Teriyaki Chicken

Teriyaki Chicken

Ok, so complete disclaimer... this is a healthier and cleaner version of my teriyaki chicken and may not fit your ideal clean eating standards. I am half Filipino and in my household we eat rice, a LOT of rice. Growing up we would eat rice with breakfast, lunch, and dinner. It's just how it is. So the fact that I haven't had rice since I started clean eating is a miracle. I know that brown rice is an option, but I cannot stand it. I don't know what it is about it, and I know some people love it and prefer it. But I just don't like it. I love and typically use jasmine rice. Brown rice is healthier but in this instance I just used my beloved jasmine rice. In the pre-cleaneating days I would sauté the chicken in butter, soy sauce, etc. And then would do the same for the green beans. So this is much much healthier! 

I salt and peppered two chicken breasts then dusted some garlic powder on top.  I prepared the sauce separately. After the chicken cooked I cut it up and tossed it with the chicken. I steamed the green beans, no butter or any thing else since the chicken with the sauce would be on top of the green beans. I put ginger powder in the water I cooked the rice with. 

Sauce:

1 cup organic chicken broth

1/4 cup soy sauce

2 tbsp light brown sugar

2 tbsp honey

2 tbsp white vinegar

1/2 tsp ginger powder

1/2 tsp garlic powder

A splash of balsamic vinegar

A splash of Worcestershire sauce

I let this simmer while the rest of the food was cooking. My thought with this was that instead of simmering the chicken in straight soy sauce mixture. I made the majority of the sauce be broth and just gave it teriyaki notes. Then by tossing the chicken at the end in it, it meant less of that sauce and sodium seeped inside. It was actually very delicious! I think I might even prefer this to my old way!

Alana's Review

Ease: 4/5

Taste: 5/5

Swedish Meatballs

Swedish Meatballs

So, while scrolling through Twitter last night, I scrolled past a picture of Swedish Meatballs. I scrolled past but couldn't get them out of my head, so I tried to find the tweet to give credit today but I couldn't find it. I had never made swedish meatballs before so I did a bunch of research, threw out my other dinner plan, and put together my own recipe, I also tried to make it clean.  So, here you go! 

Meatballs (measurements are approx.)

1lb Extra Lean Ground Turkey

1 Cup Plain panko bread crumbs with crushed saltine crackers (1. Bc I like to use them & 2. I ran out of panko)

3/4 cup Chopped spinach

1 Tsp Garlic powder

Pinch Salt&pepper

1 tsp Dried rosemary

1 tsp Dried basil 

One small chopped finely onion (I usually use the use the mini chopper, but the babies were sleeping in the other room)

2 Splashes of Worcestershire sauce

2 eggs

Make them into meatballs, and spread them out on a non stick sprayed baking dish

Baked @ 350 for 35 minutes

Sauce

3 cups organic free range chicken broth

1 cup water

1/2 cup soy milk

1&1/2 Tsp rosemary

2 dashes of soy sauce

1&1/2 tsp honey

Salt&pepper

3 heaping tablespoons (the kind you eat with) flour

Mix it up

Put the baked meatballs into a pot, pour the sauce over it. I simmered it for about an hour and a half, but you can adjust to your preference and needs. 

The side was nothing crazy, baked potatoes and green beans coated in olive oil topped with salt, pepper,  and Parmesan

Alana's Review

Ease: 2.5/5

Taste: 4/5

Comment: Use wheat flour instead of white for the sauce, I didn't have any on hand (I know... shame on me) just to make it more clean. Also, while I think the honey did add something special,  I kind of want to try maple syrup, worse case scenario I have to redo the sauce. But I think it turned it really well considering I've never made it before  (and actually only have eaten it once, maybe twice? But for some reason I just HAD to have it). It was a great first attempt and my toddler kept asking for more, so it must have been pretty good! 

Lemon Butter Chicken w/ Parmesan Zucchini and Green Beans

Lemon Butter Chicken w/ Parmesan Zucchini and Green Beans

http://www.fivehearthome.com/2014/06/21/baked-parmesan-zucchini-rounds/

http://wonkywonderful.com/lemon-butter-chicken-thigh-recipe/

If you know me, you know I love butter. I put an embarrassing amount on my baked potatoes, butter and parmesan pasta is my favorite go-to meal...I just can't get enough. So I got just a little excited when I saw the above recipe for lemon butter chicken thighs. Pro #1: I already had all of the ingredients on hand. Pro #2: It involves butter. Sounds like a winner to me! It was pretty easy to make and had a nice garlicy lemon flavor. But here comes the twist in the story: it wasn't the star of the dish for me. No, not the buttery braised,  moist chicken, but the parmesan zucchini! That stuff was delish. That cheesy, crispy bite was flavor heaven. And only two ingredients? Winner winner zucchini dinner.

Sarah's Review

Ease: 3/5

Taste: chicken 4/5. Zucchini: 5&5

Comments: I'd recommend lightly spraying whatever you bake the zucchini on, they like to stick. Also, I used skin-on chicken thighs, but I'd recommend skinless as the skin gets very soggy in the braising.