Pizza Quinoa Stuffed Portobellas

Oh. My. Gosh.  This was such a good dinner!  In fact, so good that Mike hasn't even gotten home from work and tried it before I've decided I need to blog about it.

 (See that burn-y part of the cheese there at the top?  Yeah, that's the good stuff, right there!)

These photos do not do this meal justice.  I have crappy lighting in my kitchen (especially now that it's pitch black out at 5pm) and the iPhone camera, as good as it is, just isn't good enough.

Not only was this ridiculously good, but it was also superbly easy.  Like, took 25 minutes and it was finito.

So here's what you're going to need:
4 XL portobella mushrooms, stems & gills removed
Oil mister or olive oil cooking spray
Salt & pepper (to taste)
3/4c uncooked quinoa, rinsed thoroughly
1 (8oz) can of tomato sauce
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 Tbsp minced fresh basil
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp onion powder
pinch of red pepper flakes
3/4c shredded mozzarella (the fresher, the better)

Preheat oven to 400F.
Spray both sides of the mushrooms with olive oil and place bottom side down on a rimmed baking sheet.  Sprinkle the tops with salt & pepper and bake for 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, cook the quinoa according to the package directions.
Once finished, stir in the tomato sauce, garlic, basil, oregano, onion powder, and red pepper flakes.  Season with salt & pepper
Flip the mushrooms over.  Divide quinoa mixture into the mushrooms & top with cheese.  Bake for 10 minutes more.
If you like your cheese darker, pop 'em under the broiler for about 3 minutes (just make sure they don't burn!).  I didn't do this because I had hungry children and didn't feel like dealing with the extra step.


And there you have it!  The best darn "pizzas" you'll ever have!!!

Of course, you could probably add some toppings in there, if you like.  I didn't have any that I really wanted in there (since my favorite clean topping is mushrooms anyway).

Superfood Rotini

I originally came across this recipe here but I've found similar ones in a few different places.  I'm sharing this recipe first because, to be honest, it's the best thing I've eaten in such a long time.  It's full of wonderfully delicious vegetables and it's super easy.  The recipe makes 9 servings and since there's 4 of us (2 eating the equivalent of 1 adult serving), I was able to make the entire thing and freeze two batches of it.

So here goes:

1.5 lbs lean ground turkey (if you can find whole turkey breasts at your deli, they will gladly grind it for you)
1 Tbsp olive oil
2 medium zucchini, shredded (I used 3 because we had one left over from a previous recipe)
2 medium carrots, shredded
1 (15oz) can tomato sauce (make sure you check labels - most have preservatives in them)
1 (28oz) can diced tomatoes (I used crushed because I couldn't find diced that didn't have calcium chloride in them
1 Tbsp onion powder
1 Tbsp garlic powder
1 Tbsp ground cumin
2 c raw spinach, tightly packed (I suggest chopping it)
1/2 lb whole wheat rotini
Parmesan for topping

Cook rotini according to instructions for al dente.
In a large sauce pot, cook the turkey in the olive oil until almost completely cooked.
Add the zucchini, carrots, tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, spinach, and spices.  Cook until the spinach has cooked down considerably.
(If you're freezing a portion of this, this would be the time to divide and freeze.)
Add the cooked pasta to the pot and toss.
Serve up with some Parmesan on top if you like (although you don't need it - a little salt and pepper is perfect)

I wish I had a picture to add in but we ate it so fast, there just wasn't any time!

Feeling Great!!!

It's been about 2 weeks since I started clean eating.  I could say "we," but that isn't really the case.  I can't really control what the rest of my family puts in their bodies 100% of the time.  Mike still drinks his Diet Coke (waaaay more often than he should, even if we weren't trying to go clean) and Halloween was just last week.  There's a couple pumpkins full of Halloween candy that, I'm proud to say, has not been touched by me at all.  Katy is allowed 1 piece of candy a day, usually after her lunch. Daddy sometimes sneaks her another piece in the evening which usually garners a glare from me, but we're both her parents ... not just me.

I've put together a workout schedule that, I think, will work out for me (and the kids).  I should be able to do it during naps because they're quiet maneuvers that don't require too much floor space or extra equipment (not right away, at least).  I will be picking up some light dumbbells and resistance bands, maybe a stability ball once we move (there's just no room for a big bouncy ball in our house right now).

I'm going to post a few "before" pictures here now, just for a reference on where I'm starting.  Now, these were taken yesterday so they are a couple weeks into clean eating.  This is without any exercise, just clean eating, nursing, and chasing after 2 kids under 4.

 (haha ignore the sick boy photobombing)

 (This is the view I want to improve upon the most and even this is a big improvement from 2 weeks ago!)

My favorite thing that I have noticed since clean eating is the serious lack of bloating.  I usually wake up in the morning bloated so this is such a nice change of pace!  I don't know if it's the increase in my water intake, the lack of processed and refined foods, or the significant increase of fresh produce in my diet, but I love it!

In other, related news, I promise that some recipes are on their way!  We've had some meals that are AMAZING as they stand, others that need to be tweaked a bit to fit our tastes, and then others that just have no hope and will not be repeated.  I won't post any recipes until I can say that we 100% love them.  The ones we adjust I'll make sure to note the changes in case that's just not your style.

This change is really not a hard one, as I've found.  I was worried that I would become superbly overwhelmed and just give up.  But really, now that I'm making healthy, fresh meals, I'm finding that I have more fun grocery shopping and cooking.  In fact, this morning, I was so antsy to get this evening's dinner started, I cooked (most of) it before 10am!  It helped that it was a freezer meal (there's two more frozen, ready to go) and I wanted to get it cooled, packed up, and in the freezer before it was too late in the evening.  And I won't lie, it helps that I spent a day planning 6 weeks worth of meals. :)

Weekend Update

I've had a post tickling at my fingertips for a couple days now and I just have not had the time to actually sit down and write it.  Things have been busy here.  Saturday is almost always a full-day-away-from-the-house kind of day.  We all carpool, drop the kids off at YiaYia's, I drop Mike at work, then I head to "work" cleaning my father-in-law's office.  That's followed by either pick up Mike and the kids and head home OR stay at YiaYia's while PaPa and Mike work on our house (which is LONG overdue).  This weekend was a work-in-the-house weekend.

I was quite proud of myself for not eating terribly on Saturday.  My mother-in-law has a HUGE selection of foods in the pantry that beckon me from the moment I walk in the door.  And even though I was starving after I got back from working, I didn't let the pantry win.  I made myself a nice bowl of old-fashioned oatmeal with honey and raisins and drank my lovely little glass of water with a smile.  Of course, dinner was a different story, but I feel bad asking her to go out of her way to make something clean when she's already feeding my family.  Really, what I should have done was made something to take with so eat alongside dinner (like I did on Halloween with my yummy winter salad).  But alas, I didn't, and I had pizza.  Not terribly unclean, but definitely not the best.

Yesterday was cleaning day.  I've decided that if I'm going to devote as much time to food prep as I have been, the weekends really need to be my big chore days.  That's not to say I won't do anything else during the week, obviously.  But if I do all the laundry, the major room straightening, the mopping, the bathroom cleaning all on Sunday, then I don't have to do it during the week, leaving more time for schoolwork with Katy, wrestling with Mikey, and preparing healthy meals and snacks for the family.

I'm planning on sharing some of the super awesome dinners I've been making (as well as the CRAZY yummy desserts that have been coming out of my oven), I just haven't had time to do it all yet.  But don't worry ... they're coming!

Just a quick update

I'm officially a firm believer in clean eating.

At first, it was more experimental than anything - to see if I noticed a change in how I feel, look, etc.

The weight loss seems to have balanced itself out as I've gained back 2 of the 4.5 lbs lost.  I think my body was just in shock for a little bit and freaked out!

Now, the other night, Mike had a small going away get together because he left his current branch to move to a new one.  It was at a Mexican restaurant and I knew, knew, I would not be able to resist the chips and salsa.  I didn't have a single sip of alcohol (which was difficult with $3 margaritas).  I split a steak taco dinner with Mike which was remarkably filling and tasted amazing!

Then the next day happened.  Food hangover city, folks.  I don't know who remembers this about me, but I usually get a couple good (read: bad) headaches a week.  I've been on prescriptions before but had to go off when we decided to start a family.  The first day of clean eating I had a caffeine withdrawal headache - a can of Pepsi cleared it up in minutes.  The day after eating out (read: eating unclean), boom: headache.  I tried to go as long as I could Thursday without taking medicine because I wanted the reminder of what it does to my body to eat so poorly.  I made it about half the day before I popped a couple ibuprofen (and then 2 later on in the day).

I'm going to try my absolute hardest to not do that to myself again.  If I can make it a full week of clean eating with no headache, maybe I can convince my husband that it wasn't just a coincidence or hypochondria.

My little snafu

Okay so here's the deal.

I mentioned that I've lost a few pounds while on this clean eating switch.  I realize that a lot of it is water and my body is getting readjusted to the new intake of fresh foods.  I know that it takes less time to digest foods that don't have preservatives in them so my food exits much faster than it used it.  I get that.

But at the same time, guys, I just calculated my BMI and it's a little scary.  It's now 18.2.  <18 .5="" considered="" have="" i="" is="" nbsp="" underweight.="">never
 been underweight.  Now, I know that it's barely underweight, but it's still underweight all the same!
I'm beginning to think that it's definitely time to start throwing in some workouts here and there.  My caloric intake is really pretty good, I just need to rebuild my muscle tone.  Before I got pregnant with Katy, I was a nice healthy 130 lbs (at 5'7") and a lot of it was lean muscle.  I wasn't bulky and I wasn't crazy strong, but I had decent muscle tone (and as we all know, muscle weighs more than fat).

Of course, once I figure out some more clean desserts to make, I'm pretty sure my weight will begin to turn around :)

1st Clean Eating Update

So, it's been 5 days and I already have an update to give!

I want it to be clear that I did not begin clean eating as a way to lose weight.  Being that I started this out at 120lbs while 5'7", losing weight is not something that I wanted/needed/could really afford.  But my body obviously had some different plans.  Apparently all that junk I was putting into my body was causing me to retain water (which I knew to an extent).

So, 5 days after I've started clean eating and I'm down to 116lbs.  This is the lowest weight I've been my entire adult life.  I don't think I've been 116 since at least high school.  I've been the same height since junior high so I'd venture a guess that I haven't seen 116 since even then.

He's a big clarification though - I don't look super skinny.  I can tell that I've lost water weight, but as far as losing a bunch of inches off my body, I don't really think I have.  I did go down a notch on my belt, but I think that's also from the dropping of water weight - bloating is something I've nearly always dealt with.

I feel a heck of a lot more energized (even with just 1 cup of coffee in the morning and nothing but water throughout the day).  I don't have the strong craving for sugar as I did a week ago.  I even cleaned out my pantry and put a bunch of stuff in a bag to take over to my in-laws (they've made it pretty clear this is not something they really want to do - at least not yet).

I haven't noticed a difference in my skin yet but it's only been 5 days and I'm pretty sure I'm in the throes of PMS anyway so that always throws things for a loop.  At the end of November I'm planning on taking a picture of my face, fresh from the shower, no makeup.  I took one last week and I'm looking forward to seeing the comparison.



Another thing I'm going to try to do is eliminate plastics from our kitchen/pantry.  A lot of our food is stored in plastic containers (sugar, flour, grains, etc) and I want to switch over to glass.  I actually found a pretty good deal on 2 gallon cookie jars.  I told Mike this last night and he got this stunned look on his face like "How the heck are we going to do that?!"  But really, it won't be that giant of a leap.  Mason jars are good for things like grains and beans, big jars for our flours and storing baked goods.  I already use mostly glass Pyrex bowls to store leftovers.  The only time we really use plastic is if we're transporting stuff to my in-law's place.  I think he's more afraid of what it's going to cost.


And speaking of cost!  Another thing I'm going to do throughout all of this is keep all of my receipt for grocery shopping over the next 6 weeks or so.  I had a friend ask me if clean eating was more expensive and I want to give an honest answer to that.  So far what I've found is that it is more expensive at the grocery store but, bear in mind - we're not eating out (or at least, definitely not as much) AND I've had to restock things that normally is purchased maybe once a year (like my chili powder that normally would cost $1 but instead cost me $4 because we switched to organic).  And I'm also buying things that I haven't really bought before (like quinoa) so I don't know if there are places where you can buy these things more in bulk and pay less. (On that note: if you know of a good place to buy grains and other dry goods in bulk at a decent price, I'd love to hear it!  With 2 kids in tow, shopping around looking for the best price on stuff isn't the easiest thing in the world.)