So this post/menu will be a little bit different. I don’t know about you, but we have something planned for every night starting this Friday, until NEXT Saturday. We will be eating with family and friends on and off all week long. Some gatherings will be suppers and others will be for lunch or brunch. This makes it hard to meal prep, so I am taking off a week and just enjoying the holidays.
As you may or may not know, I am planning on doing a cut in the middle of January. Josh pointed out that it might not be the best time to do a cut, because of the CrossFit open, but I am going to give it a shot. I don’t have a certain goal in mind yet, because I haven’t checked my body fat percentage and weight yet. Once I check my body fat, I will have a better idea of what I want to shoot for. If you are interested in doing this with me, let me know! We are thinking of getting a class/group going at the gym.
As far as my cut goes, I am not so concerned with what the scale says. I care more about what my body fat percentage is. If I have to cut my calories drastically, I will likely not do well in the workouts for the Open. Not that I am competing or anything, but I am competitive, and it is nice to go all out and see where you rank. This year, I just might try not to be as concerned with that, as I have been in the past. We will see how that goes.
Instead of giving you meal prep ideas or healthy meals to cook, I am going to tell you the guilty pleasures that I am going to be making in the next week. With the cut approaching, I have not felt as guilty taking an extra chocolate here and there. I know that I will get back on track and if I start to feel yucky from indulging too much, I will back off. My body doesn’t tolerate unhealthy food as well as it used to. I physically feel bad if I have too much “unhealthy” food.
MENU
B R E A K F A S T
I am not the casserole type…at all. I will not eat a casserole. Usually they are filled with mayo or loaded down with too much cheese or some cream of something in a can. These two are an exception. I made these last year for Christmas morning. I did not want to be stuck in the kitchen cooking, while Josh and Anderson played with all his new toys. I don’t know about you, but we don’t just sit around all Christmas day. Around lunch time, we go to my father in-law’s house and have Christmas lunch with his family. Maybe it was pregnancy cravings, but I wanted both of these casseroles last year and I’ll be doing the same this year. The great thing, was they were both made ahead of time and bonus, they are amazing.
L U N C H
I don’t want to cook any heavy meals for the week or anything that requires too much effort. We are booked-up with family for an entire week, every night we have something to do. Not everyone cooks based on their macros like I do, so I don’t foresee many light lunches or dinners in our future this week. I cooked this a week or so ago and made it super spicy. I added some jasmine rice to calm down the heat and it was a great choice. It really made the meal so much better.
Marinated Cherry Tomatoes with Burrata + Toast
This is supposed to be an appetizer, but these tomatoes are so good I could make a meal out of them. Half of the time, I don’t want to eat lunch after a big breakfast, but need something to get me by until a late lunch. This is easy to make and can be a great side or appetizer to take with you to your Grandma’s (Aunt, Uncle, In-Law, etc.) house.
D I N N E R
Seared Duck Breast with Port Wine Reduction
If you are lucky enough to have a husband that duck or goose hunts, make sure he brings them home to you and cook this meal! A lot of people do not like cooking goose and if they do, they typically will just fry it. I have seared many ducks and geese, and the geese are also great this way.
This is another good option, that can be used with goose, duck, venison, really any type of steak or breast. You can skip the heavy cream and use whole milk, if you don’t want it to be so heavy. I prefer the wine reduction sauce, but this one is a bit thicker and sits heavier.
Roasted Chicken Thighs with Lemon and Oregano
Back before I was concerned about counting macros, I made this chicken thigh dish almost every week. It has so much flavor with the oregano and lemon, it really is so great. I know I will get tired of the turkey and ham quickly and will need to change things up.
D R I N K – U P
I love a Moscow Mule, vodka or bourbon, it doesn’t really matter to me. I love the spicy twist on this one and that she uses lime and grapefruit. I am not a big fan of eating grapefruits, but I can get down with having it in my drink. If you aren’t feeling the spicy, this is my second choice for a Mule this holiday season…
Instead of the jalapeno, she added in peppermint extract! How fun is that?! I think that might have moved up to my first choice. Not everyone likes spicy and I am making mixers for a large group of people tonight. I am going to leave out the alcohol, because 1. not everyone drinks and 2.everyone has a different tolerance level for alcohol…mainly me. My tolerance is way down after nursing for a year.
P.S.A. on these drinks, do not, I repeat DO NOT go crazy with the peppermint. I completely ruined an entire pitcher of these festive mules by adding too much peppermint. There was no saving them. It was such a loss.
Enjoy your family and have a Merry Christmas!
