Roasted Rainbow Vegetables

Anybody else love meal prep? Meal prep makes me feel so prepared for the week and saves our family a lot of time during the week. One thing we make sure is on our meal prep to-do list weekly is roasted vegetables. Ever since completing the Whole30, roasted vegetables have been a staple in our home. Roasted vegetables are easy to add to scrambled eggs, quick to toss the lunch boxes for daycare and work, and great for tossing in last-minute dinners.

Many nights during the week we will toss a pan of broccoli or cauliflower in the oven to roast as a side; however, we like to meal prep this colorful pan for a variety of options to use. You can use any type or color of vegetables you prefer, these are our family's favorite five.

Roasted Rainbow Vegetables

Ingredients

Enough vegetables to cover a sheet pan

Directions

1 | Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

2 | Chop all vegetables to roughly the same size.

3 | Drizzle vegetables with olive oil and top with any seasonings you like, we typically do salt and pepper

4 | Place pan with prepared vegetables in oven and allow to cook for about 30 minutes or until vegetables are tender enough for your liking.

What is one thing you meal prep weekly? Share your recipe below!

Kayty

A Month of 30 Minute Whole30 Meals

It is no secret now, the Sheard family loves the Whole30 program. We have completed the Whole30 twice, and in between them we went off the program. It was graduation party season, and we had several birthday parties also. We still made Whole30 choices as much as possible, but we definitely enjoyed cake and non-Whole30 things at parties. After eating unhealthy choices we quickly realized how much of a difference our Whole30 eating had made. We started to feel sluggish, felt extremely lazy in the evenings, had no motivation, and our old cravings started to creep back out.

Once we were able to break away from the parties we did another Whole30 to get back on track again. After this second Whole30 our goal was to stick with the Whole30 eating habits until something truly worthwhile came along. In order to continue our clean eating, we needed to have an collection of choices available. Especially once school starts and Josh starts teaching again, we will not have as much time for daily meal prep.

We've come up with a list of 30 30-minute meal ideas for you (and for us to look back at!). Any of these could be used for breakfast, lunch, or dinner.

A Month of 30 Minute Whole30 Meals

1 | Chicken stir fry

2 | Hamburgers & sweet potatoes 'fries'

3 | Chicken & any roasted vegetable

4 | Tuna wraps (compliant mayo available from Primal Kitchen)

5 | Spinach Fritata (available in Whole30 book)

6 | Pork chops & any roasted vegetable

7 | Scrambled eggs, sautéed bell peppers, & compliant sausage

8 | Stuffed peppers

9 | Grilled salmon & roasted asparagus or brussels sprouts

10 | Taco meat, mixed roasted veggies, sliced avocado

11 | Hebrew National hotdogs & roasted potatoes (compliant ketchup & mustard available from Primal Kitchen)

12 | Southwest Scrambled Eggs (available in Whole30 book)

13 | Blackened tilapia & guacamole

14 | Egg bake (eggs, homemade sausage, sweet potato, spinach, bell pepper onion)

15 | Shrimp & steamed vegetable medley

16 | Salad & protein of choice topped with favorite vegetables and Primal Kitchen dressing

17 | Roast beef (30-ish minutes of prep, longer to cook)

18 | Grilled meat & vegetable kabobs

19 | Melissa's Chicken Hash (available in Whole30 book)

20 | Pulled pork (30-ish minutes of prep, longer to cook)

21 | Salmon burgers

22 | Baked sweet potatoes topped with favorite toppings

23 | Grilled steak

24 | Dinner Breakfast (available in Whole30 book)

25 | Cauliflower fried rice

26 | Slow cooker gumbo (30-ish minutes of prep, longer to cook)

27 | Sheet pan roasted onion, bell peppers, and compliant kielbasa-type sausage

28 | Eggs with leftover pork chop

29 | Harvest Grilled Chicken Salad (available in Whole30 book)

30 | Blackened chicken & avocado salsa

What are you favorite Whole30 meals? Share below!

Kayty

Coconut Pecan Date Bars

Halfway through our Whole30 we tried Lärabars for the first time. They were delicious & definitely a dangerous thing on the Whole30 if you don’t watch yourself but they were what I needed to keep at work if I forgot a snack and I’m serious need of some food. Basically, they’re a great thing to keep on hand as an Emergency Food. However, the prices are a little too high for our budget to be buying them all the time. We came home and looked up copycat recipes and there are lots of options out there on Pinterest. The first recipe we made was a winner, but we’ve made some of our own adjustments to make it how we like it. The next task we had was to compare prices to see if it was actually cheaper to make them at home. Fun fact: they are! But more on that later.

We like to keep one box of Lärabars at home because they do not have to be refrigerated like our homemade ones. This makes it easier to take Lärabars on hikes, picnics, and car trips. Plus, there are so many flavors they have created that are Whole30 approved! It is fun to work our way through the flavors.

This recipe is in no way made to try to copy Lärabars! We would never want to take away someone’s hard earned work. These bars are just similar in ingredients and taste.

Coconut Pecan Date Bars

makes approximately 12 bars

Ingredients

2/3 cups raw pecans
1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
1 & 1/2 tablespoons coconut oil, melted

10 ounces pitted dates (about 20 dates)

Instructions

1 | Line a sheet pan with parchment paper.

2 | In the bowl of a food processor, process the pecans until finely chopped, leaving a few bigger chunks.

3 | Add the shredded coconut, coconut oil, and dates.

4 | Process until well blended.

5 | Press the mixture onto the prepared sheet pan. Cover with another sheet of parchment paper and top with another sheet pan. Press down firmly to spread out bars until smooth. You can also be like my husband and stand on top of the two pans.

6 | Refrigerate 30 minutes before cutting with a pizza cutter.

7. Store in the refrigerator for up to several weeks.

Price Comparison to Coconut Cream Pie Lärabar

Amazon // 16 count $15.97 = $1.00 per bar

Target // 5 count $5.29 = $1.06 per bar

Walmart // 5 count $4.98 = $1.00 per bar

Walmart // 16 count $22.80 = $1.43 per bar

Homemade version // $0.46 = per bar
$1.39 pecans
$1.64 shredded coconut
$0.24 coconut oil
$2.43 dates

Do you have a favorite granola, energy, or snack bar recipe? Share below, it is always fun to try other peoples' favorites!

Kayty

DIY Taco Seasoning

We have been making our own taco seasoning for as long as I can remember. Once I found out all the unnecessary ingredients in the packets you can buy at the grocery store I knew I had to find a better alternative. We try to keep some of this on hand but it’s very easy to mix up in a pinch and all the ingredients are typical spice cabinet spices so you should have them already.

Taco Seasoning

INGREDIENTS
2 teaspoons Chili Powder
1 & 1/2 teaspoon Ground Cumin
1/2 teaspoon Paprika
1/4 teaspoon Garlic Powder
1/4 teaspoon Onion Powder
1/4 teaspoon Dried Oregano
1/4 teaspoon Black Pepper

DIRECTIONS
Makes enough for 1 pound of meat. Mix all ingredients together in a small bowl. Brown the meat in a large pan, drain and return to pan. Add seasoning mixture to pan with 1/2 cup of water. Stir and bring to a boil then simmer for about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and enjoy.

recipe adapted from The Pioneer Woman

Kayty

Sheard Suppers Vol. 1

Before our baby came, we knew how important meal planning was. On weeks we meal planned we felt prepared, more relaxed, and had more time in the evenings after work. Weeks we didn't meal plan felt frazzled. Several weeks before our due date we prepared many freezer meals to keep us well fed when baby arrived. Even though we had these freezer meals it was hard to remember to get them out to thaw in those early sleepless days and nights so we were still left hanging! I think one of the biggest things I wish we would have asked for is help with meals for the first couple weeks.

Now, we're back to regularly scheduled meal planning and it is even more needed when you have babies than when you do not! Meal planning usually happens on Friday or Saturday then we shop and prep on Sunday. I know there are other mamas out there who feel the overwhelm of planning what your family is going to eat so I'll be sharing our favorite recipes here when I can! Our meals are no where near perfect, we are full believers in balance!

Sheard Suppers Vol. 1

Black Bean Quesadillas

Refrigerator Hash | Essentially we get smoked sausage, and saute it with whatever vegetables are left in the refrigerator at the end of the week. Examples include: green pepper, onion, sweet potato, broccoli. Season with salt and pepper or get creative and use a seasoning blend.

Creamy White Chicken Chili

Pad Thai

Blackened Tilapia | We keep a large Tupperware of the seasoning in our cupboard and always have Tilapia in the freezer for a quick meal option

Grilled Chicken with Zucchini & Skillet Potatoes

What are you eating this week?

Kayty

Photo by Brooke Lark on Unsplash

Our Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipes

I don't really create my own recipes. It's very rare that it happens, even more rare that a creation turns out! Anyway, I'm really good at trying other people's recipes though, and comparing different recipes is even more fun. There are thousand of 'Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie' recipes around. The truth? Everyone has a different opinion of what makes a perfect chocolate chip cookie. I'm in the field of crispy on the outside, chewy in the middle.

In the weeks before our little one was born we made chocolate chip cookies a lot. They are a comfort food staple around here and it was always a nice surprise when someone would bring us dinner AND chocolate chip cookies. Chocolate and cookies warm the soul of a sleep deprived mama.

These are the links for our go-to chocolate chip cookies, listed in no particular order:

1 | My Big, Fat, Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie by The Girl Who Ate Everything

2 | Coconut Oatmeal Cookie by Lil' Luna -- we add chocolate chips to this one

3 | Bakery Style Chocolate Chip Cookies by Stuck on Sweet

4 | Milk Bar's Salted Chocolate Chip Cookies by Foodie Crush

Do you have a favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe? Share with us below, we'd LOVE to try it & let you know what we think!

Kayty