On The Menu: BLT Salad With Tangy Lime Dressing

I am a girl who loves her veggies and therefore I love salads. They are so easy to customize and mix up that I could eat one every single day without getting bored. A few days ago I was spending the afternoon with my mom and I whipped us up this delicious BLT Salad for a quick, filling lunch. The below recipe recipe makes two large servings. I made mine with Smart Bacon (my mom didn't seem to mind that I kept it vegetarian) and served it along with sesame crackers. The tangy lime really brightened up the entire salad and I felt good about not choosing a premade bottled salad. When Jessica saw these pictures she commented that she thought this salad would be great with avocado. I'm not a fan but you could totally go for it.

Ingredients:
4 cups greens of your choice (I used romaine)
1/2 cup corn
1/2 cup cherry tomatoes (halved)
1/2 cup cheddar cheese
1/2 cup cucumber (chopped)
1/2 cup red onion (chopped)
6 slices of bacon or Smart Bacon (cooked and chopped)
2 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
1 lime
salt and pepper

Directions:
1. In a large bowl combine the first 7 ingredients and set aside.
2. In a small bowl whisk together the olive oil, the juice from the lime, and salt and pepper to taste.
3. Drizzle the dressing over the salad and toss.
4. Plate up on to two plates and serve.
** Optional top with avocado slices.

On The Menu: Easy Chia Pudding

When me and Jessica decided to embrace a cleaner diet we also decided to give new foods a try. One item we picked up was chia seeds (among other things they are full of omega-3 fatty acids and antioxidants). While you can easily add them to smoothies or oatmeal without noticing a difference I decided to make a dish were they are were really in the forefront. This chia seed pudding is incredibly easy to make and absolutely delicious.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups light coconut milk
6 tablespoons chia seeds
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
pinch of salt
4 tablespoons honey (more if needed)
berries and almonds for topping

Directions:
1. Mix together the coconut milk, chia seeds, almond extract, and salt.
2. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight. Stir after 1 hour and after 2 hours to prevent clumping.
3. Stir in the honey before serving.
4. Top with your favorite berries/fruits and nuts. I chose sliced strawberries and roughly chopped nuts.

Chit Chat: Clean Eating

A couple of weeks ago Tracy and I decided to do the Clean Eating 7 Day Challenge. It was Tracy's bright idea to give it a whirl and I was up for giving it a go. Secretly though, I had my doubts about whether or not we would make it. I thought it would be too drastic of a change from our normal eating habits and that we both would be lucky to make it a couple of days. I mean, we were willing giving up chocolate, sweets, and fast food. I did have faith that Tracy would outlast me though.
I learned several things during our challenge though. It is very difficult to find clean foods in the small town that I live in. It is impossible to get clean bread here and unless you know what you are looking for, it takes a lot of time to scan labels for foods you can have. It took me like 20 minutes to find a pasta sauce that is clean. There are just so many foods out there that have sugar or chemicals in them, even foods you wouldn't think would.
During our week of clean eating, it came much easier than I thought. I was able to eat meals that I normally would, like lasagna, I just had to make clean choices when it came to ingredients. Tracy and I ate as much food as we wanted, we just ate clean food, and without even trying we both lost several pounds each. This really makes you wonder about the foods we had been eating. Have you tried clean eating before?
Tracy and I have decided that we want to continue eating healthier. We are going to try to eat clean 80% of the time. Living here, we can't buy all our foods totally clean, but we want to make the healthiest choices possible.

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