Real Clean: Enchilada Stuffed Bell Peppers

As you may have noticed, I love making different dishes and then ‘enchilda-izing’ them! This one is no exception. I just love all these flavors! Now to make things easier (well for every night, not just for enchilda-ized dishes), I cook and pre-shred 3-4 chicken breasts, 5+ cups of brown rice and a couple cups of black beans in the beginning of the week and store them all in airtight containers in the fridge. It makes meals like this (and so many others) easier, quicker and far less messy.

Enchilada Stuffed Bell Peppers

Serves 2 comfortably (each to have two halves of bell pepper over stuffed), or can serve 4 with a side dish (like salad, or brown rice with chopped up cilantro and lime juice mixed in)

Ingredients:

Bell Peppers

• 2 Bell Peppers
• Olive Oil

Stuffing

• 2 Medium Tomatoes (juicy tomatoes, not roma)
• 1/2 an onion (yellow, white or sweet)
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 jalepeno
• 1/4 cup of cilantro
• Your favorite spanish style Spices, I use 1 tsp cumin, 1/2 tsp coriander, 1 tsp chili powder, 1/2 tsp oregano
• 2 Tbs Chilis in Adobo Paste (optional, but I always keep this on hand for all my enchilada dishes)
• 1 shredded chicken breast
• 1/4 cup cooked black beans (if canned, rinse them)
• 1/2 cup cooked brown rice
• small amount of cheese to top it off (optional, I used about 2 tsp worth of goat cheese on each half)

Directions:

First things first, if you don’t have your rice pre-cooked and your chicken pre-cooked and shredded then this must be done first. Cook the rice according to package directions, and as for the chicken boil the breast for at least 15 minutes and then shred with two forks (if it doesn’t look 100% done after that don’t worry, because these will be baked in the bell pepper later as well).

For any stuffed Bell Pepper, start out pre-heating the oven to 350. Cut the bell peppers in half vertically and scoop out any seeds or ‘guts.’ In a square casserole dish (sprayed or rubbed down with a little extra virgin olive oil), place all bell pepper halves in and spray the inside of each bell pepper with olive oil as well. Cover with foil and bake for 25 minutes.

While the Bell Peppers are pre-baking, prepare the enchilada stuffing. Chop the tomatoes into small pieces and toss all of it into a pan on medium-high (all juice included), next chop and add the jalepeno, onions, garlic and cilantro. Add in the seasonings. Mix all together and let cook for at least 5 minutes until it all thickens up a bit. Next add the chilis in adobo paste and re-stir. Followed by the black beans, shredded chicken, and brown rice. Stir all together well and continue cooking a few minutes longer.

When the Bell Peppers are done pre-cooking, take them out of the oven and scoop stuffing into the halves with a spoon, overstuff them! Use as much stuffing as possible! Re-cover with foil and bake for 25 more minutes.

If desired, take them out after this, top with a little cheese and bake for another 5 minutes or until cheese is melted.

Enjoy!

Remember we all have different constraints. Do the best you can with what you have and what you know, and if you do that you will continue to grow!

 

Get Real (about cooking clean, simple meals!)

Those who know me have come to learn that I have found a passion in healthy cooking, understanding ingredients, and making smart eating choices (almost all the time anyway). The question I feel that I get asked the most is about simple meal ideas. The real secret is that living this way needs to be formed as a habit, a way of life, a matter of fact. And you just need to start. Start somewhere!

If I were to take a look back at the meals I was making every night when I first started with healthier eating/cooking, I would think that the portions were way too large, some of the ingredients were full of added sugars, salts and other chemicals, etc. And right now, if I ate that way, I would GAIN weight. However, at the time I was making huge improvements and was losing lots of weight! As I learned more, I adjusted my eating habits more. And as I lost more, and my stomach could get fuller on less, I was able to eat less. It all happens in time. We don’t (generally speaking) go from a fast food or junk food diet to a completely clean one overnight. Well, wait, we do when we are on a ‘diet.’ But who the heck wants to be on one of those!!??

All that said, at this point I eat small simple meals Monday-Friday nights, and splurge a bit on the weekends. Here is my #1 tip for beginning to make healthy eating a habit. As well as what I am making for dinner these days!

My tip? Plan Ahead! Though I go in phases where I am planning out my meals for the week, or where I am not. It makes it a whole lot easier when I do. Financially and time-wise (less trips to the grocery store, planning meals using ingredients more than once that week, etc) it makes sense. It also gives me an opportunity to look forward to my meals, knowing what I have planned (and therefore less likely to deter from that on a whim). It also makes it less stressful at the end of the day to just stick with the plan, instead of spending time mulling over what to eat.

 

2-3 times per week, I make a ‘mexican’ egg bowl:

2-3 scrambled eggs, 2 slices turkey or regular bacon, a couple tablespoons of black beans, a couple tablespoons of salsa, and about half of an avocado. Takes me 10-15 minutes to make. Buy a can of black beans, rinse them, drain them and store them in a Tupperware or glass container in your fridge and one can will last a couple weeks this way!

1-2 times per week, I make a ‘taco’ salad:

2-3 large handfuls of chopped romaine lettuce, 1/2 chicken breast (boil for 10-15 minutes until no pink in the center, and then shred and season it with any type of chili powder), 2 tablespoons black beans, about half of an avocado and 2-3 tablespoons salsa instead of dressing.

about 2 times per week, I make some variation of chicken (or fish) and veggies:

With the chicken, I usually cut it into bite size pieces and pan-grill it (season it on both sides with sea salt/pepper, etc.), using just enough olive or coconut oil to keep things cooking (instead of burning). Or I will slice up a link of chicken sausage (like Adells) and saute right with the veggies. For fish, I use salmon or cod (well seasoned) and pan fry for just a few minutes on each side. Some common veggie sides that I will use are:

• Bell Peppers and Onions (sauteed along with the chicken)
• Mushrooms and Asparagus (trim asparagus and chop mushrooms in half, then in a large bowl mix with a couple garlic cloves minced finely, some rosemary minced, and some olive oil, and mix it all together very well… spread it all out on a baking sheet and broil for 5-10 minutes or bake at your ovens highest temp 450-500 for around that time)
• Roasted Red Potatoes, Carrots and Garlic (Chop the potatoes and carrots into bite size pieces and boil for 10 minutes, drain and throw into a large mixing bowl with whole cloves of garlic, add sea salt/pepper and olive oil and mix all of it together well, pour all of it into a glass baking dish lined with aluminum foil — a large enough piece of foil to be able to wrap it all up like it was in a pouch, bake at 350 for 40 minutes or so)
• Salsa! Just saute the chicken pieces in salsa. Any type of salsa! Tomatillo, Tomato/Garlic, Peach/Tomato, any kind you can think of.
• Kale (chopped into small pieces, making sure that the stem is not included as it is too tough and uncomfortable to bite down on, mixed in a bowl with olive oil, sea salt/pepper, minced garlic cloves, and minced rosemary leaves.. saute on the stove for just a few minutes)
• Spicy Green Beans (trim green beans and boil for up to 5 minutes, mix with a little olive oil, and some crushed red pepper flakes, saute about 10 minutes)

Remember, we all have different constraints! Do the best you can with what you have and what you know. If you do that you will continue to grow!

Real Clean: Spicy Chicken Enchilada Soup

Soups are an amazing way to get a ton of veggies in, without having to add any dairy, grains, or even meat (if you are avoiding that too) to your meal. And they can be delicious and filling as well. All of my soups basically start off with the same key ingredients and then I just play around from there to find different combinations (think pot roast potato and veggie soup, Indian spiced soup, and this chicken enchilada soup). So please! Feel free to adjust the ingredients and add others as you like! The ingredients I have placed a ‘*’ next to are the ones that I would recommend as your base if you do choose to play around!

Chicken Enchilada Soup

Makes 5 good size bowls of soup (feeds 2 more than comfortably, and 4 if you add a side dish), and takes about 1 hour-1 hour and 15 minutes to fully prepare (most of this is letting the finished soup simmer)

Ingredients:

• 1-2 chicken breasts
• *1-2 T coconut oil
• *3 cloves of garlic
• *1 onion (any kind white, yellow or red will do)
• *various spices: in this case- cumin, coriander, sea salt/pepper, oregano, chile powder
• *3 cups chopped tomatoes (I like to mix it up with some roma, and some heirloom, but there are no wrong answers here!)*
• 1 bell pepper (any color)
• 1 jalapeno, de-seeded
• 2 T chipotle paste with adobo (might take you a moment to find in your grocery store, but it’s there)
• *2.5 cups low sodium chicken or veggie broth
• *6 oz can tomato paste
• *2-3 large handfuls of greens (chopped spinach, kale, etc.)

Directions:

Get two pots on the burner (one large enough to hold the 5+ bowls of soup — this one needs to have a lid — and a smaller one that will hold the chicken breasts to boil). Start boiling water on high heat in the smaller pot and add the whole chicken breast/s once boiling (you will want this to boil about 15-17 minutes which should be how long it takes you to chop everything else up).

Place the 1-2 T of oil (coconut) into the big pot, and turn the heat to medium high. Peel and chop the garlic up into small chunks (does not have to be minced super tiny), and do the same with the onion. Dump the garlic and onion into the now melted coconut oil and stir around. Add spices as you like, at least a teaspoon of each! Keep stirring mixture. Let the garlic/onions/spices cook (while stirring occasionally) while you chop up all the tomatoes into bite size chunks of various sizes and dump those in too. Let this all cook while you chop up the bell pepper and jalapeno into bite size chunks and add those in.

Add the chipotle paste with adobo, stir. Add the chicken or veggie broth, stir. Add the tomato paste, stir. At this point, I would add a bit more spice as well, again a teaspoon or so of each.

The chicken should be about boiled by now (after 15 minutes for one, 17 for two), so take this out and chop into bite size pieces (use a fork and knife as chicken will be hot!), and add the chicken to the soup. Add the 2-3 handfuls of chopped greens (I promise you won’t taste them and it is a great way to get these suckers in your diet). Stir everything altogether once more.

Turn the heat to high and once the soup is starting to boil, put the lid on and turn it down to low (1-2 if numbered). Set your timer for about 45 minutes to allow chicken to cook a bit more if needed and the rest of the flavors to all meld together and intensify!

YUMM!

And remember, we all have different constraints. Do the best you can with what you have and what you know. If you do that, you will continue to grow!

Real Clean: Pumpkin Pie Power Smoothie

Pumpkin Pie Power Smoothie

This is a smoothie I drink almost daily, as a power/energy boost and generally as a meal replacement. I don’t normally calculate calories, etc. (instead I focus on eating only fresh whole ingredients and minding my portions when it comes to high calorie/fat items), however I have the calculations below the recipe. The nutrients and healthy ingredients are more than worth their weight in this smoothie, because they help with digestion and elimination of toxins as well as to increase energy and stave off hunger. This is primarily due to the chia seeds and the filling and fibrous half banana. This smoothie would be considered vegan, paleo, and clean.

The Recipe:

  Ingredients:

• 1/2 of 1 Frozen Banana
• 1/2 Cup Pumpkin Puree (canned with pumpkin as the only ingredient, or fresh roasted at home and frozen into ice cubes, this would be around 4 regular sized cubes…can also substitute 2 tbsp nut butter if you prefer)
• 2-3 Ice Cubes (unnecessary if using pumpkin cubes as stated above)
• 1 Cup Almond Milk
• Seasonings to Taste (cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, allspice are all great additions .. I use 2 tsp of cinnamon, 1/2 tsp of ginger, and a pinch of nutmeg myself)
• 2 Tbsp Chia Seeds (if new to these, I would start with 1/2 tbsp and increase with each smoothie)
• (optional but recommended) Add-Ins as Desired (I personally use maca powder most of the time and always top my smoothie with some bee pollen, there are a lot of other possible add ins out there. With maca and bee pollen, as with other add-ins, start with a small amount [1/2 tsp or even less] and increase slowly up to 2 tbsp or so)

Preparation:

First, combine frozen and liquid elements (here it is the banana, pumpkin or nut butter, ice cubes if needed, and almond milk) and blend fully. Then add chia seeds and any other spices or add ins, and blend once more. Top with bee pollen if desired.

Nutritional Info:

This is around 220 calories (depending on the type of almond milk used), 11 grams of sugar, 5 grams of fat, 5 grams of protein and 30 grams of carbs. So, yes, I suppose high carb. But again, this is a meal replacement and aids in digestion, energy, and staving off hunger for a good period of time.

Some extra smoothie tips

• For the frozen banana, there is no right or wrong way persay. I used to buy bananas and if I wasn’t able to use them before they were starting to brown on my counter, I would just toss them in the freezer and then cut off the skin and cut into chunks when needed. But I have found that buying 7+ bananas at once and peeling and chopping them all up and placing each 1/2 banana into its own ziplock bag works wonders.
• I do roast the pumpkin myself and then freeze the homemade puree into ice cubes and then toss 4 cubes into each of the ziplock bags with the banana. These two steps make these daily smoothies a breeze. Just dump out the baggie into the blender, add almond milk and blend. Then add seasoning, and additional add-ins, blend again and I’m done.
• Yogurt can also be frozen into cubes and added to the pre-made smoothie packs.
• Greens are great to add to smoothies and if you add in just a handful, the taste should not even be noticeable (a handful of spinach for example).
• Berries are also a wonderful fruit to add in if in season, instead of the Pumpkin or Nut butter (strawberries, blueberries, raspberries… all lower in sugar than many fruits and so high in nutrients).
• I recommend the use of all organic ingredients.

With all the tips I have mentioned, though, I realize we all have different constraints (be them time related, physical, financial, etc). On this journey to health each of us needs to do the best we can with what we have and what we know. As long as we are doing that, we will continue to grow!