New Things

A couple weeks ago I embarked on a 2 week clean eating plan.  The plan's purpose is to give your body a rest for when you've over indulged during the holidays.  The focus is on eating whole/ancient grains, lean proteins, and plenty of vegetables, very little daily and refined flour/sugar, plenty of fiber, and no processed foods.  The plan also stipulates no alcohol, but I opted for just significant limits.  The plan is well laid out with menus and shopping lists, and most meals have leftovers that are used either in another dish or serve as another meal.  I ended up not needing the 2-week of meals as I had plenty leftover to accommodate the next week, and for dinners I opted for smart meals as I didn't want to fix 2 meals, and so Steve and I could eat the same thing.  Also, Andrew was home a few days last week, so I guess I was a little outvoted!  Overall I don't think I actually feeling any better, but I'm glad I did this plan as it allowed me to put more thought into what I'm eating and try some new things and new combinations.  Some of the hits included the banana smoothie muffins.  These were breakfast for about 8 days, 2 muffins + 1 cup of warmed almond milk served as a breakfast, and 1 muffin could serve as a snack.  These were really good, and even Steve liked them, but didn't want to know what went into them.  Aside from the baking ingredients that made them muffins [flour, sugar, baking powder], the had bananas, spinach and strawberries.  All you really tasted was the bananas-so good.

Also, I had for several lunches and dinner the spicy chicken chili made with ground chicken, red kidney beans and lots of spices.  However, this was not a spicy dish and I added hot sauce cause I like things spicy.  I added kale and spinach to get the extra vegetable in there too.  I will be making this receipt again.  2 days the plan called for a tofu scramble, now I've had tofu before, and find it a pretty good protein substitute, the recipe for this plan called for a sweet potato, kale, tofu and a variety of spices.  I found this dish surprisingly good, the turmeric give the tofu the egg-y color, and the kale and potatoes, while not typical for breakfast, worked in this dish.  This has piqued my interest in trying more tofu dishes.

One of the snack options was Matcha Latte-Matcha Green tea is the highest quality powdered green tea and has a long tradition in Japanese culture.  I found this at our Kroger in the health food/organic section.  It's pretty pricey, but it has an interesting taste and when combined with hot almond milk really did make for a nice treat.  There are even special utensils to make the tea in the traditional manner-not sure I'll delve fully into this, but I enjoyed trying this as I don't normally drink green tea.

Other things I tried was a pecan pie smoothie which was blended tofu-sweet potato-and spices.  It was okay, but don't know if I'd go to the trouble to make it again.  Also, there was a cauliflower curry that was good, but not as good as other Indian dishes I've had.  Overall I have to say it was an interesting experience, and I will certainly take what I've learned about ingredients and portion control, and continue to apply it to my eating habits.  I also got clued into the Yoga Studio App which I am loving.  I've done a few sessions, and the time really goes by fast.  I've ordered a new yoga mat that I hope will be here soon.

I'm always up to something new that's good for me, so we'll see how long the good eating habits last.  What's new with you?