Do Better
“If you know better, do better” was a phrase I heard while watching a friend’s review on “organic” shampoo in her hotel room. She knows well enough to really check the ingredients and not take the label’s word for it. Labels can be deceiving and they are really designed that way. Your packaging has to stand out from the rest of the pack somehow and sometimes that involves being dishonest about what is really in your product.
Sad, but true.
I have always felt as though being healthy was common sense. Like do people really think that fried chicken is healthy? Do people really think with all their hearts and every brain cell that drinking several soft drinks a day is good for them? I would venture to say and might even bet money on it that they KNOW it is not healthy, but they just don’t care enough to stop. They care enough to complain, but not enough to actually make a change.
If you know that there are better alternatives out there, then why not make better choices? I know, I know. I bet you are thinking healthy food is too expensive, but you are wrong and that is just an excuse. I bet you are thinking you can’t afford a trainer or nutritionist. Little known fact, you don’t need one. If you have access to the internet then you have access to all the free at home workouts you wish and free nutrition advice (like this site). Maybe you feel like you are too old and there is no way you can start working out now, again another lie you tell yourself just so you don’t have to put in the work.
If you know better, then do better.
Those words can apply to every single aspect of your life. It is a motto I want to teach my children at home and kids at school. If you know better and do better, you will be a better person for it. People make stupid mistakes and choices, but those stupid mistakes and choices don’t have to be your lifestyle and define who you are. Cheat meals are not someone’s everyday diet. They are not defined by that one meal, but defined by the choices they consistently make.
If you consistently make poor health choices, then you will be in poor health. Sounds pretty simple to me, but everyone really makes it so complicated. One of my coworkers and I were discussing macros at lunch the other day and another person made the comment that we were making food too complicated. Counting macros is complicated and is next level stuff. If you simply eat healthy and stay active, you will be in good health.
I want to be in great health though. I want to do better than just good. I know better, so I do better. Educate yourself and care enough about your health to make the changes. Don’t just talk about what you should be doing. Do it. My Whoop band is my next-next level. I am trying to learn more about myself so I can better myself. It is helping me learn what I need to do to be more than just good, but better. Now I just have to use the information I am given and put it to good use.
New Food Review
Loaded Greek Quinoa Salad This salad had so many ingredients. So many that I didn’t use several of them. Not because I didn’t think they would be good, but because my bowl was already so full and I lost track of everything that needed to be in it.
Complete mom/teacher/back to work brain.
I forgot the cucumbers and avocado. Almost left out the feta and opted out of the hummus. I went minimal on the sun-dried tomatoes and feta. I didn’t want a lot of fat in the dish with the amount of chickpeas and quinoa. I knew they would add a lot calories and the extra fat was not worth it. With that being said, I will completely make this again. it was so delicious! I added in chicken but this would be great as a vegetarian dish (as intended).
M E N U
Pineapple Glazed Pork Roast + Bacon Wild Rice Stuffing
One Skillet Goat Cheese Stuffed and Orzo
Apple Butter and Sage Pork Chops + Mashed Cauliflower
Steak Fajita Bowl
I have made this recipe before and I mainly like it for the marinade…but I plan to change that up a little bit too. Nothing ever really stays the same when I cook it. I am not going to use it as intended for skewers, but am going to make it into a steak, veggie, and rice bowl.
I plan to let the steak sit in the marinade overnight and cook it on the stove in my cast-iron pan. I will sear the vegetables with olive oil spray, salt, and pepper. I don’t want the vegetables to get super soft since they will be reheated to eat later, so I will give them a good char with the cast-iron pan as if they were grilled.
Make sure you check to see the changes I am making to the marinade and to the amounts used of other ingredients!
*Changes I make to meet my macros
Ingredients: about 8 metal skewers (or wooden skewers, soaked in water for 10 minutes) *1/2 cup prepared rice per bowl 1/3 cup soy sauce 2 to 3 tablespoons olive oil *omit oil 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar 1 to 2 tablespoons honey *1 ounce *smoked paprika, cayene, lemon zest, lime zest, salt, pepper 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper about 1.5 pounds boneless top sirloin steak center cut, diced into bite-sized pieces 1 red bell pepper, diced into bite-sized pieces 1 yellow or orange bell pepper, diced into bite-sized pieces 1 red onion, diced into bite-sized pieces *2 green bell peppers, 1 red bell pepper 1 large zucchini, diced into bite-sized pieces *1 zucchini, 1 yellow squash about 1 1/2 cups fresh pineapple, diced into bite-sized pieces *1/2 cup per bowl salt and pepper, for seasoning to taste, if desired 2 tablespoons fresh parsley, cilantro, or basil for garnishing; optional *cilantro *rice
Pineapple Glazed Pork Roast with Bacon Wild Rice Stuffing
This is the dish you want to serve when you are looking to impress someone without spending all day in the kitchen. Cutting the meat can be a bit tricky, but it is beautiful and so, so, so good! I had to look up a step-by-step tutorial on how to cut the meat. If you are unsure of how to cut it into one flat piece, just cut it as if you are going to stuff it.
This recipe was a bit difficult to track the macros on because part of the bacon and rice is used to stuff the pork loin with and the rest is eaten on the side with the squash. To calculate the macros for this meal, you need to weigh the total amount of rice mixture and weigh out how much you put into the pork loin. That will be the weight of each of your servings to accompany the meal.
You must weigh the meat BEFORE putting the rice mixture into it. From there cut each piece of meat to weigh the same amount. If you mess up and cut a piece slightly larger or smaller, just cut off small pieces until each serving is the same weight. Lastly, count how many pieces of meat you have cut that equal a serving and that is the total serving number.
Counting macros with the meals I make is not easy, but is it possible! The macros for one piece of meat was 304 calories, 41.4 grams of protein, 8.8 grams of carbohydrates, and 10.4 grams of fat. It is a lot of calories for one piece of meat in my opinion, but it is so tasty that I don’t mind giving up a snack to have two pieces. I
*Changes I make to meet my macros
Ingredients: 1 1/2 cup uncooked wild rice * 1 cup rice uncooked 1 teaspoon salt 6 slices thick cut bacon chopped * 0.5 ounces cooked 8 ounces button mushrooms sliced 10 ounces fresh or frozen spinach thawed if frozen 1 cup roasted pistachios * omit pistachios 8 ounces feta cheese crumbled *20 grams non fat feta 1 pound pork loin roast 1/2 cup grainy mustard 1/2 cup brown sugar *20 grams pinch of cayenne pepper 1 cup medium pineapple peeled 1 medium delicata squash halved, deseeded + sliced into half moons * acorn squash
Cilantro Lime Salmon
I am not 100% sure if this will be made with salmon or not. Josh has gone fishing this weekend and might (fingers crossed) bring back some fresh Wahoo. If he doesn’t bring anything good home, I will either use chicken breast or buy some shrimp. Might get crazy and do a combination of shrimp and chicken.
I am going to add rice to this dish because carbs are life and I need them. I will do a review of this dish next week and let you know what I think!
INGREDIENTS 4 (5-6 ounce) salmon filets, skin on or off *meat of choice 2 teaspoons chili powder, chipotle or regular 2 teaspoons smoked paprika kosher salt and black pepper 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil *omit, spray olive oil 2 red or orange bell peppers, thinly sliced 1 yellow onion, thinly sliced 3 tablespoons salted butter *1 tablespoon 3 cloves garlic, minced or grated zest and juice of 2 limes, plus more for serving 1 tablespoon honey 1/4 cup fresh cilantro, roughly chopped 1/4 cup fresh basil, roughly chopped steamed rice or quinoa, for serving MANGO SALSA 1 mango, diced 1 jalapeńo, seeded and chopped juice and zest from 1 lime
One Skillet Goat Cheese Stuffed and Orzo
Stuffing anything with cheese and eating it with pasta can only result in something tasty. I was very nervous the first time I made this dish about the number of carbohydrates that would be attached. You can always make your serving sizes smaller or make more servings if you don’t like the macros on a dish, but that is always disappointing. No one wants to leave the dinner table still hungry. Luckily, that was not the case! I had plenty of pasta and cheese-y goodness in my chicken and did not leave the table still hungry, although I could have kept eating.
If you aren’t concerned with counting your macros or watching what you eat, ignore the changes I am going to make and cook it as intended. To make this work when if you do count your macros, make sure you stuff the chicken breasts with the same amount of stuffing. Remember the weight that you stuffed the chicken with and subtract that from the chicken’s total weight.
I always add in my chicken separately on my app, because Josh and I do not need the same amount of protein so equal servings will not work for us on proteins. If you can get chicken breasts that are all the same weight that is even better, but very unlikely to happen. You could always cut them to weigh the same though and add in extra cooked chicken if you need more chicken to meet your protein goal. Just a thought.
*Changes I make to meet my macros
Ingredients: 4 ounces goat cheese, crumbled *74 grams 1 cup fresh basil, chopped, plus more for serving * 1 container 1/4 cup toasted walnuts, finely chopped * omit walnuts 1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves kosher salt and black pepper 1 pinch crushed red pepper flakes, add to your taste 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts (about 1 pound) 2 tablespoons honey * 1 ounce 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil * omit or spray olive oil 1 tablespoon salted butter 2 cloves garlic, minced or grated 1 cup dry orzo pasta *162 grams 3 cups low sodium chicken broth *2 cups 1/2 bunch kale, roughly torn 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
Apple Butter and Sage Pork Chops + Mashed Cauliflower
I was so nervous about the macros the first time I made these. I was not familiar with apple butter, I just assumed it had to be loaded down with carbs like jelly was and then adding apples too! I couldn’t imagine that these would be good for my macros, at all. I just knew that I would be blowing my carbohydrates for the day. I don’t usually calculate macros before I decide to cook a dish, typically I can make some pretty good guesses on what needs to be altered to make things healthier.
The second time I increased the apple butter and it still did not push my macros to the limit. I was so happy to find a new tasty recipe for pork chops. Just like chicken breast, pork chops get really boring after a while if you don’t mix things up. This is the perfect recipe to mix things up with.
If you have carbohydrates to spare, you can add some rice, make a good salad, or add a sweet potato on the side. I am going to add cauliflower mash to this meal. I don’t want the extra carbs from another meal, but I always feel like something is missing when I cook this without a side dish. I don’t want anything that is going to compete with the pork chops as far as flavor goes and certainly don’t want to be going over on my macros. The cauliflower mash is a good choice for those reasons.
*Changes I make to meet my macros
Ingredients: 2 bone-in pork chops, about 1 inch thick *4-6 pork loin chops 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil *zero calorie olive oil spray Kosher salt and black pepper 3 tablespoons salted butter *1 tablespoon 12 fresh sage leaves 2 garlic cloves, smashed 2 tablespoons apple butter *52 grams 1-2 honeycrisp apples, cut into wedges *2 apples 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar 1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme Cauliflower Mash: 2 small heads cauliflower cored and leaves removed and cut into small florets 2 cups chicken broth 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese *Reduced Fat Parmesan 72g 1/4 cup chopped fresh chives Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
E N J O Y !
