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??

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!!!