Catching Up and Clean Eating

I am really hoping to get back into blogging because I feel like I have a ton to say and have really been trying hard to try out new recipes and things in general.

Speaking of new things meet Chase (aka boo or boyfriend):

That is us at the Salute Wine Festival last weekend in downtown Winston Salem.  I had to snap a quick picture because this was the vineyard we went to on our first date! He is wonderful when it comes to me wanting to take pictures so he may make a regular appearance on here :)

Work has been crazy crazy busy recently plus I had shoulder surgery at the beginning of May and I have completely fallen off the workout train and trying to eat healthy wagon.  I can totally tell :( I started researching clean eating and meal prep ideas to help me get back on track!

Clean eating/Meal Prep Day 1

I was off work today and since I will be at work for the next 3 days I thought no better time than the present.  Over memorial day a girl who lives in my building was telling us about backyard produce so I promptly signed up because it sounded awesome!  My first order arrived Thursday and in the excitement I left my phone downstairs in my car when I rushed over to see what all I got.

My order included:

Everything was in great shape and good quality.  I am already looking forward to next week.

I have heard a lot of people say that Aldi has decent produce for a good price so I finally went to check it out today.  I got some limes, lemons, broccoli, and spinach before hitting up trader joe's to finish up my shopping.  I spent a lot of time reading labels trying to determine what I thought was "clean".

For me "clean eating" is definitely a work in progress and I am going to attempt something like 80/20 which means clean eating 80% of the time and just normal good choices the other 20% with an occasional splurge here and there. In my research I have seen several places mention if an ingredient list has more than 5 ingredients it shouldn't be considered clean (some exceptions do exist) and also if you wouldn't buy an ingredient separately than again it shouldn't be considered clean.

I feel pretty good about my grocery choices between backyard produce, Aldi, and Trader Joe's.  Here is my haul before I started any meal prep:

For lunch I made a berry smoothie: (and it was delish)

1c 2% milk

3/4c frozen mixed berries

1tbsp chia seeds

2 scoops aria vanilla protein powder

1 cup baby spinach leaves

(can't even tell there is spinach in there...surprise!)

I did my meal prep off and on throughout the afternoon but I am really happy with what I accomplished on my first go round:

Top: snacks to have for work and home which includes watermelon, kiwi, apple slices, celery, citrus water, some leftover red bell pepper strips and strawberries

Bottom left: baked pumpkin chocolate chip oatmeal (not completely clean, but not awful either) see the recipe in my previous post (I made 4 servings to have breakfast through Tuesday)

Bottom right: lunches x3 for work which is a baked baby sweet potato, roasted broccoli, and quinoa black bean patties (they kind of fell apart I need to work on the recipe some more) and a snack of strawberries + blueberries from backyard produce.  

I feel prepared to face this weekend/Monday at work!

Quinoa black bean patty

(I adapted this from a recipe found on the bag of tricolor quinoa at trader joe's)

1c tricolor quinoa, cooked in chicken stock according to package directions

3/4c black beans

2 cloves garlic

1/2 red bell pepper, chopped

1 egg

olive oil

panko bread crumbs

salt and pepper to taste

Heat olive oil in a pan over medium heat and add the bell pepper until it starts to soften then add in the garlic and continue to cook until completely softened.   Add black beans, garlic, and bell pepper to a food processor and pulse until combined and smooth.  Add bean mixture to the quinoa.  Add the egg to bind the mixture.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Divide into 5 portions and pat out into patties.  Place patties on a plate and refrigerate for 10 minutes to allow them to set up a bit.  Once they had set up I put the same pan back on the stove over medium heat and pressed each side into some panko bread crumbs before heating over medium heat until each side was browned.

I had enough mixture to made 5 patties and based on the ingredients I used each one had about 260 calories.  Quinoa is a super grain because it has a lot more protein than other grains and it is tasty and versatile.  

Have a good weekend!

A little snapshot of our visit to Old Stone Winery over memorial day weekend