What makes a meal?

I've reached the point in my pregnancy that I really don't feel like doing anything except have this kid already. :) So to counter that I make sure I get out during the day and do some household things, like clean anything that's above waist level.

Then 4:00 comes around and I think about dinner. I love to cook! And I love to cook a really good healthy meal. But how do you cook a great meal when you're super tired and really just don't want to? It's so tempting to just call it in. Literally, "Hi I'll have a large pizza and a salad, thanks bye." BUT, then I'll feel like crap and the satisfaction of the easy way out will be replaced with the longer feeling of indigestion and bloating.

I want to fill my belly with nutrient dense food. Food that will make me feel like I've be rewarded for doing a lot.

Enter Trader Joes. Super puffy heart this place!! They don't have everything, but what they do have makes life just a bit easier. For example, instead of take out, I grab a couple of chicken breast and some pre cut veggies. Tonight was turnips and butternut squash. Throw the whole thing into a roasting pan at 400 and let it do it's thing. About 40-50 min later after I've watched some sort of mindless distraction, my dinner will be done and I will feel better about my meal and myself.

I will most likely also make an other side veggie and a salad of some sort. I find that a meal comprised of mainly vegetables and some lean meat does a great job of meeting my requirements.

November comes before December

I need to remember this. I woke up this morning thinking about my christmas list. Not the one that says what I want, but the one for everyone else. I always enjoy making gifts for people. Not always sure they enjoy getting them, but hey, that's what family is for.

Anywho back to this month. TURKEY!! That's right Thanksgiving. My husbands favorite holiday (aside from his birthday, which to him is a holiday) This year since I look like I'm trying to smuggle a turkey to safety, I've very thankful for family and their offer to have us over. But once again thinking about food and what we put in our bodies has me asking, "What would be some good alternatives to the traditional Thanksgiving sides?"

So I've compiled a short list of some healthy twists on Thanksgiving stapels:

Mashed potatoes: 

Try Sweet Potatoes with cinnamon instead! I do this all the time. No need to add the butter.
They're called sweet for a reason ;)

Stuffing: it's a touchy subject for some people, but here's a recipe I found

Paleo Friendly Poultry Stuffing 

2 cups finely ground blanched almonds 

1 cup chopped onion (use chopped dried onion for a better flavour) 

1/2 cup chopped celery (optional) 

1 teaspoon ground sage 

1 teaspoon ground thyme chopped parsley 

1 tablespoon mild-flavoured oil (more if it seems too dry) pepper to taste 

Mix together all ingredients. Fill cavity of bird with the mixture, then roast. 

Crab stuffed mushrooms:

20 button mushrooms, stems and gills removed;
2 cups cooked crab meat, canned or fresh and finely chopped;
3 tbsp chives, minced;
3 cloves garlic, minced;
1/4 tsp dried oregano;
1/4 tsp dried thyme;
1/4 tsp homemade mayonnaise or the same amount of your favorite mustard;
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste;
Preheat your oven to 350 F.
Mix all the stuffing ingredients together in a bowl.
Scoop a generous portion of the stuffing into each mushroom cavity and bake in the preheated oven on a baking sheet for about 15 minutes.
Let cool a bit, but serve when still warm.

Well that's a nice start I think. I'll post more as I find them. Maybe I'll even make some and post my own reviews. Just remember it's not always necessary to add the sugar and butter to make food taste good.

Eggs and Bacon at 4am

Oh my! 2 posts in 2 days?!?! Whatever has come over me? ;) I wanted to post about this the other day, but felt that it would work best on it's own.

When your husband leaves for work before the sun is even thinking of starting it's day, it makes it hard to think about breakfast. A lot of early morning people I talk to often just grab a muffin or bagel and coffee and go forth to concur the day. The problem is that bagel or muffin gets turned into sugar (which makes you crash earlier) and fat to be used at a later date and stored in fun places like your gut (love handels anyone?) So I've always been of the mind set that if you can start your day with a protein high breakfast, you're off to a good start.

But how do you make eggs at 4:30 when the whole house is asleep and you need to leave at 5? Easy actually, you prep it head of time. Now I didn't come up with this idea, but I love it!! I found the idea on LifeHacker.com and they got it from here.

Things you'll need:
Eggs
Turkey Bacon (you can use real bacon if you want just cook it by itself first)
Cheese (optional)
Muffin tin
Oil (spray for tin)

It's super simple:
Turn the oven on the heat at 375
Oil the muffin tin
Place bacon in each hole
Crack an egg on top of the bacon
Add cheese if you want
Bake the whole sha-bang for 15 min (ish I had to do 20 in my oven)
Let cool and pop them out

I heard they freeze really well but I only made one tin on sunday so they are already almost gone. I take two of these and put them in my Ninjas lunch bag. Some times he has time to heat them up and eat them before he runs out the door, but most days he eats them on the go. Either way I know he's not going too hungry. ;)