Clean Eating Cream of Carrot Soup

After a weekend full of Superbowl festivities and food, I have been anxious to get back on track with healthy eating. I honestly can feel the difference in how I feel and function when I'm eating cleaner than when I am eating processed, junky food. I actually had a stomach ache from all the appetizers this past weekend. Funny enough, I used to be able to eat greasy, rich food with no real problem. Interesting how your body adapts. Anywho, that's enough of my back-story. I decided to make a clean cream of carrot soup for dinner tonight since it's so miserable outside--rainy weather is like snow to Californians. I just had a bowl and it was so warm and satisfying! I decided to post the recipe right after I ate since the cream of broccoli soup I made in the beginning of January seemed to be well received by many people. I had some inspiration from the cream of broccoli soup in terms of ingredients and measurements.

Ingredients
Serves 4-6
- 5 cups of baby carrots
- 4 cups of low sodium organic chicken broth (I use water and Better Than Bouillon Organic Chicken Base)
- 3 cups almond milk (can use soy or non-fat skim milk instead, I personally like the nutty flavor with carrots)
- 1 tbsp minced garlic
- 1/4 of a medium yellow onion, chopped finely
- 2 tbsp grapeseed oil (or olive oil)
- 1 tbsp agave nectar (optional based on how sweet your carrots are, some are more bitter than others)
- salt and pepper
- 1 tsp cayenne pepper
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1 tsp allspice (yes, believe it or not, allspice makes this soup very flavorful) 

Preparation
1. Boil your carrots in a large stock pot until the carrots are soft enough to mash with a fork. Turn heat down to medium. (This usually takes me about 20 minutes or so.)
2. Strain carrots and set aside.
3. Heat 2 tbsp of grapeseed oil in same pot and add the chopped onion and garlic. Caramelize the onion with the garlic until the onion is transparent.
4. Next add the chicken broth to this same pot and bring to a simmer.
5. Add the 3 cups milk and stir.
6. Add in the carrots to the broth.
7. If you have an immersion blender, use it to puree the soup. (I love mine--Cuisinart Smart Stick Hand Blender with Whisk and Chopper Attachments) Otherwise, you can pour the soup into a blender and puree — be careful, as the soup is very hot.
Note: I prefer a smooth and creamy consistency so I puree my soup for a good 30 seconds to 1 minute, mixing the soup around with the immersion blender in a circular motion. If you prefer a more chunky soup you can puree by using short pulses.
8. Add cayenne, paprika, and allspice. Mix well.
9. Salt and pepper as desired.
10. Serve immediately.

Enjoy!  

Green Chile Shredded Chicken and Spanish Quinoa

I have been trying to find time to post all weekend and look--it's already Wednesday! I have been reorganizing and prepping my house for a Superbowl party next weekend. Anywho I made this last week for dinner. It was delicious! I really have been enjoying all my experimentation with quinoa and making my recipes more clean. One of my favorite foods growing up was my grandmother's Spanish rice. Since my quinoa in the rice cooker came out so well the last time I made it, I thought I'd try making a Spanish quinoa using my grandmother's recipe by simply substituting the rice for quinoa. To go along with the quinoa I decided to make a green chile shredded chicken and heated up some sweet corn and black beans.

Green Chile Shredded Chicken

Ingredients
- 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 1 can diced green chiles
- 1/2 tbsp lemon juice
- 1/2 tbsp grapeseed oil (or olive oil)
- salt and pepper

Preparation

1. Boil chicken breasts on medium-high for about 15-20 minutes or until white all the way through and easy to pull apart with two forks.
2. Drain chicken and shred. Put back in the pot with oil, lemon juice and green chile. Make sure stove is on low to medium so as to not overcook the chicken--you just want to heat it up with the new ingredients.
3. Once the chicken is fully immersed with the green chile and heated, salt and pepper to taste.

 

Spanish Quinoa 

Ingredients
- 1/4 cup chopped onion (about a quarter of a medium sized onion)
- 1 cup pureed organic tomato (about 2-3 roma tomatoes or 1 large tomato -- I used my mini chopper to puree, it can be a little chunky)
- 2 tbsp grapeseed oil (or olive oil)
- 1 cup quinoa
- 1 1/4 cup water

Preparation
1. Heat oil on medium.
2. Add quinoa to oil and saute the quinoa for about 1-2 minutes until fully browned.
3. Transfer the quinoa to your rice cooker.
or
3. Transfer quinoa to a larger pot.
4. Add the pureed tomato, chopped onion and water and stir.
5. Use rice cooker as instructions indicate (mine took about 20 minutes)
or
5. Cook quinoa mixture on medium for about 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the water has been absorbed and the quinoa is light and fluffy. (Be careful not to let the rice stick to the bottom of the pot and burn.)
6. Serve chicken on a bed of organic spring mix salad with a side of quinoa and the corn and black bean mixture.

Enjoy!

Afternoon Snack

Greek yogurt with fresh kiwi and blueberries.

Clean Eating Cream of Broccoli Soup

It's been particularly cold here in my part of California these past couple of days. Yes, yes--insert rolling of eyes here for all your Midwest and East Coast people who have to deal with the snow. Since it's been cold and I happen to have a lot of broccoli on hand (Costco saves you money but also makes you work for it! Cooking up a storm in order to not waste my bulk veggies.) I decided to look for a recipe for "clean" cream of broccoli soup. I found a couple recipes that I liked, but none of them were quite what I was looking for. So alas, I decided to make a hybrid recipe drawing inspiration from here, here, here and here. This is what I came up with. It was delish! I typically cook for only 2 people so this was the perfect amount for me and my boyfriend--bowls filled up about 3/4 of the way full. If you are cooking for a family you might need to double the recipe. It was really hearty so we didn't eat anything else with it--I'm sure a nice piece of sourdough or toasted bread would be great to sop up the last bits of soup.

Ingredients

- 1 (12-oz) bag broccoli florets, or 4 cups broccoli, finely chopped (I used my electric chopper for this)*

- 1/2 cup finely chopped onion (chopper again)*

- 1 medium sized red potato, finely minced (chopper again)*

- 1/2 cup of finely minced brown button mushrooms (chopper again)*

- 2 tbsp grapeseed oil, separated

- 2 cups organic chicken broth (you can use canned or you can use a concentrate base and add water, see here, I happened to buy mine from Costco)

- 2 tbsp butter

- 2 tbsp whole wheat flour

- 1/2 cup almond milk

- Salt and pepper to taste

- Shredded cheese as garnish (optional)

*Note: If you don't have an electric chopper--get one! Haha. No really, it comes in very handy. I got mine on Amazon -- Cuisinart Smart Stick Hand Blender with Whisk and Chopper Attachments. But if you don't have one when prepping this meal, you can finely chop by hand and it won't be a big problem. You'll eventually need to puree the soup.

Preparation

Chop your veggies. Heat 2 tbsp of grapeseed oil in a dutch oven or large pot and add the chopped onion. Next add the chicken broth and bring to a simmer. Add in the broccoli, red potato and mushrooms to the broth. Heat up a small frying pan and add the last 1 tbsp of grapeseed oil. Heat it and add 2 tbsp of whole wheat flour while stirring constantly. Slowly add the 1/2 cup of almond milk to the oil/flour mixture while whisking thoroughly. I've found a whisk works particularly well. It will be clumpy at first but as the milk heats it will become smooth. Slowly add this milk mixture to the simmering veggies and chicken broth while stirring constantly. Turn down the heat to low and stir soup until mixed thoroughly. If you have an immersion blender, use it to puree the soup. (I love mine--Cuisinart Smart Stick Hand Blender with Whisk and Chopper Attachments ) Otherwise, you can pour the soup into a blender and puree — be careful, as the soup is very hot. I prefer a smooth and creamy consistency so I puree my soup for a good 30 seconds to 1 minute, mixing the soup around with the immersion blender in a circular motion. If you prefer a more chunky soup you can puree by using short pulses. Add salt and pepper asdesired. Garnish with cheese and serveimmediately. 

Enjoy!

Roasted Chicken and Veggies with Avocado-Lime Quinoa

Try to say that 5 times fast! ;) This was a fairly simple meal to make and it is a "clean" recipe for those of you who are trying to eat clean. I originally found the recipe here. It called for asparagus, however I didn't have any on hand so I substituted broccoli. I also had some mushrooms which were going bad soon so I threw those in as well.

Ingredients

Serves about 4-6

Roasted Chicken and Veggies

- Olive oil cooking spray 

- 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, chopped into 2 inch cubes 

- 3 medium sized red potatoes, chopped into 2 inch cubes 

- 1 cup chopped tomato (Roma or whichever varietal you like)

- 1 cup of broccoli florets 

- 1/2 cup sliced brown button mushrooms

- 1 tbsp minced garlic

- 3 tbsp grapeseed oil

- 1 tsp dried rosemary

- 2 tbsp lemon juice

- Pinch of sea salt

- Ground pepper to taste

Avocado-Lime Quinoa

- 1 cup uncooked organic quinoa

- 2 cups water

- 1 avocado, cubed

- 2 tbsp lime juice

- Less than 1/4 tsp sea salt

- Ground pepper to taste

Preparation

Roasted Chicken and Veggies

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Coat a 13x9 pan or glass dish with cooking spray. Chop your boneless, skinless chicken to make 2 inch "bite-size" cubes. Cube the red potatoes, slice the mushrooms and chop the tomatoes. Place the chicken, potatoes, mushrooms, tomatoes and broccoli in the dish. Drizzle lemon juice over the entire dish. Sprinkle the minced garlic. Pour the grapeseed oil over, coating as much of the veggies and chicken as possible. Sprinkle salt, pepper and rosemary on top. Place in the oven and bake for 20-30 minutes. When the chicken is cooked thoroughly (white in color) the dish is done.

Avocado-Lime Quinoa

Right after you put the chicken in the oven, prepare the quinoa per package's instructions. Or if you want to try a quick and easy way of preparing quinoa, try using a rice cooker! It works super well and it's almost impossible to mess up. I have even used mine to make Spanish rice!! Mine's a  Panasonic Automatic Rice Cooker 5-Cup. I found out how to use the rice cooker following these instructions. 

While the quinoa is cooking and the chicken is in the oven, grab your avocado and cube it into small 1 inch pieces. Once the quinoa is cooked (about 20 minutes for most rice cookers) transfer the quinoa into a medium sized bowl and add the chopped avocado. Gently fold in the avocado and add the lime juice, salt and pepper. Mix again so well distributed.

Enjoy!