At Home with the Leymons: This Week's Fabulous Food

This week I focused less on weekend breakfasts (mainly because it wasn't a holiday weekend and I didn't need to figure out three of them) and expanded our meals to bring in more chicken. I was a little red meat heavy last week so I wanted to incorporate more chicken this week. I think part of me as I started this diet knew I couldn't just do a bunch of chicken, so I strayed from it last week.

Like last week, I find that the key to success is meal planning. Saturday morning I sat down with my cookbooks and my favorite website - Skinnytaste - and thought about what was already in our fridge/pantry and what would work for the week again given the fact that I'm high protein, low/no carbs, B is on weight watchers and we have two rather picky toddlers. I am not a short-order cook, so I want to find things I can modify as I go to fit the various needs.

Shopping this week was fun. I can honestly say I've never purchased this many vegetables in one shopping trip before.

Saturday
Carne Bistec - Colombian steak with tomatoes and onions
grilled brussel sprouts
corn on the cob (for everyone but me)

Here's how I did the brussel sprouts. I had always roasted them in the oven but figured there had to be a way to throw them on the grill. I combined a recipe I found online for grilling along with one I'd used for roasting, and the final product was fabulous.

I washed and halved about a pound of brussel sprouts, then dried them off. In a bowl, I mixed them with a bit of olive oil, kosher salt, pepper, diced shallots and minced garlic. Then I made a big envelope - dull side out - of foil.

I placed them on the grill at medium heat for about 15 minutes, turning once. I made sure they were all in the foil in a flat layer so all of them had exposure to the grill for the duration of cooking.

After pulling them from the grill, I opened the package slightly, added about two teaspoons of balsamic, mixed them up and closed the foil for a few minutes. That's it! Super yummy and little oil (and no additional fat or calories from bacon
like so many other recipes).

Sunday

For breakfast I threw together something based on last weekend's yummy Baked Eggs with Wilted Sausage

I started with two diced links of Jimmy Dean Turkey Sausage and some diced shallots in a frying pan with one swirl of oil. I diced the sausage versus just chopping it so the taste was spread throughout.

Then I added some fresh spinach and cooked it down. I pulled off the really long and obvious stems but didn't mess with all of the leaves.

Once the spinach cooked down, I added 6 tablespoons of Egg Beaters and stirred until the eggs set. I served it with 1 1/2 ounces of sliced avocado for a recipe total of:

Calories: 193
Fat: 10.2
Carbs: 6
Protein: 18.5
Sugar: 2.1

I'm actually prepping one meal and serving another today. This is because the chicken sausage I purchased expires today and I just wanted to use it quickly.

To serve today - Turkey Stuffed Zucchini with Hot Chicken Sausage: I made this last weekend but I'm modifying it this week to use the hot chicken sausage (the girls will get leftover steak)

To make today but eat tomorrow - Crock Pot Buffalo Chicken Wraps

Tuesday

Feta- Stuffed Chicken Burgers

Wednesday

Mongolian Beef and Broccoli (from this cookbook)

Cilantro Rice

Thursday

Baked Chicken with Dijon and Lime

Grilled Asparagus

Friday

Asian Chicken Lettuce Wraps

Saturday