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Meal Planning, Recipes · June 20, 2020

7 Summer Crockpot Recipes (that are actually healthy!)

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Here are some delicious, healthy summer crockpot recipes that are also gluten free. I like to make light summer meals for my family during the summer and I especially love to use the slow cooker so I’m not heating up the kitchen!

All of a sudden it’s like summer here – last week we had the heat on and this week we have the AC on. That’s what happens when you live in the northeast, you can have all 4 seasons in one week.

Anyway, I really do not want to cook in this heat so I’m going to use my crockpot as much as possible, and make some light summer meals in my slow cooker that won’t weigh us down and make us feel even more hot than we already do!

Enjoy these quick and light dinner ideas and add them to your summer meal plan!

You could make these 7 crockpot summer dinner recipes into your entire meal plan for this week or even turn some of them into freezer meals for when you have a hot scorcher of a day. Don’t forget your freezer meal labels you can download from the Freebie Library.

You could also probably stretch these into meals for two full weeks, depending on your family size and whether you have leftovers or not.

Make sure you read my Ultimate Summer Meal Plan guide – it’s like a choose-your-own-adventure full of summer meal planning tips and tricks!

LIME CILANTRO CHICKEN TACOS

We love mexican flavored anything all year round but tacos are especially easy in the summer. Or if you have a picky eater because they can just choose their own toppings – I like to put all the toppings in a multi-compartment dish like this becuase it makes for super easy cleanup.

PS – If you’re keeping this gluten-free, make sure to get gluten-free corn tortillas and not flour ones!

CROCK POT BBQ RIBS

My oldest son is a huuuuuuge ribs fan so I can’t wait to make these for him! I find so many complicated rib recipes but these seem super easy, tasty (and sticky!). They have a combo of BBQ sauce and a dry rub which is why I chose this recipe for you (and my son ? ).

Serve this with a garden salad and some potato salad and you have onesuper-easy summer (gluten-free!) dinner.

SLOW COOKER HEALTHY CHICKEN CACCIATORE

This isn’t your typical super-rich-and-heavy cacciatore! It has a healthy dose of bell peppers, onions, and mushrooms to be filling yet light. My favorite thing about this recipe is that you can throw it all in the slow cooker without cooking the chicken thighs ahead of time!

Serve this over zucchini noodles to make it even lighter (and gluten free)!

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COPYCAT CHIPOTLE BARBACOA

I’m not a fan of lettuce in a salad, but when you throw some flavorful and tender barbacoa on top, for some reason I don’t see it as “salad” anymore and this looks delicious!

Serve it with some garden veggies and a generous heaping of guacamole (or just fresh avocado) and you’ve got a complete summery meal with barely any work!

More healthy summer crockpot recipes:

PALEO TURKEY CHILI

I know what you’re thinking – chili? on a summer menu? Yes, yes, yes! This chili is made with turkey and loads of veggies so it’s not your typical winter chili. But I think the best part is that this one is served over sweet potato noodles!

Or, just like the barbacoa above, you can serve it on a bed of lettuce. This will also freeze really well, so pop the leftovers in the freezer when you need a last minute dinner.

NOT-YOUR-MUMS APRICOT CHICKEN

I personally have never had my mom (or mum if you’re in Australia!) make me apricot chicken so I have nothing to compare it to. But I love how the dried apricots plump up during cooking, and the fruiti-ness (is that a word?) is a good choice for a lighter, summery dish.

This would also make a good rescue meal if you keep some chicken breasts in the freezer because everything else is from the pantry or freezer.

CHICKEN AND BEAN BURRITO BOWLS

Since I’ve recently converted to a paleo diet, I’m becoming more of a fan of things-that-are-normally-in-tortillas-or-on-bread-served-in-bowls. It’s like the ease of a casserole without the fuller-than-full feeling afterwards. And you know I love that it can all be dropped into the crockpot without cooking!

This would be delicious with cilantro-lime rice (there’s a recipe link in the post) or even over some cauliflower rice!

Make sure you read my Ultimate Summer Meal Plan guide – it’s like a choose-your-own-adventure full of summer meal planning tips and tricks!

So which one (or two… or all seven…) of these easy and healthy summer crockpot recipes are going on your meal plan for the week?

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In: Meal Planning, Recipes

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Spice jar organization! Swipe for the before. Alt Spice jar organization! Swipe for the before. 
Although I had cute little glass jars and labels before, I was having trouble seeing my spice labels (hello aging eyes...). 
And I don’t know about you, but I tend to not use something if I can’t find it easily. 
So I got new jars and made myself some easy-to-see labels using sticker printer paper. 
Now I want to use ALL the spices! What do you think?
(jars from Amazon - link in bio, labels designed on Canva and printed on Avery sticker paper)
The best, true, good love. Nothing can separate us The best, true, good love. Nothing can separate us from it. 
❤️ Happy Valentine’s Day!
How to come up with dinner (quick!) when your meal How to come up with dinner (quick!) when your meal plan fails. I wasn’t planning on making dinner tonight but then our plans changed and I needed an idea pronto! Here’s how I deal with that.
Fun fact: I have ZERO poker face. Like none. I’m Fun fact: I have ZERO poker face. Like none. I’m a thinker and have  always lived in my head. It’s the Enneagram 5 in me. 
Bonus: it’s allowed me to be able to talk my way out of any situation. (Except that one time in social studies in 10th grade when a girl was bullying me and I had to fight back. Let’s just say she left me alone after that!😂).
Anyhoo. A friend recently said to me “it makes sense that your face betrays you because you’re so in control of your tongue”. 
My face betrays me 😂 
She’s right, I can hold my tongue pretty well unless it’s something that really gets my goat. 
🐐Fun fact #2: “gets my goat” is one of my favorite phrases ever!
🤢 Fun fact #3: I am not a picky eater and will eat just about anything but don’t you dare make me eat a sandwich with the cheese and Mayo touching!! 
Tell me: are you a thinker too?!? What are some fun facts about you?
One of the most common misconceptions I hear about One of the most common misconceptions I hear about planning for more than one week is that it takes so much time...

But the reason this is such a big misconception is because if you think it take a lot of time to make a seasonal meal plan, think about how much time it takes you to meal plan from a blank slate every week. 
Let's look at it over the course of a year.
1. weekly meal planning 1 hour x 52 weeks = 52 hours
2. monthly meal planning 1 hour x 12 months = 12 hours
3. seasonal meal planning 2 hours x 4 seasons = 8 hours 

And we're not even talking about how much time you're losing by following a weekly meal plan and subsequently grocery shopping. 

Think about how much you're missing out on with your family by spending so much time planning and shopping so often. An hour meal planning + 2 hours grocery shopping every single week is 3 hours a week you could have back to do fun things with them!

I mean, I get it...you NEED to feed your family every day, right? (kinda something we hafta do...).
But you can  do 👏🏼 it 👏🏼 differently 👏🏼
A seasonal meal plan with not only help you spend less time in planning-mode, but also help with your grocery shopping so that you can go to the grocery store less, and stop making emergency trips to the store because you forgot something.

And while you're here, let me tell ya this: avoiding a seasonal meal plan because you don't have TIME is HOGWASH... because I have lots of short cuts and tricks to show you that will maximize your time. 

PS. Stay tuned for tomorrow's post - I'm sharing my newest meal planning formula calendar... It's only around for a few days...see ya tomorrow!

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Meet Karyn. She had amazing results as a customer Meet Karyn. She had amazing results as a customer of ours and I need to share her with you.
 
She bought the Daily Dinner Blueprint calendar, dug right in, and told me she was so excited because she got these results:

📆 her meals are planned until SPRING (and she said it was painless!)!
🛒 a streamlined grocery shopping list!
🥣 an ingredient-based plan that doesn't limit what her family is eating!

She also said how every month "will be even quicker and easier"!

Here’s what she had to say about our business in her own words...
"My husband and I just did our first plan using your system and I wanted to drop you a line to say THANK YOU! Once you wrap your head around the process, and you start using it, it's easy to see how it will streamline grocery shopping without limiting what you are eating!

WOW! I would have to say this was pretty painless! Another benefit is I can see a clear way to categorize my recipes for future use! Each successive month will be even quicker and easier!

Back in the day, Emeril would've said "BAM, kick it up a notch!" I love that my meals are planned UNTIL SPRING! 🙌."

Thank you Karyn for being a customer! 💜
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One of the most common mistakes I see people make One of the most common mistakes I see people make when it comes to meal planning ​is doing it backwards.
BACKWARDS = planning your meals THEN doing your grocery shopping. 
Honestly, I used to teach it this way. 
But I found this doesn't work because:
🕳 you buy single, hard-to-find ingredients that end up in a black hole after you use it for just one recipe (oyster sauce in the back of the fridge, I'm looking at you...)
💰 you overbuy ingredients thinking this is the week your toddler finally eats broccoli, or this is the week you're totally going to cook every night...but end up eating the same thing over and over anyway.
🤷🏻‍♀️ you have too many options and if your plan gets interrupted (which it WILL), you're left staring at a full pantry or fridge wondering "what can I make???" And then end up ordering takeout!

Don't worry, I've got ideas for you. Check out my stories for 3 things you can do instead of backwards planning!
I could tell you so many things about this girl... I could tell you so many things about this girl... 
...my BFF Cara @apurposedrivenmom 
...but I want to focus on how she KILLS it at going after her goals. And loves teaching other busy mamas to do the same. 
She helped me map out an action plan for my goals on Saturday and wow, guys. Just wow. 
So I asked her if she would help my audience with their goal setting for the new year...
...and she agreed! 
Join both of us this Thursday (LIVE!) for “How to Take MASSIVE ACTION on your Goals (without burnout or overwhelm)”.
Sound like something you want to chat about with us?!? Link is in my bio (just click this picture of Cara and I!).
Who else hates throwing away lots of un-eaten prod Who else hates throwing away lots of un-eaten produce at the end of the week as much as I do? 
Focus on an ingredient-based meal plan instead of the other way around. That's what the 2021 Annual Meal Planning Calendar does. Here's this week's meal plan...
🍕🌮 🍔 
‣‣‣Monday: Dinner Blueprint # 51 (A4+B1+C3)
Homemade Pizza Dough & Pizza Sauce (two recipes)
‣‣‣Tuesday: Dinner Blueprint # 33 (A3+B1+C1)
Blackened Tilapia Tacos
‣‣‣Wednesday: Dinner Blueprint # 10 (A1+B3+C2)
Crispy Lemon Chicken & Veggies
‣‣‣Thursday: Dinner Blueprint # 5 (A1+B2+C1)
Santa Fe Double Chicken
‣‣‣Friday: Dinner Blueprint # 40 (A3+B2+C4)
Baked Fish Sticks (+ leftover veggies or salad)
‣‣‣Saturday: Dinner Blueprint # 13 (A1+B4+C1)
Santa Fe Double Chicken Soup (just add a carton of chicken broth to leftovers to make soup)
‣‣‣Sunday: Dinner Blueprint # 3 (A1+B1+C3)
Chicken Parmesan w/Pasta
🍕 
If you're following along on the 2021 Annual Meal Planning Calendar, these are the same Dinner Blueprint #’s for each day. You can use the blueprint to come up with your own dinner idea, or use the linked example recipe.
🌮 
If you don’t own the 2021 Annual Meal Planning Calendar, you can purchase it by clicking my link in bio or if you're seeing this on Facebook, click here:
https://mpb.vipmembervault.com/products/courses/view/1065589/?action=signup
🍉🥬Tell me... what fruit or veggie do you always end up throwing away? (watermelon and fresh spinach here!)
I don't know about you, but I can waste time like I don't know about you, but I can waste time like a CHAMP. Like re-drying the same load of laundry 3 times or scrolling IG like a zombie in bed.
Anyone else?
But I don't like it. 
And I definitely try to be more intentional on the things that give me more time back than what I spent on it. 
Meal planning is one of those things. Spend ONE hour a month meal planning, and you'll gain so many more hours each day (and *bonus* - it's during that dreaded pre-dinner time when the kids are maniacs!)

P.S. Please stop weekly meal planning. That doesn't actually save you time. (you can watch the ✨free training✨ in my link in bio if you want to know how often I suggest!)
Tell me...what would you do with an extra 30 mins each day?
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