Clean Eating Meal Plan for 2/26/13 - 3/4/13

Wow, I can't believe February is already almost over! Today was a cold, windy day in Houston and I was a tad bit lazy. This weeks meal plan was thrown together on the fly as I made a mad dash to get to the grocery store before rush hour hit. Anyways, this is what we are eating this week:

Tuesday-

•   Dinner: Baked Chicken, Roasted Potato and Butternut Squash, Mixed Veggies

Wednesday-

•   Breakfast: Banana Muffins from 100 Days of Real Food. I am obsessed with this blog. Lisa and her crew are amazing. You can find her recipe here.
•  Lunch: More than likely something delish from Ruggles Green! I have a doctors appointment and so the hubby and I will be out and about.
• Dinner: Steak with an awesome rub, baked potato and asparagus

Thursday-

• Breakfast: More Banana Muffins, Cantaloupe
• Lunch: Leftovers from dinner for the hubby and Three Bean Chili for me
• Dinner: Alfredo with Mushrooms, Salad with Homemade Citrus Dressing , Broccoli

Friday-

• Breakfast: Overnight oats with cranberries and almonds
• Lunch: Leftover Alfredo
• Dinner: Almond Encrusted Fish, Green Beans, Roasted Potato

Saturday-

• Breakfast: Eggs, Toast, Pears
• Lunch: Leftover Fish, Greens Beans
• Crock pot Chicken, Brown Rice, Carrots

Sunday-

• Breakfast: Pancakes, Eggs, Grapefruit drizzled with honey
• Lunch: Leftover Chicken, Brown Rice, Carrots
• Chicken Tacos, Bell Peppers and Onions and Refried Beans

Monday-

• Breakfast: Pancakes, Eggs, Orange Slices
• Lunch: Maybe a date with my hubby?!?!
• Dinner: Cajun Red Beans and Rice, Salad with my Homemade Citrus Dressing and corn muffins

As you can see, I utilize leftovers alot! It makes it easy for myself and the hubby usually doesn't mind. We just finished baking the banana muffins and they are delicious! What is everyone else eating this week??

Veggie Latkes for My Sweet Pea

My little sweet pea, my son, turned 9 months old yesterday!! He has one little tooth barely sticking out on his bottom gums and likes to "chew" food now. It is so cute to watch him pick up little pieces of food and chew away. He thinks he has teeth though and is over eating purees which has made mealtime a little difficult. I usually just give him a little bit of whatever we are eating and mush it up for him but that is not always possible and sometimes we are eating at different times. So in honor of his 9 month milestone I decided it was time to introduce him to a new food, veggie latkes.

 

 

 

 

Veggie Latke Recipe

 

1 potato, preferably organic

1 head of broccoli, preferably organic

1/2 to 3/4 cup carrots

whole wheat flour

 

First, steam your broccoli and carrots. When the veggies are done steaming put in a food processor until they are in small enough  pieces for your baby or child. Mix the veggies together in a mixing bowl. I added a little flour to thicken everything up and formed small patties.

I used a very tiny amount of EVOO in my pan so that the patties wouldn't stick and cooked them for a couple of minutes on each side.

After letting my latkes cool, I put them in a freezer bag so I have some easy lunches and dinners on hand that are full of vitamins and nutrients that are so good for my growing son.

Onions would be a great addition to this recipe if it was being made for grown ups or an older kiddo.

 

My son gobbled these up!!! He ate an entire Latke with some applesauce for dinner and loved it. It was a very healthy 9 month celebration. Bon Appetit!

 

 

 

 

 

Clean Eating: What is it and How do I Start??

Clean Eating in our house means:

• Not consuming ingredients that we can't pronounce or cook with ourselves. Read your labels! You would be surprised as to what is really in your food. This includes food dyes (which can cause hyperactivity in children) and natural flavorings, some of which have been linked to Alzheimer's disease. You can read more about that here .
• Lots of fruits and vegetables, whole grains, beans, meat and whole milk.
• Buying as much organic food as possible. We buy organic meat, dairy, grains and follow the dirty dozen list and only wild caught seafood. Obviously, not everyone can afford to buy organic food and it is not readily available to everyone. You have to do the best with your budget; eating conventionally grown fruits and veggies is better than eating frozen pizza and ramen noodles.
• No sodas, no energy drinks, no Crystal Light, no fruit juices. Water, water, water!!! I do drink coffee and green tea once or twice a day. I also start my day off with a glass of room temperature water with freshly squeezed lemon juice.
• No refined sugars or flour. No Splenda, corn syrup or cane juice. I use honey or maple syrup in place of sugar in recipes. I have yet to find a bakery close to me that bakes fresh, clean bread so we use Ezekiel bread for sandwiches and toast in the morning. I MIGHT attempt to bake a loaf of bread one day, I am a horrible baker and burn everything!

How we started:

1. I threw anything and everything away that had a funky ingredient in it. No more preservatives, flavorings, food dyes, High Fructose Corn Syrup, cancer causing ingredients.
2. Made a meal plan, a list and went to the grocery store. I live in Houston and am fortunate to have access to tons of grocery and health food stores. I love Costco, HEB and Trader Joe's. We buy our meat, eggs and some produce from Costco. Everything else I will buy at HEB or Trader Joe's if I feel like driving to the galleria area.
3. The trial and error process began and still continues to this day. Sometimes my dinner is a hit and other times, my hubby's Persian palate is disappointed. He likes everything to have a lot of flavor and I could care less if I'm eating a piece of bland chicken and brown rice.

And, that is where we are at today in our journey. We haven't quite perfected our clean eating and there are times when we do eat something that isn't up to our standards but we try our best to give our bodies the best fuel possible. What are some things that your family does to eat cleaner?

Lunch Date at Ruggles

I may have died and gone to a real foodie's heaven! I have found a restaurant that boycotts the use of GMO's, is environmentally friendly and try to serve local ingredients. The best part, the food is amazing. It is so reassuring to be able to order off of there menu and know I'm not eating genetically modified garbage. My hubby and I enjoy eating out on his days off work for lunch, and chose to eat at Ruggles both times so I think it's safe to say we have started to obsess with this place.

On Tuesday, we were running around the Galleria area and stopped by their River Oaks location. We had our son with us and I was a little worried that they wouldn't be so baby friendly and may not have high-chairs or it might be too quiet inside. It definitely was a little hard to find a table because they were so busy but it was worth the wait!! I ordered the Ruggles Green Blackened Shrimp Salad and it was the best salad I have ever eaten in my life, seriously. Delicious blackened shrimp on top of a bed of fresh greens, strawberries, blueberries, pistachios and a delicious citrus dressing. I have raved about this salad to everyone and if they sold the dressing I would have bought several bottles. My hubby ordered the Hydroponic Butter Lettuce Wedge and the Ruggles Green Kobe Beef Burger with a tabbouleh salad as a side. I had a bite of his burger and it was amazing!! Very clean tasting and the bun was delicious.

Earlier today we stopped by the City Centre location for lunch, again with our son and I must say this location is much more baby friendly. We ordered and let our son play on the faux grass park in front of the restaurant and ate outside. My hubby ordered the Wedge again and the Turkey Reuben and I ordered a house salad and the Spicy Chicken Tacos. My salad was huge and the dressing was fantastic. I was pleasantly surprised with the tacos, the chicken was not drowned in some tomato-ey sauce but instead had an amazing spice mix on it.

Ruggles Green has truly made my hubby and I fans and I am sure we will become regulars at the City Centre location. You can check out their website here.

P.S. Try the melon iced tea!!!