Start the New Year off right with some home cooked, clean meals. Here are a few simple recipes.
Egg Scramble (vegetarian) (1 serving)
Ingredients:
∙ 3 eggs
∙ 2 tbsp scallions, sliced
∙ ¼ cup tomatoes, diced
∙ ¼ avocado, diced
∙ 1 tbsp extra virgin coconut oil
∙ sea salt and pepper to taste
Instructions:
1. Whisk eggs together in a medium bowl until well combined. 2. Season with some sea salt and pepper and add a splash of water. 3. Bring a medium sauté pan to medium heat with coconut oil. 4. Add eggs to the pan and allow them to set a bit before stirring. 5. Once your eggs are beginning to cook, sprinkle in the scallions and tomatoes and gently fold all the ingredients into your eggs. Cook through. 6. Top the egg scramble with diced avocado.
Fresh Vegetable Omelet Muffins (vegetarian) (6 servings)
Ingredients:
∙ 6 whole eggs, beaten
∙ 1-2 cups of desired vegetables, diced (e.g. bell peppers, tomatoes, onions)
∙ ¼ cup sugar-free salsa (optional)
∙ coconut oil
∙ sea salt and pepper to taste
Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Season beaten eggs with sea salt and pepper.
3. Lightly coat a 6 cup muffin pan with coconut oil (use a paper towel to spread evenly).
4. Divide vegetables evenly into each of the 6 muffin pan slots.
5. Fill each muffin slot with the egg batter.
6. Bake for 20-25 minutes until set.
Coconut Lime Chicken (4 servings)
Ingredients:
∙ 4 chicken breasts
∙ ½ cup unsweetened coconut milk
∙ 1 handful cilantro, chopped
∙ ¼ cup green onions, chopped
∙ 3 tbsp lime juice (or more as needed)
∙ 2 tbsp lime zest
∙ 1 pinch cayenne pepper
∙ sea salt to taste
Instructions:
1. Marinate chicken in 1½ tbsp lime juice.
2. Grill chicken.
3. Warm coconut milk over low heat.
4. Season the coconut milk with sea salt, lime zest and cayenne pepper. 5. Add the remaining lime juice to coconut mixture.
6. Pour sauce over chicken and garnish with green onions and cilantro.
7. Squeeze lime juice over finished dish, if desired.
Bolognas and Zoodles
This makes a huge batch of Bolognese, so feel free to either cut the recipe in half, or freeze some of it to use at a later date, which is what I do! It’s made in the slow cooker, which does all the work for you. I recommend using 100% grassfed ground beef vs grainfed group beef. Grassfed beef is actually healthy and doesn’t contain the inflammatory fats compared to grainfed beef.
Ingredients:
2.5-3 lbs of ground beef (depending how meaty you like your sauce, preferably grassfed)
3 – 28oz cans of crushed or diced tomatoes
3 – 6oz cans of tomato paste
2 medium onions, diced
6-8 garlic cloves, minced
2 bay leaves
Italian seasoning (enough to cover the top really well, about ¼ cup)
Salt & pepper to taste
1 pork chop or pork bone (optional)
1/3 cup fresh basil, torn into small pieces (optional)
Zoodles –
3 medium zucchini made into zoodles using a spiralizer or commercial bought.
Directions:
Sauce –
1. Place the tomatoes, tomato paste, onions, garlic, bay leaves, and pork chop/bone (if using) into your slow cooker. Break the ground beef up with your hands, into large chunks, and add to the slow cooker. Cover the top well with Italian seasoning, salt & pepper. Cook on low for 8-9 hours.
2. Just before you serve, stir in the basil (if using) and taste, adding more seasoning if needed. Break up the meat a bit if you’d like. Remove the bay leaves and pork bone.
Zoodles –
1. During the last half hour of cooking, prepare the zoodles to get the moisture out. It’s totally up to you, and what you want to do with your zoodles, but I typically prefer the salting method. This gets the moisture out, so that they don’t become a watery mess when heated with the sauce. To do this, place your zoodles on top of paper towels and salt them generously. Set aside for at least 20 minutes, while they release their moisture.
2. Gently squeeze the salted zoodles between dry paper towels, or a clean dishrag, to remove the excess moisture. Pour the sauce over the zoodles and eat up!
** I find that pouring the sauce over the zoodles heats them up enough, but you’re always welcome to sauté them in a pan on the stove until they’re heated to your liking. Just be sure that you salt and “sweat” them first so you don’t end up with soggy zoodles!