May's Menu

I know it's been a while since I've posted a monthly menu. Well I've been a little busy trying to figure out this whole clean eating thing. Trust me, some most of the recipes you could live with out. Finally, this month it hit me. Why am I making this so friggin hard! Think about what you would normally cook and search and scour the net for it in a clean version, ya idiot! So that's what I did. I'm really excited to share this clean menu with you. Keep in mind  you have to buy clean ingredients to make the meal clean. So keep the clean eating rules in mind as you shop. I've listed 12 dinners and 4 of breakfast, lunch, and snack. Oh, and how could I forget 2 ice cream recipes. Mr. Spouse has begged for ice cream the last two weeks. Now I will tell ya this, I am a lazy cook. I prep and cook breakfast and lunch for the entire week on Sunday nights. In other words, I eat the same breakfast and lunch all week long. It's not as bad as it sounds, give it a try. It takes a lot of the planning away and it makes the meal about nourishment not mmm what am I going to have today. I hope these recipes help you and perhaps start you on your clean eating journey!

 

I'm sharing these recipes with my fellow cooks at Six Sisters Stuff, I heart Naptime, I should be mopping the floor, and Skip to my lou.

Complete Idiots Guide to Clean Eating

I am the idiot I'm referring to in the title. I posted recently about life changes I wanted to make for my little family. The natural hair is coming along. I haven't put chemicals in my hair since Fall of 2012. Last month I tried to start the transition of moving towards clean eating. Well that was a big flop. Now mind you, I shop for groceries once a month. So even though we weren't loving the recipes I prepared it wasn't like we had much choice but to eat them. I decided that I still wanted our family to eat clean but I had to find a different recipe source. The website I used for April's menu was further over the cliff than I want to take my family. So I went back to researching and then I found this website (which a friend recommended in the first place but I forgot about it) and this website. Both these ladies focus on eating the same food your use to but with quality ingredients. These recipes are easy and tasty! Now, let me explain why we  I want our family to eat clean. It's for our health. I don't understand why we live in a society that makes me the weird one for not wanting to eat foods with ingredients I can't pronounce or have to Google the definition. If I buy a can of diced tomatoes shouldn't the ingredients just say tomato not that and five other things??? It's like we're poisoning our bodies with things that can lead to health problems. Why are we hurting ourselves so willingly? The biggest shocker to me was doughnuts and soda are BOTH in the top five cancer causing foods. I mean seriously, how many of us started getting doughnuts as a breakfast treat at least once a week before we even started Kindergarten. Now with all that said, here is what clean eating will look like for MY family.
Always
eat organic produce
Buy local beef grass fed, grass finished(it means they aren't giving them anything else to fattening them up before the butcher)
Buy local pasture raised chicken
Buy fish caught from the wild NOT raised on a fish farm
We basically want to make sure our meat isn't eating the things we are avoiding.
Get your diary from grass fed cows (princess can't have regular milk so we get almond)
Eat brown over white (whole wheat everything and brown rice) Brown still has all the nutrients you need. The more a food is processed the more nutrients we loose.

Sometimes

enjoy treats with white sugar and white flower(birthdays and other celebrations)
enjoy a meal out and make wise choices, avoid the meal that you know has Cream of Cancer Mushroom
For MY family I believe everything is fine in moderation.

Never

Eat fast food- seriously they make it so the stuff never goes bad, gross! I do want to clarify. I'm not saying that we will never eat another burger, taco, or premade pizza again. We for sure will, but instead of going the fast food route we will eat from a restaurant that actually makes the burgers, pizza, and tacos themselves. A few of my faves are Pailios, Chop House, and Mijos.

Deep fried food

Buy prepackaged food that has an ingredient list of more than 5 things.

So I took my new found recipes and headed to Trader Joe's for the month of April. I don't think they get very many once a month shoppers there. The carts are on the tiny side.You will be glad to know we've only had one meal that we could live without. :)

P.S.
I just want to end with this is what works for my family. And you have to find what works for you. For instance some people eat clean and still drink like a fish. Hey if that's what works for you go for it. Me, I L-O-V-E Laffy Taffy. I often joke that it is my crack and I can't/won't ever give it up. So, even now knowing everything I know I will still indulge in some good 'ol Laffy Taffy.