Easy Summer Meal Plan!

Late nights and early mornings makes for long, fun summer days! Add in a few longs weekends and some traveling and sometimes sticking to your clean eating plan gets tossed out the window!  Just because time is crunched however doesn't mean you need to give up. This is our meal plan for the week...and after a weekend of traveling its EASY! One episode of Dora the Explorer (25 minutes) and I am prepped and ready for the week. Plus I would rather spend time at the pool after work than chopping veggies. This can be 21 Day Fix, Paleo friendly and gluten free (with a few modifications depending on your preference).

Tips / Shopping Tricks / Recipes:
- Grilled salmon recipe
- Mustard chicken thighs recipe
- Pork stir fry includes grilled pork chops + stir fry veggies (frozen) from Trader Joes
- Turkey burgers and sweet potato fries are both from Trader Joes
- Zoodles (zucchini noodles are chopped with a spiralizer) and tossed in coconut oil with your choice of vegetables (with optional meatballs).
- Energy bite recipe
- Paleo friendly breakfast quiche recipe

Snacks:
Greek Yogurt
Berries
Chopped Veggies
Almonds
Dark Chocolate
Protein Smoothie (Using Shakeology + coconut milk)
Coconut water

Prep:
I typically chop all my raw veggies ahead of time as well as bake extra chicken and grilled veggies for lunches during the week. I also make the quiche and energy bits ahead of time to have throughout the week. This takes me about 25-30 minutes.

To plan for dinners I simply prep/plan the night before. Each night I also pack my lunch for the next day. It probably takes me 15 minutes an evening to gather ingredients and plan/pack. Not to bad!

Try it and let me know what you think!

Energy Balls! (21 Day Fix Friendly!)

One of my clients introduced me to these and I CANNOT get enough! I have serious issues with cutting back on sugar and these help me with my cravings. They taste like a dessert and are SO good.

I make a double batch and they last the entire week. You can even skip the "ball" part and just spread the mixture evenly across the pan and cut into single servings once they are set. 

Ingredients:

1 cup rolled oats

1/2 cup chocolate chips (I used dark chocolate)

1/2 cup ground flax seed (I used flax seed or chia seeds or both!)

1/2 cup peanut butter (I also have tried almond butter)

1/3 cup honey

Directions:

Mix all ingredients together in a bowl and scoop out into tablespoon size portions. Freeze for 1+ hours. (I keep them in the freezer until I am ready to eat them!)

YUM!  You can also substitute fruit and nuts for the chocolate chips, add coconut, use different nut butters etc. SO good! I eat two balls for 1 serving (they are about 95 calories each) and count it as a yellow and a red on the 21 Day Fix plan.  Enjoy!

Try it and let me know what you think! 

Healthy Inspired Father's Day Gift Guide!!

Its Father's Day week! For those of you that follow my FB page, I recently shared the emotional roller coaster I experience this week given the loss of my dad.

With that said, I love celebrating holidays all the special dad's out there and thought it would be fun to put together a special "healthy" focused Father's Day Gift guide.

So here are my recommendations for all those special dads! :)

Get Creative. I am firm believer that health and fitness is not just about healthy eating and workouts but about your total emotional state. So how about a fun homemade drawing, framed picture or even a handmade gift? I love this custom frame that allows you to switch out the picture anytime!

Think Vacation! Dad's love to relax so how about some goodies for your upcoming summer vacation or pool outings? These sunglasses and swim trunks are super stylish!

Fitness Monitors. These are not only practical but add a little bit of competitive fun to the family. Monitor your steps, heart rate and more. There are so many great options to choose from.

New Kicks. Because who doesn't love new shoes? (Ok, maybe that is a women's thing....) BUT, these are great for the active dad who needs a good pair of cross-trainers this summer!

Grill Set! Grilling is a HUGE part of our summer routine. There are so many cool grilling accessories out there include this awesome utensil kit. Other ideas include cookbooks, grill light, grill cleaner etc.

Chore Certificates! Give Dad a break and let him cash in his own custom chore coupons. I especially love the one where its a punch card. Maybe give him 5 free grass mowings so he can watch golf instead! :)

Happy gifting! Have an amazing weekend and Father's Day! We will be celebrating this guy and hopefully doing a little bit of relaxing! :)

Top 10 Easy, Healthy Toddler Snacks!

I don't know about you but I feel like my girls eat every 10 minutes and their preference would be puffs (air) or some sort of cracker or carb! :) With that said, we have tried very hard to incorporate some easy healthy snacks and sides to keep them energized and happy!

These are some of my go to favorite snacks and recipes that we make or purchase each month. We try to keep the foods simple, organic and easily accessible. Since we have to have two of everything they are usually something that is a single serving.

1) Cheese Sticks
2) Trader Joes Organic Peanut Butter Crackers
3) Breakfast Cookies
4) Trader Joes Organic Applesauce / Fruit Pouches
5) Apple / Peanut butter slices
6) Raisins / Fresh fruit
7) Blueberry Oatmeal Muffins
8) Homemade popsicles (We use vegan protein powder instead of the cocoa. You can also try yogurt.)
9) Cottage Cheese (a great source of protein)
10) Ice Cream (Guiltless of course!)

I hope this helps with your planning. Toddler snacks are also great ideas of snacks for adults when traveling or for a long day of meetings at the office! Happy snacking!