Clean Eating Blueberry Muffins

• I absolutely LOVE these blueberry muffins.  They're so easy to whip up and freeze really well, so you can just pull out one at a time.  It's the perfect breakfast if you're in a hurry. Hope you enjoy!
• 
  
• Ingredients:
• 1 cups white whole wheat flour (or can use regular whole wheat flour)
• 2 cups old fashioned oats (you can use quick oats if that's all you have)
• 1/4 cup + 1 Tablespoon + 1 teaspoon Stevia (Baking Blend works best, but you can use the regular stuff too) OR 2/3 cup evaporated cane sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups nonfat Greek yogurt (I like Chobani 100 Vanilla)
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup fresh or frozen (but thawed) blueberries
• 
  Instructions:
  1. Heat oven to 350 degrees.
• 2. Coat muffin tins with cooking spray or baking liners.
  3. Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl.
• 4. Combine wet ingredients in a medium bowl.
• 5. Fold wet mixture into dry mixture.
• 6. Gently fold in blueberries.
• 7. Fill muffin tins.
• 8. Bake for 20-25 minutes until the top is golden and it springs back if you gently touch it.

This makes approximately 12 muffins. And depending on the exact ingredients you choose to use, they're about 100 calories for each muffin!

7 Days of Clean Eating

Clean eating doesn't mean eating boring, bland food!  If you want to clean up your eating, yet still have a ton of flavor, try out my 7 day meal plan!!!  I've found that the healthiest and fittest people do tend to eat the same things, so I suggest doing that for breakfast, lunch, and your snacks, but dinner is where I like to mix it up A LOT.  So, here's the plan.  You'll eat one of the breakfast choices, one of the lunch choices, and two snacks per day along with my dinner menu.  It's completely up to you how you'd like to mix it up as far as which meals you eat on which days.  I did not count any calories for you though, so if you're looking to keep track of your calories, I suggest using a free app like MyFitnessPal.  I also didn't give you exact serving sizes for some of the items, so you when in doubt, go with the normal serving size (For example: 1/2 cup cooked pasta, 1/2 of a potato (preferably a sweet potato, but I still eat white potatoes), 1/2 cup cooked brown rice, 1 ounce of cheese, 1 ounce of nuts, 1 cup of non-starchy vegetables, 1 cup of fruit).

Breakfast (choose one from the following):
-2 Egg Muffins and 1 Slice of Ezekiel (or sprouted grain) bread with 1 teaspoon butter or coconut oil
-1 cup of cooked plain oatmeal (quick rolled oats) with 1 packet of Stevia and 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon and 2 eggs, any style (use cooking spray with a non-stick pan)
-Overnight oatmeal from any of these recipes, 2 eggs any style (use cooking spray with a non-stick pan) – I didn’t include the extra ingredients for these in the shopping list
-Applesauce oatmeal pancakes with 1 tablespoon real maple syrup, 2 eggs any style (use cooking spray with a non-stick pan)

Mid-Morning Snack:
-Shakeology - there are tons of great Shakeology recipes out there!!!
-1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt (Low fat), 1/2 cup frozen berries, thawed, and 1 packet Stevia to sweeten, if needed (or 1 teaspoon REAL maple syrup)
Optional mid-morning snack (shopping list does NOT reflect this):
-2 Hardboiled eggs, 1 piece of fruit (1 cup of berries, 1 apple, 1 orange, 1/2 banana, 1 cup of any type of melon or pineapple)

Lunch (choose one from the following):
Days 1-3
-Grilled Chicken Wrap (1 whole wheat tortilla, 4-6 ounces of grilled white meat chicken, 1 tablespoon hummus, 1 tablespoon feta cheese, lettuce & tomato) and 1 apple with 1 tablespoon natural peanut butter (only ingredients should be peanuts, with a little bit of salt is ok)
Days 4-7
-21 Day Fix Chicken Soup or this chicken soup recipe and 1 apple with 1 tablespoon natural peanut butter (only ingredients should be peanuts, with a little bit of salt is ok)
Additional, yet completely optional choice for lunch (grocery list does NOT reflect this recipe)
-Black bean and corn salad on a whole wheat tortilla or low carb whole wheat wrap and 1 apple with 1 tablespoon natural peanut butter  (only ingredients should be peanuts, with a little bit of salt is ok)


Afternoon Snack:
Choose one from this list:      and           Pair it with one from this list:
-1 cup veggies (carrots, celery,               -12 whole unsalted raw almonds, cashews,
                                                                      walnuts
bell pepper, cucumber)                           -1 piece string cheese (1 ounce serving)
-1 cup fruit or 1 piece fruit                     -2 tablespoons unsalted peanuts
(berries, melon, pineapple,                     -1 tablespoon natural (peanuts only) peanut butter
grapes, banana, apple)                            -2 tablespoons hummus

Dinner
Day 1: Chicken Bake - I suggest using 1 pound asparagus, 2 bell peppers, and 2 large potatoes only for this recipe (I used regular russet potatoes, not red potatoes like it calls for...it's up to you)
Day 2: Chicken Zpaghetti and Meatballs with 1 cup of steamed broccoli (fresh or frozen), you can also serve this with 1/2 cup cooked whole wheat pasta, any cut.  You can also substitute 1 teaspoon dried basil and 1 teaspoon dried oregano for the fresh spices.  I also recommend using a 28 ounce can of tomatoes, not 14 ounces as the original recipe states (this is reflected in the shopping list)
Day 3: Pork Carnitas - I know this has a lot of spices on it, but it is COMPLETELY worth the investment.  You have to try this one out!
Day 4: Baked Tilapia with 1/2 cup cooked brown rice and steamed green beans (fresh or frozen)
Day 5: Buffalo Chicken Burgers with whole wheat buns and 1 cup of steamed broccoli (fresh or frozen).  When picking whole wheat buns, go for the ones with the fewest ingredients, no high fructose corn syrup or azodicarbonamide - i.e. the same material used in yoga mats and the soles of gym shoes.
Day 6: Whole Chicken in crockpot, carrots, potatoes, & onions.  The recipe calls for onions only, but in order to round out the meal, peel and quarter about 2 large potatoes and 4 large carrots (1-2 inch slices) and throw in the crockpot the last hour of the cooking. 
Day 7: Turkey Chili - can also use ground white meat chicken instead of turkey

 

Shopping List

SHAKEOLOGY - I know most of you don't have this, but it's something to consider adding into your daily nutrition!  It's so worth the investment

Produce

1 - 3 pound bag of apples

1 bunch celery

1 head romaine lettuce

1 jar of garlic or 3 bulbs of fresh garlic

1 lemon or bottled lemon juice

1 melon - cantaloupe, small watermelon or 1 pineapple

1 pineapple (if not eating melon)

1 pound asparagus

1 pound green beans, fresh or frozen

1 small bag of onions, white or yellow

4 large potatoes

6 red, yellow, or orange bell peppers

1 Avocado

1-2 Limes or bottled lime juice
 

Fresh berries or grapes (enough for 3-4 days of your afternoon snack)

fresh basil (dried works too)

Fresh oregano (dried works too)

Fresh cilantro (or cilantro in the tube in produce section)

fresh rosemary (completely optional…I despise rosemary though, so I don't use it)

2 large tomatoes

2 medium zucchini

2 pounds broccoli, fresh or frozen

2 pounds whole carrots

 

Meat

1 pound tilapia filets or 4-6 ounce filets

3 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breast

2 pounds ground chicken breast

3 pound pork tenderloin roast

3 pound whole chicken

1 pound lean ground turkey or ground turkey breast

 

Dairy

Hummus

Parmesan cheese (for Zpaghetti & Meatballs)

Real Butter (NO MARGARINE!!!)

String Cheese

2 dozen eggs

32 ounces plain low fat Greek yogurt

Blue cheese

Feta Cheese

Shredded cheddar cheese

 

Frozen

2 - 16 ounce bags of frozen berries (for morning snack or more if you're having for afternoon snack too)

Green beans or broccoli, if not buying fresh

 

Grocery
12 corn tortillas

1 box of Stevia packets

Instant or regular brown rice

Mrs. Dash's garlic and herb seasoning

Natural peanut butter

Extra virgin olive oil

2 cans black beans

2 cans kidney beans

2-28 ounce cans chopped, diced, or stewed tomatoes)

4 - 32 ounce boxes of low sodium chicken broth

1 small jar capers

Frank's Hot Sauce or Buffalo Wing Sauce (nothing with sugar in it!)

Bay Leaf

Chili powder

Cinnamon

Cloves

Cooking spray - olive oil is best

Coriander

Cumin

Garlic Powder

Onion Powder

Paprika

Thyme

Cayenne Pepper

Black Pepper

Red Pepper Flakes (optional)

Rolled Oats, plain…not flavored

Salt, sea salt is best and preferred

Unsalted peanuts

Unsalted raw almonds

Unsweetened Applesauce, small jar

Whole wheat pasta, any cut

Whole wheat tortillas or wraps

Whole wheat hamburger buns

 

 

21 Day Fix Chicken Soup

Here we are in the middle of the winter, and the last thing I want to do is eat a cold salad for lunch!  Brrrr!!!!! And in the Midwest, we like our soup on a cold winter's day.  This is my way of getting soup for lunch, yet still making it 21 Day Fix Friendly!  Oh...and by the way, this is SUPER easy!

21 Day Fix Chicken Soup (4 servings = 1 green, 1 red per serving)
Ingredients:
12 cups low sodium chicken broth, organic if possible
1 pound of boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into 1 inch pieces
4 cups of veggies of your choice (I like to use frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained, zucchini, mushrooms, carrots, onions, and celery)
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon poultry seasoning (or dried sage)
1/2 teaspoon each salt and pepper (or to your liking)

Directions: Bring chicken broth to boil in a large stockpot, reduce heat to a simmer, add diced chicken, cook about 5 minutes in simmering broth.  Add all of your veggies and seasonings and cook an additional 10 minutes or until veggies are tender (but not mushy or falling apart). Remove bay leaf.  Divide soup into 4 containers and refrigerate until ready to eat!

(Using store bought chicken broth helps give this more of a homemade soup flavor that seems like it took you hours to make, but you know that it didn't!)