Mini meal plan

Monday - roasted chicken with spinach-barley risotto

Tuesday - chicken, leek, and white bean soup from The Eat-Clean Diet book, modified for the slow cooker, served with clean-eating Waldorf salad from the same book

Wednesday - adobo pork tenderloin with black bean pico de gallo (another ECD recipe)

Thursday - leftovers or breakfast-for-dinner

Friday - I think we are visiting family for the weekend... otherwise, back to Ken's Fruit Market I go!

Eat-Clean Egg Salad

This was lunch yesterday. I've been wanting to make it for months, but every time I have the eggs made, someone eats the cottage cheese I was saving, or I run out of green onion, or... you get the point. The H came home for lunch, a rarity in our household, and since we didn't have any leftovers to heat up, we needed something fresh and fast. And I finally had everything I needed! He peeled eggs while I chopped veggies, and we were sitting down to eat in no time.

Eat-Clean Egg Salad

from The Eat-Clean Diet for Family & Kids by Tosca Reno

Makes 1 cup

1/4 cup fat-free cottage cheese

1 Tbsp skim milk

1 tsp prepared mustard

4 hard boiled egg whites, diced

1 hard boiled egg yolk

2 Tbsp chopped green onion (one onion)

2 Tbsp chopped celery (one rib)

Dash of curry powder

1/4 tsp sea salt

1. In a medium-sized bowl, whip cottage cheese and milk until smooth. (I didn't make it smooth--no biggie.)

2. Mix remaining ingredients except egg whites with cottage cheese mixture.

3. Add diced egg whites to mixture; mix well.

The H ate his with Mary's Gone Crackers, and the little guy ate his with a fork. Mine was placed atop a slice of locally-made whole-wheat bread. The recipe made exactly enough for the three of us. I really liked the texture, and the little hint of "hmm, what is that ingredient?" nuance from the curry powder.

Nutritional information for a half-cup serving:

Calories - 170

Fat - 3.5g

Saturated fat - 1g

Trans fat - 0g

Protein - 17g

Carbs - 18g

Dietary fiber - 3.5g

Sodium - 528mg

Cholesterol - 106mg

The weekend!

Happy Saturday! I hope you had a beautiful, relaxing day. We didn't have any real plans this morning, other than spending some time with my sister. Even though the little guy was up before the sun (ok, so it was raining anyway) we had a nice morning chilling with each other while we got ready for the day. The sun came out later, which made for a grand afternoon. My little guy adores being outside, so I'm glad we were eventually able to get out of the house!

7:30am - breakfast

Steel-cut oats with walnut, raisins, and maple syrup (local).

10:30am - snack

Low-fat string cheese and a banana before going garage-sale shopping with my sister.

12:00pm - a few chocolate-covered edamame and water while we wandered and browsed.

1:00pm - lunch

We stopped at my sis's alma mater to watch a little of the rugby match. I'd packed a picnic lunch, but we started with the free hot dogs and popcorn they were serving. Then we shared some fresh fruit (pineapple, cantaloupe, strawberries), grape tomatoes, water, and veggie Pirate's Booty, and then I had a dark mint-chocolate square.

Don't you love my gigantic thermal bag? I found it at the grocery store for $8 and it's amazing! I have been huntingfor a nice-looking cooler, since that is what The Eat-Clean Diet author suggests for toting clean eats on the go (not that I eat out of the house a lot, but sometimes I wish I had one for day trips!), and this one fit the bill perfectly. The only hard part was choosing a pattern. There were so many cute ones on sale! I intend to use this for my regular grocery shopping trips to hold cold things, in case I can't get right home to put them away.

4:00pm - snack while doing food prep

Wheat toast (local) with sunflower seed butter; hardboiled egg (local) with horseradish. In my rush to eat before the little guy woke up, I forgot to take a picture until after I'd taken a bite. Oops!

6:00pm - dinner

The little guy and I had another picnic while we waited for The H to get back from his weekend business trip. I reheated a portion of tuna nicoise casserole, and his plate was filled with quinoa, turkey, cheese (local), edamame, and grape tomatoes. I intended for us to share the strawberries, but he snatched 'em all, little fruit monster!

When The H rolled in just before 7, we piled into the car and met my sis and bro-in-law for ice cream. It was sadly unsatisfying... I had a single scoop of some chocolate-peanut butter combo, shared with the little guy.

The H put him to bed while I made H a salad, since he hadn't had dinner yet. Thanks to my gorgeous fridge, I was able to pull this beauty together in no time:

Spinach, turkey, egg, bell peppers, walnuts, beets, tomatoes, cucumber, baby bella mushrooms, feta, Romano Caesar dressing. He had a peach Chobani yogurt on the side, then we made some decaf and settled in for the night with our second dessert--almond butter chocolate chip cookies--that was far better than the first!

I don't like broccoli rabe.

At least, I don't care for it the way I first attempted it. Even though I boiled it before sautéing, as directed in the recipe, we still tasted quite a bit of bitterness and it wasn't very good. The recipe I followed was from the Eat-Clean Diet Cookbook by Tosca Reno. My only change was to use a yellow onion instead of red, since that is what I had. Any suggestions for other ways to prepare this leafy green veg are welcome, as I still have half of the gigantic bunch I bought for this dish. I served this with sirloin steaks in a mushroom-wine sauce with lemon-thyme fingerling potatoes from Clean Eating Magazine. Those were fantastic! The H even called them "juicy."

Broccoli Rabe Sauté

1 lb broccoli rabe or asparation, trimmed

1 medium purple onion, peeled and finely chopped

3 Tbsp extra virgin olive or avocado oil

3 cloves garlic, passed through a garlic press

Sea salt

Fresh ground black pepper

1. Fill a bowl with cold water and a few handfuls of ice cubes.

2. In a large saucepan bring 2 quarts water to a rolling boil. Add vegetables and a pinch of sea salt and cook until vegetables turn color. Once the broccoli or asparation has just turned color, remove from boiling water and place in ice water. Drain well and place on paper towels.

3. In a medium skillet heat oil until just hot. Add garlic and onion and cook until onions are soft, about 4 minutes. Add broccoli or asparation and cook over medium-high heat until al dente - tender but still crisp. Season with fresh ground black pepper and sea salt. Serve hot.