It’s hard to find healthy meals for nurses that are easy, quick, and delicious. When I started my health journey years ago, I was working full time as a Nurse. I KNOW the debilitating fatigue that accompanies a 12 hour shift. I know the feeling of just wanting to fall into bed with out a shower, shoes on, and scrubs intact. The only thing that pushes you to shower in such a state is simply knowing that you’d be breeding a bed of germs and MRSA if you didn’t. We all know that wouldn’t be good, so we “sleep shower” and then hit the sack. The LAST thing that’s on our mind is “what healthy meal can I prep for work tomorrow?” Yah, not happening. It’s more like preparing to sleep as long as we can and I’ll just swing by Starbucks in the morning and Chick-fil-A for dinner!
After years of this “food behavior”, I found myself in a very unhealthy state. I was addicted to salty, sweet, and greasy foods. Fried chicken nuggets sounded WAY better than a green salad. I knew my skin was getting worse, my energy didn’t exist, and I found myself extremely anxious and tired all of the time. I knew I had to change. MY journey began here, but this blog isn’t about my journey. It’s about bringing you 3 of the easiest healthy meals for nurses! Why? Because we don’t have time to pull off a 5 star food presentation and spend hours in the kitchen slaving away over a fancy recipe. We need easy, fast, healthy, and filling! Crockpot meals are the BEST and they are so great to make QUICK healthy meals for nurses! You can dress them up so easily and just so many “wins” with these guys!
1.Easy Vegetable Soup
Ingredients:
•1/2 cup chopped carrots
•4 small chopped golden potatoes
•1/2 cup chopped celery
•1 chopped white onion
•1/2 cup frozen green beans
•1/2 cup broccoli
•1 (32oz) Chicken OR Vegetable broth
•1 can of diced unsalted tomatoes
•1 drop of Oregano Essential Oil or 1 tsp of dried Spice
•3 cloves chopped garlic
•Himalayan Sea Salt & Pepper
Directions:
In a Crockpot on low, place broth and all vegetables in and add oregano. Let sit on low for 6 hours. Stir and add salt and pepper to taste. You can turn this into creamy vegetable soup by ladling out a cup of broth, pouring it into a Vitamix, mixing with a 1/2 cup of raw unsalted whole cashews, and blending on high for 2 minutes. Pour this “broth cream” back into crockpot and mix well. You will have delicious CREAMY paleo soup! You can also throw Garbanzo beans into the mix, but this will not qualify as “paleo” because they are legumes. I personally find them to be quite tasty and they add great texture! If you have gut issues I’d avoid these, but if you know these won’t upset your stomach, they are a great addition!
2. Crockpot “Roast”
Ingredients:
•1 package of Organic Steak tips
•1 whole white onion
•1 chopped sweet potato (or 1 cup baby carrots)
•1 chopped white potato
•3 garlic cloves chopped
•1 (32oz) organic beef broth
•1 drop of thyme essential oil (or tsp of dried seasoning)
•2 TBS arrowroot powder
•Himalayan salt & Pepper to taste
Directions:
Pour all ingredients in crockpot. Set crockpot on low for 6 hours. Serve with avocado. You can sort these into mason jars and bring to work for lunch! SO easy and so good!
3. Creamy Sausage Potato Soup
This recipe was inspired by The amazing Kitcheneer who creates DECLICIOUS Whole30 inspired meals! Check her out!
Ingredients:
•1 ½ cups of chicken stock
•1 ½ cup of canned coconut milk
•1 tsp salt
•1 tsp pepper
•Pinch of crushed red pepper flakes
•1 ½ cup of diced red potatoes (I leave the peels on but most people prefer them peeled so your call)!
•1 package of Trader Joes Pre-Cooked Organic Italian Chicken Sausage
•1 yellow onion, diced
•2 cloves of garlic, minced
Directions:
Pour broth in. You are going to want to slice the sausage links and drop in. Add ALL other ingredients except salt and pepper. Let sit on low for 4-6 hours until potatoes are soft. Once done cooking, add salt and pepper. You can take a fork and mash some of the potatoes up to make for a thicker soup! Turn crockpot off and let cool. Top with fresh Kale or Spinach. I love to serve this with a side of sourdough bread (not paleo)! It’s creamy, comforting, clean, and SO delicious!
Here’s a demo! I make it a LITTLE differently in this video, but you’ll get the idea of what I do!
We’re caregivers. We NEED fuel! We need to be taking care of ourselves and in my honest opinion, the demands and nature of this profession is a GIANT barrier to health. The shift work, emotional toll, fatigue, stress, and the inability to shut off to sit down and consume a healthy meal all really start to weigh on us. We need to make it easier for nurses to make healthy decisions that don’t further exhaust them! These are the reason I love these healthy meals for nurses! They are quick, delicious, and CLEAN!
If you find these easy and healthy recipe ideas helpful and you’d like to see more, drop a “YES GIRL” in the comments below!
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I teach Nurses how to have less stress, more money, and better health by creating healthy boundaries in their career, landing their dream job, and learning to how to negotiate like a BOSS!
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