#buzzfeedcleaneating

First off, in general, it’s not cheap. Over the summer, I spent maybe $70-100 a week on meals. Granted that was in Ohio and this is in Western MA, but I expected the price points to be similar. On my way home from visiting a friend for the weekend, I stopped in the local Big Y and picked up everything I needed and could find (with a few substitutions along the way). It came to about $130- almost double what I was used to. I got home and packed my fridge and pantry and was very glad that my roommates weren’t coming back till the end of the challenge because boy howdy was that a lot of food. Just about filled my fridge, and there was no place to put my crockpot away. But I put everything in its place, made myself a last indulgent meal of mac ‘n’ cheese before the challenge, and got ready for day 1.

Day 1:

Breakfast - Sweet Potato, Onion, and Kale Frittata. You can’t go wrong with sweet potato and kale. It’s delicious together. But generally when I’m making a frittata, I cook the veggies, pour the beaten eggs over it, and let it steam. This one required me to put it in the oven. Without an oven-safe skillet, I used a round cake pan. I also didn’t beat the egg whites enough. It took MUCH longer than the expected 5-6 minutes to cook. After exercising and throwing together a crockpot soup (one last one to freeze), I just wasn’t that patient. I also forgot to season the veggies before egging them. Overall, a good start. I don’t think it needed that fancy beating and baking shenanigans though. 

Lunch - Spinache Salad with Roasted Chickpeas, Tofu, and Blood Orange Vinaigrette. I over-roasted the chickpeas. That’s on me. I liked the flavor though! Love me some good chickpeas. The vinaigrette (with navel oranges cause I couldn’t find blood oranges) may be my new favorite salad dressing. Tofu, however, is inherently flavorless and weirdly textured. There was no added flavor to make the tofu exciting. Just some salt and pepper. And it was a lot more salad than I usually eat. I would have happily split it in half. 

Dinner - Turkey-Stuffed Acorn Squash with Sage and Roasted Brussels Sprouts. I have never had brussels sprouts. My dad hates them, so they were always threatened as the terrible food to be inflicted but never were. Needless to say my parents scarred me and I will never eat brussels sprouts, ever. They could be delicious. I’ll never find out. The turkey mixture was yummy and the acorn squash was a new treat for me to figure out how to manage. Overall, I think just the turkey and the squash made a good meal. Of course, now I have half a pound of ground turkey in my freezer to figure out how to eat. Maybe I’ll repeat that recipe with some bell peppers....

At the end of day 1 was a lot of prep, and combining that with the soup and veggie stock I made, it felt like I was in the kitchen all day. That being said, it was easy to do the prep while the squash was in the oven.

Day 2:

Breakfast - Carrot Cake Oatmeal. This tasted like actual carrot cake. Could have done with a bit less Greek yogurt - I’m not a huge fan. But it was delicious, just a little bit sweet, and could hardly have been easier. I would have made half a recipe though. Felt really full when I was done with it. 

Lunch - leftover frittata. Still pretty good microwaved, though I don’t like microwaving things. 

Dinner - Roasted Chicken with Brussels Sprouts and Barley. Se above about the brussels sprouts. If I was smart I would have gotten another vegetable. I didn’t. I used chicken thighs rather than breasts, and they took longer to cook through. Maybe cause there’s less bone through the middle? Not sure, I’m theorizing. I also used brown rice because I already had that. Made it in my rice cooker with chicken stock and it gave it a really nice flavor. Solid dish, would have liked to see more herbs to flavor it though. 

Snack - Pumpkin Yogurt Bark. This was very yogurty, very cold, and not very much like bark at all. I only had a few pieces because of how icy it was. I also used grapes cut in eighths rather than pomegranate cause I couldn’t find pomegranate at the store. I proceeded to store in the fridge as instructed despite the complete and utter lack of anything to keep it solid at above freezing and, surprise surprise, it melted. I threw the leftovers out. Not worth it. Now I have about 3/4 a thing of pumpkin in my fridge. I’ll probably make pumpkin brownies. Buzzfeed, you’re enabling me. 

Day 3:

Breakfast - Tart Cherry Overnight Oats. I have made overnight oats before and wasn’t a fan. I liked this though, and I think it was because of the use of Greek yogurt. There was a lot though- almost filled the pint container I had it in. I also added the almonds the night before... whoops. Didn’t ruin it, and the almonds still had a nice crunch. I also used raisins instead of cherries. 

Lunch - Leftover Turkey-Stuffed Acorn Squash. I baked this rather than microwave, because I was home. Still yummy. 

Dinner - Curried Kabocha and Kale Soup with Crumbled Tempeh. I’d never had tempeh before. Decided I’m not a huge fan. I used homemade veggie broth and butternut squash. There was a lot going on in the soup with the tempeh and yogurt in there, but it was a nice soup overall. Would have liked a little something solid to go with it rather than in it. 

Day 4:

Breakfast - Pomegranate-Pistachio Greek Yogurt Parfait. I used grapes. They were large. I used the last of my yogurt on this too. I think that’s part of the reason I liked it- there wasn’t too much yogurt in every bite for me. 

Lunch - Cucumber, Tofu, and Barley Rice Bowl with Blood Orange Dressing. The cucumber slices were unwieldy, there was too much rice, and the tofu was bland. I ate it- well, until the cucumbers were gone. And then it was too beige. They’re not all winners, folks. 

Dinner - Cauliflower “Rice” Bowl with Hard-Boiled Egg, Tomato, Scallions, and Goat Cheese. Boy howdy was that cauliflower a mess without a food processor. I swept it up off the floor like five times! And it made a lot of “rice”. Got through the eggs, tomatoes, and most of the salsa, and called it quits. A decent combination- would have used a different cheese and less “rice”. And don’t try it unless you have a food processor or else you’re asking for a mess and a whole mess of work. 

I went shopping for some extra things today. Somehow I had forgotten salmon, and needed to pick up more Greek yogurt and a few veggies. I’m not sure how exactly the pricing shook out, but at the end of the week, I had spent almost $200 on groceries. While there are some leftover components, it’s absurd how much I spent. And now I need to figure out what to do with this food I have leftover. 

Day 5:

Breakfast - Blood Orange Creamsicle Smoothie. Yuck. Texture was weird, consistency was weird, flavor was very almondy. I don’t like almond milk in my smoothies, they all end up tasting like almonds. The grape substitution didn’t help either. There were grape skins everywhere, and they were chewy. I tried to muscle through but ended up throwing it out. 

Lunch - Leftover Kabocha and Kale Soup with chicken breast. I liked the soup better with shredded chicken in it, go figure. I’ll probably be making this soup again, it’s a good one. 

Dinner - Sage-Roasted Potatoes and Salmon with Steamed Broccoli. It was exactly what it said on the tin. The potatoes were nice and crispy, the salmon was well-cooked. There’s a distinct lack of spices on this clean eating menu, though. I tossed some garlic in with the broccoli cause that’s how I steam it. 

Day 6: 

Breakfast - Pumpkin Oatmeal-Raisin Mug Cake. OK, one egg in a mug cake can make it spongy. Two? Makes it essentially a weird sweet microwaved omelet. I took one bite and threw it out, because it was disgusting. I had an apple with some peanut butter instead. 

Lunch - Marinated Fennel Salad with Spinach, Dried Tart Cherries, and Salmon. I couldn’t find fennel. So I just had everything else. Good, I guess, but I think the fennel would have made it pop more. 

Dinner - Seared Flank Steak with Steamed Asparagus and Turnip-Sweet Potato Mash. I used chicken (avoiding red meat, yeah?) and really enjoyed each component of this dinner. I think that what was labeled as a turnip in my rushed shopping trip was actually a rutabaga and was in fact huge. I used half of one, and still wasn’t too happy with the turnip-sweet potato ratio. I also forgot to add the goat cheese. It wasn’t missed. 

Snack - Broccoli-Potato Salad with Herbs. Don’t like greek yogurt. Ate about half of this and threw it out. 

Day 7: 

Breakfast - Eggs Baked in Kale and Turnip-Sweet Potato Mash. My big success with this was not waking up my roommate’s visiting sister while crashing around the kitchen at 11 in the morning. She just kept snoozing. The eggs (in the oven for 12 minutes) were overcooked, and I was content eating half of the breakfast. The other half will be breakfast tomorrow. 

Lunch - Flank Steak and Asparagus Cauliflower Rice Bowl. I think everything got a bit lost in the rice. Partly my fault, I don’t think I had enough chicken. The components were just as good reheated?

Dinner - Spiralized Parsnip “Noodles” with Cherry Tomatoes, Basil, Tempeh, and Goat Cheese. Yeah... I took a few bites, said “I’m not here for this” and threw it out. 

Snacks - Broiled Blood Orange with Pistachios. I’ve been using maple syrup all week. Did I mention it? I severely overestimated how much honey I had and how little honey the recipes would use. I finished off my honey for the very first recipe and proceeded to sub maple syrup in everything else. It worked beautifully everywhere but in this recipe. 

Baked Pear with Greek Yogurt and Cinnamon. I loved this. A real high note after the shitty dinner you gave me Buzzfeed. It was sweet and warm and a lil bit gooey and really hit the spot. 

Overall, a few really good meals and a few relatively good... side dishes, I guess? came from this. Along with a whole lot of leftovers. I sort of meant to make this post over the course of the week but my procrastinating against EVERYTHING got the better of me and I couldn’t keep live-reviewing the food I was making.