Life Lesson Quotes

If you’ve struggled making an important change in your life, or several needed changes as I have, you’ve learned at some point that planning and preparing for adversity is required.  I fought this truth for over a decade, sabotaging my efforts many times.  It’s very uncomfortable to do things we aren’t well versed in, far easier and momentarily comfortable to cope with discomfort and stress as we always have.  The meal planner is a prime example of how we resist change and derail our progress creating a lean, strong, healthy body.

Using a meal planner is quite simple though, especially now with the web providing us endless options for recipes to try and tweak as needed for our personal optimized nutrition plan;

1. Find recipes
2. list ingredients
3. Buy or check to make sure we have everything
4. Set aside an hour each Sunday (or if on an alternative work schedule whatever time frame is most open) and batch cook for a few days!

Meal Planner

Vigor Beef & Sausage Chili

This is inspired by a recipe I found from Suzanne of Keto Karma.  For my own personal nutrition plan I did not want the higher amount of tomato sugars in my meals compared to fat and protein, so I simply upped the amount of beef to 2 lbs.  You too can approximate how much protein you want per meal to hit macronutrient targets (daily protein, fat, and carbohydrate levels).

Ingredients
2 lbs. Ground Beef
1 lbs. Ground Sausage (regular or hot depending on preference)
1 Medium Green Bell Pepper, chopped
1/2 Medium Yellow Onion, chopped
1 can of Diced Tomatoes in Tomato Juice (14.5oz)
1 can Tomato Paste (6oz)
1 TBSP Chili Powder (May need to use more if you choose a mild sausage)
1/2 TBSP Ground Cumin
3-4 Garlic Cloves, minced ( or 1 TBSP Garlic powder, which is .8 net carb additional per serving)
1/3 Cup of Water

Instructions
Brown the sausage and ground beef.
Drain and save half of the fat.
Place the cooked sausage and ground beef into the crockpot
Add half of the fat drippings and all other ingredients into the crockpot and mix well.
Place the lid on the crockpot, set on low, and cook for 6-8 hours.
Plate and top with sour cream, cheese and green onions, if you like. (Toppings not included in listed macros)

DOWNLOADABLE PDF

Vigorous Garlic Herb Drumsticks

I found a recipe awhile ago here from paleo flourish.  Most I have coached are not overly crazy about curry as a seasoning, so I simply tweaked the ingredients to flavor these differently!  As you get comfortable cooking you realize what a powerful tool it is as it not only saves time and money, but allows you to customize meals precisely for YOU.  I make two batches of these as I’m very sure how many my little dudes will eat and want to ensure I have enough for 6 meals, which for me is about three legs a meal.

Ingredients
10 chicken drumsticks
1-2 Tablespoons salt
3 Tablespoons mixed herb powder
3 Tablespoons garlic powder
1/2 Tablespoon of coconut oil for greasing baking tray (optional).  Can also use cooking spray, preferably coconut oil as well.

Instructions
Preheat oven to 450F (230C).
Grease a large baking tray with coconut oil.
Mix the salt, curry powder, and garlic powder together in a bowl.
Make sure the drumsticks are not too wet (otherwise it won’t get crispy).
Coat each drumstick with the mixture and place on the baking tray. Make sure the drumsticks are not touching each other on the tray.

DOWNLOADABLE PDF

KETO GROCERY LIST

Ground Beef – 2 lbs.

Ground Pork Sausage – 1 lbs. (spicy if preferred, check for added sugars/wheat/fillers)

Chicken Drumsticks – 20

Medium to Large Green Bell Pepper

Yellow Onion

14.5oz can of diced tomatoes

6oz can of tomato paste

Chili Powder – 1 or more tbsp. depending on spicy preference

1/2 tbsp. ground cumin

3-4 garlic cloves (or substitute garlic essential oil powder if desired for ease)

Chicken Herb Seasoning (ensure no sugars, etc.) – 3 tbsp.

Garlic Powder – 3 tbsp.

Coconut Oil – 1 tbsp. or cooking oil spray

DOWNLOADABLE PDF