Adjusted ingredient list for Jan Meals

Below is a list of ingredients needed to prepare the 7 recipes listed in the post for the Jan. meals yesterday (Dec 29th). The servings were adjusted to 12 servings per recipes with 12 ounces (at least) of meat needed for each night.

 12 ounces per meal: Paris, 6 oz, Angela, 3 oz, Ava, 2 oz

Pesto Pasta with Chicken (12 servings)

-       Bow Tie Pasta

-       1.5 Tsp Olive oil

-       3 cloves of garlic

-       3 Lbs boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into pieces

-       Red pepper flakes

-       ½ cupe of Sun Dried Tomatoes/ Diced tomatoes

-       ¾ cup of pesto sauce

Pesto Salmon and Italian Veggies (12 servings)

-       16 (6 oz) skinless salmon fillets 

-       5 lbs fresh green beans, ends trimmed or 1 lb (medium/thin) asparagus, tough ends trimmed

-       12 tsp olive oil, divided 

-       Salt and freshly ground black pepper

-       1 cup pesto, homemade or store bought (half a recipe of the homemade is enough)

-       5T, 1 tsp fresh lemon juice

-       4 pint grape tomatoes, halved

Spaghetti with Noodles and Zoodles

-       Spaghetti Sauce

-       3 lbs Ground Turkey

-       Zucchini

-       Spaghetti Noodles

-       1 cup roughly-chopped fresh basil leaves, loosely packed

-       1 T coarse salt

-       1/2 teaspoon black pepper

-       4T Minced Garlic

Lemon Pepper Chicken

-       3 lbs breasts, each cut in half

-       4 Tablespoons Lemon Pepper Seasoning

-       Lemon Juice

Crockpot BBQ Chicken

-       3 lbs boneless, skinless  chicken breasts

-       1.5 cup  BBQ sauce

-       1/2 cup Zesty Italian dressing

-       1/2 cup brown sugar

-       1.5 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

-       salt to taste

Lemon Garlic Shrimp Over Potatoes/Cauliflower

Shrimp Marinade:

-       Zest from 1 lemon

-       2 cloves garlic, minced

-       3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

-       1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

-       1 pound raw shrimp, shelled and de-veined

Cauliflower Mash:

-       1 head of cauliflower, cut into large-ish florets

-       6-8 cloves garlic, peeled

-       extra-virgin olive oil

-       Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

-       butter (grass-fed)

-       1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, freshly grated

-       (optional) half and half or cream / or broth, if needed to correct consistency

Lemon Garlic Shrimp:

-       Marinated shrimp (from above)

-       6 cloves garlic, minced

-       2 slices bacon

-       2 tablespoons butter (grass-fed)

-       1/2 cup white wine, or bottled clam juice

-       1/2 sweet onion, thinly sliced

-       1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, or to taste

-       pinch or two of dried oregano

-       juice of one lemon

-       Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

-       2 tablespoons fresh oregano, chopped

Mashed Potatoes

-       5 pounds red potatoes, cut into chunks

-       1 tablespoon minced garlic

-       3 cubes chicken bouillon

-       1 (8 ounce) container sour cream

-       1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened

-       ½ cup butter

-       salt and pepper to taste

Italian Chicken Packets

-       4 cups frozen broccoli cuts/ Asparagus

-       3 can (14.5 oz each) Hunt's® Fire Roasted Diced Tomatoes, drained

-       3/4 cup Italian dressing

-       3 boneless skinless chicken breasts

-       1.5 teaspoon garlic powder

-       1.5 teaspoon salt

-       1.5 teaspoon ground black pepper

     What's next? 

Go through the list of ingredients and check your kitchen for items you already have. Then make a grocery list of the items you need. 

January Monthly Dinner Plan

So, it all starts with Pinterest. My board Food::What's On the Menu? Contains only the meals I am currently preparing. Al the end of the month, they can go to a few places: Food:: Lose it! Recipes (these are the meals I calculated calories for and added the calorie count onto the comments of the pin), Food:: Tried it and Liked it! I didn't add the calorie count but know I would want to remake that recipe again one day. Last option is "delete!" Means, I would not make that recipe again for whatever reason.

Here is the link to my "What's on the Menu?" board (there will be different meals after Jan is over. I also move them off as we finish eating them):
https://www.pinterest.com/ang8169/foodwhats-on-the-menu/

For January- 
 Meal 1: Pesto Pasta with Chicken (I will use either Zoodles or Spaghetti Squash instead of noodles)



Meal 2: Pesto Salmon with Italian Veggies


Meal 3: Spaghetti (for me Zoodles instead of noodles)


Meal 4: Lemon Chicken with Asparagus


Meal 5: Shredded BBQ Chicken (my husband will probably do sandwiches, I'll make a salad with it)


Meal 6: Italian Chicken Packets


Meal 7: Lemon Shrimp Over Cauliflower (Rice or Mashed Potatoes for my husband)

Now what? 

Figure out your portions. For me, this is how I do it: 

I will typically eat about 4 oz of meat, my daughter may eat 2 oz and my husband will eat 6 oz. So, we will likely consume about  12 ounces per night. I am going to round up to 1lb per meal. This helps me start the adjustment of each recipe. First, I copy and paste the ingredients only onto 1 document and I start by adjusting the meat. Then I adjust the rest of the ingredient based on the meat adjustment. For example, if I am doubling the meat portion, I will double all of the rest of the ingredients at well. Also, pay attention to the original servings. I make 12 servings. That means we are eating the same recipe 4 times in a month. We eat each recipe two days in a row, so there is a cook day and a leftover day. Then I won't cook that meal again for another two weeks. 

I will provide a sample of my work to create an ingredient list in the next post...

Lemon Water

10: Detox drink. Either lemon and hot water or Organic Apple Cider Vinegar and water. Keeps you cleansed and happy. Lots of benefits to both drinks. Once in the morning and once in the evening.

Warm Lemon Water: 

Lemon in Water has amazing impacts in weight loss. Lemon increases your metabolic rate. It also helps with digestion, and flushes toxins from your body.  Here is an awesome graphic that gives you al of the benefits. 

Is It Best to Drink Lemon Water Hot or Cold? 

Credits: http://www.waterbenefitshealth.com/lemon-in-water.html 

Neither hot or cold, actually. Drinking it warm or at room temperature is the best choice.

Warm or room temperature: 

Water that is warm or room temperature will provide the most health benefits and allow for the full enzymatic and energetic properties of the lemon. If you like a hot drink in the morning, warm lemon water is the best choice.

Boiling hot: 

Even though drinking hot lemon water is very soothing, especially in cold weather, the heat will destroy some of the enzymatic properties of the fresh lemon juice.

Ice cold: 

Avoid drinking lemon in water that is ice cold whenever possible because it may hinder the digestive benefits of the lemon. In addition, even though your body will heat up the ice cold lemon water, it requires more energy and more work for the body. 

However, drinking fresh lemon juice at any temperature is better than not drinking it at all!

http://theberry.com/2014/11/06/daily-motivation-25-photos-655/

Apple Cider Vinegar

- This beverage will also allow you to increase your metabolism

Here is another site for more information: http://homeremediesforlife.com/apple-cider-vinegar-weight-loss/

10 Keys to Success

Okay, so if I was asked to make a list (in order of priority) that are absolutely essential to success, this is what I would choose:

10: Detox drink. Either lemon and hot water or Organic Apple Cider Vinegar and water. Keeps you cleansed and happy. Lots of benefits to both drinks. Once in the morning and once in the evening.

9: Drink Green Tea. Lots of green tea. Anytime you feel hungry and you are not scheduled to eat, drink green tea. Hot, cold...doesn't matter. I prefer decaf.

8: Weigh yourself daily. This is a hot button issue and is NOT for everyone. If you are going to jump on the scale, see your weight increase by .2lbs from the day prior and go eat cake in disappointment while crying, then it isn't for you. So take a minute to hear me out about why I feel this is so critical.... Weighing yourself allows you to learn your body's patterns. How quickly/slowly do you typically lose weight? Are you making progress toward your goal? Is your gain from muscle gain (the good gain)? Is your gain from a pattern of poor choices, sodium intake or water weight? Will your gain drop back off? If so, what happened in your day that could have led to the drop? Was it a sustainable loss? In order to see the patterns and really gain an understanding of my body I have a line graph I create. It is taped right above my scale on the wall. Everyday, I plot a new dot on the chart that illustrates a loss or a gain. It has a trend line and I try to make my goal to stay under the line. Gains are not bad...they help with reflection. Again, this is not for everybody.

7: Internal Dialogue. It is very important that you keep this geared toward motivation and positivity. You are going to have this internal dialogue no matter what. I notice a difference of WHEN my dialogue comes depending on how I am eating. If I am eating poorly, my dialogue comes after I eat and in very destructive and discouraging patterns. If I am eating clean and seeing results, it comes before I eat, multiple times a day, encouraging me to stay the course.

6: Workout. You have to remember that 70% of your losses will come from the kitchen. 30 % comes from well plan, productive workouts. But this is more than just numbers on the scale. They gym does accelerate possible weight loss, but it also helps you stay in the game mentally. It is very therapeutic. I was always that person who HATED the gym. I found that the key was finding what you are into in at the gym. For me that was lifting and Zumba.

5: Log your meals. This could be handwritten but I would recommend that you get an app. This keeps track of your calories and has a data base for most foods. This also helps you reflect.

4: Know what your portions look like. For me, this was a long process of measuring and logging EVERYTHING. I still feel like I need to go back to that from time to time but now, I just eyeball my portions and log them according to my estimate. This will vary based on where you are in your learning process.

3: Write out your meals for the week before you go into the week. Make a plan. Most important part of your plan? Eat 5-6 times per day, 3-4 hours apart: Breakfast, Snack, Lunch, Snack, Dinner, Late Night Snack (Not after 8pm). Keep these meals small/within your calorie range. EAT ALL OF OUR CALORIES. If you do not your body will go into starvation mode and store fat, which means NO WEIGHT LOSS FOR YOU. Eat as clean as possible.

2: Reflect. Don't get down on yourself because of mistakes you make the prior day or week. Reflect on what went wrong and why. Analyze the pattern of your mistakes and adjust to them. For example, if I am meal planning for the week, and think back on my week and notice that I was eating random sweets from the candy jar multiple times a week after lunch, I identify that I have a need for sweets after lunch. So I may make a dairy free, sugar free cookie for after lunch to curb that craving that is a fraction of the calories. This part is fun for me.

...And for the most important Key to Success...

1: #mealprepSunday. Invest time to prepare your meals for the week. Every Sunday cook, portion and package your breakfast, snacks and lunch. I cook and freeze my dinners monthly.

#Mindset.....You can do it! 

I will take one key per day and elaborating on them for any who are interested in knowing more about any of these. 

Who will you be June 2016?

I use this picture to ask myself a question: 
What will my 2016 picture look like? With Thanksgiving and Christmas luring me back into my 2013 habits, I am asking myself this question daily right now. It takes forever to drop the weight but the minute you put a piece of chocolate in your mouth, it seems like you immediately gain 20 pounds! Now, I am not going to be dramatic and say that I am bouncing between my 2013 and 2015 weight, but I am saying it is very easy to lose sight of your goal, especially when you feel like you have crossed some kind of finish line in your fitness goals. I am here to tell you that your efforts are never done. Your inner bad habits still reside in you and you have to constantly actively work to keep them at bay. That is why it is so important to engage in healthy habits and enjoy it. If you don't, you're in for a hell of a battle with your inner self. So, ask yourself- June 2016: What will your picture look like? Will you see progress as a result of making the right choices or will you lose your battle with your inner bad habits and regret it later?