Peanut Chicken Meal Prep and Easter Food Hangover

Nate and I have been pretty busy the last two weeks, so our already fairly simple weekend meal prep has gotten even simpler so we can manage our time better and still eat correctly during the week.

I wrote about how I changed my macros and this meant that I needed to alter how I was eating a little bit. For instance, on days that I don’t workout I only eat two eggs for breakfast instead of four. Now I only eat four on lifting days. I also started to change up the amount of heavy whipping cream I put in my coffee. I was using three tablespoons on lifting days, but after one morning of feeling like my stomach was dying after my morning coffee, I decided to reduce it to two tablespoons.

Last week I just put one in my coffee and immediately noticed a positive difference in how my stomach felt...so...I may be developing slight lactose intolerance. So much sadness. Looks like those 18 years of milk with basically breakfast, lunch, and dinner didn’t do anything.

Anyway. With all of this macro and food adjusting, I wanted to keep much lunches simple. I loved the peanut sauce that Nate invented (I kept eating his dinner that night. He was less than amused).

The recipe is super easy. Initially, I tried cutting up the chicken into small pieces and then sauteing it with the sauce, but that didn’t work super well and the sauce was way too watery for my taste. So this week I switched it up.

Nate was the cook this weekend as I was baking Easter treats for my family with my little sister. He put cleaned five chicken breasts and put them in the oven at 375 with a meat thermometer in the biggest piece. He pulled them out when the thermometer read 165 (This thermometer has changed our life cooking-wise. No dry chicken anymore. WOO!).

While the chicken rested, he started making the peanut sauce. The sauce is really simple and the ingredients are easy to find at your local grocery store. Essentially, you combine 4 tablespoons of Tamari (gluten-free soy sauce = less carbs), 2 tablespoons of Jif Natural Creamy Peanut Butter, 2 tablespoons of sesame oil, Sriracha to taste, and hot sauce to taste.

Put that in a saucepan on the stove and reduce until it gets thick. I wanted it pretty thick, that helped it stick to the chicken. After the sauce was done, I put it in a mason jar and stuck it in the fridge. This way I could portion it out each morning when I assembled my lunches. You don’t have to do this of course. If you want to slice up your chicken and mix the sauce in before portioning, you can do that too.

I sliced up the chicken and put it in a large glass storage bowl and stuck it in the fridge. For the broccoli, Nate bought a big bag of frozen broccoli from Costco and I steam a cup each night and stick it in a bowl in the fridge for meal assembly the next morning.

Each morning I grab my portion of chicken and broccoli, stick them in a meal prep container, add the peanut sauce on the chicken, and stick it in my lunch box with my eggs. (I would have pictures, but I forgot to take them and it looks a little sad in my meal prep box right out of the fridge. Just trust me, its delicious).

The morning assembly is partially due to me not wanting to clutter the fridge with 10 meal prep containers between Nate and I and partially due to the fact that Nate kept melting meal prep containers in his work microwave. (We haven’t ordered new ones yet because we’re making it work and we can’t find the ones we like at our Costco.)

As far as meal prep goes, this is one of the easiest I have ever done. I’m debating doing it again next week, but I am also missing my chicken, bacon, and avocado Caesar salad, so...that may have to make another appearance.

Oh...also, I ate like total crap last week and this weekend. I felt like my stomach was going to murder me. I felt all puffy and bloated. It was no fun at all. On top of that, I weighed myself yesterday preparing to cringe and was up to 191.4...dammit. Ate right yesterday and was down to 189.8. Yay water weight! Needless to say, it’s firmly back on the wagon time now. The excess booze, carbs, and sugar was so not worth the physical pain and discomfort. Keto is no joke kids, if you cheat, you pay.

Also, my stepdad told me that I looked more radiant and happy than he’s ever seen me since I started keto and lifting. *Cue emotional moment here* That was so much validation for me and gave me the motivation I needed to keep pushing.

Until next time (by which I mean tomorrow lol), Keep Calm and Keto On.