Loaded Pasta Sauce

Continuing our Meal Pre Series, this recipe is an adaptation of Keri Glassman's (MS, RD, CDN) Squash Champion. Needless to say, while you're welcome to serve this with pasta, I recommend spaghetti squash– the sweetness from the squash compliments the sauce and spices beautifully for a complete and balanced dish! Altogether, this meal is loaded with protein & rich in nutrients while keeping your calorie count low.

Recipe (Serves 6):

• 1 Diced Red Onion (Small) 
• 1 tbsp Minced Garlic
• 1 tbsp Fresh Rosemary
• 4 Whole Organic Tomatoes
• 1 c Organic Strained Tomatoes
• 6 cups Organic Baby Spinach
• 1 lb Ground Beef or Turkey 
• 1 tbs Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• Pinch of Cheyenne
• 1tsp Red Pepper Flakes 

Sauté onion, garlic, and rosemary in olive oil until onion is transparent. Remove rosemary branches, add diced tomatoes and spices. Cover and simmer on low. In separate pan, brown ground beef or turkey with rosemary. Once cooked, add protein to sauce. Stir in strained tomatoes and spinach, cover and simmer until spinach is soft. Serve over spaghetti squash & sprinkle with grated parmesan. For meal prep, freeze & reheat once spaghetti squash is cooked and ready to enjoy!

*Disclaimer– I love spinach, so I load up on this recipe. Paul could probably do with less spinach and more meat. The choice is yours. 
 

202 Cal / 10g Carbs. / 10g Fat. / 17g Protein  - Per Serving

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How I Meal Prepped for Baby + 6 Recipes

While waiting for Winnie's debut one of my biggest priorities was meal prep. Even though we'd have family visiting– and parents who were more than happy to cook or order out– I knew I wanted to have balanced meals available for healthier choices when left to my own vices. If I'm honest, I probably went overboard, but I was having fun playing with recipes and planning out my postpartum nutrition plan. Was that much meal prep necessary? Probably not, but I now know just how valuable it was in the weeks following our little one's arrival.

Why focus on food so much when adjusting to a newborn?...

I'm a firm believer that in order to care well for others unless you first take care of yourself. Since I'd decided to breastfeed, I knew that nutrition would be more critical than ever. I predicted late nights, early mornings, and little to no time to cook a healthy meal. I knew I would need to accommodate an additional 500 calories to nurse, and from what I'd read, women who breastfed were generally hungrier throughout the day. I wanted to set myself up for success both in postpartum recovery and caring for baby.

What I prepared?...

While I didn't plan on prioritizing breakfast recipes, in hindsight I'm really glad I did! 

Adjusting to life with a newborn, this is by far the hardest meal to prepare in real time. I can't tell you how satisfying it is to whip out a complete and somewhat luxurious meal in no more than 2-5minutes. With many of these recipes all that's left to do is warm some milk or fry a couple eggs and not only do I feel nourished, but heck, I feel pretty darn put together, and THAT goes a long way as a new mom! 

Was it Really that helpful?

YES! While our freezer was maxed out, and Paul was convinced I was going overboard, since Winnie's arrival, I've remade these recipes multiple times! Both Paul and I have found the breakfast options incredibly helpful during hectic mornings, and I've thoroughly enjoyed the added snack options throughout the day. Assuming that dinners would be covered by parents, I only prepared one dinner option, and once all of our visitors left, it proved a nice transition. 

Anything else you did to prepare?

While I didn't finish our nursery or pack my hospital bag until the week of, food and other household necessities were on stock and ready to go! I can't tell you how many Amazon orders I made in the month leading up to Winnie's arrival. In addition to the meals I prepared, I made sure to stock some frozen fruit (smoothies), veggie burgers, fish, and protein bars. 

As I pulled all of these recipes for you, this post became unbearably long, so rather than overwhelm you, I'll be sharing one recipe per day for the remainder of the week. Because the nutritional value of these meals is extremely important to me, I've included nutrition facts with each recipe, but should you have any questions you can always leave a comment or DM me via Insta. I hope you enjoy, and let me know what you think!

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Green Detox

Recipe (Serves 2):

• 3 c Organic Baby Spinach
• 1/2 Granny Smith Apple
• 1/2 Cucumber
• 1 1/2 Celery Stalk
• 1/2 Banana
• 3/4 to 1c Pineapple (adds to sweetness)
• 1/2 c Organic Nonfat Keifer - Plain
• 1/2 c Water
• 1 squeeze Lemon

Combine all ingredients in a Ziploc bag and freeze. When ready to enjoy, add keifer, water, lemon and blend until smooth. *Pro Tip: leave some air in each bag. Originally, I wanted to conserve freezer space, so I packed these down as much as possible, however, when it came time to prepare, I was stuck with a brick of frozen greens and an overworked blender. 

135 Cal / 30g Carbs. / 0g Fat. / 5g Protein  - Per Serving

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Click through to more Recipes:
 

• Green Detox

• Tropical Power Bowl

• Loaded Pasta Sauce

• Simply Nourish Bowl

• Chocolate Lover's Power Bowl (Coming 4/28/2018)

• Protein Chocolate Pumpkin Muffins (Coming 4/29/2018)