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

S 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.