Back to Basics 12 - Choosing a Weekly Menu

If you have trouble trying to decide what you're going to make for dinner, and how to put together meals so that you're under your calorie goal, this post will help you.

First thing I do is write down the meals I'm making on the back of this little notepad that I got from Knock Knock.

White Pizza with Broccoli and Red Bell Pepper

I made the dough for this pizza Sunday night, froze it, then topped it on Wednesday night. It was perfect! You might think freezing pizza dough might not work well but trust me, it was just like delivery pizza.
The fact that we top this with so many healthy veggies and both lean and full fat cheese makes it filling but healthy.

Back to Basics 11 - Homemade Whole Wheat Pizza Dough

Once you realize how easy it is to make your own pizza dough, you won't go back to delivery. Plus, like with anything you make at home, you know exactly what is in the dough. This recipe makes enough for one whole pizza/1 pound/5 servings (slices).

Calories: Without any toppings, 1/5 of this pizza is 196 calories.

Cheeseburger Wrap

This is a recipe from the first cookbook I ever purchased!! I bought this book in the beginning of my healthy journey, 200 meals all under 200 calories?? I NEEDED THAT! I probably cooked about 90% of the meals in this cookbook, and I read it cover to cover. I don't eat as many Hungry Girl meals now because she does use a lot of "diet" packaged foods to make meals so low calorie, and I'd rather eat fresh and real ingredients. But sometimes, here and there, it's ok.

This recipe uses a soy patty by Boca, low carb and high fiber tortilla and those Laughing Cow cheese wedges. It taste VERY good. You can add more cheese if you'd like (maybe some fat free shredded cheddar), lettuce and tomatoes, or some baked fries. Here we go:

Calories: 199

Creamy Greek Salad

This is a recipe from the Hungry Girl cookbook "200 under 200". It's very quick and easy to make and you probably have most of these ingredients in your kitchen right now.

Calories: 173 per serving (about 1 cup)

How to make Almond Butter

This recipe came about because I had been buying this really expensive organic almond butter from the grocery store. I didn't even bother reading the label (which I always do, and you should too) because you know, "it's organic! must be totes healthy". Well, this almond butter had a few more ingredients in it that I didn't really want to be eating all the time. All I want in my almond butter is ALMONDS, and maybe a little salt.
So anyway, I decided to make my own. It's cheaper anyway! And like many of my recipes, extremely easy.

Quick Quinoa Salad

I made this salad, including cooking the quinoa, in about 25-30 minutes. I was starving, didn't want to order out or eat the super-terrible-but-damn-tasty ramen in my pantry. So I pulled some quinoa out of the cabinet, and took all the vegetables I had in my fridge and threw everything in there. This is just an idea of what you can do, not a set recipe. I actually don't remember the particular measurements because if I stopped to measure, I'd pass out from hunger (ok, not really. I'm being dramatic).
Here's my post on how to cook quinoa. While that was going, I chopped up the veggies.

Health Benefits of Quinoa

You've heard of it, but do you know what it really is? And how good it is for you? This is what quinoa looks like before you cook it: