clean menu plan, week 2

Monday: dinner at Poppy & Mimi's house (my dad's)

Tuesday: beast meatloaf

Wednesday: crockpot orange chicken

Thursday: clean crockpot chili*

Friday: parmesan crusted tilapia with sauteed broccoli and carrots

Saturday: roasted summer vegetable pasta

Sunday: baked chicken & veggies*

{this week's recipes can be found at 100 Days of Real Food, Mummy Deals, & Committed to Getting Fit}

meals marked with * = my own recipe

Goal & Focus this week: Still sticking to eating clean! I also want to try to master whole wheat pancakes one morning this week- my husband has tried twice and failed both times so far. I'm determined to make some fluffy, clean pancakes! 

Favorite recipe from last week: 

Whole Wheat Pizza Pockets: 

This was my very first time making dough from scratch... and guys, they turned out absolutely delicious. Everyone in the family devoured them, my husband was raving, and I will definitely be making these again. Next time I'll add veggies... we were all out of peppers and spinach that night. One downside to living out in the country is not being able to run to the store whenever you need something. Find the original recipe over at 100 Days of Real Food. 

that time I baked a breakfast

Anyone who knows me knows that I am NOT a baker. In fact, I had never in my life baked a single muffin or loaf of bread... until today. Don't ask me why, but when I woke up this morning, I felt like baking. So I pulled out my never-been-used muffin pan and starting baking up some muffins for breakfast. With my boys' help, of course ;) Nothing goes into the oven in this household without a little toddler knowing about it.

INGREDIENTS: 

• 1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 1/4 cups oats
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 cup applesauce (all natural & unsweetened)
• 1/2 cup greek yogurt (I think they probably meant plain, but I just used what I had on hand which was Stonyfield Organic superfruit. I'm pretty sure any flavor would work)
• 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 2 tbsp canola oil (I used EVOO)
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 3/4 cup blueberries

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 375 F
2. Spray a 12 cup muffin tin with non-stick cooking spray (or use paper liners)
3. In a large bowl combine the flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. In a medium bowl combine applesauce, yogurt, brown sugar, canola oil and egg.
4. Mix dry ingredients well and then add the applesauce mixture. Stir until just moist. Fold in blueberries. Divide the batter between the 12 muffin cups, filling to about full. (note: the original recipe said to fill them 2/3 full... but I had leftover batter and my muffins ended up pretty flat. I recommend just filling them up all the way if you can)
5. Bake for 16-18 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean.

(Original recipe here) 

The boys were extraordinary little bakers. They were happy to help me stir, and they probably would've dumped all the ingredients into the bowl for me if I didn't feel like measuring. They both insisted on waited patiently for the muffins to be finished (with their oven mitts on, even though they know I would never let them touch the oven). They didn't step foot out of the kitchen until the muffins were all stacked on a plate and ready to eat.

These muffins were a HIT in our house. If you're craving something slightly sweet and feeling like falling off the clean eating bandwagon, these just might do the trick. They may not have been the prettiest muffins in the world (hey, it was my first try!) but Elliot and Emmett each ate two, and I lost count of how many Aaron munched on throughout the day. I liked them, too! Next time I think I will try making them with strawberries instead. Strawberries are my boys' favorite fruit so I'm pretty sure their minds would be blown by some delicious strawberry muffins.

What are your thoughts on brown sugar? 
It seems that the clean-eating world can't agree on whether or not they consider it clean. To be honest, it doesn't really matter to me... if the rest of a recipe is clean, I won't feel guilty about adding in a little sugar. I'd love to know what YOU think, though!

eating clean: you have to start somewhere

Yes, you read correctly yesterday, this little family is going to be eating clean from here on out. Honestly, we've been working on eliminating processed foods and eating healthier for months and months now, and I think we were doing okay, especially during main meals. My boys are far more adventurous with food than most toddlers, and they have always absolutely LOVED their fruits and veggies. But when it comes to snack time... well, they love goldfish, graham crackers, and pretzels as much as every other kid. And don't even get me started on the fruit snacks... they would  probably eat an entire box in one sitting, if I let them.

Have you ever actually looked at the ingredients that go into most of the most popular toddler snacks? Sometimes I've never even of the ingredients before and I'm not even sure how to pronounce them, and that's never a good sign. Trans fats, refined grains, high fructose corn syrup, artificial flavors and colors, waxes, MSG in all kinds of tricky disguises... the list just goes on and on. I used to kind of overlook those minor details and fill my cart with processed snacks because "I always cooked a healthy dinner." Well, while a healthy dinner is better than nothing, what about all those brain-cell killing, metabolism slowing, cholesterol rising ingredients in the foods that they munch on all day long?

I'm finally putting my foot down. Spring is here, a new month starts tomorrow... I figured it was as good a time as any to finally ditch all the gross processed foods and replace them with only clean food. So, what exactly is clean food? 

Clean food is essentially real food free of preservatives, white refined flour/sugar, trans fat, or saturated fat. It is not processed or chemically modified. Chances are, if it's pre-packaged, contains more than five ingredients or any ingredients you can't spell or pronounce, it's not clean. 

Yesterday, I planned out all my clean meals for the week. Then, armed with my shopping list, I went to the grocery store. You'd be AMAZED at the sheer amount of fake food at the big box stores. You're generally pretty safe in the produce section, but the rest of the aisles are just full of processed foods. Unfortunately, we don't have any large local natural grocers. We do have one small natural market, but it was closed yesterday. I managed to find everything on my list at our local Meijer store, though. It just took some serious hunting (and help from friendly sales associates). 

When it comes to clean eating, Michael Pollan is a revolutionary. He has written numerous books and makes a compelling argument for eating clean- and he even simplifies the process! He is full of all sorts of witty but true quotations such as:

• "don't eat cereal that changes the color of the milk"
• "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants." 
• "Whenever you see the words low fat, reduced fat, or fat free, think chemical crap fest." 

He also has a pretty easy to follow list of rules for grocery shopping: 

I mean, that's not too difficult, right? I managed to do it all by myself yesterday (cue clapping). I could probably even do it with two hungry, hyper toddlers in tow, too ;) I want to order a bunch of Michael Pollan's books to read. I mean, he's basically a genius... a honest, real, hilarious genius. To get the whole list, visit his website.

Some other resources I've found to be really helpful are:
100 Days of Real Food
The Gracious Pantry
Clean Eating Magazine
Clean Eating Chelsey
He and She Eat Clean

We're eating clean for April (and beyond!) Care to join me? 
Tomorrow I'll be posting lists of clean toddler breakfasts, lunches, and snacks.

CLEAN weekly menu plan

Monday: crockpot whole chicken
Tuesday: homemade chicken noodle soup
Wednesday: slow cooker apricot salsa chicken
Thursday: baked turkey burgers
Friday: baked tilapia with homemade mashed potatoes & veggies*
Saturday: whole wheat pizza pockets
Sunday: chicken & veggie bake

{this week's recipes can be found at The Gracious Pantry & 100 Days of Real Food}
meals marked with * = my own recipe

Goal & Focus this week: eating CLEAN... which really just means eating nothing but real food. I'll blog more about it tomorrow- but yes, even the toddlers are going to be eating clean. :)

Healthy Tips: one key to staying on track (and under budget!) at the grocery store is having a well organized list that you stick to. I've been using this free printable grocery shopping list for months now, and I love it! Get it here.

weekly menu plan + a recipe

Monday: turkey tacos*
Tuesday: squash, zucchini, & broccoli stir fry* (vegetarian)
Wednesday: chicken salads*
Thursday: spinach & artichoke grilled cheese (vegetarian)
Friday: black bean, corn, & rice burritos w/ avocado cream sauce (vegetarian)
Saturday: baked chicken & spinach flautas
Sunday: smoked mozzarella and asparagus pizza (vegetarian)
{this week's recipes found at Healthy Delicious}
* = my own recipe

Goal & Focus this week: cheap meals, using things we already have in our pantry

Favorite meal from last week: skinny superfood soup. This soup is full of good vitamins and nutrients and was hearty and filling. We all loved it! It made a lot- enough for everyone to have a large bowl (and seconds) plus we had a ton of leftovers.

Ingredients:
2 cups sliced carrots
2 medium sweet potatoes, cut into 1/2" cubes
1 cup frozen green beans
2 (15 oz) cans black beans, drained and rinsed
1 small onion, diced
1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
2 cups vegetable juice (I used one can of V8)
2 cups vegetable broth
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
dash of black pepper
some cumin & chili powder

Instructions:
- combine all ingredients in the slow cooker, cover and cook on low 6-8 hours or until veggies are tender. That's it! Easy peasy!

Note: this is supposed to be a Sunday post, buuuut Emmett has been sick for 12 days now with a persistent fever (anywhere from 100-104.5) and horrible diarrhea, so I haven't been able to blog much. We've managed to keep the fever down with meds but it comes back as soon as they wear off. Last night was the first good night's sleep I've gotten in two weeks (he only woke up once!). I've been exhausted! Let's hope and pray that's a sign he's finally on the mend!

weekly menu plan

Monday: chilaquiles casserole (vegetarian)
Tuesday: asian chicken lettuce wraps
Wednesday: pizza margherita, with thin whole wheat crust (vegetarian)
Thursday: sauteed broccoli & cauliflower over rice* (vegetarian)
Friday: skinny savory superfood soup (vegetarian)
Saturday: garlic cauliflower "mashed potatoes" & steamed veggies (vegetarian)
Sunday: chicken burrito bowls with avocado cream sauce
{this weeks' recipes found at 365 Days of Crockpot & Disney Family & skinny ms}
meals marked with * = my own recipe

Goal & Focus this week: slowcooker meals & only two non-vegetarian meals

weekly menu plan + a recipe

I meant to post yesterday, but our household got hit with a serious 24 hour stomach bug. We're talking about the kind of bug where you can't even keep water down and spend hours laying on the bathroom floor by the toilet. It started with Emmett on Thursday, then hit me Friday night, and hit my husband yesterday evening. Sooo... the only one left is Elliot. Oh, poor Elliot. We've never experienced a toddler vomit around here... and I'm really hoping to just skip over that lovely horrendous milestone completely, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed. You never know, right? Maybe the kid has the immune system of a superhero... after all, he was a miracle baby. Heh. One can hope.

Well, as I got ready to post this salsa recipe, I was thinking, wouldn't it be kinda neat to post our whole meal plan? I mean, not only does it hold us accountable, but it could also give all you lovely readers some new ideas! So, that's how we came to a new Sunday feature here at my blog. From now on (I hope) every Sunday, I'll be posting our meal plan for the upcoming week, along with pictures and comments about last week's meals. My facebook friends are always asking where I get my recipes so- I think they'll be quite happy about this. :)

Monday: basil lime chicken

Tuesday: skinny slowcooker savory superfood soup (vegetarian)

Wednesday: spinach & bean burrito wraps (vegetarian)

Thursday: squash & zucchini stir fry* (vegetarian)

Friday: asian chicken salads* 

Saturday: southwestern black bean casserole (vegetarian)

Sunday: basil artichoke chicken bake

{this week's recipes can be found at skinny ms & my kitchen escapades}

meals marked with * = my own recipe

Goal & Focus this week: at least 3 vegetarian meals, black beans

Favorite meal from last week: black bean & corn salsa. I made this for lunch on Friday- the day that I got sick. But nevermind that, it was delicious!

Ingredients:

1 can of black beans

1 can of corn

2 cans of Rotel

1 medium chopped onion

freshly chopped cilantro

a dash of lime juice or one squeezed lime

Instructions:

- open can of black beans, place in strainer and rinse, dump in bowl

- open can of corn, strain excess water, then dump in bowl with beans
- open cans of rotel and add to beans and corn
- chop onions and cilantro, add to bowl. Notice how I didn't give a measurement for the cilantro? I LOVE cilantro- it gives the salsa such an invigorating, fresh taste. So I used a lot. The original recipe called for 3 tbsp- you can add as little or much as you want

- add lime juice to your taste

- LASTLY: once it's all mixed together, cover and chill in fridge for at least a couple hours before eating. This allows the flavors to meld and makes it that much more delicious.

- enjoy :)

{original recipe from spark recipes}

Google Friend Connect disappears July 1st, so let's find eachother on BlogLovin'! 

fab friday

What's fab in our lives lately: 
Welcoming new babies into the world: I was lucky enough to be chosen as my friend Nicki (from Mostly Average) to be her birth coach and also to photograph her labor and delivery. Now, playing both of those roles at once was a little tricky, so I didn't get any pictures of the birth itself. But I still managed to capture many other wonderful moments. To see more, visit Patton Jakob's birth on my facebook page.

Our diet is still going strong:  We've been dieting now for about a week and a half, and I'm happy to report that Aaron has lost 5 pounds, and I've lost 3. More importantly, I have so much more energy and enthusiasm! It just feels so great to be eating healthy again. And I've been cooking up all sorts of delicious dinners. On the menu this week? Chicken & wild rice casserole, skinny savory superfood soup, spinach & black bean burrito wraps, baked basil lime chicken, baked tilapia with peppers, skinny southwestern black bean casserole, and an asian chicken salad. For lunch today, I made a black bean & corn salsa, which I'll be blogging about tomorrow. (So check back!)

Our puppy, waiting for us in Costa Rica: Emily's dog gave birth to a litter of 6 puppies on either May 5th or May 6th (which also happens to be both Emmett's and her son's birthday). Unfortunately, stray dogs and accidental litters are common in Costa Rica. One of the things we hope to do there is to catch and spay/neuter as many street dogs as we can. Emily has already lined up families for most of the puppies, who will be spayed/neutered before they go to their new homes. Mama will be spayed soon, too. She is being kind enough to care for one of the puppies for us until we arrive. We picked #5, the black and white male. We want to give him a spanish name, but for now, we're calling him Cinco- not only was he the fifth pup in this picture, but he also may have been born on Cinco de Mayo, so it seems to fit. We had to rehome our beloved cat Charlie and our husky mix Luna before moving to our current apartment last summer, and we are VERY excited to have a dog around the house again. The boys both absolutely love animals and Elliot is fantastically well behaved with our friends' dogs. The added fact that Cinco will have grown up in a family with two young children before coming home makes me very happy.

Rubber duckies & rain: It doesn't rain here very often, so when it does, we get a little excited. It makes things green(er) for a little while- and by a little while, I mean a few days. There really isn't any nice green grass in this area of Texas, just prickly crab grass and weeds that hurt your feet if you try to walk barefoot... and soon even the crab grass will dry out. (Another great thing I'm looking forward to about Costa Rica- lush green vegetation!) It's raining today, and before it started raining, they pumped all the water out of one of apartment complex's pools so they could renovate, so Elliot took full advantage by taking his rubber duckies (his latest obsession) outside to play in the flooded playhouse and sandbox. It was sort of like a redneck water park. 

Google Reader/Friend Connect is going away on July 1st, let's find eachother on BlogLovin!