365 Days of Clean Eating

Raspberry Loose Leaf Tea: No Calorie Drink for your Clean Eating or Slow Carb Diet

2012-11-14T07:30:00.000-06:00

Raspberry Leaf Tea

I don't know about you, but I get tired of drinking plain water. I like adding different, natural things to flavor my water, but sometimes I really want something besides water. Raspberry leaf tea is one of my favorite teas. It doesn't taste at ALL like raspberry, its just the leaf, which I appreciate since I hate fruity teas.

I started drinking Raspberry Leaf tea with my 4th pregnancy. I fell in love with this tea like you wouldn't believe. I would make gallons and gallons of it and my family loved it, too. Its supposed to help with female issues, period issues, pms, etc. You have to be careful with it in early pregnancy (if I recall... its been 12 years, please check with your doctor/midwife before drinking it), but in later stages, its supposed to help make labor more efficient.

Anyway, I just bought a bunch from an online friend who just never got around to using it, and we're enjoying it again!

You'll Need:

Cheese Cloth or a Legit Tea Strainer.

Boiling Water

Loose Leaf Tea

Pot/Jar with a lid

Our Raspberry Leaf Tea

Directions:

First I add two scoops of tea to about a gallon and a half jug.* (you'll need to find your own proportions, but I would suggest making it strong and adding ice/water to dilute it once you decide you like it... that just means you have to make it less often!)

Then I pour hot/boiling water over the leaves and put a lid on it for 3-5 minutes (Some people say you should never pour boiling water on your leaves, I'm too scattered to catch the water before it is boiling. I'm lucky to catch the tea pot before its boiled dry, because the spout thingy is broken and it no longer screeches at me like a monkey caught in a trap, so we'll just go with what I actually do... feel free to create your own routine, dependent on your own OCD or ADD needs)

Then, unravel about 2-3 layers of cheese cloth and tie them down to a container (preferably glass, but sometimes, you just use what you have available). Oh, and be sure to use an official tea straining rubber band for affixing your cheesecloth aka a head band from your daughter's room that she's never bothered to use, even though you bought them at her request.

Pour the tea through the cheesecloth, capturing what looks like a baby's dirty diaper in the cheese cloth. Squeeze out the excess tea if you can get past the looks of this, and either toss out the whole tea 'diaper' or toss the tea and rinse the cheesecloth.

Fill a glass or pitcher with ice and pour the sweetened (Stevia or Xylitol are my choice) or unsweetened tea over it for a nice change of pace and a healthy drink!

What is your favorite no calorie drink?

Results & Weight Loss Quick Tips: Pre-Made "Convenience" Foods for Clean Eating or Slow Carb Diets

2012-11-13T11:41:00.000-06:00

After Week 1 of the 90 Day Challenge, I had some ideas to make things easier on myself. Yesterday I posted the recipes and my thoughts from the first week in this blog post.

My biggest challenge has been remembering to eat. My appetite is non-existent, but once its time to eat, I need to eat and I don't want to put much time/thought into it. I tend to get busy during the day and I want something convenient. Sunday I took the time to make my family's bulk breakfast burritos, and while I was at it, I made my own precooked eggs as well. *All of my calorie counts are from sparkpeople.

I used my itty bitty pan to cook egg "patties" = 2 egg whites, 1 whole egg = 100 calories*

I used my small skillet to make "Omelettes" = 3 egg whites, 1 whole egg = 120 calories*

I then put them all in a big ziplock bag in the fridge, so now I can just grab and go, and I don't have to mess up bowls/pans every day.

I also made chicken breast filets ahead of time with McCormick's Rotisserie Chicken Seasoning. I weighed these and they were about 1.2oz or 2.2 oz. I just take a small or large piece and I know its within that weight range.

I also bought a bag of ready to eat spinach (tastes great as a salad with a boiled egg or cut up chicken tender with a little sprtiz of balsamic vinagrette.) I also like munching on celery for the crunchiness and lack of calories:)

Now, for the results!

My scales are wonky. They are old and garage sale valued at $2.00 about 6 years ago. I know they're not great, but for now... They show somewhere between a 2-4 pound weight loss (they just kind of bounce from pound to pound, about as indecisive as me:). For my sanity, I'm going to go with the least amount. I'd rather be pleasantly surprised later than super depressed!

I am really glad I measured! You NEED to measure, people, the scales aren't going to show everything. From my years of working at the gym, I chose these measurements. There are a lot of spots to measure, but its good to see where you're dropping inches, especially if the scale isn't showing a lot!

I Lost 10 Inches in my first week!

This week I'm adding more exercise to my schedule. My goal is to do PiYo at least twice, walk the dog at least 3 times (around our neighborhood) and go to the gym with my husband/PT at least twice.

Oh! And to drink MORE WATER!!! I'm SO bad at keeping up my water intake!

Week 1: 90 Day Challenge & 30 Day Diet Supplement Review & My Recipes.

2012-11-12T07:00:00.000-06:00

Recipes of the week & Monday 30 DayDiet Review

Clean Eating, Slow Carb Meat Loaf

So last Tuesday, I started my 90 Day challenge.

The biggest challenge was taking photos and measurements. Seriously. I was incredibly depressed after seeing those pictures. I have never been this big before. I've been close... especially after the last few babies... but my youngest "baby" turns 12 this month! I can't use that as an excuse!

Summer 2011 I was still comfortable in a bikini, for heaven's sake. After gaining 50 pounds in about 7 - 8 months, I started with the doctor and the tests once everything else failed to show results. I gained another 20 over the course of taking tests and being repeatedly told that "everything is normal! You're fine!"

This is me LAST AUGUST... after gaining 20 pounds in 3 months, I was still OKAY with myself... but definitely didn't think it would keep creeping up!

I've since gained ANOTHER 50 pounds and I can't even LOOK at the photos I took last week. I want to get back to a weight I can be comfortable at. I want to be able to look in the mirror without cringing. I want to be able to sit without feeling my rolls.

After 4 very long months, I FINALLY found a doctor willing to look past the test results and let me try Armour thyroid. Ups and downs (ran out of my prescription and had issues getting it refilled/they filled it with the wrong prescription), but I finally feel like a somewhat normal person! I can get out of bed in the morning and have at least some energy. I am getting things done around the house, I'm having far less bouts of tears and depression, my constant itchiness is down and I've actually started going on walks with my husband in the evenings.

These are the supplements I take every morning. I am adding my 30 Day Diet supplements to this stack. I find that my mood and energy PLUMMET if I don't take my Ionix and B12 daily.

All of this gives me hope that I am finally ready for a change for the better.

Day 1: Anyway, off topic (what a surprise)... Day 1 wasn't hard. I was busy with stop motion animations for Bean's Monkey Business, and when I'm busy, my biggest challenge is remembering to even eat. I felt a bit on edge, something that I tend to have when I'm taking any type of dietary supplement. I'm majorly affected by supplements of just about any type.

So, grocery day isn't until Friday, and money is tight. Thankfully, we already had some foods in the freezer that are acceptable. It is kind of pushing me into the "Paleo" diet, though, because most of it is beef from a bulk package of meat we bought last month.

I finished off the last of our eggs, had a T bone steak and a chopped steak. I also had 1/2 of an onion, some spinach, and because we have no "acceptable" vegetables in the house, I had an Isagenix meal replacement shake. All in all, not an ideal nutrition day, but I have limited resources until Friday.

Day 2: This stuff really curbs my appetite. I didn't think I had much appetite before, but this is crazy. I find myself kind of forcing myself to eat. Of course it helps that I can't feed my carb addiction!

Day 3: This is really easier than I thought it would be. I'm making my grocery list for next week. I plan to bulk cook up some of the recipes from this week and the ones I'll be blogging this week and freezing/refrigerating them in portion sizes so I don't have to think about it too much. I find I'm looking forward to not having to try and figure out what to eat each day.

I'm feeling really down about my weight. Yeah, I'm shallow, whatever, I feel really unattractive and its depressing. I thought doing this weight loss challenge would make me feel instantly hopeful or something, but I just am more depressed from having to take photos. That, and being blindsided by photos of myself from the wedding. I hate this.

Day 5: I'm taking Saturdays as a "cheat" day ala "Four Hour Body Slow Carb Diet" so that my metabolism doesn't plummet from the low calorie diet during the week. These supplements REALLY curb your appetite. Dang. I thought I was just lacking appetite because my diet was so restricted, but even today, when I can eat anything I want and I'm supposed to be eating a LOT... I can barely force myself to. I went and bought some of my favorite things and its just... not... I'm forcing myself to eat PIZZA for heaven's sake. I think I'm going to have to go drink a shake. I feel stuffed and I've not eaten that much today. Huh. I didn't expect that.

Day 6: STILL not hungry. I have to force myself to eat. I have never had a supplement curb my appetite so completely without ALSO making me feel jittery, anxious and honestly, pissed off at everything. Anything else I've tried has me biting everyone's heads off. Before you get too excited, I AM more snappish than usual, but its not overwhelming like it has been with other things. I'm hoping that part levels out for me. I'm thrilled with the controlled appetite. I'm wondering if I should measure this week or not. I'm also thinking that I might do a weekly vlog review.... What do you think?

Next week I'll do another measuring session as well as pics and posting my progress.

Disclosure: I will be receiving product as a participant in the 90 Day Weight Loss Challenge. All opinions are my own.

Green Beans with Sesame Seeds

Super Simple Clean Eating, Slow Carb Meat Loaf

2012-11-08T13:56:00.000-06:00

The thing that I've always loved about meatloaf is that I can get credit for feeding my ravenous carnivores "real" meat while at the same time being able to use other cheaper foods to extend the meat without any complaints. Since meat is expensive, and we're on tight budget, AND I am cutting out grains... I had to get a little creative.

Thankfully, I'm good at creative, so don't worry, I got this.

I've made this three times, upping the amount of lentils each time. My husband actually requests it with the lentils now, and my uber picky-about-his-meat-dishes son hasn't had one complaint (and what he doesn't know won't hurt him in this case... don't worry, I'll pass the recipe onto his future wife) .

Ideal Recipe aka What I Intended to Make

Ingredients:
6# of lean ground beef
2-3# of cooked lentils (I cook mine in beef broth and puree before adding to the meat)
1/2 - 1 cup tomato sauce/paste
4 eggs
1 Tbsp Italian Seasoning

Directions:

Yummy... pureed lentils. Don't those look SO appetizing? No?

Mix together all ingredients (if you're not avoiding grains, you can add some ground up shredded wheat cereal to extend the meat even further)
Form into large patties or small loaves and place on broiler pan (so that the fat will drip into the lower pan)
Bake at 350 for 15-30 minutes (depending on the size of your loaves) until cooked through.

Topping:
Mix together one cup of the tomato paste/sauce and 1/4 cup of brown sugar Xylitol. When the meat loaf is ALMOST done, put this topping on it and bake for another 10 minutes!

Optional Recipe aka What I Actually Made

*I was going to wait until after tomorrow and go grocery shopping so that I could make a big crapload of these for ease of use during my 90 Day challenge. However, I got impatient and wanted some meatloaf right freaking NOW, so I used what I had on hand. Now you have two options. Wasn't that nice of me?

Yummy... the fun part. Mixing this up with your hands!!!

Ingredients:
2 lbs of ground beef
1- 1 1/2 cups of pureed lentils (you don't have to puree them, I just found that I didn't care for the beans randomly showing up in my meat:)
2 Tbsp of diced tomatoes (no juice)
3 eggs

Topping:
Ketchup mixed with a packet of Stevia

Bake, same as above and sit your impatient butt down and wait for them to finish. I am doing this part right NOW.

I've also discovered that I have amazingly weird, random, witty and fun commentary going on in my head when I'm cooking, so I'm definitely going to start making cooking videos at some point. Especially if this weight loss thing happens and I can stand to look at myself again.

Duh... I even forgot seasoning. See what hunger does to my brain? I REALLY need to plan ahead and have quick fix food ready!

The End.

90 Day Diet Challenge & Supplement Review: The Beginning

2012-11-06T07:30:00.000-06:00

My supplements came Friday! (WOW, that was FAST!!!)

I'm planning to start using the supplements today for the 90 Day Diet Challenge. I chose the "30 Day Diet" option. I'm going to "clean" up my diet again, hope the kids have finished off their (far too tempting) Halloween candy, and re-read Timothy Ferris' "Slow Carb" diet book... until my Paleo books show up on the library hold shelf. It never hurts to refresh your memory... and I know that grains tend to affect me negatively, especially wheat, with bloating, cramps and just overall fatigue... so I'm going to try and keep those out completely, even though they're allowed. I also absolutely can't handle artificial sweeteners, so I'll stick with Stevia and Xylitol as I have for the past couple of years. I'm already used to using herbs without MSG or sugar, so that'll be easy enough.

**See my Week One Results Here!

My husband and I are starting to take our energetic 4 year old dog, Diva for walks around our neighborhood in the evenings after dinner. I'm hoping that this helps get me in at least a little bit better shape... and if nothing else, it will be great for developing a new habit, and getting us both ready to hit the gym again by the end of the month when its probably going to be too cold for outside walks in the evening!

Now... for the before photos. *gulp* REEEEEAAAAAALLLY don't want to do this part. Maybe I'll post before photos when I'm already losing a little bit, so its not quite so depressing. I'll take the photos and hide them in a vault. Yeah, that's it. Then I can post at the end of the month to see how much of a difference I'e made!

At any rate, I can be incredibly sensitive to supplements (which can be a really good thing, or a really bad thing!), so I'm curious to see how this goes. I'll be seeing my regular doctor on Monday, so I'll hopefully remember to bring up these supplements when I go.

I'll post some of my favorite recipes as I go, including what I find for Thanksgiving!

Here are some of my Top Five favorite past recipes that will fit this protocol

(*some will need a slight tweak, but its doable!)

Super Easy Chicken w/Onion "Noodles"

Protein Smoothies: A Quick Tip!*

Super Quick & Easy Mexican Eggs

Cajun Tilapia

Orange Tilapia*

What are your favorite healthy recipes? Please share! Include a link to your own blog recipes if you have one, I love finding new blogs!

I believe that planning can take the edge off. I plan to have figured out serving sizes and plan with a list of available options for my breakfasts, lunches and dinners. I'll have my grocery list ready to go and some serving size meals ready to heat and eat for those times (you know everyone has them) when I'm going to have a time crunch and need to eat RIGHT NOW. Mostly, though, I just want to plan to get back to my healthy habits. The fact that I let the stressful events in life get me down so much that I gave up on my emotional and physical health is very disappointing to me. I'm going to give up the guilt and let myself move on and have hope that I can make the change a permanent one.

What are your no fail healthy eating tips?

Disclosure: I will be receiving product as a participant in the 90 Day Weight Loss Challenge. All opinions are my own.

Super Easy Camp Fire Roasted Potato, Onion & Cheesey Bake

2012-11-05T12:28:00.000-06:00

Roasted Potato, Onion & Cheesey Side Dish

You might remember my Memorial Day Camping recipe for Camp fire baked Tilapia that I posted last year. Well, now we have a fire pit in our back yard and we've really been enjoying our "camp fire" in the evenings.

For "Clean Eating" my husband and I stick to baked onions to top our steaks with... the pescatarians eat grilled fish, and Kainan chose grilled chicken. Whatever your tastes or restrictions, this is a super simple way to make an amazingly deeply flavored side dish for your meal.

Directions:

Set out some pieces of foil about 18" long (this is a good "assembly line" type of family prep if you like)
Using coconut butter, oil the foil, leaving just 1-2 inches around the edge
Add your choice of vegetables (we've used garlic, onion, potato, cheese so far **Slice the potato into somewhat thin slices, and make a short stack.
Fold the foil and wrap up tight. Since our foil this time is the cheap stuff, I used two layers... the turning of the packets in the fire can be a little hard on these little packets!
Once your camp fire (or grill) is hot and has the hot coals *don't put the packets in the direct flames*, put your packets in the hot coals. After 8-10 minutes, use grill tongs to carefully turn the packets.
Another 8-10 minutes and you'll have scrumptious baked onions/potatoes!

Grilled onions are fantastic as a steak topper!

The steaks, fish and chicken... I have to admit, my mouth is watering just remembering how good this was last night!

What are your favorite fall dishes?

(Ie: I need new ideas. I'm bored with my own ideas!:)

I must admit that this year, Fall has definitely won out for my favorite season. The weather is gorgeous, I am in love with our new house and yard... and things are shaping up to so well, I am ALMOST happy to see winter get here. Okay, not really. Unless its really REALLY mild, I'd really prefer to just go straight from fall to spring!

The kids sitting by the fire eating dinner. Look at all that wood in the background that they helped chop & carry today!

Clean Eating Recipe: Beef Burgundy Pot Roast & Veggies

2012-11-02T11:12:00.000-05:00

I was inspired by this recipe that I ended up at when I was reading the Paleo Blog. I've been researching the whole "Primal" or "Paleo" diets for a while, because carbs have always been a... bad thing for me. I like reading about diet, nutrition and health regardless, but since I'm soon going to be doing the 90 Day Challenge, I think the issue is more in the forefront of my brain lately. This recipe is NOT Primal/Paleo, the above recipe IS... but it definitely inspired me to want some pot roast:)

I added a lot more carrots and potatoes, because I have vegetarians in the house, and those are their preferred veggies when it comes to a pot roast type meal.

My kids are SO weird.

It has been SO nice lately, we've been having our meals on the back deck. I'm loving this weather!

Ingredients:

2-4 lbs.* of Steak, Roast, basically BEEF!:)

*I use less meat because I'm cheap and because two of my kids are vegetarians, so we don't need as much. Plan accordingly if you have a bunch of carnivores in your house or they might revolt.)

1 tablespoon of coconut oil

1 bottle of Red Wine

1 32 oz. Box of beef brother

1 32 oz. box vegetable broth

3 16 oz. cans of tomato sauce

3 lbs. onions quartered

2 lbs. of potatoes quartered

2 lbs. of baby carrots (or regular carrots, chopped)

1 tsp. garlic salt

1/2 tsp. worchestershire powder

2 tsp MsDash Garlic & Herb seasoning

OPTIONAL: 2 Tbsp of Almond Flour or Corn Starch for thickening

First: Heat the oil in a skillet on high

Add the steaks and sear for just a minute on each side to help seal in juices.

Second: Toss everything else in the crock pot, except the potatoes (unless you don't mind slightly mushier potatoes... and I don't, but if you do, add those later because they cook faster than everything else:)

Next, you have three options:

A) Use a big enough pan in the first place

B) Use half the ingredients so that it all fits in your 5 qt crockpot.

Or C) The option I inadvertently chose:

When its time to add the potatoes, realize that you don't have any room left.

Transfer half of the ingredients to your spare crock that you have from the last crappy crock pot you had. The base doesn't even exist anymore because it was so crappy so you have to use the oven and heat the entire kitchen because you didn't think ahead.

*I don't recommend this one unless its really cold outside, and then I most definitely do.

Cook on high in your crock pot for 4-6 hours or in the oven at 350 for 3-4 hours.

If you add cornstarch or flour, put that in a separate bowl with some of the liquid and make sure you have all the lumps out before adding to the stew. Leave the lid off for the last half of the cooking time to let the sauce thicken.

Optional step #3: While that's cooking, realize at 4:50 that it is indeed Thursday and that your youngest child has gymnastics at 5:00. Rush out the door... get back and still have dinner cooking because crock pots are awesome that way.

Finish with a lovely family dinner with your crazy children on your pink and brown deck.**

YUMMY!!!

I am SO in love with our yard! And this weather!

**If you don't HAVE a pink and brown deck, I apologize profusely for getting your hopes up. If you don't have crazy children... you can borrow some of mine. They'll rub off on yours and soon you will have your own crazy children. Really. I've seen it happen.

Dictate my Blog Day #1: What do you want to see?

2012-10-31T14:48:00.000-05:00

I'm going to start something new. I am lacking inspiration. Sadly lacking. I am going through some amazingly rough stuff at the moment, and I am desperately in need of some distraction AND ideas. I'm begging you... MOTIVATE ME!!!

My first chosen Request is here in my blog post about making cupcakes for a poor college student. Where you can learn my very creative way of making cake that is ready to ship through the USPS!

So, here's how it goes. Leave a comment with a suggestion of something I should accomplish or at least something "new" to try on my new weekly series "Dictate my Blog Day". You can leave something random, and something food related. Each week I will choose one food to try and blog the recipe and results here by the following Monday. I will ALSO choose one random suggestion and blog about it on my Always family blog.

Rules

Food suggestions:
Must be healthy, it doesn't have to be 'clean eating', but I will probably alter any recipes that aren't to stick with my blog theme. 365 Days of Clean Eating obvious blog title is obvious, although I guess I never did specify that they would be 365 days in a row... :)
You can suggest a recipe, a meal idea, a type of food (do something with bacon! Make something with a kumquat, because the name is funny!) or some random grouping of foods that you would like to see made into a meal.

Random Suggestions:
It has to be legal.
It has to be affordable (you know I'd love a suggestion to go to the Caribbean and go kayaking, but trust me, that isn't happening any time soon)
It needs to be something I can actually blog about in some sort of interesting manner, and no, my blog is not a sex blog, so I don't need suggestions in that department, either.
Be creative. Think fun, think embarrassing, think interesting, but whatever you do... COMMENT!
I especially love suggestions that benefit someone ELSE...

If anyone wants to join in, next week I'll make it a link up type thing and we can refine the idea for everyone to join in!

Comment with your thoughts, suggestions and whatnot!

Diet Review: Weight Loss Supplements

2012-10-30T14:34:00.000-05:00

Well, I finally caved and bought new jeans for a wedding, so I suppose this means that its time to finally get inspired to lose weight again. And yeah, I just said that I broke down and bought jeans. For a wedding. This was mostly because literally every single dress I tried on made me cry. A lot. I'm talking full out sobbing in the dressing room. Then all the way home. My poor husband is at his wit's end.

The thing is that I gained a lot of weight quickly and I still haven't found that thing that is going to make it 'better'. I have found that getting back to clean eating and keeping my grains to a minimum FINALLY got me to the point where I STOPPED gaining weight... but I'm still stuck at the same weight I stopped at.

Trust me, I find that highly preferable to continuing to gain, but having gained over 70 pounds and doubling a dress size in a year is not something that I can be "okay" with. I don't like my body in this size, I just don't. I've tried everything to work through my body image issues, and I can get to the point of not sobbing every time I look in the mirror, but I'm not happy.

In addition to looks, adding this much weight this fast has had a huge effect on my energy levels, on my joints and my feet. I've started having back and neck issues, something that had completely disappeared when I was at a healthy weight. I'm only 5'5"... this weight is too much for me.

So, that being said, I was over at The Palmetto Queen's blog the other day and saw that she had joined a 90 Day Challenge. I decided that this was my chance to get inspired and take charge of my weight. I have little things working in my favor, but I need help, because the typical things that used to work are not working for me. Maybe its age, maybe its a health issue. I'm getting things checked out and tests are coming back normal, but the weight and fatigue are still hanging on. I discussed it with my husband, and after some research, he decided that he would be okay with me taking the 30 Day & Night Challenge for three months. The supplements include a lot of what he read about in Timothy Ferris' "Four Hour Body" book. So that's the route I'm going to take.

I'm going to take this challenge as a way to help me make a positive, permanent change in my habits and lifestyle... who wants to join me?

Note: If you are a blogger who would like to participate in this challenge, they are accepting applications.

Disclosure: I will be receiving product as a participant in the 90 Day Weight Loss Challenge. All opinions are my own.

When I receive my supplements, I'll even force myself to take before photos... stay tuned!

I Received my supplements Post Here!

Even Faster! Bulk Cooking Breakfast Burritos/Baked Quiche Wraps

2012-10-22T11:34:00.000-05:00

We were going through the breakfast burritos at an amazing rate, so I found an even easier, faster way to make them... because you can count on me to constantly be on the look out for ways to make things more efficient so I have more time to be lazy:)

Baked Quiche Wraps!

Use whatever ingredients you like... for our Clean Eating Wraps, we like to use a variety of the following:
Whole Wheat Tortillas
Eggs
Spinach
Peppers (especialy red & yellow bell peppers for me!)
Sauteed Chicken
Onions (lots of onions!)
low fat cheeses

Not so Clean idea that my kids like, and helps extend the eggs are oven fries (cut really small).

Directions:

Sautee your choice of veggies and meats in a skillet with a little coconut oil.
Beat eggs in a separate bowl (I used 2 1/2 dozen for our pan, with LOTS of veggies)
Pour all ingredients into a 9x13 baking dish
Bake at 350 until done. (Our 'new' oven is REALLY off temp, wise, so I'm really unsure of the time for a regular oven. Probably 15-20 minutes?)

After the eggs cool (I just put them in the oven overnight), divide the pan into 16-18 servings. I cut across the middle first, then in half the other direction... it makes it easier to get more even slices.

Lay out your tortillas with cheese and wrap.

Wrap each on with plastic wrap and you're ready to go!

I keep them in the fridge in a drawer and they're ready to go for my early morning husband and kids!

What is your favorite easy-go to recipe?

Dirty Birthday Dinner: Grilled Cheese w/Apple Slices and CAKE!!!

2012-08-31T08:04:00.000-05:00

Grilled Cheese w/Apple Slices on Pumpernickel Bread

Okay, so its not really a "dirty" meal... but it doesn't fit the "Clean Eating" standards. That's because today is my youngest son's 16th birthday!!! Wait. That must mean that I'm getting old. Huh. Its not so exciting anymore.

Family dinner minus the two oldest. And me. Well, I'm THERE, I'm just behind the camera.

I picked up a loaf of pumpernickel bread off of the clearance shelf at Walmart. Grilled sandwiches work wonderfully with day old bread!

Pumpernickel or Rye Bread, Apples, Swiss Cheese and Butter or Coconut oil and we are set!

Directions

Butter/Oil one side of each slice of bread (the girls don't like rye, so we used white for them)

Place swiss cheese slice, then apple, then another slice of swiss (our slices were THIN)

Grill like you would any grilled cheese sandwich:

LOOK at my EPIC Vintage Roper stove that my hubby got for me!!! Not bad for $75.00!

I can cook on a double burner griddle, two pans (one for the vegetarian baked beans, one for the meat lovers) AND a pan for veggies and I STILL have one burner leftover!

We served with a side of homemade baked beans. YUM!!!

Then it was time for the truly "dirty" part of the evening... fudge cake made by my daughter, Paris, for Jaedin's birthday!

We cheated and just used a mix. Why? Because... I'm a bad mom and I forgot that today was Jaedin's birthday. Everything has been so hectic this summer with the move, we STILL haven't celebrated Kainan's 17th birthday from June OR Patrick's birthday in July, or MY birthday OR our 18th anniversary. The move just downed our entire summer!

He's 'cool' with it, though. Notice the ". He is such a goof ball... this has become his "pose" for photos, unless he's doing his Trekkie thing. *Shaking my head* You just never know.

Happy Birthday, Jaedin! And the rest of you, go try out this weird grilled cheese idea! My family loves it!

Almost Clean Crock Pot Baked Beans w/Dried beans

2012-08-30T14:18:00.003-05:00

Almost Clean Crock Pot Baked Beans

I have tried making truly "clean" baked beans, but I can never get it to taste... right. We love our baked beans and we've had them for years, so I guess maybe we're just spoiled. These are pretty close to "Clean" though, other than the BBQ sauce, everything else is good. Here are a few that at least don't include HFC:

Stubbs Bar-B-Q Sauce
Bulls-Eye Barbecue Sauce (recently changed to no HFCS) -*note, it does have honey in it, but I'm fine with that.

Anyone have any more to add??

We are really enjoying family dinners in our new house!

Anyway, I appear to have finally gotten the right combination of a good crock pot and just the right beans. My last crock pot had a hot spot and always burned everything in one section and didn't get hot enough throughout the rest of it to ever bake dried beans. You can just use a pot in the oven if you like, but I am in love with my new crock pot and its... interesting settings, so I've been using it for everything I can.

I also use a variety of beans. I don't know why... I'm just weird that way. Using the crockpot takes ALL day. I would recommend starting them the night before with the water, then adding your broth, BBQ & seasonings first thing in the morning so they'll be all nice and cooked up for dinner time. These are odd measurements because I had random bags of beans half gone and I lost ALL the rest of my photos, so I can't even look back at them to see:( Use whatever you want, you'll want to only fill up your crock pot or pan 1/3rd of the way full, because these suckers GROW.

Ingredients: (This filled my 5 qt crock to almost overflowing:)
1/2 bag of white beans
1 bag of black beans
1 bag of Great Northern beans
1 carton of beef broth or vegetable broth
1 medium-large onion
1 bottle of your favorite BBQ sauce
1 Tbsp. Chili Powder for a tiny bit of kick
*My meat eaters love it when I add bacon, sausage &/smoked sausage to theirs.

I LOVE this crock pot. Seriously, it fits my A.D.D. nature perfectly:)

Directions:
1. Put all dried beans in the crockpot. Fill with water.
**Do not add salt or salt containing ingredients until the skins are soft**

2. Cook on medium/low for 4-6 hours until the skins of the beans are soft.
**Our crock pot "low" seems to be much closer to the medium on my old one**
***If using the oven, bake COVERED on 300 for 4 hours or until skins are soft***

3. Once skins are soft, drain 1/2 the water, then ADD broth, onions and barbeque sauce. If you have meat lovers, you can add sausage, bacon, ground beef, hot dogs... but remember, these are NOT "clean" foods (My husband and 17 year old son don't really care about clean eating when it comes to meat:) To keep it clean, you could use chopped flank steak.

4. Bake on high (oven 350-375) for 4 hours or until beans are soft.

5. After two hours on high, uncover the beans and add the remaining seasoning.

DRIED BEAN TIPS:

Adding the broth as soon as you can AFTER the skins are softened gives them a LOT more flavor. I used to make the mistake of cooking them in the water too long and they were always bland.

Stir at least every hour. This helps the beans always cook evenly so you don't have annoying little hard beans in there.

Stir frequently when cooking for the last couple of hours uncovered. This will prevent the beans on top from drying out, whilst allowing the sauce to cook down to a nice, thick consistency.

These beans cook down to a nice, thick, full of flavor texture that you will LOVE! Let me know how it worked for you!

Mostly Raw Food Sunday with Salad Bar

2012-08-27T16:21:00.002-05:00

Casual Sunday Salad Bar

My Family & a couple of the kids friends that were over for dinner:)

We have started back with the tradition of family dinners!!! With our family, that makes for some interesting conversations, interesting AWESOME conversations.

We've discussed all sorts of things from the Cold War, to my husband's somewhat... unusual past (so far I've avoided being questioned, but the kids are merciless on their dad... and the reactions are priceless. Apparently they thought he'd most been a goody two shoes most of his life.) Kainan being in Public School now always brings new and interesting topics as well. He is SUCH a character. Basically, a table full of really good story tellers makes for EPIC dinner conversations!

We're doing well during the week, but on the weekends, there seems to be too much running this way and that, so I decided that I'd just lay out some fresh veggies and salad fixings. I've found that my kids rarely think to open up the fridge and grab veggies, but if I have them out and easy to access, we all eat a lot more of them.

Patrick playing chess with the kids, noshing on veggies and hummus between turns.

Family Salad Bar with some of our favorite toppings:

**Except when linked to a website, the rest of this information is from the awesome book Eat Well, Be Well by Pierre Jean Cousin

Sesame Seeds:

"The seeds are also very good source of dietary proteins with fine quality amino acids that are essential for growth, especially in children. Just 100 g of seeds provide about 18 g of protein (32% of daily-recommended values)"

Kale:

Kale is now recognized as providing comprehensive support for the body's detoxification system. New research has shown that the ITCs made from kale's glucosinolates can help regulate detox at a genetic level.

Spinach: Rich in antioxidants and stimulates pancreas function. Vitamin C, Folic Acid, Iron, Zinc & Carotene

Sprouted Lentils: Folic Acid, Calcium, Iron, Potassium, Protein, Carbohydrates. "Lentils are nutritious, digestible, regulate colon function and should be eaten frequently as a part of a healthy diet."

Lettuce:

Vitamins A, C, D, Folic Acid, E, Iron, Manganese, Potassium, Zing, Lactucarium. "Because it is rich in fiber, it helps food to pass quickly through the intestines and aids digestion. Lettuce contains lactucarium, a substance that has sedativeand analgesic properties, and is thought to be useful in the treatment of mild insomnia." (wow. Maybe I should eat more lettuce, my insomnia is AWFUL!)

Carrots:

"Carrots are rich in antioxidants and protect the body from certain types of cancer. They boost the immune system and are useful in treating a range of ailments, from poor night vision to stomach ulcers."

Flax Seeds:

Almonds:

Vitamins A, B, Calcium, Magnesium, Phosphorus, Potassium, Oleic Acid. Almods are an energy providing, nutritious snack. They have a balancing effect upon the nervous system and are useful for digestive problems.

Dried Cranberries:

A substantial number of recent studies have shown that whole cranberries consumed in dietary form—in comparison with purified cranberry extracts consumed in either liquid or dried supplement form—do a better job of protecting our cardiovascular system and our liver. Several groups of researchers have summarized their health benefit findings by pointing out that it is the synergy among cranberry nutrients (rather than individual cranberry components) that is responsible for cranberry's health benefits. This synergy is only found in the whole berry as consumed in food form. This rule about whole dietary intake appears to apply to the antioxidant benefits, anti-inflammatory benefits, and anti-cancer benefits of cranberry.

Cabbage:

A long established remedy for a variety of digestive ailments. It is also rich in antioxidants and can strengthen the immune system and help the body to overcome infection.

Cheese:

We keep to a minimum. Some of us avoid most dairy (except yogurt), so we go light on the cheese, but my hubby especially likes cheese on just about anything:)

Salad!!! With Poppyseed Dressing

Paris created a happy face Grilled Cheese & Apple Sandwich for herself and Patrick:)

This made for a mostly raw day for me (except for the hummus), and I think it was AWESOME. I woke up feeling so much better the next day. I don't think I could pull off an all raw diet right now, but I certainly like having it be a part of every day, and then a full day of it on Sundays sounds perfect! (Other than the hummus I ate with some of my veggies!:)

I've decided that hummus is not a very pretty food, but its SO yummy!

We finished off our day in the front room where some of us worked off and on with a big Hollywood puzzle, talked about the Avengers and why Patrick doesn't "buy" the Iron Man concept, because no one explained how Tony Stark doesn't die when he's thrown through a tree just because he's wrapped in a suit of metal.

I just stood in the middle of the room and snapped a few pics as I turned... This is our front family room/office/art/game room (You can see more photos of our front room here on my Always Family Blog)

And our dog, Kitty laid around being spoiled by Kainan, as usual.

Clean Eating: Super Hot Chicken Jalapeno Dish

2012-08-17T12:14:00.000-05:00

Super Hot Chicken Jalapeno Dish

*Best if prepared by marinating at least 24 hours*

Ingredients (serves my two guys who love the spicy stuff):
2 chicken thigh & leg pieces
8 Jalapenos, sliced in half lengthwise and seeded
6-8 oz. Neufchâtel
3/4-1 cup of 100% Pain Sauce

8-24 hour BEFORE your meal Directions:
Take your chicken pieces and put into a ziplock bag. Cover with hot sauce & sit in the refrigerator for at least 8 hours (I actually left mine in for 48 hours because things kept coming up. It was hot enough to make my hubby sweat, and he eats a LOT of spicy stuff!)

On the day of your meal:

Bake the chicken in a covered casserole/pan at 300 for 45 minutes to an hour (or until almost done, our oven is new to us, I don't know ho accurate it is yet!) *You can cook it higher for less time, but I was taking my time so that the chicken would be tender... and I actually thought ahead today, Yay me!
While that is cooking, cut & seed your peppers. Fill them with the Neufchâtel cheese.
Remove cover and pour an extra serving of hot sauce over the chicken.
Place the cheese filled jalapenos around the chicken and return to the oven at 350 for about 20 minutes uncovered.

Serve and watch your hot food loving family as their faces turn red, their eyes water and their forehead starts to sweat. They may yell things suddenly, without warning, like YAAAHHHOOOOOOOO!!! (Seriously, my husband did). My son even said, 'Holy COW, this IS hot' (and this is the kid who puts hot sauce on everything. EVERYTHING.)

And they're ready for another day out in the ridiculous heat! My husband says that on days after he's eaten a spicy meal, it always makes a noticeable difference in how he tolerates the heat. So I guess spicy foods at least help him tolerate the heat. Whatever I can do to help!

Clean Eating Childhood Revamp! Skunkburger Pizza!

2012-08-15T18:03:00.000-05:00

Yummy! Skunkburger Pizza-Dilla

When I was growing up, my mom had a habit of renaming cuts of meat that she thought we might balk at eating. We raised cows, pigs and chickens and butchered them ourselves, so we always had plenty of meat, even though we didn't have a lot of money.

We ate, or at least tried "snake" (beef heart), "Squid" (beef tongue) and we not only tried, but we loved skunkburger pizza.

Skunkburger pizza was such a hit, even with my friends, that one time we had my friend so thoroughly convinced that it was really skunkburger that her mom called our house to ask my mom where she could buy some!

My mom used a few things that I avoid now days, like Velveeta cheese and pizza crust mix, but since she was a single working mom when the tradition began, I can hardly blame her! I also have the time & ability to make my own sauces now, too, so I don't even have to buy sauce in a jar.

Ingredients:
Whole Wheat Tortillas
Homemade Marinara
Mozzarella Cheese, shredded
Lean Ground Beef, cooked and chopped
Tad bit of Coconut Oil

Directions:
Lightly coat one side of a tortilla & place in a preheated skillet (Med-Low)
Mix together the Marinara and Ground Beef
Add the sauce & meat mixture to the tortilla
Top with mozzarella cheese
Top that with another tortilla (Even better, leave the top tortilla off and bake in the oven like a pizza!
If making the 'quesadilla' style, flip when lightly browned.

YUM!
As I mentioned in the directions, I think next time I will definitely cook this in the oven with only one tortilla. I was in too much of a hurry today!

However, it was still delicious, and there was enough to split with my son when he came in from raking leaves!

Do you have any fond childhood food memories or traditions? Are you carrying them on with your family, or are you just working on making new ones?

And did I mention? I cooked this on our 1950's Vintage Double oven-6 burner stove!

Grain Free Taco (aka Taco Style lettuce Wrap)

2012-06-22T07:00:00.000-05:00

Grain Free Taco AKA Taco Style Lettuce Wrap

Ingredients:

Refried Beans (I make refried beans from dry beans)
Cooked Ground Beef (I cook in bulk and freeze to make this a quick fix)
Tomato
Cheese of choice
Green Leaf Lettuce leaves, whole (or you can just make this as a salad)
Sour Cream (just a little bit)
Spices to taste (I use these Mrs. Dash flavors)

I slice tomatoes instead of dicing so its less messy... unless I'm making this salad style

I mix a little bit of refried beans into the taco meat to extend it (because, hey, meat is ExPenSive!) and also to make it stick together a little bit more for less mess!

Add the tomato and get ready to fold and eat!

Viola! Grain Free Taco!

Verdict: Um, yeah. I've had one of these every morning this week. I LOVE it. Having the seasoned ground beef and beans already put together in the fridge or freezer has been perfect for a quick fix meal!

OAMC: Add some extra ground beef to your Once a Month Cooking plan and leave seasoned ground beef and refried beans to your list to make this a quick and healthy fix for your family!

What are your favorite quick fix meals? How many grain free meals do you suppose you make in the course of a week?

Bacon Themed Birthday for my Son: I need your advice!

2012-06-21T16:32:00.002-05:00

Okay, so my son is turning 17 this month. We're celebrating his birthday next month because he'll be away at camp during his actual birthday. I know its far from "Clean" or healthy eating, but he loves LOVES bacon. Heck, I LOVE bacon! We don't buy it much, obviously, being health conscious most of the time, but I would like to surprise him with a bacon themed party next month.

I need your ideas! We've found all sorts of bacon themed gifts... other than the ones he already has:

Bacon Flavored Popcorn

Bacon Salt

A Bacon Plushie that talks and says, "I'm Bacon!"

Amongst other things... what I NEED from You is recipes, ideas, anything.

Think Bacon for decorating, finger foods, desserts, cookies... party type stuff. Please leave me some suggestions, links, photos, recipes, anything you have that you think would be a good fit! Thank you!

Whoa. I'm LOSING WEIGHT. Grain Free, clean eating Pot Roast

2012-06-20T11:53:00.003-05:00

After a solid YEAR of gaining weight (whilst trying to LOSE), I have not only NOT gained any weight this past week, but I have lost four pounds!!! (If you see them, please don't tell me, I don't want them back)

That may not sound like much, and its not a lot... but I am telling you, after watching the scale go up for so long, it feels like a miracle to see it go back down.

Apparently my body just does not like grains. I went a while without eating gluten, but found that even brown rice was making my digestive tract go into spasms and a form of rebellion that I honestly hope I never have to deal with again.

So I guess you'll be seeing more grain free recipes from me for a while. And, since we're moving within the next two weeks, the recipes will be SUPER quick or made for bulk cooking because I don't have time for anything else!

Grain Free Pot Roast & Veggies in Marinara

A pot roast with veggies and meat so tender, you can cut it with a fork!

Ingredients:

Home made Marinara Sauce (or you can buy your own, I prefer to make it in bulk at home so that I know what the ingredients are!)
Beef Broth ***I like thicker stew like pot roast, so I tend to keep it 3 parts marinara to 1 part beef broth, you can use the amounts that suit you and your family.

Round Steak/Flank Steak (I used round steak and just cut extra fat off before cooking)

Carrots, chopped in large pieces

Potatoes, chopped in large pieces
Frozen Corn (although some people sensitive to grains shouldn't have corn either)
Frozen Green Beans
Cabbage, chopped
Onions, chopped in 4ths (I keep mine big so that my one non-onion kid can pick them out)

Pretty much any other veggies you want!

Directions

OAMC: Chop the veggies, Steak and divide into meal sized freezer bags/mason jars if you're avoiding plastic. Add Marinara sauce and seal bag. Freeze.

When you're ready to cook, take it out and Add 1-2 cups of Beef Broth throw it in the crock pot in the morning and have for dinner.

Regular Cooking:

With thawed meat, put skillet on med-high.
Sear meat by cooking it for just a few minutes on each side.
Add marinara & beef broth
Add carrots
After about an hour or so
Add all other veggies

Cook on the stove on medium until the meat and veggies are done (at least three hours)
Bake in oven on 350-400 for several hours.

If I had the freezer space right now, this would DEFINITELY always be a OAMC recipe. Until I get an upright or deep freezer, we're stuck with bulk cooking on the stove and then we all just eat it until we're stuffed.

This is a slightly modified old time family favorite. I remember eating pot roast with potatoes and carrots at my grandma's house for Sunday dinner. Yum!

Grain Free Quick & Easy Breakfast Pepperoni Pizza

2012-06-14T12:22:00.000-05:00

Grain Free Pepperoni Breakfast Pizza

I am currently looking into going grain free. I have a long blog post explaining, but until I'm willing to put up a photo of my current weight, I'm not going to publish it just yet. Suffice it to say that I have tried everything under the sun that I could think of, I have been to doctors and been tested for everything we could think of and my weight continues to creep up...

Well, I went gluten free this past weekend and my weight has dropped two pounds. That's not necessarily saying a lot, but after a full year of a continuing climb, I'll take it!

I saw this super easy idea for pizza (one of my favorite foods ever!) when going grain free, so I tried it this morning. Not bad!

Ingredients
1 tsp coconut oil
2 egg whites
2 eggs
pizza toppings of your choice
1 Tbsp pizza sauce (marinara or alfredo)
1/4-1/2 cup of cheese of your choice

Dab the oil from the pepperoni to get rid of a little extra fat

Directions
Melt coconut oil over medium heat
Whip the eggs & pour into skillet
Once the bottom is cooked, lift edges and let the uncooked egg run under (this is my hubby's favorite way to make omelettes... it makes them a lot fluffier). After about a minute, flip the eggs.
Add pizza sauce, toppings and cheese
Remove from pan & stick under the broiler for just a few minutes

Eat it up!

Verdict: Yummy! It definitely won't replace "real" pizza forever, but it will hold me over as I go through this month of trying grain free! Next time I'm going to try it with alfredo, spinach, feta and tomato:)

Going Grain Free? Raw? Which end is up?

2012-06-13T10:50:00.000-05:00

I have been having some pretty hard core health issues over the last year. I know that a LOT of it stemmed from stress, wearing out my adrenals, etc. A LOT.

But I have continued to gain a large amount of weight, regardless of anything I tried. I know a lot about nutrition. I am continually trying to inform myself, make better choices and get healthy.

A year ago, I looked like this:

Not perfect or anything, but I was toned. I had muscle and not a ton of fat.

Now? I'm too embarrassed to have my photo taken. I can barely handle going out in public. I can't shop for clothes without crying. I cringe and try to hide whenever I see someone with a camera. I have gained enough weight that I now am more than 20 pounds heavier than I ever was... even 9 months pregnant with my fifth child.

I was a fitness instructor until recently. Since last May, I have gained a LOT of weight (as in over 60 pounds in a year). It wasn't long before the weight was making my knees hurt. A lot. I taught 4-5 fitness classes a week. I would come home and my joints hurt SO badly that I could barely walk into my house. I was stiff, sore and aching. I pushed myself to keep working out because I kept gaining weight, even when there was no change in my eating habits or even when I made even more, healthier, change.

Finally I had to take time off of work. The pain in my joints was SO bad. I thought I just needed to rest them. After 5 weeks, they felt no better. I was so upset... and the weight still piled on. Then the rest of my symptoms of dry skin, exhaustion and even more severe insomnia than I had already suffered from got worse and worse to the point where I couldn't stand it anymore.

Googling symptoms one day, I found that I matched so many of the symtoms of adrenal fatigue and hypothyroid. I started researching natural supplements that would help.

After 10 months, I finally caved and went to a clinic. The doctor, for whatever reason, refused to do a thyroid panel, even though I would have been paying for it out of pocket (we don't have health insurance currently). I finally found a doctor who ordered the thyroid panel and I had all the test results from the first doctor to show that it wasn't anything blood, liver, etc. related.

My results came back "normal" they were borderline "off" but not enough to get any help.

I found an online place to order thyroid supplements and began taking them. I need something to change, like right now. Everything in my life is going fine except for this... and this is a BIG deal to me. HUGE. Ha, no pun intended.

ANYWAY, in researching even MORE... I found these, and it intrigues me, because the symptoms of being grain sensitive fit my symptoms just as much, if not more than the hypothyroid. Huh. I had planned on doing a blog series of "30 Days of Raw", but now I'm thinking I may do "30 Days of Grain Free" (obviously a lot of these will overlap... but still...)

If you're interested in learning more about going grain free, why/if you should (its not for everybody), etc. you can check out these links that I've been reading tonight!

10 Reasons to go grain free

Difference between Atkins Diet and grain free diet (The Atkins diet always worked wonders for me in the past)

Eating ancestrally

Grain Free Living

Grain Free Recipes

I will definitely still be eating clean (I especially do not miss MSG, HFC & artificial sweeteners)... I'm just not sure its going to include grains much, if at all. It may take me a few hits and misses, because I do love my bread and POPCORN... omg. I LOVE popcorn... ugh, but I have to find something that works. Being this overweight is just devastating to me.

Sweet & SPICY Chicken with Broccoli & Rice

2012-06-11T07:00:00.000-05:00

Sweet & Spicy Chicken

*You can find the original recipe here on My Recipes

Ingredients:

(*I tripled the original recipe and made extra sauce for the rice & veggies)

6 boneless chicken breasts
2 Tbsp Coconut Oil
1/2 cup lime juice
1/2 cup lemon juice
2 Tbsp Crushed Red Pepper Flakes
2 Tbsp grated fresh ginger
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
I am SERIOUSLY LOSING IT HERE!!!!
OMG. I just read the recipe on the computer screen and it says, "1/2 teaspoon of honey"
When we printed this off, the / didn't show up so we thought it said TWELVE teaspoons of honey!!! We adjusted it a little bit, but still, that is hilarious.
Lol. Wow. Well, the recipe DID turn out yummy and seriously didn't taste all that sweet to me... so, onward...
1/2 cup of honey or agave nectar
1/4 cup stevia or xylitol (although if you want less sweet, leave this out!)
6 Scallions/green onions, finely chopped
6 Tbsp cilnatro, finely chopped.
2 cups brown rice
1-2 bags of frozen broccoli

This is where I veer off even more from the recipe. I was in the process of reading the recipe, and I have a BAD habit of getting distracted. So I read, "Put the chicken on the stove and sautee..." I thought it was strange that it wasn't to be cooked in the sauce, but I wanted to follow the recipe, so I put the chicken on the stove, then noticed that it was time to pick up my girls from their friend's house. I turned to my husband, who was right there, washing dishes anyway, and said, "Honey, can you watch this and make sure it doesn't burn?"

And out the door I went.

Thirty minutes later, I come home to find my husband turning off the stove. "Well, I imagine the chicken is done now. How odd that the sauce isn't meant as a marinade or something, though"

So I get the recipe and read the rest of the sentence "Sautee for 2-3 minutes on each side... then add the...

Oops.

So we got busy making the sauce:

Paris helping me chop up the green onions

Using a pizza cutter for herbs works SO much faster than trying to use a knife!

I cut the now super tender chicken into small cubes and poured the sauce over. YUM.

This was a disaster. My son would come in the house and eat it all in one sitting.

So, we made another double batch of the sauce and I made some brown rice to mix it in with.

This stuff definitely has some kick to it! It almost reminded me of a Thai food dish that I used to get at Pei Wei, but I can't remember what it was called. I think its like a blend of sweet and sour and their spicy chicken. I think it would be fabulous with those little white button mushrooms and some pea pods. If I could figure out tofu, this would be a fantastic vegetarian dish! I think I'll add this recipe to my once a month cooking list. It would freeze & crockpot well, I think!

Viola! My husband's lunches packed for a few days and my sons container to eat at home. Now to make something vegetarian for my non meat eaters!

Verdict: This recipe is GOLDEN. I will definitely add it to our OAMC, because the sauce was a little tedious to make, so I'd rather make a BUNCH at once and freeze it, rather than have to get all that stuff out each time. Besides, we never use a full bunch of cilantro, and I hate to see it go to waste!

What are your favorite go to dishes for freezing? I'm going to try doing at least our dinners in freezer meals so I can just have one big cooking/cleaning day a month and save a LOT of work other wise. Do any of you do this?

Clean Eating Super Yummy Spicy Goulash

2012-06-08T08:09:00.000-05:00

Spicy Goulash

Ingredients:

5-6 carrots (my carrots were pretty puny:) sliced thin

1 16 oz. bag of frozen corn

3 zucchini, sliced thin

5 cans of diced tomatoes

**You can add some white beans or lentils, especially if you're making this for the vegetarian version.

1/2 carton of beef broth

1 capful of Mrs. Dash Extra Spicy seasoning

1 capful of Mrs. Dash "Garlic and Red Pepper" seasoning (I would have generally used actual garlic and red pepper, but I was out)

few shakes of black ground pepper and you should be good!

*You can use simple spices like chili powder instead, if you prefer.

I used my grater for slicing the carrots and zucchini

Mmmmm... spicy!

Dump all of the ingredients together in a pan (again, I pureed some of the diced tomatoes... not even sure why we HAD cans of diced tomatoes in the first place!) and cook on medium heat for at least an hour. I left mine cooking for probably 3? It would be fabulous in a crockpot if I had one that didn't burn half of everything I make!

Serve with whole wheat pasta for a "Clean Eating" vegetarian meal...

Or, you can serve with the Spicy Meatballs for the non vegetarian in your life.

This recipe turned out REALLY well. It was a little watery, because I forgot the beef broth until it was almost done, but it was SO full of flavor, we loved it! We had a nice big salad and some garlic bread with it (the garlic bread was NOT clean eating, but my kids aren't terribly concerned with being THAT clean!)

Clean Eating: Easy Spicy Gluten Free Meatballs

2012-06-07T13:20:00.002-05:00

Super Simple Super Spicy Meat Balls

Ingredients:

2-3 cups of Gluten Free cereal. I used Rice Squares.

1 pound of lean ground beef

1 Tbsp Chili Powder

1 Tbsp "Extra Spicy" seasoning from Mrs. Dash (you can leave this out, but I love these spices!)

1 Tbsp Crushed Red Pepper Flakes

1 can of diced tomatoes

2 eggs

I just crush up the cereal using my hands, but you can stick it in a food processor if you want. I ended up pureeing most of the diced tomato when my picky girl said, "Ewww... you're putting tomatoes in it?" but you can usually just leave them in chunks.

I always bake meatballs on a wire rack in a pan to catch the grease, even with lean ground beef, this helps keep even more fat out. I can't stand cooking ground beef where it is sitting in the grease... yuck.

Viola! These were SPICY!!! Dang! I'm glad I made some without the crushed red pepper for Abyni and I because I took one bite of a spicy one and my mouth was on FIRE. Of course Kainan actually ate his with extra hot sauce. Go figure. I served them with the goulash type dish that I kind of made up on the go. It was a little liquid-y because I didn't get the beef broth until late in the game, but it was very flavorful!

Spicy Foods to Keep You Feeling Cool in the Heat!

2012-06-07T12:58:00.000-05:00

Okay, so this may sound strange, but did you know that if you eat REALLY spicy foods, it can help your body acclimate to the heat better? Not necessarily make you feel cooler, but it helps your body adjust to suddenly being in the heat.

My husband discovered this a few years ago when he found that working out in the extreme heat was suddenly draining him a lot more than normal. I guess we must be getting old? Anyway, he added salt to his diet (because we avoid salt so much, we tend to rarely use ANY, and that's not terribly good when you're going to be out sweating like crazy every day). But really noticed that when he loaded up on super spicy peppers, he'd handle the heat better.

So, on that Note, we're going to be making spicy foods for this week! Yay!

Quick Smoothie Tip for Quicker, Healthier Smoothies!

2012-03-17T16:09:00.003-05:00

Quick Tips for Yogurt Smoothies!

Strawberry Blueberry Yogurt Smoothie

Hey guys, sorry I didn't post on Friday, but we didn't even get groceries until late last night. Being down to one car and Patrick working full-time, plus some, has greatly hindered my errand running. This is actually somewhat good for our budget, bad for keeping food in the house!

Anyway, one of our favorite things to have for breakfast or snack time are smoothies. I want the kids to keep yogurt in theirs, but they tend to not want to bother. They end up with milk, frozen fruit and protein powder. That, and more often than not, they end up with more fruit than anything. For those on a tight budget, you know that fruit can get expensive, and we need to make it last.

This is what I use to get the yogurt in there!:)

So, the other day I made myself some strawberry protein yogurt (just plain, unsweetened yogurt, strawberries, blueberries and some protein powder. And I made WAY too much. This gave me a great idea. When the kids were babies, I always pureed our food in a blender for them. I then froze the puree in ice cube trays, leaving me with perfect serving sizes for a baby. I thought this would be a perfect way to ration out the fruits and make sure the kids were getting some yogurt, too!

Blend the whole container of yogurt, strawberries and blueberries, some liquid stevia for sweetener. I also added some vanilla protein powder.

I don't happen to have ice cube trays (but I'm going to get some now!), but I poured the rest of my yogurt in ziplock bags and told the kids these were our new smoothie cubes. Now all they have to do is take some smoothie cubes, add some milk and blend away. For moms with little ones, it can make smoothie time quicker for you too.

Tada! I froze them in thin layers in ziplock bags, so one good knock on the edge of the table and it breaks apart for the blender!

Oh! And a money saving tip... if you can find overripe bananas at your store (I've gotten a 5# bag for less than $1.50 before!) you can take them home, peel and chop into thick slices and freeze in zip lock bags... or, like I mentioned today, puree them with protein powder and yogurt for future smoothies.

*I say "protein powder" often, when, although I use extra protein powder, we use a raw, organic meal replacement powder for our kids snacks or breakfast. Since we simply can not afford organic all the time, it is nearly impossible in this day and age to get enough nutrition out of our food. This is not a typical diet meal replacement with artificial sweeteners and sugars, so read your labels. I do NOT recommend feeding your children 'diet' foods or any meal replacements with artificial sweeteners, high fructose corn syrup or refined sugars.

Another great thing to add to smoothies is spinach, bee pollen and if you're not using yogurt already, probiotics are great as well.

Oh! And in a "Why didn't I think of this before" moment, my freezer is SO much more useful now, since stuff isn't falling out every day!

Dollar Tree baskets and I'm good to go. One for fruit, one for veggies!

Have a great week! I'll see you next week with a video on juicing and possibly wheat grass juicing too, if all goes well!

365 Days of Clean Eating

Raspberry Loose Leaf Tea: No Calorie Drink for your Clean Eating or Slow Carb Diet

Raspberry Leaf Tea

Directions:

What is your favorite no calorie drink?

Results & Weight Loss Quick Tips: Pre-Made "Convenience" Foods for Clean Eating or Slow Carb Diets

Now, for the results!

Week 1: 90 Day Challenge & 30 Day Diet Supplement Review & My Recipes.

Recipes of the week & Monday 30 DayDiet Review

This is me LAST AUGUST... after gaining 20 pounds in 3 months, I was still OKAY with myself... but definitely didn't think it would keep creeping up!

Next week I'll do another measuring session as well as pics and posting my progress.

Super Simple Clean Eating, Slow Carb Meat Loaf

Ideal Recipe aka What I Intended to Make

Optional Recipe aka What I Actually Made

The End.

90 Day Diet Challenge & Supplement Review: The Beginning

My supplements came Friday! (WOW, that was FAST!!!)

What are your no fail healthy eating tips?

Super Easy Camp Fire Roasted Potato, Onion & Cheesey Bake

Roasted Potato, Onion & Cheesey Side Dish

Directions:

What are your favorite fall dishes?

(Ie: I need new ideas. I'm bored with my own ideas!:)

Clean Eating Recipe: Beef Burgundy Pot Roast & Veggies

Finish with a lovely family dinner with your crazy children on your pink and brown deck.**

I am SO in love with our yard! And this weather!

Dictate my Blog Day #1: What do you want to see?

Rules

Diet Review: Weight Loss Supplements

Even Faster! Bulk Cooking Breakfast Burritos/Baked Quiche Wraps

Baked Quiche Wraps!

What is your favorite easy-go to recipe?

Dirty Birthday Dinner: Grilled Cheese w/Apple Slices and CAKE!!!

Grilled Cheese w/Apple Slices on Pumpernickel Bread

Happy Birthday, Jaedin! And the rest of you, go try out this weird grilled cheese idea! My family loves it!

Almost Clean Crock Pot Baked Beans w/Dried beans

Almost Clean Crock Pot Baked Beans

DRIED BEAN TIPS:

These beans cook down to a nice, thick, full of flavor texture that you will LOVE! Let me know how it worked for you!

Mostly Raw Food Sunday with Salad Bar

Casual Sunday Salad Bar

Clean Eating: Super Hot Chicken Jalapeno Dish

Super Hot Chicken Jalapeno Dish

Clean Eating Childhood Revamp! Skunkburger Pizza!

Yummy! Skunkburger Pizza-Dilla

YUM! As I mentioned in the directions, I think next time I will definitely cook this in the oven with only one tortilla. I was in too much of a hurry today!

Do you have any fond childhood food memories or traditions? Are you carrying them on with your family, or are you just working on making new ones?

Grain Free Taco (aka Taco Style lettuce Wrap)

Grain Free Taco AKA Taco Style Lettuce Wrap

Ingredients:

What are your favorite quick fix meals? How many grain free meals do you suppose you make in the course of a week?

Bacon Themed Birthday for my Son: I need your advice!

Whoa. I'm LOSING WEIGHT. Grain Free, clean eating Pot Roast

Grain Free Pot Roast & Veggies in Marinara

Ingredients:

Directions

This is a slightly modified old time family favorite. I remember eating pot roast with potatoes and carrots at my grandma's house for Sunday dinner. Yum!

Grain Free Quick & Easy Breakfast Pepperoni Pizza

Grain Free Pepperoni Breakfast Pizza

Going Grain Free? Raw? Which end is up?

Sweet & SPICY Chicken with Broccoli & Rice

Sweet & Spicy Chicken

What are your favorite go to dishes for freezing? I'm going to try doing at least our dinners in freezer meals so I can just have one big cooking/cleaning day a month and save a LOT of work other wise. Do any of you do this?

Clean Eating Super Yummy Spicy Goulash

Spicy Goulash

Clean Eating: Easy Spicy Gluten Free Meatballs

Super Simple Super Spicy Meat Balls

Spicy Foods to Keep You Feeling Cool in the Heat!

Quick Smoothie Tip for Quicker, Healthier Smoothies!

YUM!
As I mentioned in the directions, I think next time I will definitely cook this in the oven with only one tortilla. I was in too much of a hurry today!