Greek Chopped Chicken Salad: AKA I have created a masterpiece

While I was in Austin over Christmas break my sister made us a greek salad for dinner, which reminded me just how much I LOVE greek salads. They are simple, delicious, and full of good nutrition. Ever since then I have been wanting to make one. Last night I decided to make a delicious greek salad for dinner, but I decided take my own spin on it. Well, guess what? It turned out kind of amazing. It is such a simple meal, but totally filling. It is full of protein, fresh produce, and good fats. It is an easy make ahead meal that you could pre-chop and mix together right before it's time to eat. Promise you'll love it.

Greek Chopped Chicken Salad

Ingredients for salad: 4 oz cooked/shredded chicken breast, (I used rotisserie chicken) 1/4 an avocado chopped, diced tomatoes, diced olives, a few cups of your choice of lettuce chopped (I used a spring mix w/spinach).  You could also add chopped cucumbers, sunflower seeds, and feta if you like!

Ingredients for dressing: 1 part red wine vinegar, 2 parts olive oil, 2-3 tsp garlic salt, 1 tsp ground black pepper, 1-2 tsp Lowry's season salt. (I put this in a mason jar and shake it to combine) This will make more dressing than you need for one salad, but it will keep great in the fridge.

Combine lettuce, chicken, avocado, tomatoes, and olives in a bowl. Drizzle with dressing and toss to combine.

I had this for dinner last night and made it again for lunch today because I liked it so much! It is light, flavorful and filling! SO TASTY!

A Surprisingly Good Fast Food Find

My darling roommate is a 6th grade teacher. She happened to have a plethora of tickets from a reading program her school did, and she decided to share the wealth with my family. I kinda laughed when my sister told me to meet the clan at Chick-fil-A, because I was pretty certain that there was not a THING on the menu that I would want to eat.

Well, I was wrong, and I'm not going to lie...I'm a little bit impressed. We used our kids meal coupons to feed the fam, and we were not disappointed. Who knew that Chick-fil-A offers grilled chicken nuggets, and that you can swap out your fries out for fruit? I most certainly did not. It was actually really good!  

 The calorie count is awesome! For the 4 piece grilled chicken nuggets pack it is 80 calories, 1 gram of fat, 17 grams of protein! AND they are made from 100 percent all-breast meat NOT pre-formed meat. It is cut really thin, and without all the fat. I was impressed. This meal was gluten free AND paleo approved...WHAAAAA?
Ummm...like I said...awesome. Also, the fruit cup only has 60 calories in it. Who knew I'd ever be endorsing fast food on the blog? I, of course, think that cooking at home is going to be the best option, but this is pretty dang good if you are on the run!

The winner of the July Jams Giveaway is Amber Handy! Email me at megolina21 at gmail.com and I will get you hooked up with your tunes!!

#30: 30 high knees in place

This one is easy, but great to amp up the heart rate. Just run in place, getting your knees as high as you possibly can! Do thirty on each leg for a total of sixty!

You Asked: An Example of My Paleo Meal Plan

I had a lot of questions and comments about what a typical meal plan is like for the Paleo way that I am currently eating. I am of course, more than happy to share with the class. I want to start by saying that I am surprised at just how possible it is to eat this way. I think that it sounds harder at face value than it really is, more so because it means having to give up foods that are a big part of your normal routine. It is more a matter of changing up your routine to new foods than anything. You will find that you become a lot more comfortable with this way of eating as you develop new, different patterns.

Breakfast: 
I aim to get 25-30 grams of protein in for breakfast, along with some good fat because it keeps me full.
2 eggs and 2 oz of turkey jerky (I have loved the natural turkey jerky you can get at Costco)
or
1 oz of almonds and 3 oz of turkey jerky
or
3 eggs
Honestly I haven't strayed far from this in the creative realm because I don't have much time in the morning. I will occasionally thrown in a handful of blackberries because I love em'.

Lunch: 
1 cup of spinach
3 oz of shredded grilled chicken
1/4 cup of salsa
+
a heaping pile of roasted veggies recipe HERE.

I absolutely LOVE these. I make a ginormous batch and eat them with my lunches and dinner.
or
Avocado Chicken Salad 

+
a heaping pile of roasted veggies
or
a Paleo-fied salad bar to go, from one of my fave restaurants. Complete with:
Spinach, cucumbers, beets, carrots, eggs, broccoli, cauliflower, sprouts, sunflower seeds, fresh pineapple,  and occasionally some cottage cheese on top. (There are different avenues of paleo eating, some allow full fat dairy, some don't) I refrained from eating dairy for the first 30 days, but I added the cottage cheese back in because I need the protein and the calcium.

Dinner:
The interesting thing about the way I've been eating is that a lot of the time dinner will come around and I am not all that hungry. My dinners look like my lunches a lot of the time. Other dinner items?
Grilled Chicken/shredded chicken/baked chicken...(you can eat whatever kind of meat you want, but I am not a big meat eater, so...chicken it is) 
Crock Pot Coconut Chicken Curry recipe found HERE
Salads with all sorts of veggies and chicken
Eggs
My Paleo Cereal...aka a chopped up apple, 1 tsp cinnamon, 2 TBS slivered almonds and some almond milk. 

Snacks:
Baby carrots
Fruit mostly berries, but some apples, oranges, and kiwis thrown in there too.
One of my favorite treats has been slicing up bananas and freezing them.
Lots of Almonds (my favorite are the ones dusted/roasted with cocoa powder)
Turkey Jerky

I am a total creature of habit, so this really is the majority of what I have been eating. I'm going to post a list tomorrow of foods that are considered "paleo approved" to help further answer your questions. Just because I am not eating it doesn't mean it isn't something that you can eat!

Other questions...
- How do you pronounce "Paleo?"...it's not Puh-lay-o...it's Pay-lee-oh. As in...Paleolithic. 

- Courtney asked about the picture of my salad in THIS post...about my one month paleo report. She wondered why I was eating chickpeas because garbanzo beans are a legume..legumes are not paleo approved. There are actually no chickpeas in that salad. It is a salad from Chipotle, and I think what you are thinking might be chickpeas are actually chunks of tomato. Or it could be the chicken? The only items on that salad are lettuce, chicken, LOTS of fresh chunky salsa, and guacamole. Yep..it was delicious.

- What are Cherry Pickers? Cassie asked this a few weeks ago. Cherry pickers are an ab exercise that is GREAT for the whole core because it works the back, the abdominal wall, and the obliques. THIS youtube video is a perfect demo!

Any other questions for me about Paleo eating, or anything else? I'd love to hear them! I am also really excited about some companies that are sending me some paleo approved snacks. I'll keep you updated on them as they come!

Make Lunch Happen Fast

One of the questions that I get from a lot of my clients is what they should eat for lunch. Breakfast is usually fairly easy because it is easy to whip up a quick and healthy breakfast for one. Dinner is usually cooked for a bigger group, which can be easier to plan for. Lunch, on the other hand, oftentimes requires thinking of something that is portioned for one. If you are trying to find healthy things you can eat at work, or even if you are trying to make something healthy for yourself while you are busy with kids during the day, trying to determine quick meals that fit the bill can be hard to do.


The easy thing to do when you are hungry for lunch might be to...take a bite of the kids mac n' cheese, run through the drive through, or grab handfuls of whatever is closest to you (enter goldfish, cereal, Doritos, wheat thins, etc. etc. etc.) While all of the things you are grabbing may not be unhealthy, they are not portion controlled, and just grabbing whatever you see might never fill you up. You could end up eating hundreds of unwanted calories. Being prepared for lunch is a great way to avoid binging on unhealthy items, and will keep you in control of your diet.


Healthy Lunchtime Do's...
- Purposely double your healthy dinner recipes, and save some leftovers with lunch in mind.
- Prepare some "go to items" for me this is grilled chicken, vegetables, and salad fixings.
- Fix the same food for you and your kids. No, this doesn't mean you should eat dino nuggets and mini corn dogs too. Maybe it means THEY should be eating fresh fruits and veggies & homemade hummus, a wrap, or sandwich on whole grain bread. A lot of the time parents assume their kids won't eat healthy foods without ever even offering them the chance. Expand their palates and test their taste buds!
- Crock pot it. Some of my all time favorite meals come in crock pot form. Have you made my crock pot cream cheese chicken chili yet? You should...it's kinda my favorite. It also makes AWESOME leftovers.

 

- Keep quick items on hand. La tortilla factory wrap + PB + Banana slices = quick and healthy. Other items like whole wheat bagel or sandwich thins are great. I always have cottage cheese, string cheese, almonds, and fruits and veggies on hand that I can throw together. Keeping some good protein on hand at all times is smart too. Easy quick high protein lunches? Easy cheesy chili & Pesto Chicken Salad. There are a lot of great soup options that you can whip out in an instant and will make life much easier.

- Plan or pack your lunch the night before. If you are getting lunches ready for your kids or hubby, take the time to get one ready for you too. Preparation is the key to weight loss!
- If you have no time, don't let the drive through dictate your diet. Determine some healthy places you can get a quick salad (make it a healthy salad, read HERE for smart salad tips) or a whole wheat sandwich packed with lean protein and veggies.

Make an effort to make your lunches healthy. You will feel better, you will be able to make it through the day with more energy, and you won't be ravenous at dinner! Oh and if you are going to make Mac N' Cheese...at least make it Healthy Mac N' Cheese!

What is your go to lunch option? Do you eat leftovers a lot? Will your kids eat health foods?

Don't forget...only a few more days to enter the March Musicality Mix Giveaway!