04 May 2013

Clean Cooking

As many of you know, I like to live a healthy life. Exercise. Sleep. Wine in moderation (my least favorite part of being healthy). And of course, eating healthy. I won't get into the ins and outs of Paleo cooking, because although it's generally the way I like to cook, I disagree with some of the philosophies. But I do like to cut out gluten, refined sugars, and go light on the dairy. Nerdy internet cooks like me call this eating "clean". Anyways, here is one of my absolute favorite clean recipes. I've been meaning to post it for awhile... and meaning to send it to my mom... so we're killing two birds with one stone here. 

Clean Crock Pot Black Bean and Sweet Potato Chili
Loosley adapted from a recipe by He and She Eat Clean

Ingredients



1 small yellow onion
2 cloves garlic
1 (14.5 oz) can roasted tomatoes with juice (Try to pick a can with no added sugar!)
1 (15 oz) can black beans
2 cups sweet potatoes, cubed
1lb. chicken (I use 2 breasts or 4 thighs. The original recipe calls for 1lb. ground turkey, which they don't have here in NZ. I've done this, and it's yummy too, but I actually prefer the chicken)
1 bayleaf (if you have it, which I don't...!)
3/4 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp oregano
1/8 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp coarse ground pepper
1 tsp chili powder
1.5 cups water



Directions

Put veggies and beans in the bottom of the crock pot. Layer with meat, spices, and water.


Switch crock pot on low for 8 hours, or high for 4 hours... and that's it! Easy as!

I like to serve with a little grated cheese and sour cream. Below... Scott served up our chili with Scott-sized cheese portions on top! But lets be serious... I didn't complain!


Yum!

Another clean recipe I just tried for fun last weekend was Paleo Chocolate Chip Cookies. Now a disclaimer... they dont look quite like your normal chocolate chip cookie. And maybe they don't taste quite like your normal chocolate chip cookie. But in the baking world, from a scale of Twinkie to Healthy, these probably score a solid 9. And maybe I'm open minded, but I actually think they're pretty darn yummy!

Paleo Chocolate Chip Cookies
Recipe curtesy of The Bite Sized Baker, slightly modified

Ingredients
3 1/4 cup almond meal (those of you in the U.S. can get this at Trader Joe's for cheap)
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup coconut oil, melted
1 cup good quality dark chocolate chips

Directions
Combine almond meal, salt, and baking soda in a large bowl.
Melt coconut oil over the stove (or not, if you're in a place that's warm!) and combine with honey.
Add vanilla and eggs into coconut oil mixture.
Use an electric mixer to combine wet ingredients with dry ingredients.
Add chocolate chips.

Scoop out whatever your normal cookie sized cookies are. Mine were about 2 inches across (pictured below) yielded 30 cookies. I found flattening the cookies out before baking ensured that they cooked all the way through. Bake at 375 F (190 C) for 8-10 minutes.



So they look a little funny (seriously check out the link above for what professional ones look like... it got me to try the recipe!)... but they've got no gluten and no refined sugar! Guilt free chocolate chip cookies!? Well... almost!

No comments:

Post a Comment