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

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!

Real Food

We started a 10 day real food pledge seven days ago.  We've been without refined sugars, preservatives, or store-bought convenience items for seven freaking days.  I found the pledge on www.100daysofrealfood.com but have since discovered 3058320923850 blogs and websites devoted to real food and I'm loving them all!  My bookmark tab is getting used like a cheap hooker these days thanks to all of these websites.

A lot of people have asked what we eat.  It's very simple: nothing from a box, nothing with sugar, nothing with more than 5 ingredients on the label. We eat organic whenever possible.  Everything is fresh and it's wonderful.  I have shifted our focus to fruits and vegetables rather than meats and processed foods.

Honestly, the first few days were pretty bad.  I was fatigued, grumpy, and depressed.  My face broke out like a 13-year-old boy as my body shed all of the toxins inside.  I wanted to eat junk food but I didn't at the same time.  I'll admit I caved one time and ate exactly one square of Hershey's dark chocolate.   I don't think that's too bad considering I was pretty much addicted to crappy food before.  I read that all of these things would happen, so they were expected.  We are now on day seven and I feel amazing.  I've been eating so well and preparing everything from scratch and it's honestly so refreshing. Surprise!  Real food fills you up way more than processed food!  Does this mean that we can't have sweets?  Not necessarily.  We can eat anything that is naturally sweetened with honey, maple syrup, or even Stevia.  I haven't tried Stevia yet, but I probably will once our 10 day pledge is over.  I'm really trying to stay away from anything super sweet and junky.  We went to VBS graduation last night for Superboy and were able to stay away from the crappy food fest that it was -- hot dogs, chips, cupcakes, and lemonade or sweet tea.  Superboy had a cupcake because I didn't want to look like the crazed lunatic that wouldn't let her kid have one freaking cupcake.  I may have wiped away some of the [ridiculous amount of] frosting while he wasn't looking though... hey, I didn't want the kid to go into some type of sugar shock since he hasn't had any in 7 days!  Overall, I'm incredibly proud of us.   No fast food for seven days is quite a feat for me, the drive thru queen. I was even tempted by Taco Bell but didn't get anything at all.  It just suddenly seems so uninteresting and gross to fill myself with crappy food.  I don't want to be one of those people that goes on a health kick and it fizzles out after a week or so, but this is honestly the best change we've ever made.  I definitely see us implementing this to the rest of our lives after the 10 day pledge is over.

I'll post some recipes later.  For now, I need to chase these boys around with my new found energy. :]

Love,
Supermom