clean eating: oatmeal raison cookies with a side of dark chocolate.

just the other day, brad and i were having a much needed lazy day and i wanted a sweet treat.

isn't that how it always happens?

knowing we had oats, i created something on my own and it turned out rather...great.

when does that ever happen?  

so if you are looking for something clean and healthy but to satisfy that sweet tooth, without further ado i bring you...

combine (all these measurements are loose measurements):
1 c. oats
2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 c. honey
1/3-1/2 c. organic whole grain pastry flour
raisins (however many you want)
walnuts (because that's what i had in the freezer)
mix all ingredients (the mixture should be dry and sticky)
add a little HOT water to make the texture more like cookie dough

cook at 350 degrees for 10 minutes.

once you remove them while hot, add a piece of dark chocolate to the center of the cookie.

*we keep the 100 calorie dark chocolate bars from trader joes and i just broke one bar into twelve pieces to add to each of the cookie.  which worked out perfectly.  (not overpowering but just enough)

**one more thing:  after i made these cookies, i found this recipe one thegraciouspantry.com.  by go to guide for clean eating recipes, it's similiar and i am sure just as good...if not better.

clean eating: egg white and spinach breakfast sandwich

i am so excited about this breakfast sandwich that i have already instagrammed and tweeted about it!
it is that good. so good i have eaten it six out of six days this week for breakfast.
it's pretty too, everyone likes to eat pretty food.

toast your ezekiel cinnamon raisin english muffins while you are cooking the guts of the sandwich.
while the bread is toasting, saute your spinach for a few minutes until it is good and wilted.
then add your egg whites to the spinach.
scramble together until cooked.
add lots of hot sauce.

get your bread out of the toaster, add egg scramble with spinach and enjoy.

it is sooo good, if you make this think of me...and let me know.

chances are, i'll be eating one too.

clean eating recipe: stuffed acorn squash

last new years i had THE BEST acorn squash filled with a sweet soup, it was so delicious that it intimidated me to cook with acorn squash, even though it was so so good! 

this week, i have been doing a 15 day cleanse eating only fruits and vegetables and saw this recipe and had to try it.

and let me just tell you, clean eating is not for sissies!  it is MUCH easier to make box food, clean up too.  sometimes i think it taste just as good too --- kidding.  we have a tiny kitchen and it seems like making one clean meal creates the biggest mess ever, thankfully i have a husband who will clean the kitchen.  and i can make. a mess.

acorn squash with stuffed portabella mushrooms and onions

makes two.

preheat the oven to 450.

total prep time 45 minutes.

cut the top off of your acorn squash and clean guts/seed out. discard.

brush with olive oil.

roast in preheated oven cut sides down for 30 minutes.

while the squash is roasting:

combine two garlic cloves, half of a small onion, and saute for five minutes or so.

combine cut up portabella mushroom

saute for ten more minutes, or until you think it's ready.

take squash out of the oven, flip.

split onion, mushroom mixture and fill each acorn squash

put back in the oven for ten more minutes

take out.

looks at the disaster your kitchen is...

shake your head,

wipe your brow,

put on a pretty plate,

take a picture and put on instagram,

EAT.

{add salt, pepper and cayenne pepper to taste}

fries that are good for you. (say whuuuu?)

sometimes i forget that just because sweet potatoes have sweet in the name doesn't mean they have to be sweet.  

call me a slow learner, it's okay.  cayenne on sweet potatoes.  saaay whuuuuu?

i know.

i like knowing what is going in my food, especially "fries" - and knowing that i can go a little crazy with them because

1.  they are sweet potatoes and good for you.

2.  because they aren't fries at all.  they are sweet potato baked.

3.  i'm tricky like that.  don't tell brad.

here's what i learned the other night though and immediately wished there was a crowd gathered around so they would erupt in cheers after the first slice.

pizza cutter!

a pizza cutter works A.M.A.Z.I.N.G. on sweet potato fries.  that's the hardest thing to me is the slicing them.  amirite?

i mean, those suckers are tough.

pizza cutter and fuuuugetaboutit.

here's how i made mine the other night.  

of course, there are so many different ways to make these and they are going to be perfect every time.  

tonight i used:

safflower oil (a great, healthy, clean high heat oil)

ceyanne pepper

salt 

pepper

threw everything in a large ziplock bag and mixed everything together, manipulated the bag for a while and poured them on the pan to cook at 375 degrees for 45 minutes.

clean and easy.

and you just made faux FRIES!!!!

can i get an amen!?

fries that are good for you.  

you are welcome.

two minute pizza.

you know how they say don't judge a book by it's cover? well that's the way i feel about this pizza.  when i made it for brad one night as i was sitting the pizza down in front of him---apologizing in advance for the looks of it and then saying you know if it's not good, it's not me.  i followed the recipe.  but i think there is no way warm cottage cheese can be good if you ask me.  sometimes i think he tunes me out when i start in on a good run on sentence.

then he ate it quick fast and in a hurry.  and i did too.

and you know what else?  dare i say it was delicious?

there is the whole we are eating clean now thing too.

so.

we could just be starving.

let me know if you try it.
you'll be pleasantly surprised.

ingredients for the pizza:

cottage cheese

spinach 

clean spaghetti sauce

ezekial tortillas

two minutes in the microwave.

the pantry is clean and so are the brownies. hallelujah!

a month in to eating clean, and i think it might just stick.  it is great to feel like you know exactly what is going into your body and not feeling any guilt for eating anything!  and as you roll your eyes thinking we must be crazy, guys...you can eat anything!  i have made two batches of clean brownies and loved every last bite of them.  and heck yes, we licked that batter bowl clean.  we were like two rabid dogs when the word clean and brownies came out of my mouth and then when i made them and they were good?

fuuuuuugetaboutit.

so most ALL of my recipes are coming from thegraciouspantry.com---she is the genius behind my nonstarving self.
because of her, i have had pizza, brownies, and then the normal clean eating food as well.  so go give tiffany some love.
because well, she's the reason i ain't hungry.  and i've lost fourteen pounds to boot.  {speaking of boots, fall is here, and that means i need some new boots.  camel.  camel boots.  need.}

since we are clean now, we cleaned out the pantry.  see how that works?  clever, huh?
no 'bad" food in da house.  
nothing.  
so how can you "cheat" if all you have is clean food?  
yeah, i know.  stinks.  
up there, that's the before.

i mean, a girls gotta make room for her flax seed and chai seeds, the wheat germ is in the 'frig, don't you worry.  and while i am clean geeking out, i'll tell you this.  we have bee pollen too.  truth.

feels so great to know what is going onto your body.  to know exactly what is going in.  and it's all good for you.  every bite...good. for. you.  amazing.
wanna see what is not clean though?
this.

and since i am so confessing the degree to which the 'frig is a disaster.  i kinda like it.  i think it has personality.
a valentine from my mother in law.  and i mean, isn't it the cutest little thing ever?
a vintage postcard of the ryman auditorium that i got for my mom, that i can't seem to part with.  think it might be a framer.  just call me an indian giver.
and laura.  laura palmer.  who doesn't have her on their 'frig?

so i have showed you the insides of my cabinets, showed you the mess of my 'frig...tell me, what does your 'frig look like?

mess?

clean?

organized chaos?

and while i am writing this, i am waiting for these to come out of the oven.

brad thinks i'm a genius in the kitchen.
and i say "thank you lord and thank you tiffany."

timers going off, gotta go!

on being still.

clean eating: peach, egg whites, ezekial bread with natural peanut butter and honey with a side of kindle.

today was one of those days.  one of those days when i needed to turn the outside world off.  it wasn't a bad day.  no stress, really.  just a day that i needed to "just be."  i could feel it stirring in my soul.

so i ran home after an early morning at work, threw the dishes that needed to be cleaned in the dishwasher, tidied up the kitchen, let the pup out to play, started a load of laundry, put the computer away.

left the cellphone in the car and grabbed a book, walked outside and was.

nothing on my mind but the characters in my book, set in london.  the wind blowing, the birds chirping.
content.

soon enough i will head back to work this evening, but for now, i am still.

(this post was written last thursday)

clean recovery muffins (and eating clean...)

we have been eating clean in our house going on a month now.  we didn't eat "bad" before, but definitely not clean.  we made a commitment to try it until christmas and after that see how our bodies felt, if it was worth it, and the like.

also, just because we are human and well...human.  we decided to do a cheat meal once per week.  everyone does it different, but we decided what would work best for us,  one cheat meal per week.  and i am not playin'---that cheat meal DOES include appetizer, entree and dessert.  whether we want it or not.  whether we want it or not?...whatever.

to start we waited two weeks, just to get the new lifestyle and to let our bodies adjust to not as much coffee as you want, and no sugar, and no processed food and the headache that follows.  oy.  we had decided to go to the cheesecake factory, it's our favorite.  then we had a hiccup, i thought i was getting off earlier than i actually did---so we ended up not going until nine pm.

so we cheated and we cheated late.  

i think i said one hundred times "i have no guilt, we have done perfectly."  obviously, there was guilt, i hate eating late.  yeah, i got over it real quick.  brad ordered the avocado eggrolls for a appetizer as we were sitting down, i mean, our mouths were salivating...anything we wanted!  then i ordered a pasta dish with tons of veggies and for DESSERT---some god awful oreo, big, chocolate cheesecake that was heavenly.  i kid you not.  the funny thing is, usually when we go to the cheesecake factory, we never ever order dessert because we are full---and we were this night too, but let-me-tell-you-some'un we ordered that cheesecake and we ate it all.  and as we were eating it all, this is how the conversation went:
jessica:  oh, gosh, i feel sick.
brad:  yeah, me too.
jessica:  i think i could lay down right here.
brad:  i feel bloated.
jessica:  i can't wait to eat egg whites in the morning.
brad:  yeah, me either.
then after i licked that cheesecake plate, we rolled out of our booth and crawled to the car.

seriously though.  it was gross how bad we felt, how yuck our bodies felt.  and even though this will not detour us from having a cheat meal once a week or so, it makes you realize how much better your body is working daily when you are giving it the nutrients it really does need.  and not all the crap that is easy.

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because brad works out a ton, he needs a little more than just the normal food that most of us require.  he needs pre-workout and post-workout fuel.  (and keeping it clean) i began looking for something that was easy to prepare for him and something he liked for recovery.  

i found these banana cinnamon muffins that are moist, and delicious.  i have made four batches of them and try and not run out.  he LOVES them and they work great for an easy snack or before or after a workout.  i often add peanut butter to the top if he is having a hard workout---

here's the recipe:

cinnamon banana muffins

1/2 c. stevia

1/3 c. greek yogurt (plain)

2 eggs

2 cups mashed bananas

1/3 c. natural applesauce

1 c. whole wheat flour

3/4 c. oatmeal

1 t. baking soda

1/2 t. salt

1/4 t. baking powder

1 t. cinnamon 

3/4 c. protein powder

3/4 c. walnuts (crushed)

mix all the ingredients, stir and cook at 350 for 17 minutes.

+i found this recipe at thegraciouspantry.com

so easy and they are so delicious.  matter of fact, i'm going to make a batch now.

just call me, martha.  martha stewart.

or better yet, tosca.  tosca reno.

WIWW (and a no bake cookie recipe for a bonus. lucky.)

and today i only have a tank top from old navy on---what in the world?!?

i musta gotten dressed in the dark.  who knew i was so diverse?

this is what i wore to our family's labor day picnic and two people told me i looked like i had lost weight, soooooooooooo it's wednesday and i haven't taken it off yet.

i think they were distracted by the butterflies, personally.

buuuut, since we were talking about loosing weight...you know,  brad and i have been eating completely clean for about a month now.  and we stiiiiillllll alive!!!

yum yum and i live in the kitchen now dot com.

but, i have another recipe for you.  

easy peasy and oh my gosh they are so so good.  like you will think you are eating bad good.

some friends came over (non eating cleaners) and they liked them too.

so here's the yumminess (compliments of thegraciouspantry.com)

{CLEAN} NO BAKE OATMEAL COOKIES

1/2 c. honey (or agave nectar)

2 t. vanilla

1/3 c. natural creamy peanut butter

1/4 c. wheat germ

2 tbsp. chai seeds (or flax seeds)

1 c. quick cup oats

1 tbsp. unsweet cocoa powder

mix all ingredients together.

make little balls and put them in the freezer 45 minutes

(i just put them in a casserole dish for easiness.)

then EAT.  all or some.

i'll let you decide.

hope, i didn't get any crumbs on my monday outfit while i was making these...