food planning

Ever since I have decided to lose weight and eat healthier, I am obsessed with finding new and healthy recipes. Every day I look up food recipes and am finding things I never knew existed.

Have you heard of these things? flax seeds, agave nectar, chia, almond butter, quinoa. I don't know if I was just sheltered as a child or if it's because I started cooking myself.
Things I am learning:

HEALTHY FOOD CAN BE A LOT MORE EXPENSIVE, its why I've eaten bad food for so long. When you live in the lower class, you eat like lower class.

IT CAN BE AFFORDABLE BY CHOOSING A FEW OPTIONS:
             You either have to buy junk food, or healthy food.
             Buying them both can be a money problem

CHOOSE FRUITS IN SEASON.
           Now this one has been a hard one for me, because I LOVE FRUIT! I buy fruit year round                          regardless of the price. I have learned that you have to choose wisely though. Always have the cheaper fruit in your fridge or table. bananas, bags of apples, and oranges are fairly priced year round. If you want more fruit, pick one or two extras as a treat to yourself. In season, buy as much as you want! freeze them for smoothies or baking, or just to nibble on during the winter.

LEARN HOW TO BAKE!
         This one I can not stress enough. Instead of buying packaged muffins, granola bars, and so on.. bake            them yourself! Even brownies and cookies, (if you find a healthier version you still get to enjoy nice treats like that) Try making and canning your own applesauce or spaghetti sauce. You can even make your own breads and yogurt.

SWALLOW YOUR PRIDE AND SHOP AT A CHEAPER STORE
         For the past 4 years, I have been doing all my shopping at Walmart. Sometimes they have great prices, but when you do all your grocery shopping there, it can really add up. Hit up a Sharp Shopper, or Aldis. I always stock up on my canned goods and freezer food from sharp shopper, but they have mostly snack foods there, so I went to aldis last week and found healthy and cheap food. I got a whole cart full for $155, where at Walmart I only get a few things and end up spending $100 dollars every time.

MAKE A FOOD MENU
        Plan your meals throughout the week. It will help you use what's in your pantry, not have food waste, use up your leftovers, and only buy what you need for the week.



READY TO BEGIN? 

Here is what I make sure I have on hand every week:
fresh fruits and veges
whole grain breads and pasta
whole grain oats
honey
peanut butter
unsweetened applesauce
whole grain flour
string cheese
greek yogurt
tuna
chicken breasts
turkey burger
unsweetened vanilla almond milk


NEXT, FOLLOW ME ON PINTEREST!
Laesha Henry

There I have all my recipes I use. breakfast foods, snacks, and dinners. Find the ones you like, find your own, start your healthy recipe search! 

food menu

This is our food menu for this week. I only plan out the dinners, but I thought I would write what I have for every meal in case you need some ideas for those too. I will put the recipes I use along with the link.

I have a salad with every meal and only eat a small portion of what I make for dinner.

WEEK ONE:

Friday:

Breakfast- chocolate oatmeal (1/2 cup oatmeal, 1 T cocoa, 1 cup water, 3 packets stevia or other sweetener. put in the microwave for 2 minutes) 170 calories

Lunch- chicken salad

Snack- fit and active chocolate protein bar

Dinner- waffle house

Saturday:

Breakfast- whole grain toast with peanut butter and banana slices, half a grapefruit. 

Lunch- tuna salad sandwich on a whole grain sandwich thin, salad, and some honey dew

Snack- string cheese, half an oatmeal muffin, and a small clementine

Dinner- turkey sausage pasta

Sunday:

Breakfast- oatmeal muffin and bowl of fruit

Lunch- whole wheat tortilla taco, and a salad

Snack- bowl of fruit, yogurt, and granola

Dinner- whole wheat pizza and a salad

Monday:

Breakfast-  Whole wheat toast, scrambled egg(whole + 1 egg white) 1/2 american cheese,

 mixed fruit

Lunch- whole wheat tortilla taco and a salad

Snack-  fruit smoothie (I used watermelon, blueberries, frozen strawberries, and some frozen yogurt)

Dinner- pineapple chicken and corn casserole

Tuesday: 

Breakfast- 1 cup cheerios with skim milk, 1 banana and a scoop of peanut butter

Lunch- salad and leftover pizza

Snack- fruit parfait (banana, yogurt, and granola)

Dinner- chicken taco chili

My waffle recipes

White Waffles

1/2 cup whole wheat oats

1/2 cup cottage cheese

1/2 cup egg whites

mix with a blender

(makes 2 big or 3 smaller waffles)

153 calories for the whole batch.

Whole Wheat Waffles

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/16 tsp stevia or 2 Tablespoons agave or maple syrup

1 Tablespoon milk(increase to 3 T if using stevia)

1/4 cup plus 3 Tablespoons applesauce

2 tsp oil or 1 T more applesauce

1 tsp vanilla

mix dry ingredients together. mix wet ingredients. 

mix them together.

(makes 2) 135 calories for the whole batch.

Whole Wheat Waffles

1 3/4 cups whole wheat flour

2 cups almond milk

2 egg whites

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 Tablespoon honey

Cottage Cheese Pumpkin Waffles

1/2 cup pumpkin pure

1/3 cup oatmeal

2 teaspoons vanilla

1/2 cup cottage cheese

1 teaspoon baking powder

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon nutmeg

501 calories for the whole batch.

Pumpkin Oatmeal Waffles

1 1/4 cup oatmeal flour (oats grinded into flour texture)

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

1 egg

1/2 cup canned pumpkin

1/2 cup milk

2 Tablespoons honey

2 Tablespoons olive oil

970 calories for the whole batch

Spicy Sausage Pasta

 

1 tbsp olive oil

1 lb smoked turkey sausage
1.5 cups diced onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1 (10 oz) can Ro-Tel tomatoes and green chiles, Mild
1/2 cup heavy cream
8 oz penne pasta
1/2 teaspoon salt and pepper, each
1 cup Monterey Jack cheese, shredded
1/3 cup thinly sliced scallions
1. Add olive oil to an oven-safe skillet over medium high heat until just smoking. Add sausage and onions and cook until lightly browned, about 4 minutes. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
2. Add broth, tomatoes, cream, pasta, salt and pepper and stir. Bring to a boil, cover skillet, and reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer until pasta is tender, about 15 minutes.
3. Remove skillet from heat and stir in 1/2 cup cheese. Top with remaining cheese and sprinkle with scallions. Broil until cheese is melted, spotty brown, and bubbly.




Whole Wheat Pizza

3 cups whole wheat flour
2 tsp. sugar
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. yeast
1 1/3 cups cold water
1 Tbsp olive oil
Pizza sauce (fry up some onion, add tomatoes, salt, pepper, garlic powder and simmer for about 15 minutes. I put it in the food processor for a smoother texture.)
mozzarella Cheese
turkey pepperoni
(i would definitely click on the link to read all 
the directions for this recipe.) 

Pineapple Crockpot Chicken

2 lb. chicken tenderloin chunks

1 cup pineapple juice

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup soy sauce

Crockpot 6-8 hours

Creamed Corn Casserole

1 can corn, drained

1 can creamed corn

4 Tablespoons flour

4 Tablespoons sugar

1 stick of butter, melted

1 cup milk

2 eggs, well beaten

1/2 tsp salt

pepper

mix all of ingredients together. bake at 350 degrees for approximately 1 hour 15 minutes. 

Chicken Taco Chili

1 can black beans

1 can kidney beans

1 can corn

16 oz tomato sauce

28 oz diced tomatoes

1 packet taco seasoning

1 tbsp chili powder

3 boneless chicken breasts 

6 hours high or 10 hours low in the crock pot.

homemade applesauce

I made my own applesauce today for the second time ever. This time I made a lot more with the intention of canning some of it. Which this is my first canning experience.. I'm so nervous. I don't have the right equipment yet, but I still managed with the pots that I already have.

It didn't turn out as sweet as the first batch I made, using the Fiji apples, but it was a lot cheaper getting the bags of apples instead of paying $1 per apple. 

motivation

I have been wanting to lose weight for about 2 years now, and after having a baby, I need it now more than ever. I have definitely put on some weight since last summer. Every day I tell myself I need to do it, but I never seem to have the motivation to do it. so since I'm on pinterest all the time, I typed in motivation. I found a couple good ideas, my favorite one was a motivation wall. I found a lot of exercises I didn't know about, a few quotes and printed them out. I also put a countdown to my goal weight so I can cross off the pounds as I go. Today is day 2, I have been trying to eat healthier and each morning I have been doing a 20 minute workout with my 10 lb. medicine ball. I really want to focus ab workouts but have been doing a little bit of everything. I just hope I don't give up after a week like I always do.

1/27/14
okay. today was my fourth day working out, and I gotta say, I am truly excited. Last night, at 8 after my daughter went to bed I walked on the treadmill for 30 minutes. It ended up being 1.5 miles and I know it isn't much but I'm just starting out. I found a great playlist on youtube that got me all pumped up and I was even dancing and hopping and working out my arms while I was walking. I have been trying really hard to eat healthy, but I'm a really picky eater so it's very difficult at times.


1/28/14
last night my daughter didn't go to bed until 8:30 and after that I was going to walk on the treadmill but I was so tired I decided to get a good night sleep so I was more rested for tomorrows workout so I read my book for 10 minutes and went to bed. This mornings workout was the hardest so far. The medicine ball felt extra heavy and every workout wore me out. I am doing a 30 day arm challenge that I failed today so I will have to redo it tomorrow. I checked my weight last night and its a good thing I started because I gained another pound. I know it will take months before the weight comes off more easily and faster too. So I'm going to stay off the scale for a while.


3/3/14
It has been a while since I've gotten to write about my weight loss goals. The past few weeks, I've had major setbacks. First I got my period, and afterwards, I was drained. I had no energy. Then my daughter got sick. She has been such a handful. My fiance has been working a lot of overtime so I've had my hands full with her. Then my fiance was sick last week, and this week I'm sick. So, it has been like two or three weeks since I've fully worked out. I was still trying to do some elliptical workouts when I could fit them in.

Anyways, I've redid my motivation board, I'll have to post pictures and I got to cross off 10 lbs! Lets just say, after that 10 lbs, I haven't gotten to cross off anymore :( I'm still motivated though and told my fiance that as soon as we're all feeling better I'm gonna work my butt off! I have been doing decent with eating healthy and haven't had a pop in over a month.

confession time: we were all feeling poopy today and Katlyn wanted to get McDonalds for lunch, so I said OK. It was a mistake, I ate 2 mcdoubles, and a medium fry!! That was almost 1200 calories! But I was craving mcdonalds and still don't know how to say no when it comes to eating out. When it's in my house, I can control what I have in my fridge and pantry. Eating out is a whole other story. I told Katlyn he's my downfall! He's supposed to be my helper.

our day

Well we just had chili leftovers and they were way better than last night! It thickened up from sitting all night. Even my mom asked me how I got it so thick and said it was really good. (She wouldn't admit it was better than hers) haha. And now we are just sitting around watching TV all day. We are watching Grimm season 2. Thankfully me and my fiance have the same taste in TV shows, although not much else in common.  What do you do with your family all day? I've always been curious what other people do with their lives? My fiance works a block shift on Wednesday at 7am til Friday at 3 pm so he is home a lot with me and we just sit around and watch TV. And of course I play with my little munchkin all day. She has been extra wound up lately. I've been having a lot of fun with her. She's trying a lot of new things and its awesome to watch her learn. I've actually been introducing sign language to her. I only know a few basic signs but I read that it will lead to less tantrums if they have a way to communicate what she wants or needs since she doesn't know how to put it to words yet. If your interested, here's a few basic ones to try out.

2.1 Mom

Parents are the most important people in a baby’s life, so mom and dad make great starter signs.
Mom is signed by taking your open dominant hand and tapping the thumb against your chin.

Mom in Sign Language

2.2 Dad

The signs for mom and dad are similar, however, the mom sign is performed on the chin and the dad sign is performed higher up on the forehead.
Dad is signed by taking your open dominant hand and tapping it against your forehead.

Dad in Sign Language

2.3 Eat

Babies are very interested in signs related to food, making eat and milk good starter signs. The sign for eat looks like you are holding some food and bringing it to your mouth. To sign eat, hold your fingers and thumbs together, then move them toward and then away from your mouth.

Eat in Sign Language

2.4 Milk

The sign for milk looks like you are milking a cow. You start with an open hand, then you make it into a fist, then open the hand again and repeat. You can use the same sign for breast milk, formula, or cow’s milk depending on which one you are using at the time.

Milk in Sign Language

2.5 Dog

We end with a fun sign, dog. Take your dominant hand and pat it against your leg as if you are calling a dog.

Dog in Sign Language

one year old meal ideas

Since my daughter started drinking whole milk and eating real food, I realized it's not very easy to come up with ideas to give her. Especially because I'm a very picky eater and do NOT eat healthy. She rarely gets to eat what we do so I am always making something separate for her and it is very time consuming. Luckily I have found some great breakfast foods to make her that you can freeze, so that is at least one meal that comes easily. I am going to add to this list daily so hopefully you get a couple ideas if your starting to run out.

Breakfast:  the pumpkin pancakes and oatmeal are freezer friendly, quick and easy, and my daughter loves them. plus that site has a lot of good meal ideas.

• infant cereal and a pumpkin pancake
• 1 whole wheat peanut butter toast and 1/2 banana
• her favorite: 1 pumpkin pancake with a drop of maple syrup and 1/2 scrambled egg with American cheese
• 2 cubes of fruit oatmeal (I used pear, apple, and bananas)
• yogurt and kiwi/banana puree
• bowl of whole wheat cheerios (sometimes I add slices of banana)
• French toast with a drop of maple syrup
• I tried this baked fruit oatmeal, which is a great way to get in the whole grain and fruit, and the whole family can eat it, but I realized I HATE oatmeal. no matter what way I cook it, it's so gross to me. but Lamora liked it so if you like oatmeal, definitely try that one. I had a bag of frozen mixed berries that I used but I bet fresh fruit would be great.
• Breakfast burrito-whole wheat wrap with scrambled egg black beans fried up pieces of ham and Turkey deli meat and a little bit of cheese.
• i finally got a waffle maker, so whole wheat waffles are now on the list!
• peanut butter toast

I mostly just pick two from the list every day for her breakfast. she LOVES those pancakes and would have them every day if it were up to her.



Lunch: (usually consists of leftovers but for those days my fiancé eats it all..

• 1/2 grilled cheese sandwich on whole wheat bread with tomato soup
• 1/2 tuna salad sandwich on whole wheat bread
• 1/2 scrambled egg with green beans
• hamburger helper with peas and shredded carrots
• chicken, cheese, and broccoli quesadilla with a side of yogurt
• chicken, cheese, black beans, and corn quesadilla
• my version of a healthy pasta salad:  whole wheat penne pasta, diced cheese, broccoli, chicken, and diced carrots with a drop of Italian dressing
• spaghetti with vege packed meatballs and a clementine orange
• cheesy crockpot chicken with mixed veges and sweet potatoes
• whole wheat tuna wrap(tuna salad rolled up in a tortilla wrap)(you could add spinach, substitute greek yogurt for mayo, use whatever you have at the time)
• whole wheat peanut butter and jelly sandwich with blueberries.
• 1/2 grilled cheese and turkey sandwich, black beans and green beans, clementine pieces
• turkey burger pieces, broccoli and peas, and homemade applesauce
• blend( turkey burger, black beans, corn, diced tomatoes), a side of carrots and applesause
• fried turkey ham, scrambled eggs, 1 piece of toast, apple slices, and mixed veges
• tuna noodle casserole 

This was an example of her lunch the other day. hamburger with gravy, brown rice, sweet potato, and carrots.
I got the fruit out of the freezer for her snack later that day. she only likes the blueberries so I ate the peaches and strawberries.

grilled sloppy joes with spinach, diced tomatoes, diced strawberries, and sliced string cheese

It's hard to see, but she ate the string cheese first, then the sandwich. she doesn't like tomatoes but I still try giving them to her and it depends how ripe and juicy the strawberries are for her to like them. 

Snack:

• puffs
• crackers and cheese
• banana
• blueberries
• yogurt
• orange
• string cheese, plus fruit
• blueberry muffins
• carrot cake oatmeal muffins

Dinner:
if she hasn't had bread yet that day I give her a half piece with dinner

• brown rice, broccoli, chicken, and cheese
• chicken alfredo with broccoli
• pork chop, applesauce, potato spinach and feta pierogie
• Potato spinach and feta pierogie with shredded chicken and peas
• vege packed meatballs(I used zucchini instead of garlic cloves), applesauce, and carrots
• chicken and rice, brussel sprouts, and sweet potatoes
• chicken, black beans and corn with a drop of spaghetti sauce and a side of applesauce
• chicken parmesan meatloaf muffins, mashed potatoes, applesauce, and coleslaw for her to try.
• cheesy crockpot chicken over egg noodles, and vege blend(cauliflower, broccoli, and carrots) with cheesy sauce over it.
• Hungarian goulash over egg noodles and green beans  (pretty much beef tips over noodles)
• sour cream parmesan chicken, red potatoes, and green beans
• sour cream noodle bake (add tomatoes and whatever else vegetables you have), green beans, greek yogurt and blueberries
• AWESOME mac n cheese with broccoli, cauliflower and carrots, and banana slices 
• pizza quesadilla (I used turkey pepperoni), corn off the cob, and sliced grapes
• shredded pork chops mixed with cauliflower mash, sweet potatoes and apple sauce.
• barbeque chicken, sweet potato, and grapes
• shredded ham, sweet potato, and blueberries
• homemade chicken tenders with ketchup and honey mustard for dipping(daddy taught her how to dip her chicken and she had so much fun), homemade sweet potato French fries, banana slices
• Leftover chili and cheesy noodles, green beans, and applesauce
• chicken parmesan, brown rice, and California blend veges.
• turkey hamburger with ketchup for dipping, peas, and yogurt
• loaded potatoes
• brown rice baked in some chicken broth, turkey sausage, corn, diced tomatoes, with sprinkled cheese( after it was all cooked i put it in a pan in the oven to warm up the corn and melt the cheese), a mix of peas and corn, and half a piece of bread
• roast with a touch of bbq sauce, and fresh cauliflower baked in the oven 

My mom heard me bitching about how I never know what to feed Lamora since I don't like any veges, I never have healthy food made. So she went out and bought a huge bag of chicken breasts and veges. She also got small containers from the dollar store that are the perfect size for her meals.
She boiled the whole bag of chicken, made a bag of chicken rice, a bag of brussel sprouts sauteed in onions, made a squash with butter and brown sugar, a couple diced sweet potatoes, and pureed an avocado. I also had a can of black beans and corn in the fridge from the day before. after everything was cooked we cut up all the chicken. Then we started filling each bowl with a little bit of everything. Each container had something different in it. examples of the variations:
chicken, brussel sprouts, squash
chicken and rice, black beans and corn, sweet potatoes
chicken mixed with avocado, sweet potatoes, black bean and corn.
and so on, and so on.
we eventually ran out of containers and had to put the leftover chicken and black beans in.
I put all these in the freezer and now I have go to meals when I didn't have anything planned for her.
Its awesome, simple and easy.

are you awesome?

I decided to make my first batch of chili today. I am making a betty crocker recipe in the crock pot.  I'm not even a chili fan, but it seemed like a nice winter meal. I really hope it turns out well, but if not I told my fiancé we will order pizza. haha.

Anyways, listen to what my fiance asked me last night. I was hanging our menu on the fridge and he says to me, "So your awesome now?"   hahahah. The first thing I did was laugh. What and the hell is he talking about? what kind of question is that? I asked him what he meant, and he asks me again, "are you like awesome now?" I still wasn't sure what he meant. so he finally says, "because your doing all this stuff now." Me, "you mean like making a menu for this week?" "haha yeah." So I tell him I'm a super mom now. One of the things we end up doing is making fun of me. That sounds so terrible, but I start it, he just laughs at me.

I'm such a dork, I always come up with these brilliant ideas that end up being terrible ideas. And I always have some project going on. Like one week I loved cooking and I finally tried out all my pinterest recipes, so he comes home from work, and I say "I'm a chef now." haha. He just giggles at me. Then one time I was putting Lamora's new toys together and I hated the way they made it, so I was bitchin and saying what i would have done differently and I said to him, "I should be a toy maker." hahah. So far, that has been the funniest one. After I realized what I said, I laughed so hard my cheeks hurt and I couldn't stop laughing. My fiancé got a good kick out of it too.

So what makes me awesome this week? I found some really good advice on someone's blog about how she takes inventory of her pantry. She can look at what she has then and decide what to make. She also likes to use up what she has before she buys more groceries. I thought that was a really good idea because I end up buying stuff weekly and spending about a hundred bucks a week at walmart. So the other night when my fiancé was at work, I took inventory of all my cupboards and my freezer. It was a little time consuming but I drank a couple beers before I decided to do it, and it wasn't so bad.

Anyways my chili turned out really well. My fiancé added cheezits to his, I just ate mine as was and it was great. It's very filling. We will be having leftovers tomorrow. My favorite! who else loves not having to cook all day?

These two get to have all the fun while mommy cooks =)