Clean Eating on a Budget: January 2015

I have taken a long time off of blogging, but I'm ready to jump back in with the new year. I'm doing 100 days of real food, as a way to kick some bad habits I picked up especially over the holidays. I didn't want to get any bad habits, but chocolate dipped Oreos, my sister-in-law's sweet potato casserole (it's like eating Heaven made of candied vegetables), and homemade fuge really hindered my efforts. Maybe that's why we have New Years resolutions - it's clean up after holiday habits.

The first challenge which was last week, is to eat two servings of either fruits or vegetables with every meal. I lost FIVE POUNDS in one week doing this challenge. I'm sure part of that was water weight, but still that puts me 1 pound away from my pre-holiday weight. A goal I can't wait to meet.

Of course one go to meal that I've been doing lately is grilled cheese with steamed veggies. It's just what I need on a cold winter day. I don't want it to get boring, so this time I added a little spice to it. And then I did Steamable frozen vegetables. Those steam in the bag vegetable are my favorite thing to eat ever. Not because of taste, but laziness. I am not ashamed to admit that sometimes I just want to pop a bag in the microwave. There is no fuss, no prep, and most importantly NO DISHES! How can I not love that. Plus who has time to be cooking things from scratch all day everyday. Not this chick.

To liven up my grilled cheese I added some chipotle cheddar and green onions to it, which gave it a little bit more kick. I also made the bread into garlic toast. It added a little interesting to my ordinary meal. Now if I can keep eating this way I'll build the habits to lose that last pound & not put it back!

Cheddar Chipotle Grilled Cheese with Steamed Vegetables

Sandwich 360 calories

Broccoli 50 calories

2 pieces Ezekiel bread

Garlic powder (to taste)

Kosher salt (a sprinkling)

Extra virgin olive oil

1/2 to 1 ounce chipotle cheddar cheese, sliced very thin

1/8 cup lowfat cottage cheese

1 tablespoon chopped green onion

1 bag of Steamable non-starchy vegetables

1. Combine garlic powder & olive oil.

2. Brush one side of each piece of bread with the garlic oil.

3. Build your sandwich with a layer of chipotle cheddar cheese, layer of green onions, & cottage cheese. Make sure the oiled side of the bread faces out, to keep it from sticking to the pan.

4. Sprinkle each side with kosher salt to taste.

5. Stick your vegetables in the microwave, and the load your sandwich onto to a cookie sheet & stick it into the oven under the broiler.

6. Halfway through cooking take the sandwich out & gently flip it over to make sure it cooks on both sides (be careful - cottage cheese drips!).

Once both vegetables & sandwich are done, take out & enjoy :-)

My garlic oil: