So it has been a minute since I posted, I have been overwhelmed on this work trip and have only just been able to find a few spare minutes. I figured I would share with you a few quick recipes that get me by on my work trips and some food staples I keep stocked.
I am out driving around town for most of my day and I love the idea of grabbing a granola bar to go. However, I found that a lot of the granola bars tasted way over-processed and honestly left me with a lot of heartburn. I recently found these Sunbelt Bakery, chewy granola bars and they are small but mighty, and no heartburn! I love the chocolate chip and banana oat flavors. They advertise that they have no preservatives and no high fructose corn syrup and are pretty low in calories, so that’s also a plus.
I grab a variety of fruit to snack on as well and they will also double as dessert. Obviously the cherries aren’t the easiest snack to grab on the go, but they are some of my favorite fruits to eat during the summer time. For dessert I usually cut up some apple or banana and maybe add a little bit of Nutella and my sweet tooth is cured!
Now, for the more in depth part of this post, lunch and dinner. I recently found an old post from a personal trainer I worked with for a short time. It was a post about a simple meal that he keeps in rotation regardless of his goals (he just changes the amounts of each item).
It is super easy, just chicken, rice, potatoes, a little bit of ranch and a sprinkle of some hot sauce. I started meal prepping a few lunches at a time by buying a small pack of boneless, skinless chicken-thighs, cooking about 2 cups of uncooked rice, and about 3-4 small red potatoes per lunch. I just add salt, pepper and garlic powder to the chicken thighs before I throw them on the stove and cook them all the way through. I am not fancy and stick to the Minute brand rice which is an easy 10 minute process, just follow the box instructions. Then I dice up the potatoes and throw them in an oven pre-heated to about 450 for about 40 minutes stirring them throughout. Before I pop the potatoes in the oven, I drizzle some olive oil, and add the same seasonings I used on the chicken to the potatoes.
One everything is done cooking I try to put about 1/2 a cup of rice, and 1/2 cup of chicken in each dish, then I just split the potatoes into even piles and throw them in. Once I am ready to have some lunch, I throw them in the microwave for 1 minute and 30 seconds, drizzle about 1 tablespoon of ranch and top with a few shared of hot sauce and I am ready to get my grub on!
For dinner I try to use the same ingredients as lunch (makes for easier, cheaper, and quicker grocery trips). Luckily, one of my favorite meals whether I am at home or traveling uses a lot of the same ingredients. I found the recipe on Pinterest here and have been obsessed since!
I follow the instructions from the Pinterest post for the chicken but then I dice up some red potatoes, toss them in olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic powder and some dried rosemary and throw those in the oven with the chicken. About 10 minutes before the chicken and potatoes are done, I start to sauté some green beans in the same seasonings I have already mentioned (clearly my go-to combo) until they are cooked through.
Once everything is done, I put everything onto the plate and drizzle some of the Yum Yum sauce over the chicken and potatoes. It is a super low maintenance dinner and soooo good.
The recipes mentioned above can also be adapted to a kitchen that doesn’t have an oven or stove by using the microwave, or pre-cooked store bought products (rotisserie chicken, microwavable steamed veggies etc.).
I will also pick up some other items at the store obviously but the extras tend to change each trip depending on my mood or what area I am in.
This was a super quick, kind of random post, but I hope you enjoy!