Clean Eating Recipe: brown rice with roasted beets, beet greens, roasted zucchini, feta cheese, and toasted pine nuts.

Ingredients:
• 2 cups cooked brown rice (I use Trader Joe's frozen brown rice - so easy!)
• 1 bunch beets with tops (any kind)
• 1 medium zucchini
• 1/4 cup pine nuts
• crumbled feta cheese (I used TJ's fat free)
• olive oil
• garlic powder
• salt and pepper

Directions:
• The first step is roasting the beets. This takes about 1 hour, so plan ahead! You could roast the beets ahead of time and refrigerate them until you are ready to eat.
• I cut the tops off the beets and set them aside, and cut off the ends of the beets, leaving the skin on. I wrapped them in aluminum foil and placed the foil packet directly on the middle rack of a 350 degree oven for about 1 hour (you want them to be easily pierced with a fork).
• When beets are done cooking, the peels should slide off easily. Tip: Wear gloves when peeling if you are using red beets, and wear an apron - they stain!!
• Chop beets into medium sized chunks and set aside.
• While the beets are cooking, start boiling a pot of water.
• Wash and pat dry your beet tops. I personally do not like the stems, so I sliced the leaves off the stems.
• When water is boiling, add the beet greens and blanch for about 3 minutes. Drain them in a colander and run them under cool water.
• When your beets are done roasting, turn the oven up to 450.
• To roast your zucchini, slice it lengthwise into quarters (you want the pieces to be about the size of sliced carrots).
• Place zucchini on a cookie sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with a bit of garlic powder if you like.
• Roast on the top rack of the oven at 450 for about 5 minutes or until the ends of the zucchini are beginning to brown.
• While zucchini is cooking, toast your pine nuts in a hot pan until golden.
• When zucchini is done, chop into small pieces.
• When all your veggies and nuts are done cooking, place cooked rice in a large bowl and add chopped beets, cooked beet greens, and chopped zucchini. Add as much as you like. Add feta cheese, pine nuts, about 1 tsp. of olive oil, and season with salt and pepper.
• Eat and enjoy!

Clean Eating Recipes - June 2012 Part 1

Brown rice with roasted beets, beet greens, roasted zucchini, feta cheese, and toasted pine nuts.



Clean Macaroni and Cheese with Hot Dogs: Quinoa Mac and Cheese from "Around the Table" blog, served with Trader Joe's Garlic Herb Chicken Sausage



Greek Turkey meatballs from Skinny Taste (one my favorite food blogs). I used Ezekiel bread instead of wheat bread.








Cheesy Quinoa Cups from Iowa Girl Eats. I did not use ham and I added tomatoes and beet greens. This is a great recipe for kids, and you can use whatever veggies you have on hand.





More to come soon!

My Adventures in Cleaner Eating (& Free $10 Credit at Vitacost.com Health Foods)

As some of you may know, I have recently embarked on a new adventure: trying to eat sugar-free/"clean" for 30 days. Why am I doing this? Many reasons, actually. I have been eating whole, unprocessed foods whenever possible for a couple of years now, and after having a child I naturally incorporated more whole foods into my diet because I want my daughter to have the best start in life and learn to love foods that are good for her. However, I have never really made a concerted effort to eliminate processed foods from my diet. After doing some more research on the effects of sugar on the brain and body, I decided that I wanted to try, one day at a time, to eat better. I have been trying to lose the last 20 pounds of baby weight for over a year now, but I've hit a plateau and the scale hasn't budged in over 9 months. So that is one motivating factor. I also struggle with a mood disorder and I was amazed at the research on the food/mood connection. I already do things each day to maintain mental and physical health, so I am trying to think of eating "clean" as another form of medicine, if you will. It's a gift I am giving myself each day to fuel my body in the most natural way possible. I chose 30 days because it seems doable and not such a huge commitment that I will feel like giving up.

What does sugar-free/clean mean to me? I've seen lots of different definitions of "sugar-free", "clean", "whole", "natural", etc. Some would suggest I eat no form of sugar whatsoever, even unrefined sugars or sugar substitutes. Some would suggest only foods with less that 5 ingredients on the label. Some would suggest only organic produce and humanely raised meats. These different rules left me feeling overwhelmed. So I've decided to define what these terms mean to me. Or rather, I'm choosing a term for myself - "nurturing foods," since that is my ultimate goal - to nurture my mind and body.

My Nurturing Foods List
• All Fruit and Veggies
• Whole grains (no white flour)
• Lean Meats (fish, poultry only)
• Dairy Products with no added sugar (yogurt, cheese, etc)
• No white rice
• No processed sugar
• Limited unrefined sugars (such as honey or maple syrup)
• Very Limited sugar substitutes (diet coke only occasionally)
  

Right now I'm still having flavored creamer with my morning coffee because I haven't found another alternative that works for me. I'm open to changing this if I find something that I like, but for now I'm okay with that being my only sugar for the day.

I may also stray from these guidelines occasionally when eating with friends if nurturing foods are not available. Because being with friends is also nurturing, and I don't want to miss out on socializing opportunities because of restrictive eating habits. I will do my best to keep nurturing foods with me so that I'm prepared for these situations, but I think flexibility is important. The last thing I need is to become obsessive about food, even it's an obsession for eating healthy.

So there you have it. I'm putting it out there to hold myself accountable, and also to invite others to join me in finding your own nurturing foods. People who do things together are more successful!

And on that note, I discovered Vitacost.com, which is an online health food store that sells healthy food items at a discounted price. Much better deals than Whole Foods (aka Whole Paycheck). Since being frugal is also important to me, Vitacost is a great resource. If you have never used this site before, you can get a free $10 credit for your first order! Just click here to register and get your credit!

Let me know if you are interested in joining me in my adventure! Message me on Facebook or email me!