We served this spicy pulled pork over Ezekiel English Muffins….yummers!
Snack Time: Healthy Snack Ideas
Eating Clean means eating every couple of hours. A snack in between your breakfast, lunch and dinner is a part of a healthy lifestyle and can keep you energized while keeping your blood sugar and metabolism in check. However, there is definitely a wrong way and a right way to snack. You should avoid sugary items like candy and soda, and shouldn’t be consuming enough calories to constitute a meal. Instead, steer towards foods that will satisfy you and keep you feeling fuller longer. Fruits and vegetables are always a safe bet because they are low in fat and calories. (Just be sure to avoid high-calorie dips.). Yogurt, fruit smoothies, even a slice of whole-wheat toast all make great snacks during the day. Combining lean protein, some healthy fat, and complex carbohydrates will help you feel fuller longer.
Also, snacking ins’t grazing. Mindless eating is often the downfall of snackers. You may start with only a handful of your favorite crackers or chips, only to finish the entire bag or box, without even thinking about it or realizing it. Be sure to avoid this kind of mindless grazing.
I’ve put together a list of healthy and clean snacks to give you some ideas.I’ll be sure to add to the list as I go…
- Shaklee 180 Crisps {BBQ or Sea Salt}
- Shaklee 180 Snack Bar {Lemon Cranberry, Chocolate Chocolate, or Crunchy Peanut Butter}
- Shaklee 180 Sea Salt Crisps with 1 tbsp. spicy hummus
- ½ serving of Shaklee 180 smoothee
- 2 Scrambled Eggs with ½ English muffin, wheat toast , wheat crackers or Ezekiel bread
- 1 ½ tbsp. nut butter on ½ Ezekiel pita or tortilla
- 1 ½ tbsp. nut butter on ½ Ezekiel pita or tortilla w/1/2 banana
- 2 tbsp. hummus with 1 cup veggies
- ½ c cottage cheese
- ½ cup oatmeal {steel cut preferably}
- ½ cup with handful of berries
- 6 oz. Greek yogurt
- 1 small-medium apple {or piece of fruit} with 1 tbsp. nut butter
- 2 cups organic popcorn
- ½ cup Greek yogurt with handful of blueberries, ½ banana, ½ cup Ezekiel cereal or granola
- 3 egg whites with 2 celery stalks
- ½ can tuna with tomato and ¼ avocado {season with pepper}
- ½ cup cottage cheese, ¼ cucumber, ½ tomato {season with pepper}
- ¼ cup quinoa, ½ black beans, Pico {salsa Fresca or salsa} to taste
- 2 celery stalks with 1 organic string cheese stick
- 1 slice Ezekiel toast spread with 1 tbsp. nut butter
- 1 slice Ezekiel toast spread with 1 tbsp. nut butter and ½ banana
- 1 slice Ezekiel cinnamon raison bread {toasted} with ½ tbsp. butter and 2 egg whites
- 6 oz. Greek yogurt with ½ banana
- Organic string cheese stick wrapped with 2 slices of turkey {choose low sodium, organic and/or unprocessed whenever possible}
- 2 hardboiled egg whites and 1 small-medium apple
- 1 small-medium apple {or fruit of choice} with 1 tbsp. almonds, cashews or peanuts
- 1 small-medium apple with organic string cheese stick
- 10 cherry tomatoes, organic string cheese stick
- 10 cherry tomatoes, 6 oz. Greek yogurt
- 2 oz. smoked salmon, 1 tbsp. light cream cheese, cucumber slices, 1 brown rice cake
- 1 brown rice cake with 1 tbsp. nut butter
- 10 Lentil Chips {Simply 7 brand} with 1 tbsp. hummus
- 10 Beanito Tortilla Chips with 2 tbsp. salsa or pico
- 10 Beanito Tortilla Chips with ¼ avocado
- 2 celery stalks with 2 tbsp. light cream cheese, 8 stuffed green olives {sliced in ½ on top}
- ¼ cup Edamame-Ginger Dip with rice crackers or veggies
- ½ cup edamame with pods and 2 celery sticks
- ½ cup edamame and 1 small-medium apple {or fruit of choice}
Enjoy and remember when you go to the pantry or fridge for a munchie, be sure to make healthy choices!
Feel free to leave your snack suggestions in the comments below!
Photos updated 10-11-13:
Image credit: evgenyatamanenko / 123RF Stock Photo
Image credit: ljupco / 123RF Stock Photo
What’s for dinner? Rosemary-Balsamic Chicken
Today’s “What’s for Dinner?” is Rosemary-Balsamic Chicken, Cherry-Spinach-Arugula Salad & Sweet Potato Chips.
We used the left over Rosemary-Balsamic Marinade from the peaches earlier this week and marinaded the chicken all day. We threw another Spinach-Arugula salad together with 1 1/2 cups of salad mix, 1/2 a tomato, 1/4 cucumber and 1/4 cup of dried cherries, then seasoned with a splash of olive oil, a squeeze of lemon.
I attempted to make some sweet potato chips, but they need some work. I’ll have to try these again and post a recipe when I get it perfected! 🙂
Enjoy!
Pineapple-Cucumber Salsa
Pineapple-Cucumber Salsa
Author: Rachel Ray
Recipe type: Salsa
Prep time:
Total time:
Salsa
Ingredients
- ¼ pineapple peeled and finely chopped {about 1½ cups}
- ½ english cucumber, finely chopped
- ½ red onion, finely choppe
- Grated peel ad juice of 1 lime
Instructions
- Combine pineapple, cucumber, onion, lime peel and lime juice.
We served this salsa with grilled pork {seasoned with Salt & Pepper, Cayenne Pepper, Garlic Powder} and a Central Market Rosemary Banquette.
This recipe was found in Every Day Magazine by Rachel Ray
Enjoy!
Tri-Tip, Rosemary-Balsamic Peaches & Arugula Salad
Our family really enjoys to make meals together, so it’s actually often that my husband and I make these kinds of creations together and our little guy helps with some of the cutting. We of course use kid friendly utensils. 🙂
For this dinner, rub a piece of Tri Tip with your favorite rub {we are fans of Rudy’s Rub and is what we used here}. Cook Tri Tip on BBQ until meat is desired temperature or you can cook this in the oven at 375 degrees until meat is desired temperature. Make the Rosemary-Balsamic Marinade and paint onto the peaches {cut in half and de-pitted}. Grill peaches for just 3-5 minutes and serve. Since we only used a small amount of the Marinade, we saved it for later in the week for some Rosemary-Balsamic Chicken. For the salad we threw together 1 1/2 cups of Spinach and Arugula mixed and 1/2 a tomato each – we aren’t huge dressing fans so we drizzle the salad with a little olive oil, a squeeze of lemon and some fresh ground pepper. This is an amazingly clean and healthy meal.
Enjoy!
Rosemary-Balsamic Marinade
Rosemary-Balsamic Marinade
Author: LiveGreenEatClean
Recipe type: Marinade
Cuisine: Any
Prep time:
Total time:
Marinade
Ingredients
- ¼ Cup Olive Oil
- 3 tbsp Balsamic Vinegar
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tbsp rosemary {fresh or dried}
Instructions
- Mix all ingredient and marinade meat for at least 4 hours but as long as overnight. The marinade will last about a week in the refrigerator. This recipe will marinade (2) pieces of meat - double and triple if needed.
Another recipe as well as photo found here.
Enjoy!
Photo updated 10-11-13: Image credit: yatomo / 123RF Stock Photo
5 Green Resolutions that Make a Difference
1. Give up plastic and paper bags. Do you opt for paper or plastic when at the grocery store? Neither is a good choice. Twelve million barrels of oil were used to make the 88.5 billion plastic bags consumed in the United States last year. And it takes four times more energy to make paper bags. The best choice is reusable shopping bags made of cotton, nylon or durable, mesh-like plastic. Put a few reusable shopping bags in your car so you have them handy on your next shopping trip. And if you happen to forget your reusable bag (as we all do!), choose paper if you will recycle it or plastic if you will reuse or recycle it.
2. Stop buying bottled water. Did you know that it takes 26 bottles of water to produce the plastic container for a one-liter bottle of water, and that doing so pollutes 25 liters of groundwater? Don’t leave a trail of plastic water bottles in your wake! Stop buying bottled water. Use reusable water bottles instead made from materials like stainless steel or aluminum that are not likely to degrade over time. If you choose a plastic water bottle, check the number on the bottom first: Plastics numbered 3, 6 and 7 could pose a health threat to you, so look for plastics numbered 1, 2, 4 or 5.
3. Give up conventional detergents. Many natural detergents today are made to clean clothes just as effectively in cooler water temperatures. Choose detergents and other laundry products that are plant-based, concentrated and biodegradable.
4. Give up 2 degrees. Electric power plants are the country’s largest industrial source of the pollutants that cause global warming. By snuggling under a blanket on the couch on a snowy winter night instead of turning up the heat, or enjoying the breeze from a fan in the height of summer instead of turning up the air conditioning, you can save pounds of pollution, as well as some money off your utility bills. Set your thermostat in winter to 68 degrees F (20° C) or less during the daytime and 55 degrees F (13° C) before going to sleep or when you are away for the day. And during the summer, set thermostats to 78 degrees F (26° C) or more.
5. Stop receiving unwanted catalogs. Each year, 19 billion catalogs are mailed to American consumers. All those catalogs require more than 53 million trees and 56 billion gallons of wastewater to produce — and many of us don’t even know how we got on so many mailing lists! So grab that stack of catalogs piling up on your coffee table and clear out the clutter. Visit CatalogChoice.org to put a stop to unwanted catalogs. Within 10 weeks, your mailbox will be empty of unwanted catalogs. A less cluttered mailbox means less pollution, less waste and less of the pollution that causes global warming.
Photos updated 10-11-13:
Image credit: hofmeester / 123RF Stock Photo
Image credit: andreadonetti / 123RF Stock Photo
Image credit: mblach / 123RF Stock Photo
Image credit: mblach / 123RF Stock Photo
Edamame-Ginger Dip
From Eatiing Well Online
Edamame-Ginger Dip
Author: Eating Well Online
Nutrition Information
- Serves: 6
- Serving size: ¼ cup
- Calories: 70
- Fat: 3 g
- Carbohydrates: 6 g
- Sugar: 0
- Sodium: 196 mg
- Fiber: 2 mg
- Protein: 5 g
- Cholesterol: 0
Recipe type: Dip
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Ingredients
- 8 ounces frozen shelled edamame
- ¼ cup water
- 2 tablespoons reduced-sodium soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
- 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
- 1 tablespoon tahini
- 1 clove garlic
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- Hot pepper sauce to taste
Instructions
- Cook edamame according to package directions.
- Puree the cooked edamame, water, soy sauce, ginger, vinegar, tahini, garlic, salt and hot sauce in a food processor until smooth. Chill for 1 hour before serving.
Notes
Cover and refrigerate for up to 5 days.
Serve with Rice Crackers or Veggies.
This recipe was found at Eating Well online.
Enjoy!
Looking Back and Moving Forward
At the end of every year my husband and I go through the process of doing what we call “closing the year”. We really enjoy the process of looking back at what we’ve accomplished and learned, and get ready for a great new year ahead. We do an annual photo book {we use Mixbook} to catalog our events, travels, life and to reminisce. We close out the budget for the year and plan to next year. We take a look at where we are in life with our family, career and overall goals {that we set last December}. We really enjoy this time and even though we may not have hit all our goals, we don’t beat ourselves up either because by “closing out the year” we can actually see all the things we HAVE accomplished! I thought I’d share our process with you. I hope it helps and you find some great tips for you to use as you start a fresh new year. We suggest you spend some quiet time doing each or some of the following steps:
1. Find a quiet place where you will not be interrupted {aka no kids or TV or technology}. Turn off your phones. Turn off the TV. Take the kiddos to Grandmas. Turn on some great “mind music”. Grab a pen and some paper or a white board, like we do. Write your accomplishments from the year. Research has proven over and over that writing is so much more effective than typing this stuff into a computer. Use pictures too – we do an annual photo book – super fun.
2. Catalog your Wins. Take a look back at all the things you’ve accomplished and the great experiences you’ve had this year. Spend a few minutes making a list of everything you’ve managed to achieve. Write them all down … the big ones and the little ones. Again, use photos if you want to visualize it. This is your 2012 “Wins or Victory List.” You might be surprised at just how much you’ve accomplished in just twelve months. Saying, “I have accomplished nothing”, is not an option. You are still breathing and that is something! Be your own cheerleader right now and resist the urge to self-bash. This is not a selfish act or a time to be super critical of yourself. This is a powerful exercise to show all that you’ve accomplished this year.
3. Rid your life of dream squashers. Take a serious look at the things you no longer want in your life; make a list of all the things you’d like to leave behind. We all have things that get in our way. We have things in our lives that are long past their ‘use by’ date. We call them “dream squashers”. These “dream squashers” just drain your energy. What have you tolerated (and continue to tolerate) that drain you of energy? Are you willing to get those things out of your life for good … right now? They include physical objects, poor habits, limiting beliefs, thought patterns that hurt us and others, and yes, even people we no longer choose to spend time with.
4. Dream. Think about your dreams for the future. What do you really want to bring into your life? What experiences would you like to enjoy? What new skills would you like to learn? What would you like to do? How would you like to be? Make notes or draw a picture to help you remember your dreams. Here’s where you might want to spend more than five or ten minutes. Take as much time as you like dreaming about the future you desire. See it in your mind. Make vivid pictures of the way you want it to be. If you don’t know what you want, you can ask yourself the ‘lottery question’: “If you won the lottery or you woke up tomorrow with everything in your life exactly the way you would dream it could be, how would you see, feel and hear that would let you know a something had changed – what would your life look like? What are the things, experiences, qualities, and ways of being you’d like to experience more of in the future. Make a list of these. These can be quite general: Spend more time with your family? Get fitter? Earn more? Learn more?
Spend more time in the present moment? List the things you’d like to attract into your life.
5. Write down your goals for next year. What would you like to accomplish? What would you like to learn? What would you like to get? Who would you like to meet? In what ways would you like to grow? What are you committed to this year that you did not do last year? There are all sorts of claims made about the power of goal setting, but I’m going to spare you the rhetoric. Instead, I’ll make a blindingly obvious point: you have a much better chance of hitting a target when you know what it is. Human neurology is goal-seeking — so access your incredibly powerful unconscious mind — and make a list of what you’d like to achieve in 2013.
6. Read through your list of last year’s wins/accomplishments. Congratulate yourself for everything you did right. Put this list (#2) on your left. Read through the list of things you’d like to leave behind. Forgive yourself for any mistakes you feel you’ve made, and put this list (#3) on your left also. Take the materials relating to your dreams (#4), and place them in front of you. Review the list of things you’d like to attract into your life, and put this list (#5) on your right. Read through your goals for the year ahead, then put this list (#6) on your right also. Imagine all the good feelings, thoughts and energies from your accomplishments coming into your body.
7. Change something-anything. We all get stuck from time to time. We don’t like change because it’s uncomfortable. We can so easily get stuck in a routine that makes our lives dull and boring. Getting stuck is normal, staying stuck leads to failure! Routines can drain us of energy. They stifle creativity. They keep us from moving forward. They cause us to live in fear of change when we should embrace it. What should you change?
It really doesn’t matter. It can be a new hairstyle, a route to work, a new running trail, re-arrange furniture, clean up your office, decluttter, add one new veggie a week, go meatless once a week, swap soda for sparkling water….just change something-anything….and keep making small changes as you can. So sart over, make your life fresh again! It feels good and produces great results.
8. Forgive. Forgiveness is a powerful thing. When you can forgive a wrong doing, a huge weight can be lifted and in some cases major healing can happen. Who can you forgive today? Forgive someone who may have hurt you. Even if they are dead
wrong. Wipe the slate clean. The biggest mistake we can make is to go into a new year with old baggage. Reconcile all damaged relationships as fast as you can. It isn’t easy … but it could be the most important thing you do all year. Forgive yourself! So what, you weren’t perfect in 2012 and you didn’t accomplish everything you wanted to. No one else did either! Forgive yourself and try not to make the same mistakes again. You are a human being becoming … and you are special. Go to your mirror every morning for the next 365 days … look at yourself in that mirror and say 10 times, “I love you”. Silly? I don’t think so.
9) Put your family first. Commit to putting your family first in your life. You have a lot going on in your life. If you are on the fast track to success, you can easily take your family for granted. When the dust clears from all that striving, the things that matter most have to do with your family. These are the people who love you the most. How would you score yourself in 2012 for building a close and loving family? Our days are numbered. Commit to being the catalyst for a closer family. Don’t wait for the phone to ring … call everyone in your family right now and tell them how much you love them.
10. Commit to a life of gratitude. The only road to true and lasting happiness is gratitude. Spend more time being grateful and less time being critical. I struggle with this – that is for sure. It isn’t that I’m not grateful … I just see so much that could be better and I want to fix it. From time to time I get a little caught up in “what’s wrong” and I tend to forget to be thankful for “what’s right”. I have to remind myself … every day is a gift and tomorrow is promised to no one. Make a list of 20 things you are most grateful for. If you get on a roll, just keep writing. I’m serious. This is a powerful exercise and a great way to start a new year. Gratitude enriches your life in ways you may not even know.
I hope this process helps you on your journey to closing out 2012 and planning for 2013! Best of luck and let’s make 2013 the best year ever! May it be the beginning of the life you’ve always dreamed.
Photos updated 10-11-13:
Image credit: docer2000 / 123RF Stock Photo
Image credit: bloomua / 123RF Stock Photo
Merry Christmas!
Wishing you and yours a very
MERRY CHRISTMAS!
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