Big Batch Roasted Chicken, Buzz feed Clean Eating Challenge

Go ahead, drool.  If you are at all a meat eater, this image will make your palms sweat.  The challenge calls for you to roast a large batch of bone in, skin on chicken.  Once it's all done roasting, you take the meat off the bones and the skin off of the chicken.  Having both of those during roasting, helps create a great flavor.  

The recipe is super simple, here it is.  I have used this for my family by reheating in a cast iron skillet with a little more oil and leaving the skin on and they really appreciated the flavor while I appreciated its convenience.  Go.  Roast.

Day 3 of The Clean Eating Challenge

It's 9pm on New Year's Eve, so let's get this post written!

The morning started out with a very simple blackberry and greek yogurt parfait. I topped this with almond slices and those are glorious things!  Here is day three breakfast recipe.  From the picture, I probably had too many sliced almonds and the serving size was too large. I had some then came back and had the rest an hour later.

Ease of preparation: 1, so very easy.  If you have a spoon, you're good to go!  Get it girl!
Satiety:  I was surprised at how filing this was.  I did a handful of chores on half of this serving size then came back for a fill to sit and fold laundry. Yes, my life is glorious.
Serving Size: By following the directions, it is a great individual serving size. 
Flavor:  This recipe tasted mostly of plain greek yogurt so as long as you don't mind unsweetened greek yogurt, you won't mind this recipe. The blackberries can be a wee bit tart, so I wouldn't blame you for wanting to add a little honey, honey.


Next is lunch!  We had great use of the leftover napa cabbage in this recipe. I used all that I had left and it was perfect.  The salad was served cold, nothing heated or warmed.  It was a forkful of happiness and joy.  With this so very simple recipe, I made a dressing myself in hopes that it was a clean dressing.  I just searched because you can ask for forgiveness instead of permission and great news, it's clean! This link will show the lunch recipe which is Asian Chicken Salad with Almonds and "Rice vinegar" vinaigrette.

Ease of preparation: 1, so very easy. Slice the cabbage and already roasted chicken and viola.  My rice vinaigrette was prepared the same way as their vinaigrette, but I used rice vinegar as my acid.  
Satiety:  this was a perfect lunch.  I could eat this several times a week. Add in carrots, which the recipe called for but I omitted and perhaps some fennel..yum.
Serving Size: I shared the bowl from the picture with one of my daughters, who loved it.  We also shared left over kales and chickpeas so I didn't waste what I over made from the day before. . 
Flavor:  This was a very clean tasting salad. A lot of crunch and a fresh simplicity.  I really found pleasure in this dish.

With preparation, I bring you dinner.  For dinner tonight I made cauliflower steaks with lentils.  In addition to these two elements, I made the family basmati rice and roasted chicken from the big batch roasted chicken for them to eat.  

Ease of preparation: slicing shallots, slicing cauliflower and turning on the oven was about it for work.  I had to time things for them to be served at the same time.  Most of the timing was because of the additional items I made for my children.   

Cost of ingredients:  Inexpensive.  I used bagged beans, lentils quick really quickly.  
Satiety:  I think this is a great dinner and if you aren't too worried about calories and just want to have a detox, eating some of the roasted chicken will give you enough food for the remainder of the night.  
Serving Size: I used one cauliflower and doubled the recipe for the lentils so I could serve everyone.   
Flavor:  I added salt to the lentils.  I love the thickness of the cauliflower and roasting it consistently makes for such a treat.  

Today was a good food day.  I am thankful I made a clean vinaigrette that I like.  Cheers to those raising their glasses for New Years!  

Day 2 of The Clean Eating Challenge

Today I woke up ready to prep my meals and try breakfast.  Last night we prepped an Overnight Oats with Blueberries and chia seeds, the recipe can be found here.  My husband was sure to mention that the bag of chia seeds can grow, just like chia pets.  Fascinating!  I also want to note that he ate all of the leftover dinner from last night that was meant for lunch today so I had plenty of prepping to do this morning to keep us on track.  I am just so glad that he enjoyed the so very clean meal.

Without further delay, here is the picture of what day two breakfast looks like on this clean eating challenge.  I always think of eating oatmeal warm and as I hesitated to eat it cold straight from the fridge,  I doubled check that warming was not necessary.  I took a few more pictures and cleaned up the kitchen finally sitting on the couch officially began day two.

Ease of preparation: 1, so very easy.  Place all ingredients into a container overnight and that's it!
Cost of ingredients:  Inexpensive.
Satiety:  oatmeal for breakfast does wonders for the body.
Serving Size: I doubled the recipe because I am feeding five-six people.
Flavor:  This recipe tasted mostly of plain greek yogurt so as long as you don't mind unsweetened greek yogurt, you won't mind this recipe.  Others in my family are not fans of Greek Yogurt so they didn't enjoy this start to the day.

Lunch on day 2 was Kale, Chickpea, Fennel salad with orange vinaigrette.  I accidentally added roasted chicken, sometimes I read the recipes right and sometimes not.  Day two I took to the road. We went to visit a friend who is also on winter break and I am so glad that I packed food because she enjoyed lunch with me. I had a huge plate of this salad and I also added in my snack, a beefsteak tomato, feta cheese and balsamic vinegar for lunch.  No sense in skipping something when you aren't sure if time will permit a snack that afternoon.  Today I did include a picture of my snack, because it's one of my all-time loves.

Now to rate my day two lunch:
Ease of preparation: 3, we ate all of the kale from the previous day so I had to make a new batch. Doing that is more than easy.  Here is the direct link to this recipe, or instructions because it's really not hard.  I had no idea how to cut fennel.  I wasn't sure which part of the root I was supposed to eat so I used this guide as help.  It reminds of me of how a heart would look.

Cost of ingredients:  Approximately $5.  The fennel was about $3 per bulb.
Satiety:  Eating this, with chicken, and my tomato snack I was sustained for at least three hours.
Serving Size: I had enough for at least three servings with the recipe I quantity I made.  I made four times what you see on the serving plate.
Flavor:   I enjoyed this meal for lunch and so did my lunch partner. I am on the lookout for a really fresh vinaigrette.   I don't mind the recipes provided in challenge but they just do it for me.  I want something that is really going to pop on your palette without the overwhelming flavor of citrus.  Things to note are:  Cut your kale into just larger than bite sized pieces if you are not buying the already pre-cut stuff.  Also, I hope to describe the taste of raw fennel, as I mentioned it was new to me.  I would totally recommend using the fennel.  I will probably use it more often. It has a very crunchy role in a salad, reminding me slightly of celery.  As celery has a slightly peppery taste, to me, fennel as a slightly anise or licorice taste.  What this means is that you will experience a crunch with a watery and light black licorice taste.  It is a very tolerable taste because it is so faint.

Next up is day two dinner!  Served was napa cabbage wraps with chicken, tomatoes, mango and avocado.

Here is my recipe rating:
Ease of preparation: I prepared this meal exactly as the recipe ordered.  You cut everything in cubes, then mix all together just before you eat it.  I had to use a guide to cut a mango.  I didn't do it as well as they did in the link.
Cost of ingredients:  Approximately $5.  
Satiety:  Two leaves should fill you up at least two hours which is fine because its just before bedtime.
Serving Size: I was able to manage the serving size better and I pretty much had an idea that I would be the only one enjoying this for dinner.
Flavor:  As I use this opportunity, I am going to be a critic of this recipe.  While all of the ingredients are clean and healthy, I think they together have potential.  My mango wasn't as ripe as it should have been, use this guide before buying your mango, and I really could have preferred a more sweet taste from it. Try to remember that you should be able to squeeze the mango near the stem on top and the mango will show your indentation.  You also want to smell it. It will smell ripe. Once a mango is ripe, place it in the refrigerator until ready to use.  The ripe avocados become a bit messy once you stir them so stir very gingerly.  I had to use dried basil in place of an actual leaf because the grocery store didn't sell the plant itself.  Here, I would consider using cilantro.  My preference next time will be to saute the mango to sweeten the taste.  I like it raw but love it slightly cooked.  The cabbage leaves were unnecessary to me. I enjoyed using them to eat with my hands but would have also enjoyed them shredded and as a salad base.  The middle of the larger cabbage pieces were flavorless so shredding it, may have give the cabbage less of a bitter taste because you can eliminate the middle section altogether.

Tomorrow is day three and we have beautiful recipes to try!  If you'd like the direct link to what series I am following, here it is.  Stay with me into day three!




 

Day 1 of The Clean Eating Challenge

Kale and Banana Smoothie starts off my day one!  Five ingredients blended together to make a fantastically green concoction.  Here is the link to the recipe.  Kale, Almond Milk, Frozen Banana, Vanilla extract and Peanut Butter (*recipe calls for almond butter, I am using what I have).  

My husband was the first to leave the house this morning so I offered to make him one.  He tasted it and decided it wasn't for him so off he went with an empty belly.  

To rate these recipes, I will mention ease of preparation, cost of ingredients, satiety, serving size per recipe and flavor.

Ease of preparation:  Scale of 1 (being easiest) to 10, this is a 2; Very easy.  You only need to have frozen unpeeled bananas overnight as well as have the ingredients on hand.
Cost of ingredients:  Inexpensive.
Satiety:  within 20 minutes of eating it, my belly is not stuffed yet full.
Serving Size:  This recipe will yield close to two cups of smoothie, well at least 1.5 cups easy.
Flavor:  This smoothie tastes mostly like peanut butter.  Drinking this was not difficult but the flavor was not sweet.

Next up, is lunch! I had to wait four hours between meals so by the time it came, I was hungry yet still reasonable.  Today's lunch was a Shaved Asparagus salad with Shallots and Fried Egg Salad and the recipe can be found here.

Ingredients for this recipe included eggs, asparagus, arugula, shallots, tomato, lemon juice, olive oil, parsley, salt/pepper and feta cheese.  We used the entire container of arugula and we were able to serve three platefuls of salad.  

Wow, what a salad! I like my egg slightly runny and it complimented the warm, al dente asparagus. Did I mention that I didn't think I even liked Asparagus?!  Yep, I asked my husband yesterday if he liked them because in ten years I had never bought them from the store or asked for them in a restaurant.  Neither, had I seen him eat them.

Ease of preparation:  Scale rating:  4. I could not peel the asparagus, as the recipe suggest so I just sliced them lengthwise and cut them in half across. The shallots will cook fast so keep your eye on the pan. Frying the egg, can always go either way; broken or perfect.  If you prefer a runny egg, then opt for what you enjoy!  I love, love, love feta cheese so having it for lunch made my heart sing. This salad is served best when it's warm but not terrible as I had two plates, the second which was room temperature.  I added a little olive oil as a dressing to give it congruence.

Cost of ingredients:  Estimated cost is between $5-$6, mainly due to the amount of arugula you use and the cost of asparagus.  Still affordable.
Satiety:  I was able to suppress my appetite until it was snack time, three hours later.
Serving Size:  This recipe will yield close to six cups of salad and is a great meal to serve to guest, pending you can serve it warm.  You can cook as many eggs as you prefer and I imagine a hard-boiled egg wouldn't be bad here either.
Flavor:  This salad tasted green.  Your body is screaming with joy once you've cleaned your plate and licked your fork.  Favorite meal of the day.

Here is my portion of the salad, in which did not hesitate to help myself to a second serving. 

Guilt-Free, I may add!  

I am omitting the pictures of my snacks.  So far, I've had peeled and sliced whole carrots and red pepper hummus for a snack and soon, it will be a nice pear with peanut butter, or almond butter if you have it.  

Finally, the final meal of the Day 1 Clean Eating Challenge!  

Tonight, I serve you a Roasted Chicken Bowl with Couscous, Kale and Big Orange Vinaigrette.  I was able to use some leftover chicken that I had roasted this weekend in place of baking new chicken, so stay tuned later this week for a review on their Big Batch Roasted Chicken Breast.  I also changed quinoa to couscous because that is what I  had in my pantry!  I am no nutritionist but I bet these two are pretty close nutritionally.

Ease of preparation:  Scale rating: 4.  You should prep everything while your chicken is roasting so you can progress in steps beforehand then bam!   I cooked the couscous first and let it sit on the counter top at least 10 minutes. I made the vinaigrette dressing and let that sit while I finished up the kale.  Steaming the kale was easy but be sure to strain in before mixing it all together.

Cost of ingredients:  Inexpensive.
Satiety:  stuffed.  My palate is fresh, my teeth are happy and life is good.
Serving Size:  This recipe will yield close to six cups. I wouldn't think adding more kale would hurt anyone so be sure if you are adding more kale, that you make more dressing.
Flavor:  The kale was pleasant, not bitter.  I don't know if it was because of the orange vinaigrette that helped or the light steam.  The couscous had no real flavor but I did add some olive oil and salt into the water.

In case you were interested, this is the orange vinaigrette.  My interpretation is to squeeze juice from an orange and not use sweetened orange juice that you would drink. 

The flavor of this was good, not sweet at all.  

Who doesn't love making their own dressings?!

I hope you have enjoyed today's posts and I hope the pictures encourage you to make this your own.  I will not post specific recipes as the link is the best way to organize your week.  I am now off to clean up the kitchen and prep my oatmeal for tomorrow.  I can't wait to see how overnight oats with chia seeds and blueberries taste.  

The PERFECT boiled egg, performed by a 9 year old!

With this week stretching into a mini vacation for us, we are loving the opportunity to organize and gain some extra footing a family with three children needs.  This morning I read a quote that is exactly the motivation for this weekend:  "I  have been given the gift of TIME.  I will not waste it."

My daughter and I are the only ones awake, this Saturday and it's just after 10am.  We will not waste these moments.  Tis' a year chalked full of learning life skills so breakfast is a perfect time to start and be sure to subscribe to the blog so you can easily follow our journey.  I have years of experience and will say that I'm not bad behind the stove and with that being said, I constantly strive for perfection.  .....and this entry is perfection!

So, how do you boil a perfect egg.  My daughter decided she wanted to boil four eggs, as I sit and write this, she has already eaten three.  We filled the smallest saucepan we had with enough water to cover the eggs one inch.  We then heated the water to a boil.  Once the water was boiling, we placed each egg on a spoon and dropped them in.  We then took the pot off of the stove so it would not receive any additional heat but use the heat from the boiled water to cook.

Simple.  You can vary the time you want to boil the egg depending on how well you want the egg cooked.  We opted for 10 minutes and it has yielded us firm, not runny eggs, with a creamy taste and a beautifully rich yellow color.

Once the timer rang, we slightly cracked the eggs and placed them in cold water.  We peeled the eggs without a problem and just used our hands to gently cracked them open to eat.  Without salt or pepper, they have now served their purpose.

With research, I have found the most ethical egg to purchase is a pasture raised egg, probably found roadside or at a farmers market.  These eggs may be much harder to find if the weather is cold but if the farmer uses a heat light, egg can be had.  Make accommodations for this.  We were able to find eggs that are not the most humane but one of the better choices!  The instructions I followed can be found on this website.  Here you can find additional cooking times if you want eggs more or less done, based on your recipe or need.

Eggs can be kept with their shell on for one week.  Additional information on eggs can be found here as well.  Enjoy your egg.  It's the perfect protein punch!  Here is another picture of a beautiful protein packed meal or snack that it the perfect convenience food.