Food Prepping Made Easy

Hi All!

This past weekend Jake and I put a few hours aside on our Sunday evening to prepare the meals for the week. We have done this in the past with much more planning involved, but how realistic is it to have a full day each weekend to make meals? This was by no means realistic for us so we failed at our first attempt about six months ago.

Jake and I have a issue with eating out during the week as we have limited time to make a meal and to clean the kitchen after a meal. Therefore, doing some kind of prepping is very critical so some kind of organization is needed to succeed. Let me share with you just how easy our meal prep this past Sunday was!

To begin with we simply used what we had at home already. In the past we would start our food prep day with a list of items to get at the grocery store, but that was not the case this time!

What you will need:

• 1 head of lettuce
• 1 3lb bag of skinless chicken breasts
• 1 container strawberries
• 1 can corn
• 1 can creamed corn
• 1 can green beans
• 4 cups organic long rice
• 1lb potatoes
• 5 green peppers
• 1 can rotel
• a splash of Fat Free Italian Dressing

Steps:

1. Grill all chicken from 3lb bag
2. Cut up head of lettuce and store in air tight container
3. Cut up strawberries and store in easy to go containers
4. Peel all potatoes and set aside to grill after chicken
5. Cook all rice
6. Clean peppers leaving two for stuffing and the rest can be chopped for grilling

Meals:

1. Chicken Green Bean Corn and Rice Casserole
2. Rice, Rotel and Chicken Stuffed Green Peppers
3. 2 Grilled Chicken Breasts for Salad
4. Cut up strawberries
5. Grilled potatoes and green peppers
6. Side of rice 

This random array of food may seem like a mess but it keeps us from going out for dinner knowing that some kind of meal is ready for us when we get home even if we need to cook something on the side to complete the entire meal. In entirety this prepping took us 3 hours (cooking and cleaning included). 

Your Motivator and Companion,

Gabby Skinner

Personal Trainer & Owner

1735 Churchill Drive

Fremont, NE 68025

402.459.1541

www.fitnessintoalifestyle.com

Spaghetti with Zucchini Noodles

What you'll need:

1 large zucchini
1/2 white onion, chopped
Salt and pepper to taste
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 can spaghetti sauce
Herbs for garnish

What to Do:

1. Slice zucchini into ribbons or spiral noodles. You can do this a few ways: a mandoline, a spiral peeler (aka spiralizer), or simply julienne cut the zucchini into noodle-like strips. Set aside.
2. Heat olive oil in a saucepan over medium-high heat.
3. Add the onion. Season with salt and pepper
    and cook until the onion is translucent.
4. Add the spaghetti sauce to the saucepan and mix.
5. Cook, stirring, until the mixture thickens to your liking.
6. Pour the spaghetti sauce over the zucchini and dig in! The warmth of the sauce will soften the zucchini.

Your Motivator and Companion,

Gabby Skinner

Personal Trainer & Owner

1735 Churchill Drive

Fremont, NE 68025

402.459.1541

www.fitnessintoalifestyle.com

No Bake Energy Protein Bars

Let us know how they turn out and what you did differently to cater to your taste buds! 

Your Motivator and Companion,

Gabby Skinner

Personal Trainer & Owner

1735 Churchill Drive

Fremont, NE 68025

402.459.1541

www.fitnessintoalifestyle.com

Homemade Rice Bowl

Ingredients: (4 servings)

1 1/2 cups Brown Rice

4 Thawed Chicken Breast

Jalapenos (optional)

1 can no salt added Corn

2 cans Rotel

1 can Black Beans

1 cup Shredded Low Fat cheddar cheese

Directions:

1. Cook brown rice as directed on bag.
2. Place thawed chicken breasts on the grill and season as desired
3. In large bowl place can of no salt added corn with half of it's canned juice, both cans of rotel with all of it's canned juice and the can of black beans after they have been thoroughly rinsed. 
4. Mix these together and set aside.
5. After 12 minutes or so the chicken and rice should be completely cooked and ready to eat.
6. Place all ingredients in a serving bowl.
7. Warm serving bowl for 3 minutes to melt the cheese.
8. Dinner is now served! :) 

Nutritional Information:
Total Calories: 347
Calories from fat: 44.1
Calories from carbs: 222
Calories from protein: 73.6


*This recipe can be compared to a Chipotle burrito bowl with the toppings of: chicken, brown rice, black beans, tomato salsa, cheese and corn salsa.

Chipotle Nutritional Information:
Total Calories: 700
Calories from fat: 216
Calories from carbs: 300
Calories from protein: 210

Your Motivator and Companion,

Gabby Skinner

Personal Trainer & Owner

1735 Churchill Drive

Fremont, NE 68025

402.459.1541

www.fitnessintoalifestyle.com

Fruit Salsa & Cinnamon + Sugar Chips

Your Motivator and Companion,

Gabby Skinner

Personal Trainer & Owner

1735 Churchill Drive

Fremont, NE 68025

402.459.1541

www.fitnessintoalifestyle.com

No Bake Energy Bites

Your Motivator and Companion,

Gabby Skinner

Personal Trainer & Owner

1735 Churchill Drive

Fremont, NE 68025

402.459.1541

www.fitnessintoalifestyle.com

My BLT Compared to Their's

A few nights ago I was craving the American way: fast food. A nice greasy burger with some fat french fries was glowing in my mind. After considering my options and how much I would lag during my training the next morning I did not cave. Instead I made a homemade BLT. This dinner allowed me to satisfy my fat craving while still staying in the limits of my dinner. Choices like these are the ones needed to make the life transition into a healthier one. Take a look.....just in this meal alone we are saving nearly 100 calories and eliminating 5.3 grams of bad fats from our diet. Imagine what doing this to each meal could do to an entire day! 

White Bread: 133 calories

Bacon: 173 calories

Mayo Light: 67 calories

French Fries: 243 calories

Total Calories: 616 calories

Total Fat: 27.6g

Bread: 220 calories

Turkey Bacon: 120 calories

Roasted Red Pepper Hummus: 47 calories

Sweet Potatoes: 140 calories

Total Calories: 527 

Total Fat: 22.3g

ENJOY!!

Your Motivator and Companion,

Gabby Skinner

Personal Trainer and Owner

1735 Churchill Drive

Fremont, NE 68025

Phone: 402.459.1541

fitnessintoalifestyle@gmail.com

Quick and Easy Breakfast Smoothie

Hey Everyone!

   Happy Monday to you all. I hope you all are enjoying the football season as much as I am. Nothing says the word Fall better than some football! As we all look back at our weekend we can be saying "OOOoo I did not eat very well at the party" or "Ya I totally rocked my weekend diet better than usual!" Whatever the case may be, keeping our diet healthy on the weekdays is where most of us find our greatest success. Therefore, as Monday morning generally creeps up on us way too quickly, we can be thinking what kind of healthy quick meal can I have for breakfast to keep me full enough till the noon hour or longer. 

  For myself I have tried many things, but continue to bounce back and forth between two options, homemade fruit smoothies or oatmeal. This particular week happens to be smoothie week, so I wanted to share this low calorie meal with you all today! As anything, there are many different variation recipes out there that we can all attempt to try or follow, but I tend to favor this one I found a few years ago and have used ever since. 

*All of these items can go directly into a blender

   -1 cup almond milk
   -1 cup fruit of choice (if out of season or enjoy a more frozen drink use no sugar added frozen fruit)
   -6 oz low fat yogurt of choice
   - OPTIONAL: -extra added ice
                           -raw oats (if added will need another 1/4 cup of milk)

Turn on the blender full speed and your meal will be ready in no time. Roughly speaking this meal will be a total of 210 calories without the raw oats. What a great easy way to start you mornings! Enjoy!

Your Motivator and Companion,

Gabby Skinner

FITness Into A Lifestyle

Personal Trainer & Owner

1735 Churchill Drive

Fremont, NE 68025

Phone: 402-459-1541

fitnessintoalifestyle@gmail.com

  

Cucumber Salsa

Hello!!! Happy Friday everyone! Hope your week before a long weekend went fast enough for you all and what a better way to end it then with a weekend salsa recipe as all gardens/farms are flourishing with life.

This is one I came up with on my own and I would love for everyone else to enjoy it as much as we did. Measurements may not be correct but here is the gist of what I put into this wonderful and refreshing creation!

First, dice up two whole cucumbers. I ended up using a food chopper to assure no big chucks that wouldn't fit on your chip. :) 

Second, I cut up two tomatoes of your choice. The juicier the better for this one to assure that some juice is present to bring all the flavors together. I personally had to add a can of Rotel because I did not have enough juice

Third, I diced a chopped onion. For us, we are not onion lovers so feel free to add another if you like the idea of some more onions!

Fourth, two cloves of chopped garlic.

Fifth, season to your liking! For this I used some lemon pepper and a little extra pepper, no extra sodium here!

Sixth, open that bag of chips and enjoy! What a great treat for the Husker game Saturday night! GBR! 

Your Motivator and Companion,

Gabby Skinner

FITness Into A Lifestyle

Personal Trainer & Owner

1735 Churchill Drive

Fremont, NE 68025

Phone: 402-459-1541

fitnessintoalifestyle@gmail.com

  

Coconut Chiller

Who doesn't like a low calorie adult drink? Well let's make one! 

Just as the summer wraps up, I finally found a good one that is worth sharing. It happened to be that exact drink that is light, refreshing and enables you to let that hair down! 

The above photo shows the ingredients I used, but any coconut rum or rum of choice will do, as this particular kind is from Jamaica. Only one ice cream scoop of sherbet, a shot (or whatever you prefer) of rum and topping this off with the Diet Sierra Mist completes the drink! 

What a simple drink that would be perfect for any summer night or day by the pool!

Calories per serving: 69 cal --------------------> ENJOY! 

Your Motivator and Companion,

Gabby Skinner

FITness Into A Lifestyle

Personal Trainer & Owner

19409 Blondo Pkwy 

Phone: 402-459-1541

fitnessintoalifestyle@gmail.com

  

Recipe for the weekend!

Fruit pizza is one of my favorite summertime desserts, but one can accumulate a lot of calories in this deceiving sweet treat. This year I tried a few different ingredients to make it a healthier favorite! Always keep in mind those healthy substitutes to help shave away extra calories. Here is the recipe and hope you all enjoy!

Fruit Pizza:
- 1 Box of Light Graham Crackers
- 1 Medium Banana
- 1 Tbsp Honey
- 6 oz. vanilla Greek yogurt
- 2 c light whip
- Your choice of fruit

1. Crush the graham crackers
2. Place banana within crushed graham crackers and blend like you would a meatloaf
3. Place the ball of graham crackers on a non-stick cookie sheet
4. Pre-heat oven to 350° and roll out the dough working from the center outward
5. Place honey evenly around the dough using a spoon
6. Bake the crust for approximately 20 mins
7. Combine the light whip and Greek yogurt together. Place it in the fridge to firm for 20 mins
8. Allow crust to cool down and once cool place the whipped topping to the center of the crust and spread evenly
9. Using your cut up fruit decorate the top however you wish!
10. Enjoy!

Nutrition facts: 135 calories per slice (12 slices per recipe)

Your Motivator and Companion,

Gabby

FITness Into A Lifestyle

Personal Trainer & Owner

Phone: 402-459-1541

fitnessintoalifestyle@gmail.com