Breakfast + Lunch + Snacks

While we’re much more diligent about planning out dinners the rest of our meals tend to be more of a fly by night operation. While I do take these other meals into consideration while planning for the week I could probably be more specific. Perhaps that would eliminate the scratching of the head at 5:30 in the morning…hmmmmm.

I thought I’d share some of the things we turn to more frequently than not for these meals since I always love fresh ideas from somewhere else. I’ve been finding a lot of inspiration on Instagram with the #Whole30 hashtag. We’re not doing Whole 30 specifically but we’ve been adhering to some of the pillars of it. I’ve eliminated almost all dairy and have had very little grains and sugar. The weekends are more relaxed and I do still indulge.

 

Breakfast

Trader Joes has awesome frozen oatmeal or oatmeal/quinoa (the only grain I’ve really been eating!) I like to top with a dollop of peanut butter or Justins Vanilla Almond butter and some berries.

Hard boiled eggs with fruit on the side

Avocado toast if I’m eating bread

Fried eggs with avocado slices and tomatoes

Green Smoothies (my favorite is kale, pineapple and coconut water with a scoop of vanilla protein powder)

Egg Cupcakes! (eggs + veggies baked in muffin tins)

 

Snacks

Nuts! We love nuts from Trader Joes. Lately it’s been cashews and pistachios

Lunchmeat wrapped around bell peppers or with guacamole

Grapefruit (I am ADDICTED!)

Guacamole cups from Costco with veggies to dip

Hard boiled eggs

Apple and peanut or almond butter

 

Lunch

I try to roast 3-4 chicken breasts and vegetables on Sundays and divvy it up for lunches. I’ll usually throw it together for a salad. I’m loving roasted beets, carrots and squash right now.

Tuna salad! I like to make a mediterranean version without mayo.

Roasted sweet potatoes with chicken and veggies on the side

Soup (Another thing I’ve been trying to whip up on the weekends is a pot of some kind of soup. Lately our favorite has been butternut squash. Super simple and delicious!)

If I’m eating grains I’ll make up a big batch of farro or quinoa at the beginning of the week. I’ll then add it to salads.

mediterranean tuna salad + steak with veggies + fruit with muffin cups and avocado + quinoa veggie salad with arugula + sweet potato farro and arugula salad + roasted broccoli and butternut squash.

What do you do for breakfast + lunch + snacks?

Brrrrrrr!!!!

Good Morning and hello Monday! We woke up to temps of 27˚ outside this morning! What the what?! I was so not prepared for the bitter chill that temperatures that cold bring into the house. Especially when you don’t turn on the heat (whoops!) Luckily we learned that our house warms up quickly and our heat does indeed work.

After a long and busy weekend all I wanted to do last night was to head out to a bar and grab some dinner and watch football. I wanted nothing to do with the kitchen or dishes. We were both beyond tired though and opted to stay in, throw on jammies and watch more Breaking Bad. We are seriously addicted and almost done with season 3.

We decided on Gyoza Soup, otherwise known as clean out the freezer/fridge soup. It’s so good and so filling. I’m glad I made more than enough for lunch leftovers today! You can tune this soup to your liking and add in pretty much anything that sounds delicious or any vegetables that are about to turn. The first time we made this soup we used fresh spinach which was really yummy!

When the soup was done cooking I set up the perfect picture and snapped away. Then I set my phone aside and quickly dove in only to later realize that my phone didn’t actually take the pictures. My iPhone 5S is giving me a run for my money these days and it’s only 6 months old. Guess I’ll have to make a trip to the Apple Store this week.

Enjoy your Monday!

1 medium onion {cut in half, then sliced thin}

4 carrots {peeled and sliced into circles}

2 celery stalks, diced

6-8 large mushrooms, sliced

8-10 Trader Joes frozen Gyoza {we used pork this time}

1 container Trader Joes organic chicken broth

2 cups water

1/2 bag Trader Joes frozen Kale

salt

pepper

ginger powder

garlic powder

hoisin sauce

olive oil

sauté onions in olive oil until they are slightly translucent, then add in carrots and celery. cook until veggies begin to soften. add in mushrooms and cook until they begin to brown. season with salt, pepper, garlic powder and ginger powder {we didn’t have fresh ginger or I would have used it and I was too lazy to deal with fresh garlic!}

add in the container of chicken broth and 2 cups of water and bring to a boil. once boiling add in the frozen kale and bring back to a boil. allow the soup to boil for 5-8 minutes depending on the size of the kale pieces. add in gyoza and cook for an additional 2-4 minutes. don’t let the gyoza over cook!

serve immediately! this is delicious when you drizzle in hoisin sauce but just as good without it. we had some leftover rotisserie chicken so I shredded it and placed a little bit in each of our bowls. I ladled the soup on top and when we sat down to eat everything was nice and hot. this soup was super filling, we each only had one bowl!

have some fun with this recipe and add in vegetables to your liking. Trader Joes has other gyoza as well, there’s a vegetarian version and a chicken one too.

Trader Joe’s!!

YOU GUYS!!!! Trader Joe’s has finally, finally arrived in Colorado. I know that I was not the only person doing a happy dance about this, especially with the insane crowds and crazy empty shelves in the stores. Seriously though? I’ve lived here for 5 years and patiently waited for them to open. I’ve lugged back bags of freezer goodies from Chicago and California. I’ve stuffed my carryon to the brim with snacks and goodies that can only be found at TJ’s. February 14 could not have come soon enough.

We braved the Denver store Sunday afternoon and while parking seemed out of control we just grabbed a spot on the street and walked into the store. It was slight chaos in the store but the employees were rockstars and on top of making sure things were moving along. We walked through the store and I was able to grab some favorite items and some new things to try as well. Sadly they were out of my most favorite pineapple salsa but I think I can survive without it for a while longer. One of the things I was most intrigued by was the box of frozen quinoa. Similar to their boxes of frozen white or brown rice, packaged in 2 smaller bags inside that are thrown into the microwave. I wanted a bag of dry quinoa but since there wasn’t any and I had a salad idea brewing in my head I snagged this to give it a try. I’ll report back on it later this week with the recipe that went along with it!

For Sunday dinner we picked up a package of Chicken Pesto Sausages (precooked) lots of assorted veggies, a bag of bow tie pasta, pesto and parmesan cheese. Dinner was a success, 2 out of the 3 of us liked the sausage. We all agreed it tasted slightly like beef salami (so strange I know) and I think this is an item I’ll bypass the next time I’m in the store. Too many other delicious things to eat out there. Below you’ll find the recipe for the first of many TJ inspired meals I’m sure! All items were purchased at Trader Joe’s. (I apologize for the quality of the photo. It was late, I was beyond hungry after a miserable brunch and I just snapped it and started eating.)

Enjoy!

Brown Butter Pesto Pasta with Veggies 

Ingredients

1 bag pasta (we used bow ties)

1 package Chicken Pesto Sausages (omit if you want this to be a vegetarian meal! substitute with your favorite sausage!)

1 pack of baby bella mushrooms, sliced

1 container of mushroom, onion and asparagus (sliced and ready to go in the refrigerator vegetable section)

1 bag english peas (found in the refrigerator vegetable section)

1 bag of small zucchini, chopped

1 jar Trader Joe’s Pesto

5 tablespoons butter

olive oil

salt

pepper

Italian seasoning

2 cloves garlic, chopped

2 lemons (zested and juiced)

Directions

Follow cooking instructions on pasta package.

While pasta water is boiling, heat up a large skillet with a drizzle of olive oil. Cook package of asparagus, mushrooms and onions until asparagus is tender. Transfer to large bowl. In the skillet add in 1 tablespoon of butter and once it’s melted add in mushrooms and Italian seasoning to taste. Cook mushrooms until golden brown. Transfer to bowl of vegetables. Add in chopped zucchini and additional seasoning to taste, cook for a few minutes until you’ve got some nice color on them. Add in 2 tablespoons of pasta water, cover with a lid and let cook for 3-5 minutes until zucchini are tender. Add in garlic and continue to saute until fragrant. Remove from skillet and add into the bowl of vegetables. Toss cut up sausages into the pan along with the bag of english peas. Cook until the sausages are warmed through and the peas are bright green. Toss together with all the cooked vegetables. Season accordingly with salt and pepper. In the same pan, place remaining 4 tablespoons of butter and cook over medium high heat until the butter turns a golden brown and smells nutty. Add in jar of pesto and cook down for a few minutes, stirring continuously. Add in lemon zest and lemon juice, give the sauce another stir and then add in pasta. Combine together so that pasta is coated by the sauce. Serve pasta topped with the vegetables and sausages. Top with parmesan cheese and enjoy!

*omit sausage to create a vegetarian meal.

*to make this into a vegan meal, whip up your own batch of pesto and omit butter from the sauce!