This is a little off topic, but not totally unrelated. I know as many of us try to eat clean and healthy we often have to give up stops at fast food restaurants (read: Dunkin Donuts- for me), as well as candy, pop, pizza, etc. At this time of the year those sacrifices are often compounded with Lenten sacrifices, and mean you may have a little extra money in your pocket. If you’re looking for a way to make a positive impact with that pocket change, I would encourage you to check out Forty to Forever (site below), as they try to raise $20,000.00 during Lent (which starts tomorrow & ends on Easter Sunday) to impact the lives of 40 orphans forever. No matter what your religious beliefs, 40 less orphans in the world is a good thing. Please check it out and consider contributing 🙂
Soup-de-doup
Soup during the winter is one of my favorite things. I was going to say it is one of life’s greatest pleasures, but I think that’s taking it a bit far. It still makes my favorites list at this time of the year though.
I’m surprised I haven’t made any other clean soups yet, but this certainly won’t be my last!
I made another recipe from The Gracious Pantry today, and tried her “skinny soup.” It’s really good and it made a TON. Like, I think this could feed 8 adults with leftovers ton. Maybe that’s not that much for some people, but I normally only cook for two, so to me it’s a lot! I’m thinking about freezing some because I don’t think we’ll be able to finish it before it goes bad. Anyone know how soup with quinoa freezes?
Try it though, I think you’ll like it!
What I mate: The Gracious Pantry’s Quinoa Vegetable Soup (a/k/a/ “skinny soup”). *Excuse the fugly bowl in the pic- I’m at work and don’t have cute dishes here.
Juicing 2.0
Ha! The title makes it sound like I’m doing some ‘roids. Pinky-swear I’m not.
I tried another juicing recipe this week and it tasted pretty good! I’m not doing a juice fast, so this is not the only thing I ate all day, but it was very clean! I added a little protein powder to get a better complex carb/protein balance, though I’m not sure it needed it as it already has about 10 g of protein without the powder!
What I ate: Canice’s Apple-Carrot-Beet juice recipe. The pic doesn’t do the juice justice- it was a really beautiful purply/pink color! Make it yourself and see!
2.11.13
Hummus!
First of all, maybe I’m not cut out to be a blogger. I haven’t done too well with publishing an update every day, but I’ll try to be better!
On Sunday I spent most of the morning relaxing. While I was being lazy, I looked up a few recipes and made a grocery list. I love crossing things off my list 🙂 One of the blogs I’ve been checking out a lot lately is The Gracious Pantry. She’s got lots of clean recipes and several that I’ve been wanting to try.
In trying to get out of my ‘not planning ahead’ rut I’ve found myself in lately, I threw myself into a cleaning frenzy on Sunday night. I made a few different recipes that I’ll be/have been eating throughout this week, and will talk about one by one on here.
First up, was The Gracious Pantry’s hummus. It is GOOD and it seems to get better with time as the flavors meld together. After doing all the cooking, I wanted something easy to throw together, so I just went with a simple veggie and hummus plate on Sunday night. Yum!
What I ate: The Gracious Pantry’s hummus (click link for recipe) with celery and carrots.
2.10.13
Mexican Skillet
I haven’t been grocery shopping this week and was thinking about what I’d make for breakfast while I was on my morning run. The pickings seemed pretty slim.
I was pretty happy with what I put together with just some odds and ends! Plus, I used up a package of eggs, a can of beans, some cilantro, a package lf tortillas, and pico de gallo- yay for no waste!
What I ate: Scrambled eggs with black beans, pico de gallo, cilantro and low fat feta cheese with corn tortillas. The pic shows the combined plate for the hubs and I, that’s not all for me! 🙂
Caprese
All day I thought I had a clean meal planned- I made caprese salad tonight and ate it with happiness- until I realized it might not have been clean after all. Crap! Though I bought the cleanest cheese I could find, it wasn’t exactly low fat (or at least not labeled that way). Soooo… I tried to eat a clean meal but I’m not sure I succeeded.
What I ate: Fresh mozzarella with tomatoes, salt, pepper, oil and vinegar
Simplicity Rules
I needed to use up a pineapple I bought this week, so I chopped that thing right up and ate it alongside some eggs.
I’ve been having some wicked sugar cravings this week and the sweet pineapple really helped curb those.
What I ate: Fresh sliced pineapple with two eggs
2.7.13
The Clean Desk Drawer
Sometimes it’s hard to eat clean while working full-time! Actually, it can be hard to eat clean no matter what your work schedule or lack thereof- just check out my weekend posts for evidence of this. As we all know, it’s all about the planning, but sometimes even the best plans don’t work out.
I had to work early today and didn’t have the time or energy to pack much of anything before I left the house. After my morning call was over, I headed back to the office, and stopped in at Target on the way. How does that store manage to take so much of my money when I go in for a just few things? Ugh. I digress. #firstworldproblems
I decided that in order to prevent the need for many future trips to the big red dot store, I should buy foods that can be stored in my desk at work for more days like today (and there probably will be more than I’d like to admit!). Aside from the yogurt, I think I succeeded. I’ve included a picture of my finds, my meal, and my drawer for your viewing pleasure! lol
Next time I fail to plan ahead, I can just open my desk drawer and dig in!
What I ate: Greek yogurt with dates, almond slices and vanilla. It felt very Mediterranean. Too bad it didn’t immediately transport me to the Greek Isles.
Green Juice + Clean Eating
As I’m sure you all know, the flu has been spreading like wildfire lately. After running around a lot this weekend and eating some fried junk at a Super Bowl party on Sunday, I felt like CRAP yesterday. I felt like I was getting run down to the point of being vulnerable to the flu and I do.not.have.time.for.that. Thankyouverymuch!
After talking to a friend who juices at home and whose kids “never get sick,” I thought it might be a good idea to put my juicer to work for some nutritious flu prevention.
I followed this recipe from gogreenstaylean.com (who’s commented on here before- thanks!) and made a ton of green juice to get me through the day. I have to say, it’s not too bad. The apple and cilantro work pretty well together. I feel much better today than I did yesterday, so that’s a nice benefit. I have been a bit hungry here and there, but it’s usually before I’m due to drink my next “dose” of juice.
To keep it clean and balanced, I added some Jay Robb protein powder to my afternoon juice and that helped fill me up (though it didn’t really change the taste). I could see myself doing a juice cleanse day every once in a while. Who knows, maybe this was the tipping point between being down for the count with the flu or feeling pretty good!?
What I ate: This green juice with Jay Robb Vanilla Protein Powder
Mexican Fiesta
I’m on a Mexican kick lately. I feel no shame and offer no further explanation 🙂
What I ate: 1/2 an avocado with pico de gallo and black beans. Yummm!!!!
2.4.13
Cleaner by One 