Introducing: Meeshelinstar Labs 🧑🏻🍳
A new monthly series where I track what I cook, what I juice, what I'd repeat, and what’s actually worth the effort. Part kitchen diary, part food experiment, always learning.
Good morning readers! It’s a new month and I’m feeling inspired. Today, I launch a new series called Meeshelinstar Labs and I can’t wait to tell you all about it.
If you read my last post, you’ll know that I just started a diet and I’m about two weeks in!
Meeshelinstar Labs is a love letter from my kitchen 💌 — you’ll hear about ingredients I’m testing, what random juicing combinations I’m discovering, data behind my meals, and of course, the end result (which isn’t always pretty).
With that said, let’s get to January!
🗓️January Kitchen Diaries
Bean salads, hot pot, homemade almond milk, and the first official juice report.
This week’s TLDR:
Week 1 and 2 were a wash since I was just coming back from the holidays, went to Miami for week, and then took my DEXA scan around January 15th.
Week 3: Greek yogurt, bean salad w/ tuna, air fried chicken tenderloins
Week 4: Egg white scramble, chicken quesadillas, healthy In-n-out Burger
Tested out 3 juice recipes!
Made almond milk for the first time
Also, in case you’re wondering why I’m calculating macros, my focus is to increase my protein intake. That way, I can gain more lean muscle mass, and lose fat 😁.
Meal Breakdown
Bean Salad w/ tuna 🥗
Notes:
Prep time: 15 minutes. What takes the most time is weighing out each ingredient.
Macros: 355 calories | 30g carbs, 9g fat, 39g protein
Lasted: 4 days
Would repeat: ❌. It was hard to eat after the third day, just a lot of beans and it was missing fat so I had to add a few olives in mine. Also, the tuna brand we got (Safe Catch) was soooo dry, almost unbearable. Would not recommend eating that right out of the can.
Did you try the bean salad trend? Thoughts?
Chicken Tenderloins w/ Veggies 🧅
Notes:
Prep time: 20 minutes. Chicken tenderloin cooks pretty quickly in the air fryer so as long as you prep the vegetables and rice, it’s a quick meal!
Macros: 316 calories | 45g carbs, 1g fat, 41g protein
Lasted: 5 days
Would repeat: 🤷🏻♀️. It’s really hard to eat chicken breast because it’s soooo dry so I opted for chicken tenderloins but it’s still not super juicy since there’s virtually no fat. You really need a good sauce to be able to eat this meal for more than a few days. I made a chimchurri sauce, and a cilantro greek yogurt verde sauce which made the meal way more enjoyable.
Chicken Quesadilla 🥗
Notes:
Prep time: 20 minutes.
Macros: 458 calories | 27g carbs, 15g fat, 52g protein!!
Lasted: 4 days
Would repeat: ✅. I mean, the melted cheese really helps even if it’s low fat! I would definitely add more veggies next time like bell peppers but this pairs well with a salsa and is super easy to eat for lunch.
Healthy In-n-out Burgers 🥗
Notes:
Prep time: 25 minutes
Macros: 570 calories | 31g carbs, 27g fat, 47g protein
Lasted: 5 days
Would repeat: ❌. I really can’t eat burgers for more than a few days. These were delicious but after the 3rd day, my body was really craving for some rice and vegetables…
Simple Hot Pot 🍜
Notes:
Prep time: 20 minutes.
Macros: 554 calories? Hard to track something like hot pot but the calories are based on 6oz of shabu short rib beef, 3oz of oyster mushrooms, and 4oz of cooked white jasmine rice
Lasted: 1 night
Would repeat: ✅. Even though it’s hard to track, hot pot is always a comfort meal and I’m willing to dial down on the fish balls, noodles, etc. if it means I can still have hot pot once a week :)
What kind of sauce do you like with your hot pot? My favorite is still from Dolar Shop 😅
Meeshelinstar’s Juice Lab 👩🏻🔬
Energizing Juice (beets/apples/ginger/lemon/carrot) • Taste: very tart, would try red apples next time. It woke me up for sure!
• Would repeat: ✅
Gut Health Juice (Cucumbers/apples/lemon/fennel)• Taste: super sour, a little hard to drink.
• Would repeat: ❌
Apple Juice (red fuji apples)• Taste: not super sweet, perfect over ice. 10/10 delicious.
• Would repeat: ✅✅✅
🥛 Fresh Almond Milk
I love almond milk and ever since I tried fresh almond milk from the farmers market, I couldn’t go back to store bought.
I found out while I was in Seattle that my favorite almond milk brand was shutting down 😭. Since then, I’ve been on a mission to try to find a replacement. Now that I have my juicer though, I figured, why not try to make it myself?
To make 14oz of Almond Milk
Cost per batch: $15
Taste vs store-bought: The taste is very different from store bought, though I need to buy a cheesecloth to strain it further.
Time investment: Not a ton but you do need to soak the almonds overnight so that they can absorb the water and become soft enough to juice.
Now that the first batch has been tested, hoping to continue refining the taste but so far so good!
January Reflections
I wasn’t a huge fan of meal prepping. I always felt like my idea of meal prepping including bland chicken breast, ground beef, and microwaved frozen vegetables. I’m starting to realize that meal prep food doesn’t have to be bland, and you can still eat the foods you like, just portioned out.
I didn’t think I’d like my juicer as much as I do, let alone use it so often. It’s rewarding to drink a fresh juice after all the prep you’ve done. Of course, you’re not getting the fiber from the fruits and vegetables since the skin, and meat are being juiced out but still delicious. I will at some point find things to make with the leftover rinds!
🗳️ Before you go…
Love always,
Meeeshelinstar