As I mentioned previously, my sister Carrie has been eating clean and I wanted to share her experience as well. She was kind enough to write about a fun time they had and how they were still able to eat clean!

I’m pretty excited to be able to guest blog.

When Allie asked me and my husband, Ryan, to try eating clean for a month with her, we had no hesitations to try. We eat healthy and there is always room for improvement. It has not been too difficult. There are a few foods that we have really missed. One is pizza and the other is a good hoagie.

We were invited to a Phillies game the other night and usually we would have gone to our favorite deli, Lenny’s, to get a chicken culet sandwich or a Cajun turkey. Since that was out, I decided to make my own. I used grilled thin sliced chicken, sautéed broccoli rabe, roasted red peppers, and sharp provolone. All of these items were on a whole wheat roll and it was perfectly delicious!

We didn’t even miss the chicken not being fried. I’d say it was a homerun! We had an awesome time at the Phillies game and they won.

Thanks again for taking the time to guest post… and more importantly, join us on this journey!

It is hard to believe that almost a week has passed since I’ve written about our clean eating challenge!  While we are still doing well, it has been a lot of work keeping up with photographing everything I eat.  Jay suggested I do some highlights and I thought that was a great idea!

 

After all, how many bowls of the same cereal can you stand looking at?

So come on, let’s take a look at the “best of” clean eating.

Corn tortillas with cheddar cheese, an egg, bacon, peppers and onions, topped with cilantro.

Grilled chicken over cous cous fried rice.  I sautéed some onions, carrots, garlic and ginger, then added it to the cous cous and served it over spinach.

A sweet potato.  Simple but tasty.

Corn tortillas with cheddar cheese, grilled chicken, and tomatoes.

Quinoa, grilled chicken, mushrooms, scallions and goat cheese.

Pineapple & mango smoothie.

Carrot, apple, cucumber, celery, lemon and ginger juice.

I am also going to be putting up a post from my sister, so be on the lookout for that.  Only one more week of our challenge!

Day 13:

On Friday I started off with a big bowl of oatmeal!  It has been quite some time since I have had oatmeal and I definitely missed it.

The oats I bought are organic quick oats so all you have to do is add hot water.  It reminded me of oatmeal I used to eat when I was little.  Minus all of the extra ingredients.  I did add a banana, a splash of milk, brown sugar, and some flax seeds.

Because I was off I decided to do a little cooking.  Not only did I make some grilled artichokes, but also homemade hummus!

I do intend to write about both of these recipes so stay posted!

For lunch I snacked on some of the artichokes as well as the hummus with some pretzel crisps that I found at Trader Joe’s.

Later I headed to my Carrie and Ryan’s for dinner.

I brought the artichokes with some fresh veggies, the hummus and some pistachios to snack on before dinner.

We enjoyed homemade pizza and a delicious salad.

And for dessert we had a red white and blue dessert!

Funny that it was flag day!

Day 14:

On Saturday morning Carrie and I headed out for a run called Run or Dye.

But before I started off with some cereal and coffee.

We did a little shopping the night before so I bought some fancy drinking containers.  A new coffee mug and water cup!

The top photo is from last years Color Run and the bottom is from Run or Dye.

When I got back from the run I was pretty hungry so I made a quick snack.

Some hummus, goat cheese, and pretzel crisps.

For lunch I made a big smoothie!

First, I juiced 2 apples, celery, carrots, and half a lemon.  Then I added frozen pineapple and mango, spinach and ginger.

An epic (and not very photogenic) smoothie was born!

I was really in the mood for something Asian inspired so I looked up a few stir fry recipes and came up with this tasty creation.

I sautéed peppers, a mixed veggie bag that had broccoli, carrots and cabbage, green onions, and garlic.  I found a marinade recipe online that I soaked sliced beef in.  In the meantime, I cooked some buckwheat noodles.  Once all the veggies were cooked, I added the beef until cooked, topped the stir fry mix on the noodles and added some fresh cilantro.  Yum!  It was really good and hit the spot.

Day 15:

Happy Father’s Day to my Dad and all Dads!  We went to my parents house to celebrate.  I slept in and did not have breakfast prior to heading over.  I know, not a good thing to do, but I promise it is not a habit.

At my parents we snacked on cheese and crackers, asiago artichoke dip, homemade bruschetta, and chips and dip.

 

My Mom then brought out lobster and steak!  I had some lobster and it was delicious.  Because I had to leave for work, I didn’t get to enjoy the entire feast but what I did have was quite tasty!

Day 16:

Today I took the time to make another epic smoothie for breakfast.  I included all of the same ingredients and added a banana.

For work I packed some blackberries, mangos, and pistachio nuts to snack on.

I also packed some of the stir fry, though the photo is not as pretty as the first one.

It is hard to believe that we are already half way through our clean eating challenge!  Thank you for reading and I hope I have been able to give you some ideas of how you can make better choices!

Day 6

On Friday I had a slice of banana bread with natural strawberry jelly and a little organic butter.

Before heading to work I went to the gym, then snagged a small piece of pizza from the night before. 

Then, on the way to work I bought a green smoothie from Whole Foods.  I picked: spinach, kale, avocado, pineapple, apple, ginger, and water.

I made Skinny Taste’s pumpkin crockpot chili the night before.

 

I topped it with a little greek yogurt and some fresh parsley.  Mine actually came out a little thicker than the recipe called for because I used 30 oz. of pumpkin instead of 15 oz. Whoops!  Even though I goofed, it was still delicious.

Day 7

For breakfast on Saturday I had a homemade whole wheat tortilla with mozzarella cheese, and an egg with fajita mix.

I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned it yet, but I have also been having my coffee with sugar in the raw instead of the creamed honey.  I found that I like how it sweetens it more evenly, instead of just on the bottom.

For lunch I had the last slice of the pizza and a salad.  In the salad was mixed greens, cucumbers, carrots, chickpeas, beets, and goat cheese with homemade vinaigrette.

 

Jay made a delicious treat… potato chips!  They were crispy, crunchy, and salty. 

I had to pack my dinner because I was headed to work, so excuse the less than glam presentation.

I had marinated a piece of frozen salmon in olive oil, garlic, lemon juice, and Essence of Emeril seasoning.  Then I threw it on the George Forman grill until it was nice and flakey.  On the side, I packed some bulgar, and then later I paired it with broccoli and mushrooms at work. 

Day 8

One thing we’ve noticed about clean eating is that you go through a lot more dishes! While we normally cook a good amount, we have been cookin’ up a storm lately.

Aside from Jay making tasty potato chips, he made French toast on Sunday morning.

The French toast was made from homemade whole wheat French toast, and topped with real maple syrup and blueberries.

After breakfast I was off to a baby sprinkle for my friend Rian!  There was so much delicious food there so I let myself have a treat and indulge.

I tried different kinds of quiche, chicken salad on a croissant, potato casserole and a chicken sausage and pineapple skewer.

For dessert I had some fruit salad, a yogurt parfait, and some birthday cake dip!

After the sprinkle I went to work and was feeling pretty full, which is why there are no other photos from the day!

Day 9

This morning I tried Ezekiel Cinnamon Raisin Whole Grain Cereal with some fresh blueberries and organic milk.

I’d highly recommend this cereal to anyone looking for a healthy whole grain cereal.  It is crispy, flavorful and filling.

Headed to work again, I packed all of my snacks and meals.

For lunch I had pumpkin chili topped with greek yogurt and Triscuits.  Yes, Triscuits are clean eating!  Their only ingredients are whole grain wheat, oil and salt.

As snacks, I packed a plum, mango, torta, and individually wrapped fresh mozzarella.

While shopping the other day I found the tortas, whose ingredients are: wheat flour, olive oil, sea salt, sugar, yeast, thyme, and rosemary.   They are similar to a tortilla but are really thin and crunchy!  Perfect with some fresh mozzarella.

For dinner I packed a pepper stuffed with bulgar, tomato sauce, and goat cheese.  I also made more of the fajita veggies, so I packed some of those as a side dish, topped with fresh avocado.

See you soon with some tasty eats!