Crockpots & Tuesday Mornings

My Tuesday morning was entirely too eventful for my liking.

I had the bright idea last night, since crock pots are so easy, that I would just throw stuff in it this morning to make Chicken Taco Chili (recipe later!) and it wouldn’t take me more than, say, 5 minutes.

Ha.

Things always work out so well in my head. Alas, upon waking this morning I realized that I hadn’t chopped ANY of the veggies, and that opening 6 cans with my handheld can opener was going to take more than 5 minutes on its own. Sheesh. So, after chopping peppers and onions and painfully cranking open multiple cans of beans and tomatoes, I finally got everything dumped into the pot in around 15 minutes or so. Then, as I’m taking the chicken out of its bag to throw on top of my veggie/bean/tomato mess, the juice (ick) goes EVERYWHERE. Literally,everywhere. Being the germaphobe (bacteria-phobe?!?) that I am, I spent at least 15 more minutes scrubbing down my counters, hands, and hands again until I was positive there wasn’t e-coli raging throughout my kitchen.

I’m fairly certain there is, which is why I will probably clean it AGAIN tonight.

Needless to say, my crock pot adventure took MUCH longer than expected. But I still made time for my favorite breakfast ever; a whole wheat English muffin topped with cheddar, 1 egg, and plenty of egg whites. Yum.

After a late arrival to work, I tackled my inbox and assignments until lunchtime rolled around. I live super close to my office (about a 6 minute drive), so I was able to run home today and whip up a yummy lunch of Annie’s mac ‘n cheese, Al Fresco Chicken Sausage, and TONS of veggies from my prep night!

This may be my new favorite lunch 🙂

The rest of my day will include finishing up at the office, watching The Bachelorette on my DVR (since my husband will be out and I won’t have to hear him complain), then hitting up a NEW GYM to get my leg workout on! I’m always so anxious to try a new gym…it’s intimidating to me, and I can’t really figure out why. Luckily Preston will be going with me, so hopefully it’ll be less “scary”.

How is your Tuesday going? Does trying out a new gym make you anxious as well, or do you love it?

Talk to you soon!
-Melissa

 

 

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Sunday Night Prep

I’m an odd bird (in more ways than one), but sometimes I actually crave the consistency and routine of the workweek. It is so nice to know what your schedule is going to be (food/exercise-wise, not necessarily while AT work!). So since I can easily plan what and when I’m going to eat during the week, I try to use Sunday nights as my “prep night”. This is usually only for lunches, as dinners are usually prepared by both my husband and I (yes, he’s amazing and helps me cook!) and we can’t ever decide what we want until that day!

My typical lunches while at work consist of one of the following meals:

• Quinoa, sautéed veggies, and grilled chicken
• Brown rice, sautéed veggies, and grilled chicken
• Annie’s White Cheddar Macaroni & Cheese with one Al Fresco Chicken Sausage and sautéed veggies

…I think you’re seeing the trend here. Basically a protein, a whole grain (1/2 cup to 3/4 cup), and veggies. Since I try to bring my lunch 4 out of the 5 workdays (or 3 out of 4 if it’s my Friday off), it’s easier to prep my food all in one night, divide it up into containers, and then just grab and go in the mornings!

Sunday mornings I’ll run to the grocery store and grab the essentials for the week, then come straight home and spend maybe 30 minutes or so on my prepping. That’s IT!

First, I dice up all of my veggies into chunks. My go-to veggies include squash (duh!), zucchini, bell peppers (of ALL colors!), onions, snap peas, carrots, and occasionally broccoli and broccoli slaw. I then throw them in my HUGE wok (thanks, wedding registry!) and sauté away! I try to use as little olive oil as possible, but some is necessary to get a good sear on them! A lot of times I’ll add a little low-sodium soy sauce to give it some flavor (actually, I do this MOST of the time!) The result is a LOT of veggies!

Next comes the protein! 9 times out of 10, I can sucker my husband into grilling me chicken on the outdoor grill, but this time he was feeling a little under the weather, so I grabbed a rotisserie chicken at the store and he gladly ripped it to shreds for me .

Next, I boiled a pot of water and cooked up some quinoa (my grain of choice for the week). I usually do about 1.5 cups of dry quinoa to cover 4 meals.

Then…VOILA! All done! I pack it into 4 separate containers, pop them in the fridge, and enjoy the rest of my Sunday!

Some people find it hard to eat the same thing every day for lunch, but to me it helps me stay on track! It’s also nice to not to have to worry about what I’m going to bring. Also, I always leave at least one workday where I can go out with coworkers and eat lunch with them, so as not to be completely anti-social .

A side note: the TONS of vegetables that I sauté are definitely not just used at lunch! Preston and I incorporate them into our dinners too. Check out these yummy veggie tostadas we whipped up for dinner tonight!

Do you have a “Sunday night prep night” as well? What are some of your favorite bulk meals to whip up?

Until next time!

-Melissa