Clean Comfort

In case you missed it, the Austin area had an "arctic blast" this past week! (Which essentially meant it was cold outside and there was a chance for some sleet.  Central Texas gets excited any time the temperature gets close to freezing!)  It was pretty cold outside and a little dreary, which of course meant we needed some good ol' comfort food!

I wanted to figure out a way to make some comfort food and keep it clean. Most recipes for comfort foods that I have include cans of condensed chemicals and lots of fat and carbs.  One of my most favorite comfort foods happens to be my slow-cooker pot roast.  I typically throw a shoulder roast in the slow cooker with a few cans of condensed cream of mushroom soup (the reduced-fat kind, because that makes it better, right?) a packet of onion soup mix, and carrots.  I don't put potatoes in with the roast because I like them mashed on the side (I'm getting pretty hungry reading this).  I'm not going to lie, it tastes so good and is the perfect meal on a cold Sunday evening!

There had to be a way to clean up this comfort favorite. I first began searching for clean roast recipes and there were a few on Pinterest, but I couldn't really find one that looked great to me (and that didn't have a million ingredients).  I have a one-year-old.  We have to keep it simple.  So, I decided to break the ingredients down from my recipe above and just create clean versions of each to use for my roast.  First step was to get an all natural (organic, if possible) cut of roast.  I found one at the HEB meat market and it was a really nice cut of meat.  Next, I needed a clean version of the condensed mushroom soup.  I found this recipe on Pinterest from simplecleanliving.com.  It worked perfectly! Here is the soup before it went in the slow cooker.

The next ingredient I wanted to clean up was the onion soup mix.  I used this recipe from thegraciouspantry.com and it was super easy and created enough to use for the roast and put away for future recipes.

 I added organic baby carrots and it looked really good already! Check out all those mushrooms!!

8 hours later, we had this.

The soup mixture did end up making the roast look a little "gritty," but it did not taste "gritty" at all.  It tasted just as good (if not better) than my previous non-clean versions.  I added some mashed potatoes on the side (red potatoes boiled with skins on mixed with a little real butter and a little organic milk and pepper). I must say, we felt quite comforted after this meal! Be sure and use a slow-cooker liner for extra comfort in the fact that there is little clean up after you are done enjoying your meal.

I was so tempted just to revert back to my non-clean version, but I am so glad that I didn't!

I hope everyone has a Happy (and as clean as possible) Thanksgiving!

Clean Eating Meets Gluten Free

Before my family panics, no we are not going gluten free (yet)! Ha ha!  I had a work meeting on Friday and I volunteered to bring a sweet treat.  You may be noticing a trend here, I'm pretty much obsessed with sweet treats! One of the members of my team is gluten-free, so this sweet treat needed to be gluten-free so she could enjoy it as well.

Gluten is a protein found in wheat, barley, and rye.  A gluten-free diet helps to treat celiac disease and others have found it helpful in treating other digestive issues, such as IBS.  It has become a trendy diet and I have friends who have gone gluten-free because they just think it is a healthy way to eat.  I am currently in the camp that believes we do not need to be gluten free unless there is a medical reason to do so and no one in my little family is really dealing with digestive issues, so we plan to keep gluten in our lives at this point.

My mission: create a clean and gluten free sweet treat that also tastes phenomenal!I gladly accepted and set out on a Pinterest journey to find one that looked super yummy, but also did not have a million ingredients and would be easy to whip up.  I found this recipe for Gluten Free Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Bars from littleleopardbook.com.  It looked relatively easy and I could easily clean up the ingredients.  I used organic peanut butter, Enjoy Life chocolate chips mentioned in a previous post, sucanat for the white sugar, and organic brown sugar instead of regular (organic brown sugar is not completely clean, but it is better than non-organic and falls into my 20% for the week).

This recipe was very easy to make, however, an "arctic blast" was brewing outside (people have to laugh at us Texans when we consider 40 degree weather with no sleet or snow an "arctic blast") and Livi was having a hard time staying asleep. To minimize noise when she finally fell asleep I ended up having to make this in our study because it required use of a mixer.

Yes, that is a mixing bowl on my desk! The things we do when we have kids!

I took these to work the next day and they were a huge hit! Everyone loved them and couldn't believe they were clean and gluten free. I was able to sneak a bar home to Nick and Livi and they agreed as well. They are rich, chocolaty, and devine!

I have some leftover gluten-free flour so I may experiment with some more gluten-free recipes. Stay tuned!

Have a clean weekend and Sic 'Em Bears!!

Bears, Bachelorettes, And Bananas

To say these last 10 days have been crazy busy is an understatement! I'm a firm believer in the 80/20 rule (and thank goodness for that this week!)  The 80/20 rule basically means at least 80% of the time we eat as clean as possible and adhere to the 5 pillars, and 20% of the time we allow ourselves to eat foods that may not be labeled as "clean" (even dirty treats!)  I've mentioned before that I have been overweight most of my life.  This has led to food becoming a central part of my life.  Whether it is trying to not eat the chips and salsa staring at me from the center of the table when I was on the South Beach Diet, being cranky because I'm only eating 1000 calories a day, or now counting points, food has always been a focus of my day.  My goal now is to make this such a lifestyle change that it becomes as "mindless" as possible and as balanced as possible.  The 80/20 rule allows me to do that.  It gives me the accountability to live clean, but the flexibility to still live in the realities of this dirty food world. It allows me to be able to go out to eat on occasion and not freak out if there aren't clean options, it allows Livi to have snacks at Grammy's that may have more ingredients than I prefer, and it allows us to live life in a way that makes sense for our family.

So rewind to about 10 days ago.  It was a beautiful Thursday evening and Livi was spending some fun time with her fabulous Aunt Cassidy, while Nick and I were on our way to watch our Baylor Bears beat the OU Sooners! I had been eating very clean that week and had every intention of utilizing my 20% at the game on a nice order of nachos. It was cold, I was hungry, I could envision the chips dripping with cheese and jalapenos...it was going to be awesome! Well after fighting the over 50,000 people crowd to get to our seats all my intentions went out the window.  There was no way I was navigating that crowd again and there was no way I was peeling my eyes away from that exciting game (which we won 41-12, Sic 'em!)  No nachos for me, which I guess was a clean win in this dirty vs. clean world.  Here we are (dirty food free) in our black out shirts after the win (I'm pretty sure Nick burned about 3000 calories from all the yelling and jumping up and down he did during the game.  I'm not sure who took over my husband that night, but he sure was fun!)

Then there was this weekend, where I took full advantage of the 20% of the 80/20 rule.  My beautiful little sister, Kimberly, is getting married in a few weeks.  My other beautiful sister, Mandy, and I threw her a personal shower and bachelorette party in Ft. Worth.  Here we are ready for the stockyards!

Dinner was at Joe T. Garcia's, which I highly recommend.  It was amazing! I'm pretty sure the fajitas were not totally clean (and neither was my beverage).  It was totally worth it though! Scrumptious food and night of fun! Oh...and then there was this...

I only had a piece (okay 2 very small ones).  It was a dirty (and hilariously ugly) cake!

So enough 20% talk, let's get to the 80%.  I have found a clean eating secret ingredient...bananas!! Yep, bananas! I have made some pretty yummy treats with these things! Bananas (or "nanas" as Livi calls them) are such a convenient and healthy snack by themselves.  Packed with potassium they can help regulate blood pressure, as well as provide many other benefits! They do contain a higher amount of natural sugar than other fruits, but it's not like I eat a whole bunch in a day (well most days) and it is natural sugar from the fruit, not processed sugar.  Bananas are also cheap and they aren't on the "dirty dozen" list, so if you can't buy everything organic, this is one you can typically get away with buying non-organic.  Let's hear it for bananas-b-a-n-a-n-a-s (I totally have that Gwen Stefani Hollaback Girl song running through my head right now!)

I will often include bananas in our green smoothies and they are such an easy snack for Livi.  If my bananas look they are about to turn bad or become too ripe (I like mine just barely ripe) then I will cut them in slices and throw them in the freezer.  This makes a really convenient way to incorporate them into smoothies and teething babies loves to snack on these!!

What I didn't know until this past week is that you can use bananas as a binder in recipes in place of oil and/or eggs.  Who knew?!  I set out to make a really clean granola bar.  I found this recipe on Pinterest from windsorstore.tumblr.com and decided to try it out.  It was okay to me, not the greatest, but okay.  Nick and Livi looooooved them! You can see below that Livi was so excited about these treats she insisted I see everything in her mouth!

It wasn't as hearty and chewy as I like my granola bars to be, but it had good flavor and I liked the coconut with the chocolate chips.  I found it difficult to cut these into bars as well, because they just weren't thick enough.  I ended up just breaking them into pieces and they came out to about 3 Points Plus a piece.

I also made this amazing banana-chocolate chip bread I found on Pinterest.  It uses applesauce (which I used organic because it contains apples only) with banana as the binder.  It comes out really moist and delicious!! If you cut it into 10 slices, it's about 5 Points Plus a piece (my favorite 5 Points Plus of my day!) After seeing this pic, I think I'm about to make a loaf!

So there ya have it! Some 80 and some 20 on our clean eating, clean living journey this past week and a half. Here's to a fabulously clean week!

Stomach Flu Equals Finding Clean Convenience Foods Fast!

Of course, the week I'm ready to give my food intake a clean makeover would be the very same week I come down with the stomach flu! Let me just tell you, it has not been a fun past few days! My goal this week was to make from scratch some convenience foods that our family tends to eat throughout the week, especially snacks.

Trail mix, granola bars, and any finger foods for Livi are staples for us. I had previously been buying packaged snacks.  But one look at the ingredients list of my favorite trail mix...

...and you can see why I wanted to make it from scratch with whole food ingredients! Can we say salt, salt, and more salt, sprinkled with a little MSG? Scary!!

But then I ran smack dab into a stomach flu and got knocked on my bottom and my lofty goals went out the window.  For the most part I have been able to stick to clean foods (well, quite honestly, I haven't stuck to much food), but I was desperate to find some snacks that were clean that I wasn't going to have to cook up for this week.  I was so happy to find several and wanted to share! 

My top priority was something that Livi could snack on, besides fresh fruits and veggies.  I had to run into Walmart to pick up some diapers and ran across these in the baby food section. 

They are the "nibbly fingers" by Ella's Kitchen. They are awesome!! Livi has tried both kinds (apples + strawberries, mangoes + carrots), and she loved both! I tried a bite of both as well and they were really good! It tasted similar to a Nutri-grain bar, though they are a little more dry.  But they taste great, and they don't fall apart easily so she was able to munch on her snack bar and keep right on playing! And check out the ingredient list for both of these flavors:

They are certified USDA organic, which always makes me feel a little better about packaged products.  I'll call these a win and I'm pretty sure they will become a staple item in our pantry! A couple of things to keep in mind: 1) these are about $4 for a box of 5 bars...so pretty pricey and definitely gives me some motivation to come up with a homemade version; 2) the nutritional information is for 1/3 a bar, so the grams of sugar will need to be multiplied by 3 if your little one (or you) consumes an entire bar.

Here's my munchkin enjoying her afternoon snack (she says excuse the post-nap hair!)

For Mommy and Daddy, I have discovered the Larabar!

I have heard about these babies for some time now, but never tried one. I had the Chocolate Coconut Chew one today...ohmygaw! Yummy! It was really good and actually quite a hearty snack! And check out the ingredients list:

5 ingredients, pretty impressive! These again, are about $1 per bar, so I will be on a mission to find a way to make them homemade...when I am well of course!

I wanted something a little sweet to nibble on and found a recipe for an easy granola bar.  I will share that recipe in a later post, but one of the ingredients called for chocolate chips.  After spending forever in the baking aisle at HEB and reading all the ingredients list for every brand of chocolate chips I was completely frustrated (and there were no carob chips available at this HEB) until my eyes moved down to the next to last shelf and I spotted these! They are mini chocolate chips by Enjoy Life and I think I am in love.

These taste amazing (either by themselves or in the granola bar recipe!) They will now be my go-to chocolate chip!

Well that's it for now! Here's hoping the rest of the week is filled with a clean bill of health and clean food!

*I am not paid by any of the products mentioned in this post. 

Going Clean for Livi

We have been flirting with clean eating for a while, but now it's time to go all in.  Clean eating means a lot of different things to a lot of different people.  For my family, it means we will adhere to these 5 simple rules:

1. No foods with ingredients that are unknown to us (or any that we can barely pronounce)

2. An increase of fruits and veggies (the more local and/or organic the better)

3. At least two meatless meals per week

4. An increase in water intake

5. No artificial sweeteners

I have been overweight my entire life (well, at least since I can remember) and my husband, Nick,  has been overweight since I've known him.  I have tried so many different ways to lose weight and "get healthy." It always begins on a Sunday and usually is over by Wednesday or Thursday.  If you've been on that merry-go-round then you know exactly what I mean! One thing changed about 17 months ago though-we had the most beautiful baby girl in the whole, wide, world...

Olivia, we call her "Livi"! She has completely changed our lives and this been the best 17 months of my life! I never thought I would become one of those "granola" moms who was into breastfeeding and making my own baby food, but I totally did just that! Here's a pic of Livi after enjoying her first food, homemade sweet potatoes! Yummy!!

I want the best for her. Not just for her to have a life filled with happiness, but I want her to have a healthy life filled with happiness. I have vowed to make sure Livi knows what healthy food looks like and she is equipped with the knowledge to make good decisions regarding her health. 

There is a big behavioral component to living a healthy lifestyle, obviously.  For about the last 10 years, I have had the knowledge, but I just couldn't seem to put it into practice.  Last January (after Livi's 1st Christmas), Nick and I decided to join Weight Watchers and really change our lifestyle.  It's been a journey, and future posts will explore that journey a little further, but where I have landed is that the best I can do for Livi (as well as for Nick and myself) is to eat as clean as possible.  We have to set an example for her and live the way we think is best for her. 

So I'm done flirting with clean eating and I'm ready for the full commitment.  My hope is that this blog holds me (and Nick) accountable, as well as gives me an outlet for the challenges and triumphs we are sure to face-and if it helps someone in the process, then yay!