Eat Clean Recipe: Avocado Pasta

Today I had a craving. I wanted pasta combined with a creamy sauce.  But having such a craving doesn’t really align with the eat clean principles. EXCEPT you are going to use an avocado to make your pasta dish a creamy and healthy sensation.

This recipe is prepared in no time and only needs a small amount of ingredients. This makes it easy for beginners and is good for your wallet as well.

Ingredients (serves 2):

• 200 g whole-wheat pasta (Spaghetti)
• 1 ripe avocado
• 40 g or 1.4 oz Parmesan cheese (grated)
• the juice of one lime or lemon
• 2 gloves of garlic (crushed)
• salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:

1. Cook the pasta according to instructions on the packaging using a pot. Don’t forget to add some salt to the water.

2. Meanwhile peel the avocado (using a spoon) and add into a deep bowl. Add Parmesan cheese, lime or lemon juice and garlic. Blend the mixture using an immersion blender until you have a fine paste.

3. Add salt and pepper to taste as well as two tablespoons of pasta water. Stir together.

4. Strain the pasta of the water, e.g. using a sieve. Put pasta back in the pot and add the avocado paste. Fold in gently.

That’s it! Serve and enjoy your easy, fast and healthy meal.

 

Preparation and cooking time: 12 minutes, calories per serving: 390 kcal

Want to add a little protein? Use shrimp or salmon to serve with this dish.

A little side note on avocados: Most often they are not yet ripe when bought in the store. But don’t worry just put them in a paper bag at home to help them ripe quickly. But don’t forget to use them. 😉

Who doesn’t like pasta with a creamy sauce? Well, I do.

Eat Clean Recipe: Cyprian Chicken and Green Asparagus

I got inspired to cook this after watching a 30 minute meal by Jamie Oliver. He’s always so bold about food. Tossing the freshest ingredients in a pan and just enjoying what mother nature has to give. I like that.

The Cyprian chicken is stuffed with Mediterrean specialties like feta cheese, basil and dried tomatoes.

Here is my clean eating version of his Chicken and Asparagus recipe.

Ingredients (to serve 4 people):

• 4 medium chicken breasts (no skin, no bone)
• 100 g feta cheese
• 6 dried tomatoes
• one handful basil and/or parsley
• one package green asparagus (about 500 g)
• 250 g cherry tomatoes
• 2 cups couscous
• two gloves garlic
• juice of half a lime
• 1 tsp rosemary and thyme each
• 2 tbsp olive oil or other healthy vegetable oil for frying
• salt and pepper to taste
• one sheet of backing paper

Directions:

1. Wash chicken breasts and dry with paper towels. Cut a pocket into each chicken breast carefully, so that you can add some stuffing later.

2. On a chopping board chop the herbs, dried tomatoes and the feta cheese and mix with your hands. Add some pepper (no salt as the feta cheese is salty). This is the stuffing for the Cyprian Chicken. Now take a spoon and stuff the pockets in the chicken breasts with this mixture.

4. Heat the one tbsp of the oil in a pan. Roast the chicken breast on one side for about 4 minutes. Turn the chicken breasts. Add a pinch of salt on the chicken. Now prepare a cover using baking paper. Fold in half twice and cut around the open side in a quarter circle. Unfold. Now you should have a circular piece of baking paper. Wet it under the faucet and place on top of your pan. This will keep your chicken from getting dry. Reduce to medium heat.

5. Take a second pan and heat one tbsp oil. Wash your cherry tomatoes and put them in the pan. Crush the garlic gloves and add to the pan. Now take one green asparagus and hold on with your hands on the top of each side. Bend it where it breaks get rid of the lower part (this is the stringy part). Chop the remaining asparagus at the same height. Put it into the pan with the tomatoes and saute. Pull the tomatoes to the top and let sit on medium heat.

6. Prepare two cups of hot water and pour in the pan with the vegetables. Add the couscous. Let soak for three minutes. Add salt and pepper as well as rosemary and thyme to taste.

7. Serve and enjoy your healthy clean eating meal.

Preparation time: all in all 30 minutes.

 

Asparagus is in season! Do you like green asparagus? Have you cooked something with asparagus yet? What do you think about this recipe? Share away!

Adopting to clean eating.

In one of my last posts I mentioned that I totally love Blogilates with Cassey Ho. She is not only perfectly fit but also kind of an health advocate. In one of her videos she first introduced me to the concept of clean eating. It is not a diet but a life style to help people get lean and stay so. I was hooked and bought The Eat-Clean Diet Recharged by Tosca Reno. Now I am adopting clean eating into my life. Basically that means:

• To avoid sugar and white flour (Oh my!).
• Having breakfast every day (I really didn’t in the past).
• Eating up to six small meals every day that are a combination of lean protein and complex carbohydrates as well as healthy fats (If I can get the hang of it, so can you).
• Drinking 3 liters of water every day (Boy, that means more runs to the potty.).
• Adhering to proper portion sizes (Using handfuls to help you eat maybe less but enough that you don’t get hungry).

Sooooo long story short. Here is the result of the lunch I cooked today. Clean Quinoa and Avocado Salad with Exotic Chicken. It really tasted fabulously fresh.

For the Quinoa and Avocado Salad please visit The Gracious Pantry, where I got this recipe.

Recipe for the Exotic Chicken:

Ingredients (serves 2):

2 chicken breast, 2 gloves of garlic finely chopped, 2 tsp honey, juice of 1/2 lime,  1 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp nutmeg, 1 fresh ginger the length of the first joint of your thumb peeled and grated.

I put all ingredients in a small mixing bowl and into the fridge over night. So that means you have to prepare it beforehand. I roasted the chicken breast only in a pan using one tbsp of olive oil until it became golden brown and honey caramelized.

What do you think? It’s a fab meal to start into spring giving you all the energy you need, isn’t it?

Also, stay tuned for an update on my weight loss journey.