I Forgave Him + This Week’s Meal Prep.

Hey Janae!

Go to meals are my absolute favourite! I like to make shepherds pie cups (in muffin tins) and have them for quick meals during the week. You could probably freeze them but at my house they get eaten too quick. (I use the canned Refrigerated Pillsbury Croissant dough So I don’t have make pie crust lol). Our family is also a big fan of make your own pita pizzas. I chop all the toppings and the kids can just pull it out of the fridge and create their own pizzas.

Aw I remember doing tummy time with my kids. How does Beck like it? My second child hated it and would scream as soon as I tried so I had to lay on the floor and put her on my chest and get her to do it that way.

I usually have skin showing on my ankles when I run lol! I love to wear compression socks on longer runs so I guess my ankles are covered for long durations :)! Have a great Tuesday!

My family loves this combo: egg noodles, ground turkey, diced tomatoes, and a veggie. I brown the turkey and then add the diced tomatoes and whatever veggie I am using (spinach/peas/broccoli) and in the end at the cooked egg noodles. They like to add cheese to their pasta but I am allergic to dairy. It’s a great dairy free meal. I often cook one thing for my family and another for myself. I have varied the type of pasta. The lazy genius has a lot of menu planning suggestions and recipes and I am trying some of her things!

If you haven’t discovered it already, America’s Test Kitchen has a great podcast for kids called Mystery Recipe. Start from season 1, episode 1 and the kids will be treated to a cook along using a recipe from Brooke’s cookbook in the final episode of the season. My tween loves the show. https://www.americastestkitchen.com/podcasts/mystery-recipe

AHHHH COSTCO GRILLED CHICKEN SKEWERS!!!!!!!! (insert cat face with heart-eyes emoji)
I need to try the flautas–they are on my list for the next time I head over there!!!!

As for our easy go-to meals:
1. Tom and I will grab salad kits from the store and rotate through proteins–it’s usually twice a week chicken and/or fish and once a week either mild italian sausage, meatballs, or one steak that we split, depending on hwat we find at the store. We stick with proteins that are easy to cook on the stove or in the George Foreman Grille and don’t really take time at all, maybe like 10 minutes max.
2. At least every other week we have a burger night (two of the grocery stores by us have good pre-made burger patties. And we have a rule–either we have burgers in lettuce wraps with fries OR burgers in buns with a side salad (thank goodness we can both hang w a caesar salad kit a few times a week…)

(those, plus a crockpot of my super easy chili recipe, are our most frequent go-tos…)

…Dinner is SO SIMPLE (& I often feel guilty for making easy food since I am a good cook and pride myself on that), but with Tom and I working so hard, really to the point of exhaustion so much of the time, easy food that can be prepped well, with minimal cleanup, and that is in our small budget at least keeps us fed. And when I have it planned out it’s a lot less likely that one of us will shrug our shoudlers and just get takeout or some other nonsense that we don’t need and that usually makes my body feel gross.

As for me and my lunches, I am on this kick right now:

1. THREE days a week I have a lunch bowl that’s a combo of riced cauliflower and brown rice (I get them frozen and microwavable from Trader Joe’s), baby arugula that wilts right as the lunch bowl heats up, chicken (either the pollo asada or the chicken shawarma marinated boneless skinless thighs from TJs), a teaspoon or so of spicy Harissa paste (also TJs), and crumbled goat cheese OR some of the creamy feta dressing (from TJs) spooned on top of my food bowl after the microwave (it tempers the heat of the Harissa paste).
2. TWO days a week my lunch is a salad: dairy-free ranch dressing, butter lettuce, chopped cucumber, cubed bite-size pieces of seared steak OR pork chop, and sauteed mushrooms (from a frozen/microwavable bag at Trader Joe’s).

…these lunches are SO SIMPLE, but in literally half an hour’s time I can have different proteins cooked and all of my frozen veggies and rice microwaved and in tupperware containers for the week, and then it’s five minutes in the mornings to assemble my lunch containers.

ALSO–I was wondering about what happened to your longer socks on your recent running pictures!LOL. You’re so tall and I am so short–you need to bridge the gap in cooler temperatures and I *always* need to fold up the bottom cuff of my workout leggings, unless they’re the 21″ ‘cropped’ leggings!!!!!!

I hope your day is a really good one out there <3 (& I am STILLLL hopeful that I will have that chance to send cookies out to y'all in Utah…maybe you remember what that means?)

I love so much seeing the meal prep. My family and I are trying to improve our meal prep and eating. We do not eat the best things! Would you do a post or share how you get your kiddos to eat all the good stuff??

I have night terrors, and I get mad at my husband when he tells me I’m dreaming because I truly think it’s all real lol. I live on the Alabama/Tennessee state line, and we got a light dusting yesterday, which meant schools were closed and a late start this morning. We don’t handle cold weather very well. But that meant I got to run on my treadmill before school, which was a treat! And I gotta throw a Roll Tide in there. Hope y’all have a great day! Please tell Brooke to quit growing. She looks like a teenager!

I have the opposite problem and have short legs, so normally my ankles don’t show, but I also would probably cover them if they did! I get cold easily!!
I have a few quick go to recipes:
Buy rotisserie chicken and shred it when you get home (it’s easier to shred when it’s warm) then you can either use it in Chicken Pot Pit (I just use a can of cream of chicken soup, bag of frozen veggies, handfuls of chicken and some S & P and pour it into a store bought pie crust and cover it with the second pie crust then bake), Chicken fried rice (I actually use cauliflower rice with frozen Asian mixed veggies and sauté in sesame oil, then crack a few eggs and mix it all together, throw in the chicken and add some soy sauce and all done). And lastly is with a slow cooker, chicken and dumpling! (I throw in some chicken breast, cream of chicken soup, chicken broth, dried garlic, parsley, S & P, and some butter, cook on low for a few hours, then shred and add a bag or 2 of frozen veggies and then I use store bought biscuit dough and flatten and cut them into pieces and then throw it all in, stir and cook for another hour then it’s ready!)
Just wondering, how far are your trails from your door? We have some trails near us but not in walking/running distance so I tend to just run near my house, even though trails are so much prettier and challenging!

Hi Janae! I’m
Working on being better about meal prep – I’ve been planning dinners weekly forever but my lunches fall to the wayside. Crockpot shredded chicken is great for quick street tacos – also have been making smoothies

What running shoes were you wearing in the above pic? Looking forward a good trail shoe!

Also, my husband and I have had those dreams and we wake up so mad and then laugh about it the next day ! Our friends have said they’ve had it happen to them too…it’s crazy how real those emotions feel in a dream!