"How do you do it?"

I am a mom of three, a full time lawyer, a wife. I work 9 hours a day or more. I have plenty of activities, birhday parties, and family events to attend. I like to do a few things for myself like my nails, hair and yoga. So how do I find the time to bake bread, meal plan, and food prep? 

I have been asked this question countless times this month. 

First off, I am a type A, highly organized, borderline crazy, push myself to the limit and thrive off of it kind of girl. Secondly, my kids wake me up at unGodly hours on the weekends and I have a hard time sitting still. Lastly, I have come up with a system that seems to work for me. Perhaps it would work for you too, so I thought I would share. 

Every week I sit down and meal plan. And I stick to the same formula every week. Mondays are a night we are all home. I have time to cook so Mondays are always a night I try a new recipe usually found on Pinterest. I prep the ingredients for this on the weekend. This week is cauliflower fried "rice" with tofu. Tuesdays and Thursdays are karate nights. So I make pasta and veggies one night and chicken, veg and starch on the other night. I pre-marinate the chicken and prep all the veggies I need for both those nights. Wednesday is yoga night. I have one hour of time. Wednesday night is always soup night. This week, tomato basil and grilled cheeses. Friday nights are left overs. Eat what's in the fridge. Saturday or Sunday are a big meal that I usually use a new recipe for or homemade pizza. And I repeat this formula every week changing marinades, vegetables, side dishes and sauces to keep it interesting. 

I pick two to three breakfast items each week. I pick from granola yogurt parfaits, egg muffins, waffles, kashi cereal and overnight oats. 

I also pick 2-3 snacks in addition to fruit and peanut butter and string cheese. We have tried baked sweet potato chips, trail mix, sweet and savory chick peas, granola bars, and date, coconut bites. 

It takes me 10 minutes to throw together bread. I measure out the ingredients, throw it in the bread maker and press on. 3 1/2 hour laters I have a delicious loaf of healthy bread that has nothing in it but what I put. 

Here is next weeks meal plan as an example:

Monday: Stuffed peppers with grass fed beef, quinoa, peppers, onions, zucchini and corn, salsa, shredded cheddar and organic sour cream. 

Tuesday: Greek marinated chicken/tofu, spinach, dill, chickpea feta mix, tzatziki, whole wheat pita

Wednesday: white bean rosemary soup 

Thursday: pasta with tomato sauce, ricotta and broccoli with olive oil, parm and chilis

Friday: leftovers 

Saturday: homemade pizzas- veggie and margarita. 

Food prep will be:

Prep all veggies for stuffed peppers

Prep peppers

Cook quinoa 

Marinate chicken 

Make tzatziki 

Make soup

Make tomato sauce 

Granola bars

Crispy chickpeas

Overnight oats

Bread- cinnamon raisin and wheat 

It looks like a ton, I know. But Nick is my sous chef. He chops all the veggies for everything and I put it all together. It will take us 3 hours. I will throw the second loaf of bread in when the first is done. 

We have come to really love it. We put on music, cook together, the kids come in and out and it's a pretty peaceful way to spend the morning together on the weekend! 

Last weeks food included: 

Bacon, spinach and onion egg muffins

Honey cinnamon and garlic parmesan crispy chick peas

Tomato basil soup

And more sweet potato chips with cinnamon! 

Happy eating!