In January Chris and I did a month of no sugar, no dairy, no processed grains and no booze (sooooo boring). Sounds pretty horrible from the outside looking in, but I promise it’s almost all rainbows and butterflies, well after the first two weeks or so. I personally do a detox once a year, so cutting back on all these things was pretty easy for me (I’m not trying to toot my own horn, it just was). The first time is always the worst, oooh those sugar cravings!! Since that month is over and as annoying as it sounds (it feels equally annoying as I type it) it feels better to keep those things cut out of our diets. So we still avoid sugar, dairy and processed grains, but still enjoy them when we crave them or when we are out – moderation. It’s that 80/20 rule, 80% of the time we eat clean and super healthy, 20% of the time we eat what we eat. And since I do all the cooking, the kids basically eat whatever we eat – except I still buy and make them their favorites for snacks and school lunches.
Alot of you asked if I could share some of the things we eat, that didn’t have the 4 things we were avoiding (that’s a bit of a confusing mouthful).
I like to try at least one new recipe a week (I get very tired of eating the same thing), some weeks everyday consists of a new recipe. But we always have a rotating list of go-to simple ingredient favorites, here are some off our current list for dinners and leftovers (aka lunches):
DINNER
- Rosemary and Garlic Roasted Salmon
- Italian Drunken Pasta (minus the white wine and noodles – and use a gluten free/sugar free sausage)
- Meatloaf Muffins
- Chicken in Milk – our favorite roasted chicken recipe (switch out the milk for coconut milk, not exactly the same but still oddly totally addicting and delicious)
- DIY Chipotle Chicken Bowl: Chicken Marinade (I put it in the slow cooker), Rice Recipe (I use quinoa instead), Corn Salsa.
- Quinoa Chicken Curry Bowls
- Tex Mex Casserole
- Crock Pot Tikka Masala (use unsweetened coconut milk instead of yogurt and cream)
- Deconstructed Falafel Bowl
SALADS
- Ruby Detox Salad
- Crunchy Kale Salad
- Root Vegetable Quinoa Salad
- The Ultimate Detox Salad
- Sweet Potato and Chick Pea Salad
You can always follow me on Pinterest, I use my recipe boards like a cookbook and delete food pins that didn’t work (if I’ve tried them) – all the above recipes are on my boards (my heavily organized boards, nerd alert) and of course I’m always adding new ones as I find them. Do you have any fantastic go-to healthy dinner recipes? Please Share!
*A photo of breakfast for a dinner post? What can I say, I don’t take a lot of food photos so it was my best stand in – but also I do eat eggs for dinner sometimes, brinner!
Yummy looks and sounds amazing. Can’t wait to try some recipes!!!
Why so much Chicken?
Why Salmon?
http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-14180/5-reasons-yo…
What about Detox?
http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/dec/…
http://www.livescience.com/34845-detox-cleansing-…
We use a "detox" as a reset for our diet, to cut out foods that usually don’t make us feel good but grow a dependency – like sugar, need a kick like a detox to away from it. Thanks for sharing these articles!
I’m going to try this recipe. Thanks!