Tag: planning

Sunday Dinner: Hearty Beef & Butternut Squash Stew

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I’m not a chef.  Like, at all.  Even though I went to hospitality school for four years and worked in the restaurant industry, I just didn’t get pumped about cooking.  But then baby H came along, I was home a lot more often, Christian and I focused more on clean eating, and we started meal planning.

Oh, and we bought a new house with the BIGGEST kitchen island ever.  Seriously, my kitchen makes my heart happy.

So, here is my first ever recipe post – something that I thought I would NEVER do.  Ironically, my hubby cooked this tonight so I could go shopping and have some me time, so he gets the credit.  But who’s counting, right?

This is recipe is from the 21 Day Fix Extreme Eating Plan.  It just felt so appropriate for a Sunday night dinner on a cold day.

Beef and Butternut Squash Stew

(Yields approximately 6 servings)Screen Shot 2016-03-20 at 7.20.19 PM.png

Sorry for the crummy photo…we couldn’t wait to dive in LOL
Ingredients

  • 1 tsp olive oil
  • 1 1/2 lbs raw lean beef stew meat, boneless (cut into 2-inch cubes)
  • 1 medium onion, chopped
  • 1/2 green bell pepper, chopped
  • 1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
  • 4 cloves garlic, crushed
  • 2 medium tomatoes, chopped
  • 1 cup low-sodium organic beef broth
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1 tsp sea salt or Himalayan salt
  • 1 tsp ground black pepper
  • 2 cups cubed butternut squash
  • 1/4 cup chopped fresh flat leaf parsley (we did 1/2 cilantro and 1/2 parsley)

Directions

  1. Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat.
  2. Add beef; cook, stirring frequently, for 4 to 5 minutes, or until beef is brown.
  3. Add onion and bell peppers; cook, stirring frequently, for 4 to 5 minutes, or until onion is translucent.
  4. Add garlic; cook, stirring frequently, for 1 minute.
  5. Add tomatoes, broth, bay leaf, salt and pepper.  Bring to boil.  Reduce Heat to medium-low; cook, covered for 40 minutes.
  6. Add squash; cook, stirring occasionally, for 8 to 12 minutes, or until sauce has thickened and beef is fork-tender **
  7. Remove bay leaf; serve topped with parsley.

**we found this wasn’t enough time to fully cook the squash, so would recommend either pre-steaming your squash, OR adding it in at least 15 minutes earlier than recommended above.

We added cilantro, and a bunch of Franks Red Hot Sauce (yep, we really do put that s**t on everything).
21 Day Fix Container servings (per serving):
1 x Green
1 x Red
This meal was delicious and I’m so pumped to enjoy it again tomorrow!  Why not give it a try this week?
Happy Spring and Happy Sunday everyone,
Melissa

Meal Planning changed my life.

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Yes, I’m putting it right here for all to see: meal planning has changed my life.  Seriously.

For those of you who checked out my recent post on my post-partum fitness journey, you already know that I have taken some big steps in the past few months when it comes to prioritizing myself and my fitness.  However, before I got there, it started in the kitchen.

And do you know what?  Living a healthy lifestyle is ALL ABOUT THE KITCHEN.

I know, I know.  I fought it too.  I would justify my actions, that second drink, that extra muffin (Or cookie. Or entire row box of cookies).  The “I’m too busy looking after everyone else to worry about what I’m eating” qualifying statement.  Shoving into my mouth whatever food I could quickly get my hands on in order to satisfy the hunger that I had been ignoring for the past two hours.  Wash. Rinse. Repeat.

In the fall, Christian and I took a long hard look at our eating strategy, which we realized wasn’t a strategy at all.  We were grocery shopping multiple times a week, using our precious time ineffectively, and spending more money on food as a result.  We felt like we were eating fairly well, but often  found ourselves “running out” of food (I use air quotes because we had plenty of food, it just didn’t necessary add up into a meal).  Snacks were often forgotten, or the same thing on repeat every day.  And then came the 8pm evening munchies.  Oh yes.  That.

But let me be honest with you: the game changing meal planning didn’t just magically happen overnight.

No way.

First, we started with dinners Monday to Friday.  Every Sunday we would sit down together and figure out what was on our menu, and as each meal was prepped and consumed, we would keep track of those meals. The first few weeks, this took A LOT of time.  But week by week, it got so much easier.  After a month, we had a spreadsheet full of meal options to choose from – we just built on the progress little by little.

Getting dinner sorted then snowballed into other areas of our nutrition.  For example, lunches quickly followed, because we could simply prep extra for lunch the following day.  Even though I’m still at home during the day with Harrison, I too get a Tupperware packed lunch!  It’s sitting there waiting for me every day.  No excuses.

“Oh, I’ll just pick up a shawarma…there’s nothing ready in the fridge at home anyway.”

Let’s say it all together: NO MORE.

So, who’s with me!?  Wait…you are!?  Oh goody!  Today is your lucky day, ’cause here are:

Five Tips to help get your Meal Planning Started

1) Start Small.  If you’ve never truly meal planned before, it can all be really daunting.  21 meals and 14+ snacks is a lot to think about.  Choose the meal you struggle with the most and plan for 5 days: Monday to Friday.  Weekends sometimes can be wild cards, so I recommend starting with the even keel week-days.

2) Prioritize Planning and Prep Time. The biggest habit that Christian and  had to form was that we do not go to bed on Sunday night without our plan for a week and a grocery list set.  Typically, we aim to grocery shop on the weekend, but in a pinch, we go on Monday nights.  Regardless, we ensure the planning ahead is DONE and email ourselves the grocery list.  Whoever is going knows exactly what to get.

 

3) Shop Once.  If anyone hates inefficiency, it’s my darling husband.  In the past, we were shopping several times a week, throwing away food and wasting money.  Since prioritizing proper meal planning we spend less time grocery shopping, eat better and save money.  Need I say more?

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4) Make it Visual.  Find a way to post your meal plan in a visible and accessible spot. The best $3 I’ve ever spent was to purchase a magnetic weekly planning board from Dollarama.  Every Sunday we write our food plan for the week, which includes breakfasts and dinners (we use dinner leftovers as our lunch for the following day).  This takes the dreaded question “what’s for dinner?” out of our life completely, and it’s rather liberating.

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5) Have some fun.  Like to order in once in a while?  Build it in!  Have a Saturday morning breakfast ritual?  Plan ahead and try something new each week.  For us, Friday nights are a bit of a special night as we often reserve this for an at-home “date night”.  We like to make something fun and out-of-the-ordinary.  For example, this Sweet Potato Crust Pizza from PopSugar Fitness is one of my absolute favorite choices for a Friday night in.  Served with a simple green salad and a glass of vino, its comfort food without the….bloat.

And there you have it!  What are you waiting for?  Why not take some time this weekend at GET PLANNING.

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Party Planning 101: British Invasion

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Well e-friends, it’s been 1.5 months in our new home and we’ve already survivied the “ice vortex” (including 3+ day power outage), nearly completed a basement renovation, spent a few sick days on the couch, and have thrown two significant parties!  We’re starting to feel good and settled, with the exception of the empty living room (we’ll get there one day).  I also owe you a post about buying awesome furniture on Craigslist.  But today’s post is reserved for a topic that I truly love: party planning!

My former career before joining the dark side of sales was event planning.  I’d like to think that I always had it in me, and that my professional experience just made me fall in love with (some) elements even more.  Over the years, I have helped to plan and execute 4 friends’ weddings, plus my own wedding, and now I’m in the midst of helping my dear sis prep for her upcoming April wedding!   I also threw a heck of a 30th birthday (if I do say so myself).

This past weekend, Christian and I hosted his mum’s 60th birthday.  She’s was born in England and lived there for the early part of her life.  Although she’s been in Canada for decades, she still loves all things Brit – I look forward to pouring over her “Hello!” magazines every time we visit.   You can take the Brit out of Britain….

Christian and I chatted about a way to elevate the fun factor of the shin-dig, and quickly landed on a “British Invasion” theme.  So fun.

First, the menu.  A good theme starts with some menu planning.  And plan we did:

  • Cottage Pie (basically the British version of Shepherd’s Pie)
  • Bangers and Mash
  • Roast Beef with Yorkshire Pudding (our first time making either)
  • Classic Fish n’ Chips

We cheated and just did store bought Fish n’ Chips, but everything else was made in our new kitchen!  Here’s the Cottage Pie coming out of the oven on Saturday afternoon, all bubbly and delicious

Cottage Pie

Whilst our food was being prepped and cooked, I got to decorating!  I managed to find a few jems on-line, including a red, white and blue pennant banner (aka – bunting) that I strung from the ceiling.

buntingThen it was onto the little touches, some of which you can already see in the photo above (yes, there are cut-outs of a London Bus and Beefeater on my patio doors).  One of my favourite big-bang-for-little-buck decorating ideas it to find simple printables on-line.  Who doesn’t have a bunch of simple photo frames kicking around the house? (yes, I removed family photos from some to make way for my British invasion).  Stack ’em up and replace your framed photos with some clip art or printed pics from Google images.  Here below we pay homage to her Majesty the Queen.  The Union Jack flags were a steal from the Dollar Store at 3 bucks a pop:

Decor1Now that the mantle is looking festive, on to the next location = the couch!  We actually had Euro-sized red cushions on our bed upstairs, so I brought them down to the join the party.  My wonderfully generous colleague brought a toss cushion of the London tube map from his bed at home!  The best part is that the pillow is made out of tea towel (next project anyone!?). Anyways, it came together quite nicely in our living room with the red pillows in the background:

pillowOnto other areas: the bar!  The bar menu included:

  • Gin & Tonic (Bombay Saphire Gin is my fave, but a friend recently introduced me to Dillon’s Small Batch Gin.  It’s quickly become my “lady” gin.  Delicious)
  • Pimm’s (apparently the second most popular beverage in the UK after tea?).  Check out the receipe here, but we made ours with Pimm’s, lemonade, cucumber, blueberries and strawberries.  It’s very refreshing – you can see it in the pitcher below!
  • Boddington’s beer, Strongbow & Guiness

BarYes, even Christian’s City of Oxford bar towel made an appearance – an ode to his time spent there on exchange in university!

And finally, dessert!  We opted for classic English Trifle and my favourite: Sticky Toffee Pudding.  To make these mess and fuss free, I actually found these neat little disposable baking cups at Home Sense (they come in mini loaf containers as well).  You actually don’t even need to put them on a baking sheet or anything and they are good in the oven up to 400F.  I was able to serve out of these as well.  The best part?  No pre-greasing required!  They are coated and ready to go in all their non-sticky goodness:

StickyToffeeBecause I’m all about the presentation, I took a cardboard cake stand (also purchased from Home Sense for just $3.99! Again: big bang, little buck) and attached a Union Jack decoration that I picked up for a few bucks at a party store on top with scotch tape.  Instant pizzaz!

TowerYou can see my sticky toffee puddings have now been topped with caramel sauce…and that a few have already been eaten – nom nom!

Playing in the background for most of the evening was Songza’s British Invasion Playlist.  Oh, and we of course awarded the birthday girl with a jeweled crown and sash when she arrived – living like the Queen herself for the evening!

So there you have it – how to make a theme flow 101, brought to you by Melissa.  The opportunities are endless…just remember to think beyond the napkins and include all the senses 🙂