Let's Eat! Meal Prepping For The Week

Meal planning is kind of one of those tedious but necessary things for me to do.  I prep meals for a couple of reasons:

1.  To be less wasteful.  I cannot stand throwing food away.  

2.  To eat less junk.  If food is already prepared and ready, I might not be eating 20 cookies.

3.  Save money.  No need to eat out so much If you've already got something that's already prepped and ready.  

4.  Weight loss.  Ties back in to #2.  

We like to make subs because everybody loves them.  I try to make them as close as I can to a restaurant style sub.  You know you don't want to feel like you're being totally deprived.  This sub could have been made by Subway. Lol I have some medium sized containers for fruit cups.  These are easy to make and grab.  I'll  pack these for Andre (big Dre) in his work lunchbag. So this is what our fridge looked like last week.  We have a small fridge and a house full of people.  We can only make a few meals at a time and are usually near empty of meals by day 2.  This fridge has been the real mvp. 😁  There are times I  don't always prep on a regular basis due to the size of the fridge and the size of our family. Enough food.  Not enough fridge.  However, it makes things a whole lot easier.  It has to been done in stages, though. Here's some of the meals that I made last week.  Of course, I had tiny helpers.  My mini chefs were on deck to help with the subs until they started eating all the meat and throwing spinach on the floor.  Toddlers. You can see sausage biscuits that we made in the background for breakfast.  Boiled eggs and muffins are somewhere back there too.  Those usually go into lunch boxes, breakfast or afterschool snacks.
This is a shrimp, broccoli and cauliflower bake that was about to go into the oven.  My sister introduced me to this and it's been a favorite ever sense.  

I like to season it with this Kick'n Chicken seasoning and sometimes a bit of seasoning salt.  The Kick'n Chicken is a bit spicy so you might want to pass if you don't like spicy foods. I think I baked this for about 45 minutes to an hour.
Then, I made some salad containers using cubed ham.  I left one of the compartments blank because I couldn't decide whether I wanted to add something sweet or not.  I always have to leave myself the option of getting something sweet so I don't go crazy with it later.  However, I ended up being full after the salad and fruit and didn't add anything. GO ME!

After about 2 days, the meals are clearing out in the fridge.  Big family-small fridge problems.  So it was time to make some more.  I made more subs and this time decided to add some pasta salad.  It's just made with with tri colored rotini, cut up shrimp, cubed ham and house Italian dressing. This is the fridge currently and I've cut up and separated everything.  It makes it easier than having to wash and pull grapes off a vine or cut strawberries daily.  I did make some salads and some grilled chicken wraps wrapped in that parchment paper. I plan to go ahead and cook the chicken for quesadillas this week, but that'll have to wait until more space frees up. Are you planning any meals this week?

My 2018 Word Of The Year

A new year.  Another chance at life.  Another year of possibilities. Some new goals. Some old goals.  

I usually make a few goals every year, but I also try to make goals throughout the year.

I usually list my goals, make a vision board (write the vision. Make it plain.).  This year I ordered a goal setting book that I'll blog about later.  It asked you to pick a word of the Year.  I've never chosen a word for the Year.  It took me a while to choose one too, because I kept switching between several.  I finally settled on "BLOOM."

Last year, I ordered a bloom daily planner and fell in love with it.  The thought of blooming into your whole self, your best self...  I absolutely loved it and this planner.  I ordered it again this year.  However, the only one that had the layout I wanted had this quote on the cover:

Bloom Where You Are Planted

I felt like it was speaking directly to me.  A few weeks earlier, I strolled acrosd two different sermons and a host of instagram posts all related or directly talking about growth and blooming.  I just couldn't shake the word.  I tried to.  

So I was like, "Ok God, I hear you."  It's time.  Not that I believe in waiting for "the perfect time."  I'm just still trying to manage it.  Ummm...twin toddler life!  Busy! Busy! Busy!  I be knocked out and asleep in a heartbeat.  So finding time to crush goals without falling asleep is a struggle.  Some things get easier as they get older.  Some things get harder.  I'm still figuring it out.
Another thing - I'm kind of quiet, kind of introverted, kind of keep to myself, kind of me. Lol.  Nothing really wrong with that, but I'm working on that too.


So in 2018, I plan to bloom.  Bloom in my faith, bloom in my relationships, bloom in work, just beautifully bloom in life.

Bloom and let yourself be free.

How I plan to bloom -
Really listening and praying for God's direction in my life.  You can always use more of that. Making sure I make the most of every opportunity.  Saying "no" to some things so I can say "yes" to myself. Using all resources available to me to the fullest extent.  Not putting fear over faith Really utilizing the gifts God gave me Taking more risks Enjoying the moments and the journey.  



So here's to blooming in 2018.  It's time.  Maybe it's your time too.