Beer Brats with Honey BBQ sauce and mustard, with a side medley of fresh sauteed veggies

Okay I started with a package of raw brats from the store...you can also grab Italian sausage or your favorite kind of sausage.
I tossed the brats into a pot with one can or bottle of beer and then that bottle filled 2-3 more times with water. (dark gives you the most flavor, but if you're adding your flavor with sauce, you can use a light beer like I did)
Boil at a high temperature for 10 minutes and then at a medium temperature for another 10 minutes.

I did this last night so I would have time to go to kickboxing tonight!!! You can pre-boil your brats a couple days in advance but if you go over 2-3 days, then freeze your brats.

So I chose a cup of zucchini, a cup of onion, a cup of mushrooms, and a half cup of red bell peppers for my veggie medley. You can choose any veggies you want.

Here's a really cool trick for cutting onion if you throw some into your medley.

Cut the loose end of your onion off and peel the outer layer. Then pick a direction and make vertical cuts from one end to the other. 

Flip your onion to cut perpendicular lines to your first cuts. 

Then slice the onion like the picture above and you have cubed onion! 

Here's all of my veggies sliced for cooking. 

I tossed them into a pan coated with some Smart Balance and topped with salt and pepper for 8-10 minutes on medium heat and they were soft. If you like your veggies crunchy then cut a couple minutes off that time. 

At the same time......

I coated my boiled brats in honey BBQ sauce.

Then, because I didn't want to turn on my grill.... this is what I did. It made grill lines! So if you want to do that, 350 degrees F for 10 minutes, flipping in the middle. If you want to grill, then about the same amount of time on each side. 

When those were done....

I threw it all on a plate and grabbed an extra beer left over from the beer boil! 

YUM!

Balsamic Strip Steak with Garlic Couscous, green beans, and broccoli slaw with a balsamic glaze.

Here's the recipe that I started with for the steak!
http://pointlessmeals.blogspot.ca/2011/05/grilled-balsamic-flank-steak.html

So what I did was half the recipe to make two meals. One for tonight and one for lunch tomorrow. 

• 1/8 c. balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 T. Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tsp. dark brown sugar
• 1/2 garlic clove, minced
• 1/2 lb. strip steak or thinly cut steak of your preference
• salt and pepper

I mixed EVERYTHING together in a bowl and then saw it needed to sit there for about 30 minutes... I went for a run. I dare you to do the same :)

When I got back, I prepped everything else. I used whole grain couscous and pre-packaged broccoli slaw. 

I heated up a pan sprayed with PAM and dropped the steak in for about 15 seconds a side. I put them in the oven at 170 deg F while the couscous was cooking. I threw the slaw into the pan the steak was in and let the rest of the marinade soak into the veggies. At the same time I threw some green beans into a steamer pot for a side. You can use the grocery store steamer bags just as easily. 
When everything was done, I threw it all on the plate and poured myself a glass of red wine! It was awesome!

Then it's leftover packaging time.....

Week of 9/8/13

My meal plan for this week is relatively simple... I looked in my fridge, freezer, and pantry and came up with enough components to make all of my choices...with only one short grocery trip.

About this blog....and a little about me....

Okay guys...I have been asked for recipes after blowing up your Facebook and Instagram pages with pictures of food I love to make. So I decided that doing something like this would make both finding those recipes easier for you and also keep me motivated to plan my meals and keep eating healthy and well. There's also the case where I'm asked for a recipe and I technically have one that I found in a cookbook or online but I did so much tweaking or replacing it's like Frankenstein's Monster by the time I take an artsy picture of my plate. On here I'll attempt to

1) Post my meal plans at the beginning of the week

2) Post the original recipe and then also what I ended up doing

3) Post a picture so you know what I'm talking about

and

4) Try to offer suggestions to anyone who needs gluten or dairy free alternatives...I do a lot of alternatives anyway but some things I just stick with old faithful for myself but I could always try something new :)

Alright so about me and why I wanted to post pictures and recipes...

After college I was slowly working on getting back into the shape I was before school but it was really slow going and I wasn't getting very far. Then about a year ago my dad says "let's climb a mountain!" I said of course.... then realized that I could barely run 1/4 mile, let alone climb more than 4,000 meters up a mountain...

So I got serious.

I got a trainer, I started cooking all of my food at home, I started watching portions and components in my cooking, and I got excited about seeing results. 

The excitement made all the difference. 

That was the start of my Instagram food picture love affair...after that I started getting messages about recipes and how I was getting in shape :)

Anyway.... a year later.

I summited Gran Paradiso in Italy at the beginning of July! Yay!