Kuiper Family Menu: January 4 – 10, 2016

Tomorrow is the day I’ve been waiting for! January 4th brings so much excitement to my world! I’m so pumped for the new year and all that’s to come! And I’m MOST excited to get back into a regular routine and get into a good groove again. This past week I didn’t meal plan and it was BAD. We still ate pretty healthy, but it was just random and stressful and we spent extra money on going out to eat that we wouldn’t have had to if I had planned ahead. But I’m giving myself grace since it was the holidays and schedules were all over the place. This is a NEW week!

Tomorrow I’m kicking off a HUGE new year boot camp and it’s super fun to see how motivated all my online personal training clients are! They are going to CRUSH their goals and I can hardly wait for them to feel their very best!

Without further ado, here’s what we’re eating this week! Sidenote: Sometimes we’ll switch up the menu based on what we feel like eating that day, so Monday’s meal might be made on Thursday, or vice versa, but I’ve found that just having an arsenal of recipes to pull from for the week helps a ton.

Monday: 

Breakfast: Frozen Waffles & Eggs

Lunch: Chocolately Mint Shakeology for me, peanut butter and jelly with veggies and fruit for the kids

Dinner:

Pecan Crusted Un-Fried Chicken Strips from Honeybee Homemaker (I plan to double or triple the recipe.) 

Ingredients: 1 chicken breast, 2 slices whole wheat bread, 2/3 cup pecans, 1/4 cup dijon mustard, 1 tsp. honey

Directions

1. In a food processor, finely chop bread and pecans (until you get the consistency of breadcrumbs)
2. Slice chicken breast into 6 strips
3. Combine Dijon mustard and honey in a shallow dish
4. Coat each chicken strip in honey-mustard mixture, then roll in pecan-breadcrumb mixture
5. Take a cooling rack (like that you would use to cool cookies) and place that inside a cookie sheet. Place chicken strips on rack and bake at 400 for 20-30 minutes
6. Serve alongside vegetables or add to your favorite salad.

Tuesday: 

Breakfast: Greek Yogurt, Toast

Lunch: Chocolate/Almond Shakeology for me, leftover chicken strips for the kids with veggies

Balsamic Peach Crockpot Chicken from Sublime Reflection

Ingredients: 10 boneless skinless chicken thighs, 3/4 cup balsamic vinegar, 1/4 cup honey, 1 small sweet onion, thinly sliced, 1 large can of sliced peaches, drained, 1 tsp. dried rosemary, Sea salt and pepper

Directions

1. Put all ingredients in crockpot and cook 3-4 hours on low. (5 hours if the chicken is frozen)
2. Drain the liquid off the chicken into a saucepan. Bring to a boil and reduce until it thickens.
3. Serve the chicken with the reduced sauce spooned over the top of it.

Wednesday: 

Breakfast: Frozen Waffles, Eggs

Lunch: Chocolate/Peanut Butter Shakeology for me, leftover chicken for the kids with green beans and bananas

Dinner:

Crockpot Black Bean & Corn Salsa Chicken from Maegan Blinka

Ingredients: 2 cans black beans (drained and rinsed), 2 cups frozen corn (drained), 1 jar salsa, 3/4 cup water, 4 – 6 boneless chicken breasts.

Directions

Combine all ingredients in crockpot, cook on high 3 – 4 hours or low 7 – 8 hours. When finished cooking, shred chicken and serve alone, over rice, as a salad, with tortilla chips or in a wrap. Can be topped with sour cream, avocado and/or tomato or your favorite toppings!

Thursday: 

Breakfast: Greek yogurt parfait, peanut butter toast

Lunch: Candy Bar Shakeology for me, deli turkey for the kids and fruit

Dinner:

Crockpot Hamburgers & Bag of Steamed Veggies 

Ingredients: 2 lbs ground beef, 1 package dry onion soup mix, salt and pepper to taste, tin foil

Directions: Create a tin foil grill in the bottom of your crockpot so the burgers so cook in the grease. Mix the ground beef and dry onion soup mix together. Form patties and place on top of the tin foil grill. Season with salt and pepper. Cook on low for 2 – 3 hours. Serve and enjoy!

Friday: 

Breakfast: Oatmeal

Lunch: Mocha Shakeology for me, leftover hamburger and veggies for the kids

Dinner:

Easy Three Bean Chili from my sister-in-law’s blog, Espresso & Cream

Ingredients: 2 lbs. lean ground beef or ground turkey, 1 large (30 oz.) can crushed tomatoes, 1 (15 oz.) can tomato sauce, 1 (30 oz.) can Mrs. Grimes Chili Beans, undrained, 1 (15 oz.) can black beans, undrained, 1 (15 oz.) can white kidney beans or white great northern beans, undrained, 2 to 3 tablespoons chili powder, depending on how hot you like your chili, Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

In a large stockpot over medium high heat, brown ground beef or ground turkey. Drain off fat.
Add remaining ingredients to the stockpot. Stir to combine. Bring to a simmer. Cover to keep warm until ready to serve.

Saturday

Breakfast: Egg Bake

Lunch: Almond Chocolate Shakeology & leftovers

Family Pizza & Salad Night (Once a week we enjoy a “cheat meal.” I’ll have a huge portion of salad and my “treat” is one or two pizzas of pizza! Sometimes we make it at home, other times we go out!)

Sunday

Breakfast: Leftover Egg Bake

Lunch: Chocolate Peanut Butter Shakeology & leftovers

Dinner: Leftovers! We’ll have leftover chili or other food that’s left from the week!

That’s all, folks! I’m ordering my groceries ONLINE today, and I’m pretty excited to not have to go out in the cold! I’m ordering through a new store in the area. I’ll let you know how it goes!

XOXO,

Amber

P.S. For more reflections on parenthood and life, follow us on Facebook (Hun Let’s Run) and on Instagram: @ambermariekuiper and @jakekuiper! We’d also love for you to subscribe to our Hun, Let’s Run Podcast! For more info about joining our fitness community as a customer or coach, please email us at amber@mommysmetime.com!