chicken Caprese Pasta (recipe coming soon!)
Carrots

Week 24

Week 25

Carrots and cucumbers for snacking
Green beans with tomatoes and Italian dressing
Lettuce for salads
Baby bok choy sauteed with bacon, peppers and corn
Sweet Potato Bites
Hummus topping
Grapes
Microwaved sweet potato
Roasted potatoes
Extra bell peppers chopped and ready to be frozen for later

Week 26

Hummus topping
BBQ Chicken Stuffed Sweet Potatoes
Whole Wheat Yogurt Waffles
Extra smoothie frozen into cubes
Roasted Carrots
Tortellini
Bacon
Cauliflower Rice with butter, garlic and peas
Enchiladas
Sweet Potato Bites

30+ Ways To Use Leftover Chicken

June 29, 2017 by Lindsay 9 Comments

Looking for ways to use leftover chicken? Here are 30+ recipes that call for pre-cooked or rotisserie chicken to help you transform your leftovers into healthy new lunches or dinners!

Hi friends!

As I mentioned in my last food prep post, I recently found myself with like 8 grilled chicken breasts that were leftover after a party we had over the weekend. So, I spent the whole week that followed thinking of ways to use leftover chicken. I came up with some pretty good ideas but it got me thinking that some of you might often find yourself in a similar situation.

To help you out, I rounded up over 30 ideas from my blogging friends to inspire you. All of these recipes call for pre-cooked, leftover or rotisserie chicken. Use them to transform your leftover chicken into some totally new and delicious lunches and dinners!

Ways To Use Leftover Chicken

Mix chicken with a flavorful sauce and stuff it in a sweet potato!
Buffalo Chicken Stuffed Sweet Potatoes via Peas & Crayons

Combine leftover chicken with a few other ingredients for a quick soup.
Thai Coconut Chicken Soup via Fannetastic Food

Combine pre-cooked chicken with broccoli and rice for a quick skillet dinner!
Skillet Chicken Broccoli and Rice via Amanda’s Cookin’

Throw a few extra chicken breasts on the grill to make this dinner later in the week.
Grilled Chicken Parmesan via Mom to Mom Nutrition

Add some cajun seasonings and top with cauli-tots!
Cajun Cauliflower Tater Tot Casserole via Food Faith Fitness

Add leftover chicken to this Mexican-inspired pasta salad.
Southwest Ranch Chicken Pasta Salad via From Valerie’s Kitchen

Use leftover chicken to prep lunch for a few days!
Asian Chicken Mason Jar Salads via Joyful Healthy Eats

Use pesto sauce and pre-cooked chicken to make a quick pizza.
Chicken Pesto Pizza via The Blond Cook

Use a few flavorful ingredients to transform leftover chicken into these wraps.
Miso Mango Chicken Salad Cabbage Wraps via Cotter Crunch

Add a little crunch to your next meal.
Crispy Chicken Apple Cabbage Salad via Nutmeg Nanny

Transform plain leftover chicken with these Asian flavors.
Almond and Sesame Asian Chicken Salad via Foolproof Living

Add chicken and quinoa for a quick dinner bake.
Cheddar Chicken Quinoa Bake via Running to the Kitchen

Use leftover chicken as the base for this summer salad.
Strawberry Chicken and Spinach Power Salad via The Lean Green Bean

Combine chicken with warm spinach, bacon and peaches for a summer lunch.
Warm Spinach & Bacon Salad with Chicken via The Lean Green Bean

Mix leftover chicken with summer produce like corn and blueberries.
Blueberry Corn Chicken Salad via Eating Bird Food

Throw pre-cooked chicken in some tacos and top with a flavorful sauce.
Baked Chicken Tacos with Creamy Cilantro Sauce via The Lean Green Bean

Combine rotisserie chicken with sauce and tater tots in this salad!
BBQ Chicken Tater Tot Salad via Love and Zest

Transform leftovers into Italian comfort food.
Garlic Parmesan Chicken Stuffed Shells For Two via The Spiffy Cookie

Serve leftover chicken over lettuce with a tasty peanut sauce.
Asian Chopped Chicken Salad With Spicy Peanut Dressing via Healthy Aperture

Combine with Mexican flavors for an easy lunch.
Mexican Avocado Chicken Salad via Abbey’s Kitchen

Use naan to make quick, flavorful pizzas.
Chicken Pesto Artichoke & Feta Naan Pizza via NeighborFood

Use cooked chicken in this one pot dinner.
One Pot Lemon Parmesan Pasta via Happy Healthy Mama

Whip up this finger food appetizer idea!
Baked Chicken Taquitos via Two Peas and their Pod

Throw it back to your childhood with this classic.
Whole Wheat Chicken Pot Pie via Real Mom Nutrition

Combine rotisserie chicken with roasted veggies for a balanced dinner.
Roasted Roots and Chicken Power Bowl with Maple Aioli via Girl Carnivore

Add leftover chicken to fresh veggies for a quick salad.
Thai Cucumber Chicken Salad via The Fit Cookie

Turn leftover chicken into a quick summer chowder.
Light Turkey (Or Chicken) Corn Chowder via Cookin’ Canuck

The kids will love these easy taco cups.
Chicken Taco Cups via Jessica Spiro RD

These naan wraps mixed with peach salsa scream summer!
Chicken & Peach Grilled Naan Salad Wraps via The Organic Kitchen

A quick weeknight meal the whole family will love.
Chicken Chilaquiles via Healthy Seasonal Recipes

Pair sweet potato noodles with asian flavors and leftover chicken.
Thai Chicken & Sweet Potato Noodle Bowls via Allergy Free Alaska

Mix chicken and wheatberries with veggies for a fresh new dinner.
Chicken & Wheatberry Salad with Shaved Brussels Sprouts via Domesticate Me

Bonus idea? 2 Ingredient Dog Treats for your furry friend

Anything catch your eye? Pin this post or share with a friend!

[clickToTweet tweet=”Looking for ways to use up leftover chicken? Here are 30+ healthy recipe ideas to try!” quote=”Looking for ways to use up leftover chicken? Here are 30+ healthy recipe ideas to try!”]

Got a favorite leftover chicken recipe? Leave it in the comments!

Enjoy!
–Lindsay–

Vanilla Cake Parfaits

June 28, 2017 by Lindsay 6 Comments

These Vanilla Cake Parfaits are the perfect dessert. Adults and kids will love the layers of cake cubes, yogurt and fresh fruit. Assemble it ahead of time or set up a DIY parfait bar and let people build their own!

Thanks to siggi’s dairy for sponsoring this post.

Hi friends!

These Vanilla Cake Parfaits are another recipe I created for my partnership with my friends at siggi’s dairy this year. So far I’ve shared:

Go check them out if you missed them!

These parfaits are the perfect party dessert. You can assemble a giant parfait in a big bowl for people to scoop from, or set up a DIY parfait bar and let people build their own.

The homemade cake is made with siggi’s yogurt and is lower in sugar than a traditional cake. The yogurt helps make it moist and a little spongier than a traditional birthday cake….but that actually helps it hold up better in these parfaits.

If baking isn’t your forte, don’t panic. This cake is made with just a few simple ingredients and is so easy to make! Of course, you could use a store-bought cake or box of cake mix, but the ingredient list will probably be a little longer and the sugar content a little higher. What I love about making the cake with siggi’s is that it allowed me to cut back on the butter and sugar without losing flavor…plus it adds a little protein punch!

As far as the parfaits themselves, all you need is more siggi’s yogurt and some freshly cut fruit. I used siggi’s 4% vanilla in the cake and siggi’s 2% coconut in the parfaits. The light coconut flavor pairs well with the vanilla cake and the fruits I chose – including cherries, peaches, blueberries and kiwi. Feel free to try other siggi’s flavors if you prefer – they have some great choices like mixed berry, black cherry, mango and strawberry rhubarb that would also taste great!

So here’s the recipe:

Aren’t they pretty?! They’d be perfect for your upcoming 4th of July party!

Dessert French Toast Waffle Bites

June 22, 2017 by Lindsay 10 Comments

These Dessert French Toast Waffle Bites are a kid-friendly treat that makes a fun, healthy dessert alternative to cookies or cake.

Hi friends!

Let’s talk dessert today because boy do I need it. This post was supposed to go up yesterday and clearly, it didn’t. We’ve had a rough few days over here trying to adjust to the toddler being in a big boy bed, no naps, crankiness, etc and then Squish woke up with a fever and sore throat this morning.

It’s time for this month’s recipe redux and honestly, I was going to skip this month. This week has drained me and I was feeling uninspired and I had pretty much given myself a pass when I randomly had this genius idea. If you’ve been following me for a while, you know I often make French toast waffles for Squish to eat for breakfast during my food prep sessions.

By French toast waffles, I mean just what it sounds like. Dip bread in egg and milk mixture but instead of throwing on a griddle, throw it in a waffle iron for a minute or two. They’re a staple in our house because they’re great for breakfasts and snacks.

Dessert French Toast Waffle Bites

Yesterday I had the brilliant idea to make a dessert twist. I stepped up my french toast game by sprinkling on a little cinnamon and sugar mixture, some rainbow sprinkles and a little melted white chocolate drizzle and boom! You’ve got a little treat that looks like dessert, but it also relatively healthy thanks to the base of it being whole wheat bread and eggs!

I make this with my favorite – Dave’s Killer Bread. Not sponsored – i just love their bread. And I especially love their thin-sliced varieties which are perfect for this!

So here are your directions one more time. Adjust the quantities based on how many you want to make! French toast is very forgiving so the measurements don’t need to be exact.

Aren’t they fun?! Like I said, skip the sprinkles or white chocolate if you want to. Try drizzling with peanut butter or topping a few with some yogurt or ice cream!

[clickToTweet tweet=”Kids and adults alike will love these easy Dessert French Toast Waffle Bites for a treat!” quote=”Kids and adults alike will love these easy Dessert French Toast Waffle Bites for a treat!”]

Enjoy!
–Lindsay–

For more small bite dessert ideas, click the image below to check out the redux linkup!

15 Quick Food Prep Dinners

June 16, 2017 by Lindsay 2 Comments

These Quick Food Prep Dinners are perfect for busy nights. Learn what food to prep ahead of time and how to use it to assemble quick and healthy weeknight dinners.

Hi friends!

Just popping in with some quick dinner ideas for you. As you know, I tend to focus more on food prepping ingredients during my food prep sessions and then assembling them into quick meals during the week. Some of these use recipes that are on my blog and some are so simple they don’t really require a recipe. So, I rounded up 15 or so of the photos I’ve snapped of our dinner plates over the past few months so I could share them with you guys all in one place.

For each photo I tried to do three things:

Tell you what it is
Tell you what you can prep ahead of time
Tell you how to combine what you prepped with a few other simple steps to make a quick dinner when you’re ready to eat.

There’s no right or wrong way to make these. You could make simple swaps with different kinds of meat or vegetarian proteins based on your preferences or swap in different fruits, vegetables or grains than what’s pictured. My hope is you’ll just use these as a guide to spark some ideas!

Meatball Subs
Prep: Bake meatballs. I often use these Crockpot Meatballs but cook them in the oven at 400 for 20 min, flipping once.
Serve: Add sauce, cheese & broil until warm and melty. Microwave Steamfresh veggies.

Mediterranean Nachos
Prep: Cook plain chicken. I do mine in the crockpot or Instant Pot with some garlic, onions and chicken broth and then shred and store. Chop veggies for Greek Hummus Topping.
Serve: Layer chicken, hummus topping and salsa over chips.

Honey Garlic Chicken
Prep: Cook Slow Cooker Honey Garlic Chicken Thighs or Instant Pot Asian Chicken and roast sweet potatoes.
Serve: Reheat chicken and sweet potatoes, microwave 90 sec rice and Steamfresh veggies.

Shrimp and Eggs
Prep: Saute shrimp with garlic and sweet chili sauce.
Serve: Scramble eggs, add shrimp for last minute to reheat. Top with salsa. Microwave veggies.

Turkey & Egg Wraps
Prep: Make egg wraps.
Serve: Add guacamole & turkey to egg wraps, make pb toast & slice apple.

BBQ Chicken with Veggies
Prep: Cook chicken and shred.
Serve: Cook sweet potato fries, add bbq sauce to chicken and microwave veggies.

Ground Beef or Turkey Tacos
Prep: Cook ground meat and chop lettuce.
Serve: Reheat meat and fill tortillas with meat, lettuce, tomato, cheese and avocado.

15 Minute Beef & Broccoli
Prep: Assemble Asian Flank Steak Marinade.
Serve: Slice and cook beef, steam broccoli, add sauce and microwave 90-second rice.

Peanut Chicken Salad
Prep: Cook chicken in the crockpot or oven and prep lettuce.
Serve: Cook rice noodles and make a simple sauce of peanut butter, chicken broth, sweet chili sauce and soy sauce.
Mix sauce with chicken and noodles and serve over lettuce.

Salmon Cakes & Pasta
Prep: Bake salmon cakes.
Serve: Cook pasta according to package directions, reheat salmon cakes, top pasta with sauce and steam veggies.

BBQ Chicken Lettuce Wraps
Prep: Bake chicken, cube and mix with black beans, corn, peppers, onions and bbq sauce.
Serve: Spoon into lettuce leaves and serve with chips.

Meatballs & Tortellini
Prep: Bake meatballs and chop carrots. (Try these Thai Chicken or Paleo Turkey Sweet Potato Meatballs.
Serve: Cook tortellini, top with sauce, reheat meatballs and add carrots & hummus.

Pesto Shrimp & Egg Sandwich
Prep: Roast the sweet potatoes and thaw the shrimp.
Serve: Saute shrimp for 5 min and add pesto. Fry an egg, toast bread & top with cheese.

Pesto & Cheese Stuffed Chicken
Prep: Pound chicken thin, top with pesto & cheese, roll up and bake ahead of time. Cook farro. Chop and wash lettuce.
Serve: Reheat chicken and farro and add toppings to lettuce for a salad.

Chicken & Black Bean Quesadillas
Prep: Cook chicken and chop peppers and onions.
Serve: Put chicken, veggies, black beans and cheese in a tortilla. Microwave or cook in a skillet.

See anything that caught your eye? Pin this post for later!

[clickToTweet tweet=”Try these Quick and Easy Food Prep Dinners. Learn what to prep ahead of time to make easy meals!” quote=”Try these Quick and Easy Food Prep Dinners. Learn what to prep ahead of time to make easy meals!”]

Enjoy!
–Lindsay–

A Beginner’s Guide To Food Prep

June 9, 2017 by Lindsay 3 Comments

A Beginner’s Guide To Food Prep. Follow these 5 simple steps to learn how to food prep. They will help you get organized and prepared so that your time prepping food is more productive and less stressful. Plus a step-by-step example!

Hi friends!

Just popping in today to share a few quick tips for planning a food prep session, especially for all you beginners out there. A couple weeks ago I taught you guys how to really zone in and figure out what time of day you struggle with the most with eating healthy and I’m hoping some of you did that and are now ready to try food prep! If you’re still feeling a bit overwhelmed, follow these five steps to plan a food prep session that will run smoothly and be productive and organized!

A Beginner’s Guide To Food Prep

Are you ready? Here we go:

Narrow your focus. If you missed it, start by reading my post on how to find your food prep focus area). This is especially important for your first few food prep sessions. The number one reason people give up on food prep is that they try it once, get overwhelmed, spend way too long and get frustrated. And then they never do it again.
Plan it out. Do your research and pick a few recipes you want to make. Be sure to choose recipes that fit your focus area, whether it’s dinner, breakfast, snack time etc. Don’t forget to think about foods that aren’t really recipes but fit into your focus area like chopped veggies, hard boiled eggs etc.
Stock up. Make a list and grocery shop to get everything you need
Get organized. Divide your list into different sections: a) oven b)slow cooker/instant pot etc c) stovetop d) counter. Put everything on your recipe list into a section. Then make a plan about the order you want to do things in (see additional tips below). Be sure to prioritize in order of importance to you.
Get to work. Set a timer to see how long it takes you. If you’ve prioritized your list in order of importance, you can get the most important things done and then stop if it starts taking too long.

A few tips:

Don’t go overboard. Most things will probably take you a little longer than you plan for, so don’t be too overzealous.
Always focus on the oven first. Start by prepping something so it’s ready to go in as soon as the oven is preheated. As soon as you put something in, prep the next thing while it cooks so it’s ready to go in when the first thing is done. After you’re done prepping things for the oven, move on to things you can start working on the stovetop or in the crockpot or Instant Pot. And finally, fill in any extra time with things you can do on the counter like chopping veggies.
Once you start to get the hang of it, you can expand your food prep. Either prep more stuff, or expand from your focus area and try making things for both breakfast AND dinner or lunch AND snack time.

Want an example? Here’s a hypothetical food prep session using these steps!

Step 1: You’ve done your homework and figured out that snack time is your problem area. You decide to do a food prep session to help you prepare some healthy snacks to have on hand for a busy week.

Step 2: After doing some online searching, you decide to prep the following:

Step 3: You make a grocery list which might look something like:

Dates
Lemon
Almonds
Pumpkin Seeds
Chia Seeds
Eggs
Peanut Butter
Banana
Sweet Potatoes
Spinach
Plain Yogurt
Rolled Oats
Maple Syrup
Cereal
Chocolate Covered Sunflower Seeds
Red peppers
Tomato
Cucumber
Onion
Feta Cheese
Hummus

Step 4: You divide your list into areas of the kitchen:

Oven – Sweet Potato Bites, Green Smoothie Snack Bars
Stove – Egg Wraps
Counter – Lemon Energy Balls, Trail Mix, Hummus Topping

And then you plan things out, deciding that the sweet potato bites, snack bars, hummus topping and egg wraps are most important:

Preheat oven, prepare the batter for sweet potato bites. Chop some vegetables for the hummus topping if you have time before the oven is preheated.
Bake Sweet Potato Bites and prep Green Smoothie Bars. Finish chopping vegetables with the remaining time.
Remove Sweet Potato Bites and bake Green Smoothie Bars.
Make Egg Wraps.
Make Lemon Energy Balls
Make Trail Mix if time.

Step 5: Follow your plan! You should have time to make the sweet potato bites, hummus topping, green smoothie bars and egg wraps in an hour. If you have more time, keep going and make the energy balls and then you may or may not decide to skip the trail mix depending on how long you’ve been at it.

Make sense? Good! Now hop on the food prep train and go give it a try!

[clickToTweet tweet=”Follow these 5 simple steps to learn how to plan a successful food prep session!” quote=”Follow these 5 simple steps to learn how to plan a successful food prep session!”]

For more tips check out my How To Food Prep – 5 Tips For Beginners post or buy my Ultimate Guide To Food Prep ebook!

Enjoy!
–Lindsay–

Grilled Foil Packet Tilapia with Pesto Veggies

June 7, 2017 by Lindsay 8 Comments

Thanks to the National Fisheries Institute for sponsoring this post.

This recipe for Grilled Foil Packet Tilapia with Pesto Veggies is perfect for a summer dinner! It’s quick, easy and healthy, plus cleanup is a breeze!

Hi Friends!

Some of you may remember that over the past year or so I’ve been teaming up with my friends at the National Fisheries Institute to share some recipes. So far I’ve introduced you to these Quick and Easy Seafood Recipes, this Sheet Pan Italian Salmon and Green Beans and these Easy Tuna Melts! Last year, they launched a seafood education initiative called Dish on Fish to help educate Americans about the importance of eating seafood and to encourage seafood consumption so be sure to follow them if you’re looking for easy ways to eat more seafood!

Today we’re going to talk about grilling! Grilled seafood is the perfect option for summer. It cooks quickly, requires very little prep time and tastes absolutely delicious. If you’re scared about handling the grill, rest assured that these foil packets are so easy that even I can handle them on the grill by myself. Pretty much all you have to know how to do is turn it on!

It’s been so long since I made a foil packet dinner and I forgot just how wonderful they are! Simple to put together, easy to cleanup and this particular one cooks in about 10 minutes. Triple win! All you have to do is chop some veggies, toss them in pesto and scoop them onto foil. Top with tilapia, a simple white fish that cooks quickly, add salt and pepper and lemon, wrap them up and throw them on the grill!

Here’s the recipe:

Pretty simple right? This would also work with other white fish or salmon, you just might need to adjust your cooking time based on the thickness of the fish!

You can serve these directly out of the foil packets or transfer to a plate. Feel free to customize with your favorite summer veggies – just make sure not to use something like potatoes which will take longer to cook.

Enjoy!
–Lindsay–

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Dish on Fish. The opinions and text are all mine.

My Weekly Food Prep {By The Minute}

May 31, 2017 by Lindsay 7 Comments

Here’s a food prep session breakdown – An in-depth look at what I prepped, the order I did things in and how I got it all done in one hour! Plus a look at the meals we ate during the week.

Hi friends!

One of the most frequent questions I get is how I can possibly get so much food prep done every Sunday. Let me start by saying that I’ve had a lot of practice. You shouldn’t look at one of my food prep sessions and think you’ll be able to do as much as I do on your first few tries. Just like anything else, it takes practice. Be sure to check out last week’s post about How To Find Your Food Prep Focus Area and this post with food prep tips for beginners if you’re just getting started.

Anyways, I thought it might be helpful to show you one of my prep sessions and then give you a by-the-minute- breakdown to show you the order I did things in and how long it took me.

[clickToTweet tweet=”Just how much food can you prep in an hour? Here’s a by-the-minute breakdown to show you!” quote=”Just how much food can you prep in an hour? Here’s a by-the-minute breakdown to show you!”]

So, a couple Sundays ago, I turned my camera on and started a timer to show you just how much you can get done in a one hour food prep session, even with toddler interruptions and a fussy baby. Here’s a timelapse of my hour of prep:

As you can see, you can get a lot done in an hour with a little practice! Here’s what I prepped:

Ground Beef
Chopped veggies
Lettuce
Farro
Sweet Potato Bites
Hummus Topping
Sweet Potato Protein Cookies
Instant Pot Hummus Chicken
Egg Wraps
Roasted Potatoes
Oatmeal

And here’s the breakdown of how I did things:

Min 1-5: Preheat the oven, microwave sweet potatoes (I slice some slits in mine with a knife and microwave 2 of them at a time for 6 minutes, start the Instant Pot Hummus Chicken (just throw chicken, hummus, garlic and broth into the Instant Pot and start it), start farro on the stove.

Min 5-15: Peel and chop carrots & chop peppers for snacking. Start cooking ground beef in a cast iron skillet on the stove.

Min 15-20: Use one of the sweet potatoes you microwave to make the batter for the Sweet Potato Bites and spoon into mini muffin tins. Drain the beef, finish cooking it and transfer to storage container. By now your oven should be preheated.

Min 20-30: Bake the sweet potato bites, deal with a fussy baby by putting her in the Ergo, chop veggies for Greek Hummus topping and shred the chicken when it finishes cooking.

Min 30-40: Use the other sweet potato you microwaved to make the batter for the Sweet Potato Protein Cookies and scoop onto a cookie sheet.

Min 40-50: Take the sweet potato bites out and put the sweet potato cookies into the oven, chop the lettuce, wash it and spin it dry and store it in a Ziploc bag. Make the oatmeal by combining oats, milk, chopped apples, cinnamon and peanut butter in a glass container and microwaving for about 3 minutes. Chop potatoes into small pieces, drizzle with oil and sprinkle with salt.

Min 50-60: Take sweet potato cookies out, turn oven to 425 and stick potatoes in to roast. Make egg wraps while potatoes are roasting.

So there you go! Like I’ve mentioned before, I don’t prep every single thing we eat. I still cook during the week and we go out to eat a few times. But, to give you an idea of how we use the prep I do, I tried to take pictures of most of our meals for the following week. I missed a few…but this should give you a pretty good idea of how I use my prep to make life easier!

Monday:
Breakfast: Most weeks lately I’ve been making 5 Minute Breakfast Hash for hubby and I but I didn’t make any this week so we ate a few different things. This day we ate peanut butter toast (Crazy Richard’s Peanut Butter on Dave’s Killer Bread) and fruit, plus coffee (unpictured). Squish eats the oatmeal and eggs I prep ahead of time cold so all I had to do was scoop some oatmeal onto his plate and add an egg and clementine.

Lunch: Hubby comes home for lunch since he works close by, but we all usually eat different things. I made Squish a quick quesadilla in the microwave with some of the ground beef I prepped and paired it with a lemon energy ball from the freezer (that I made in last week’s prep) and a sweet potato bite I prepped this week. Hubby made a taco with some of the ground beef and added some of the hummus topping I prepped to the prepped lettuce for a quick salad. I ate some of the hummus chicken, the hummus topping and some Garden of Eatin’ tortilla chips.

Dinner: For dinner, I made a quick batch of Thai Chicken Meatballs after we got home from the gym. They take about 5 minutes to mix up and 20 minutes to bake. I paired it with some Steamfresh cauliflower rice for hubby and some of the farro I prepped for me….plus some roasted green beans that I threw in the oven on another baking sheet while the meatballs were cooking. Squish got a meatball with some cauliflower rice, a sweet potato bite and some strawberries.

Tuesday:
Breakfast: Squish had a repeat of oatmeal, egg wrap and fruit. Hubby and I had avocado toast topped with a fried egg and fruit, plus one of my prepped sweet potato cookies for me!

Lunch: Hubby had some of the prepped hummus chicken and potatoes topped with avocado and some fruit. Chase had a leftover meatball with ketchup, clementine, Siggis 4% plain yogurt and carrots with humms. I had a repeat of Monday’s lunch – chicken, hummus topping and chips and turned them into Mediterranean chicken nachos.

Dinner: For dinner I used some of the thin-sliced chicken we bought, added some pesto, cheese and some bacon leftover from our breakfast for dinner on Sunday night to make Cheesy Pesto Chicken Rollups. Another easy dinner – 5 min to make, 20 min to bake. I paired with a side salad using the prepped lettuce and some cherry tomatoes and some prepped farro. Squish has some chicken, plus pears and a sweet potato that I microwaved while the chicken was cooking.

Wednesday:
Breakfast: All the egg wraps were gone so I changed things up and made him a warm fried egg. My friends at Dave’s Killer Bread started making bagels and they sent me some to try so I also gave him half a cinnmaon raisin bagel with peanut butter and some pears. I ate the other half of his pb bagel, plus an egg for myself and some coffee. Hubby got avocado toast with an egg.

Lunch: For lunch, Squish had the rest of his oatmeal, plus Plainville Farms turkey and applesauce. Hubby ate leftover pesto chicken and cauliflower rice and I ate leftover meatballs and green beans.

Dinner: We often go out to dinner on Thursday nights bc we don’t have to be at the gym but there were schedule changes this week so we decided to go out Wednesday night. I forgot to take pictures but Squish had half a ham and cheese sandwich with mandarin oranges and carrot sticks with ranch. I had a southwest chicken salad and hubby had a Korean hangar steak. Baby girl enjoyed sampling my arugula.

Thursday:
Breakfast: Squish had pears, pb&j toast and Love Grown Foods polar puffs. It was a crazy morning so all I had were 2 prepped sweet potato protein cookies and extra coffee. I quickly made some pb toast for hubby.

Lunch: Squish had the leftover half of his ham and cheese sandwich with strawberries and carrots. Hubby made a taco with the prepped beef and potatoes and a quick salad with the prepped lettuce and hummus topping. I used some of the prepped chicken and hummus topper to make a quesadilla and an apple. Later we shared a Blueberry Cauliflower Smoothie for a snack (I prep and portion these and put them in bags in the freezer so we just have to grab, dump in the blender, add liquid and blend.

Dinner: I tried out a new recipe – sheet pan honey lime shrimp – 2 min to prep and 10 to bake. It was ok but needs some work before sharing. Shrimp is not Squish’s favorite so he got hummus chicken with pickle, carrots and yogurt.

Friday:
Breakfast: Squish ate the last of his oatmeal with yogurt and fruit. Hubby and I had avocado toast with eggs.

Lunch: I have no clue. Hubby was off work and I can’t remember what we ate!

Dinner: We went to Buffalo Wild Wings after the gym. I got chicken tacos, Squish got naked chicken fingers with fruit and carrots and hubby got wings and cheesy potatoes.

Saturday:
We went out for a post-workout brunch at First Watch. I got avo toast with fried eggs, Squish got a scrambled egg with bacon and fruit and wheat toast and hubby got a bacon avocado omelet with potatoes.

That afternoon we went to a cookout with family and had burgers and brats.

As you can see, I still cook during the week but the prep helps meals come together more quickly and with less effort. Please also remember this isn’t all we eat. Snacks aren’t pictured and I eat a lot of them!

I hope this inspires you to try doing some food prep. I think sometimes it gets a bad rap because people feel like they have to prep every single thing they’re going to eat all week. Not true! Prepping full meals is great, but prepping components and various parts like I do can be just as helpful! When you get ready to prep, remember to keep multi-tasking in mind. You can have things going on the stove, oven and counter all at once!

Enjoy!
–Lindsay–

How To Find Your Food Prep Focus Area

May 24, 2017 by Lindsay 5 Comments

Learn how to find your food prep focus area. Are you ready to try meal prep but feel overwhelmed? Use these tips to figure out how to focus your first few food prep sessions.

Hi Friends!

By now you guys probably know that I’m a food prep fanatic. I love sharing my weekly prep sessions with you guys but I get a lot of questions from people who have heard about food prep and want to try it, but feel very overwhelmed and aren’t sure where to start.

That’s what today’s post is all about. I want to teach you guys how to really zone in and get ready for a successful food prep session as a beginner.

Let me preface this by saying that I never prep every single thing we’re going to eat for the entire week. I don’t think it’s necessary. I also don’t always use this “focus area” method anymore. I’ve had a lot of practice and it’s not hard for me to prep a wide variety of stuff in a short amount of time. I do keep a few things in mind though: I prefer small meals + snacks vs big meals. I have a toddler that often needs to eat ASAP to avoid a meltdown. There are weeks when we’re at the gym until 7pm multiple nights. So, depending on our schedule, some weeks I focus more on dinner than others and most weeks I always make breakfasts and snacks a priority.

[clickToTweet tweet=”Want to try food prep but feel overwhelmed? Learn how to find your focus area to make it easier!” quote=”Want to try food prep but feel overwhelmed? Learn how to find your focus area to make it easier!”]

{A dinner-focused food prep of mine where I made a Maple Mustard Chicken Skillet, Chicken and Black Bean Enchiladas, Guacamole, Roasted Squash with yogurt and BBQ Pork Stuffed Sweet Potatoes to reheat for dinners and Sweet Potato Bites, Hummus Topping & Carrots to snack on while getting dinner ready or to pack for snacking if we weren’t getting home until late to eat dinner.}

So here’s my challenge for you:

For the next few days, grab a notebook or your phone and make a note every time you find yourself eating something but wishing you had another option.

For example:

You find yourself eating a bag of chips from the vending machine for a snack but you wish you had a protein bar, a hardboiled egg or some trail mix on hand.
You’re eating dinner but don’t have any vegetables on your plate and wish you had a side salad.
You need dinner in 20 minutes so you swing through the drive thru but wish you were eating at home.
You eat a protein bar for breakfast but really wish you had a warm egg breakfast.
You go out to lunch because you couldn’t find anything to pack the night before but you wish you had a healthy chicken wrap, some fruit, etc.

After a few days, go back and review the list.

Whatever meal/time of day has the most mentions is probably your biggest problem area and the one that you should choose to focus on in your first few food prep sessions.

Some common focus areas that I’ve helped people hone in on in the past include:

Produce
Meat
Breakfast
Snacks
Packable Lunches
Dinner

{A snack-focused prep of mine where I made Sweet Potato Brownies, Hummus Topping, Oatmeal, Egg Wraps, Carrots, Sweet Potato Protein Cookies & GF Pumpkin Yogurt Bars.}

Once you’ve found your focus area, make a plan for your food prep session that revolves just around that one area. The goal is to help you feel lazer-focused while prepping and not overwhelmed…and get enough prepped so that you notice how helpful it is during the week and are motivated to try again the next weekend. Here are a couple hypothetical situations.

Situation #1

If you’ve realized that you really struggle with healthy snacks. You’re either making multiple trips to the vending machine each week, grabbing candy from the dish to snack on, or going hungry until dinner and then over-eating. So, make snacks your food prep focus area and do some research to find a few snack recipes to try. For example, you could plan to set aside an hour to do the following:

Hard boil a dozen eggs.
Peel and chop some carrots to eat with hummus.
Make a batch of trail mix.
Make a batch of sweet potato bites.
Make a batch of lemon energy balls.

When it comes time to food prep, turn the oven on. Start the eggs on the stove. Make the batter for the sweet potato bites. Peel and chop the carrots. Stick the bites in the oven. While they’re cooking mix up your trail mix and portion it into baggies and make a batch of lemon energy balls in the food processor.

That’s it! It’s your first food prep session so don’t overwhelm yourself by trying to do too much! For the upcoming week, you’ll now have a variety of snacks to choose from when you get hungry late morning or mid-afternoon. Take note of how you feel throughout the week having them on hand! It should inspire you to make time for food prep again next weekend!

{A lunch-focused food prep session of mine where I made beans, carrots and hummus topping, lemon energy balls, popcorn snack mix, lettuce, shrimp with farro, marinated turkey tenderloins and green smoothie snack bars. I cooked the turkey tenderloin early in the week and ate it over lettuce for salads, mixed the shrimp and farro with the hummus topping, ate slices of turkey tenderloin paired with beans and a snack bar or a couple energy balls, etc.}

Situation #2

You’re pretty good about eating breakfast and packing snacks. You have a few work engagements that require dinner out during the week so you really want to make sure you have healthy lunch options available. You could set aside an hour to prep the following:

A batch of Instant Pot Hummus Chicken
Some Chicken Avocado Burgers
A few salad in a jars
Some Pesto Corn Salad

When you’re ready to prep, turn the oven on. Start a batch of hummus chicken. Prep the burgers. Stick them in the oven. While they’re baking, prep a few salads and make the pesto corn salad. Shred the chicken once it’s finished cooking.

Now you have several quick lunch options to pack at night including a wrap made with the hummus chicken, a burger with a side salad and some corn, a salad in a jar.

If you find that it didn’t take you a full hour or you have extra time the next weekend, you can prep stuff for lunches and then move on to adding a dinner or a breakfast option like waffles as a way to change things up in the morning. Also note that if you don’t have an instant pot you can make pulled chicken or pork in the crockpot or oven. It takes longer but doesn’t require any extra active work on your part.

So there you have it! I hope some of you guys give this a try! Let me know if focusing in on one specific area to start is helpful for you! Look for a post next week with more details about how to plan your first food prep session once you’ve identified your focus area!

If you want more help right away, be sure to check out my Ultimate Guide To Food Prep ebook or check out my resources page for more food prep related posts!

Enjoy!
–Lindsay–

Sparkling Green Tea

May 22, 2017 by Lindsay 5 Comments

This Sparkling Green Tea is perfect for summer. Add some bubbles to make it more exciting and some frozen fruit cubes to cool it down while adding flavor!

Hi friends!

It’s time for another month of Recipe Redux! This month’s these was Cocktails and Mocktails for May Celebrations. This Sparkling Green Tea is a fun, adult and kid-friendly option for graduation parties, baby showers, bbqs and more! Or just make it on a regular day like I do.

When hubby and I were first out of college, we used to buy packs of the Citrus Liption Green Tea and Costco and we drank a TON of it. Looking at it now, it wasn’t the best beverage choice but I thought it’d be pretty easy to make my own version at home.

The base is simple. I just steeped a couple green tea bags (you can use regular or decaf) in hot water and let it cool. Then I added lemon-flavored sparkling water. If you’re looking for something a little sweeter, you can either add in some honey when the tea is warm or make a simple syrup and add some. I decided to just use fruit to add some extra flavor so I added some lemon slices, fresh strawberries and blueberry cubes.

To make the cubes I just blended 1 cup frozen wild blueberries with 1 cup water, poured into ice cube trays and froze. Added bonus? As the blueberry cubes melt they turn the drink a pretty color and add natural sweetness.

Squish loved having some of this as a treat after he woke up from his nap!

You could easily double or triple the amount for a party or try it with a different flavor of sparkling water. Or, like I mentioned above, add a little extra sweetness!

Here are your directions:

Super easy, right?! I’m all about hot green tea in the winter but this might be my new go-to version for Squish and I to enjoy this summer. For a stronger green tea flavor, brew the tea a bit longer than usual since you’ll be diluting it with extra water- or add an extra tea bag!

[clickToTweet tweet=”Try this Sparkling Green Tea with Blueberry Cubes for a light and fresh summer drink!” quote=”Try this Sparkling Green Tea with Blueberry Cubes for a light and fresh summer drink!”]

Enjoy!
–Lindsay–

For more drink ideas, click the image below and check out this month’s redux!

A Day in the Life – 2.5 Years + 6 Months

May 19, 2017 by Lindsay 6 Comments

Hi Friends!

Since the kids have officially hit 2.5 years and 6 months, I figured it was time for another “day in the life” post. I’ve been trying to do these roughly every 3 months since Squish was born. Here are links to my previous posts:

Day in the Life – 26 Months + 2 Months
Day in the Life – 21 Months
Day in the Life – 18 Months
Day in the Life – 15 Months
Day in the Life – 12 Months
Day in the Life – 9 Months
Day in the Life – 6 Months
Day in the Life – 3 Months

It’s taken a while but we’re finally in somewhat of a routine with the two kiddos. No day is the same, but most days follow the same general pattern. I sucked at taking pictures yesterday so I threw in a few pictures from various days lately to help get the point across.

Here’s what most days look like:

As I’ve mentioned, Little Miss is not the best sleeper. She typically wakes up 3 times per night to nurse. I think part of this is because she’s easily distracted while nursing during the day so she tends to get more of her calories nursing at night when it’s dark and quiet. Luckily her wakeups have gotten a bit better lately in that she’ll just wake up, eat fairly quickly and then go right back to sleep.

She typically wakes up around 1:30, then again around 3:30 and 5:30. Some days I get up after that wakeup and try to get some work done. Other days I try to grab a bit more sleep. She’s typically up for the day by 6:30 at the latest but is usually in good spirits so I can get some stuff done.

Squish wakes up around 7:45 or 8. I get breakfast ready for everyone while hubby gets Squish up. Little Miss either hangs in her carseat, her doorway jumper or as of this past week, her high chair. I’ve started giving her some solids but she doesn’t have much interest in them yet so that typically only lasts a few minutes.

From 8-9 we finish up breakfast, hubby leaves for work, drink coffee, play and sometimes watch tv. Nature Cat and Curious George are on PBS during that hour. Some mornings I try to sneak in some work during this hour while feeding Little Miss and Squish entertains himself. I’m also usually running around trying to do laundry or clean the kitchen, get everyone dressed, feed the animals, etc.

Around 9am we usually head out. Tuesdays and Wednesdays I teach our 9:30 class at the gym, Thursdays Squish has Little Gym at 9:30. Mondays and Fridays we don’t have anything scheduled so sometimes we stay home, sometimes we head to the park, play outside, etc.

Unless we have errands to run, we’re usually home around 10:45. Now that it’s warmer, we usually play outside for a while before lunch. Little Miss rarely naps, but occasionally she falls asleep on the way home and gets a quick snooze while Squish and I play. Lunch is sometime between 11:30 and noon. Hubby comes home for lunch and he typically puts Squish down for a nap while I cleanup/try to get organized. Once Squish is down for his nap around 12:45, I go into work mode.

Some days I nurse the baby while working on the computer, some days I make and shoot recipes. I also tend to schedule calls with clients around this time. I try to catch up on emails, social media, blog post writing, photo editing, etc. A lot depends on what kind of mood Little Miss was in. For the first few months after she was born I didn’t get a whole lot done because she never stopped screaming. Now she typically wants to eat and then is pretty well behaved while I try to get things done.

Some days I have deadlines and I just have to let her cry while I take photos or finish up computer work. Now that she’s a little bigger, I try to work in some play time with just her. We practice sitting up, tummy time, read a few books, stack blocks etc. The 2 – 2.5 hours fly by.

Squish typically wakes up around 3. We have about an hour to get him up, have a snack, do a little more playing and then I pack everyone up and we head to the gym again. On a good day, the baby will sit semi-quietly in her carseat, Squish runs around for a while and then watches his tablet and I get a workout in. Every so often there are days when my workout gets modified to involve holding a fussy baby. Occasionally she falls asleep, most days she doesn’t.

The kids and I head home from the gym around 6pm. Hubby comes home between 6:30 and 7:30 depending on his coaching schedule. When we get home we usually have to spend at least 30 minutes outside before I can convince Squish to come in the house. We make and eat dinner and then have more play and tv time. Squish goes to bed around 8 and 8:30pm.

Once he’s in bed, I grab my computer and nurse the baby to sleep while I work. She typically falls asleep by 9:30 and I take her upstairs to bed and come back down and work until 10-11pm. Most nights I’m in bed by 11.

So there you have it. It was interesting to go back and read Squish’s 6 month update. He definitely had a more defined schedule since he was bottle feeding and Little Miss sleeps a lot less but also gets dragged around to a lot more activities. We didn’t have the gym when Squish was 6 months old and obviously he was an only child at that point.

We’re excited that warm weather is here and I’m hoping to cram a lot of local adventures into the summer months!

Enjoy!
–Lindsay–

{Food Prep Idea} Asian Flank Steak

May 17, 2017 by Lindsay 5 Comments

Include this Asian Flank Steak in your next food prep session. Marinate overnight and use it for this 15-minute beef and broccoli dinner or grill it and enjoy the leftovers for lunch.

Hi friends!

Big news! Since so many of you ask me for tips about food prep, I’ve decided to make it the focus of the next few weeks. I’ll be providing you with some new recipes that are ideal for prepping ahead of time, as well as some more in-depth posts about how to find your food prep focus area, how to plan your first food prep session, a minute-by-minute breakdown of one of my food prep sessions, etc. Get excited! I hope the posts will be helpful.

So, last week I shared a breakfast food prep idea with this 5 Minute Breakfast Hash. This week we’re switching gears to dinner. Lately, I’ve been loving marinades. They’re easy to throw together and a great way to add flavor to different meats. A couple weeks ago I shared this Mediterranean Turkey Spinach Salad that involves a simple marinade for the turkey tenderloin. Today I’m sharing an easy steak marinade.

You guys know I’m not a huge beef eater, but hubby is…and he’s taught me that the secret to a good flank steak lies in the marinade.

So, especially in the summer, I often include a flank steak in my food prep so it’s ready for him to throw on the grill during the week. This recipe switches things up and you actually thinly slice the beef and cook it in a pan…but the great thing about this recipe is that you can cook the marinated steak a variety of ways.

Slice it up for a quick stirfry like this, throw it on the grill and enjoy with grilled veggies, slice up the leftovers and add them to a wrap for lunch the next day or toss them on a salad like this Steak Cobb Salad.

So here’s the marinade recipe, plus how to make this 15-minute beef and broccoli:

Pretty simple right? The steak gets a lot of flavor from the marinade so you don’t have to add a lot of sauce to the actual dish. But if you’re a sauce-loving kinda person, you could easily double it! If you have more time, you can also save the marinade, pour it into a saucepan, bring it to a boil and boil for 10 minutes, then add a little cornstarch to thicken and use that as the sauce.

[clickToTweet tweet=”Add this Asian Flank Steak to your next food prep session, then make 15 min beef and broccoli!” quote=”Add this Asian Flank Steak to your next food prep session, then make 15 min beef and broccoli!”]

Enjoy!
–Lindsay–

Chocolate Sweet Potato Mug Cake

May 12, 2017 by Lindsay 6 Comments

Disclosure: This is a sponsored post written on behalf of Quitter’s Circle, a collaboration between the American Lung Association and Pfizer. All thoughts and opinions presented in this post are purely my own.

This Chocolate Sweet Potato Mug Cake recipe is a quick and easy way to satisfy your dessert craving!

Hey friends!

Time for a dessert recipe. As you know, I’ve teamed up with the folks behind Quitter’s Circle this year to share some recipes that could be helpful to those trying to quit smoking, and are delicious enough for everyone to enjoy! So far I’ve shared two snack recipes – Spicy Ranch Popcorn Recipe and Cranberry Ginger Energy Bites – which can help fight off urges to smoke. Today we’re turning our attention to dessert!

While I don’t believe that every success/victory/goal met needs to be celebrated with food, I do believe there’s something to be said for occasionally enjoying a tasty dessert! And while I love making cookies, cakes, pies, etc….I don’t always love having all the extras laying around to tempt me in the following days.

Chocolate Sweet Potato Mug Cake

Enter this mug cake. It’s chocolatey and delicious, can be made quickly and makes just enough for one serving…so you can enjoy your treat and then move on!

If you’re working on quitting smoking or supporting someone who is, whip one of these up to celebrate meeting one of your quitting goals like going x number of days without smoking or enjoying a night out with friends without taking a smoke break.

And for everyone else, mug cakes are a great way to enjoy a quick dessert with your significant other or treat yourself after a long day or week.

Here’s how you make it:

I like to mix a few chocolate chips into mine and definite top with a small scoop of ice cream. You could also top with some vanilla yogurt.

If you don’t have a large coffee mug, use a small glass mason jar or a large ramekin. And if you’re not a chocolate fan, try my regular Sweet Potato Mug Cake!

Note that while this mug cake certainly contains less calories than sitting down to eat a whole chocolate cake to celebrate, it is still dessert and should be treated as such. Here are some more ideas for celebrating success to inspire and motivate you and some other recipes you can savor with your newly smokefree senses!

Enjoy!
–Lindsay–

{Food Prep Idea} 5 Minute Breakfast Hash

May 10, 2017 by Lindsay 7 Comments

This 5 Minute Breakfast Hash comes together quickly on busy mornings with the help of weekend food prep. It’s full of protein and fiber to keep you full all morning.

Hi friends!

I wanted to pop in today and share an easy and delicious breakfast hubby and I have been enjoying for the past couple of weeks. To clarify the title, this 5 Minute Breakfast Hash takes just 5 minutes to put together during the week, but it does require you to do a little work on the weekend. And by a little work, I mean spend 5 minutes chopping a few things, toss them on a pan and stick them in the oven for 20 minutes. That’s it!

For several weeks, avocado toast with a sprinkle of sea salt and a fried egg was our go-to breakfast but for the past two weeks I’ve made this hash to change it up and we’ve been loving it.

This recipe is so easy it doesn’t even require any quantities. Simply chop up some potatoes (I usually use a mix of white and sweet but use whatever you like best) and put them on a pan with some chopped peppers, onions and chicken sausage. Toss everything with a little oil, salt and pepper and roast until the potatoes are soft. I cut mine pretty small so it only takes 15-20 minutes.

5 Minute Breakfast Hash

Stick the mixture in the fridge until you’re ready to eat. In the morning, I scoop some into a couple of bowls and stick them in the microwave to reheat for a minute or so. While that’s warming up, I scramble a few eggs, which takes 2-3 minutes. Add the eggs to the bowls and top everything with some salsa and diced avocado and boom! 5-minute breakfast.

Like I said, I didn’t use quantities because you can make as much or as little as you’d like for the week! Pro tip- want to make this even faster? Add some hard boiled eggs to your food prep and simply peel and chop a couple of those to add to the mix during week instead of using scrambled eggs.

You could also add extra veggies to the pan while roasting if you wanted to – mushrooms or broccoli would be good!

Pretty easy right? Food prep for the win!

[clickToTweet tweet=”With a little weekend food prep you can enjoy this 5 minute breakfast hash on a busy morning!” quote=”With a little weekend food prep you can enjoy this 5 minute breakfast hash on a busy morning!”]

Sweet Potato Protein Pancakes

Sweet Potato Protein Pancakes

Peanut Butter Chickpea Bars

Peanut Butter Chickpea Bars

Blackberry Crumble Bars

Blackberry Crumble Bars

What is Choline?

How To Handle Toddler Meltdowns

Instant Pot Thai Peanut Chicken Soup

Instant Pot Thai Peanut Chicken Soup

6 Months of Food Prep

30+ Ways To Use Leftover Chicken

Ways To Use Leftover Chicken

Vanilla Cake Parfaits

Dessert French Toast Waffle Bites

Dessert French Toast Waffle Bites

15 Quick Food Prep Dinners

A Beginner’s Guide To Food Prep

A Beginner’s Guide To Food Prep

Grilled Foil Packet Tilapia with Pesto Veggies

My Weekly Food Prep {By The Minute}

How To Find Your Food Prep Focus Area

Sparkling Green Tea

A Day in the Life – 2.5 Years + 6 Months

{Food Prep Idea} Asian Flank Steak

Chocolate Sweet Potato Mug Cake

Chocolate Sweet Potato Mug Cake

{Food Prep Idea} 5 Minute Breakfast Hash

5 Minute Breakfast Hash

Recipes

Kids

Resources

About

Join the conversation!