squeaky clean

Tuesday marked Day One of my clean eating lifestyle change, which means tomorrow will be a week down!  This is something I'm really excited about for multiple reasons.  First, it forces me to cook more, which I've been needing.  I work a lot and it's hard to find the time, but it's there, I just need to utilize it effectively.  Secondly it allows to me to eat lots and lots of fresh fruits and veggies along with anything organic I can get my hands on, not to mention cutting out any and all processed foods as well as white sugar, dairy and flour.  I love all kinds of foods, so to have to focus solely on super healthy dishes isn't something that comes as difficult.  If anything it's liberating to try new takes on classic dishes.  Thirdly it's going to be just what I need to get me in tip-top shape for the upcoming summer.  I'm also jetting off to florida for a week at the end of the month so that's some motivation in itself.

All in all it's been a great week full of delicious and healthy foods, but starting a few of those days with a green smoothie made it sweeter.  I'll add organic frozen fruits, a huge handful of greens (kale, spinach, etc) and water with a splash of unsweetened vanilla almond milk before blending it together.  It's so great to have a nutritious breakfast that lasts me my entire 35 minute commute to work!

All that being said I have lots of new recipes to post!! I still have a few that I made before this little change that I definitely want to add as well so those will be filtered in.  But right now I have to tell you about something I found that changed my life: Powdered Peanut Butter.  No joke. Just Great Stuff is the brand on this stuff and let me tell you it's nothing short of amazing.  Not only is the nutritional difference drastic (200 vs 45 calories, 15 vs 1.5 grams of fat - per 2 tablespoons), but it's versatile! You can add it to smoothies, oatmeal, or mix it with water and eat it plain.  I've been having it with apples and adding cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice.  Heavenly.  I've also been having it (with or without spices) with banana and unsweetened shredded coconut.

Such a great snack that really sticks with you. I have unsweetened shredded coconut on hand (which is very hard to find, I might add) since I made these amazing clean coconut cookies that I'll be posting very soon. I've made them twice within the week, but in my defense I brought almost the whole first batch into work to share with coworkers.

Tonight I did some more grocery shopping to prepare for my week ahead and whipped together a Coconut Curry Chili with Sweet Potatoes, Bulgar Wheat and Green Bell Peppers in honor of Meatless Monday.  Take a look at this recipe because, my god, it was delicious.  Super filling, too! Unfortunately my camera has been on the fritz so I wasn't able to take photos of it but trust me on this one.  I'm still full and already can't wait to eat it again tomorrow for lunch.  I didn't alter much in the recipe but I did add about a tablespoon of corn starch at the end to aid in the thickening process, and I used hot curry paste.  Love me some spice.

I'm going to do my best to get all of these great recipes up in the next few days.  And I'd love to hear about any clean recipes you've made...I'm always interested in trying new things!

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