21-Day Fix Slow Cooker Chili

It's been a long winter with lots of snow and lots of comfort food. I'm bored of the treadmill and miss our active days outside, grilling and overall lighter fare. I've been feeling so sluggish lately and I think it is in part of our over indulgence in treats, treats and more treats!

I've been eyeing the 21-Day Fix with Autumn Calabrese for a couple months now.  When it went on sale this month I decided to buy it strictly for the workouts as I thought organizing the clean eating meal plan might be too much work.  After reading over the guide and watching some of her videos on her clean eating plan, I decided to go for it!

I sat down and planned all 21 days worth of meals and snacks. I made Excel spreadsheets for the daily menus and grocery lists for each week.  I organized a Pinterest board with the recipes and I now am ready to go!

I always do better with these challenges when I have friends to join me but I didn't have any takers this time around! So, for those of you that are interested, I created a challenge group on Facebook and am doing this a second time on March 9th.  It is a closed, private group so posts can only be seen by members and will not show up in other's news feeds. Here, I will share all of the documents I have organized and all of the planning I have done! It will be a support forum for everyone to stay motivated, discuss workouts and share recipes. The official challenge begins March 9th but feel free to join the group before then!

For the record, I will not be getting on any kind of soap box lecturing about clean eating! Velveeta and Rotel happen in my house. Ice cream sundaes happen and so does bacon. I am just struggling to find a balance lately and want to go into spring feeling healthy and fit.  I think this program is just what I need as a kick start and I tend to be more successful when I have friends holding me accountable. 


Here is my 21-Day Fix approved dinner for Monday and lunch for Wednesday!

Two Cups of Chili= 1 Red, 1 Green and 1 Yellow container

Slow Cooker 21-Day Fix Chili
Ingredients
1 lb turkey meat
1 yellow pepper, diced
1 small onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 15 oz can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 15 oz can pinto or kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1/2 cup of frozen, sweet corn
1 can Rotel
1 15 oz can tomato sauce
3/4 cup water
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional)
1 teaspoon salt

Direction:
1. Brown turkey meat with pepper, onion and garlic. Drain
2.  Add browned turkey/pepper mixture to slow cooker pot and add all remaining ingredients.  Cook on low for 4 hours.
Enjoy!

freezer meals for busy weeknights

Right before Isla was born last year, I started doubling our dinner recipes on occasion and storing half of the dish in the freezer. I saved them until after she was born and had a bunch of pre-made dinners ready to go as we adjusted to life as a family of 6! It made life so much easier during those crazy weeknights when the older girls went in a million different directions.

Fast forward one year later and I'm still making a habit of having a variety of frozen dinners stocked in our freezer to make our weeknight evenings slightly less chaotic!

I thought I would share what our freezer looks like today and some of my go-to recipes for doubling and freezing!

1.  Grilled Chicken Breast
Well, this is not a recipe obviously and the batch that is pictured is not actually grilled but oven baked instead! I prefer having grilled chicken breast in the freezer but our grill is currently buried under 2 feet of snow.  I grill/bake boneless chicken breast with a little salt and pepper, individually wrap them and store them in the freezer.  They're so nice to have on hand to defrost and throw in a salad or make some quick quesadillas.

2.  Glazed Meatballs
I prepare the meatballs and freeze them. The day before we're going to eat them, I put them in the fridge to defrost. Before I put them in the oven, I mix up the glaze (the PW glaze is our favorite) right in the pan, stir in the meatballs and pop them in the oven.  I like to serve these with carrot sticks and potatoes of some kind.

3.  Broccoli Cheddar Soup
I love this Skinnytaste version!  This defrosts quickly in the fridge. I serve it with a salad and bread.

4.  Chicken Taquitos
This site has a great chicken taquito recipe that I love to use!  I follow her directions for freezing and baking.  She suggests writing the cooking instructions right on the freezer bag.  I do this for all of my freezer meals. This way, I don't need to go and look up the recipe to find out how long and at what temp it needs to be cooked.

5.  Pioneer Woman Turkey Chili
I have tried lots of chili recipes and I always go back to this one.  I use turkey instead of beef and add a can of rotel to the recipe.

6.  Amazing Pork Tenderloin
This is really good. Pork tenderloins always come two in a pack.  It's so easy to mix up the marinade twice and freeze one, raw, pre-marinated tenderloin.  I defrost it in the fridge the day before I am going to make it and dump it all in the slow cooker the next day! If you are opposed to using dry onion soup mix, you can make your own using this recipe.

7.  Baked Ziti
Two of our girls don't like baked ziti and prefer plain pasta with butter.  I double the recipe and bake one 9x11 pan and use the leftovers for either lunches or another dinner that week.  I take the second half of the recipe and divide it into 3 separate loaf pans.  This way R and L can have either gluten free or buttered pasta and the loaf pan is just enough for the rest of us!  Also, this recipe calls for sour cream but I use ricotta instead.

Thanks for taking a peek inside my freezer today! Have a great week!

This week's menu!

I thought I would link up this week's menu items!  The recipes are all really easy and can be prepped ahead of time, of course!

Sunday: Prep Ahead:  Season up the chicken Saturday night and let it sit in the fridge overnight.
Slow Roasted Chicken, Steamed Green Beans and Mashed Potatoes
This is one of those rare recipes that is a hit with everyone!  It's so easy and so good!

Monday: Prep Ahead: This is so easy to prepare.  You can do it quickly the morning of or get everything ready the night before and store your slow cooker insert in the fridge.  That's what I usually do.
Slow Cooker Pulled Pork, Portuguese Sweet Bread in the bread machine (scroll down for recipe), Carrot Sticks

Tuesday: Prep Ahead: Make the meatballs Monday night after the kids go to sleep and store them in the fridge overnight.
Slow Cooker Turkey Meatballs , Salad
We were supposed to have these last week but we ended up having bread machine crescent rolls with turkey and cheese.  I don't have a link to this recipe but if you want it, let me know! It's a great one.

Wednesday:  Prep Ahead: Defrost the picadillo meat in the fridge overnight.
Picadillo Quesadillas, Snap Peas
A couple weeks ago I tried a slow cooker picadillo recipe and I have to admit, it wasn't a keeper for us.  I felt like we were eating chili that needed more flavor.  It made a ton though so I froze it in 1 cup containers and we will use it for quesadillas!

Thursday: Prep Ahead: Prepare the entire recipe Wednesday night and store in fridge. I have actually made this recipe 2 days ahead of time and it was still great.
Baked Ziti, Salad
I love this recipe but if you don't cover it while it bakes, it dries out.  Also, I always double it and get two pans out of it.  It freezes really well!

Friday: Prep Ahead: Set the bread machine up with the ingredients in the morning and use the delay timer to have the dough ready at 5:00pm. I usually set the dough to be ready about an hour before I actually want to eat dinner.  This way, it can rise for a half hour and the girls can have time to prepare their pizzas.
Make Your Own Pizza , Cucumbers, Red Peppers, Carrot Sticks
The girls like to make their own little creations.  Talia actually prefers to make a copycat version of Domino's cheesy breadsticks.

Saturday: Prep Ahead: Mix everything in the morning and store in the fridge until ready to bake!
Tomato Basil Shrimp , Brown Rice, Sautéed Broccoli Rabe

Have a great week!

lightened up butter-less shrimp scampi

Here is a great weeknight recipe! Super flavorful, lightened up shrimp scampi! It comes together in about 20 minutes!  I promise you will not miss the butter!

Prep Ahead Plan:  Take the time to peel and devein the shrimp the night before and leave them in a bowl in the fridge.  Chop the parsley and garlic the night before too! That is really the most time consuming part of the whole recipe.

Lightened up Shrimp Scampi
adapted from the Weight Watchers

Ingredients

2 teaspoons olive oil

1 lb raw shrimp, large, peeled and deveined

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1 teaspoon salt-free lemon & herb seasoning 

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

6 cloves garlic, minced

¼ cup dry white wine or vermouth

3 teaspoons cornstarch

1 cup chicken broth

8 oz cooked linguine (I use Dreamfields)

¼ cup fresh parsley chopped (or 2 tablespoons dried)

Directions:

 1.  Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat; add garlic and sauté 1 minute. Stir in  fresh lemon juice, lemon pepper seasoning and salt and pepper.

2.  Add shrimp and sauté until bright pink, stirring frequently, just a few minutes.

3.  Add wine and simmer about 1 minute.

4.  Dissolve cornstarch in chicken broth in a small cup and whisk until blended;

     add mixture to skillet and simmer 2 minutes, until sauce thickens.  If using dried parsley add it now (if using fresh, wait until serving).

5.  Add cooked linguini to the shrimp and scampi sauce mixture (if using fresh parsley, mix it in before serving).

Sweetened Guinness and Teriyaki Grilled Steak

Sweetened Guinness and teriyaki steak for St. Patrick’s Day

With our combined Sheridan and Eagan Irish ancestry one would think we would be serving up some corned beef and cabbage for tomorrow night’s St. Patty’s Day feast. Nope.  We love the idea of that traditional Irish dinner but unfortunately, neither of us like it very much!  In the past we’ve celebrated with Guinness bbq chicken or Guinness braised short ribs  Tomorrow, we’re serving up another Guinness flavor infused dish.  Very easy and very flavorful!  Sweetened Guinness and teriyaki grilled steak!

Prep Ahead Plan:  Combine all ingredients in a Ziploc bag either the night before or 6-8 hours before grilling!  Marinate in fridge!

Sweetened Guinness and Teriyaki Grilled Steak

Ingredients

½ cup of Guinness beer

¼ cup of teriyaki sauce (I use Kikoman reduced sodium or if I'm extra ambitious, I use the homemade recipe found HERE)

2 large cloves minced garlic

3 Tablespoons brown sugar

1 teaspoon finely ground black pepper

1 pound steak (Whichever cut you prefer.  NY strip, t-bone and steak tips work well.)

Directions

1.     Combine everything except for steak in a bowl or large Ziploc bag.  Mix well.

2.     Add steak to marinade, moving it around to make sure the marinade is all over the steak.

3.     Refrigerate overnight or for 6-8 hours.

4.     Grill over medium-high heat on a covered grill 3 to 5 minutes per side for medium doneness depending on thickness of steak and how you like your steak cooked! 

Asian Shrimp (or chicken) Noodle Salad (served warm or cold)

I came across an adaptation of this Asian style dressing online and thought it would be delicious served over linguini and veggies!  It might be a new favorite!  I used Dreamfields Pasta in an effort to reduce carbs and couldn't taste the difference!  The recipe below is pictured here but I think next time I will add more vegetables.  Maybe double the carrots and add broccoli too!  We ate it warm for dinner but I ate the leftovers cold as a salad and it was even better the next day!  A keeper!

Prep Ahead Plan:  I prepared the dressing and cut the veggies the night before.  It all comes together very quickly at dinner time when those 2 things are done ahead of time!  

Asian Shrimp and Noodle Salad

Ingredients:

1/3 cup vegetable oil 1/3 cup light soy sauce 1/3 cup rice vinegar 1 teaspoon sesame oil 3 tablespoons white sugar 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper 1 (16 ounce) Dream Fields Linguine 2 carrots, cut julienne style 1 red pepper, cut julienne style Handful (or 2) of snow peas 1 pound cooked shrimp or 2 cups cooked chicken Chopped fresh cilantro (a handful or about a 1/3 cup) Chopped scallions (a handful or about 1/3 cup)

Directions:

1. In a mason jar or medium sized bowl, mix together the first 7 ingredients for the dressing.  Shake and refrigerate until ready to use or put aside to use immediately.

2.  Boil pasta according to package directions, drain and rinse with cold water.

3.  While pasta boils prepare carrots, red pepper and snow peas by adding them to the bowl you are going to mix the entire salad together.  (I like to steam them slightly so they are not crunchy but you don’t have to.  I actually put them all in the bowl I’m going to mix the salad in, add a little water, cover it partially and microwave for about 2 minutes.  Drain water.)

4.  Mix pasta with veggies and shrimp or chicken.  Pour dressing over top. Top with cilantro and scallions. Stir to combine and serve warm or cold.

Escarole and Bean Soup..lunch for Mommy

What do you eat for lunch during the week?  When I was working, I lined up Riley, Talia and my lunch boxes and packed them full of healthy options. The girls' lunches are still filled with a variety of satisfying, healthy treats but mine is pretty much non-existant! I never went back to work after Lola was born and since then I have been very inconsistent about feeding myself healthy lunches!  I seem to have breakfast and dinner down but lunch either gets skipped or I find myself foraging, eating the remnants of Talia's soup or the crusts of Lola's peanut butter and jelly sandwich.  I'm not big on resolutions but this is something I would like to be more consistent about in 2013.

Soup is always a great lunch option for me (and the kids).  I make it over the weekend and we eat it for several days during the week.  It's quick to reheat in between preschool pick up and the arrival of Talia's afternoon kindergarten bus!  Escarole and bean soup is on the menu this week!

Prep Ahead Plan:  I made this soup on Sunday and as the week goes on, the flavors marry and taste even more wonderful.  Soup only gets better with time!

Escarole and Bean Soup
Ingredients
1 head of escarole, washed and chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cloves garlic, crushed or minced
dash of crushed red pepper (optional)
2 (32 oz) cartons of low sodium chicken or vegetable broth
15 oz can of cannelloni beans

Directions:
1.  Heat olive oil in a large soup pot.  Add garlic and crushed red pepper and saute for about 1 minute.
2.  Add escarole and saute for a few minutes until the leaves get wilty (if that's a word).
3.  Add broth and beans and bring to a boil.  Simmer until the leaves are tender enough for your taste!
4.  Serve with a sprinkling parmesan cheese (optional).