Friday, January 29, 2010

Prepping for CLEAN: Day -2 (with recipes)

Day: -2.
LBS to Goal: 3.8

Maybe it will be easier if I ease myself into the CLEAN program. I started off the morning with a mango, pineapple and berry smoothie at 6:45AM.

BREAKFAST: Pineapple, Mango, Berry Smoothie
1/2 cup cubed pineapple
1/4 cup cubed mango
1/4 cup blueberries and blackberries
1/4 cup of Almond Milk - add more for desired consistency
1/2 cup of Ice Cubes
1 Teaspoon of Agave Syrup

Blend until Smooth

The smoothie was great. Pretty much your average to better than average smoothie. I could probably drink this for awhile before tiring of it. The downside is the prep time. It took me about 30 minutes to cut up the pineapple and mango, then another 10 to clean up the mess. We made our smoothie with Blue Diamond Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk. If we had made our own nut milk like the book suggests, there's no telling how long that would take.

It's only 10:15am and I'm already hungry. The first full week of CLEAN will be tough.

LUNCH: Cucumber Mint Soup
1 1/2 Cucumbers, peeled and seeded
1/2 Lemon, peeled
1/8 cup Pine Nuts
2 cups Water
1 tablespoon Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1/2 teaspoon Sea Salt
1/8 cup Mint leaves

In a blender, mix cucumber, lemon, pine nuts, water, olive oil and sea salt for 3 minutes on high. Add mint leaves and blend for 15 more seconds. Serve Chilled. (Hold your nose and gulp it down.)

Not gonna lie. This soup is pretty gross. Chalice was right that the cold raw veggie soups are nasty. I only could get half into my body before it said "NO MORE." blech. It's now 5pm. I'm hungry but won't be eating til 7:30pm. I might try to choke down the rest of the soup to tide me over. It was runny, lemony, a hint of nuts and not so minty. Maybe you could reduce the water content. In any case, I'm not making this one again.

DINNER: Chicken with Balsamic Vinegar Reduction and Quinoa Salad

Chicken with Balsamic Vinegar Reduction:
The recipe suggests cooking the chicken with skin on, but we don't like the skin. This seemed to work just fine on boneless, skinless chicken breasts as well.

2 Chicken Breasts
2 Cloves garlic, sliced thinly length wise
1 1/2 cups balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons minced rosemary
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon sea salt

1. Heat oven to 425 oF
2. In a small saucepan reduce the balsamic vinegar by simmering and stirring occasionally until it becomes the consistency of a light syrup.
3. Add garlic and rosemary and simmer for 2 more minutes. Set aside. Be careful here to not over-cook. When you set the mixture aside, more water will evaporate making the mixture very thick. Plan ahead for this to happen and remove from heat when the mixture is the right consistency.
4. Brush chicken breasts with olive oil and salt
5. Place on a baking tray and roast in oven for 10 minutes (lay down foil on tray for easier clean-up)
6. Brush with generous amounts of balsamic mixture.
7. Turn oven down to 375 oF and roast for a further 10 min
8. Brush again with balsamic mixture and cook 2 more minutes
9. Remove from oven and let cool slightly, remove the skins and thinly slice.

Quinoa Salad
2 cups cooked and cooled quinoa
1/4 cup currants
1/4 cup chopped raw almonds
1/2 cup diced carrots
1/4 cup chopped mint
1/4 cup scallions, cut thinly diagonally
1/4 cup chopped parsley
1/4 cup lime
1 teaspoon agave nectar
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 cup olive oil

Put all ingredients in a bowl, and toss together. Adjust seasoning to taste.

Dinner was fantastic, especially the Quinoa! After being pretty hungry all day, this was a nice way to fill our tummies. During the actual CLEAN program, we will be eating the solid meal during lunch rather than dinner. I think if I had the Chicken and Quinoa for lunch, I wouldn't have been hungry all afternoon.

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