I’m posting my personal food rules, because I always like to know how other people make healthy eating decisions! But, these rules are not for everyone! This is just the way we eat in our house, and they may seem too strict for you. Eating healthy is my “thing.” I am slightly obsessive about it, but I truly enjoy cooking and eating healthy food, and also learning about food and how it affects our bodies.
So, how do I eat clean? Here are my general food rules:
- Lean Meat/Protein: I really only eat chicken (organic, free range), eggs (pastured/organic/cage free), fish (wild caught, mainly salmon), sometimes turkey
- Vegetables: In almost every meal. Heavy on greens like spinach and kale. We try to buy mostly organic. Typically found in our fridge and pantry: spinach, kale, tomatoes, squash (butternut, yellow, zucchini), broccoli, cauliflower, green beans, bell peppers, mushrooms, sweet potato, onion, peas, carrots
- Low Grains, but we do eat carbs: Obviously no bread (GF), but we will eat brown rice and GF oats; We also eat beans (if you don’t have time to soak and cook dried beans, at least drain and rinse canned beans before eating them – they have a lot of sodium). We try not to overdo it with corn, but we will eat tortilla chips (see cheat food below) and corn tortillas with Mexican food.
- Fruit: We usually only eat fruit for breakfast, unless I make a smoothie before a workout or for a snack. Right now in our fridge we have blackberries, strawberries, pineapple, kiwi, apples. We also keep a lot of bananas (for Davis, and for smoothies) and frozen berries (smoothies). Another great fruit for yogurt, cereal, etc is pomegranate seeds.
- Dairy: Mentioned about eggs above. I don’t do much dairy besides cheese occasionally. I like goat cheese, along with antibiotic and hormone-free cheeses, such as mozzarella or cheddar. Todd and Davis both eat yogurt, and Todd has organic skim milk with cereal. Davis drinks unsweetened almond milk, which is what I use in cereal and smoothies. We eat sour cream if we have Mexican food.
- Fats: We go through a lot of avocados, I cook with extra virgin olive oil, and we eat raw almond butter. I need to try using coconut oil for cooking. I also occasionally use butter (real butter, none of the fake stuff)
- Sauces/Condiments: Since eating GF, we don’t each much mayonnaise or mustard. We will occasionally have ketchup or bbq sauce or mustard with chicken. We just check the ingredients to make sure they’re GF and to stay away from too many preservatives. We eat organic ketchup from Trader Joe’s. I typically make my own salad dressings, but I occasionally buy some from Trader Joe’s. Trader Joe’s salsa, sriracha, and Texas Pete or Frank’s hot sauce are staples in our house, too.
- “Cheat” Food: We do not eat 100% clean. I have 2 cups of coffee every day, with flavored creamer. I have an addiction to tortilla chips. We drink wine some nights, too. And dark chocolate is a common dessert.
I still need to post about why I’m eating gluten free, but for now I at least wanted to post some meal ideas for those of you who are working on eating clean this year. My previous clean eating post is the most viewed on my blog, so I hope it has helped some people!
Our New Years Meal: crock pot BBQ chicken, sautéed kale, black eyed peas with tomato, onion, and a dressing of apple cider vinegar, pinch of sugar and salt and pepper
Eggs and Veggies (very common meal for us). This time we had kale, leftover potatoes, squash, zucchini, black beans
Grilled chicken, roasted cauliflower, black eyed peas, squash and zucchini
We used some leftover BBQ chicken in a salad with spinach, romaine, avocado, caramelized red onion, goat cheese, tomato, and a little ranch dressing (so not 100% clean)
Eggs again: mushroom, spinach, black beans, tomato, avocado, pepper jack cheese; Berries too
This granola, fruit, and almond milk
Chicken & Brown Rice Soup: made like chicken noodle, but without the noodles. Add in the cooked brown rice when ready to eat.
Greek chopped salad: Italian chicken cooked in the crock pot; tomato, cucumber, broccoli, olives, chickpeas, onion, romaine, spinach, feta, fresh dill; tzatziki sauce
Picture below is the salad tossed together.
Almond meal chicken tenders (basic recipe below); creamy brown rice (cooked in chicken stock instead of water); broccoli with parmesan and Italian herbs
For the chicken tenders, slice 2 boneless chicken breasts into 1 inch slices. Prepare 2 shallow bowls for the breading: 1 bowl with 2 eggs, beaten. The other bowl with 1 1/2 cups almond meal, 1 Tbsp salt, 1 tsp pepper, 1/2 tsp garlic powder, 2 tsp dried Italian herbs. Blot the chicken dry with paper towels. Dredge the chicken lightly in the almond meal, then the egg, then again in the almond meal. Pan fry in a sauté pan with the bottom of the pan covered with oil. Or bake at 350 on a greased baking pan.
Kabobs: chicken, zucchini, mushroom, bell pepper, onion
This recipe is coming later this week. Chicken Caprese with Mashed Cauliflower
Need a dessert or a protein smoothie before a workout? This is my current favorite dessert. It tastes like a Wendy’s frosty. I haven’t had a frosty in years, but I’m pretty sure I remember how they taste.
Recipe: 2 frozen and sliced bananas; 1 cup unsweetened almond milk; 1 Tbsp cocoa powder; 2 Tbsp raw almond butter. Blend and enjoy!
Thank you for reading! Please feel free to leave any questions or more clean eating tips and recipes in the comments section!
Love this! Great recipe ideas!!
Thanks so much!
Just wondering with the frosty recipe how many servings does the recipe make?
It makes 2! You can add more almond milk to increase the serving size. I have to admit, even though it serves 2, I’ve had the whole thing to myself a few times. Oops!