Clean Eating 3 Ingredient Crockpot Mexican Chicken + Weekend Recap + Ice Cream Pie

Happy Monday! I can barely sit still because I am SO excited for my friend's big fat Greek wedding this weekend (it's literally a Greek wedding) and I'm going to be reunited with some of my favorite people ever at 5 pm Friday. Until then I'll be practicing Greek dances via Youtube haha.

Our oven is officially fixed so rest easy, this is the last crockpot recipe for awhile. Again, laughably easy. This was my lunch for the week.

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs chicken breasts ($4.00)
• 1 can diced tomatoes with chiles (I use Rotel) ($.99)
• 3 Tablespoons taco seasoning (clean eating taco seasoning = 2 Tbs ground cumin, 1 tsp paprika, 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper, 1/2 tsp garlic powder, 1/2 tsp onion powder, 1/4 tsp chili powder, 1/4 tsp black pepper)

Combine the ingredients in a crockpot and cook on low for 7 hours. I switched up how I ate it each day- some days at it on a salad, some days in Ezekiel tortillas, some days with black beans, added some salsa, added Greek yogurt. It was so good!

Anyone else have an amazing weekend? I have back to back weddings for the next 3 weekends (Richmond, Boston, and Lancaster here I come!) so I HAD to be productive- at least for part of the weekend

Friday night I stayed in to watch Orange Is The New Black which I have been anxiously awaiting for the last...oh you know year or so. I'm a grandma so despite my excitement and how much I was loving it, I passed out somewhere around episode 4 (DON'T SPOIL ANYTHING FOR ME OR I WILL KNIFE YOU). Andi was unimpressed however.

My storage unit, which was packed to the brim with furniture from my old house that I have not even thought about for the last year, was dropped off on Friday so we spent the weekend throwing a pseudo yard-sale. We didn't have a backup plan so I was super stressed that we'd be stuck with all this stuff and nowhere to put it so I threw a few tantrums (sorry, Harrison).

We got rid of all the big stuff, so a few boxes will be headed to Goodwill this week. Temper tantrums were 100% unnecessary.

I also found tons of pictures from back when I used to print out pictures, like this little throwback of Harrison and me 3 years ago when we FIRST started dating:

Saturday was my friend Kyle's birthday so we cooked out and I ate about a million pounds of food.

Played an insanely intense round of Taboo (girls vs. boys- always gets out of hand). For the record, "starts with letter V" is NEVER OK RIGHT??? NEVER! Sorry for being a rule follower.:

My friend Anna who makes everything look super easy (oh don't minder her just completing a post-bach med school program and cooking her husband's birthday dinner for 50 people 2 days before HUGE tests. I mean really) made this delicious apple/kale/quinoa salad that I MUST eat again soon. She said she just looks at SweetGreen's salads and then makes them herself. Genius. She also made this ice cream pies:

Listen to how she made these pies. Scooped ice cream into a pie crust. Let the ice cream soften and melt a little. Put it back in the freezer. So like I said, she makes everything so freaking easy.

Sunday was insanely productive. I cleaned (PS if you have wood floors you HAVE to use Muprhy's Oil. Decent price, I just spray it on our wood floors and dry mop right over it- our floors are IMMACULATE). Andi and I went for a run in the park and took a break for a selfie photoshoot:

Annnd of course threw in a few episodes with Piper and the crew in the clink.

Tell me: can you EVER say "starts with a [insert letter here]"?? And what is your favorite salad?

Linking up today with LeeAnn, Kimberlee, Biana, Much Ado About Monday, Motivation Monday

Clean Eating 3 Ingredient Crockpot Mexican Chicken + Weekend Recap + Ice Cream Pie

Monday, June 9, 2014

Clean Eating Crockpot Meatballs with Sqash Noodles

So like I said yesterday, we only ate crockpot meals for about 2 weeks straight so that's all I've got right now. And if you don't own a crockpot get yourself one- mine came from Goodwill but Amazon has decent ones for under $30 too. 

PS does anyone else out there use Amazon Prime? It has changed my life! Every little thing in our house (light switch covers, outlet covers (which are usually expensive because we have to get baby-proofed ones because Andi licks outlets..I just), cabinet handles) came from there, and I've discovered ordering things like chia seeds and protein powder and other groceries that are harder to find at regular stores. And it all comes the next day! Like what?? I ordered a rug from Target and got an e-mail 3 days later that it had shipped but my take 48 hours for my shipping info to be available. My mind was blown because I forgot things take more than overnight to ship. So I'm spoiled.

Anway onto the recipe. The crowd I made this for was incredibly skeptical. That crowd being Harrison and my friend Leslie. Harrison is skeptical about anything that I say is clean even though he eats my clean meals every day, but old habits die hard I guess. Leslie was super skeptical about these squash noodles I made, but you know what? Everyone had seconds. Lindsay for the win, as usual.

Servings: 5
Prep Time: 10 mins
Cook Time: 4 hours in the crockpot on high

Ingredients

• 1 lb lean ground turkey ($3.50)
• 1/2 onion, diced finely ($.50)
• 1/2 bell pepper, diced finely ($.50)
• 3 cloves garlic, minced (but we LOVE garlic so you can go easier if you're not such a fan)
• 1 cup of oat flower (I put old fashioned oats in the blender until they were a flour-like consistency)
• 1 jar clean tomato sauce, divided (I use Italian Spaghetti sauce from Trader Joe's- no sugar or other badness) ($2.50)
• 1/4 cup oats
• 2 Tablespoons Italian seasoning
• 1 Tablespoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 Tablespoon onion powder

Mix all the ingredients EXCEPT the tomato sauce togheter (sidenote: if using your hands and removing your engagement ring to do so, put your engagement ring somewhere that you'll remember to avoid 3 minutes of sheer panic) and form into balls. Mine were about 4" around. Spray the crockpot with non-stick spray, put the balls in, pour half the jar of sauce in the crockpot and cook for 4 hours on high. I also threw in a few slices of onion and pepper.

For the squoodles (squash noodles): 2 squashes. Squashes? Squash? Sqashi? It all sounds wrong.

Anway, using a mandolin slice the squash lengthwise, then slice each slice into thin noodle-like slices. Toss them with olive oil or cocounut oil and salt and pepper and throw 'em on a plate like this:

And microwave for 2 mins. HA. That's it. So easy!

What is your favorite crockpot meal?


Linking up today at Delicious Dish Tuesday, Turn It Up Tuesday, 

Clean Eating Crockpot Meatballs with Sqash Noodles

Tuesday, June 3, 2014

2 Ingredient Crockpot Green Chicken + Weekend Recap

Ugh, Tuesday after a long weekend is like Monday on steroids. Fortunately I had a great/refreshing weekend and made a few delicious ovenless meals like this green chicken- I threw the 2 ingredients in the crockpot before I went hiking and when I came home it was ready!

This dish is also Tonii-approved which means anyone will like it (backstory: Tonii was a roommate who had never tried hummus , avocado, and a whole host of other "white" foods before we lived together. For the record- he would never choose to eat hummus or avocado but if they were the last 2 foods on the planet he could handle it).

Prep Time: 1 min (to pour stuff in the crockpot)
Cook Time: 6-8 hours
Servings: 4

Ingredients:

• Green Salsa (I used the one pictured below from Wal-Mart for $2.00)
• 2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breast ($3.50)

Throw it all in the crockpot on low for 6-8 hours. Cut off the crockpot and allow to cool and absorb the juices for about 45 mins before serving.

I ate it with a black bean salad which was just a few spoonfuls of black beans, shredded lettuce, a scoop of fat-free Greek Yogurt and a scoop of salsa. I had leftovers as a salad the next day. MMM mmm.

This weekend some friends came over and we christened the front porch with a happy hour and some Sam Adams Summer Ale (y'all I wait all year for these and hoard them like Cadbury Mini Eggs).

Some friends and I went hiking in Great Falls on Saturday and I remembered why DC is the greatest city ever to live in, I mean really this is amazing:

My friend Tonii (as in Tonii-approved chicken) came home from Boston and we ate green chicken and watched the Ana Nicole Smith Story and Jodi Arias Story on Lifetime (Lifetime please give me more of these "docudramas")

Sunday we got up and went to see Christine Cain speak at church and ohhheemmmgeee I am ready to stop making excuses and do something with myself- this woman has done so much in her life, and had a major impact on human trafficking. Really take a lunch break and watch this video about not making excuses and putting our pride aside. And in case you don't want to click I put the video right here because this talk is THAT necessary to hear:



We at on the porch of Desperado's on U Street after- the drinks were good and my portobello burger was deelish!

Cooked out with some old friends Sunday night, had a lil photoshoot in front of an American flag:

FYI that's Tonii in the middle

Monday I made a green soup that I read is Zooey Deschanel's favorite to serve friends and ate it for lunch with a limited edition Sam. Obvi it was amazing:

Cooked out Monday night with Harrison's family and now to get back to some serious clean eating.

Linking up at Turn it Up Tuesdays, Delicious Dish Tuesdays,

2 Ingredient Crockpot Green Chicken + Weekend Recap

Tuesday, May 27, 2014

4 Ingredient Crockpot Balsamic Vinaigrette Chicken + House Updates

Ok first off I want to send a huge thanks and send lots of v-hugs (virtual hugs, not vajayjay hugs which is what I just thought as I was reading over this, how old am I??) to everyone- friends and bloggy bffs- who has been so encouraging and given me advice over the last 2 weeks. I hate moving. I can't think of anything I want to do less- I get crabby, I can't find anything, unpacking takes a decade, and Harrison and I snap at each other because we can't really snap at the move itself. But every time I logged onto social media, the blog, and my email it was like a virtual cheerleading squad, so thank yall- your comments and e-mails mean a lot! Aaannd I'm officially one of those people who has online friends haha.

This weekend my parents were here to help out around the house and we worked every waking second (minus about 30 minutes for me to throw a 5-year-oldish temper tantrum, eat food, realize I was hangry, apologize to everyone, parents to say "it's ok you've been a hangry person since you were born"- thank you, Mom and Dad for helping out even though I'm such a hangry a-hole). We didn't want to take time/spend money to go pick up food (not to mention I may actually go into cardiac arrest if I spend one more penny) so I threw some of the food I found in the fridge into the crockpot and came up with this delicious dinner of Balsamic Vinaigrette Chicken (I def had to google how to spell vinaigrette). OH also our brand new oven broke and it will take 7-10 days to get the new parts in so please please please share any clean(ish) recipes that don't involve an oven or stove- we also don't have a grill (sadface). At this point it doesn't even have to be totally clean, I just can't do Lean Cuisine or anymore take out. 

Servings: 4 

Prep Time: less than 5 mins

Cook Time: 4 hours in the crockpot

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs chicken breast, thawed ($6.00)
• 1 Cup Balsamic Vinaigrette dressing (I used Paul Newman's, I know it's not exactly clean but it's close enough right now. This weekend I'm going to make my own clean dressing via Pinterest)
• 1/2 onion, sliced ($.50)
• 2 tomatoes, diced ($1.00)

Throw it in the crockpot for 4 hours then enjoy! I had a bag of frozen veggies that I just microwaved (didn't even have to take them out of the bag!!) for 3 minutes to eat with the chicken. Yall this was so freaking good. 

So when I was getting ready to move I told my dad I was frustrated with having incomplete projects to which he said "welcome to home-ownership". I was like NO EVERYTHING WILL BE COMPLETED BY MONDAY. But there are little things that need to happen and boxes unchecked and you know what? I'm still alive. But here's progress on the paint. 

My dad thinks he's so funny because he hung those paper towels from the hand towel ring. I had to leave it so he can share his jokes with the world.

Look at that oven. Sitting there being broken.

Not pictured: the bedroom we painted. Every time I think to take a picture Harrison is sleeping in it, and I don't need to offend the internet with pictures of 250-lb man sleeping in his undies. Not that kinda blog here.

Left on my list:

• Find a rug for the living room area
• Find a side table for the living room area (Goodwill here I come! Taking notes from Meg)
• Hang stuff on the walls (I am the WORST at this- anyone know of a guide for how-to make it look like not just a bunch of crap randomly thrown on the walls?)
• Mount the TV on the wall (oh hey surprise brick wall behind the actual walls that is making this harder than necessary)
• Blinds
• Curtains 

Happy Tuesday and have a great week! Don't forget to leave me links to any of your healthy recipes that don't need to be cooked in an oven/on a stovetop!

OH PS: Zulily has an Under Armour sale today! go get your's! I love me some Under Armour!

Linking up today at Delicious Dish Tuesday, Turn It Up Tuesdays, Tuesday Recipe Swap

4 Ingredient Crockpot Balsamic Vinaigrette Chicken + House Updates

Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Party Chili! Crockpot Tequila Lime Chili

I call this "Party Chili" because it has tequila- yes, actual tequila- in it. Even though I'm pretty sure the crockpot burns off the alcohol in the tequila, it just feels scandalous eating this chili at work every day. It's also delicious, filling, and clean (minus the tequila- but hey tequila is gluten free soo..)

Here's the recipe for the party in a crockpot, that you can take to work with you (bwahaha)

Prep Time: 15 mins
Cook Time: 6 hours (in the crockpot)
Servings: 6

Ingredients:

• 1 lb lean ground turkey ($3.00)
• 1/4 cup chicken broth
• 1 large onion, minced ($.90)
• 1 green pepper, diced ($.90)
• 1 jalapeno, diced ($.80)
• 2 Tablespoons tomato paste ($.90)
• 5 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 Tablespoon ground cumin
• 2 Tablespoon chili powder (separated)
• 1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes ($1.50)
• 1 large can (20 oz) crushed tomatoes($1.50)
• 1 can pinto beans ($1)
• 1/2 cup tequila
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1 baby can (5 ozs) green chiles
• 1 lime of lime juice ($.75)

In a large frying pan, saute the onions and pepper over medium heat for about 3 minutes. Add garlic and jalapeno for another  2 minutes, stirring constantly. Add the chicken broth and ground turkey and cook (still at medium heat) until browned.

Add in the tomato paste, half the cumin and half the chili powder to the frying pan and continue to cook over medium heat for another 5 minutes. Dump the ingredients into the crockpot. Add the diced tomatoes, crushed tomatoes, beans, tequila, honey, green chilis, lime juice and remaining spices. Cook on low for 8 hours or high for 5 hours.

P.S: Looking for a crockpot? I bought mine for $6 at Goodwill!! True story! If you don't trust used crockpots (no judgement), Amazon has great deals- here's what I would buy if I had a budget for kitchen items:

Party Chili! Crockpot Tequila Lime Chili

Monday, February 3, 2014

Clean Snacking: Salty & Sweet Edition

"Man it smells like Christmas but it looks like someone took a dump in the crockpot!"*

-the BF's reaction to crockpot cinnamon-sugar almonds. I know it's not pretty, but it is so tasty.

*This was followed by 30 minutes of giggling  over the term "Christmas nuts"

Look I love Christmas food, even red and green M&M's taste better to me than regular M&Ms. So this year I am determined to curb the cravings. Here were two big hit snacks I brought to parties over the weekend, which took about as much work as opening a bag of Christmas candy and binge eating it.

#1: Cinnamon Sugar Christmas Nuts (I know LOL LOL. But they're good and clean and sweet)
Servings: 10
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 4 hours (in the crockpot. you don't have to do anything)

Ingredients:

• 3 Cups Almonds (I bought a 5 lb bag for $6 and used some for almond crusted green bean casserole)
• 1.5 Cup Stevia ($2.00)
• 1/2 cup honey or maple syrup ($.50)
• 3 Tablespoons Cinnamon
• 1 Egg White ($.10)
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1/4 cup water

Stir the egg white and vanilla in a large bowl until it's frothy/bubbly. Now dump the almonds in the bowl and mix together until they are coated in the eggy mixture. In a separate bowl mix together the Stevia and cinnamon. Add the sugar/cinnamon to the coated almonds. Put this into the crock pot, add the honey/syrup and stir well. Heat on low for 3 hours, stirring every 20 minutes (it's about to smell SO GOOD, even though it looks like someone "took a dump in the crockpot"). After 3 hours add the water and stir it well. Continue cooking for another 45 minutes, still stirring every 20 minutes. Once they are all cooked, spread them out over a cookie sheet in a single layer and allow to cool, then enjoy the sweet treat!

 Christmassy Peppers with Hummus
(This is laughably easy, and REAL cute. Everyone was like "what a great snack where did you get this!" ha.)
Servings: (as many peppers as you want to use- 1 pepper = 8 slices)
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 0

Ingredients:

• Bell Peppers (red and green if it's a Christmas party..presh)
• Clean Hummus (Trader Joe's and Whole Foods have lots of options or you can make your own. I haven't ventured there yet.)

Slice each pepper into 8 slices, lengthwise. Scoop hummus onto each slice and serve.

photographic evidence of the "dump in the crockpot"

make sure they cool in a single layer

Clean Snacking: Salty & Sweet Edition

Monday, December 2, 2013

Lunch for the Week: Crockpot {spicyish} Tortilla Soup

Disclaimer: This is not my mom's tortilla soup. If you have ever tried her's you probably jumped with joy when you saw the title of this post thinking I was sharing Deb's tortilla soup recipe just in time for winter, but her "recipe" takes a lot of feeling or heart or some kind of mom-power because I have followed it to the T and not had success. So this is the next best thing, and maybe I'll have ole Deb do a guest post (or a few- she is the queen of all things power shopping and dessert baking).

This hearty, meaty, crockpotty, mexicany, veggie-packed, flavor-packed soup has the approval of me, BF and the neighbors. My neighbors hosted a boozy movie night and I offered to bring supper. This was the easiest thing I could have done- I put all the ingredients in the crockpot the night before, stored it in the fridge, and in the morning took it out, plugged it in and let it cook all day. 4 of us ate it at the movie night and it also supplied my lunch for the week.

Prep Time: 10 mins
Cook Time: 6-8 hours in the crockpot
Servings: 10

Ingredients:

• 1.75 lbs of chicken thighs (they have the bone-in, don't worry the chicken falls right off the bones and it's easy to pull them out after it cooks in the crockpot) ($4.00)
• 1 can black beans ($.99)
• 2 cups frozen corn ($1.00)
• 6 cups low sodium natural chicken broth ($5.00)
• 2 cans of diced tomatoes with chiles (with the juice) ($2.50)
• 1 little can (6 ozs) green chiles (you can cut up your own too!) ($1.00)
• 2 medium green bell peppers, diced ($1.75)
• 1/2 large onion, diced ($.50)
• 5 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 1 tsp onion powder

Combine all all the ingredients in a crockpot. Cook on low for 6-9 hours. When there is an hour left to cook, pull out the chicken using two forks and put onto a plate. Remove all the chicken meat from the bones (it should fall riiiight off the bone). You might have to fish around with the fork a little to make sure you get all the bones out of the pot. Put the meat back into the crockpot and allow everything to cook together for another hour.

Remove the soup from the heat and allow it to set for about 30 minutes.

Enjoy!

Ready to cook

Ready to eat. She's not pretty, but she sure is tasty.

Lunch for the Week: Crockpot {spicyish} Tortilla Soup

Sunday, November 17, 2013

Mashed Plantains with Pulled Pork - Sweet and Salty DELICIOUSNESS

So once upon a time I worked in a school with a large Dominican population where we ate plantains on everything- even on sandwiches ("Miss you never had a plantano pork sandwich??"- as if this is so wild that I had never thought of it). We also put hot sauce on everything including pizza which I have taken with me for life. And that's the story of how I fell in love with plantains and hot sauce (I'm sorry the kids would kill me- plantanos).

Anyway, plantains are the best because they taste good with so many things and you can use ripe plantains for some recipes and unripe for others. This week Giant had 5 plantains for $2 so needless to say we are eating plantains everyday. Taking the idea of a plantano-pork sandwich, I came up with this incredibly delicious meal that, even though the bf complained watching it ("this is going to be gross! smashed bananas? ew sick it looks like you're making mashed potatoes with coconut milk! why do they even call this milk? meat and bananas? I mean I'll try it but"), he LOVED it and ate it for 2 meals the next day.

Also this recipe takes about 5% effort. So easy. 

Servings: 5
Prep Time: 10 mins
Cook Time: 6 hours (crockpot style)

Ingredients

• 1 lb pork loin ($5.00)
• 1 14 oz can natural reduced sodium beef broth ($1.50)
• 1 medium yellow onion, sliced ($1.00)
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tsp garlic salt
• 1 tsp onion salt
• 4 ripe (aka brown) plantains (Giant had 5 plantains for $2!!)
• 1 cup coconut milk ($1.00)
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon
• 1 avocado, sliced ($1.00)

Put pork loin, beef broth, onion, garlic, garlic salt and onion salt in a crockpot on low for 6-8 hours. Once you are done cooking it, use two forks to shred the meat (this should be super easy as the meat will be super tender). Let it sit in the crockpot (crockpot turned off) for about an hour to cool and absorb the juices.

To open your plantains: Cut off both ends (the stem-like stuff), then slice down the middle and remove the peel from the middle out.

Slice your plantains into 1-inch-thick slices. Use about a teaspoon of olive oil or cocounut oil to lube a frying pan and cook the plantain slices for 3-4 minutes on each side, or until browned.

Combine the cooked plantain slices, coconut milk and cinnamon in a mixing bowl and smash together with a big-ish spoon until you get a mashed potato like consistency. Add more milk as needed to ease the smashing.

Scoop out a heaping spoonful of mashed plantains, top with the pork, and garnish with avocado. And of course, add hot sauce freely.

How freaking easy was that?

Pork loin might look like this in the store

or it might look like this

Mashed Plantains with Pulled Pork - Sweet and Salty DELICIOUSNESS

Thursday, October 24, 2013

Clean Crokpot Turkey Chili {with a kick}

HEY FALL!

Fall is here it's here it's here it's here! On Sunday I sat on the couch, nursing a Saturday Football Hangover (GO DAWGS!!), reading a book (Devil in the White City- great read, especially when it's a free e-book) with Andi wrapped in blankets with the windows open while chili cooked in the crock pot (which I got from Goodwill for $10- if you don't have access to Goodwill Amazon has great options for inexpensive crockpots here ). It smelled so delicious, tasted freaking amazing, and for like $15 could feed a small village). Here's the breakdown:

Clean Crokpot Turkey Chili {with a kick}

Monday, September 30, 2013