Junk Free July WEEK: II

Week 2 went pretty well. We had a rocky start, with Rusty getting hit by a car.  So I have had even less time to document my meals, and didn’t have as much time to dedicate to getting super creative with my food.  I did however manage to go running three times, and do a simplified version of the 300 workout twice this week.  I have so much energy! This week I lost 3 lbs.  I was pretty happy with our creations this week, the foods were all super tasty. No flops to be had. I made more banana muffins to just pop after a workout or get me started in the morning.  We also made up some salsa at the beginning of the week.  We like to make a big batch, split it, and use one half for a chili base.  We kind of eyeball things so these are approximates….

SALSA….

8 medium sized tomatoes

5-6 green onions

1 white onion

2 red bell peppers

1 green bell pepper

2 yellow bell peppers

1 orange bell pepper

3 serrano peppers

2 anaheim peppers  (we had never used these we usually like to use habanero, but they didn’t have any at our local market)

Dice these veggies and combine them in a large bowl. 

We then like to add some salt, tomato garlic basil, and crushed red peppers.  Then split in half one half will be for the salsa and the other half can go straight into the crockpot for chili.  Now the half that is for salsa we split in half again, now blend 1/2 in a bullet or processor.  Then add it back with the other half. This will bring out a lot of those natural juices, but you still get the chunky texture that we like in our salsa.

LOVE homemade salsa. It would be great to add some grilled corn and avacado too!

Now for our super yummy spicey chili!

I cut up another 4 tomatoes in larger pieces, and threw these right into the crockpot with the 1/2 half of salsa mixture.  You also need about 5-6 cups of kidney beans.  I had to start these early on in the day. I poured the juice from cooking the kidney beans in as well.

Then, we add TONS of spices.  Salt, Cumin, Crushed Red Pepper, Garlic Salt, Red Curry Powder, Chili Powder, Ground Cayenne Pepper, Season all season salt, spicy Montreal, Extra Spicy (mrs.dash), Garlic and Herb, Tomato Basil Garlic,Tabasco’s Smoked Chipotle.  We tend to just sprinkle each spice over the surface of the chili, not sure again on amounts…we are more generous with the cumin though.  Then we add some sugar (brown and granulated). We found this works great, since we make our chili so spicey.  The sugar makes it less overwhelming. You still get that kick in each bite, but then it subsides so you can make it through a bowl of chili without dying. 

 We also grilled a couple chicken breasts, pulled it and added it in.

And of course I didn’t get a picture of the finished product. Probably because I was too busy eating it!

We like to let it sit in the crockpot overnight so all the flavors infuse everything.

OMELETS

Whip your desired amount of eggs

Cut up your veggies- we like onion, green onion…

and bell peppers, this time i did red and yellow.

Mix the veggies in with the egg.  Warm up your skillet at a medium heat, you don’t want the outside of the omelet to cook to fast.  Once it’s warm I melt a little dab of butter and twirl the pan until the skillet base is coated. Then sprinkle with salt and pepper.

        

Pour in the omelet mixture.

Once the edge of the omelet starts to curl up, you are ready to flip, and soon there after ready to get your grub on!

We really enjoy omelets for dinner, they’re so fast and yummy!

We had some rolls left over that I made last week and jeff wanted to use them to make sliders. Even though I couldn’t use our special sauce on mine, it was still really tasty.  I will definitely make these again sometime!

Jeff’s were more like -Saucy Sliders and mine –Salsa Sliders

First Jeff drained alot of the blood out of the beef…. 

We didn’t have any hamburger seasoning, so we just sliced up some g-onions.

With your hands mix them into the beef. I didn’t do this, this time, but I could totally see throwing some blackbeans or slivered carrots into the patties as well.

Next, separate into patties (ours were super small, like i said we were using  homemade dinner rolls as buns) and grill!

First I put some spring mix on mine….

And some of the salsa we made earlier in the week!

Don’t these “Salsa Sliders” look divine?!   Well they tasted amazing!

and here are jeff’s “Saucy Sliders”

The special sauce is a mixture of honey mustard and bbq sauce. (we actually both did this separately before we ever met and were surprised when we went to lunch at a bbq place and both asked for the same condiments and then noticed that we were both mixing them together and said “you do that too?” My friends thought I was crazy growing up, and few would try it.  But it is seriously soooooo good! Anyway he also put some Famous Dave’s signature spicy pickle chips (we get these at Costco) on his.

As I’ve mentioned before I LOVE peas! More specifically snow peas, and sugar snap peas.  I get these fresh bagged peas from Costco.

 

Usually I use a little smart balance and nook em for a minute and sprinkle with salt and pepper, but since i’m doing no processed foods, I used olive oil and they tasted just as good!

Well another great week has come and gone, and I truly do look forward to this next week.  I picked some plums this week and want to make some more fruit leather with them!  I will also be kicking up the gears on my workouts this week!

Junk Free July Week: 1

 

Well, week one went pretty well. I weighed myself first thing Monday morning and then first thing Sunday Morning, and after 6 days I lost 6 lbs! Overall I feel great! By day two I was finding that I wasn’t as hungry as I usually am.  I was feeling fully after eating quantities that were much less than what I eat in other foods. Realizing this I thought to myself….there must be something in processed foods that makes you feel hungrier than raw unaltered foods.  Well I researched it, and sure enough! Read about it here  .  Sure, I had my moments of weakness where I seriously contemplated eating a piece of chocolate or just grabbing a quick granola bar-but I didn’t!  You don’t really realize how much of your food is processed until you do something like this.  Day 3, I felt like DANG THERE IS NOTHING I CAN EAT!  I love this though, it is forcing me to think outside of the box, to learn about nutrition, and to learn more about cooking.  This week I made some homemade bread…

Once it was done cooking and I cute off a slice to eat, I realized…..I don’t have anything unprocessed to eat on it! So I ate some plain bread and rolls this week.

I also made some banana muffins this week, due to have a lot of ripe bananas.  This is the recipe that my mom would always make….

Bright Day Banana Muffins-

1 C. All Purpose Flour                        1/4 tsp. Nutmeg

3/4 C. Whole Wheat Flour                  1/2 C. (1 med) mashed ripe banana

1/2 C. Sugar                                         1/2 C. Milk

2 tsp Baking Powder                          1/3 C. Vegetable Oil

1/2 tsp. salt                                          1 Egg (slightly beaten)

(To make this unprocessed you would need to use raw milk)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a large bowl combine all dry ingredients, and then stir in remaining wet ingredients just until dry particles are moistened.

Fill (12) muffin cups 2/3 full. ( if you don’t use paper baking cups you will need to grease the pan)

Bake at 400 degrees for 18-22 minutes. (the mini muffins I cooked for a little less)

Remove muffins from the pan immediately.  Now brush the tops of the HOT muffins with 2 TBSP. melted butter, and then dip each muffin top into a mixture of sugar and cinnamon. ( I obviously skipped the butter and sugar part on my personal muffins, but my family and friends got to enjoy the full product)

Serve Warm!

I made a quadruple batch, and was able to store my personal muffins in a bag to eat during the week. This came in handy and was super convenient, especially when I would get home from a run and was completely famished!

One night I made some roasted veggies…. I cut up some carrots and potatoes.  Threw them in a tupperware with a tsp. of olive oil. Shake it around until all veggies as shiny.

Spread veggies on a cookie sheet then sprinkle with salt and pepper.  I used this salt (so it’s unprocessed)

                       

Bake the veggies at 375 degrees for 25 min. or until they reach your desired tenderness.

SO DELICIOUS.  I do this with the veggie blend bags from Sam’s (the ones with cauliflower, broccoli, and carrots)  I used to hate broccoli and cauliflower, but now I love it!

Later in the week I found a recipe for Homemade Fruit Rollups. They turned out great, even though I had to change up the cooking method.  I will definitely make these again in the future. The best part is there are only 2 ingredients! It just so happens that i had some strawberries that were on the way out, and ripe enough that I couldn’t eat them straight.

2 Ingredient Strawberry Fruit Leather-

2 C. strawberries

1/4 tsp. cinnamon.

Puree it!

        

The cooking instructions were to pour it over a cookie sheet with some tephlon baking sheets or whatever it’s called.  Then to cook it at 100 degrees for 8 hours.  I didn’t have any of those cooking sheets so I wanted to split up the puree to try a few other methods. I put some in my silicone muffin pan, and then poured the remainder straight onto a greased cookie sheet.

Now my the lowest temp my oven will go is 170.  So I cooked the leather at 170 for 5 hours. Next time I will do a little less so it’s a little more maluable, so maybe 4 hours?  I think I will do it all in the silicone pans too. I like how their already little discs.  I cut up the other portion using a pizza cutter.

These are seriously sooo delicious. I’m excited to experiment making other fruit leathers.

For dinner the other night we did Salmon (we finally bought a grill, we had been without since we moved to utah!)

I have never been a fan of fish but I love salmon now using this seasoning we got from Costco. The salmon we also get at Costco!

                          

                        

 

We also grilled up some white corn on the cob!

 

I’m super excited with the results i’m getting, everything i’m learning, and to get more creative in the kitchen! Wish me luck on this next week, and please feel free to share any fun new recipes you find!

Junk-Free July (Day: 1)

With most aspects of our daily life we tend to fluctuate in efficiency.  This happens with sleep, keeping the house clean, positive thinking,  budgeting, scripture study, prayer, exercise, eating right. Sometimes I’m better at doing some of these things than others and as of lately I have been lazy and slacking in the health department.  I needed an overhaul!  The more crap you let into your daily diet, the more you feel like crap, and when you feel like crap you don’t usually get the exercise in you need.  You hear it all the time from people like me, who fluctuate in and out of being fit and healthy. “Wow I just have so much energy! I feel great.  It’s so nice to start my day off with a good workout.”  Then it happens AGAIN.  Why do we let ourselves fall out of love with being healthy, and full of energy?  Well I think it has alot to do with our environment. So I’m gonna CHANGE my environment, starting with processed foods.  I’m doing away with sweets as well this month, due to my unhealthy relationship with chocolate.  Portioning and exercise is great, but are you really healthy consuming all these processed foods?  Processed foods are like the gateway drugs into obesity.  Obesity didn’t used to be an issue, and processed food didn’t used to exist. Not to mention they teach people to be LAZY.  Heck there are premade pb & j’s.  Really?! How much time does it take to make a pb & j? Pretty soon we’ll all be fat blobs floating around on hover crafts like in the movie Wall-e.
I’ve been on kind of kick a lately about being self-reliant. Our church (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints) really stresses the importance of this.  I’ve always agreed with them, and thought that it’s good to be prepared for anything, but with where this world is heading I’m more and more eager and motivated to get to where I need to be.  If there were a natural disaster, or any disaster for that matter, would I have the means and skills to feed my family?  Back in the day people grew their own food, raised their own livestock, and had to rely on themselves for EVERYTHING.  I could go on forever, delving into this, but the main thing I’m trying to get across is you can’t be self-reliant and unhealthy, and there may not always be a store you can run to, to get your food.   So Junk-Free July is my trial run.  I am removing ALL processed foods from my diet this month to 1. Help me achieve my health goals 2.Prove to myself I can do it 3.Use how I FEEL to motivate me to truly change my environment 4.Force myself to learn what I NEED in the home (and eventually in my food storage) to provide healthy meals for my family  Eventually we would like to have a garden, chickens, etc and be completely self-reliant. So join me on my journey this July as I get healthy, and as I educate and prepare myself for caring for my family in the case of any emergency.  
Well, Day: 1 has gotten off to a great start. I woke up early and went on a 4 mile run with a friend.  When I came home I was bit faint and needed somethign to eat.
BREAKFAST: I made a smoothie (I have a smoothie just about everyday, sometimes it’s my breakfast, or sometimes it’s my lunch)  It’s easy, cheap, refreshing, and unprocessed.  All you need is a blender, ice, frozen strawberries, frozen mixed berries, and orange juice. Of course there are all kinds of smoothie recipes.  You can add all kinds of fruits and veggies this is just my favorite, because it’s the quickest, tastiest one I’ve tried and it’s super low calorie. Doesn’t this look delicious?

Total Calories: 185
Total Fat: 0g
Total Carbs: 40g
Protein: 2g
Grab your blender!
Throw in: 1 1/2 C. ice

1 C. frozen strawberries (approx:5)

I buy the 6lb bag from Costco        

Next add a 1/2 C. of Mixed Berries


I buy the 4 lb. bag from Costco      
Lastly add 1 1/2 C. fluid (I did 1c. OJ & 1/2c water doing the 1 1/2 C OJ is only 50 calories more)

I buy the 6 pack at Costco      
Blend and ready to go!

As you can see, this recipe renders a good amount. So no feeling hungry or unsatisfied, this fills you up! Half the time I don’t even finish it in one sitting and stick it in the freezer and come back later and spoon it.
LUNCH: Steamed some Frozen Peas and Sliced a Granny Smith
Lunch was pretty basic and quick. We were doing stuff around the house so I didn’t have alot of time. I could eat snow peas ALL DAY LONG and be happy!


Dinner: Chicken Tortilla Pie
Okay the name makes it sound WAY better than it was!  Okay it wasn’t bad at all, but was a little lacking in flavor. I’m a fan of a kick of spicy where chicken and tortillas are concerned. Here we are.

Well basically I made some tortillas….

…which I topped with spring mix, rice (that i made in our new rice steamer I LOVE it, and we use it all the time) The rice turns out EVERY time!
                    
Next I added some blackbeans.  I usually used canned but that is considered processed so I had to do it the long way.  It was a much longer process than I realized. Lots of rinsing and soaking going on…..

To top it all off is sauteed Chicken along with red pepper, green onion, and white onion.

I had two of the tortillas and the calories are somewhere in the ballpark of 375 and 400….not too bad. I’m betting if I had made some homemade salsa to go with it would have been much better. I may give this a try later this month. Well these were my eats today, but I’m hoping to really experiment with some things so this should get interesting. I of course continue to drink LOTS and LOTS of water. I ended Day 1 off with a nice hot bath!
Well being a mother of two, and preparing for a litter of pups coming early august I don’t have the time or energy to take pictures of all of my meals for this month and then blog about them.  So I will take pictures of my favorites and of course my flops throughout each week and do a weekly rap up. Probably Sunday afternoons? Feel free to join me in this month long challenge, or if you have any yummy recipes I could try this month (unprocessed of course!) I’d be happy to try them. I’m afraid I’ll be running out of things to eat. I CAN DO THIS! right?