Make Being Healthy Easy on Yourself.

Do you remember how the fridge was always stocked and the cabinets were always filled with your favorite snacks when you were a kid?

Now, I by no means grew up in an affluent household, however it always seemed my mom was a professional at providing us with the comforts of home. When I visit to this day, I still come home to find her grocery list on the fridge to ensure there is never a shortage of anything.

There is something comforting about her generation's dedication to consistency, however even if I was to put a grocery list on the fridge, I undoubtedly would forget to take it with me. My mom tells me that her style of planning will come with motherhood, so considering there are a few years before we enter that milestone, here is my trusty chart I've saved in my iPhone files to make being healthy and prepared easier on myself.

I prefer preparing the items with a (*) below in a more enjoyable way, so those recipes are listed below.

Baby Kale

Kale is great, it's full of fiber and nutrients, but the reason I don't own a tee-shirt with the term labeled across the front is because if it's not prepared right, it doesn't even look exciting to eat. So, my recommendation: massage lemon juice & olive oil into your kale until it shrinks by 1/4 its original size. Whether you're using it as a base for a salad or for a bed underneath any protein, it will be more pleasing to the eye and the texture will be much softer. You'll save yourself a healthy amount of calories by not compensating kale's natural chalky flavor with more dressing than you need to as well.

Veggie Burgers

Ingredients

• 1 sweet potato

• 2 cans of black beans

• 1/2 cup of raw pepitas

• 2 shallots

• 1 clove of garlic

• 2 tablespoons of salt

• 1/4 cup of soy sauce

• 1 cup of cooked farro or quinoa

• 1 egg or flax egg

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Combine all ingredients in food processor.   Place veggie burgers in large rounds on baking pan.  Cook for 20 minutes and flip, then cook for 15 minutes. Remove from pan and serve over salad, or keep stored for salad topping.

Crunchy Pepitas Ingredients

• 1/2 cup - 2 cups of pepitas

• 1/2 tablespoon paprika

• Pinch of salt

• 1 teaspoon of chili powder

• Olive oil (can be substituted with coconut oil)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees, sprinkle paprika, salt and drizzle olive oil over pepitas and bake for 10 - 20 minutes. 

I normally cook a few cups of these at the beginning of the week for ease.

An example of a quick meal pulled from my handy salad chart below.