Thanks so much ya’ll for all the great dinner tips on this post. I wanted to share those tips with you, in case you missed them…

As far as exercise, is it possible to go for a walk or a jog while your son is at football practice? Even if you have to make phone calls or something at the same time, you can still walk and do it! Another fast favorite is the BodyRock.tv workouts…a lot is just using your own body weight, and you can find workouts for 12-16 minutes that will make you SWEAT and burn later! I always rely on those when I feel like I have zero time but need to get something in.

Sorry for the novel of a comment – I can just totally relate to having no time!  Good luck to our mom in need!

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Jenn’s Adventures said…

My immediate advice is what Lindsey said — Crockpot is the way to go!!! I just visited Akways Training Trio — and today they posted an uhh-mazing crockpot recipe. Super low maintenance, lock and leave, tons of healthy recipes — it’s a huge win/win. I’m also a huge fan of prepping. If people can prep beforehand it will save SO MUCH TIME!

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Heidi @The Sweet Life said…

I can’t relate to having children in the mix but I can relate to being busy! I pack mine and my husband’s lunches every day and to save time in the morning I have been packing up all of our sides like fruits and vegetables in little baggies. I keep them in the fridge in a plastic container so I just grab baggies in the morning after making sandwhiches. I do the same thing for dry foods like chips and granola bars. They are all in baggies in a plastic container in the pantry so I just grab and go.

I think Lindsey’s idea about maybe trying to walk/run during football practice is a great idea! Also, if you are making dishes that you just have to bake for dinner like casseroles, you could use that baking time to go run. Just have your husband keep and eye on dinner.
For dinners, my suggestion would be to look for 30 minute meals that are fast. We also like to make homemade pizza dough and pizza sauce and freeze it for quick and easy dinner options when we don’t want to really cook. We just thaw it out, toss in whatever vegetables we have in the fridge that we don’t want to go bad and toss some sauce on top.

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Laura said…

I love these ideas!

As far as food – I second the crock pot meals! There is a woman who cooked solely in her crockpot for 1 year and she blogged every single recipe. Some are hit or miss, but there are some good ones. Bonus: every recipe is gluten free (they are a GF household) so there’s that bonus!

Second, I would recommend making casseroles ahead of time and just popping them in the oven to re-heat. It will take you 30 minutes of cooking time and you’ll have a fresh cooked meal right there. There are so many great recipes for casseroles and you can even freeze them ahead of time and thaw overnight before you want to eat. I’m not a big freezer fan, but I know lots of families that freezer cook 1 day for the entire month!

Lastly, fast meals! Pre-cooking/prep on the weekends is wonderful. Grill up chicken breasts or veggies and throw them in the fridge. You can even pre-saute your veggies. Then throw everything into a scramble for dinner with eggs. Or institute a sandwich night where you make veggie sandwiches or grilled chicken sandwiches. On the side you can have cut up veggies and hummus or yogurt dip.

It’s really all about planning and the more time you put into planning your meals before you get home at night, the more time you’ll save eating healthy meals! http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/

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Thanks Ladies! So many great tips. I love all the crockpot ideas!

The other I made a soup in our new Vitamix blender. The recipe is from the Vitamix cookbook. The soup is called Harvest Cheddar, and it had all kinds of interesting things that I would have never added into a soup before.

The soup contained: Green Apples, Celery Stalk, Thyme, Vegetable broth, Baked Potato, (1 whole) Onion, Nutmeg, and shredded Cheddar Cheese. I also made mini corn bread muffins.

A little plain greek yogurt on top and dinner was served! I really liked it, it was good and tasted like a Fall soup. Ya know, when you can just taste fall? Yeah, it was like that. Even though I like it, Hubs… did not. But (according to him) he made good use of it….

*sigh*

Win some, you lose some.

Question: What did you make for dinner tonight?

Cheers to the freakin’ weekend, I’ll drink GREEN TEA to that! (Ever get a song stuck in your head? This is me today…)

Happy Friday my friends! Who’s got great plans this weekend? I have minimal plans and I’m happy about that… I actually need to double check my calendar because now that I’m typing I feel like something is going on this weekend and I’m forgetting… snap!

Anyway.

Today I wanted to share an email I got from a reader, who needs your help…

reader’s request:

“I try my hardest and my husband helps by cooking a lot, but when I have to leave my house at 6 in the morning to be a work by 7 and leave at 4 to be home at 5:15, bring my son to football practice by 6 on Monday, Thursday, and Friday, get home at 7:45, I DON’T WANNA COOK!! It is so easy to grab fast food and the last thing I wanna do is go for a jog or workout. I am a BUSY working mom and, although I would love to, I do not have the luxury to stay home, yet! Do you have any friends or followers like me who have to work and keep a healthy living that you can ask for advice?“

Ok ladies, got advice for our mom in need? Add it in the comments area or have an idea for a guest post to help busy people get a healthy dinner in their stomachs? Send me an email at: Lauren@TeamGiles.com

***Don’t forget to enter the Scentsy Giveaway! Ends tonight at midnight, winner will be announced Saturday Morning***

Hello there friends!! Can’t believe it’s already Thursday! This week has flown by, which is great because this weekend is a holiday weekend! Happy *almost* Independence day! What are your weekend plans? As of right now… we have none. But that’ll change soon. I hope we go to a BBQ of some sort… I saw these in a magazine and would love to try and make them..

It’s cupcakes with yellow icing and jelly beans! It looks like corn on the cob. How stinkin’ CUTE is that? Now.. how to make them “healthier“. That’s the challenge. Any recommendations?

The other day I made homemade black bean enchiladas. They were stellar. Seriously fabulous.

picture taken after I dived into them

I’ve made black bean enchiladas before, but with a TON of cheese… this time I did things a little different. I used…

• 1 can of black beans
  
• light sour cream (could sub for plain greek yogurt for more protein)
• tomato & pineapple pico de gallo
• 4 tortillas
• shredded mozzarella (all I had on hand)
• Verde salsa

I took the black beans and rinsed them, added them into a bowl. In the bowl I added along with the black beans, the pico, and a tablespoon of sour cream. Mixed all of that together. Added paprika and salt. Stir, stir, stir. Then added the mixture to each individual tortilla and rolled each up and placed into the glass pan.

Once all of the tortillas were filled and placed into the pan, I added the verde salsa on top and then sprinkled some cheese on top of the salsa. Covered the pan with foil and placed in the oven for 35 minutes at 375 degrees.

After 35 minutes, I removed the foil and let sit in the oven another 5-10 minutes.

Then its time to enjoy! We had enchiladas with a side of hatch chili tortilla chips and some tasty red roasted salsa. YUM! I love making this dish because there’s always left overs and they do taste even better then next or next-next day.

Also, I received these beauties in the mail the other day…

Flat Out sent me all those goodies above including this awesome recipe booklet…

Lots of grilling ideas too! And with summertime on us, grilling is one of our favorite things to do. I can’t wait to try all this out… I’ll have some posts up soon of what I’ve created!

Have ya’ll heard of the “Do Life Tour“? Ben who writes the blog “Ben Does Life” who used to weigh 360 pounds, lost weight and has done everything from a 5k to an Ironman, (CRAZY!!) is doing a 5k tour. It’s coming to Houston July 10th. Has a tour came to your city already? Have you gone?

Last week I posted about this on TG’s Facebook page. Have you “liked” it yet? I think you should, all the cool kids are doing it.

To me, Memorial Day always seems like the start of summer. Anyone else agree? Nothing says summer like a Burger and Fries! And boy, did I make some tasty fries just recently.

I made Homemade Sweet Potato Fries last week…

and my goodness, they were fabulous!!

They’re very simple to make. Here’s my recipe…

You’ll Need:

• 1 large sweet potato (or more depending on how many you’re feeding, this was for two people)
• Olive Oil Spray
• Rosemary Seasoning
• Sea Salt
• Pepper
• Large ziplock bag

Directions:

• Wash and peel sweet potato, then cut into “french fry” shape.
• In a baking pan, lightly spray the olive oil on to the pan so that the fries don’t stick to it.
• In the ziplock bag, add a little bit of olive oil, add the cut fries, add about a teaspoon of rosemary (or to your hearts desire)
• Seal the bag and Shake! Shake! Shake!
• Empty the bag to the baking pan.
• Add little bit of salt and pepper
• Bake on 325 degrees for 30-35 minutes. Keep an eye on them and make sure you’re skinnier fries aren’t burning, you might need to cook them less than 35 minutes.

Then Ding! Your tasty Sweet Potato Fries are ready to eat! Such a quick and easy side, and perfect for your BBQ party! I paired my fries with a Boca Veggie burger and oroweat sandwich thins. So delicious!

Happy Memorial Day! To all our men and women who have served and are serving in our Military. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts for all you do for our Country. God Bless America!