Make Ahead - One Pan - Baked Chicken Thighs with Potatoes, Carrots and Green Beans

I've been on a roll making easy one pan meals.  I tried this a few times already and it was hit!  This one is very flexible and you can make it as small or as big as you want depending on the size of bags of green beans, potatoes and carrots you get.  

Ingredients:

• 2 pounds of Chicken Thighs
• Bag of green beans (12 oz)
• Bag of small golden potatoes (24 oz) if they are tiny enough you do not have to cut, I cut mine in half or quarters depending on the size. I end up having a lot more potatoes and green beans left over which I use a side dish for other meals. 
• Bag of Petite or Baby Carrots (1 pound or 12 oz) if carrots are too thick, cut them in half.

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a 9x13 deep baking dish add the potatoes and carrots. Drizzle with olive oil and season with Italian seasoning, a little salt and pepper, onion powder and garlic powder. Mix all together. Bake for 25-30 minutes and turn over half way through to ensure carrots and potatoes cook evenly. I do this because I have found the carrots and potatoes need a little extra time compared to the green beans and chicken. We like them extra tender. If you do not prefer them tender then you can skip baking these in advance.

Take out of oven and place green beans in dish and mix with potatoes and carrots.

Next, place chicken thighs on top of veggies. Season chicken with your choice of seasoning. I used my favorite smoke house maple. 

Put back in oven for 40 minutes. Cover with foil for last 10 minutes so the top of the chicken doesn't dry out or brown before the veggies are super tender.

Make Ahead - Overnight Oats with Chia Seeds and Protein

There are just some mornings I wished my breakfast was already made. Usually, my partner makes me a nice bowl of hot oatmeal before I go to work, but sometimes he has to pack it up so I can take it to go. I started thinking that it might just be best for me to have small tupperwares of oatmeal ready to go. I wasn't sure how I was going to enjoy oatmeal cold, but I love it!

On Sunday I do the following, I pull out 4-5 small tupperwares - the size is 2 cups each.  They are a perfect individual size. I mix all the ingredients on Sunday and put them in the fridge. After 2 hours and they have firmed up I add my fresh fruit on each, so that they are ready to go. On the day I eat them I may sprinkle some sliced almonds.

The base of it is just oats and milk and the rest is really optional. Once you have your base you can play around with flavors and toppings. 

Makes one serving for each container you make. 

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cups of oats
• 1/2 cups of milk (I use almond milk and I may add a splash more depending on how creamy I want it)
• 1-2 tablespoon of nonfat greek yogurt (I use 0% fage)
• 1 Tablespoon of Chia Seeds (or 1/2 tablespoon of chia seeds and 1/2 tablespoon of grounded flax seeds)
• 1 scoop of Protein powder (About 1-2 tablespoons)
• A drizzle of agave/honey (optional)
• 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon 
• Fresh or frozen Blueberries or your favorite toppings
• Sprinkle of dark chocolate chips (optional)

Directions: 

1. Pour all the ingredients in your individual container. I repeat this 4-5 in each individual container.

2. Mix the ingredients until combined as shown below. Next, put in the fridge.

3. A few hours later and by the next morning the oats are ready, as shown below.

4. I then add fresh fruit, like strawberries and blueberries on top to each container and sometimes I add dark chocolate chips (no sugar added). I then close the lids and these are ready for a few days.

5. On the day I am going to eat it, I sometimes sprinkle some sliced almonds.  It has been so helpful and I absolutely love the way it tastes.

I am pretty simply and repeat the same toppings of blueberries, strawberries and sliced almonds. 

I have tried bananas with peanut butter and sliced apples with cinnamon and those are delicious options too.

No Bake Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Protein Balls

 

One of my favorite quick bites to eat before of after the gym or on mornings that I don't have a lot of time to make breakfast are protein balls. My favorite ones are from a local smoothie shop, but I can't always get my hands on them, so I decided to try to make a version of them at home using the same ingredients they use. Besides the amount of rolled oats and peanut butter, all the other ingredients have some wiggle room to play with. You can add some more or less honey. The more dry ingredients you add the more wet ingredients you need to add, you want to make sure the mix is not too dry, but not overly wet. The mix needs to be able to be easily scooped into balls and then chilled to firm up.

Makes 20 small bite size protein balls

Ingredients:
1 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup peanut butter or almond butter
1/4 cup honey or agave or maple syrup
1/2 banana (optional - I had some very overdue bananas that were very tender, feel free to add the full banana if you like bananas. I usually add the 1/2 banana, so that I can lower the amount of honey I add sometimes. You can play with cutting some of the honey by adding a little more banana to make the mixture a little more wet.)
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract (optional)
1/4 cup protein powder (I use chocolate plant based protein)
1 tablespoon of chia seeds (straight out of the container - not soaked)
1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon
1/4 cup of mini dark chocolate chip (or I had a dark chocolate bar and chopped up a few pieces) I try to buy no sugar added dark chocolate.

Directions:

In a bowl, mix peanut butter, honey, mashed banana and vanilla. Add oats, protein, chia seeds, cinnamon, chocolate chips. Mix until well combined. 

This is the current dark chocolate and protein I have been using:

Use a small cookie scoop or you can use a tablespoon and roll them into balls.

Place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and chill in the fridge for about 30 minutes. I then put them in a tupperware and enjoy them for the rest of the week as a sweet treat after dinner or as an afternoon snack or I sometimes eat 3 of them for breakfast when in a rush.