If you are following along on this Meals For Macros journey with me and (fingers crossed) cooking some of the things on my menus, then you might have noticed that I never break the recipes down into serving sizes that you should be eating. This is because you should be eating what fits YOUR macros and not eating the serving sizes Josh or myself are eating.
My macro count is based off of my intensity level at the gym, how often I workout, wanting to gain muscle, decrease body fat, and breast feeding. My meals support my macros, but are not just for me. Josh has a completely different set of macro goals and he reaches his goal through the same meals as I do.
“My goal is to produce clean, fresh meals/menus that everyone can tweak to meet their goals.”
Let’s use my carbohydrate macro goal as an example, since it is the largest of my 3 goals.
I try to take in the bulk of my carbs first thing in the morning before and after my workout. I do not evenly space out my carbs, fat, and protein over 3 meals, since I need protein and carbs to help me prepare and recover from an intense workout. Sometimes I eat a carbohydrate filled snack, like overnight oats or an apple and some days I don’t. Some of my lunches have little to no carbs and sometimes they have a ton of carbs.
I always keep a check on what my count is throughout the day, so I stay on track. It is easy to get lazy and forget to add your meals to your app as you eat them. Then come supper time you are way under or way over! Either is just as bad. You don’t want to have to carb-load right before bed or the alternative, have little to no carbs with supper.
If I am planning on eating a quinoa bowl (which I frequently cook) and only have 40 grams of crabs left for the day, then I will obviously not be able to have 1 cup of quinoa in my bowl. Instead I will weigh out enough to reach my goal and eat more of the toppings than quinoa. It is important to check your macros before eating your last meal so you know exactly what you are lacking.
This is how you can customize the meals and menus I put out there to fit your needs. I rarely go by what the original recipe calls for, I cook the meals according to what we need.
If you are shooting for a low carbohydrate, high fat, or high protein “diet” you can cook these meals. You need to make sure your portions of carbs, fat, and protein are according to what YOU need to be eating. If there is a bowl that calls for jasmine rice or quinoa skip it, eat 1/2 cup, or up the amount. If you are eating a high protein diet, increase the amount of meat in the meal. Use a fattier oil to cook with, use more olive oil in the dressing, add some avocado or bacon, etc. to up the fat content.
Eating healthy is not a one size fits all, you have to make it work for you. I constantly make substitutions to the meals that I post, to make them fit in our macros. Even though I try to pick the healthiest, cleanest, and tastiest meals you still need to make them work for you. The meals I put out there are not set for just my macro count, they can be for everyone! Don’t be afraid to give them a try because MY goal/macros is high carbohydrate, high protein, and low fat, you can make them work for you with some minor changes!
We are off on vacation this week, BUT if I was home this is definitely what I would be cooking. I am hoping to get some Caribbean inspiration while we are in Grand Cayman and throw some new flavors into the menus.
Happy Father’s Day to all the great dads out there and especially to this guy.
M • E • N • U
Creamy Garlic Butter Tuscan Shrimp (or Chicken)
Pork Loin Chops + Warm Asparagus Salad
Pork Loin Chops + Roasted Vegetables
Salmon + Blueberry and Mango Salad
This bowl has got it all, except for the protein…don’t worry I am going to add some. I can’t leave protein out of any of my meals. If you are vegetarian this still has a good bit of protein without adding any meat. I need meat though. I am going to add in some chicken breast and make some extra dressing so the chicken gets coated well also.
I know the name of this bowl has edamame in it, buuuuut I am leaving it out. The bowl is topped with almonds, so that covers the crunchy part and edamame doesn’t really have much of a flavor on it’s own. Per 1/2 cup, edamame has 120 calories & 13 grams of carbohydrates. To me, that is a lot of carbs for something that isn’t going to make or break the dish, especially when there are almonds already thrown in there. It says to toast your almonds. You can simply throw them in a pan on the stove to lightly toast them. No need to add oil or any liquid.
Creamy Garlic Butter Tuscan Shrimp (or Chicken)
Now, don’t think I have lost my mind with a title like ‘Creamy’. Creamy doesn’t always mean unhealthy. A little butter and half & half, well whole milk in my case, never hurt anyone.
This dish is sooooo good and worth the skipping out any other fat throughout the day to have it.There is 2 Tbsp of butter, 1 and 3/4 cups of half and half, 1/2 cup of white wine (optional).
I am going to skip the wine and substitute whole milk for the half and half. 1 cup of whole milk has 8 grams of fat vs. 1/4 cup of half and half has 6 grams of fat. I think I will stick to the whole milk.
If you are lactose intolerant you can use almond milk instead.
Also, I am not using shrimp because it would take a whole lot of shrimp ($$$) to meet my macro goal. Instead, I am going to use chicken breast.
Pork Loin Chops + Warm Asparagus Salad
I love this salad. It is so easy to make and of course meal prep friendly. I skip the dressing because the runny egg and the bacon together make such a great flavor. If you don’t like a runny egg then I would suggest skipping the egg altogether and making the dressing.
I would cook all of this salad ahead of time and go ahead and peel my eggs too. You can always heat the asparagus back up in the oven on hi, broil. I have to reheat mine in the microwave at work for lunch the following day and am never displeased with the texture. Just don’t over cook the eggs when you are reheating them. Typically, I will leave those cold so I don’t risk losing the runniness.
According to LiveStrong.com pan fried bacon weighing jut over 0.5 oz. contains 84 calories and 6 g total fat. Needless to say you don’t want to pile on 8 pieces of bacon on this salad. I typically have 2 slices per serving when I make this.
I am going to season my pork chops instead of making a sauce for them. I always cook my pork chops at 425 degrees to temperature.
Pork Loin Chops + Roasted Vegetables
I feel like roasted vegetables are such a typical meal prep side, but it is so versatile. You can make a dressing for your vegetables, season the mess out of them, leave them naked, etc.
Personally, I like to season mine with just some olive oil, salt, pepper, fresh garlic, and then once they have thoroughly roasted I drizzle them with some balsamic vinegar. Easy as pie. 😉
My favorite combination to roast are brussel sprouts, sweet potatoes (with the skin on), butternut squash (peeled), yellow onion, and sweet peppers. This does changes according to what is in season, but these are my go-to vegetables when roasting.
I cook these on 425 degrees as well, so you can easily cook the pork chops and vegetables at the same time when you are meal prepping.
Salmon + Blueberry and Mango Salad
I am looking forward to this meal THE MOST. I will be making this as soon as we get back! Salmon is my favorite fish and my mom just bought a gallon bag of the juiciest blueberries. Scarlett and Anderson are tearing up the blueberries so I am going to have to hide some for myself and Josh to eat with this meal.
1 cup of blueberries have around 14 grams of carbohydrates and mangoes have around 25 grams of carbohydrates, so don’t go too crazy piling them onto your salad. Make sure you measure them out, don’t just blindly add them to your salad and assume it is healthy because it’s fruit. Not the case. Yes, it’s a natural sugar, but that doesn’t mean you should go crazy on natural sugar either.
We like to cook the salmon on the grill. We will wash the fish, rub each side down in olive oil, and place on a large piece of tin foil, big enough to completely cover it. Once you have washed and oiled your fish, it is time to season it. We season our salmon with lemon zest, LIGHTLY salt (TC’s creole seasoning has a good bit of salt), pepper, Tony Chachere’s creole seasoning, garlic powder, and lemon slices. Enjoy!
Don’t forget the list!
