Day 7

 

Breakfast: Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal with a Diced Gala Apple and extra Cinnamon on top

Lunch: Chicken and Zucchini Bake and 2 cups Sauteed Cabbage 

Snack: Granny Smith Apple Slices with 2 tbsp Creamy Reduced Fat Peanut Butter (I'm in an apple mood today.)

Dinner: 4 oz Salmon Fillet and 1 yellow Squash cooked in the pan with 1 slice of bacon, Mrs. Dash Original Blend Seasoning and Salt.

I came up with the Chicken and Zucchini Bake on a whim. (Recipe at the end of this post!) And I submitted to the Sparkpeople's Sparkrecipes. :)

Quick Work out for the night. I didn't feel like doing too much, but wanted to burn at least 100 calories. 

	Chicken and Zucchini Bake
	Ingredients 2 zucchinis, sliced length wise 2 banana peppers sliced 2 baby bell peppers 3 cooked chicken breast, diced 3 med tomatoes, and 4 plum tomatoes pureed in a food processor for sauce with 1tsp basil 1 tsp oregano 1 tsp garlic powder 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese Nutritional Info Fat: 3.1g Carbohydrates: 12.7g Calories:169.3 Protein: 23.6g Layer zucchini, chicken, peppers and sauce ending with sauce. Bake at 375 for 45 minutes, then top with cheese and bake an additional 15 minutes. Serving Size: Serves 4 Number of Servings: 4

Two-fer Buffalo Ranch Chicken Sandwhiches for Dinner, and a Buffalo Ranch Salad for Lunch.

I've talked about making buffalo chicken egg rolls, and buffalo chicken in wraps. But not buffalo ranch chicken on buns, followed by buffalo chicken salad. It's delicious, and easy! I usually make this for just Travis and I. Then I'll make the boys something different. I can't wait until the boys go in to the boy-guy-man phase of liking spicy things. When I make this for just Travis and I we usually have it for dinner and lunch the next day.

This is a slow cooker meal, so drag out your crock pot.
Ingredients for Chicken:
4 boneless skinless chicken breast
1 cup Frank's Buffalo Sauce
1 dry package hidden valley ranch mix
1/2 cup of water

Mix everything together, and cook on lo for 6-8 hours. Shred chicken with fork and serve on toasted buns with a little ranch dressing on top.

Salad ingredients:
1 cup romaine chopped
1 celery stick shredded
1 carrot stick shredded 
1 summer squash shredded
1 small tomato diced
2 tbsp shredded cheese
1/2 cup shredded buffalo chicken mixture
Light Ranch dressing 

Day 6

 

Breakfast: Voskos Wild Strawberry Greek Yogurt with 5 medium sized strawberries sliced and mixed in. 

Lunch: Chicken Salad (Containing- Romaine, Parmesan cheese, tomatoes, cucumbers, zesty Italian dressing, and a baked chicken breast. )

Dinner: Summer Fajitas (recipe follows below) 

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Tonight I was making tacos, and as I'm browning the meat...I'm feeling really grossed out by it. Sometimes I'm very anti-red meat. Plus I wanted to have some leftover meat so that Travis could have Tacos for lunch tomorrow at work. So, I thought to myself no problem I'll just make myself some chicken fajitas with my leftover chicken...except I didn't have any peppers. Then, I was like...who needs chicken? Or peppers? With all the squash and zucchini I have from the Summer crop this makes an easy simple meal. I'm always trying to come up with new ways to use my squash and zucchini. I love it sauteed as a side, but sometimes that gets boring and old. If you're like me, and you have so many tomatoes, squash, and zucchini either from relatives or your garden..(mine are from my relatives). This is an awesome recipe to use some of your Summer veggies. 

I ended up not adding my chicken to this because I checked out  my tortillas, then my veggies and realized nothing else was going to fit in them! But this would be delicious with chicken, or shrimp!

Summer Fajitas 

Serves Two. 

Ingredients:
1 cup diced squash
1 cup diced zucchini
1 yellow onion sliced
1 small tomato sliced
1/2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp chili poweder
1/2 tsp cumin 
Salt and pepper to taste
2 tbsp light sour cream
2 flour tortillas (100 cals each or less)

 

Directions: Heat olive oil over medium heat, prepare your veggies while your pan heats up. Swirl the oil around in the pan, then add your veggies to the hot oil. Mix your veggies around with a spatula to coat with oil, then stir in seasoning. Cook, stirring often, until veggies have softened.  Add 1 tbsp of sour cream to each tortilla and top each tortilla with an even amount of veggies. Enjoy.

I like to look through magazine for recipes, workouts, house plans, garden plans, things to do with the kids, or for the kids. Here is an awesome work out I got from Redbook Magazine for your booty. I have a paper copy in a folder BUT I looked on the internet and found it for any readers I may have. Also for my own keeping. :)

Redbook's 15 Minute Best Booty Workout!!!

For Instructions Click Here! 

Leg Workout and an Easy Dinner

This is an amazing leg work out combo that I've put together. Prepare to be sore!

 

Heinz 57 Chicken with Smashed Reds and Green Beans

 And this is something really quick and easy I put together on lazy nights that I don't feel like putting much effort in to dinner. This chicken is versatile enough you can grill it, bake it, or slow cook it in the crock pot. I use baby reds because I actually like eating the skins on those.

Chicken: 
1bottle of Heinz 57 sauce
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
Salt and Pepper to taste

Sprinkle both sides of chicken breasts with salt and pepper, place chicken in a glass baking dish and cover with heinz sauce, cover with foil and bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes or until done. Or grill or slow cooker on Lo 6-8 hours. :)

Smashed Red Potatoes: 
Baby Red Potatoes  
Shredded Cheese
Bacon Bits

The quantity depends on your family. Cover the bottom of a medium to large glass baking dish with just enough water to cover the bottom. Add baby reds whole in to the glass baking dish, and bake until they are soft along with your chicken. Smash all the potatoes while they are still in the glass baking dish and leave them as is. Sprinkle with garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Drizzle with extra light olive oil. Sprinkle with cheese, real bacon bits, and green onions.

Chicken Fajita One Night for Dinner, Then Chicken Fajita Salad for Lunch- With a DIY Fajita Seasoning :)

Heres what you need for delicous Chicken Fajitas: 

• 1lb boneless skinless chicken, cut in to thin slices
• 1 large sweet bell pepper (yellow, red, or blue), sliced
• 1 large onion, sliced 
• 1 Tbsp Olive Oil 
• 1 tablespoon or so of Fajita seasoning
• 1 package of Whole Wheat tortilla wraps 

(Additional: Lettuce, Tomatoes, Re-fried Beans, Guacamole, Sour Cream, Salsa)

Just heat oil over medium high heat and cook chicken until its almost done, then add sliced onions and peppers. By the time the peppers and onions are tender your chicken will be done. Toss in the seasoning, if you need a little water to get it to mix well use about 1 tablespoon. Serve on tortilla wraps with any toppings you choose.

D-I-Y Fajita Seasoning 

Ingredients:

• 3 Tbsp. cornstarch
• 2 Tbsp. chili powder
• 1 Tbsp. salt
• 1 Tbsp. paprika
• 1 Tbsp. sugar
• 2-1/2 tsp. crushed chicken bouillon cube
• 1-1/2 tsp. onion powder
• 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
• 1/2 tsp. cumin

Preparation:

Combine all of the ingredients in a small bowl. Pour into small glass or plastic container, seal tightly and store in a cool, dry place. Makes the equivalent of 3 packets of commercial or purchased Fajita Seasoning Mix. (I like to save my used seasoning containers and then re-use them for my own homemade seasoning. )


Now on to my delicious lunch salad.

Chicken Fajita Salad

Chili Tortilla Straws: Cut using kitchen scissors half of a whole wheat tortilla in to slices. Spray with cooking spray sprinkle with a little salt and chili powder and toast until crispy. Watch it though, to make sure it doesn't burn.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup of chicken fajita mix 
• 2 cups of lettuce (romaine) 
• 1/4 cup black beans, rinsed 
• 1/4 cup whole kernel corn
• 2% or Reduced Fat Fiesta Blend Cheese 
• 1/4 cup chopped tomatoes 
• Tortilla straws 
• 1-2 tbsp light sour cream
• Low Cal Restaurant Style Salsa (I probably did and 1/4 cup but use as much as you want because it is so low in calories)

Directions:

Just add this all together starting with the lettuce, tomatoes, beans, corn, cheese, chicken fajita, and top with salsa and sour cream.  Easy as that. :)

Closer View

Chicken Nugget Salad

Kids like chicken nuggets right? No matter how you, the parent, prepares or makes them…they just love them. It doesn’t matter whether you buy them frozen, organic, or make them homemade its practically a lunch time staple. Or at least it is in my house it is.  It doesn’t feel like an adult meal to me though. That isn’t to say they aren’t delicious and that I don’t still eat them. But if I eat chicken nuggets then I’m going to want fries with them. However, I discovered something amazing in high school. Now this was years ago, so the menu has changed but I use to buy myself 99 cent chicken nuggets from Wendy’s after school and a side salad for $1.08 (something like that)..My total ended up being something like $2.18. (Light Dressing). I would go home and indulge with satisfaction because I made a healthy choice and it was such a good deal. (I have a thing for Wendy’s Salad Dressing). Since then, I have always liked putting chicken nuggets on my salad. Sometimes I make them homemade but mostly I buy them frozen. I just check out the ingredients and try to buy smart. So now that I’m an adult, I feel like I can make ONE thing for everyone to enjoy at lunch time..even myself! Now I make a much bigger, yummier salad than my after school Wendy's days.

All you need is:
2-3 cups romaine
1/4 cup chopped tomatoes
1/4 cup chopped cucumbers
1 tbsp Real bacon bits
1 tbsp sunflower seeds
1 slice from a large red onion
1/4 cup 2 % or Reduced fat shredded cheese
4-5 chicken nuggets, sliced

Spicy Chicken and Mushrooms For Dinner and Lunch

This is a REALLY easy, simple recipe. It is a little too spicy for kids, so if you want to make it for them, I would hold off on the red pepper flakes, or maybe just add a dash. What I loved most about this recipe is that not only is it really quick but it made for an excellent salad the next day.  For dinner we put it over brown rice and served it with a side of green beans and carrots. I love being able to use leftovers for lunch the next day, so I really felt like I was winning here.  I’ll put what I did different than the original recipe in parenthesis because frankly I almost always switch something up. This is a 30 minute meal!

Spicy Chicken and Mushrooms

Ingredients:

1lb boneless skinless chicken breast cut in to ½ inch pieces

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1 tablespoon minced ginger (ground is okay too)

2 cups sliced mushrooms (or 1 8oz container)

4 scallions sliced (green onions)

½ teaspoon red pepper flakes

½ teaspoon of salt

½ teaspoon pepper

1 ½ tablespoons low-sodium soy 

1 tablespoon rice vinegar

½ cup chopped cilantro (I don’t care too much for cilantro, and I didn’t have anything fresh on hand so I used some dried basil probably about 1-2 tsp)

Directions:  Heat oil in a medium sized skillet over medium-high heat. Add garlic and ginger in pan and cook for one minute. Stir in mushrooms, scallions, red pepper flakes, ¼ tsp of salt and 1 tsp of pepper, cook for 3 minutes stirring frequently. Reduce heat to medium and add chicken to the pan, sprinkle with remaining salt and pepper. Cook, stirring often, for about 4 minutes or until your chicken is cooked through. Stir in soy sauce, vinegar, and cilantro, and cook for about 2 minutes.

Serving: 176 calories per serving. 5 g of fat, 28 g protein, 4 g carb, 1 g fiver, 516 sodium, 66 mg chol

Spicy Chicken and Mushroom Salad:

Leftover Spicy Chicken and Mushrooms from dinner the night before.

1 cup spinach

1 cup romaine lettuce

½ of a medium-large tomato chopped

1 green onion, sliced on top 

1-2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese 

Your Choice of Salad Dressing (Light Zesty Italian or Balsamic was my choice)

Crappy iPhone picture from Dinner. lol