Herby Pork Chops

We had a great supper tonight!  I made these amazing herb pork chops, mashed garlic cauliflower, corn on the cob, and roasted okra.  As promised to some of you, here are the recipes from tonight:

Herb Pork Chops

4 thin (14 oz) boneless pork loin chops, center cut
1/4 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp dried savory
1/2 tsp dried thyme
salt and pepper to taste
1 tsp butter
2 tbsp whole wheat flour (leave out for gluten free)

Season pork chops with first 5 ingredients.  Dip in whole wheat flour and shake off excess.  Melt butter in pan over medium heat.  Once butter is melted, add pork chops and cook for 4-5 minutes on each side.  Move to plate and let rest for a few minutes before serving.

Roasted Okra
15-20 stalks fresh okra
olive oil
salt & pepper

Cut tips from okra and cut in pieces approximately 1/3"-1/2".  Spread evenly on baking sheet.  Season with salt and pepper, drizzle olive oil.  Use hands to mix and coat everything equally. You don't need a lot of olive oil!  Cook for 15-20 minutes at 350 degrees.

Mashed Garlicky Cauliflower [hint: don't tell your family it's cauliflower.  Everyone thought it was mashed potatoes.]

1 medium head cauliflower
1 tbsp cream cheese, softened
1/4 c grated Parmesan
1/2 tsp minced garlic
1/2 tsp salt
dash freshly ground black pepper
1 tbsp unsalted butter


Rinse and chop cauliflower.  Steam for about 10-15 minutes until fork tender.  Let drain well.  Place cream cheese, parmesan, garlic, salt, pepper, and butter in large mixing bowl.  Add cauliflower.  Use immersion blender to blend everything together until smooth.

Fresh Corn on the Cob
This one is really super difficult. Heat your oven to 350 degrees.  Add as many corn on the cobs as you need, still in husks, silks attached.  Place them directly on the oven rack and let cook for 30 minutes.  Cut off the end when you're done to remove the silks and use the husk as a handle to eat.  Amazing.

Hope you guys had a great Monday!  See you next time!

Love,
Supermom

Spinach & Artichoke Quiche = To Die For

Superdad hates frittata.  HATES.  He would rather starve than eat frittata.  I made that zucchini one a few weeks ago and he forced it down, but it wasn't his favorite [although he did say that it "wasn't terrible"]. I was a little hesitant to offer a quiche, but he LOVED it and so did Jameson.  I will definitely be making this more often!  

Superboy helped me make the whole wheat crust: 

Mmmmmmmmm....

Here is the recipe: 

Spinach & Artichoke Quiche with Whole Wheat Crust

Whole Wheat Crust:

1.5 cups whole-wheat flour

1/2 cup melted butter

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons milk

Dump all of this in the pie pan and mix well.  Once it's all mixed together, roll it into a ball in the center of the pie plate and press it out evenly in the pie plate. Pinch along the top edges or use a fork to make pretty indentations.  Superboy did everything except measure the ingredients for this.  I measured everything and put it in the pie plate for him and he loved it.  Get your kids in the kitchen.  That's where the best memories are made.

Quiche:

1 cup milk

4 eggs

1 cup Italian blend shredded cheese

1 steamed artichoke, or one organic can artichoke hearts that ONLY contains artichokes.  None of that other additive mess. 

1 10 oz package of frozen chopped spinach

10-12 cherry tomatoes

salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Thaw spinach in microwave and squeeze until very dry.  Steam artichokes or drain water from canned artichoke hearts. Chop artichokes well.  Slice tops off of cherry tomatoes and then cut them in half.  Mix everything together in a bowl, making sure to beat eggs.  Pour everything into the pie crust and bake at 375 for 35-45 minutes or until center is set.  

Finished product.  I served it with a side salad with balsalmic vinaigrette & fresh sliced fruit with Greek yogurt on the side.  Amazing!  So great for a quick, easy summer dish. 
Hope your family enjoys it as much as mine did!

Love, 

Supermom 

And, just to leave you with a whole lot of adorableness, here are my little calves at Cow Appreciation Day at Chick-Fil-A today [no, that's definitely NOT real food but we live by the 80/20 rule... we're allowed 20% of non-real food]. :] 

Clean Eating FAQ

We've been clean eating for over 3 weeks now.  I am absolutely no expert, but I have been asked a LOT of questions by a lot of people about clean eating! Honestly, I love being asked about it.  It holds me accountable.  I never want to look at someone and say, "well.... I'm not really doing that anymore" when they ask. If you still have questions, feel free to ask!  Email me at ecitysupermom@gmail.com or comment here.

Why do you eat clean?
Eating clean is the way we were intended to eat.  I honestly didn't do it to lose weight or anything, but it has helped in that area as well.  I have more energy.  My hair is stronger and healthier.  My nails are stronger.  My face is still in the break out stage while toxins are being pushed out of my body.


What do you eat?
Here is a sampling of some of the things we eat for each meal:
Breakfast: overnight oats [recipe below], omelets with veggies, fresh fruit
Lunch: pimento cheese on whole wheat,  fresh fruit, fresh veggies with hummus, dinner leftovers
Dinner: as long as it's made from scratch and sugar & preservative free, it's good to go.  I posted some of our favorite recipes in an earlier post, and will post more below for your pleasure!

Overnight oats

What are your staple foods?  Which foods do you have on hand at all times?
Every "diet" [whether used for weight loss or not] is going to include certain staple foods.  I find myself using these things all the time:  whole wheat flour, herbs, spices, olive oil, coconut oil, milk, eggs, butter [used sparingly but still good to have on hand], tons of fresh, seasonal produce, oatmeal [plain, not instant], steel cut oatmeal, honey, pure maple syrup, brown rice, quinoa, whole wheat couscous, nut butters, flax meal, chia seeds, dried beans, and nuts.  I buy local and organic whenever possible for everything.  The Farmer's market is my BFF.


Do you plan your meals?
Yes, I do.  Well, at least suppers are planned.  Breakfast is typically planned because I'll make overnight oats the night before or I won't.  I've always been a meal planner, though, even way before clean eating.  Little Miss Type A cannot live without her menu plans.


There ya have it, folks!  These are a few of the questions I keep hearing over and over.  I hope this helps someone and don't hesitate to contact me with any other questions!


Love,
Supermom


P.S.  Here's the recipe for overnight oats.  You thought I forgot, didn't you?  This originally came from one of my favorite blogs, www.katheats.com [she also has an iPhone app which is amazing for my iPhone peeps!], but I've adapted it a tiny bit for my taste.  :]  You can play with this as much as you'd like to find the perfect balance. It's really good and super filling!


Overnight Oats
adapted from katheats.com


1/3 cup rolled oats
1/3 – 1/2 cup milk [depending on how soupy you want them to be]
1/3 cup plain Greek yogurt
1/2 banana
1/2 tbsp chia seeds
Dash of cinnamon


Directions


Stir everything together in a bowl and place, covered or uncovered, in the refrigerator for the night.  I like to put mine in a mason jar.  I love me some mason jars.  You can top overnight oats with whatever you'd like -- I usually do some slivered almonds, sunflower seeds, sunflower or almond butter, and blueberries or blackberries.  I also throw these in the microwave for about a minute before I add toppings because I don't like cold breakfast, but that's totally up to you!

Farmer's Market Meal

We've officially been real foodies for almost 3 weeks now. I've been experimenting and trying new recipes with real food lately. I made an amazing sandwich tonight on a croissant that was great! I sautéed zucchini, squash, onions, eggplant, and mushrooms with a tiny bit of salt and pepper, whipped up a simple mixture of softened cream cheese and red pepper jelly to spread on the croissants, and put the veggies on the croissant, making a farmers market sandwich. It was fantastic! I cant take all the credit for this one, though. This is actually my most favorite sandwich in the world from our favorite restaurant, SummaJoe's Searing Pans. I'm going to try to find a real food recipe that makes bigger croissants and then I'll be 100% satisfied with this sandwich. The croissants were tiny. I served roasted okra and cantaloupe on the side. This was a wonderful, light, summer meal! Definitely going on the rotation, big croissants or not. Enjoy!

Day 10 of Real Food... Mission Accomplished!

Mission Accomplished!!! We made it through TEN days of real food!  No sugar, no preservatives!  I can't begin to describe how wonderful it feels.  I was able to cook all meals at home with the exception of one meal, where I had to cheat a tiiiiny bit, but other than that, everything was great!  Also, when I cheated, the food tasted gross and bland, like cardboard.  It's really amazing how real food explodes on your tongue when you get used to not having preservatives and sugar in everything we eat.  I've made homemade granola bars, homemade bread, spaghetti sauce, and everything else from scratch this week!  Superdad has tons more energy, and superboy is doing wonderfully with the change.  

A few of my favorite ladies have been asking for real food recipes so that they can start their pledge or incorporate more real food into their lives.  Here are a few of our favorites from the last ten days:

Zucchini Frittata

2 cups sliced zucchini

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1/2 cup sliced onion

1 teaspoon garlic, minced

4 eggs

2 egg whites

1/4 cup Parmesan

1/4 cup milk 

salt and pepper to taste

Saute onion and garlic in oil until onion is softened and turns yellow.

Add zucchini and saute until soft about 5-10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

In a bowl mix together egg, whites, Parmesan and milk.

Pour egg mixture over the zucchini and lower heat. Cook until egg mixture is semi set. The edges will be browned and you should be able to lift them a bit with a spatula.

Place the pan in the broiler to cook the center about 5 minutes.

Top with some feta cheese and chopped parsley if desired.

Crock Pot Pork & Pears

4- 1/2 inch thick, boneless pork loin chops

1/2 tsp pepper

1/2 tsp.salt

1 tsp. butter

1/2 c. unsweetened applesauce

1/2 c. apple juice, no sugar added

1/2 c. onion, sliced

2 firm, ripe pears, skin off, sliced

Melt butter in a saute pan over medium heat until it melts.

Season both sides of pork chops with salt and pepper.

Add pork to saute pan and cook on each side until browned.

Pour apple juice and applesauce into the crock pot.

Place sliced onion over applesauce.

Add pork chops on top of onions.

Add sliced pears on top of the pork chops.

Cook on high for 3 hours.

I topped this with mango salsa [1 mango, 1 red onion, and one bunch of cilantro, chopped] and it was even better!  Adam liked this one more than me, though, I must admit. 

Real Chicken Broccoli Rice Casserole

2.5 cups uncooked brown rice

2 cups chicken, cooked and chopped

4 cups fresh broccoli florets

1 batch cream of mushroom soup (homemade)

1 batch cream of chicken soup (homemade)

2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

salt and pepper to taste

Cook brown rice according to package instructions on the stove top or in a rice cooker. Meanwhile, in a large pot, steam broccoli florets until just tender. Drain and rinse with cold water. Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl, reserving .5 cup of shredded cheese. Mix well to combine. Divide casserole between two 8 x 8 greased baking pans or one larger pan. Sprinkle each with .25 cups shredded cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes, until heated through and bubbly.

Spinach Pie  

1 whole wheat pie crust

2 cups fresh or frozen, chopped spinach

4 eggs, beaten

1 cup milk 

1 cup shredded cheese, divided in half ( I used Italian cheese blend of asiago, mozzarella, Parmesan)

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon minced garlic

pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

In a large bowl, lightly beat the eggs. Add salt, pepper, garlic, 1/2 cup shredded cheese and milk. Mix well.

Evenly distribute the chopped, cooked spinach into the pie crust.

Pour the egg mixture over the spinach then add the 1/2 cup of cheese on top.

Bake 40-60 minutes until the center is cooked. Let stand 15 minutes before slicing.

Crock Pot Lasagna

3 cans (14.4 ounces) crushed tomatoes

3 cloves garlic , finely chopped

2 Tbsp. dried oregano

1/2 tsp. kosher salt

1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes

1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

2 containers (15 ounces each) fresh ricotta

2 cups (8 ounces) grated mozzarella

1/4 cup grated Parmesan

12 lasagna noodles (about three-quarters of a 1-pound box)

5 ounces (about 6 cups) baby spinach

In a medium bowl, combine the tomatoes, garlic, oregano, salt, red pepper and black pepper. In a separate bowl, mix the ricotta, 1 cup of the mozzarella and Parmesan.

In the bottom of a 5- to 6-quart slow cooker, spread a thin layer of the sauce. Top with 3 of the noodles (breaking to fit as necessary). Spread about 1 cup of the sauce over the noodles and layer with 2 cups of the spinach and 1 1/2 cups of the cheese mixture. Repeat twice more with the noodles, sauce, spinach and cheese mixture. Top with the remaining 3 noodles, sauce and 1 cup mozzarella.

Cook on low, covered, until the noodles are tender—especially in the center of the lasagna—about 3 to 3 1/2 hours.

I found all of the above recipes on a couple of my new favorite blogs, www.sugarfreemom.com and www.100daysofrealfood.com, with the exception of the last recipe, which was given to me by my sweet friend Susan.  

This is such a great change for our family.

With love,

Supermom