Bronchitis has taken its toll on Ariz and me for the last three weeks. We’re finally coming off the cocktail of antibiotics and medicine we’ve been on, and have slowly begun making our own food again (note: making six different meals a day when you’re in bed with a 39+ fever doesn’t really happen. Maybe in the movies). Because I’ve been so sick, though, I’ve fallen way behind at university, and since semester is coming to its end, there is just so much to do. Which equals not enough time for religiously following Clean Eating Mag’s weekly menu.
Our solution is still clean. My friend, Shereen, forwarded me a link to thehealthychef.com not long ago, which is a website founded by Teresa Cutter. She’s a leading Australian cook of the healthy sort, and showcases some absolutely delicious recipes that are still made from scratch, and still composed of lovely ingredients. We decided then, to quite simply steal some of Cutter’s recipes and combine them with the tricks we’ve learnt from the clean eating crew. So simple!
And on the note of clean eating, I realise I’ve actually never divulged much on this topic. I’m sure most of you know kind of what it entails, but here’s an easy definition anyway. In its most simplistic form, clean eating means: eating lots of plants (veggies!); including meats in your diet; enjoying grains (like brown rice, pasta, cereal); reading the labels on what you buy; eating fewer ingredients by trying to purchase food that has no more than 3-6 ingredients in it (this is the toughest one!); eating 5-6 small meals per day.
(from http://www.thegraciouspantry.com/what-is-clean-eating/, which also lists a couple of other methods for clean eating, and some excellent recipes)
Of course, a direct effect of following these principles is that you cook everything from scratch, at home. It usually takes a lot of time, but the finished product is so delicious, and so good for you, and you feel just fantastic for having spent the extra time and effort on your health. What I’ve done this week is cook three different main dishes, but cook them in large portions to provide lunch the next day, or dinner a few days later. This is great if you’re a student or have a busy week ahead of you; just cook loads on a Sunday or another spare day, and freeze the food for later enjoyment.
First off, Ariz made an absolutely delicious chilli con carne, filled with gorgeous vegetables like celery and carrots, extra lean beef mince, beans, and of course lots and lots of chilli. This lasted us for three meals, and was really good on its own. We tried it with quinoa too, for some added protein, which I thought completed the dish. The recipe is here:
On Thursday I had a full-on cooking session by myself, in which I made both a lean bolognese and a beef stroganoff. The stroganoff was my absolute favourite; carrots, onion, lean beef (cut off ALL the fat from a big piece of steak), rosemary upon rosemary, whole button mushrooms, garlic, beef stock, and some yummy port made it full of flavour. Perfect for autumn time in Norway, for those of you reading from there ;) Here’s the recipe:
Then I went on to cook a bolognese, a dish I usually associate with grease and white pasta, so I was a bit surprised to find it on Ms Cutter’s recipe page. This thing is so full of vegetables, though, that it’s hardly your regular Italian restaurant dish. Celery, grated carrots, red onions, brown mushrooms, and lots of tomato puree were just a few of the delectable ingredients in this very clean bolognese. Here’s the recipe:
In total, these dishes covered us for approximately three dinners and three lunches each. Pretty good and time manageable.
Because of my stupid bronchitis I haven’t been allowed (by my own lungs; imagine that, your own lungs telling you off for exercising) back into the gym, but I’ll hopefully start going again next week with a very calm start-up. I’ll let you know how that one goes later. Enjoy the food! Thanks for reading :)
Nice to see your blog back in time! Impressive, I will say!
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