Showing posts with label chicken. Show all posts
Showing posts with label chicken. Show all posts

Saturday, September 13, 2014

Clean Eating Shopping List


So what's in my clean eating kitchen??? I have had numerous people ask me to go grocery shopping with them and some people have even asked me to go for them to pick up eat eating meals. I get asked all of the time, what the things are that I consistently buy. I have some staples that I keep in my kitchen for sure. Having staples on hand all of the time help to stay on track when temptations arise!

So what are my staples??

~Chicken, whether it be ground or breast, I make sure to ALWAYS have it in the freezer
~Lentils, yes lentils. Makes for a quick and easy, AND healthy salad for work lunches, or in place of ground chicken in chili or pasta sauce. Green are my favorite.
~Spinach, for salads and to puree and freeze for shakes
~We go through A LOT of berries in our house, raspberries, strawberries, blueberries and blackberries
~Grape tomatoes
~Oats
~Peanut butter
~Almond milk
~Greek yogurt
~Apples
~Almonds
~Peppers
~Honey
~Frozen veggies
~Sweet potatoes
~Bananas
~Ground flax seed


So what foods should you pair together? It's pretty simple really. Take a lean protein and pair with a complex carb every 3 hours to keep your metabolism high and your blood sugars stable.







It seems high maintenance initially and some even find it to be intimidating. But with some meal planning and prepping and a little knowledge, clean eating is quite easy!




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Sunday, August 31, 2014

Clean Eating Prep Meets Slow Cooker Freezer Bags!

Sunday meal prep! As much as I dread the thoughts of going back to work after a wonderfully relaxing weekend, I absolutely love prepping my food for the week! I usually do up a meal plan and for the most part, just actually prep my lunches and snacks for work, but have a clear plan as to what supper meals will be.

For the most part, when Hubs is away, leaving work, picking up our daughter, and trying to get on the other side of the city enroute to home with a plan to cook isn't always appealing. Sometimes it leaves my daughter and I in a lets have eggs type of mood, just because supper's now going to be late!

I've been looking through Pinterest here and there looking for clean eating meals that I can prep and freeze. A lot of the freezer recipes that I've seen have had bottled sweet and sour sauce, or bottled teriyaki sauce, etc. I believe in living the 80/20 rule. Clean eating at least 80% of the time. But I'd much prefer to stay away from the high sugar sauces.

Today however, I found and even prepared some of my own clean eating freezer meals for the slow cooker! (Hear the harps playing?) I mean, the Holy Grail of meal prep!

Super productive day! I prepped 4 freezer meals and 2 meals of chicken balls.

Slow Cooker Clean Eating Honey Sesame Chicken

Slow Cooker Clean Eating Chicken Taco Chili

Slow Cooker Clean Eating Lentil Sweet Potato Soup

Slow Cooker Clean Eating Santa Fe Chicken

Clean Eating Spinach and Feta Chicken Balls





Clean Eating Spinach and Feta Chicken Balls

Ingredients:

  • 1 pound ground chicken
  • 1 Tbsp chopped parsley
  • 3 Tbsp finely chopped spinach
  • ¾ tsp garlic powder
  • ½ tsp salt
  • ¼ tsp black pepper
  • 1 tsp paprika
  • ¾ tsp fennel seeds
  • ¼ cup feta cheese crumbles

Instructions:
 
Bake for 1 hour on 350F

Slow Cooker Clean Eating Santa Fe Chicken

Ingredients:

Freeze:

1 1/2 lb chicken, 8 oz frozen corn, 1 tsp garlic powder, 1 tsp. onion powder, 1 tsp cumin, 1 t salt and pepper, 3 green onions chopped

Add:

1 can 14.4 oz diced tomatoes with mild green chiles, 1 15 oz. can black beans, 1 box chicken broth

Cook:

 Put all contents in slow cooker and place chicken breasts on top- season with salt. Cook on low for 10 hours or on high for 6 hours. Half hour before serving, remove chicken and shred. Return chicken to slow cooker and stir in.

Slow Cooker Chicken Taco Chili

Ingredients:

Freeze:

1 onion chopped, 10 oz. frozen corn kernels, 1 taco seasoning packet, 1 T cumin, 1 T chili powder, 3-4 chicken breasts

Add:

1 can black beans, 1 can kidney beans, 1 8 oz. can tomato sauce, 2 cans diced tomatoes with chilies


Cook:

Put all contents in slow cooker and place chicken breasts on top. Cook on low for 10 hours or on high for 6 hours. Half hour before serving, remove chicken and shred. Return chicken to slow cooker and stir in.

Slow Cooker Clean Eating Honey Sesame Chicken

Ingredients:

Freeze:


3-4 chicken breasts;  In a small separate bag: combine 1/2 cup honey, 2 Tbsp low sodium soy sauce, 1/2 onion, diced, 2 1/2 Tbsp organic ketchup, 1 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil, sprinkle of garlic powder, 

Cook:

Put chicken into crock pot.  Pour contents of small bag over chicken.  Cook on low for 3-4 hours or on high 1 1/2 – 2 1/2 hours, or just until chicken is cooked through.

Add:

green beans in last 30 minutes.
Remove chicken from crock pot, leave sauce. Whisk 2 T cornstarch into liquid in the crock pot.

Replace lid and cook sauce on high for ten more minutes or until slightly thickened.
Shred chicken or cut into bite size pieces, then return to pot and toss with sauce. Serve chicken over rice, garnish with  1 T sesame seeds

Sunday, August 24, 2014

Clean Eating Meal Plan

I have no idea how disorganized in this busy life I would be without meal planning and prepping. It gives me comfort knowing that there's not a huge amount of time and energy that has to go into supper when I get home from work.

Here's my plan for this week! If you would like any of the recipes that may not be on the blog, feel free to leave me a message!

Happy planning!

Clean Eating Chicken Stroganoff!...Finally!!!

I LOVE chicken stroganoff!! It used to be one of our staples before clean eating. I have been searching for a recipe that would be easy to "clean" up but wouldn't be lacking in taste. It's been hard to find something that has been compliant with my lifestyle that I liked the taste of....until, NOW!!!

The holy grail of clean eating chicken stroganoff!!!! In my opinion anyway. And the best part....no sour cream, no milk, no condensed soups (yuck!), just simple, clean ingredients. But how does it get it's creamy goodness in the sauce? Cashews!!! Yep, that's right, soaked and then pureed raw cashews!

I was a little scared that it may have a slight nutty flavour, but not at all. To be honest, it kinda tasted like roast chicken chips hahaha. Sounds ridiculous I know, but what an unbelievable flavour! It will definitely be a staple in our house.

Clean Eating Chicken Stroganoff

*Fresh Mushrooms
*Onion, chopped
*Chicken breast, chopped
*garlic powder, dash
*cooking spray
*3 cups chicken broth
*1 cup raw cashews
*1/2 cup water
*dash of ground thyme
*1 tsp dried rosemary
*1 tsp dried oregano

1.Place cashews and half a cup of water in a blender or food processor and leave to soak.
2. Spray large pot with cooking spray, cook chicken, sauté the mushrooms, onion and garlic powder
3.Reduce heat to medium low and add chicken broth. Cover and allow to simmer for 30 minutes.
4.Blend cashews until smooth and creamy.
5.Add the cashew cream and herbs to the pot, stirring well to combine. Allow to simmer for another 20 minutes. If the stew looks too thick, add a little water

I put on a bed of brown rice noodles and paired it with steamed broccoli. Hope that you enjoy!