Broccoli Frittata (Frittatleson!)…

This is coming to you a little late. I actually prepared this frittata last Sunday (9/3) and ate it with the zoodles on Tuesday (9/5). Things are a little cray, but, a great kinda cray!

Anyway! This is a very easy recipe, great for meal prepping.

I made one small frittata – I only used two eggs…

To the eggs, I added:

• 2 tablespoons of chickpea flour
• 1 tablespoon sour cream
• 2 tablespoons parmesan cheese 
• The smidgiest-smidge of baking powder (I have a fear of flat frittatas!)

Yes! I did give up cheeses, mainly of the soft variety, because I think I was overdoing it in the “cheese is low carb” department. It is low carb, but it’s not the best choice to make if you are looking for something salty/fatty/healthy. Cheese is salty and fatty and can curb hunger, however, not so healthy. I’ve decided that I should go for avocados, nuts and olives to satisfy that fatty need. BUT, I use parmesan as more of a seasoning. I don’t feel the need to eat a cup of parmesan in one sitting – like I have to stop myself from doing with a block of mild cheddar…Speaking of seasonings…

The “Spice Trinity”…

I add several shakes of each to my egg mixture. Plus, I had some leftover broccoli, which I added as well…

I, most definitely, sprayed my 3-cup Pyrex dish with Trader Joe’s Coconut Oil Spray…

No sticking!

I popped it in the convection oven for about 20 minutes at 375 degrees.

It comes out like this…

Yummy! I cut it into triangles to serve, on a bed of zoodles…

So easy, so delicious! The chickpea flour makes it almost into an egg pancake. It’s not quite as flat as one though, and it’s not as airy as a quiche. It’s so good! I had the other two wedges the next day, so this dish keeps nicely for meal prep (I also had it with zoodles – it was a zoodly week…)…

Enjoy!

OH! Frittatleson! – That’s a family joke. When we don’t remember someone’s last name we’ll say its Frittatleson. If we don’t know their name at all, they become Abe Frittatleson. We are all dweebs!

 

Sunday Meal Prep: Feeling Productive…

As the title says, yes, today was a very productive day. I did everything that was on my to-do list and even a little more. One of the most important things I did today was prepare my dinners for the week. Yes – meal prepping is key to making life a little easier.

Seriously. One of my favorite meal preppers, WorkWeekLunch, mentioned a few weeks ago that we have so many decisions to make during the day, having our food already prepared eliminates the need to make even more decisions. It’s true. Think about it…I know that if I am at work, and I haven’t made my meals yet, I will wonder “What do I have? What can I make?”. Sometimes the answer is “go get pizza” – which is not good, because I can tend to overdo things (know yourself!)…

So, I have been meal prepping for a fairly long time. A couple of years, at least. When you see the pictures I post of older preps you’ll see that I haven’t always made the cleanest, healthiest choices. Oh well. That’s what I felt like eating at the time and those were times when I was in full-on maintenance mode, when I was comfortable making a little dip into the world of carbs and sugars after dieting for a while. Here are some of my preps, I added an Instagram link for the food listing. I actually have a lot more preps on Instagram, but you really have to scroll down and it was pre-iPhone…

I had just gone to Trader Joe’s…

Not too bad…

Buffet Style! 

I jacked all of the recipes from Mind Over Munch in this one! 

A soup and overnight oats phase…

Another buffet style prep! This one looks really appealing right now! 

Below are some recent ones. Since I work from home most of the week, I don’t have to prep all of my meals, just dinner on the days that I actually do have to go into the office.

Those are not potatoes – it is pureed cauliflower with a little bit of ricotta!

I am in love with frozen meatballs, obviously…

Here is the prep from today. I have a busy week, filled with some exciting stuff! Yay!

Vegetarian Meal Prep

I added a little something extra to it already. There is not enough red or orange for my taste, so I added some Tomato and Onion Salad…

I started by cutting the farmers market tomatoes my grandma gave me today. Seriously, grandmas are the best with the food gifting! I also cut up a little red onion, for flavor…

I decided to do this when it got dark out (bad lighting)…

I seasoned the sliced tomatoes with garlic powder and 21 Seasoning Salute from Trader Joe’s…

Wax paper on my cutting board, I have been doing this forever. It really helps with clean up!

Then I added a little apple cider vinegar, olive oil and more 21 seasoning salute to the jar, then added the seasoned tomatoes and I shook it up!

Extras for me! (Chef’s treat!)

I didn’t measure, I just wanted enough to coat the tomatoes when I shook the jar!

That should be great for Monday and Tuesday! I’ll have to think of another red or orange for Wednesday and Thursday…

Easy stuff. A little preparation on Sunday, helps you through the entire week!

Enjoy!

 

 

Yogurt Sticks!

 

Yeah, I know how exciting the title sounds. I’m not even going to cheerfully type “But they are exciting!”. They may not be the most exciting things, but they are very useful. Think about the good bacteria! I guess, maybe they can be made to be exciting – I actually got several ideas once I started taking pictures of the process…

Anyway…

Yogurt Sticks. For me they are essential for a good smoothie. They add thickness, almost like adding ice cream or store brought frozen yogurt. That’s what this is like, “breakfast frozen yogurt”. Instead of buying a carton of frozen yogurt and putting scoop after scoop into a once nutritious smoothie, you get to add your own clean, healthy ingredients and control the amount of sugar added.

I usually start the “yogurt stick process” with a huge tub of plain Greek or regular yogurt. Not today. Why? Because yesterday at the grocery store I stumbled upon one of those “Buy these now because the expiration date is coming up soon” deals. It was for Chobani Yogurt and it was 87 cents!

Not too shabby…

I usually don’t buy flavored yogurt. Mainly because the sugar is out of control and for a little carton, it’s not worth it. This yogurt though, it has less sugar and more protein (yay!). Yes, I see there are 14 grams of sugar in one carton. I only use half of the carton in my smoothies though (so there)…

I start by scooping the contents of each container into two separate cups. Then the magic happens (seriously, it takes very little to make me excited)…

Flavorings…Necessary…

Then, I add different flavorings to each cup (woo hoo)! The yogurt is already vanilla flavored, but why not boost it by adding your own ingredients? Since I usually buy plain yogurt, this step is a must.

In the one on the left, I have cocoa powder and vanilla extract. The one on the right has cinnamon and ginger. These will go well with the the two flavors of protein powder I am using right now. So…stir them up…

Stirred!

After they are stirred and smoothed out, I add them to plastic “baggies”. I used basic, fold over baggies and not freezer baggies only because I know I am going to use these in 2 to 3 days. If I was saving them longer, I’d use a sturdier baggie.

Get excited!

The good thing about these (cheaper) fold over baggies is that they can be stretched out to have a flat base on your surface, so it’s not such a mess putting the yogurt in them.

As you can see, I divided the mixtures into two so I have four baggies of yogurt. Less sugar, but you still get the good bacteria that yogurt adds to a smoothie. Yay, probiotics! Yay gut health!

I freeze these bad boys, usually overnight, and this is how they look:

Frozen yogurt stick!

I add the stick to my blender cup and then add all of my smoothie supplements. With this frozen stick, I don’t have to use as much ice either. Which is great because I usually forget to make ice…

Here’s what I’m talking about, with the corresponding flavors…

Natural Whey is THE BOMB! Yes, I just said that…

I use the cinnamon-ginger yogurt stick with the snickerdoodle protein powder and the cocoa with the decadent chocolate.

So, try this. It’s very easy and YAY for more flavor! Doing this just gave me a ton of other ideas…I’ll have to make and share!

Enjoy!

Quickest Meal Prep Ever…

So, it’s Monday. Luckily I am working from home (as I do 60% to 80% of the week) so I can throw together a quick meal prep for when I do have to leave the house this week. I follow a low carb-high(ish) fat meal plan.

I had heard about all of the low carb and no carb variations for years but I was skeptical. I thought “Is this really going to work for me?”. I was so stuck on the “fat makes you fat” rule we were all programmed to follow for weight management. Low fat had worked for me for years BUT I believe that is what put me on an up and down weight roller coaster. I’d do the low fat/low cal thing and then, because it is a deprivation diet, I’d binge when I lost all the weight I wanted, only to gain it back again. I feel like I eat so much now that I am shocked when I look at myself, look at the scale and put on clothes. I am losing weight! I thought I’d gain weight because I have been eating things that were considered “bad”.

This meal prep is not all I eat all day. I have a couple of protein smoothies during the day, a salad of some sort and usually some cheese or lunch meat and “fat bombs” here and there along with this. There aren’t any recipes today, but at least the pictures are colorful and appealing…

It all starts with mason jars and Pyrex…

Mise en place…that applies to storage containers too…

Thanks to Pinterest for putting me on to glass jars all those years ago! I was always a Pyrex fan – because I hate stained, old plastic storage containers. Now, mason jars have taken me to the next level (of perfectionism)…

Nice nectarines, nice…

The nectarines looked good and they were fairly cheap – a great combination. I love random pictures of fruit…with shadows, because it’s pouring outside this morning…

Gorgeous fruit…In jars…

Oh, what’s this? Nectarines AND strawberries? Really great produce sales this week, what can I say? Plus they look so nice in the jars (my precious jars)…

So, on to the main course. Dinner is pretty easy as well…

Turkey Meatballs and Broccoli-Cauliflower Mash

These are turkey meatballs that I got from the frozen section. I haven’t found a recipe that I like enough for meal prepping. I’ll have to try and report back here. I just cook these frozen ones in marinara, put some mozzarella on top, pop them in the toaster oven to melt the cheese and I’m done.

I really, really enjoy mashing cruciferous vegetables. Nope, not just cauliflower, but broccoli and even Brussels sprouts (Yes, I know there are more cruciferous veggies. I didn’t want to list them all, but yeah, I’ll mash those too!)…

Here is the completed prep! So small, it fits on my cutting board…

Added some olives, too…