4 easy & healthy weeknight meals!

Making dinner every night is admittedly NOT my favorite thing. Although I will admit I go through phases... sometimes it's less enjoyable than others. When I am in a funk with dinner ideas or just really short on time I love coming back to the basics with easy meals that contain just a few ingredients, are definitely semi-homemade and that are healthy too.  I usually plan about 4 meals at the beginning of the week. I figure that gets us Monday to Thursday if I make one every night, or Monday to Friday if we end up doing leftovers or cereal one night, and Monday to Saturday if we add in a cereal night AND eat out one night. So usually 4 meals has us about covered for the week. We like to eat TWO of those nights low carb. So for today's recipe round up I've got two low carb meals and two macro balanced (macros are Fat, Carbs & Protein) meals.  Since we follow the Faster Way to Fat Loss program in our house - this works best for us! I used to not like the low carb lifestyle or low carb meals in general but I'm starting to really enjoy them.  Also note that while the FWTFL program calls for gluten-free and dairy-free, these recipes have a little gluten and dairy. We followed the GF and DF plan our first round and have slowed added little bits of it back in. In general we've found that a little bit of diary or gluten goes a long way for enjoying a meal!

These meals are definitely NOT rocket science or anything special at all... just a glimpse into how our family eats for one week. I am all about finding the fastest and easiest way to get a healthy meal on the table. So this is how we do it!

~~~

above: LOW CARB Shrimp & "Grits"

This recipe or formula has been circling the internet and it's one my husband and I love (my kids are still a little iffy on it, to be honest).  I simply sauté the shrimp with a little Chile Lime seasoning and while that is going I get the Smashed Cauliflower (similar to mashed potatoes, or grits but it's cauliflower) going on the stovetop with a little butter and about an ounce of goat cheese.  Then I warm up the green beans in the micro for a few minutes and seriously this meal is on the table in about 15 minutes.  I serve the Smashed Cauliflower in a bowl with the shrimp and green beans on top and it's SO good!

above: LOW CARB Meat Balls and Gnocchi

For this recipe I depend again on cauliflower with the Cauliflower Gnocchi from Trader Joes.  I will admit that this has a little more carbs than the Cauliflower Rice or the Smashed Cauliflower - so watch the serving size on this one. For this recipe I roasted the tomatoes on the same pan I warmed up the pre-cooked meatballs.  Then I filled a bowl with the gnocchi, meat balls and roasted tomatoes. I topped it with sliced basil and a little goat cheese (a little goes a long way). This recipe had us licking the bowls!

above: Breakfast for Dinner

As a little winter treat I recently whipped up breakfast for dinner for the family. I love these Kodiak Cakes Power Cakes because they are a great source of protein and will actually fill you up.  And the best part is my kids can't tell the difference in taste between these and regular "pancake mix".  We prefer breakfast for dinner with waffles, but pancakes work too! Instead of sugary syrup I always like to warm up some frozen mixed berries in the microwave. It tastes SO delicious and is so much better for you than syrup. Then I whipped up some scrambled eggs and voila! Dinner!

above: Soup & Salad

One of my favorite combinations for lunch or dinner is soup and salad. To make sure I am getting all my macros in I always like to add a little protein. This is another super QUICK meal for when you've got to eat and run to kids sports or whatever evening activities. I always keep a few bags of salad in the fridge and some soup from Costco in the freezer.  You can bake up a big batch of chicken and have it for the week or freeze it as well but sometimes snagging a few precooked chicken breasts is too easy to resist.  This meal comes together in minutes and is so delicious and way cheaper than feeding the family at Panera.