Restaurant copycat!

I love eating healthy and eating clean, but I would be lying if I didn't say that there are some dishes from restaurants that I REALLY miss! I think the theme for the next few weeks is going to be recreating these dishes with an eat clean twist! My first recipe I want to make is Ma Po Tofu from PF Changs! Mmmm My mouth waters just thinkin about it! I have been researching recipes and finding substitutions for some of the "unclean" items. This is going to be fun! Dustin will be my test subject! :) Now I just need to come up with a list of other recipes I would love to revamp! I'll have to ask Dustin some of his restaurant faves as well.

And another eat clean item of the week...

I mentioned Trader Joe's roasted corn. This stuff ROCKS! I have been buying it for a few years now and I add it to pretty much anything that has a southwest flair. It goes great in salsa, mixed with beans and rice, add to burritos and tacos , soups, and omelets or just have it as a side.

Mmmmm Mojito!

The theme for Sunday was Mojitos! I not only made the mojito marinade for my mahi mahi but Dustin also whipped me up a delicious Mojito using fresh mint, lime, agave and some rum. Very very good! I really meant to take pictures of my mojito fish, but sadly I once again forgot! I marinaded the fish for 30-40 mins and then threw em on the george foreman for about 6-8 mins. I made Dustin a big baked potato and I whipped both of us up some roasted corn from Trader Joe's! This corn is so good! It's in the frozen section! Definitely worth buying and it went really well with the fish! The meal was a big success! Dustin loved it! I loved it! I have a few pieces leftover which makes me excited for dinner tonight! :) I will post the recipe below and I will add in the changes I made in parenthesis.

Mojito Marinade (taken from eatingwell.com)

• 1/4 cup coarsely chopped fresh mint (just removed the stems and threw whole leaves in blender)
  
• 1/4 cup rum
• 1 tablespoon freshly grated lime zest
• 1/2 cup lime juice (juiced three limes)
  
• 3 tablespoons honey (2 tbsp agave nectar)
  
• 2 tablespoons canola oil ( 1 tbsp oil)
  
• 1 tablespoon kosher salt

• Place mint, rum, lime zest, lime juice, honey, oil and salt in a food processor. Pulse until the shallots are finely chopped. Pour the marinade into a shallow baking dish or 1-gallon sealable plastic bag for marinating 1 to 2 pounds (4 to 8 servings) of your chosen protein.

I used Mahi Mahi so I only marinated for 30 mins. The recipe on the site has a list of marination times and grilling instructions for other protein!

I also made a yummy snack that I have been meaning to try...Peanut Butter Banana Pops! I took some old bananas that were getting to the overripe stage, sliced them almost completely in half lengthwise, and filled them with peanut butter (I aimed for about a tablespoon). Next wrap em in plastic wrap and put them in the freezer for at least a few hours. I LOVED these banana pops! I loved them so much that last night I made three more using peanut butter, soynut butter, and almond butter haha! YUM!

Eat clean item of the week...

I was perusing around Trader Joe's today and came across this absolutely delicious find. I know it might not be 100% clean but it's pretty darn close (meaning the ingredients are easy to pronounce!). I bought the two flavors that were available and made myself a spinach salad topped with a pouch of the tuna and some rice. SOO GOOD! Quite spicy, but just a really flavorful and easy thing when you don't feel like cooking but want something with a little pizazz!

Yummy Sangria and Weekend Recipe!

Alrighty...well it's been a week since I created some delicious cottage cheese concoctions...now I need some fresh new ideas! But first I have a super yummy recipe to share. Last week was my friend's bridal shower and I was in charge of the booze. I love making refreshing sangria so I offered to bring some peach sangria to the party. I won't lie and say that this is clean ha. But in the grand scheme of fruity cocktails I imagine it is not as bad as others. For this recipe Dustin and I hit up Trader Joe's for their 3 dollar bottles of wine! Such a good deal! We hit up costco for a big bag or organic peaches and picked up a few more ingredients at various stores...the finishing product was sooooooo good! It was such a hit at the shower! Here is the recipe. It makes a lotttttttt of Sangria! It almost filled a 2 gallon container!

3 bottles pinot grigio
1 bottle peach shnapps
2 2 liter bottes of fresca
a few handfuls of peach slices

Mix all ingredients together and chill in the fridge. Adding ice will water it down but add ice if ya like! If I were to make this for myself I would leave out most of the fresca ha. It was delicious without it, but definitely a great party punch that was very refreshing with fresca!

Alright, now on to the eatin' clean recipe for the weekend. I have some Mahi Mahi that I would like to use and in searching the web for some healthy recipes...this is what I have decided on. Drumroll please...mojito mahi mahi! This just sounds so good! I found the recipe on Eatingwell.com and I am going to cut it in half because the recipe makes a lot of marinade. I will whip it up on Sunday and I will post the recipe and what I think of it! It sounds like it would be really great with corn tortillas and some fresh shredded lettuce and pico de gallo.

Made some top 10 eat clean hits with this secret ingredient....

I am pleased to say that I whipped up some high scoring eat clean yummies yesterday and it's all thanks to my secret ingredient...COTTAGE CHEESE! I made Dustin some cottage cheese pancakes for breakfast! He awarded them the "best pancakes he has eaten" reward! I also FINALLY made the eat clean alfredo! This was sooooooooooooo good! The only problem I had with it was that I think I heated it too much and it got watery. Next time I will know not to make the sauce too early...it did end up thickening up more as it cooled. Dustin had seconds of the alfredo! I made whole wheat linguine, added some jumbo shrimp and broccoli and covered it all in the delicious sauce! It honestly had that "unhealthy" creamy, buttery taste. It was goooood! I will link both of the recipes below!

Cottage Cheese Pancakes

Dry:
1 c Whole-wheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
2 tbsp sugar (maple sugar flakes)
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp sea salt

Wet:
8 egg whites
1 c fat-free cottage cheese
1 c fat-free plain yogurt
Cooking Spray

Directions

1. Combine first five ingredients in a medium bowl. Make a well in the center.

2. Combine eggs, cottage cheese and yogurt in a small bowl. Pour into well. Stir until just moistened.

3. Heat a nonstick pan or griddle or prepare a skillet with cooking spray. Heat should be medium high. Use 1/4 cup of batter for each pancake. Cook until lightly browned on both sides. Keep warm in oven until all batter has been used up.

4. Serve with fruit.


Clean Alfredo Sauce

Clean Eating Alfredo Sauce
(Makes approximately 4 cups)

Recipe updated 8/26/10

Ingredients
4 cups cottage cheese
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese (The “powdery” kind, but fresh. The Kraft version is not clean.)
1 tbsp. garlic powder (1-2 tsp. if you have to talk to people the next day)
1/4 cup soy milk + some reserve (or any milk you’d like to use)

Directions

Step 1 – Add all ingredients to a pot and turn on the heat. As the mixture begins to warm, blend in the pot with a hand blender. If you don’t have one, warm the ingredients and transfer to a blender.

Step 2 – Blend till smooth, and the continue to warm until it’s nice and hot.

Step 3 – Pour about a half a cup over your pasta and serve.

Fall is in the air!

Yes! You heard me correctly! Fall is certainly in the air this morning! It is a crisp 72 degrees outside this morning! Last night I went hiking at around 630 and it was lovely outside! A little breeze and cooler temps! Fall is one of my fave times of year! I have been hiking more lately and I can't wait to get out there often and explore more trails!
On an eat clean diet note...I must say I haven't really made anything the past week! Ugh! I have eaten sushi a few times (one time was brown rice! :)). I have been a little more sporadic which I don't like! Eating lunch really late or eating frozen yogurt at 10 at night or drinking too much delcious organic wine haha. So back on track we go!

Tonight I am definitely going to whip up some eat clean shrimp and broccoli with the clean alfredo sauce that I have meaning to make! I also want to make something new and interesting for lunch! I have a block of tofu I need to use up! I haven't made any of my tofu/nutritional yeast scramble in a while...so maybe I will make some of that for lunch today! I am getting a little tired of the tuna thing...but I do have some tuna leftover so maybe I will come up with a tuna idea and save the tofu for tomorrow.

9 month anniversay vino!

Yesterday was our nine month anniversary. Laugh all you want but I celebrate months until we get to years! :) We went to Z Tejas last night after Dustin got off work so I could sample more of their sustainable or organic wine. I was not disappointed! This time I tried two different wines...Bontera Savignon Blanc, and Parducci Sustainable red wine. Both were really good, but I prefer reds...so Parducci wins!
Yesterday for Dinner I invited my mom and brother over for some homemade pizza. I whipped up some grilled eggplant pizza and it was a BIG HIT! Even with my brother who has a serious aversion to all things healthy. I made the whole wheat flax crust I always make, I made my own pesto with olive oil, garlic, and a handful of basil leaves, sliced some roma tomatoes, grilled eggplant slices on the george foreman and threw it all together! I covered most of the pizza with natural mozzarella cheese and some fresh grated parm. On my brother's portion I added a little more cheese because I know he likes pizza cheesy! So now I have pizza leftovers to eat for dinner tonight! And Dustin now has leftover pizza and leftover eggplant lasagna to finish off haha!

Goals. Recipes.

The title says it all folks! Let's touch on goals. I have been feeling pretty good about my veggie goal! I have definitely been incorporating more greeny goodness into my meals. So I am going to continue on with this goal and I need to buckle down and work on my goal to gain some weight. Dustin has decided to join me on the eat clean wagon. I think he is trying this loosely which is just fine with me! I am just happy to hear he wants to eat healthier! YAY! He has a goal of losing 15 pounds by our trip to Hawaii in October. I think that 6 weeks is definitely sufficient time to at least make a big dent in that goal! So I will continue to check in with some stats regarding our progress!

Now Recipes. I FINALLY made the banana cashew balls I have been talking about forever. Um....not a huge fan. I have no idea why! I love bananas. I love cashews. I love dates. I did not love them together haha. They were just too "banana-y" for me. Dustin loved them though so we will give them a "B" in the grade book. I also made eggplant lasagna for the first time. It was good...but I dunno how I feel about it. I think I needed to cook it longer to make the eggplant more tender. It had a great taste but it was a little runny and the eggplant was a little tough. I still do really want to try clean alfredo sauce. So this weekend I will whip up some shrimp and whole wheat fettuccine with clean Alfredo sauce. I also want to make pizza. I have invited my brother and mom over for lunch or dinner tomorrow so I will try to whip up a yummy pizza for them. I am leaning towards a margarita pizza with fresh mozzarella, olives, tomatoes and I have some basil so I should really make some homemade pesto!