Ripped in 30

I have been doing Jillian Michaels this week. Her Ripped in 30 video is insane. It's such a hard workout, but a great workout so I thought I would share. This week, all week long, I had not lost a single pound. Everyday I would get on the scale and everyday it would tell me the same number. After 6 days of doing Ripped in 30 I am happy to say when I got on the scale this morning it finally said I had lost 3 pounds. THANK YOU LORD!!! I was getting so frustrated. Last night I saw this on the Eat Clean Facebook Page: "Don't quit now! If you've just started your Eat-Clean journey stay strong, focus on the positive changes you've made, leave the rest behind" It really spoke to me and made me push through. Sometimes you just needs some words of encouragement to get you over a hump!

Clean Turkey Meatballs

I really wanted some pasta the other night and meatballs sounded really good. These are super duper easy to make and tasty! My husband is not on the clean eating diet, but he said he wanted me to make a big batch of these at the beginning of the week so he could eat the leftovers all week!!! :) This made about 14 meatballs that were about a tablespoon and a half in size.

Clean Turkey Meatballs

1/2 pound of lean ground turkey

2 1/2 slices of Ezekiel 4:9 Sprouted Grain Bread

2 eggs (1 whole and 1 white only)

1 garlic clove minced (I used two and kept off the vampires)

salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place slices of bread on a cookie sheet and cook for 5-7 minutes. Basically until it's hard and crunchy and not a square hockey puck! Normally at this point I would add this to my mini food processor. Mine is broken right now so I doubled up a freezer ziplock bag and hit it with a meat tenderizer and then jumped on it! And Voila! you have clean bread crumbs.

In a medium bowl add the bread crumbs and the remaining ingredients. Mix well. I let mine sit for about 15 minutes so that liquid would really soak up in the bread crumbs.

Heat a skillet with a couple of sprays of olive oil or Pam. Make small meatballs out of the turkey mixture. About 1 1/2 tablespoons to 2 tablespoons in size. I turned my about every 5 minutes until cooked all the way through. About 20-25 minutes total. I always suggest cutting into one to make sure they are cooked all the way through.

I served this over a clean eating spinach-tomato sauce (I will add this recipe soon) and pasta made of a brown rice flour.

My favorite kitchen gadgets

How do you know when you are fat, I mean a foodie??? Your favorite store to shop in is not J. Crew, it's not Anthropologie, and it sure as heck isn't Victoria Secret. What store is it you ask!?!?! William-Sonoma! I could spend HOURS in that store. I could also empty our bank account in this store. The good news is that my husband loves this store as much as I do. I'm one lucky girl!!!

My favorite tool in the past has been my Kitchenaid Mixer. That thing is a rockstar. I however have stopped doing a lot of baking since the diet and don't plan on doing a ton of it. I want to learn some clean cookies recipe very soon though ;) Now I have a couple of new favorites I recently got that I would like to share. They help in clean eating so that's good!!!

First is the Microplane Herb Mill. You stuff your fresh herbs in there and twist. Voila!, you have finely chopped fresh herbs. Clean up is a snap too!!!!

The other one is the Orka Oil Mister. The pots and pans I have can not have Pam and those types of sprays sprayed in them. I always have to use olive oil. I love olive oil and it's very good for you. Sometimes I get to much and don't mean to. This really helps controlling how much I use.

Healthy "almost clean" Smoked Salmon Dip

I call this "almost clean" because I know a small amount of sugar was used when the salmon filet was smoked. Other than that it is clean and it is GOOD!!!! Smoked salmon is one of my favorite foods. I think I could eat it everyday. When my husband and I went to Alaska in the summer of '10 we had a lot of smoked salmon and of course brought some back with us!!!

Healthy "almost clean" Smoked Salmon Dip

1 naturally smoked salmon filet

3 tablespoons of fat free Greek yogurt

1/2 tablespoon of garlic powder

1/4 teaspoon of salt

1 tablespoon of finely chopped chives

Flake the salmon apart in a bowl. Add all ingredients to the salmon and mix until well blended. Server chilled.

I served this with these crackers to keep it healthy and clean.

Football Bean Dip

Tonight is the Cotton Bowl and my team of choice, the Arkansas Razorbacks, are playing in it. GOOOOO HOOOOGS!!!! Football food can be pretty high in calories and not CLEAN!! So, I decided to do dips and chips. Black bean dip, guac, and of course salsa! I will be sharing my recipe for black bean dip and guac. I purchased my salsa, but don't worry it's clean! The guac recipe is my all time favorite, but I did not make it up. It's from the restaurant Rosa Mexicano.

Clean Black Bean Dip

2 cans of black beans (1 drained and one with liquid)

2 garlic cloves minced (I use more, but I love me some garlic)

1 tablespoon of ground cumin

2 tablespoons of finely chopped cilantro

salt and pepper to taste

cayenne (if desired)

fat free Greek yogurt

In a food processor or blender mix all ingredients together except for the Greek yogurt. If using a blender you may have to stop halfway through and mix so the blades don't get stuck. I like mine to be chunky so I don't let it mix for very long. You don't want it to be soup.

After its all mixed I transfer it to skillet on med low for about 10 minutes stirring often. Just to get it warm.

Then pour in a bowl. I have a bowl that is in somewhat the shape of a football so I pipe on laces with the Greek yogurt. The way I pipe it on is just by adding it to a ziplock bag and cutting a tip and Voila! it becomes a piping bag! :)

Clean Rosa Mexicano's Guac

1 tbsp white onion
cilantro
jalapeno
3 hass avocado
3 tbps diced tomato
2 tbs chopped cilantro
Grind 1 tbsp. finely chopped white onion, 1 firmly packed tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro, 2 tsp. finely chopped jalapeño, and 1 tsp. salt together in a molcajete until all the ingredients are well ground. (Alternatively, use a fork to mash the ingredients to a paste in a wide bowl.)

Cut 3 medium-ripe hass avocados (about 8 ounces each) in half. Twist the halves to separate them and remove the pit with the tip of the knife. Place an avocado half, cut side up, in your palm and make 3 or 4 evenly spaced lengthwise cuts through its flesh down to the skin, without cutting through the skin. Make 4 crosswise cuts in the same fashion.
Scoop the diced avocado flesh into the molcajete. Repeat with remaining avocado halves. Gently fold the avocado into the chile–onion paste, keeping the avocado pieces fairly intact.

Add 3 tbsp. diced tomato, 2 firmly packed tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro, and 1 tbsp. finely chopped white onion.
Fold together all the ingredients. Taste and add salt, if necessary.
Serve immediately, directly from the molcajete (or bowl), with tortilla chips. Makes 4 servings.

I refuse to give it up!

There are a few things on the eat clean diet I refuse to give up. I know they are not healthy, but I am just not gonna do it!!

1. Fat Free Calorie Free Spray Butter. Just a few sprays and your food tastes like butter. There is no way it's good for you, but I justify having it by the fact that it's 0 fat and 0 calories!

2. Mio Drink Mix. OMG, this stuff is amazing. I am trying to ween myself off of it a little. It is full of artificial sweetener so I know it's not good for you, but oh my goodness it's amazing. And once again 0 fat and calories!

3. I have actually really toned this down. I haven't had one in 5 days and that is good. I am going to try to limit them to once a week. I will probably get to the point where I don't even like the taste anymore. And once again 0 calories and 0 fat?

My favorite clean breakfast

Mango Greek Yogurt! I LOVE it! So easy, so healthy! 1 cup has 23 grams of protein.

Mango Greek Yogurt

1 cup of fat free Greek yogurt

2 tablespoons of mango puree

1 tablespoon and raw agave syrup

Mango Puree

2 mangos peeled and chopped

2 tablespoons of water

Add water and chopped mango to a food processor. I use the mini one that has one speed. Voila! Mango puree!