Hello, hello! I hope you’re all enjoying this beautiful Saturday! <3
I also hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! I love Thanksgiving and I love this time of year. I’m so happy that Christmas season is upon us!
Ya know, every year I remind myself to get as much done as possible as early as possible…..so I can just sit back and soak up the season with the family. AND, every year it seems like I’m always scramblin’ to get everything done and I want to pull all my hair out! Ha ha.
I keep tryin’ though!
Several years ago I started setting up all of the Christmas decorations the weekend before Thanksgiving and I gotta say….I love it! It is such a royal pain in the bee-hind to set up all the Christmas stuff. I think it usually takes about THREE hours!! Soooo, I decided that I might as well set it up early since it takes so much effort AND I also love to get it done early so I don’t have to do it amid all of the other Christmas craziness!
ALSO, several years ago we started taking our Family picture for the Christmas card on Thanksgiving. It’s hard to find a time when we are all together and it seems like we’re all a little more dressed up on Thanksgiving Day….so it makes it much easier to take a picture that day! I really do not love taking family pictures, but this seems to simplify it a bit.
I also love taking the pics on Thanksgiving because then I can get the cards printed up AND sent out early!
Check!
Soooo, those are a couple things I’ve learned that help to simplify the Christmas craziness a little. I’m also so very thankful for Amazon and online shopping. Hallelujah!
So, this Thanksgiving I didn’t take a single picture (other than our family picture!) I also didn’t post anything to Instagram or anything! It was actually nice. There are some days when I like to take a bunch of pictures and update social media and then there are days when I just don’t.
On this particular Thanksgiving, I just wanted to sit back, enjoy the holiday, be present and just hang with the fam. It was nice.
We were planning on heading up to Kev’s mom’s house in Oregon this year, but we had some HUGE snowstorms over Thanksgiving, so we decided that it would be best to just stay home.
So, we enjoyed dinner at my mom’s house with some of my extended and immediate family. It was so nice to spend time with family, reminisce and focus on all of our many blessings. I also loooooove Thanksgiving dinner! Ha ha! I’m always sad when I get full. 🙁
Anyway, here is the pic we took that we’re going to use for our card this year,
And here are a few more we took….
It’s nice that we don’t have any little tiny kids (although it makes me sad too.) It certainly makes the family picture process a little easier! It’s hard to get the dog to cooperate though, lol!
And here are some pics of the kids enjoying all the snow!
They loved making that snowman! I’ve found that my kids usually LOVE the snow for about a month….and then we’re all ready for it to go away. Ha ha!
************************************
Well today I thought I’d just share a lot of healthy meal ideas! I have a ton of tried and true recipes that I make all the time. I also like to experiment and try new recipes too!
I also gotta say that as far as healthy living, weight loss and overall well-being goes….diet is key! The things we choose to put in our bodies (or not put in our bodies) make such a big difference in our overall health.
Soooo, if you’re wanting to lose a little weight and/or improve your health…pay attention the quality of the food you eat.
One of the biggest things that helps me is actually pretty simple….eat most of your meals at home. Even though there are a lot of healthy options out there, I always tend to eat better AND eat less when I eat at home!
Soooo, here are some ideas! I’m breaking it up into breakfast, lunch, dinner and snack ideas, but really you can eat any of these things ANY time of day!
Breakfast:
Healthy Egg Wrap!
These are so yummy, simple, easy, filling and healthy! You can click here for the actual recipe.
I just like to fry up an egg and some egg whites into a thin tortilla, then I fill it with things like sauteed peppers, onions, ham, chicken, cheese and other veggies. After I roll it up, I top it with salsa, guac and sour cream.
Various egg creations and/or protein pancakes…
I love to make egg scrambles full of whatever needs to be used up in the fridge! I usually use peppers, onions and tomatoes, but I sometimes add olives, zucchini, mushrooms and meat. I usually top it with a little cheese and/or salsa, guac and sour cream.
I love protein pancakes! I have several recipes in my Recipe section, but my favorite go-to ones are my Chocolate Protein Pancakes.
I love to make a big batch and store the leftovers in the freezer. Then I can just pop a couple in the toaster whenever I want some. I love to top them with things like nut butter, fruit, nuts, coconut, sugar-free syrups and whipped cream! So good!
Here’s another very simple version of this….
This is just a blueberry protein pancake topped with nut butter (love the one from Costco!) and some scrambled egg whites topped with one whole fried egg, topped with ketchup. YUM!
Egg creations and protein pancakes are soooooo versatile!
I also love to have oatmeal for breakfast, but I haven’t made it in a long time! It seems like I’ll make it A TON for several months and then I won’t have it at all for several months!
I’m in an oatmeal drought right now. 😉
Lunch:
My favorite things for lunch are usually leftovers, protein shakes and any of those breakfast ideas. I also LOVE to make sandwiches on healthy wraps!
My two favorite healthy wrap brands that I use all the time are Flatouts (I particularly like their Fold-It varities) and Joseph’s Pita and Lavash breads.
I usually buy them both at Walmart, but they’re also available at many other grocery stores!
My favorite sandwiches to make in them are egg creations (shocker!), tuna fish, egg salad or turkey!
I love how versatile these healthy wraps are too! You really can use them for anything that you’d use regular bread for. I’ve even made pizza out of them and it’s great!
Snacks:
Whenever I have a quick snack, I always try to include a healthy protein. Here are a few things I’ve had lately…
Rotisserie chicken with raspberries,
This is a pretty common one for me. I love to keep rotisserie chicken in the fridge for an easy protein! I will pair it with fruit (berries, apples, pineapple, oranges), some crackers or even a piece of toast.
This is also a random, yummy snack that we have all the time here!
Cheese Crisps!
We just cut up one or two string cheeses, lay them out on a microwave safe plate and “cook” them in the microwave for between 1 minute and 1 minute, 20 seconds. It just depends on how crispy you like them!
My kids love these and I think they’re yummy too! I usually pair these with the same things like fruit, crackers, toast, etc.
Dinner:
Dinner is the meal that I think most of us are always looking for new ideas! I have so many recipes that I love and make all the time. You can look in my Recipe Section for many of those or check out this post for other kid-friendly dinner ideas.
Some of the things we’ve been making lately are….
SOUP!
I made this White Chicken Chili the other day and I love it! It’s so quick, easy and yummy!
I also made this Cheesy Vegetable Soup recently and I gotta say, I think it’s my kid’s favorite!
I added some canned chicken to mine (protein!) and I made some breadsticks on the side.
I loooooove those breadsticks so much (too much!), but I gotta say….they are dangerous! It’s hard for me to have just one. So, I just don’t make them too often.
We also make tacos a lot because they are so quick, easy and versatile. Here’s one of mine that I made on a Flatout Fold-It.
I think I ended up eating this with a fork, ha ha! That’s my favorite way to do tacos though….start with a healthy wrap and then load it up!
Here’s another easy meal idea…..
I bought some ravioli at Costco that my kids wanted to try. I decided to cook up some grilled chicken and some veggies on the side. That way I got to enjoy some raviolis, but I didn’t make them the main thing on my plate! I just had a few (super yummy!) and then rounded it out with the chicken and veggies.
I made some Chicken Tikka Masala recently that was yummy!
I used this recipe, but I subbed plain Greek yogurt for the heavy cream.
I gotta say I enjoyed this recipe, but I think I like my Slow Cooker Indian Butter Chicken recipe better. I think it’s easier and it really tasted about the same.
In fact, I’m not quite sure what the difference is between Butter Chicken and Chicken Tikka Masala! If one of you know, please enlighten me! I can’t seem to see much difference.
This is one of my go-to dinners that I make quite often!
I just cook up some chicken in my electric flying pan, then stir-fry a bunch of veggies. I mix them all together and pour in a sauce. Lately I’ve been using various sauces from Trader Joe’s. My favs are the Soyaki and BBQ sauces.
I serve it all on top of rice or quinoa.
I also like to cook up some potstickers on the side. There are several varieties at Costco that we love. My kids all love potstickers, so when I make them on the side, they don’t complain about the chicken and veggies!
I’ve made this Chicken Pot Pie from Mel’s Kitchen Cafe a few times recently and my family loves it!
There are options for a biscuit crust or a pie crust on that recipe. I always use the biscuit crust because I LOVE biscuits!
I gotta say the biscuits aren’t healthy, of course, but I just don’t have a lot of it. The filling isn’t too bad though.
I wouldn’t consider this to be a “healthy” dinner, but hey, it’s homemade and super comfort-foody! We love it!
Oh, I should also mention that this recipe is quite labor intensive! I only make it on nights when I don’t have anything goin’ on and when I’m actually in the “cooking” mood. 😉
Okay, I have one last dinner that I’ll share. This is one of my very favorite dinners!
Grilled chicken, veggies and rice. This is kind of a summer meal, but I will make it year ’round, as long as I can access my grill!
I’ve found the easiest way to make this is to just grill up some chicken and then make fruit and veggie kabobs on the side. I love to use peppers, onions, zucchini, squash and pineapple on mine. We sometimes add tomatoes and mushrooms too.
I throw everything on rice and then top it with a little soy sauce. It’s so so good!
Lately I’ve been mixing up some olive oil with garlic, lemon juice, salt, pepper, oregano and basil and brushing it on the kebobs before we cook them. It’s awesome!
Well folks, there ya go. That’s just a bunch of the meals we’ve been having around here lately. I hope you all enjoy the rest of your day and soak up the Christmas spirit!
Leave a comment....I would love to hear from you!