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By Rebecca Fending
Are you looking to revamp your daily diet? One of the best ways you can do this is by incorporating more fresh and real ingredients into your everyday cooking. Creating a clean eating diet can help you improve your health in many different ways. Whether it’s adding one more vegetable component than you normally would or finding recipes with local and seasonal ingredients, clean eating can be made easy. These recipes are tested and approved by yours truly; they’re simple, tasty, make great leftovers, and are guilt-free by being low-carb!
1. Chicken Pesto Spaghetti Squash
- 1 medium spaghetti squash
- 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- ½ white onion
- 3 oz. pesto
- Shredded or fresh mozzarella
Start by heating your oven to 400 degrees. Cut spaghetti squash into two halves, poke outside with a fork and drizzle lightly with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Place the halves face down and flat onto a baking sheet and bake in the oven for 40 minutes.
While the halves are baking, pan fry the chicken breasts with salt, pepper and fresh garlic or garlic powder. Once cooked thoroughly, let cool and shred. After spaghetti squash is done baking, flip the halves over and scrape at the flesh with a fork until you have your desired amount of spaghetti squash for your meal.
Add shredded chicken, pesto and onion to the squash halves. Mix well and top with mozzarella cheese. Return the halves to oven and bake for 15-20 minutes until cheese is melted and lightly brown. Enjoy!
2. Shrimp and Zucchini Shuffle
- 1 lb. fresh shrimp
- 1 zucchini
- 1 yellow squash
- 1 butternut squash
- 1 diced tomato
- 1 white onion
- ½ lb. mushrooms (variety of your choosing)
- Italian seasoning
- 2 cloves garlic
- OPTIONAL: shredded parmesan cheese
Begin by pan-frying shrimp with two tablespoons butter, and salt and pepper to taste. Once finished, set aside and prepare the same pan with two tablespoons of olive oil for the vegetables. Slice or dice all vegetables to your desired shape and place it in the frying pan. Once they cook down just a bit, add garlic and Italian seasoning. Toss in cooked shrimp and let marinate for 5-10 minutes. Once done, take off heat, sprinkle with parmesan and enjoy!
3. Asian-Style String Bean Chicken for Clean Eating
- 3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 1 lb. green beans, trimmed
- 1 white onion
- 2 cloves garlic
- ¼ cup soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon brown sugar
Cook chicken breasts thoroughly then slice and set aside. Mix soy sauce and brown sugar in bowl or liquid measuring container. Prepare a frying pan (or wok) with two tablespoons butter. Once hot, add green beans, onion and soy sauce mixture. Sauté for 10-15 minutes. Add chicken and garlic, toss for 5 minutes or until vegetables are at your desired consistency. Eat with fork, spoon, or chopsticks and enjoy!
These clean eating recipes are sure to make you love getting your daily vitamins and minerals. No matter what style dish you want, clean eating is the way to go for every meal.
