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Friday, June 28, 2013

Tips on how to eat clean on vacation


You're on vaca and you want to have a good time but you don't want to ruin all that good eating with bad food and be sick the whole time. What do you do? Planning ahead always helps. But you work a full time job and you are excited for vacation and you barely have time to pack. No one said that hard work and dedication was easy, right? Set a schedule for yourself a week before you leave. What day to pack and what day to pack food for your trip. Let me make it easier for you about the food packing, grab a piece of paper and across the top write the dates that you will be going. Set up a menu for yourself for each day -- it's not that complicated and doesn't take much time I promise. For example, breakfast: granola and almond milk at the hotel room daytime snacks: fresh fruit, almonds, walnuts by the pool lunch: tuna fish, hard boiled egg whites and salad dinner: local restaurant.

Dining at restaurants: it is hard just to stop going out to eat all together. It is not realistic but you can limit the number of times you go. We used to go out to eat ALL THE TIME but now not so much and it saves lots money and not to mention our stomachs. Let's face it, it can make you ill eating outside food all the time. When you do decide to go out to eat, look for restaurants that are of course not chain restaurants -- even when they say healthy menu it's not entirely clean or healthy -- but ones that have a cleaner menu. Check menus out before you go, some restaurants have their menus posted online. If everything on the menu is bad go with a salad. Check the ingredients of the salad and choose the one with the cleanest ingredients. And get the dressing on the side if it's freshly made if not, ask for oil and vinegar on the side. I ordered this delicious salad from a bar/restaurant and since the salad sounded fresh I thought that the raspberry vinaigrette would be too. Good thing I asked for it on the side because it was like raspberry syrup. I wasn't sure if I should pour it over my salad or over some ice cream. Asian restaurants are good too because there is always revolutionary diet options on the menu where brown rice is offered and steamed veggies. Stay away from the brown sauce and stick to low sodium soy sauce. I LOVE sushi but I can't eat it anymore. The white rice, sauces and fried things in the rolls, my body can not handle it anymore so I order the sashimi appetizer (6 pieces of raw fish) with brown rice with low sodium soy sauce and that satisfies my sushi cravings.

Snacks on a plane/train/bus/car: pack sunflower seeds, almonds, fruit, granola, protein bars and raw veggies for your trip. Water, iced green tea and fruit infused water is a must.

So, hope all this helps you guys out for VACATION SEASON. Have a fun summer!!

Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Mmmmm granola is cooking!

 
Granola! Who doesn't like granola? It's so great for you and there's so many different flavors of granola you can make. You can make high calorie granola that are great for mornings and snacks or you can make it a low calorie one for toppings etc. But which never you choose you can never go wrong with granola.
 
This particular kind of granola is my favorite. I make it every other morning and it's great to have for breakfast (when I don't have my protein shakes) with some almond milk or with fresh fruit and plain Greek yogurt or however you enjoy your granola. I made this granola with one super ripe banana (the riper the better), oats, almonds, honey, raisins (you can use any dried fruit you like), shredded coconut (not store brought), protein powder (I used vanilla), ground flax seed, a little cinnamon and vanilla extract. When it is in the oven it makes the whole place smell vanilla-y.
 
If you guys love my posts then you will love my surprise I have coming soon!!

Friday, June 21, 2013

Clean dinner ideas

Today I am making minestrone soup with all the veggies in my frig that look like they are about to go plus some of yesterday's leftovers. I used a 28 oz can of whole peeled tomatoes (no sugar no salt added), zucchini, white beans (canned is fine I used dry beans that were cooked a month ago that I froze), carrots, leftover kale, onion (one large), garlic (I used a whole bulb), fresh parsley, basil, bay leaves. If you like it spicy, add some crushed red pepper and a little black pepper. Mmmm this is cooking right now.
 
 
First, chop all the veggies and herbs. Open your can of whole tomatoes and slice or chop them also save the juice. Sautee the onions and garlic until fragrant and see thru then add the herbs. Add the tomatoes, their juice, and 3 pint glasses of water into the pot. When you see a little simmer add the veggies and beans. Cook til the veggies are soft. Add sea salt to taste. This is good alone with a slice of wheat toast or make it a dinner by serving in a bowl over brown rice (today I am using leftover quinoa). You can also add chicken breast to this meal. You can cheat a little by topping your soup with a little fresh grated Parmesan cheese and enjoy! 
 
Yesterday's dinner was really simple but tasty. This is sautéed kale with garlic and black pepper, roasted sweet potatoes, quinoa and steamed Pollock with a sprinkle of black pepper. 
 
 
 Fish and chips was one of my favorite comfort foods. Deep fried panko breaded pieces of cod with crispy salty fries and fatting tartar sauce. I loved it but I do not eat that way anymore. Hmmm what to do? Make a clean version. I took a large white potato and sliced it thin, placed it on a baking sheet the had a light coating of olive oil. Sprinkles sea salt and fresh dill over it and place it in the oven and cooked until they turned into chips. The clean tartar sauce recipe is on the tuna cake page. I used frozen cod that was thawed out. For the breading, almond flour and whole wheat bread crumbs were used both homemade. I used some clean WW bread that was stale to make breads crumbs. Cut the bread into slices and place on a cookie sheet and place in the oven until crispy. Take them out and place in a food processor to grind into bread crumbs. You can seasoned the bread crumbs now if you like but I did not for this recipe. Take 2 plates and one bowl. It the bowl, crack an egg and use the whites, discard the yolk. Whisk with a little water. Take one plate and scatter the bread crumbs on it and on the other plate scatter the almond flour on it. Dip the fish in the almond flour, then in the egg white mix and finally in the bread crumbs. Place the breaded fish on a foiled baking sheet and put in the oven. The slaw is cabbage, carrot, radish, red onion and apple use any clean dressing you like to coat the slaw. Serve with tartar, lemon wedge and sprinkle fresh dill on the plate.
 
Another cool dinner idea is slow cooked BBQ pulled chicken with sweet potato fries and clean corn bread. Use your favorite BBQ sauce recipe and sub bad ingredients for clean ones, pour into your slow cooker with chicken breast. Slice a large sweet potato into fries, put fries in a large Ziploc bag and pour a little olive oil and a little sea salt and pepper and shake. Empty bag and spread onto a cookie sheet and place in the oven. Serve with hot sauce and clean corn muffin. Enjoy!
 
 

Morning juices

 
 
Juicing fruits and veggies are so great for your body especially after a hard workout to replenish your body's nutrients after all that sweating. It is so refreshing and keeps you going throughout the day. Juicing is good because you are using parts of the vegetable/fruit that you sometimes would not eat. For example, you would not eat the stalks from kale but you can juice them. It is natural and best of all there is no high fructose corn syrup in here AKA poison. That stuff can make you ill.

My morning routine before I start my day, is a hard workout, juice, lots of water and then a protein shake; mostly everyday that's my breakfast. This morning I ran with the cicadas at Bowdoin (read my past post on that story lol) and then came home and made this juice that I would like to share with you guys. It doesn't have a cool name yet but it's for 2 servings: 5 large carrots, 2 apples, 2 oranges and 3 kale stalks. After it is juiced, I stir and then pour into frosted glasses. These are also surprisingly filling, I mean you are consuming 2.5 carrots, 1 apple and orange and 1.5 kale stalk for one in minutes.
 
Cleaning up the juicer after is a pain but after all, everything good for you doesn't come easy! 
 
 

Thursday, June 20, 2013

Running with the cicadas

 So, I am sure by now everyone has heard about cicadas. They are the talk of the town right now. Chronogram wrote a great article about these interesting bugs, the cicada, that emerge every 13 or 17 years just to sing, mate and die. They are all out now singing for females to mate with. I can hear them as I write this.

The other day, we went to Bowdoin Park for the usual hike through the woods, when the singing of the cicadas became it's loudest the minute we turned on Sheafe Road. Sounded like an alien invasion and you can see them flying everywhere. I find these little guys interesting but I am also terrified of one landing on me or coming near me. Not a fan of bugs. We get to the park and seriously it was like Cicada land. So, we get out of the car and here I was running with the cicadas. We didn't run through the woods but we had a great workout on the soccer field and running up the hills. I did take the time and watch them and learn about them a little more. My niece liked to pet them. She pet this particular cicada and it made this high pitched noise as it flew away (maybe a male?) but the other ones let her pet them. Maybe these were the females? Lots of cicadas were up in the trees and some were hanging out in the grass. Watching the cicadas, I couldn't help but notice the birds, which were so intensely focused on catching and eating them. In the beginning of spring or so, I remember all the small holes in the ground in the woods were we ran. My husband and I, trying to figure out what insect did that. He said grubs I thought an animal digging for insects. Then a few days later, we saw this thick yellow bug crawling near one of these holes. It looked a grub. But now we know it was a cicada nymph that crawled out of the ground to crawl up a tree, shed its skin and grow some wings and become the cicada we see now flying around and singing in the trees. There is definitely a lot of "action" in the park right now and it's kinda cool and amazing.

Since this is a blog about clean eating, did you know that the cicada is protein rich, gluten-free and low in carbs? So if you need to wake up your healthy meals, read this National Geographic article about the cicada, a culinary delight. If anyone tries these, I would love to hear about it. Enjoy.

Saturday, June 15, 2013

Experimenting in the lab

At the end of the week, I usually have to get creative with meals. My supplies of produce start to dwindle. So, I look at my pantry of things to experiment with. Today's ingredient: canned tuna fish. I used Chicken of the Sea solid Albacore in water. The ingredients listed are: solid white tuna, water, vegetable broth, salt and pyrophosphate --- I know a nasty chemical, right? But it's the last one listed meaning there's only a little of it this can of tuna. If more was listed it would not even be in my pantry. Hmmm, what can I make with this tuna. Not salad because I have no lettuce. What could I do with this tuna that would be so delicious. YES! Tuna cakes! It's like crab cakes but with tuna. My husband makes incredible crab cakes so, I used his recipe and just cleaned it up. Bread crumbs: I used oat bran in place of bread crumbs you can use a clean piece of bread, put it in the oven to toast and then pulse in a food processor or coffee grinder to make into crumbs. I used Old Bay, fresh parsley and dill, chopped red onion because this is tuna fish, one egg, mashed it all up in a bowl and formed little patties. I used my cast iron pan with a light coating of oil olive, dropped the patties into the pan to cook.

I also made some clean tartar sauce --- yum it was really tasty. Put it on the plate with a side of wild brown rice and this was lunch.

It might be dinner too I really liked these.

Friday, June 14, 2013

i heart pizza

Me and pizza have had a long love affair. Growing up in the Bronx, we had pizza joints on almost every block. Mmmm the gooey cheese, tasty sauce, crispy but soft crust and bottom and lots of veggie toppings. Yes, I never liked any meat on my pizza. My favorite topping is mushrooms, yea, not so exciting, right? So anyways, I hadn't had a pizza in what felt like a lifetime ago, I'm being dramatic but it was a long time and I wanted some pizza. So how can I make it clean? Take out the white flour and white sugar, right? So, I started doing some research and found some cool recipes. Some called for oat flour or oat bran. Some called for whole wheat pastry flour or whole wheat flour. I tried these all and I like the whole wheat pastry flour because it was little more airy than the regular ww flour and that's important if you don't want your end product too dense. I also noticed these flours are harder to work with then white flour. Great, because I kinda don't like working with dough only because I always have some problem and I end up getting frustrated and need a drink.

3 cups of ww pastry flour, 1 T honey, 1 1/4 cups of warm water, a packet of dry yeast, 1/2 t of olive oil, and 2 t of garlic salt. In a bowl, mix the water, honey and yeast. Let that sit for like 20 mins. In another bowl mix flour, salt and add it to the water mix. It should be sticky. Next, take the dough and knead it for 5 mins. Once kneaded, take an oiled bowl and shape the dough into a ball and put it in the bowl and cover with a damp towel for an hour. After an hour has past, take the dough out of the bowl, knead it and form into a pizza. If you have a pizza stone, place in the stone in the oven at 400 for 5 mins. Oh don't forget to brush oil on the crust so it doesn't burn.

Pizza sauce: in a blender I put a can of whole peeled plum tomatoes (don't use all the juice in the can save it until you need to add some, also very important read ingredients no salt and no sugar), lots of fresh basil, onion and garlic (to your liking) and a little salt.

Toppings: I went to Aldi's because they have fresh cheese and cheap prices and it's just the right amount for pizza night. I got a ball of fresh moz for 2.69 and goat cheese for 1.99. You can't beat that!!!




For the love of salads

Salads are so much fun to make, the possibilities are endless. Dressings are fun too. You can mix any fresh citrus juice or any vinegar with EV olive oil and add any herbs or spices you like. If you want it creamy you can add some NF Greek yogurt and of course a little salt and lots of course black pepper. If you want a more filling salad you can add a protein like grilled chicken breast is good or grilled fish or hard boiled egg whites or even beans if you are vegan. Didn't I tell you the possibilities are endless!!

This is my salad for lunch, grilled chicken salad with creamy honey Dijon dressing. Absolutely delicious and absolutely clean. When you grill chicken or anything for that matter use a cast iron pan. First turn the burner on high and heat the pan. It's ready when you see smoke coming from the pan. Not a minute before. While you wait, coat chicken with a little oil and (use thin pieces of chicken not a whole chicken breast) sprinkle with some sea salt and pepper if you like. Once the pan is HOT, put the chicken in the pan and press down all over then let it cook for a few minutes, until you see that it's cooking then flip and do the same to the other side. When done, take the chicken out and put on a plate to let it sit (this make it get juicy) and then slice the chicken and place on top of your salad or whatever you like.
 
 
 
 
I made a delicious taco salad using my leftovers from taco night. First, I washed the Boston lettuce in a bowl of water and white vinegar. Do not soak just submerge and clean the leaves in the water mixture and then shake off the excess water and place on a towel to dry. Cut tomato and radish. Cut the lettuce. I mixed everything up in a large salad bowl and added my leftover salsa, a little olive oil, more lime if you like, a little pepper and sea salt. Mixed that up. Put in bowls and top with leftover shredded taco chicken, hot sauce and a little cheese (I used Kerrygold, cheese from Ireland made from grass fed cows and absolutely DELICIOUS). You can add a dollop of NF plain Greek yogurt. Enjoy!
 

I just got back from an intense workout and I needed something good with lots of protein so I made a tuna fish salad. I used 5 large Romaine lettuce leaves, half of tomato chopped, 2 Tbsp of sliced onion (I preferred red but I was out), 1 medium radish sliced. I tossed all the veggies in a large bowl. In a smaller bowl, I whisked 2 parts spicy brown Kosciusko mustard (read ingredients of your mustard; this one has white distilled vinegar, #1 Grade mustard seed, water, salt, spices) and 1 part honey. Whisk in some extra virgin olive oil. Pour this over the veggies and toss and put into a bowl. Top with half can of tuna (read ingredients) and the whites of 3 hard boiled eggs. I sprinkled course black pepper over the whole bowl and had a frosty glass of iced green tea with lemon wedge. You can also dollop some NF plain Greek yogurt. Delicious. Hope you try this recipe.




















Kale chicken ceasar salad. Steam kale with lemon juice for 5 minutes and put in an ice bath and dry. Boil chicken with salt, pepper and garlic clove. Shred chicken and toss with kale, minced shallot. Mix clean ceasar salad dressing together (recipe coming soon) and toss. This kale salad was surprising filling with a cheesy muffin on the side for dinner. Perfect summer dinner meal.






Thursday, June 13, 2013

Simple Dinners




This is what my typical weekly dinner looks like. Mostly veggies on my plate, some protein and some grains. This brown wild rice is so delicious. I picked this up at Nature's Pantry they have it in bulk. These are great meals to eat when you want to lose weight and build some muscle. For exercise, I have been doing Jillian Michael's 30 day Shred level 3. She is great if you haven't done one of her workouts you must try it you will see results. Someone told me about her workouts back in January so I gave it a try. I try to do this 6 times a week if not I'll alternate with some kundalini yoga to give my body a break from the weights if I feel some pain. I do this along with hiking trails on nice days. It's been kind of rainy here for a few.

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

To cheat or not to cheat. Cheat Meals.

 
 
So once a week or so I have a cheat meal but I am not sure if I can call it a cheat meal because it's not outside food and fresh ingredients are still being used so maybe my eggplant was fried in olive oil instead of baked and I used Parmesan cheese but it was a fresh wedge cheese that was grated over my plate. Yes, those are beef meatballs, but it was 90/10 and no eggs or bread crumbs were involved in the making of these meatballs (it's top secret). Yes, that's pasta but it's gluten free rice noodles because I already had wheat (WW flour for the breading on the eggplant) on my plate. And yes, I ate this whole plate of food and did not feel lazy and tired after BECAUSE it was clean!!! Mostly veggies on my plate. This clean Italian meal was prepared by my PIC and a great and talented chef. And yes, I had some red wine with my meal. So really, the only things unclean about this meal to make it a "cheat meal" for me was the red wine and the cheese. I could never get something this good and healthy anywhere else and we have tried many restaurants in the Dutchess County area, and with the exception of like 3 places, we usually leave the eateries feeling unsatisfied. Are we the only ones feeling this way?

No-bake cookies and childhood memories

I have always enjoyed being in the kitchen since as long as I remember. My grandmother would come over to take care of me while my parents were at work and I would hang out with her in the kitchen. Sitting on the floor watching her cook soup, one of her specialties. When I was a little older I would stand on a step tool and watch standing on my tippy toes because I could barely see over the counter. I learned a lot about cooking at a very young age watching pros like my grandmother and my grandfather (who was a chef for many years in Manhattan). They both enjoyed cooking and I picked that up from them, the love of cooking because it is definitely something you need to love in order to do it well. 
 
As I got a little older, I was allowed to bake things; cookies, cakes, my mother had a cook book that I loved looking at especially the cake and candy section. But before I started being allowed to use the oven, we made no-bake cookies. There was this recipe we had circling around I'm not sure who found it, my mom, cousin or aunt or a mother from school but it was for no-bake cookies. I believe the recipe had, oats, peanut butter, honey and dry milk. When my cousins would come over, I didn't have sisters only brothers so when we had sleepovers it was fun, we would make these cookies. The cookies were so good and I made these until I was so tired of them.... until now. The new and improved no-bake cookies. These really need an original name. Hmmmm 
 

 This is a different version. Instead of oats I used almond flour, and I added ground flax and cocoa powder. Then mix.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

It is important to mix al the dry ingredients first and then the wet and then mix together so the all the ingredients are well incorporated. Some recipes just tell you to throw all the ingredients in at once. No. Mix them separately then combine them.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Here is the honey and natural peanut butter (only ingredients should be peanuts and nothing less FYI hydrogenated oils are VERY bad and some brands have this so stay away. Read here about hydrogenated oils. Oh look I didn't pre-mix the honey and pb before adding to the wet ingredients.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

This is what it looks like after it's all mixed. Now, just roll into balls and place on a wax paper lined pan and place in the frig or freezer if can't wait.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
You can make truffles out of them by rolling them in toasted coconut, fresh ground coffee beans, cocoa powder anything that is clean. These were absolutely delicious and I cannot wait to make more!

Monday, June 10, 2013

Midnight madness

Who likes late night food shopping? I do! There's no lines and no one getting in my way. You have the place almost to yourself. So, we found a lot of great deals on veggies at Shop Rite. Fresh greens from a farm in NJ for .99/lb You can eat healthy and not break the bank by shopping smart. I should have taken a picture of my findings last night but I came home with 3 bags full of produce for only $35! Aldi's also has a lot of cheap healthy items. If you must buy almond milk from the store they always have it for 2.50, they also have non fat Greek yogurt. I get my proteins in bulk so that I can portion it out and freeze. I buy almonds in bulk because that can get pricy if you are buying little bags of almonds from the store on a weekly basis. Same goes for my maple, honey and agave, all bought in bulk. It's cheaper and it's annoying to have to go to the store all the time. You should be buying produce weekly. Last week, we stocked up on grains and things from my new favorite store, Nature's Pantry. If you haven't shopped there you should check it out. It's your typical whole foods store and they have reasonable prices and everything you need. The staff is friendly but the customers are not. I love that you can buy stuff in bulk there. I tried some of their healthy treats but honestly mine tasted better.

And speaking of treats, I made some delicious no-bake cookies using a recipe that my cousins and I used to make when we were kids but I just cleaned it up a bit. They were DELCIOUS and did not last. These were definitely a treat AND it was clean and healthy. Of course, I will post pics here for you guys to see.

Sunday, June 9, 2013

Waffles for breakfast? Sure.


After many tries at making protein pancakes and waffles, these turned out really good. They tasted like cake and then I poured some maple syrup on them... WOW it was hard to believe these were good for me. I found this recipe online but I changed a few things around. One was using almond flour (that I made the other day) instead of oat flour just because it's fun to experiment and see how things turn out. I also used one whole egg instead of using a bunch of egg whites which is fine but today I was experimenting. Also in these waffles are almond milk, coconut oil, vanilla protein powder and vanilla extract. They take a little longer in the waffle maker because they break apart easily so it's better to leave it in there longer. At one point, I thought I was burning them but no they actually needed more time.

Last night's tacos mmmmmmmm

 
Well, I managed to take some pictures of the tacos before they were all eaten and these were good. And, I was getting better at flattening these tortillas out! I have to practice more on the shape but there were some circles in the pile.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


It's really easy to make your own salsa, not to mention it's tastier. And honestly, once you tried it, you will never go back to store bought again no matter where you find it; health food store, organic, or anything, nothing will beat the taste of fresh made salsa. Nothing.



Saturday, June 8, 2013

Steak Tacos



My husband and I used to have these crazy taco nights, it was more like an event. Prepping dinner with some drinks and guests and then finally cooking dinner. Anyone who has had the pleasure of coming to one of our dinners knows you are in for a treat. So anyways, I haven't had tacos in a while. Tacos are a pretty clean food if you don't pile on sour cream and cheddar cheese (I was guilty of this) or use store bought taco seasoning. However, the shells are not clean so look for organic ones but read the ingredients. This is the reason I haven't had tacos in a while and I was starting to miss them. I was determined to make my own from scratch. I found a bag of masa harina and followed the directions on the bag for making tortillas.

 
Rolling out tortillas does take some skill though. This took me some time but they were sooooo delicious. I made my own taco seasoning (cumin, chili powder, garlic and onion powder, black and cayenne pepper, sea salt and some other top secret ingredients sorry I can't tell). I sprinkled some on my steak (today is steak I usually do chicken but I haven't had steak in a long time and I trimmed the fat off) and placed it in my slow cooker (my rice cooker that I just covered the hole on top with a piece of paper towel works great), added more seasoning and some water, then plugged it in to cook for a few hours. Since, I am using a rice  cooker instead of a slow cooker, I have to keep an eye on it and switch the setting occasionally from thigh to low or the bottom will burn.
 

 
So, there it is. Now, while I wait, I'll make the salsa and mix the masa harina. Tortilla dough needs to sit for an hour before it's rolled into balls and flattened. I am not using cheese today but if you do it's better to get a fresh cheddar cheese block not pre shredded because that has A LOT of extra nasty ingredients. I also replaced sour cream for non fat Greek yogurt. And hot sauce is always a good thing and a must! I will post pics when done if they don't go fast. lol 

Friday, June 7, 2013

Making Almond Milk and Flour

Ok so, I first started out buying almond milk from the store but that started to get $$$ AND not to mention all the added ingredients that the store bought milk has in it. So I searched youtube.com for almond milk making demos. Found many and it looked easy enough and I enjoy experimenting in the kitchen, so I gave it a try. But I had a back-up store bought milk in my frig just in case. It was so easy to do and tasted soooooooooooooo delicious and fresh! I never went back to store bought almond milk again. So, if you have the chance you should definitely try to make your own. 
 
 These almonds have been soaking over night in filtered water. Then were rinsed of the old water and put in the blender with fresh filtered water and a whole vanilla bean.
 
 
Blend, blend, blend!
 
 
 
 
Look how creamy it is and it smells so vanilla-y! Once all blended, it's time to strain.
 
 
 
 
 
 
Take the almond pulp and place on a cookie sheet and put in the oven at the lowest setting to dry out and make almond flour. Take dry pulp and grind in food processor. See how easy?