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!