Learning to put meals together for THM? Here are some easy fall meal ideas for following the Trim Healthy Mama lifestyle.
Hey there! I don’t know about you but when my kids went back to school this week I was a little bit bummed. I love the lazy days of summer when we have nothing but time on our side. You know between camps, summer jobs, activities, and vacations. Haha! Honestly, I’m a night owl. It’s 11:45 pm right now as I’m writing this blog post…yup, I’m going to be sorry in the morning. But in the summer I can stay up until 2 am if I want and just sleep in the next morning. That’s the beauty of having teenagers…they love to stay up late & sleep in too.
Enjoying those lazy days of summer also means I was slacking in other areas like grocery shopping, meal planning, and snack prepping. Don’t get me wrong there was always lots of food in my house with 3 teenagers! I just didn’t prepare well for myself as a Trim Healthy Mama. Many times I found myself grabbing something quick and easy to eat because I was unprepared. Although I stayed on plan, I probably ate too many calories and crossovers during the summer months.
The benefit of the kids going back to school is we now have a schedule. And sometimes that structure feels good! I’m not one who usually plans every meal. I usually just buy the items we use regularly along with basics to prepare meals. I have a general idea of what I will cook for dinner for the week but I’m not tied to it…if I don’t use the chicken I bought I just pop it in the freezer.
With the new start of a school year, I want to get more organized and better prepared for my meals and especially snacks. This past Sunday I spent some time planning meals for the week and grocery shopping. For THM to work for me I try to make it as simple as possible. I do make several of the recipes from the THM cookbooks or the many recipe sources on Pinterest. You can find some of our favorites by following us on Pinterest.
Let’s see What’s On My Plate!
Breakfast – Deep S meal
I was pretty hungry this morning after taking our dog for an extra-long walk and wanted a quick easy meal. Two fried whole eggs sprinkled with Wildtree Rancher Seasoning was the perfect protein I needed. I love using this seasoning on my eggs…it gives them so much flavor. Shout out to our friend Erin who introduced this new way to use the rancher seasoning. To keep my calories lower I fried my eggs in coconut oil spray rather than butter or pure coconut oil because I was using MCT oil in my shake. But where are my veggies you ask? No worries, I had a whole cup of okra in my Secret Chocolate Big Boy! This meal was very satisfying!
Lunch – S Meal
I used to love eating tuna on toast with a side of chips before becoming a Trim Healthy Mama. I didn’t have my tuna on sprouted toast since I used mayonnaise to make my tuna salad today. This became an S meal because of the fat in the mayo. But stuffing tuna in romaine lettuce gives me that crunch I craved and a bonus is it’s so much healthier. A sprinkle of pepper and lunch is another quick and easy meal!
Dinner – E meal
Chicken Fried Double Rice from the Trim Healthy Table cookbook is one of my family’s favorite meals.
Another delicious idea for a fast and easy dinner is this ground turkey skillet meal.. My 16-year-old asks for this at least once a week. Although we don’t make it that often…it is on the rotation in our house. I always make 1 1/2 of this recipe so my husband and I have leftovers for lunch during the week and we can freeze some too. This meal freezes great! I put one serving in a quart-size Ziploc bag, label it and throw in the freezer. Later we can just pull it out of the freezer, pop it in the microwave and we have a simple but healthy lunch!
Snack – E meal
I tend to have a snack at night since I’m up so late. Tonight I was hungry since I had an E meal for dinner and they don’t “hold” me as long as S meals do. I made some popcorn in this microwave popcorn popper. If you don’t have one you need to get one. It’s awesome! Just add kernels and a tiny bit of fat (I use a teaspoon of coconut oil) and put it in the microwave to work its magic. Keeping my coconut oil to a teaspoon keeps this meal an E snack and the little bit of fat allows some salt to stick to the popcorn. I had a cup of my stevia-sweetened iced tea to go along with my yummy snack.
I’m feeling motivated! I hope you are too! I think I’m going to stick with this meal planning thing…at least for a while! Check back to see how I’m doing with it. I’ll share more of What’s On My Plate and how to keep THM simple!