Saturday, April 18, 2015

Healthy Eating

Sorry for the long delay again. It's been a busy few weeks and I just haven't been able to get around to posting on the blog.  I also decided I wanted to focus the blog more on healthy eating meal plans so every few weeks I will be sharing my grocery list and day-by-day meal plan. I also want to each week feature one ingredient and share 3 ways to use that ingredient. For todays blog post I decided to discuss Buzzfeed's Clean Eating Challenge. My parents found the Buzzfeed article two weeks ago and started the 14 day challenge.  I didn't  follow the plan exactly, but  the plan has great recipes and is a good way to base correct portion sizes so I did an abridged version of the clean eating challenge that was less expensive and required less cooking time. For breakfast each day I had Trader Joe's small packs of Omega High Trek Mix and a cup of green tea, for lunch I had salads with nuts, cheese and leftover veggies from dinner,  I thought I would share my grocery list and  some of the dinner recipes I made during my version of the clean eating challenge.

Week 1:


















Prep:
To spend less time during week cooking I made the spaghetti squash on friday and on sunday I made  the ground turkey (recipe below).

Grocery List:
Spaghetti Squash
Trader Joe's Just Chicken Chucks
Ground Turkey
Iceberg Lettuce
Black Beans
Peanut Satay Sauce
Frozen broccoli
Edamame
Frozen peppers

Day 1: 
Chicken Lettuce Wraps
1 Serving

Ingredients:
1 Serving
1 tablespoon coconut  oil
¼ of average yellow onion, minced
½ cup pre-cooked chicken strips, cut into bite sized pieces
¼ cup frozen or fresh bell peppers
1 tablespoon edamame
1  tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
2 tablespoons peanut satay sauce
4 iceberg  lettuce leaves

Recipe:
1)Cut onion in half.  Mince half of the onion.  Cut ½ cup of chicken into bite sized pieces.
2)Heat 1 tablespoon of coconut oil into a medium sized sauté pan. 
3)Once oil is hot (you can test by putting a drop of water into the pan. If the pan sizzles it’s hot enough)
4) Add onion and sauté for a minute.
5) Add chicken and peppers. Once heated through, around 4 minutes add edamame and heat for 1 minute longer.
6) Take off heat. Add soy sauce, toasted sesame oil and peanut satay sauce. Mix thoroughly so that the chicken and vegetables are coated. 
7)Separate 4 lettuce leaves. Add chicken filling to center of each lettuce leave and wrap lettuce to cover the filling.

Day 2:
BBQ Chicken Salad
2 Servings

Ingredients:
2 Tablespoons coconut oil
1cup pre-cooked chicken strips cut into bite sized pieces
½ cup frozen or fresh bell peppers
¼ cup of BBQ Sauce
½ cup  black beans
1 cup iceberg lettuce.
1 tablespoon of shredded lite Mexican cheese or cheddar cheese

Recipe:
1. Heat 2 tablespoons of coconut oil. Once oil is hot add chicken and peppers. Heat the chicken and peppers around 6 minutes. 

2. Take the chicken and pepper mixture off the heat. Add ¼ cup of BBQ sauce and mix thoroughly.

3. Shred one cup of lettuce. Add ½ of the chicken and pepper mixture to lettuce. Top with ½ cup of black beans, cheese and  then mix everything together.

Note: I put the other half of the chicken mixture in a small container to bring for lunch the next day.  Add ½ cup of black beans to the container with chicken. Take a separate small container and put  1 cup of lettuce and 1 tablespoon of cheese. Into the container. Heat the chicken mixture in the microwave for a minute and a half. Once heated, add to the lettuce and cheese and mix .

Day 3: 
Spaghetti Squash Turkey Bolognese 
1 serving 

Ingredients:
1 package of ground turkey
½ of a yellow onion, minced 
1 tablespoon olive oil

Ground Turkey Recipe:
1    1)  Heat olive oil
2    2)Once pan is hot, add onion and turn stove to medium heat
3    3)Let onion cook for 1 minute and then add ground turkey
4    4) Cook turkey until browned, around 6-8 minutes

Spaghetti Squash with Turkey Bolognese Ingredients:

1/2 cup cooked ground turkey
½ of a yellow onion, minced
1 tablespoon olive oil
 1 cup spaghetti squash
¼ cup tomato sauce 
1 tablespoon of parmesan cheese

Semi-Homemade Spaghetti Squash with Turkey Bolognese
 1) Put 1 cup of spaghetti squash in a bowl
2) Put ½ cup of ground turkey in a separate bowl 
3) Microwave ground turkey for 1 ½ minutes 
4) Add ¼ of tomato sauce to bowl of ground turkey and microwave again for 30 seconds
5) Microwave spaghetti squash for 2 minutes 
6) Add parmesan cheese 

        Day 4: 
I     "Inside Out" Ground Turkey  Wraps
d      1 serving 

I       Ingredients:
        1/2 cup cooked ground turkey
  1/4 cup frozen or fresh bell peppers
  1/2 cup broccoli 
  1  tablespoon soy sauce
  1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil 
  2 tablespoons peanut satay sauce
  1 cup lettuce

        Recipe:
        1) Microwave ground turkey for 1 1/2 minutes
        2) Microwave broccoli and bell peppers for 1 1/2 minutes
        3) Mix soy sauce, toasted sesame oil and peanut satay sauce in a small bowl
        4)The lettuce wasn't cooperating to make lettuce wraps so I made "inside out" lettuce wraps so I             cleaned and ripped lettuce into bite sized pieces
        5) Put lettuce on a plate, add ground turkey, vegetables and then top with soy sauce mixture and  
        mix thoroughly.

       Friday (Day 5) I had turkey bolognese with spaghetti squash (see recipe above) and on Saturday  (Day 6) I went out to dinner with a friend and had matzah ball soup 

        Week 2:


     
       
















        Prep:
To prep for the week of meals I made the roasted chickpeas, roasted cauliflowers and roasted eggplant according to the buzzfeed recipe. I also made the kale according to the Buzzfeed recipe as well. Finally, I poached chicken to have for the week.

         Grocery List:
   Quinoa
   Carrots
   Lentils
   Cauliflower
   Kale
   Greek Yogurt
   Thinly sliced chicken breasts
   Hummus 
   Garbanzo beans
   Mango

         Day 7: 
         Roasted Eggplant with chickpeas, Cauliflower, and lemon-parsley yogurt 
        Recipe: Buzzfeed's Clean Eating Challenge 


        Day 8:
        Chicken, Kale and quinoa with mango and lemon-parsley yogurt 
        
        Ingredients:
        1/2 cup of cooked poached chicken
        1 cup of  steamed kale, (see buzzfeed for recipe)
        1/2 cup of quinoa
        3 slices of Mango
        Lemon-parsely yogurt (see recipe, according to Buzzfeed's Clean Eating Challenge)

       Recipe:
      1) Microwave cooked chicken for 1 1/2 minutes 
      2) Microwave kale for 1 minute
      3) Cook 1 bag of quinoa according to package directions
      4) Make lemon-parsley yogurt (look at Buzzfeed recipe) 
      5) add quinoa, kale, chicken and mango to a bowl. Top with lemon-parsley yogurt 

     Day 9:
     Lentils, Cauliflower and kale with teriyaki sauce
     1 Serving


        Ingredients:
        1/2 cup lentils
        1 cup of kale
        Leftover roasted cauliflower (from sunday's dinner)
        1/2 tablespoon of trader joe's soyaki sauce
        1/2 tablespoon of toasted sesame oil 

         Recipe:
        1) Microwave lentils according to package directions
        2) Microwave kale and cauliflower for 1 minute
        3) mix soyaki and sesame oil together in a small bowl
        4)  Add lentils, kale, and cauliflower into a bowl. Add soyaki sauce mixture and mix throughly 



     Day 10:
     Chicken, eggplant and lentils with vodka sauce over Quinoa
      1 Serving

      Ingredients: 
      1/2 cup of cooked poached chicken
      Leftover roasted eggplant (from sunday's dinner)
      1/2 of leftover roasted chickpeas (from sunday's dinner)  
      1/2 cup of quinoa 
      1/4 cup of vodka sauce 
      1 tablespoon of feta

       Recipe: 
       1) Microwave chicken for 1 minute
       2) Micowave eggplant and chickpeas for 1 minute
       3) Microwave quinoa for 1 1/2 minutes
       4)  Add chicken, vegetables and quinoa to a bowl. Add vodka sauce and feta and microwave for another 30 seconds 



     Day 11:
    Chicken, Eggplant, roasted chickpeas and quinoa with lemon-parsley yogurt 

     Ingredients:
     1/2 cup cooked poached chicken
     1/2 of leftover roasted chickpeas (from sunday's dinner) 
     1 cup of steamed kale 
     1 tablespoon of hummus
     Lemon-parsely yogurt (see recipe, according to Buzzfeed's Clean Eating Challenge)
    
     Recipe:
     1. Microwave chicken for 1 minute 
     2. Microwave chickpeas and steamed kale
     3. Microwave Quinoa according to directions 
     5. Mix Lemon-Parsley Yogurt in a small bowl
     6. Add quinoa, chicken and vegetables to bowl. 
     7. Top with hummus and Lemon-Parsley Yogurt and mix throughly. 


   Friday (Day 12) Trader Joe's Tempura Chicken with vegetable fried rice and broccoli and Saturday
   (Day 13) Quinoa burger, steamed kale and broccoli.