Sunday Funday: Meal Prep Edition

Hello, my readers. It’s been eleven days since I wrote last. Last week was a rough one. My mental state definitely took a huge hit- I’m slowly but surely piecing it back together, one vodka soda at a time. I’m not ready to open up and write why just yet but I did want to share this awesome meal prep idea and get a little bit of writing in this week.

First of all, it was a long weekend- but a great one, filled with girlfriends and drinks, the best kinds of weekends, right? Late nights Friday and Saturday and brunch and day drinking on Sunday.

After the day drinking festivities on Sunday, I came home and instead of getting the Hot and Ready like I wanted, I decided to go to Meijer and meal prep for this upcoming week.
I looked up recipes and most of the ones I found had chicken or beef, but ya girl really felt like spoiling herself- so I went with shrimp. These shrimp burrito bowls are seriously awesome. They are full of flavor and fill you up- I almost couldn’t finish my lunch today. So here we goooooo:

First, I threw the shrimp in a strainer to thaw and while I was doing that, I poured myself a glass of Leelanau Cellars Select Harvest Riesling, I took my time chopping up my peppers and onions, there’s something so relaxing about cutting up veggies (or fruits) to me. Nothing is on your mind but slice, dice, chop, sip your wine, repeat. 

After I had everything chopped up, I threw some avocado oil in the pan and sauteed my veggies, I put a little bit of salt, pepper and garlic jalapeno seasoning on it and kept them in there until they weren’t totally soft but had a nice crisp bite still. It took probably about 10/15 minutes on medium heat. I tossed those in a bowl and cooked my shrimp in the same pan. While they were cooking, I threw some brown rice on the stove as well.

After that I threw my shrimp in the pan, topped with salt, pepper, garlic powder, chili powder and the tiniest bit of cumin. While I let the shrimp cook on low, I cut up my avocado, put some fire roasted corn in a little pot and made a creamy greek yogurt & salsa sauce. If the shrimp are thawed, they really only need a few minutes in the pan to turn pink and still be nice and juicy- if  you over cook them, they still are fine, just might not have as much flavor as you would want.

The sauce I made was really flavorful and was the easiest part of the process, equal parts of greek yogurt and salsa, mix it together until there are no lumps (except the chunky parts of the salsa) and bam- you have a great sauce to top the bowl with.

I portioned these into 4 bowls for lunch, a bowl for dinner last night and I plan on using the left over shrimp and veggies to make some tacos tonight. I really needed my time with myself last night and it was the perfect ending to a really long and draining week.

Volleyball is really coming into full force this week and I have four days in the gym. I’m doing my best to keep up with working out, but also doing my best to tell myself it’s okay to not workout.

This weeks goals/to do list: Get a workout in 3 times, get to my Dad’s office one day, pick one shift up at WOB, get a lobster roll from Mudgies, run two open gyms, attend two days of volleyball camp, finish the work week without a mental break down.

Wish me luck, xoxo.

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Shrimp Burrito Bowl Grocery list

• Frozen, peeled & deveined shrimp (31-40 bag size)
• 1 avocado
• 1 Cup Greek Yogurt
• 1 Cup of Salsa
• 1 Can of Fire-Roasted corn
• 3 Bell Peppers (at least one green)
• 1/2 Red onion
• Salt, pepper, garlic jalapeno salt, garlic powder, chili powder and cumin
• Avocado Oil (can be switched with olive oil)
• 2 Cups Brown Rice (Dry)
• OPTIONAL: Leelanau Cellars Select Harvest Riesling- it was a little sweet for me, but a crisp white wine is always a good pair with seafood.

Shrimp Burrito Bowl Recipe

• Cut up veggies as if you were going to cook them for fajitas, cut up avocado
• Run cold water over shrimp to thaw
• Cook rice while veggies and shrimp cook (usually takes around 20 minutes)
• Sautè veggies in a pan, add garlic & jalapeno salt, pepper
• After veggies are cooked almost all the way through, throw them in a separate bowl.
• Throw thawed shrimp in the pan, add chili powder, salt, pepper, garlic powder and a little bit of cumin.
• After everything is cooked- build your bowl, divide the rice into equal parts, top with shrimps (I did around 5-6 a bowl), corn, avocado and peppers.
• Mix equal parts of salsa and greek yogurt into a separate bowl and divide into 2 oz. containers.
• OPTIONAL: Lime wedges, cilantro and/or green onions on top might be a good addition.

Z’paghetti & Cauliflower Garlic Bread

Hello, hello, again my beautiful people. I hope everyone’s week has been going good. It’s Thursday today and I finally after two weeks I got my butt in the kitchen and wanted to share with you all a new recipe. The past couple weeks I have really been off my game in the gym and by off my game I mean not going to the gym at all. I’m making adjustments in my schedule and it’s hard. But this week I’ve been in the gym every day and will be headed there after I work and then work again at my Dad’s office. Per usual, recipe and ingredient list is at the bottom.

But today’s post is not about today, really, it’s about this EASY low-carb option I made yesterday. And I do mean, easy. Z’paghetti with cauliflower garlic bread. And as always, I’m a little too honest in my recipe posts about the little mistakes and little things I do to make my life easier and yesterday was no different. But hey, I WANT this to be easy for you, it’s a week night, who wants to spend more than an hour in the kitchen? Anyways, this recipe is pretty much a recipe for some Ground Turkey Pasta Sauce and an easy way to make a meal out of it when you’re trying to feel better about eating some Italian food. And when you’re with a guy that loves Italian food, you become really good at finding low carb options.

Let me set the scene: Wednesday night, 7:30 I get home after a long day of work, gym and grocery shopping. I put my groceries away and my mind is everywhere. First things first, grab the cutting board, a good knife and the onion. “Alexa, please play songs by Frank Sinatra.” Ahh, that’s better. After my onion is cut and my eyes are watering, I need a break. Grab the corkscrew and some wine, ahh, much better– I start with sautéing my onions, cut up green pepper, a little bit of salt, pepper & minced garlic in olive oil. I usually save a handful of onion and peppers to sauté with my ground turkey as well. I also recently bought some basil olive oil and that’s what I sautéed this in, the smell was heavenly, taste was good as well. While those were cooking I put a 28 oz. can of diced tomatoes, 16 oz. can of tomato sauce and a 6 oz. can of tomato paste into a pot and started cooking & mixing that together. I also fill the tomato paste can up with water and stir to get the excess paste and dump it into the sauce, thanks mom for the tip. After the veggies are done sautéing, you can toss them right into the sauce. I added ½ TBSP of oregano, 1 tsp of salt, 1 and a ½ tsp of pepper, 1 tsp of dried basil and a couple shakes of Italian seasoning for good measure. While the sauce is simmering you can cook up your ground turkey with the rest of the onion and pepper and toss it in the sauce when its cooked and drained, cover the sauce and let it simmer for at least 20 minutes. I used this time to make my favorite appetizer. Did somebody say caprese?

So as I was saying, this dinner IS easy I swear. The sauce is the only part that you’re actually really cooking from scratch. As for the zucchini noodles, I bought them already made. And as for the cauliflower garlic bread, I bought a frozen plain cauliflower pizza crust from Meijer and it was great. The zucchini noodles can be sautéed a little olive oil right before serving. As for the cauliflower garlic bread, I put it on a pan, topped it with olive oil and minced garlic, I spread that evenly and then sprinkled parmesan cheese and parsley. It cooked for 11 minutes in the oven at 425 degrees and it turned out great.

After the bread is done, pile some zoodles on your plate, top it with sauce & parmesan cheese of course and grab some guilt free cauliflower garlic bread sticks.

I served with some Josh Pinot Noir and bam, an evening in Roma, right? Or something like it.

XOXO~

Ingredient List(s)

• Zoodles
• Cauliflower Pizza Crust
• Josh Pinot Noir

Turkey Meat Sauce

• 1 onion
• 1 green pepper
• Olive Oil (I used a basil olive oil)
• 1 28 oz. can of diced tomatoes
• 1 16 oz. can of tomato sauce
• 1 6 oz. can of tomato paste
• Minced garlic
• 1 pd. Ground Turkey
• Oregano
• Italian Seasoning
• Dried Basil
• Fresh Basil
• Salt & Pepper
• Parmesan Cheese (If ya want)

Saute garlic, onion & green pepper in a pan. Mix tomatoes, sauce, paste, 6 oz. of water and seasonings into pot. Add sauteed veggies into pot with sauce. Cook turkey and add it to sauce. Simmer 20 minutes.

Cauliflower Garlic Bread

• Cauliflower Pizza Crust
• Olive Oil
• Minced Garlic
• Parmesan Cheese
• Parsley

Preheat oven to 425. Remove pizza crust from box & cardboard. Lay on pan, drizzle olive oil and minced garlic over crust, spread evenly around. Sprinkle parmesan cheese and parsley on top. Cook for 11 minutes.