Roasted Red Pepper Zoodles

This is the first time I have ever tried to "fire roast" any vegetables.  It has always seemed pretty intimidating to me but I have a new found love for zoodles (zucchini noodles) and wanted to mix things up a bit. Turns out, "fire roasting" wasn't as difficult as it seems.  It is hard to find a nice pasta sauce that doesn't contain a ton of heavy cream and butter, both of which I am no longer eating.  This recipe gives you that thick constancy and is the perfect sauce for zoodles, spaghetti squash and I am dying to try it on brown rice noodles.  Enjoy!

Roasted Red Pepper Zoodles

Ingredients

For the sauce:

2 large red bell peppers
1/4 onion, roughly sliced
2 oz parmesan cheese (be sure to buy a block and hand grate the cheese to steer clear of nasty clumping agents that are put in pre shredded cheese)
1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp parsley
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp pepper





For the zoodles:

2 large zucchini
1/2 Tbsp coconut oil
1 Tbsp garlic, minced
Sea salt to taste

Additional grated parmesan cheese and parsley for topping

Set oven temperature to broil and move the top rack up, closer to the broiler flame, but not touching.  On a large cookie sheet or baking stone, place whole bell peppers on their side along with the sliced onion.  Allow to broil, turning peppers and onions so that the peppers are nicely blackened on each side and the onions are nicely golden.  Be sure to keep an eye on the veggies during this process as they can burn easily on broil.  Remove from oven and place peppers and onions in a sealed baggie.  Allow to sit and cool for 10 minutes.

While peppers and onions are cooling, melt 1/2 Tbsp coconut oil in a large pan, over medium heat.  Using a Veggetti, or other veggie spiral slicer, make noodles from the 2 large zucchini.  Add them to the pan with the coconut oil, along with garlic and sea salt to taste.  Allow zoodles to cook until they are soft, but not mushy.

When peppers and onions are cooled, remove the outer, waxy layer off of the peppers (it should come off fairly easy).  Add peppers, onions, grated parmesan cheese, olive oil, parsley, garlic powder, sea salt and pepper to a blender or food processor.  Puree until the mixture becomes desired constancy.  Add the sauce to the pan with the cooked zoodles.  Mix and allow to heat for 5 minutes to incorporate all the flavors.

Clean Waffle/Pancake Batter

I love waffles and pancakes!  Who doesn't?  They are one thing that has been hard for me to give up in this new clean eating lifestyle.  I have managed to clean up many of my favorite dishes, so I figured I would give waffle/pancake batter a try.  I'm going to be honest when I say that I was expecting them to taste a bit like cardboard (not that I have experience tasting cardboard, haha).  We were snowed in a good majority of last week and when I get board, I cook.  I spent some time in the kitchen this weekend toying with several different ingredients and I am happy to say that I came up with a delicious recipe for waffle/pancake batter that not only did I love, but so did my 5 year old daughter.  Win, win in my eyes!  Enjoy!

Clean Waffle/Pancake Batter

Ingredients

2 cups oat flour (grind up steel cut oats until they are the consistency of flour)
1 cup unsweetened almond milk
1 egg
1 ripe banana, mashed
2 tsp pure honey
1 tsp vanilla extract

Coconut oil for the pan, griddle or waffle iron

Optional toppings: Pure maple syrup, nut butter, fresh fruit

In a large bowl, combine all ingredients, mix well.  Scoop 1/4 cup of batter onto a coconut oiled pan, griddle or waffle iron and cook until golden brown on each side.  Top with optional toppings.

Clean Almond Joy Bites

I have a serious sweet tooth!  I have been tinkering around in the kitchen trying to come up with clean ideas to help with my sweet tooth.  My Dark Chocolate Covered Frozen Banana Bites are delicious, but I needed more of a variety.  I racked my brain for something else I could do with chocolate and fruit/nuts, and came up with this.  Enjoy!

Clean Almond Joy Bites

Ingredients

Filling:
1 1/2 cups unsweetened shredded coconut
2 Tbsp coconut oil, melted
3 Tbsp pure honey
1 tsp vanilla

1/4 cup raw almonds

Coating:
1 3.5oz bar of 75% or higher dark chocolate
1 Tbsp coconut oil, melted
1 Tbsp pure honey

In a medium bowl, combine filling ingredients.  Mix well to make sure ingredients are incorporated well.  Using your hands, make bite size balls out of the filling mix, placing them on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.  Place 1 or 2 raw almonds on each bite size coconut ball.  In a microwave safe bowl (or using a double broiler on the stove), melt the dark chocolate in 30 second increments, stirring in between each 30 seconds, until fully melted.  Add 1 tablespoon coconut oil and 1 tablespoon honey to the melted chocolate.  Using a spoon, evenly coat each coconut bite with the melted chocolate.  Refrigerate until chocolate hardens.

Bruschetta Quinoa Salad

The nasty germs made their way to our house last week!  Everyone was down at some point during the week so I was a bit MIA.  With a healthy house, I was able to try some new ideas in the kitchen.  Since quinoa and I have a fairly new relationship, I have kept my recipes pretty simple.  I haven't strayed away from hot dishes and was a bit intimidated by cold, salad-like quinoa recipes.  I decided to alter my Bruschetta Quinoa Skillet to a salad version that would be delicious as a side salad, and versatile enough to prep for meal prep.  This was honestly the first time I have ever tried cold quinoa and I must say, it is just as delicious.  Enjoy!

Bruschetta Quinoa Salad

Ingredients

2 cups cooked quinoa (about 1 cup uncooked)
1 cup grape tomatoes, halved
1 cup mini mozzarella balls
12 basil leaves, roughly chopped
2 Tbsp garlic, minced
4 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 Tbsp pure honey
Sea salt and pepper to taste

In a large bowl, combine all ingredients.  Mix well to incorporate all the flavors.  Store in an air tight container, in the refrigerator, for at least 1 hour to allow the ingredients to marinate.

Cauliflower Pizza Crust

Hands down, my favorite cheat meal is pizza!  I don't eat it as often as I could, for obvious reasons (it goes straight to my rear end!) but when I want a healthier version of my beloved favorite food, I opt for the cauliflower crust!  When I talk about making my pizza crust out of cauliflower, I almost always get the strangest looks.  It may sound strange, but believe me, it is delicious.  Nothing will ever top the taste of a traditional pizza, but this does come in a close second!  Enjoy!

Cauliflower Pizza Crust

Ingredients

1 head of cauliflower, cooked and riced
1/2 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded
1/4 cup parmesan cheese, shredded
1 egg, beaten
1/2 tsp garlic, minced
1 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp sea salt
Desired pizza toppings
Coconut oil to coat pizza pan/stone

Preheat the oven to 450*.  Coat pizza pan/stone with coconut oil.  In a large bowl, combine cauliflower, cheeses, egg, garlic, oregano, garlic powder and sea salt.  Pour out onto pizza pan/stone and using your hands, gently pat the cauliflower mixture to form a round "crust".  Bake for 15 minutes (may take a few minutes longer, depending on desired crust thickness) or until golden brown.   Remove the crust from the oven and change the oven setting to "broil".  Top the crust with desired toppings and broil for 3-4 minutes.

Meal Prep 101

When I first put together the guidelines for my 5 week challenge (which I will share next week), I knew that meal prep would be a huge factor in my success.  If I leave my meals up to chance, more than likely, it won't be the cleanest option.  Since one of the goals of my challenge group was to eat completely clean (minus one cheat meal a week), I knew I had to meal prep.

Surprisingly, I actually enjoy meal prepping for the work week.  It's no surprise that I love to cook and the satisfaction of knowing that mine and my husbands meals were not going to be guess work, is awesome!  It most certainly has kept me on track and keeps the week free of stress and worrying about what to make for lunches.

One thing that comes to mind behind the idea of meal prepping is this quote: "by failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail".  Since a lot of people struggle with the nutritional aspect of a healthier lifestyle (myself included), meal prepping is so important.  It not only sets you up for success, but it helps develop that routine that is so important when converting to a healthier self.

One thing that I have become aware of during this challenge is that eating clean does not have to be boring!  I haven't felt deprived once and i actually enjoy having everything laid out for me.  I have delicious food to eat and the best thing is knowing what amazing things I am doing for my body by fueling it with the right food.  If you know me personally, you know that I am an avid planner.  If there is a way to plan something, I am planning.  So it should be no surprise that I love my meal prepping.

I have decided that meal prepping is so important to me and important in continuing this healthy way of life, that I wanted to share some tips I have come up with so that you can also be successful!

What you will need:

Tupperware containers in various sizes
Mason jars
Ziploc baggies
Sharpie

Tips:

• Start by planning out your menu for the week (see the awesome menu planner below).
• Carve out 2-3 hours (I prep on Sundays) for meal prepping.
• Prep for the 5 day work week at the most.
• Cook a large portion of a good carb (I usually do brown rice).
• Wash all veggies and fruit.
• Steam/roast any veggies desired.
• Cut up any raw veggies or fruit you will be using.
• Cook a large batch of protein (we cook a whole chicken in the pressure cooker for the week).
• Boil some eggs-easy and a good source of protein. 
• Portion everything out amongst your containers (I placed a nice guide of portion sizes down below for ladies-I double that size for my husband)
• I usually have a good carb, protein and veggie in each container for lunch and fruit/grains for breakfast and snack.
• Label everything-since I prep for myself and my husband, I label our containers with our names and what meal it is for.  For myself, I also label mine with the calories. 

I have a couple go-to recipes that I rotate for breakfast.  You can check out my Greek Yogurt Parfait and Overnight Steel Cut Oats recipes.  Prep them in mason jars for a quick, grab and go breakfast. Grapefruit with a touch of honey is also a delicious and easy breakfast to prep and a nice veggie omelet is always a good choice as well.

For snack, I keep it pretty simple.  I will usually prep a dozen hard boiled eggs and separate them in pairs in ziploc baggies.  I keep them in their shell until I am ready to eat them to keep them fresh for a longer period of time.  Another delicious and easy snack is an apple with nut butter.  My favorite nut butter of all time is Justin's Maple Almond Butter.  Not only is it fantastic, but it comes in individual squeeze packets that make prep for this snack a cinch.  Lastly, a no fail snack is a good fruit salad.  Cut up some of your favorite fruit, squeeze a bit of lemon juice on top and sprinkle with cinnamon!  Divide it up into desired proportions and you have yourself a yummy snack.

For lunch, I tend to prep a few different varieties of similar ingredients to keep it easy but to avoid getting bored.  I almost always have a brown rice base to my lunches.  Accompanied by a protein, which mine is always black beans (they are my favorite) and a large serving of veggies.  I love making my Vegetarian "Fried" Brown Rice.  It reheats nicely and is something different than the boring rice and veggies.  Along with my fried rice, I  found this fantastic, simple idea from a vegetarian/vegan restaurant I went to on vacation.  It was so good that I thought, why couldn't I recreate this for meal prep.  It simply is wild rice, black beans, pico de gallo, and guacamole (I smash up an avocado, add a little of my pico de gallo, garlic powder and sea salt).  Mix all those ingredients together and it is so delicious!  I got some simple sauce containers with lids (the kind you see at Mexican restaurants that you can take salsa home in-from Smart and Final) and I put my toppings in them.  So easy and they can be tossed after using.  Another go-to lunch prep is brown rice, black beans and a half of a roasted sweet potato.  Sweet potatoes are an easy thing to prep and they too, heat up nicely.  Quick and easy tip on prepping sweet potatoes:  Preheat the oven to 400*, pierce your sweet potatoes, cook for 1 hour.  They come out fantastic every, single time!

The one meal that I don't prep, is dinner.  I cook my dinner's fresh because I have the time to do so.  If you don't have that option, prepping dinners is perfectly fine.  For those busy, on the go, men and women, meal prepping for dinner is a fantastic idea.  Any of my lunches above can be used for dinner as well.   A couple other recipes that I like to cook for dinner are: Coconut Chickpea Curry, Curry Pumpkin Penne Pasta, Taco Salad (meat can be prepped ahead of time and quickly added to some lettuce and veggies), Chef Salad (use prepped protein and veggies).  

Here are some fantastic resources that I have found and use weekly for my meal prepping.  

I hope some of my tips have given you a better understanding of meal prepping.  Set yourself up for success!