"Clean" Eating

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Anyone here workout and have some "clean" eating recipes? Mine are pretty basic and I'm wanting to focus a little more on cooking healthy, higher protein meals.
 
Homemade chicken soup with lots of chicken and lots of vegetables and lots of chili. I am going to assume that you know how to make a chicken soup, so I will just talk about my garnish of choice.

Take some of the broth from the finished soup and bring to a rolling boil in a separate saucepan. Individually, hold large fresh kale leaves under the surface for 25 seconds with either a spider or a pair of tongs. After boiling your chosen amount of kale, return the broth from the saucepan back to the remainder of the soup and serve immediately with the kale placed on top of each serving. Drip a few drops of rice vinegar (which I usually infuse beforehand with jalapeno scraps) on each serving.

So delicious you would hardly ever know that it's relatively healthy.
 
Or for something completely different, microwave a carrot and serve it on Greek yogurt.

[video=youtube;R14UXLcrduY]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R14UXLcrduY[/video]
 
An easy place to start is just roasting veggies and searing some protein. It can get fairly boring without sauces but it's a good place to start. Spices are your friend and a few sauces can be good for you depending on how your restricting your diet. Chimichurri and chermoula come to mind. Egg yolks, Greek yogurt and vinegars can go a ways in replacing sauces. Veggie soups are pretty easy and you can just add whatever protein you want to it, tomato soup with curry and shrimp is one I like, adding coconut milk adds a lot if your not worried about restricting fats. I usually just sauté a bunch of veggies till they're soft and throw it in the blender. I do a huge post WO shake with all kinds of fruits/veggies/Greek yogurt/egg/whey that helps replace a meal. Carrot, blueberry, and spinach is a good base to start with if veggie smoothies don't sound appealing. I usually end up with 10 different kinds of produce in mine. I usually load up at the beginning of the week with all kinds of produce/protein and go from there. Squash and zucchini lasagna is one I haven't made in a while if your craving something cheesy without the carbs. Eggs in all forms for breakfast are a given, oatmeal for carbs if your eating them. Good oatmeal is a very blank canvas and can almost be treated like risotto. One time I did savory oatmeal, seared red snapper and a poached egg on top for breakfast. Are you trying to avoid carbs or fat or just eat more wholesome food? If I'm eating carbs I restrict it to the am/ post WO (fruit) so breakfast for me isn't always traditional if there's say some pasta I want to eat.
 
We tried some of these, pretty good ones ...

http://greatist.com/eat/clean-eating-recipes-that-taste-amazing

Not sure they are all high protein, but unless you really want to dramatically increase protein intake, it should be enough to look for higher protein items (the usual suspects) in these recipes.

If you are really looking to build muscle, I would go for post workout protein shake. IMHO it's still crucial to eat protein within 30 minutes of working out. If you are just moderately working out, eating a regular diet is just fine. The "average joe" does not need protein shakes. But if you're lifting 3-5 times a week, 40-60 minutes, I personally would go for the post workout shake. Unfortunately most shakes are either disgusting or full of chemicals. Depending on where and when you workout, I would get a great blender and make a smoothie with plenty of (frozen) fruit, coconut water or almond milk/regular milk, chia or hemp seeds, spinach (taste will be masked) and maybe some green super foods powder. And the protein powder of course. It will look like ****, but taste good.

In that case I would focus on the clean eating part and make sure to have wild salmon, halibut, chicken, lean beef and plenty of lentils/beans and quinoa in your diet. Don't forget the eggs ... and I would always eat the whole egg, not just the egg white. Or go 50/50 mix of whole eggs and egg whites. The yolk has so many nutrients, it's nuts not to eat it unless you really have serious health concerns stopping you from doing so.

If you don't mind eating dairy, greek yoghurt and cottage cheese are great. I have stopped drinking milk, but that's a personal decision.

Here's a list that's pretty good:

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/ultimate-list-40-high-protein-foods.html

Hope this helps ... not sure if you were ONLY looking for recipes or some general recommendations. This might be very basic for you ;)
 
I do mostly cardio and light/medium intensity weights 3-4 days a week. At this stage in life, I'm not looking to get huge, just stay healthy. I get in a rut of cooking lots of eggs, protein powder shakes, some smoothies. Looking to spice it up a bit and have a few more recipes on deck. My cooking background is mainly smoking/BBQ; quite the opposite of clean, so I'm trying to add more healthy meals to the home menu. Thanks for the info.
 
I'm partial to lentils right now. Require no soaking and easy to cook with a bit of curry powder and chinese black fungus and chicken.
 
i did it hardcore for awhile. now, i just eat more sustainable. not in the way you think.

you can only eat super clean for a little while. all those tiny meals 6 times a day. unrealisitic if you work for a living in construction like i do.

i still do this: Pico De Gallo. i make a lot of it. and put it on everything. grilled chicken breast taco, egg white omelettes, salads..over a baked yam. it blows up the flavor and hides the boredom of food.
 
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