Wednesday, January 6, 2016

The Best Recipe Ever...And What I Ate My First 8 Days of Trim Healthy Mama!

First off, I am so incredibly humbled by all the comments and views of my blog.  I had no idea, when I decided to finally create a post on New Year's Day that any of you would care about what little, ol' me had to say!  Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your support and encouragement!

**EMportant Note:  This is a long post, but hang in there...it includes one of my family's favorite recipes AND what I ate the first 8 days of my Trim Healthy Mama journey.

Foil Packet Salmon!!!




So, I have the best husband ever.  The problem is, we have nothing in common.  He is outdoorsy and likes to camp...I stayed at a questionable Days Inn passing through Colorado once, and call that roughing it.  He likes country music, I like Rod Stewart.  He likes football, I'm a baseball girl.  He votes for the candidate, I vote for the party.  He's Son's of Anarchy, I'm Real Housewives.  He's laid back, I'm....well, complete opposite of laid back.  I mean seriously; opposites must attract!  One thing we can agree on is our love for food; particularly cooking together!  This is a Jamie Oliver recipe that we remade, and I like it even better.  This is so stinkin' easy, and tastes like it comes from a 5 star restaurant.  Make it today!

First off, you can either use asparagus or fresh green beans in this recipe.  Mark prefers green beans, I prefer asparagus.  Big shocker...opposites again.  If you choose to let your husband win...I mean if you choose green beans, boil them first to soften them up just a bit, maybe 5-7 minutes.  If you choose asparagus, clip the ends off, and proceed with the recipe.


The foil packets are important in Foil Packet Salmon, so pay close attention to the detail of the fold.

**EMportant Note:  I realized all I had to do to get out of cooking dinner, was say, "Hey Mark, I'm going to post this recipe on the blog.  Do you mind prepping and cooking, so I can take pictures?"  And, he did!  I wonder if I could convince him to fold the laundry tomorrow, while I take pictures...you know for the blog's sake. :)


After the green beans are a little bit tender, lay them in a single layer on the foil packet.  Drizzle the green beans (or asparagus) with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. 


Lay the pieces of salmon on top of the green beans.  Mark wanted me to tell you it is EMportant to use fresh salmon, not frozen.  Mark's bossy!


Grab a bundle of cherry tomatoes and slice them in half...



Liberally, spoon some jarred pesto sauce over the salmon evenly.  


Then place the tomato halves over the pesto sauce.  Drizzle lightly with olive oil again, and lightly salt and pepper.  To be honest, Kendall and I do not like tomatoes, but these tomatoes are melt in your mouth amazing combined with the pesto sauce.



Wrap it all up in the foil packet and it's ready for cooking!  If the weather is nice, we place this on our grill until the salmon is flaky.  If it's too cold for grilling, we bake it at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes.  Make sure your salmon is nice and flaky before eating.  This dish is delicious served over a bed of quinoa.



Earlier this week, I posted the Trim Healthy Mama Fat Stripping Frappa, and that started a discussion on my Facebook page about what to eat when starting out on Trim Healthy Mama.  When I started THM I wrote down everything I ate...mainly so I had a game plan when I went to the grocery store; but also, so I could refer back to it when needed.  I am thankful I did because now I can pass it along to you!  How many times do you say, I would so do that diet, if only someone told me exactly what to eat!?!

Let me start with a HUGE disclaimer:  I am in NO way a Trim Healthy Mama (THM) expert (or an expert on anything else, for that matter).  This is what I ate based on how I interpret the book; and it worked for me.  I like to keep things simple, and family friendly. I knew if I had to buy a bunch of unique ingredients, I would not stick with it.  I am also not a big sweet eater, so my list doesn't contain many desserts, but there are more options for that.  The new THM cook book, Eat Up and Slim Down, has tons of options to satisfy your sweet tooth!  My list isn't too impressive, but might help those of you that want to begin your THM journey, but aren't sure where to start.

Day 1:

Breakfast:  Protein Muffins/S Meal:  This is on page 221 of my THM book, but I adapted it from a South Beach Diet book that I have had for years. You can basically add any meats and veggies to it, and it's like a tiny, crustless quiche.  Basically, just grease a muffin tin (I found silicone to be the easiest to remove the muffin from after cooking), add whatever you want to the empty muffin cup; I like to add red bell pepper, onion, turkey bacon and whatever grated cheese I have on hand.  I just sprinkle a little of everything in the bottom of the cup.  You want it to be about 1/3 full.  Then in another bowl whisk 8 eggs with a little salt and pepper.  Pour the egg mixture into each of the cups.  Be careful not to overfill; the eggs will rise a little when baked.  Bake at 350 for 25 minutes or so.  Make sure the eggs have firmed up before eating.  The best thing about these is that you will have enough for a few days of breakfast.  Keep them refrigerated and then just reheat as needed.  **EMportant Note:  If you're a tired, run down mom and have no time to reheat, they taste perfectly fine straight from the fridge...not that I've done that, but I've heard....

Lunch:  Chicken Cesear Salad...no croutons!! /S Meal

Snack:  Small Green Apple with 1 tablespoon of Natural, Sugar Free Peanut Butter (I like Trader Joe's) /E Snack

Dinner:  Foil Packet Salmon /S Meal

Dessert:  Skinny Chocolate Covered Strawberries/ S Snack (You can find this recipe everywhere, but I particularly like this post by The New Lighter Life

Day 2:

Breakfast:  Leftover Protein Muffins/ S Meal

Snack:  Wasa Crackers with Laughing Cow Cheese/ E Snack

Lunch:   Salad containing Romaine Lettuce, Grilled Chicken, Black Beans and Salsa mixed with Fat-Free Greek Yogurt/ E Meal

Snack:  Skinny Chocolate with 1 teaspoon of Natural Peanut Butter (THIS IS AMAZING...think Reese's)

Dinner:  Meatloaf (I just adapted my regular recipe with oats and sugar-free ketchup), mashed cauliflower, and green beans.

Day 3:

Breakfast:  Leftover Protein Muffins...bet you didn't see that coming!

Lunch:  Pizza on Joseph's Flatbread with Great Value Pizza Sauce (this is the WalMart brand, it has the lowest grams of sugar), 2% Mozzarella Shredded Cheese, Turkey Pepperoni, Olives and Bell Pepper/ S Meal   ***EMportant Note, I always brown my flatbreads just a little before adding the sauce and toppings, then it is thin and crispy.

Snack:  Small Green Apple with 1 teaspoon of Natural Peanut Butter/ E Meal

Dinner:  Grilled Chicken, Roasted Asparagus and a Small Sweet Potato with 1 teaspoon of butter/ E Meal

Day 4:

Breakfast:  Fat Stripping Frappa (See My Post Yesterday)/ FP

Lunch:  Wrap using Joseph's Flatbread, 1 teaspoon of mayo, Sargento's Sliced Cheddar, Turkey, Romaine Lettuce/ S Meal

Snack:  Greek Yogurt with Strawberries/ E Snack

Dinner:  Flatbread Pizza and Salad (Like Lunch on Day 3)

Day 5:

Breakfast:  Breakfast Tacos; Eggs and Turkey Bacon on a Low Carb Tortilla (with a little Salsa)

Lunch:  Chicken Cesear Salad (No Croutons) from La Madeline

Snack:  Cheese Stick wrapped in a piece of turkey (I'm so fancy, right?)

Dinner:  Mexican Quinoa; I'm going to post this recipe soon, but basically it is a casserole-like bake with quinoa, black beans, ground turkey, rotel, and a little cheese topped fat-free greek yogurt.

Day 6:

Breakfast:  Fat Stripping Frappa

Lunch:  Leftover Mexican Quinoa

Snack:  Greek Yogurt with Blueberries

Dinner: Grilled Kabobs with Chicken, Onion, Bell Pepper; with Grilled Zucchini and Sauteed Mushrooms

Dessert:  Chocolate Cake in a Mug (Recipe coming soon to blog, but if you can't wait, it's in this book)

Day 7:

Breakfast: Scrambled Eggs with Turkey Bacon

Snack:  Weight Watcher's Cheese Stick

Lunch:  Frozen Fish Fillet and Steamed Broccoli

Snack:  Fat Stripping Frappa (with strawberries, no cocoa)

Dinner:  Spaghetti (Dreamfields Pasta), Turkey Meat Sauce...you can make your own, but I just try to find a brand with 3 grams of sugar, or less...and cesear salad.

Day 8:

Breakfast:  Fat Stripping Frappa

Snack:  Laughing Cow Cheese and Wasa Crackers

Lunch:  (At Cowboy Chicken); 1/4 Chicken, Green Beans and a Sweet Potato AND NO ROLL!!  I love Cowboy Chicken's Rolls...or anyone's rolls! #thestruggleisreal

Dinner:  Burgers with Homemade Roasted Sweet Potato Fries (We made normal burgers, I just put mine inside a Joseph's Pita)  **EMportant Note: If you use Ketchup, make sure to buy sugar free.

Pretty Simple, right?

So, I have a huge favor!  After the discussion on my Facebook, I know some of you are THM Pro's and some are newbies.  Would my THM Pro's mind commenting below in the comment section (so everyone can see), your favorite THM recipe or tip?  Remember, even if you have no interest in becoming a Trim Healthy Mama, these are still delicious, healthy recipes anyone can try!  Thanks, friends!

Xoxo,

Emily

P.S. This post contained affiliate links, which means if you clicked on a link & made a purchase, I may have received a little commission.  Thank you for reading and supporting my blog.  

8 comments:

  1. I really need to order this book! I do low carb but thinking of trying THM. Thanks for sharing your meal plan.

    ReplyDelete
  2. i need to do this! thanks for sharing how you meal plan :) cant wait to read more!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thank you for stopping by, Cait!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Another great post! I've been looking for something that keeps muffins from sticking!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Is your salmon skinless, Em? You know we eat a lot of salmon. This sounds like a great recipe! Maybe I can get your dad to cook like Mark cooks! ;)

    ReplyDelete
  6. No, it has skin on it, but we put it ugly side down. Try it & let me know what you think!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Must make this salmon soon!! YUM!! I need a man to cook for me! HA!!

    ReplyDelete

Blogger template designed By The Sunday Studio.