Happy Sunday, what a gorgeous day!! It’s so nice to be able to open the windows and let in some fresh air! All while doing my food prep for the week!

So this week I start my new assignment at work. I’m anticipating that it will be a stressful and exhausting week, so I wanted to be sure I am well prepared ahead of time. I developed my meal plan with a couple of easy meals and a crock-pot meal, so evenings can hopefully be simple. And I’m doing some extra prep today as well in preparation.

I prepped my fruits and veggies as usual today. I also decided to make a big batch of marinara sauce. I started making my own last winter when I wanted to be able to enjoy marinara without the calories and filler that comes in the store bought stuff. It’s a very simple recipe I found from a fellow Weight Watcher member online, and sort of tweaked to make it my own:

• 1 large can crushed tomatoes (28 oz)
• 1 garlic clove (I use already minced garlic, 1 clove is about a ½ teaspoon)
• Italian seasoning

I sauté the garlic a bit in the bottom of the pot until it’s smelling good, then add the tomatoes and seasoning. And that’s pretty much it! I like to let it cook down for awhile, and will add more seasoning depending on the taste. I also sometimes add a little salt and sweetener depending on my mood. Today I made a quadruple batch of this recipe, ate some with my lunch over broccoli slaw and diced chicken, and then froze the rest in pint jars. If you’re doing Weight Watchers, this sauce is 0 points! Score!

I also made up some of my meatloaf cupcakes. I absolutely love my meatloaf recipe, but it’s one of those things where when I make it, I want to eat it all! A friend told me about baking it in a muffin tin and I love this, it’s easy to pack in lunches and keeps the portions under control. Here’s my recipe

• 2 lbs ground beef (I use 96% lean)
• 1 egg, slightly beaten (I use egg whites)
• 1/2 c ketchup
• 1/8 tsp pepper
• 1/2 tbsp. dissolved beef bouillon in bit of hot water
• 1/2 c bread crumbs
• 1/2 c finely chopped onion
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 c milk

Mix everything together. Divide into balls and press into greased muffin tin (I like to use a jumbo muffin tin, it only holds 6 at a time, but it will give you a little more generous portions). Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Eyeballing to get them about the same size, I got 11 muffins out of this recipe, which comes to 3 points each. Once they cool I will freeze them in individual sandwich bags so they’re easy to grab-n-go. Yum!

Lastly I make a big batch of chicken salad to have for lunches this week; I love this chicken salad so much I actually get excited when I know I’m having it for lunch lol!   This is another recipe I swiped, I think from Pinterest this time, and change it up a bit each time depending on what I have on hand in the kitchen:

• Chicken breast (for convenience, I usually use canned chicken, after draining…what I used today came to just under 14 ounces total)
• 1 cup Greek yogurt
• ½ t garlic powder
• 1 T lemon juice
• About 1 cup grapes, sliced
• 1 apple, chopped
• Celery (couple handfuls, chopped)
• Red onion (couple handfuls, chopped)

Mix together and voila! I divided this into 4 servings, so they will be 3 points per serving. Sometimes I eat on a sandwich thin or tortilla, and sometimes just by itself with a fork. This recipe is also great with some dried cranberries, and if you like nuts some walnuts or almonds would be good too!

It’s been a busy day, but as soon as I finish hard-boiling my eggs and making my oatmeal, I will be set for the week! Are you doing anything today to be planful for the week ahead? Any make-ahead recipes you’d like to share?