Pre-baked Chicken Salad

I am about as lazy as they come, however, I am also a perfectionist. So instead of cutting corners, I look for ways that I can do things more effectively, but still keep them quality. This is how freezer meals came about in my home. That is also how this idea came about. Because we live 45 minutes from the nearest grocery, I buy a lot of things in bulk, including chicken. It's always hard to buy a lot of chicken, freeze it, defrost enough for just my husband and I. so I decided that I would just bake it all. I usually like my chicken grilled, however, my husband was gone rafting again, and it's hard to get our ginormous grill out of the storage shed a lone. So, I bought a bunch of chicken breasts from the store, placed them on a cooling rack that was on top of a cookie sheet with tin foil, seasoned them, and put them in the oven at 350 degrees for about half an hour. Voila.

I give you delicious, and really easy, chicken. I love using McCormick Grill Mates Roasted Garlic and Herbs seasoning. And my very favorite part about this whole thing? I only have to deal with nasty raw chicken once!

I will usually put the chicken that I don't eat in the freezer for a quick, easy defrost later. Mostly, I will put it in salad, but it (as I have posted before) is really good with any veggies.

For my salad, I just grab a bag of romaine lettuce, shred some chicken, and cut up some strawberries. And have you ever tried this with poppy seed dressing? Brianna's Poppy Seed Dressing has become my new addiction.  Honestly, I am in love. I don't even care if it has a bucket full of sugar... Okay, I do, but I go lite on the dressing.

In my opinion, you need to do things that will help you eat what is healthy. I am so sick of salad with lemon juice... You don't even want to know, because it's that unappetizing for me to talk about.

Does anyone have any other salad ideas? I don't see myself getting sick of this anytime soon, however, strawberries are not cheap at our grocery store, so sometimes I don't have them on hand...

Grilled Romaine Hearts

Okay, I definitely have some explaining to do. Try being a graduate student that commutes 1.5 hours every day to a full-time job, and then have time to keep your house clean, laundry done, have date night, being young women president, and also eat healthy and exercise, and then blog about it. Something has got to give! And lately it's been eating healthy and exercising. I will note, however, that I have tried hard to eliminate processed food from our home, and have loved how great it feels. Being a semi-newlywed (13 months now!), people are always asking when we are going to have a baby. Because I have a sit down job, and have been very lazy lately, I have gotten a chubby tummy. It's awesome not even a little awesome. I have been asked by several people when I'm due, or congratulated on becoming a mom. I'm not pregnant, just fat. And now, I am going to do something about that!

I have decided that eliminating processed food isn't enough. It is a very good start, however, I have still been eating candy and my homemade white bread. It's time to start eating clean. Which, I am not sure I even know what that means, but I am willing to learn! Also, I am going to start exercising, but this isn't the place to talk about that. :)

The other night, I did something that shocked my husband. First of all, I bought salad, and then I made salad for dinner. I haven't really been a leafy green person for awhile, but lately I have loved salad! This time, I bought romaine hearts and grilled them up! It was delicious!

First of all, you need to choose some that look good at the store. Because I live in small town Utah, our local grocery store has little to offer as far as fresh in the veggie aisle. I was able to find some pretty decent romaine hearts, however. When I got home, I washed one really well, and cut it in half. Then, I let it dry a bit. I lightly put some olive oil on both sides, and sprinkled garlic powder on the side with the cut. Then I turned them over to my husband, who will grill anything, even salad. He got the lettuce a little crispy (I think he was trying for an excuse not to eat it), but it tasted great anyway. After it was grilled, I put a little Caesar dressing and Parmesan cheese on top.  I am not sure if that is part of eating clean, but I wasn't about to eat plain lettuce!

We ate our romaine hearts with (crispy) chicken breasts that my husband seasoned with some chicken rub. I think it was one of the best dinners I have had for awhile! It was even satisfying! That might be partly attributed to the fact that I ate my husbands romaine lettuce as well as my own.... Silly man. So, there you go. I am not sure on approximate grilling time, but I also read several blogs that say you can roast them in the oven as well.

Making a Plan

I finally forced myself to create a meal plan for next week to follow! (Go me!) I am trying hard to keep things simple and cheap. I like to get my meat and fish from Costco because they have some good quality stuff in bulk, which should last about a month (sometimes 2, depending on how on top of things I am..) in our house. I like to get ground beef, chicken, tilapia, salmon, and one other choice like steak, meatballs, pork, roast, etc. Meat is expensive.. :( Then I plan on getting some of the staple foods I plan to eat a lot of throughout the week like spinach and lettuce for salads, cucumbers, some sort of fruit that looks good and is a decent price. Then I just get the rest at other places since I don't need bulk everything!

So, here is my plan for next week:

(Sorry for the tiny typing.. I couldn't figure out a way to get this table from Word, so I sent an e-mail to myself, opened up the document, took a picture and cropped it with my phone, then uploaded it onto my Google+ account so that I could access it as a picture from Picasa Web albums. There has to be an easier way? Haha.. I guess I need to work on my tech-savvy skills.)

I have no idea what the calorie intake is on any of this. I have tried to calculate calories in the past, and it stresses me out. The Insulite Labs program guide tells you not to worry so much about calories, so thank heavens for that! I figure if I am eating that many veggies every day I will be in good shape! :) I am not quite used to having 5 meals either, and so looking at it makes me feel like there is a lot of food there to eat, so I may have to make adjustments here and there. I plan on shopping and preparing on Saturday to that everything is ready to go for the week.

I kept breakfast super simple because I am not a morning person and I just don't take the time I need to to make something awesome. I do realize though that breakfast is when your body really needs the most energy to get through the day. I hope as I go I will be able to make some adjustments and find some recipes to make ahead of time to eat throughout the week so that breakfast is bigger and dinner is smaller (at least proportionally!). Notice I didn't leave out carbs altogether. I don't plan to! I believe the body needs those complex carbs at least once in awhile, so I am going to have them. I will also allow myself to have some Dove dark chocolate if I feel like I am going to die without something sweet.

I also added in my workout plan, which also may end up different, depending on how my body feels. I tried to do this same plan last week and spin class nearly wiped me out, so I ended up taking it a little easier through the weekend.

I'll try to take pictures and write out the recipes for easier reference next week, but that's it! We'll see how it goes! :)

Basalmic Dijon Spinach Salad w/ Spicy Chicken

Salads can be boring, but every once in awhile I get a craving for one! This salad is pretty light and delightful.

To cook the chicken,

Just season with cayenne pepper, salt, and the Kirkland Organic No Salt seasoning. Cook over medium heat until cooked through.

To make the dressing:

1 tsp basalmic vinegar

1 tbs EVOO

1 tsp Dijon mustard

A pinch of chopped basil

Juice from a lemon slice

The salad consisted of just spinach and thinly sliced onions, but you can get way more creative than that! I was just lazy and hungry! 

Enjoy!