Choose Your Challenge Meal Plan

By Angela on April 22, 2014

The challenge starts Monday and I’m getting ready! We’ve been brainstorming meal options for our success. I do the best when I have all the ingredients on hand to make anything on the list, then just choose what sounds best in the moment. All of these meals go together in just a few minutes so I can make something for myself and cook the family a traditional meal without much stress.

Cookie dough oatmeal–yum!

Pepper and Onion Egg Hash

Breakfasts:

Chocolate Flax Waffles topped with stevia sweetened Greek yogurt and blueberries or strawberries
Pepper and Onion Omelet or Hash with steamed eggs
Peanut butter oatmeal and chopped apples
Protein Pancakes toped with Raspberry Applesauce
Green Monkey Smoothie
Cookie Dough Oatmeal
Blueberry Oat Custard

Day-time Snacks:

Tropical protein smoothie with mango, peaches, pineapple and banana
Chocolate flax volcano muffin
Apples dipped in peanut butter
Cookie Dough Smoothie
Mug Carrot Cake with cream cheese
Chocolate yogurt and Sliced Strawberries
Peanut butter yogurt (with coconut milk) and chopped apples

Lunches:

Grilled chicken over greens with strawberries and raspberry vinaigrette
Chicken caesar salad with olives (for Heidi, I don’t like olives myself.)
Chef salad with ham, hardboiled eggs, bacon bits and ranch dressing
Southwest salad with taco meat, black beans, avocado, salsa and ranch
Chicken salad with grapes, celery and nuts on a Joseph’s pita
Wild rice chicken salad with avocado, baby carrots, almonds and a lime dressing
BBQ chicken salad: BBQ marinated chicken over mixed greens with pinto beans, carrots and bbq ranch dressing
Egg Salad in a Joseph’s pita

Dinners:

Grilled Salmon; baked sweet potato; steamed broccoli
Asian Cobb salad with marinated chicken; mandarin oranges, cashews, green onions and sesame dressing
Miracle noodle Thai stir-fry (with peanuts)
Chipotle knock-off burrito bowl
Grilled Turkey burgers in a lettuce wrap
Italian Stir-fry: Italian sausage; gren beans; broccoli; onions, peppers, mushrooms, marinara sauce
Vegetable soup with lean beef

Bedtime Snacks:

Fat burning Frapp (See Trim Healthy Mama)
Cottage Berry Whip (THM)
Chai pudding
Lemon coconut pudding (THM)
Strawberry vanilla smoothie (1/2 cup almond milk; 1/2 cup water; 1 scoop vanilla whey; 1 packet truvia; 5 frozen strawberries.)

Mixed Baby Greens with chicken, apple and pomegranate

By Angela on January 7, 2014

Mixed Baby Greens with chicken, apple and pomegranate

365 calories; 31 net carbs; 10g fat; 27g protein; 8g fiber

Ingredients

2 cups torn mixed baby greens 13 calories
3 oz grilled chicken breast 90 calories
1 small apple (gala) chopped 50 calories
1/2 oz chopped almonds, toasted 90 calories
1/4 cup pomegranate seeds 72 calories
2 Tbs Raspberry Vinaigrette 50 calories

Instructions

Layer all ingredients and enjoy right away.
Or pack in reverse order in a quart canning jar and pack for lunch. Take a plate and dump it out when it's time to eat. The dressing will end up on top, but won't make your lettuce soggy while it sits in the jar.

http://www.centsablyfit.com/mixed-baby-greens-with-chicken-apple-and-pomegranate/

FTC 2013 Day 10–Chicken with Apple and Pepitas salad

By Angela on September 4, 2013

Breakfast: 1 cup protein cereal, 2 Tbs raisins and 1/2 cup almond milk

Snack: 6 oz plain Greek yogurt with stevia and 1 cup fresh strawberries

Lunch: Tomato basil low carb wrap with deli turkey, light mayo and lettuce. 1 grapefruit (which was delicious!)

Dinner: Mixed lettuce with canned chicken breast, 1/2 chopped apple, 1 Tbs pepitas and 2 Tbs light French dressing. (Not pictured…biscuits and gravy–whaaaat?????)

I finally saw the doctor today. My samples tested free of bacteria, but I had a low grade fever and very low blood pressure. They are leery of throwing more antibiotics at it so we are going to watch and see. In the meantime, he suggested I go back to the chiropractor. That surprised me, but I’m glad to go.

So for now, hydrate, hydrate, hydrate (with my darling new water cup.) I’ll keep taking the herbal that did the most help for me and sipping kombucha tea to rebuild natural cultures. And I think I will slowly do some exercise, walking and a plank or something and see how it goes. That’s tomorrow and I’m excited about the thought. I feel like I’ve missed the first two weeks of this challenge and am ready to go for it.

My food choices today were really good until dinner. The calories in my original supper was on the low end and I was still hungry without a good idea of what to eat. So I ate a portion of the biscuit and gravy dinner I made for the family. I’m worried about the carbs but I’m still under 1600 calories for the day. And I’m plenty hungry tonight–so hoping for progress anyway.

I tried on skinny pants again at the store today–they finally looked passable, so I ordered a discounted pair of the same thing off ebay. I ordered a size smaller, since I’m confident that I’ll need them by the end of the challenge. I’m hoping they will be ok for teaching in.

Avocado and Ham wrap

By Angela on May 14, 2013

This lunch wrap is too delicious and easy not to share. Fresh sliced tomato and cucumber would be amazing and beautiful if you have them.

It starts with an Ole low carb tortilla. Then 1/2 a salted avocado ($.25 from Aldi), 4 slices of Kirkland deli ham, a few spears of sweet pepper and some romaine. You won’t miss cheese or mayo with all the creamy avocado. It’s yummy!

I’m tearing out my kitchen today (it will be more than a day’s process.) So probably won’t post a ton until I’m all done with the huge project. If you want to follow that project I’ll post about it from time to time at my other blog: Grocery Shrink

NYTC Day 25 Food Journal

By Angela on January 31, 2013

Breakfast: 1 banana and a detour protein bar

Snack: 1/2 pita with 1/2 cup chicken salad (the end of it) and sprouts.

Salad with chicken breast, sprouts, pom nuggets and 1 Tbs sunflower seeds. Fat free raspberry dressing. (this was a variation of last night’s dinner)

Snack was 2 cups of thistle tea with almond milk and allspice. That took away my nibbling hunger and kept me warm until dinner.

Dinner was a plain large baked potato, sugar snap peas, home canned pears, 4oz beef and a dill pickle.

NYTC Day 18

By Angela on January 24, 2013

Breakfast: Peanut Butter Chocolate Yogurt with Apples: (I love this flavor combo!)
6 oz mountain high plain yogurt; 2 Tbs peanut flour; 2 Tbs cocoa Powder; 1 Tbs stevia in the raw; 1 chopped apple

Snack: 2 eggs; 1 orange 1/2 oz nuts

Lunch: Layered bean dip with lettuce (no chips) and 1/2 oz nuts: 1/2 cup fat free refried beans; 2 Tbs tomato and green chilies (canned) 1/4 cup chopped onion, 2 oz canned chicken breast–microwave it all together. Top with salsa and lettuce.

Snack: 1 detour bar; 3 fit and active 14 calorie Popsicle (yes you read that right–3, I own it.); 1 serving of baby carrots; and 1 cup of beef broth from pioneer brand powder. I have been STARVING today! Just trying to get through the day without eating 3,000 calories. I’m ovulating (TMI?) That’s when my appetite goes crazy. In a few days it should settle back down. It doesn’t help that today is my recipe writing day, the day I look at thousands of delicious well-styled food pictures for inspiration.

1 oz nuts while cooking the family dinner

My dinner was more of the layered bean dip. I was down to 1 oz chicken left, so I added a little hummus and 1/2 and ounce of crushed chips. It was a nice change of pace without going crazy on the calories.

This is what the family had: Frozen stir fry blend with ground turkey and ramen noodles. I probably could have eaten this, but wasn’t sure how to calculate the calories. The family said it was fabulous. I didn’t even taste it–just added a dash of sesame oil, soy sauce, garlic, ginger, and the ramen noodle seasoning packets. I usually throw them away since I’m sensitive to MSG, but the family isn’t. It’s probably what made it so tasty, lol.

It’s only 6 pm and I have a lot of food writing to do. I’m bound to get hungry even though I feel okay right now. I don’t have any calories left for the day. My plan is hot tea with stevia and baby carrots. I DO believe in zero calorie foods. Maye it’s like believing in the tooth fairy, but I’m pretty sure i didn’t get in this condition from eating too many carrots, lol.

I’m making progress on my goal to 20 burpees in a row. I had Darren watch me do them to see if he could give me some pointers. If you know Darren, you know he LOVES to give pointers. I think this made his day.

It turns out that I was wasting a lot of energy popping my rear up in the air before throwing my legs bag. He showed me how to more slide hop my legs back instead and I can do several more before dropping dead. Yay! I may actually learn to like burpees after all….maybe.

NYTC Day 16

By Angela on January 22, 2013

Blueberry oat custard: 1/2 c oats, 1 egg, 1 Tbs stevia, 1 cup almond milk, 1 cup blueberries (I made it without protein powder and it tasted MUCH better.

Lunch was an apple salad: 2 cups torn lettuce; 2 oz canned chicken breast, 1 apple, 2 Tbs craisins, 1 Tbs sunflower seeds, 2 Tbs fat free raspberry viniagrette

Here’s my fitness pal summary to show the rest of the day. The hungries took over this afternoon and I had a hard time making good choices. I’m excited about tomorrow–it will be a better day.

I’ve rediscovered that writing EVERYthing I eat down makes a huge difference. I took 4 days off from journaling while I planned Heidi’s 13th birthday party and now am bloated and uncomfortable from just a nip there and a taste here of the wrong foods. I’m hoping none of that is really extra fat and that it will be gone after a few days of doing the right things. One can hope…

NYTC Day 5

By Angela on January 11, 2013

I know I said not until Monday but we are all better now and I’m back on track. Yesterday the whole family had a stomach virus. I had a fever and took tons of ginger so skipped all the stomach part of it. I just slept all day and helped with the littles. No workout. I only ate good healthy food, but it wasn’t FYM supportive since I didn’t make sure I had protein. Protein is hard to digest with the flu.

Since I missed my workout yesterday there was this extra post-it on my calendar just hanging out looking lonely.

Today it was 65 degrees! So I did today’s workout right before picking up kids from school. Took my recovery shake and went to the store. Then did 20 minutes of running/walking intervals outside. So that lonely post it is down with his friends 🙂

Breakfast was 2 soft eggs and a whole Gala apple.
Snack was a Detour protein bar.

Lunch was a supportive taco salad:
2 cups fancy lettuce; 2 oz black eyed peas; 2 oz ground turkey; .5 oz shredded cheese; 1/4 cup Jack’s salsa; and fresh cilantro. I would have had more beans and meat but it was the end of the leftovers.

Lunch was all fluff and I got hungry pretty fast. So I had 6 oz of Greek yogurt with stevia and powdered dregs from the freeze dried strawberry bag. Yum!

After workout snack was a shake: 1 cup almond milk; 1 scoop prograde workout; 2 Tbs cocoa powder; and 1 cup frozen strawberries. This did not sit well with me and reminded me that I had recently been ill. But the feeling passed in an hour or so and I got to keep it 🙂

Dinner was a pizza stir fry. The rest of the family had cheese or pepperoni pizza from Aldi.

I’m so tired of my body that I was hardly tempted. Mine looked much better.

I’m off to family worship with lots of tempting snacks. I’ll give the stir fry recipe when I get back 🙂

Pizza Stir Fry:
1 Jennnie O turkey Italian sausage link, casing removed
1 cup organic petite whole frozen green beans
1 cup mixed fresh red onion, red pepper, and mushrooms
1/2 cup spaghetti sauce
Saute the sausage and veggies together until done. Stir in sauce until heated through. Enjoy!

Family Worship was fun! 5 families get together every month to have a fun child centered Bible lesson and craft and snacks. Our group has been going for 15 years so the kids have grown up together.

This week’s lesson was from Proverbs about the ant and working hard.

They watched a you tube video about real ants working. And read from the Bible.

They did a puzzle of the scripture and every child had a piece. Just like each of us has an important job to do or the world misses out if we don’t do it.

And they each made an ant from painted egg cartons, pipe cleaners and google eyes to take home and remember.

These were my snacks: Chicken enchilada dip and chips with Jack’s salsa, almond flour zucchini bread, cheese and a cracker, deer jerky, and some puppy chow. I’m a big fan of the chow and got a little more. This was my calorie rich PI for the week. It will help keep my metabolism going since my calories have been otherwise low all week.

Here’s my nutrition data not including snacks tonight. I don’t know how to begin calculating that!

Centsably Fit

A fitness and food journal for an average mom of 6

Choose Your Challenge Meal Plan

Breakfasts:

Day-time Snacks:

Lunches:

Dinners:

Mixed Baby Greens with chicken, apple and pomegranate

FTC 2013 Day 10–Chicken with Apple and Pepitas salad

Avocado and Ham wrap

NYTC Day 25 Food Journal

NYTC Day 18

NYTC Day 16

NYTC Day 5