Meal Prep

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Crock Pot Flank Steak Fajitas - Fix Approved!

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Would you believe I had never cooked flank steak in the crock pot before? I even texted my mom to ask her if that is something people do...then I remembered this little thing called GOOGLE and I ended up finding cooking times online and decided to go for it! It turned out soooo good, way better than the chewy mess it is when I grill it. :)

What You Need (Feeds 2):
1 lb Flank Steak
2 Bell Peppers (1 green and 1 red are my preference), sliced
1/2 Onion, sliced
2 Tomatoes on the Vine, cut into 6 wedges
1 TBSP + 2 tsp Southwest Seasoning (see below) 
 

Mmm...those tomatoes were my fav.

With 4 hours left, I started throwing in my veggies.


 

Preparation: 
1. Rub both sides of the Flank Steak with 1 TBSP Southwest Seasoning.
2. Place in crockpot and set on LOW for 8 hours. (No cooking liquid is needed, it will make its own juices)
3. Mix your veggies with the remaining seasoning, set aside in fridge for later. When there are about 4 hours left, throw in your veggies.  (If you will not be home, it is ok to put them in on step 2.)
4. Shred the steak and serve with your favorite fajita toppings!  
 

 

 

Again, this fed two of us, next time, I will get a larger piece of meat because it shrunk up A LOT in the crock pot. 

I had 3/4 cup steak, 1 cup of fajita veggies on 2 corn tortillas with a tbsp of cheese.  That is 1 red, 1 green, 1 yellow & 1/4 blue for my Fix family.

I had a side salad as well and topped it with my extra meat (that didn't fit on my tortillas), a little cheese, avocado and my favorite Bolthouse Yogurt Ranch. 

Southwest Seasoning

2 tbsp chili powder
4 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp coriander
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp paprika
2 tsp sea salt

Mix all the seasonings together and put in a sealed container, it should make enough to have some left for other recipes! It is really great on anything, I use it in my burgers too! 

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Marinated Chicken & Veggies

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Hello friends!! How are you?! I am BEYOND excited, I am one week away from my favorite event of the year, Coach Summit. NashVegas better be ready for us again! 

Anyways, speaking of Coach Summit, I have been TRYING to keep myself in check with my food prior to us leaving but I have also been on the lookout for new ideas for my meal plan. I was very good about my meal plan while I did Hammer & Chisel, I had no issues sticking to pretty much the same foods throughout the entire program but I am ready for a change.

One thing that came to mind yesterday while meal planning was chicken kabobs with veggies over brown rice.  When we BBQ with my parents, we used to always do skewers marinated in Italian dressing with this amazing brown mushroom rice my mom makes (full of BUTTER baby, but oh so good), sooooo, I wanted to make something similar but Fix approved, of course! 

So here it is! My marinated chicken & veggie recipe, I made plenty extra for meals throughout the week too. Keep in mind, I feed Aaron and myself, if you are prepping for just 1, you could cut back on the ingredients.

What you need (makes about 6 servings):
2 Bell Peppers (I did red/ orange), cut  
Small Container of Whole Mushrooms, cleaned
3 small-medium Zucchini (you can do Squash too), sliced
Onion (optional, I don't like onion but many do), sliced
2lb (or a little over) chicken, cut into chunks
1/2-3/4 C Bolthouse Farms Classic Balsamic Vinaigrette Dressing
3 C cooked brown rice (or quinoa, etc.) 

Preparation: 
1. Grab a ziploc bag, open it and pour in about 1/3 cup of the dressing. Place your cut up chicken in the ziploc, seal it and make sure all the chicken is covered before placing back in the fridge to marinate. Leave in there for at least 2 hours.
2. Do the same for the cut up veggies! Place in fridge for at least 2 hours. 
3. Heat up indoor/outdoor grill (if using an outdoor grill, make sure to cook on some type of pan that is grill safe so you don't lose the food in the grill!).  I used an indoor grill. 
4. Place veggies on grill, grill until desired tenderness.  (I also cooked mine separately because I didn't have space to cook both at the same time)
5. While those cook, measure out your cooked brown rice into separate containers. 1/2 cup per container. 
6. Measure veggies out (about 1 cup) and place into containers.
7. Place chicken on the grill, grill until no longer pink and fully cooked. 
8. Measure out chicken (about 3/4 cup) and place on top of veggies in containers.

You can add 1-2 tsp more of the dressing if you want/need when you eat or cook it but I did not need it. I personally had two servings of veggies today with my lunch and it was a TON of food.  

For my Fix Family: 1 green, 1 red, 1 yellow (if you add rice), 1 orange




 

Keys to staying on track!

Some things I do to help me stay on track when I am following a program with specific nutrition requirements are:

1) Meal Plan --> You have to know what you are going to eat and how much, if you don't plan, you are more than likely (like, really likely) not going to eat according to the parameters of your programs meal plan guide which will mess up your results.

2) Make your grocery list and shop --> I usually make my meal plan and grocery list on Thursday evening or Friday morning. I hit up Trader Joe's on my way home from dropping Maren off at daycare to get most of our groceries and then sometime before Sunday (typical prep day) I run to Schnucks to get some items that Trader Joe's doesn't always have....

3) Meal prep --> This is KEY people! If you are prepared it is much harder to fail but if you aren't prepared you are setting yourself up to veer off track. It takes me a couple of hours on a Sunday to get my food ready for the week. I used to just prep lunches but lately I have been prepping our proteins for dinner 95% of the time and it has been even more of a time saver. I loved being able to grab lunch quickly when I am at home with Maren since she is usually keeping me busy but it is even better when I don't have to spend hours in the kitchen each night cooking dinner!

4) Print your meal plan --> If you are like me, you might like to cross things off of your "lists" once you have completed them, well I like to do the same thing with my meal plan. Once I eat a certain meal I cross it off, something about doing that makes me feel more accomplished! Not only do I do that but I also print off a tally sheet so I can keep track of my containers as I eat them and my water, yes...I give myself extra work here but I love seeing it all on paper.

Not only that but if there has been a time I have "cheated" or eaten an extra container that wasn't planned (like all the time on my last round of Hammer & Chisel, ha) I would write it out on my tally sheet so I knew what is going in my mouth and if it is messing with my results! For the record, yes, yes, it did mess with my results last time around!

I can't believe this is my final week making a meal plan for our 2nd round of Hammer & Chisel! Week 8! We did it, we are in the home stretch and it feels good!!  Check back next week for final results! 

Meal Planning & Prep

Time flies when you are having fun, right?  It is hard to believe how quickly December has flown by, you feel me?  I mean, we are already in week 3 for my current accountability group, Slim Down for Santa and I feel like we just got started! 

I wanted to share a glimpse into my meal plan, I know so many people are intimidated by the thought of having to plan out a weeks worth of meals AND then prepping! But I promise it is not as scary as you think and it is one of the best ways to keep your nutrition in check! 

I personally leave a lot of my favorites on my meal plan from week to week, those are my staples. Having staples that you can eat over and over again really help simplify things.  I will say the same thing here that I tell my challengers, if a person who eats junk food can eat french fries and burgers every day for a week straight, why can't someone who eats healthy eat salads every day for a week? Are you picking up what I am putting down? 

Some examples of those staples are:

Snacks
Greek Yogurt + Fruit
Cottage Cheese + Fruit
Carrots or Celery + Peanut Butter
Grape Tomatoes (or any tiny tomato that you like) 
Peanuts

Meals
Shakeology (can be a snack too)
Salads
Eggs or Egg Burritos w/ corn tortillas
Chili
Tacos
Burgers

A lot of the things I make, I make in larger batches when I cook them (like the chili, taco meat and burgers), then I freeze the extras! So great to have around for nights when you don't have time to cook dinner or lunches! 

Here is my sample meal plan this week! This meal plan is based on the 21 Day Fix Extreme program I am currently doing. Feel free to ask questions below!