Strawberry & Mango Popsicle Recipe

Man, is it hot down here in Houston this weekend! Days like today, and probably every other day until October-ish, make me crave something refreshing to snack on. After a long day of playing with our new water table in the backyard (thanks Ya-Ya and Papa!) my son and I retreated into the house for some air conditioning and a snack. Luckily, I had whipped up a batch of Popsicles the day before.

This recipe was super easy, and made up on a whim. I just used what I had in the my refrigerator and I am sure with a little experimenting, you could use any fruit that's in season. Next time, I'm going to try and sneak some type of veggie in my pops!!! These would  be really great for a teething baby or toddler, possibly frozen in an ice cube tray and used inside of a mesh feeder.

Now lets talk price:

Lime               $0.30
Strawberries $0.99 for conventional or $2.99 for organic
Mango            $ 0.33

Depending on which strawberries you choose you are either looking at $1.62 for the conventional recipe or $3.62 for the organic recipe. Either way you go, these are a much better alternative to most Popsicles found in your grocery store.

Strawberry & Mango Popsicle Recipe

Makes 4 twin pops

1 Mango, peeled and cubed
1 lb of strawberries, tops removed and sliced
Sweetener of choice, I used maple syrup
Juice of a lime

Puree mango in either blender or food processor, set aside in bowl. Juice 1/2 lime into the bowl and mix it up! Now, puree your strawberries and sweetener together. I used 1 tsp if maple syrup and they tasted great, but if you want a very sweet Popsicle I would recommend adding a little more. Now squeeze the other half of the lime into the strawberries and mix.

I wanted my Popsicles to look pretty, so I layered the mango and strawberry separately using  a funnel. I have the Tovolo Twin Pop Mold and really like it! (Also the price on Amazon was cheaper than what I found in store, bummer!) Just be gentle with the Popsicle sticks and run your mold under water before trying to pry them out.

Happy Summer!!

Proud Mommy Moment!

I have to share a very happy, proud moment that happened this past weekend on Mother's Day. My son will be one at the end of the month and we had a huge party for him last weekend. I have been debating for a while whether or not to give him cake, cookies and other stuff that we normally do not feed him. I have been a hawk since day one and watched carefully as to what we feed him. There have been a few bites of frozen yogurt here and there but for the most part, he's been eating only fruits, veggies, meat and whole grains. People have told me to relax, that he is just a kid and should enjoy treats and cookies. I know most people are just trying to help and don't really know exactly what is in our food, but I refuse to give my son a bad start in life due to peer pressure or laziness. My hubby and I decided that on his birthday, he could eat what he wanted. A friend handed him a chocolate chip cookie, he took a bite and then put it down on the table. He was completely disinterested! I was so happy. Then came cake smash time...he only played in the cake!! He took a bite of icing and then decided he was done. I can't tell you how proud this made me feel. All my hard work, all my firmness in my beliefs of feeding him only the cleanest, only the best food has paid off. Some people were surprised to see him happily munching on a red bell pepper strip later in the party, but those who have been around my son a lot knew what his normal eating habits are.

It just makes me want to persevere in my clean eating journey, this event gives me courage to say, "No!" and feed him the best. It does take extra time to make clean food, to not just open the package of baby food or pick up a Happy Meal on the way home. It takes courage to tell family members that you love and adore that they can't feed your child custard and chocolate. All these extra efforts are surely worth the feeling that I had this past weekend, and that I have right now typing this. My son, the clean eating almost one year old will eat anything and everything, except sugary sweets!

Confession Time...

Okay, so I must admit something. My Whole30 challenge was a complete fail, I lasted about a week and then gave in and ate a muffin. A very healthy, delicious muffin. But still, a fail. I can chalk it all up to not being prepared what so ever and having a crazy weekend. My family came to stay the weekend with us to help me attempt Once a Month Cooking. We spent the better part of two days shopping, chopping and cooking and I was famished. I had nothing prepped for my special diet and was starving and light headed at the end of the second day. So, I grabbed a muffin.

I wish I had stuck it out because I felt AMAZING during the week that I was Whole 30 compliant. Tons of energy, no moodiness and zero tummy bloat. It was amazing, so I'm going to give it shot number 2. I am much better organized to start this again. I just went to Sprouts and went grocery shopping for the week and have my menu all planned out. I am surprised at how inexpensive my grocery bill is and I'm excited to share my menu plan with you a little bit later.

M.I.A

My goodness!! I can't believe it has been almost a month since I lost posted on my blog. Life has just been so crazy the past couple of weeks and my blog and clean eating have taken somewhat of a back seat. We had family in town from New York, celebrated the Persian New Year and battled tonsillitis all within a couple of weeks and I am exhausted!!! We had a good month, besides my poor sweet baby getting tonsillitis.

After a crazy month like I had in March, I feel like I need to recharge my batteries and regain some strength. In all the rush and chaos I found myself grabbing granola bars, Lara bars and lots of grains to fill me up...except that I never felt full. So I would turn to fruit or something yummy, and I still was not full. I was bloated and feeling foggy, but not satisfied.

So, after a couple of weeks of feeling like garbage and having no energy what so ever I have decided to start a month long challenge, The Whole 30. You can check out the website here.

BASICALLY I am attempting the unthinkable and going without grains, sugar or dairy for 30 while days. Yeah I know, sounds crazy to me too. So far today has not been so bad. I had a lot of errands to do in preparation of my hubby's trip to Cali so two of my meals were eaten out.

I had a salad at the mall with mixed organic greens, chicken, tomatoes and cucumbers and a side of fruit. My hubby had some delicious looking Chinese food and at first I wanted to kill him. How could he eat rice in front of me?! But I know that I have 29 more days left and he did not sign up to do this challenge and I did. Plus, he skipped his usual chocolate chip cookie from the cookie place just for me!! Pretty sweet, huh?? So that was breakfast. No dressing on the salad, I smashed the tomatoes up and just used to juice from that to give my brain the illusion of a dressing.

Lunch was a turkey burger wrapped in ice burg lettuce from a burger place. I resisted temptation of picking on my hubby's order of french fries or drinking a soda. I actually quite enjoyed my lettuce wrap with pickles, tomatoes and avacado.

For dinner we had roasted carrots, zucchini and filets that we grilled. I baked an apple with a little cinnamon sprinkled on top for "dessert." Taste like a crustless apple pie!!!

All in all, today has not been so bad. I did really want a cookie from the mall but other than that, it wasn't horrible. I don't feel starved, im actually pretty full. I did snack on a banana and some pineapple today. The best part is I was not in a lazy funk this afternoon. Its 11pm and I still have energy.

Lets see how tomorrow is...

Clean Eating Chocolate Sauce

We ate pretty well tonight for dinner; steak, a small baked potato, asparagus and salad. After dinner I was craving a little something sweet. My family loves frozen yogurt for dessert on the weekends and it might seem like a pretty innocent treat, but I have no way of telling what is in my cup of yogurt. There could be high fructose corn syrup, food dyes and the milk they use is most definitely not organic. The unknown is pretty scary to me and I have just learned not to eat something that I can't easily identify. So usually I will just buy some organic ice cream and have a little here and there, but that gets kind of boring after a while. The best part of a frozen yogurt place, at least to me, is the toppings bar. I needed a little something to top my ice cream off with tonight and that is how the clean eating chocolate sauce came about, and it is delicious. Much better than Hershey's chocolate syrup and certainly much better for my body.

What exactly is in Hershey's Chocolate Syrup???

HERSHEY'S Chocolate Syrup

Ingredients

HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP; CORN SYRUP; WATER; COCOA; SUGAR; CONTAINS 2% OR LESS OF: POTASSIUM SORBATE (PRESERVATIVE); SALT; MONO- AND DIGLYCERIDES; XANTHAN GUM; POLYSORBATE 60; VANILLIN, ARTIFICIAL FLA VOR Eek!! I'm not sure why they need all of that in their syrup, but what I made tonight had 4 ingredients in it total and was delicious! Here's the recipe: 1/4 cup organic maple syrup (the real deal! not pancake syrup, read your label) 1    Tablespoon Unsweetened 100% dark cacao 1    teaspoon organic unsalted butter 1/8 teaspoon vanilla extract Heat the maple syrup over low heat, add the cacao. Mix together well. When thoroughly heated add butter and vanilla. Let cool and drizzle over your ice cream or dessert. This recipe makes 4 generous servings at 61 calories per serving, according to myfitnesspal. Enjoy!

Homemade Citrus Dressing

I went on a one day rampage where I threw everything out that had an iffy ingredient in it...GMO, flavor, added color or preservatives. It left me with brown rice, fruits and veggies and not much else. I think the most common ingredient I threw away was salad dressing. I really love having a salad before my dinner but was not sure what to do as far as a dressing that wasn't crazy in calorie content or hard to make.

Well guys, I have fallen in love with this dressing!! You probably have everything you need to make it in your pantry already..which is awesome because who wants to run to the store just for some salad dressing?? The best part is this is low-cal so if you are like me and trying to loose weight, this will be a keeper! I recycled a bottle of Honest Tea that my hubby drank to use to keep the dressing in and it is quite convenient.

So the recipe is:

8 Tablespoons of freshly squeezed citrus juice. (I used a grapefruit because they were on sale.)
2 Tablespoons of oil, I used olive oil
2 Tablespoons of honey
2 Tablespoons of apple cider vinegar
2 to 3 teaspoons of mustard, I used an organic brand from Kroger's

Put everything in your bottle and shake, shake, shake!!! A little tip: add the oil before the honey, it will make the honey slide off the measuring spoon easier.

And that is pretty much it, super easy and probably takes 5 minutes at the most. This stuff is good!! According to my fitness pal recipe maker it is about 62 calories a serving, if this recipe made 8 servings. Oh, don't forget to store this in the refrigerator.

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??