Tag: cleaneating

Breakfast: 4 egg whites, diced russet potatoes

Lunch: Nachos

Dinner: Chicken breast, broccoli, potato slices

I like to mix my eggs whites with some (compliant) almond milk and spinach, cook, then top with salsa, hemp hearts, and Franks hot sauce.

Nachos. Are. Awesome. They are so easy to make and so satisfying! I sliced potatoes on the medium setting on my mandoline slicer, brushed on both sides with melted coconut oil and dusted with salt and pepper. Into a 400 degree oven for about 20 minutes (flip halfway) and they come out crisp and delicious! While those are cooking, I browned ground beef and seasoned like tacos (I make my own seasoning). When everything is finished cooking, layer chips-beef-salsa-avocado (garlic powder, s&p, crushed red pepper)-jalapeños-hot sauce. My mouth is watering.

I seasoned the chicken breast with Tuscan seasoning and cooked in a cast iron skillet. Potatoes sliced into thicker rounds, brushed with coconut oil (I do this with a lot of foods), add pepper and garlic salt, and bake in oven 400 degrees for about 20 minutes, flip halfway. These come out soft and are a definite repeat food.

In the beginning, there were a lot of potatoes in my meals. Potatoes don’t work for everyone and can cause tummy issues, so pay attention to how you feel when you have them and cut them out if you think they might be causing a problem.

Breakfast: breakfast casserole

Lunch: Pizza Spaghetti Pie

Dinner: Butternut noodles + beef

I used this recipe for the breakfast casserole, but used ground beef, and cubed the sweet potato instead of sliced. The yolk of the egg usually gives me stomach aches (and I did have one later this day) so I avoid them when I can, but since I was making this for my family I used the whole egg. So easy to put together and can be made the night before so you can have it on rushed mornings too.

Lunch was leftovers, I can eat this warm or cold and it’s awesome both ways. You can make this with different add-ins every time and you probably wouldn’t ever get tired of eating it.

I was excited to find these butternut spirals on super sale because cutting squash, although worth it, is sometimes difficult and always scary. I cooked a pound of ground beef in a cast iron skillet and added onion, fresh garlic, salt and pepper. Once meat was browned I added the noodles and a can of fire roasted tomatoes and covered the pan with a lid to help the noodles soften. After a couple minutes, I added this Tuscan seasoning then covered and cooked for a few more minutes, until the squash was soft enough. I added Frank’s Red Hot to mine, as with every dish ever.

Breakfast: Egg whites + diced potatoes

Lunch: Butternut noodles + beef (leftover)

Dinner: Cottage Pie

Egg whites are a regular breakfast for me, ready in minutes and have a ton a protein to keep me full, especially with hemp hearts on top. If I had busy mornings, I would put the eggs and veggies, etc. together in a mason jar at night so I could just throw it all into a pan in the morning and it would be ready even faster.

The butternut noodles + beef lasted so many days and were just amazing as the first. If you work and have to meal prep on Sunday (or whatever day), that can be your lunch for the week!

Cottage Pie is just like Shepherds Pie, but using beef instead of lamb. I have been making this for a long time so I don’t use a recipe anymore, but you can find a similar one here. The only vegetables I used were carrots and celery, and the spices I used were a little different; you can season how you like. I also didn’t use yeast, I believe in the recipe I linked it is used as a thickener, but I don’t find that to be necessary. Mashed potatoes layered on top of meat and vegetables, then baked in the oven until golden. Comfort food is the only way to go in Winter and this is everything I wanted and needed.

-egg whites-

Breakfast: Sweet potato bowl (leftover)

Lunch: Butternut noodles & beef (leftover)

Dinner: Burger, potatoes, mixed vegetables

Breakfast and lunch were super easy since the sweet potatoes were already cooked from prep earlier in the week, and the noodles and beef were leftovers. I can’t emphasize enough the importance of meal prepping. You can prep once a week, twice, or every night before bed if that’s what works for you. Try out one way, if that doesn’t work then try something else. It’s about finding what works for you and your family!

This dinner is a favorite of mine. I season the ground beef with a few different spices, whatever I’m feeling that day and cook on the grill or a cast iron grill pan. The potatoes can also be grilled or put in the oven (400) by brushing with coconut oil, seasoning, and put on aluminum foil or baking sheet for 20ish minutes. I used the potato slices as a bun for my burger and it was pretty amazing, no need for bread! I also added a grilled pineapple slice and a few jalapeños on top, a combination I’ve been obsessed with ever since a friend suggested it as a pizza topping. I knew the pineapple would taste good on top of the beef because of a burger I had at the restaurant Tortuga’s Lie while on vacation in the Outer Banks.

I make mixed vegetables a couple different ways. The easiest, and how I made them this day- a frozen bag from the freezer in the microwave for 4 minutes. Obviously the go to when I’m pressed for time. The other way, when I have the time, is to chop fresh vegetables of choice (broccoli and carrots are my usual), drizzle with coconut oil, season, roast at 400 for 20 minutes. If you make the potatoes in the oven, you can stick everything in together and it will be done in about the same amount of time!

Breakfast: Steak, eggs, potato slices

Lunch: Apple, banana, larabar

Dinner: Pork roast, potatoes

Steak & eggs just sounds like a massive meal that would leave you feeling sluggish, but this breakfast was awesome and only made me feel energized and ready to take on the day. I really try to listen to my body when I’m eating a meal because it’s easy for me to over eat when something tastes good, but that makes me lazy and sleepy and I really do not enjoy those feelings, especially first thing in the morning. I kept the eggs simple this time since there is a lot of food on this plate, so just some salt, pepper, and hot sauce. The potatoes are easy to cook on the stove, I used my biggest cast iron skillet with coconut oil and seasonings and cooked the potatoes until soft. I didn’t have much of a lunch because breakfast kept me full for a long time, so just a couple of my usual snacks throughout the afternoon.

Maybe the best invention, as far as lazy cooking goes, is the slow cooker. I put a pork roast, quartered potatoes, green peppers and onions in with seasonings and a little water and a few hours later the house smelled amazing and, with little effort, dinner was ready. So the only work that went into cooking for this day was the eggs and potatoes at breakfast! I had the potatoes, onions, and peppers chopped and ready from my prep work so it took no time at all to put together these meals.

When I buy packaged products, like coconut oil or almond butter, I always get the kinds in glass jars because they can be washed and reused. I store chopped vegetables, prepped egg whites, and leftovers in them or I’ll use as drinking glasses for iced coffee or apple cider vinegar mixes. Use them for anything and everything!

 

Breakfast: Almonds, banana, leftover pork roast

Lunch: Burger + avocado, sweet potato fries, homemade ketchup

Dinner: Chicken thighs, green beans, leftover sweet potato fries

While I was training for my competitions, I was eating a lot of the same foods over and over so I got used to eating weird combinations or I wouldn’t warm things up before eating because I didn’t care anymore and I just wanted to get the food into my body. This has somewhat carried over into the off season, as I don’t really think about what foods I’m having together or if they are “supposed” to go together. I like easy going mornings so having leftovers for breakfast is the best. I have almonds almost every morning with my coffee, and bananas are an easy carb source.

A burger patty topped with avocado is one of my favorite combinations. No need for condiments and so satisfying. I make sweet potato fries by cutting the potatoes into a fry shape and then put into a bowl of cold water to soak for a couple of minutes, then dry with a towel and toss with coconut oil, salt and pepper. I like to use parchment paper anytime I use a baking sheet so I know for sure nothing will stick, so onto a sheet the potatoes go and in the oven at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes, flip half way. I found this recipe for ketchup on Pinterest, it was my first time making my own ketchup and even though (of course) it’s not like bottled ketchup it still tasted good with fries. You definitely have to let it sit in the fridge for a while to make sure it’s completely cold. Nobody likes warm ketchup, right?

I like to buy chicken thighs that are boneless and skinless. I used my cast iron grill pan, seasoned the chicken with Tuscan seasoning, and when almost done cooking I added red peppers and onions to the pan. Once they were soft I added spinach to the pan too. Spinach takes two seconds to wilt so thats why I save it for the very end. I used frozen Prince Edward medley green beans and carrots from Aldi and leftover sweet potato fries from lunch, this was easy to put together and is one of my favorite meals.

Breakfast: Banana

Lunch: Egg white omelette

Dinner: Soup, baked potato

Some mornings I wake up and don’t have a big appetite, so after coffee and a few almonds I might just have something simple, like a banana. I don’t recommend doing this if you have a busy morning because you’ll need more food for more energy, but since I stay at home I can eat whenever I want and don’t have to worry about what time my lunch break is or when I’ll be able to eat next.

For lunch, I still had some leftover pork from W2D1, so I mixed some egg whites, spinach, almond milk, salt and pepper together and poured in a smaller cast iron pan to make an omelette. Once cooked almost all the way, I added some shredded pork and flipped the egg over to close and heat through. I let it cook for a couple more minutes then moved to a plate and topped with avocado! Eggs take no time at all to cook and adding leftover meat gives you even more protein to keep you feeling full and awake.

I went to a friends house this evening and stayed way longer than planned so had dinner with her. She eats clean all the time so I knew the soup she was making would be compliant to Whole30 and I didn’t have to worry about messing up my thirty days. It was full of vegetables and gave me the energy to power through a tough Spartan inspired workout we made up, posted below.

I didn’t get home until about 11 p.m. that night and was really hungry, but also didn’t want to cook anything so I made a baked potato in the microwave (no skin) and added coconut oil, salt & pepper, hemp hearts, and hot sauce on top. This isn’t a very nutrient-dense meal or snack, but it made my stomach stop growling and I didn’t have to do any work to make it. I also had a Larabar which makes this a carb-heavy snack, but I was hungry so I wasn’t worried about any of that! (<—This is where bad decisions are usually made (cookies, ice cream, sugary snacks) you just have to remind yourself of your goals!!)

Spartan style workout

Complete Four Rounds:

1 minute Battle Ropes

1 lap walk around track carrying dumbbells

Rope Climb

1 minute burpees

 

Breakfast: Banana

Lunch: Chicken sausage, eggplant chips

Dinner: Beef roast, carrots, mashed potatoes

Another weak breakfast, I think because coffee fills me up (almonds too) and then I get my morning motivation and start jumping around to all the tasks I need to accomplish that day and my mind is completely taken off food. Figuring out what works for you is the most important thing because everyone has a different schedule and life and one way of eating is not going to work for every individual situation. If you feel better eating six smaller meals in a day, then eat six meals. If you work better eating two large meals a day, then do that!

Let me talk about this a little more. You have to listen to your body. If you’re hungry, you have to eat. If you’re feeling sleepy in the middle of the day, you might need to eat. Brain fog? Irritable? Hangry is a real thing! Food controls so much of our emotions and the way we feel so if you’re feeding it garbage (or maybe just not enough!) you’re not going to feel great. There are so many different ideas about how you should eat and when and that can be overwhelming so I like to follow a couple guidelines. I eat when I’m hungry and I try to make sure I have a protein source, a carb source, and a vegetable with every meal, that way I know all my nutritional bases are covered. Even when not doing a Whole30 I use whole foods, avoiding packaged products the majority of the time. If I do use something packaged I make sure the ingredients list is squeaky clean or pretty close. Becoming familiar with ingredient lists and nutrition labels is the best thing you can do when wanting to be healthier or lose weight.

Chicken sausage is a product that can have all kinds of added ingredients in it. I found this one and had with some mustard, and I used this recipe for the eggplant chips. I found eggplant on sale, but wasn’t sure what I would do with it as it’s not something I buy regularly (but it’s always fun to try out new things!). I wanted to use a recipe that included turmeric because I had recently bought some after reading about all the nutritional benefits it has. I didn’t use sage, oregano, or thyme because I didn’t have them on hand. Okay so I burned most of the chips. The ones that didn’t burn were probably cooked too long too, they tasted okay, but not my favorite thing. I might try these again one day and watch them as they cook, maybe they will be better ugh.

I love the feeling of knowing I have something cooking in the Crock Pot and I won’t have to do any work when dinner time rolls around. I put in the roast and added salt & pepper and then put in carrots that I chopped in to thick pieces. I put a little water in the bottom of the slow cooker, turned it on low and let it sit for about 6 hours; it’s ready when the carrots are soft and the meat falls apart easy. I made mashed potatoes with red potatoes, clarified butter, and coconut milk and served the beef and carrots on top. The ultimate comfort meal.