I promised I’d share some of my Clean Eating meals, so here are a few of my favorites. And you’ll be able to see how I changed things up so Jason wouldn’t be carb deprived in a few of the photos.
First up, before I get into the actual meals, let’s talk about batch cooking. Once a week, I’ll make a big pot of some kind of soup, like the Tomato Basil Soup pictured below. While that’s cooking on the stove, I’ll start assembling salads in jars. Yes, this is a bit time consuming. I usually do it while Jason and the Little Man are gaming over Skype on Sundays. I can see this as a nice alternative to Sunday football watching this fall. For an hour or two of work, I can get enough soup and salad for the week. This makes a Huge difference when I am pressed for time during the week.
For breakfast, I pretty much eat the same thing every day- plain oatmeal with a little salt and a few raisins or dried berries thrown in, two eggs, and if I’m still hungry, a piece of fruit.
Snacks depend a lot on my hunger level and whether or not I’ve worked out. They can be pretty much whatever I want, as long as there is protein involved. This can be a salad, an egg, a piece of fruit with a glass of milk, or a cup of soup. Whatever’s handy.
Lunch is usually leftovers from last night’s dinner. If there aren’t any, it’s salad and soup time. If needed, I’ll add a couple of slices of turkey on the side.
If I get the munchies in the afternoon, I’ll usually just have a spoon of peanut butter and a few chocolate chips. (Not perfectly Clean, but I’m keeping in real).
Here are a few of our dinners from the past few weeks. See a pattern? Protein + at least two veggies. Pretty easy.
Crab cakes, cucumber salad, broccoli. (Pasta and extra crab cake for Jason)
Pork roast, asparagus, sautéed mushrooms, green beans. (Plus pasta for Jason)
Baked fish, asparagus with pesto, steamed broccoli (Can you tell I have a thing for asparagus lately?)
Crock pot chicken, peas, broccoli, green beans
I made Zatarains for Jason with turkey sausage. I cooked up plain turkey sausage for myself plus veggies. This was way too much sausage for me. Will have much less next time.
Baked fish with tomatoes and parmesan cheese, asparagus, mushrooms. Noodles for Jason.
I’m sure you’ve noticed I use a lot of the same sides over and over. This is mostly because the first couple of weeks I was pretty restrictive with the carbs. I’ve lightened up a little since then, adding in more legumes and a little rice or potatoes now and then. I’m trying to gradually add things in.
This is how the weekdays go. Weekends are a lot more splurge-y. Clearly, this huge plate of Jambalaya pasta was not Clean. For me, it’s all about trying to find the right balance between healthy and unhealthy. Some days I do really great. Some days (like this weekend) I completely fall on my ass. But it’s a process. You pick yourself up, dust off, and continue on.
hclappy scraps 