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.

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.

Back to Basics 9 - Homemade Marinara

Why would you ever want to buy marinara sauce at the grocery store? Convenience? Well, this sauce could not be any easier to make. And it only has 7 ingredients:

Olive oil
1 onion
28oz whole peeled tomatoes (organic if you can)
1 garlic clove
Sugar
salt & pepper to taste

Strawberry Fruit Leather (Roll-Ups)

This recipe for strawberry (check out why they're great for you) leather was inspired by Weelicious. This is the second video I've made, it went A BIT smoother this time. This recipe is crazy good, my boyfriend didn't know what to expect. He thought it would taste like crap (NO FAITH!) but was pleasantly surprised.
The entire thing has 202 calories, once you cut them up into 7 strips, each one has 29 calories. And it's pure fruit. This is what you would get out of the box:

Avocado Health Benefits

Avocado Banana Shake

Don't mind the terribly shaky picture

Whole Wheat Cheese Crackers

Look at the flaky layers of cheese in that cracker!

I know we all crave crackers sometimes. I do ALL THE TIME. I just need that salty, crunchy bite in the afternoon so I reach for that box of crackers and I.can't.stop. To help with my addiction, I made this whole wheat cheese cracker (it's pretty much like cheezits). First of all, it's whole wheat. Second, it has FIVE ingredients and no crazy chemicals. I got the recipe from Big Bear's Wife, Angie perfected it by going through tons of recipes to try and get that perfect taste. And let me tell you, she did an amazing job. My boyfriend tried it and he said it didn't have that whole wheat taste at all. Seriously, it tastes exactly like the boxed kind. So here we go:

Back to Basics 6 - Chicken Piccata with Mushrooms and Angel Hair Pasta

This delicious and creamy meal is going to satisfy ANY cravings you have (except for chocolate). You get a briny and creamy sauce with mushrooms, capers and parsley, starchy nutty pasta, and a crispy chicken breast. I mean, look at it! It's beautiful!! This recipe was tweaked slightly from Eating Well.

Back to Basics 2 - Tools of a Healthy Kitchen

For those who don't know how to get started with the whole healthy eating, here are some tools I use almost every single day.

Back to Basics 1 - Getting Started

This is the first installment of the series "Back to Basics". The series is all about giving you recipes that everyone should know how to make. It's also here to help you with the basics of eating healthy.

I know how un-fun learning about eating healthy can be. It's all "drink water, exercise, eat your fruits and veggies, bla!" (which, by the way, you should do). Well, I'm here to cut out all the extra fluff and give you the basics.