"Cleaner" Pizza-No Cauliflower here!

Well, it's Super Bowl Sunday and we are getting "snowed" in.  It's actually only sleeting right now, but I think the road conditions may be too slick later on to make our way to Pine Bluff for our tradition of hanging out at our long time friends house.  Bummer too because we usually have so much fun! Especially now that we have our funny little toddler's to keep us entertained! 

So, now what do we do?  No Super Bowl food.  Nowhere to go.  And I hadn't planned anything for dinner because we were gonna eat at the party. PIZZA! Homemade style and mine as well make it "cleaner" right?  Cheats off since we aren't going to a party anymore.

Typically, your "clean" pizza recipes call for a crust made from cauliflower.  Well, my blog isn't about eating "clean", it's about eating "cleaner". Ha. There is a difference!

I also made some delicious cherry, cranberry, chocolate chip, oatmeal cookies. Yes. I. Did.

Ready for some Pizza that is under 200 calories for the whole personal size?
**My husband, the pizza critic, loved this pizza. He said it reminded him of the California Pizza Kitchen pizza's you can buy.  They are thin crust, very light and somewhat crunchy. 

That's the pizza Soph made for herself. Pretty talented right? 

How we did it:

I love this brand from Whole Foods because it contains the best of ingredients.  I used the southwest tortillas this time and man they are yummy! 

I used Tortillas as the crust.  Yes.  I first brushed them with some sunflower oil, and baked them for 10 or so minutes at 350 or until crispy.  Remove them before they brown to top them because then you will pop them back in for a few minutes just to melt the cheese.

Once they are crisp, pull them out and top with your choice of toppings.

I made my own marinara (of course).   It's so simple and way healthier. 

Marinara:

1 tbsp. of sunflower oil
4-5 roma tomatoes (will make 6 pizzas or more)
2 cloves of garlic
1 tsp. of garlic powder
1 tsp. of onion powder
1 tsp. of dry oregano
1 tsp. of dry basil
1/2 tsp. of salt
1/2 tsp. of pepper

That's it.  Cook it all together on medium heat for about 10-15 minutes then emulsify. Or if you don't have a hand held emulsifier, use your food processor or blender to blend.
**I make this often to top off some whole grain pasta too!

Once you have your sauce, top your pizza with it first, then layer your toppings and cheese as you see fit!

 

The one below is mine. I chose green olives, fresh basil, and green onions to top my pizza off with. And of course fresh made marinara and 1/8 cup of cheese (skim milk mozzarella)

 

 

Below is Aaron's pizza. You get the point. Top with your choice of veggies to maintain a cleaner pizza.

 

 

As you see, my 17 month old LOVED her pizza she made.  This is something you definitely can get your kids in the kitchen with you and let them create their food.  And also a good way to encourage veggies masked with marinara and cheese:)

 

As mentioned above,  I had to make us a sweet treat for Super Bowl Sunday right?? 

Ingredients:

1 cup of oats ground into flour
2 tbsp. of honey
1 cage free egg
1 tbsp. of vanilla
1/4 cup of 60% cacao chocolate chips
1/4 cup of cranberries and cherries mixed (dry)
2 tbsp. of melted virgin coconut oil
1 tbsp. of pb2
1 tbsp. of flax seeds
1 tsp. of baking powder
1/8 cup of chopped pecans to top them off with

Mix all ingredients and bake for 12-14 minutes at 350. An Easy, Cleaner, Delicious cookie for your dessert!

 Is your mouth watering yet?

These are so delicious and completely guilt free people! We also eat these some mornings as a quick breakfast with some fruit on the side.

Again, as always, I thank you all for your support.  I hope you enjoy this recipe.  I encourage you to pair it with a side salad to make it more of a meal.  We mainly had this today as a mid day snack to carry us over until dinner.  At under 200 calories per pizza, you could eat two of these babies and it'd still be a healthy meal that will not add any LBs to your scale! Enjoy!

My "Cleaner" Version of Chinese Food

If you're like me, you love Chinese Food.  I could literally eat it everyday.  And I kind of do actually. I've mentioned several times how much I love these eggroll wrappers.  Well I do.  Like I've said, they are so versatile and easy to make.  This creation was one of my first times actually working with rice noodles, and I have to say I loved them!  They only take 10 minutes to prepare.  Super easy. Super good. And totally not bad for you at all like other noodles can be.  These rice noodles can be prepared more of an Asian style, like below, or I also prepared your standard pesto sauce(garlic, basil, oil, lemon, and salt n pepper) and topped them off with that one night too for a quick side to our usual vegetables.  If you have noticed, we eat a lot of broccoli.  I mean ALOT. :)   

 

 

This is one meal that will not disappoint.  It's much healthier than any nasty, germ infested Chinese buffet you will find yourself at.  Not to mention how much you will totally over eat at any buffet. I've been there, I know. 

Ready for the recipe? :)

Ingredients for noodle & vegetable medley:

1/2 box of rice noodles was plenty for Aaron and me(and Soph had a small portion too). So an entire box will feed about a family of 4-5
1 head of broccoli
3 carrots sliced
2 cups of shredded red cabbage
1-2 tbsp. of sunflower oil
4 green onions finely chopped- as a garnish
1 tsp. of soy sauce per person(low sodium)**this is not a "clean" food item I know, but my blog is about eating "cleaner" just to clarify
1 tsp. of garlic powder
1 tsp. of onion powder
2 tsp. of honey

For the noodles, just boil 6 cups of water, add noodles and set aside.  Let noodles sit for 5 or so minutes or until soft. Easy. Done.
For the veggies, sauté in the sunflower oil, season as listed. I cook my vegetables for about 15 minutes or until slightly softened. Easy. Breezy.
For this recipe, if you are needing some protein, you could boil an egg and chop up as a garnish and it'd be delicious.

Ingredients for the eggrolls:
4 eggroll wrappers
2 cups of shredded cabbage
1/2 cup of shredded/diced onion
1/2 cup of shredded carrots
1 tsp. of ginger powder
1 tbsp. of onion powder
1 tbsp. of garlic powder
1/2 tsp. of salt
1/2 tsp. of pepper
*A lot of times, I will add a dash of sraracha to this too :)

For the eggrolls:  Put all vegetables and seasoning together in a non-stick pan with a tsp. of sunflower oil. Sautee until soft (about 15 minutes). Remove from heat and let cool for a few minutes before loading up the eggroll wrappers.  Now, in the same pan, put about a tbsp. of sunflower oil in it, and c cook the eggrolls on each side until brown.  As I've said before(because I have already posted these eggrolls), I pair ours with a serving size(1 tbsp.) of red chili sauce.  It's a must.  My husband will top his off with honey once and while. That's pretty delicious too!

 

This entire "cleaner" version of Chinese food is under 600 calories!!

Not too shabby when you consider going to a Chinese buffet will set you back on average 2000 calories! Yes. I Googled it! ha-ha.  Not to mention it's crazy expensive if you have a family of more than 2 people! This whole meal will only set you back the cost of one buffet. :) Enjoy!

Nutritional Values: 
Rice noodles with Vegetables: 340 calories, 0.5 grams of fat
Eggrolls: 220 calories with sauce 1, g of fat

Any questions? Leave a comment in the comment box to the right of this post! Cheers~Amanda

Cleaner Chocolate Chip PB Pizza-what??!!

This one might just take the prize!!

Yes.  It's true.  I have created a true masterpiece with this one.  It was 100% by accident too.  I was simply trying to get rid of the last 2 whole grain tortillas before they started to spoil.  They are preservative free, so I knew I had only a matter of a day or so until they ruin.  I had a light lunch, as usual, which allows me to have a dessert after :) I love this! If I could have it my way,  I would only eat sweets to survive.  Today's creation is a "cleaner" version of a chocolate chip peanut butter pizza.  Can I get a what what?

It's quite simple actually.  I wish we had smell-o-cam or something so you can smell my house right now too. Amazing! 

Ok.  I used the same tortillas that I posted about in the previous "Cleaner Chicken Chimichanga" blog.

2 tortillas(120 Calories)

I added in a small bowl:

1 tbsp. of coconut oil-melted (120 calories)
1 tbsp. of honey-50 calories
1 tbsp. of cinnamon

Mix that up and spread across 2 tortillas.  If you are doing 1 tortilla, cut everything in half.  If you are doing more than 2 increase ingredients as you see fit.

Bake at 350 for 12 minutes or until crispy, but don't burn it.  Watch it.

The toppings:
2 tbsp. of PB2 mixed with 2 tbsp. of water(45 calories)
1 tbsp. of chocolate chips-60% cacao (80 calories)

Mix the PB2 mixture, spread across tortillas.
Add your chocolate chips
Bake again for 1-2 minutes just to melt the chocolate.  Done!!

This is some serious goodness!

For both "pizzas" it comes in at only 415 calories.  So, limit yourself to 1 "pizza" and remain guilt free.  I am feeling a tad bit guilty at the moment because I ate 2 of these babies! Yes, 2! Glad I only had a small bowl of vegetable soup for lunch!
Enjoy these people! They are absolutely fantastic!

Cleaner Creamy Pesto Lasagna Rolls

Tonight I decided to finish off that box of lasagna noodles and do some experimenting with sauces.  Making sauces is one area I know I need to branch out in.  I usually stick with your classic tomato based, oil and garlic base or just your plain ole roux based sauce.  Tonight I wanted to do something different than the plain ole pesto I usually make.  Now, when I wasn't eating clean or cleaner I should say, I would use the amazing product cream cheese to make my creamy pesto. Oh how I love cream cheese! Who doesn't? You can make cheesecake, cheese balls, creamy pesto, or just eat it plain.  I can anyway.  Ok, enough about that fatty nasty food.  See what I did there?

Anyways, tonight I decided to experiment with avocado as my "cream cheese" in my pesto.  I know there is a lot of recipes out there that do this sort of thing.  Point is, I never have.  I've never even thought of it honestly until I started back on this cleaner living journey that we are on.  Like I've said before, we use to go all the way "clean" and would fail within 2-3 weeks.  This "cleaner" eating lifestyle is much easier to maintain.  It is still a lifestyle change for a lot of people, but we are use to these foods.  Ok, enough chatter. 

Ready for the recipe?

Ready for some delicious looking photos that I know will force you into rushing out to the grocery store to make this recipe?  If you made my lasagna from the previous blog, you should have 6-7 whole grain lasagna noodles left.  You should also have about a cup of cottage cheese left if you made the lasagna. Don't throw it out yet!  Pull those babies out.  Here is your opportunity to not waste and get the most bang for your buck. 

Hopefully the photo
is enough to peak your interest into reading the rest of this blog and keep you coming back for more.  It truly is a very tasty and filling meal.

Ingredients:

6 lasagna noodles (whole grain) cooked
4 garlic cloves minced
1 cup of non fat cottage cheese
1/2 cup of skim milk shredded mozzarella
1/4 cup of fresh basil leaves chopped
1 shallot (optional)
1 tbsp. of sunflower oil (or oil of choice)
1 tsp. of salt
1 cup of fresh spinach
1 avocado
1 tbsp. of lemon juice(fresh)
1 tbsp. of dry oregano
1 tbsp. of dry basil
1 tsp. of pepper
(I happened to have some green onions-3, so I threw those in too)
1/4 cup of hot water


Directions:
1st preheat your oven to 350.

Like stated in the ingredients, cook your 6 lasagna noodles.  This recipe can easily be expanded into more lasagna rolls. Just simply use more noodles.  And increase the ingredients as you see fit.  I will say that I had about 1/2 a cup of extra sauce left over.

In a medium bowl, stir together the cottage cheese, 2 minced raw garlic cloves, half of the mozzarella, salt, pepper, dry oregano, & dry basil.

In a small pan, mince your shallot and 2 cloves of the garlic and sauté until soft (about 5 minutes) on medium heat.  Don't burn it or cook until brown, just soften the two.

Now, in a food processor, take the avocado, pit it and scoop it out of the shell, throw it in.  Add the fresh basil, 1 tbsp. of lemon juice, 1/4 cup of hot water, sunflower oil, the sautéed shallot and garlic, and the green onions if you chose to use them.  Process until smooth and creamy.  Done!

Now, take your noodles, lay them out on a clean surface(I used a cookie sheet).  Have your casserole dish sitting next to you ready to put the rolled lasagna noodles in. Ok? Now, Spoon a little of the cottage cheese mixture on each noodle until all the mixture is distributed evenly over each noodle.  Add the fresh raw spinach on top of each noodle.  Now, roll the noodles up in a pinwheel.  They should stick together just fine, but if they don't just stick a toothpick in them to hold them. 
Once you get them all rolled up, throw them in the oven for about 15 minutes.

Before:

 

After:

Once they are done, pull them out and ladle the sauce over each lasagna roll.  Top with the remaining 1/4 cup of mozzarella cheese and dig in!



 

I paired our creamy pesto lasagna rolls with a fresh tomato, red onion, and cucumber salad dressed with a little balsamic vinegar.

And "steamed" broccoli.  This is my cheater way of lightly cooking broccoli.  Just put your vegetable in enough water to cover it, and microwave in a porcelain or glass bowl for 5 minutes. Done! Easy Breezy.  Be easy on yourself sometimes :)

Finished product.  I also steamed an artichoke because they are our favorite to pair with any meal.  Like all the recipes I post, I encourage you to branch out and try this one.  It is absolutely delicious! 

This entire plate of food comes in at about 400 calories.  You can't beat that.  Once you finish this goodness, sit back and enjoy yourself one of the oat chocolate chip cookies I gave you a recipe for! :)
Cheers! ~Amanda

Food for a day. By Amanda Rice

Hey everyone! I was told today that I am looking thinner and great!  Just like any woman, that was sweet music to my ears!  If you know me, you know I am a mother to a 17 month old.  And like most mommy's I still have some unwanted fat on my body.  Who am I kidding, even women without kids can relate to that right?  Then I'm asked "How did you do it?" or "What do you eat all day?".   Well to make it easy, I'll just tell you what I ate today.  How's that? This is an example of my daily life. 

I'll start by telling you that currently, right now at 8:36 p.m., I am thoroughly enjoying some raw pecans, 70% cacao chocolate chips and dried cranberries.  This is a fantastic and healthy snack.  I eat this throughout the day as well.  Now, in moderation people! I'm having like 10 chocolate chips, 10-15 cranberries and about 10 pecans, about twice daily.  You can still have these sweet treats in doses.

Anyhow.  I started today with a bowl of plain, non-fat Greek yogurt with apple skins(because Sophie snatches my apple), and pecans.

Pretty delicious photo right?  Now, a lot of people can't take the tart taste of plain Greek yogurt, and I get that.  However, the options available that are flavored do contain some "not so clean" ingredients.  A lot of them have hidden nasty sweeteners.  So, with that said, I encourage you to buy the plain and sweeten it yourself with some good ole raw honey. Please? ok thanks!

Ok.  That's breakfast.  Usually about two or so hours later I will have either a couple of oat chocolate chip cookies (check my previous blog for recipe) or maybe a piece of fruit. 

For lunch today, I had leftover lasagna that I made on Sunday.  Again, I will remind you that that glorious lasagna is under 180 calories per serving.  And it's a healthy amount too. I'd say about 6 inches long and 3 inches wide are the measurements of the portion I eat. Yes, 180 calories!
(check previous blog for that recipe!)

Now for dinner, I made us a big hearty veggie plate(like most nights).  Tonight's consisted of sautéed purple cabbage, fresh green beans, broccoli, quinoa, caramelized onions and two eggrolls.  This entire meal comes up to be about 400 calories and no fats.

Make cooking easy on yourself.  Throw all that you can in one pan! 
I happen to have this huge non-stick pan that my lovely parents got me for Christmas one year. I use it so much!!  I sautéed these veggies for about 10-15 minutes with just a tablespoon of sunflower oil. Easy breezy people! I season them with garlic powder and a dash of salt. 
 

 

Nothing fancy.  Just a good veggie plate with some quinoa and a tablespoon of red chili sauce to dip my eggrolls in.

 

I know there's nothing fancy about this blog post.  I just wanted to simply state that this is what a day of food looks like for me.  Again, I make the cookies that I posted above to snack on.  I eat about 3 a day.  I also make hummus and eat it with veggies if I need a snack.  But after calculating before I began this post, I consume about 1200 calories a day.  I am not hungry.  In those 1200 calories, I maximize every single one of them by eating whole foods.  No empty calories.  Just eat food that will fill you up and keep you full longer!  It's really that simple.  Honestly, it's all about dedication and knowledge about the foods you are putting into your body.  There is a lot of truth to the statement, "You are what you eat".  We truly are!

Thanks everyone for your support! This blog is so much fun for me.  Since becoming a mom, I have been so wrapped up in focusing all of my attention on Sophie, which is great!! But it is nice to have something that is just MINE! And I really appreciate you all taking the time to make a girl feel special and reading it.  Cheers! Amanda

Chicken "Chimichanga's" *Cleaner version*

Today's post is one you will NOT believe is diet friendly.  Like all recipes I post, this is truly an authentic Amanda creation.  I mentioned in a previous blog that I love eggroll wrappers. I love them.  We have a great relationship and I use almost a 20 pack of them weekly.  At only 170 calories for three eggroll wrappers, they are diet friendly, gluten free for those who care, nonfat and have 7 grams of protein.  Yes. It's true.  Anyways, once I discovered this glorious food item, I began doing tons of experiments with them.  I make your standard vegetable eggroll almost daily...why not?  But I went deeper than that. I created the best killer chicken chimichanga around.  I promise. :)  And again, as always, I encourage you to try this recipe.  I beg of you actually.  Are you ready? Ok.

This meal is a staple in our house.  I make it at least 2-3 times a month. 

I'm gonna give you a picture first to make sure I keep your attention!

Do I have your attention now? How delicious does that look?  Yes.  This is one of our absolute favorites and it's easy breezy! I promise!  This entire meal will take about 45 minutes to prepare, so set aside some time.

Ingredients for the chimichanga's:

1 Chicken Breast will make 4 Chimichanga's.  So plan according to how many you are making.
1/2 cup of black beans or about half a can if you are using canned.(no matter if you're using canned or cooking from dry, drain and rinse the beans.)
1/4 cup of corn(optional-I had some left from Soph munching on it as a snack)
1/2 cup of shredded skim milk mozzarella
1/4 cup of salsa or rotel
2 tbsp. of chopped cilantro (optional-I happened to have some, so..)
1 tbsp. of chopped garlic
1 tsp. of chili powder
1 tsp. of garlic powder
1 tsp. of onion powder
1 tsp. of salt
1/2 tsp. of pepper (or to taste)
And of course 4 eggroll wrappers(again, this is a recipe I use to make 4 chimichanga's)

Directions:
1st cook your chicken.  Once done, shred it up.  Then add your beans, corn, salsa, garlic, chili powder, garlic powder, onion powder and salt and pepper.  Cook together for about 10 or so minutes on medium low just to "marry" the ingredients.
On the side, get your eggroll wrappers ready by laying them out and sprinkling your mozzarella evenly on the 4 wrappers.  Also if you are using cilantro, add this to the eggroll wrapper now.  Once the filling has cooled for about 10 minutes, add the chicken & vegetable mix to the eggroll wrapper and follow the wrapping instructions as it states on the package.
Now, it a non stick pan, put a tbsp. of sunflower oil(or whatever you like to use) and cook each side until golden brown.  Just about 2 minutes or so on each side.  That's it! Then you have your "cleaner" version of a chicken chimichanga!! I expect tons of thank you emails for this one! :)

 

 I mean come on...How can you not try these??

 

Need more proof??

As you see, we paired our chimichanga's with a guacamole salad.  My recipe is simple.  Avocado, minced garlic, salt and pepper, cumin and lemon juice. I am not a fan of chunky guac, so this is my recipe.

And a dipping sauce of salsa. You can't go wrong with that! Now, these tortilla chips you see are baked whole wheat, organic tortillas.  Picture will follow.  I brushed them with sunflower oil and put a little garlic powder on them and baked them at 350 for about 8 minutes, or until crispy.  Keep an eye on these.  8 pretty good size chips are 120 calories and 0 fat.

I highly recommend this brand if you have a whole foods near you.  They are preservative free.  This allows them to maintain that "cleaner" reputation I am looking for.

I seriously hope you give this one a shot! If you love deep fried chimichanga's, save your arteries and enjoy this happy happy medium I have created for you all!!! :0)

I'll save the best info for last.  This meal as I have prepared it comes in under 500 calories.  120 for the tortilla chips I made.  113 calories for 2 eggroll wrappers.  Roughly 120 calories for the one chicken breast(so cut that in half and you have 60 calories for the two chimichanga's). And I would wrap it up with MAYBE, IF EVEN 150 calories for the guacamole, beans, and corn(per serving).  I am 100% confident this will fill you up, and satisfy your Mexican food cravings!!

Strawberry "cheesecake" bites- Clean Version. Yes!!

My great friend asked me to try and conquer a clean recipe for a cheesecake stuffed strawberry.  I immediately started to research clean substitutes for cream cheese.  After tons of different suggestions, I decided to go with Greek Yogurt as my substitute.  It's very simple actually.  First of all, if you don't know how crazy good for you that Greek yogurt is, do some research.  The benefits alone should encourage you to eat it!(For this recipe I used one small container of Greek yogurt. It was enough for 8-10 strawberries.)
For this dessert bite, go buy you some cheesecloth.  It looks like gauze when you open the package.  But a bigger version.  Ok, got your cheesecloth?  Ok, now get your plain non fat Greek yogurt and spoon onto the cheesecloth.  Tie the cheesecloth around the Greek yogurt and secure with a rubber band, like a pouch for the yogurt.  Now, very important... Find some way to position the Greek yogurt in the cheesecloth to where it's hovering/hanging over a bowl.   Set this in your refrigerator over night or for 10 or so hours during the day.  I used my tongs and tied the cheesecloth up to where it was hanging in between the handles.  I'm handy that way! haha. 
Any how.  After 10 or so hours, the Greek yogurt will strain all the excess liquid out into the bowl, discard this liquid.  It will then look like and have the consistency of cream cheese.

I do apologize I didn't get a picture of my contraption I created to strain the yogurt.  It was quite genius.  But you can figure it out! :)  Ok, next I added 1 tbsp. or so of raw honey. Stir it up.  I am out of pure vanilla extract. However, if you have some, add a dash into this mix. I am 100% it would be delicious!

Yes, that's my kids spoon.  Don't laugh at me.
Now, once you stir this up, core out your strawberries and stuff the berries.  I toasted some pecans with cinnamon on them also and crushed them for the "graham cracker" topping.  Do this! You will be amazed at the similarity to an actual cream cheese/cheesecake stuffed strawberry.  Enjoy!!!