A good sauce is everything to me…really. This combo created a sauce that is so versatile! The J. Olive Co. Cranberry Pear Balsamic and Persian Lime Olive Oil is one combo you will get so much use out of. I made a sweet and sticky hot sauce, a divine Dijon Balsamic Vinaigrette with a chicken salad, a sweet potato mash, even a Strawberry Compote with oatmeal! I went all over the place with different ideas. Let’s dig in!
This combo = FLAVOR BOMB. Maybe it’s because I made so many different meal ideas using the same ingredients, but came out with 3 different flavors. I did a sweet bite, Korean-inspired Bibimbap, and American BBQ—the sauuuuuuuce and I gave you 3 different uses for just the sauce! You will get a lot of use out of this combo. The J. Olive Co. Espresso Balsamic reminds me a lot of a deep chocolate flavor and the J. Olive Co. Harissa Olive Oil (new flavor!) has a smokey, but not too hot kick. The Harissa could be subbed out for Chipotle (smokey and mild) or the Baklouti (extremely hot). This combo is perfect for savory or sweet recipes and I have served you up with both! Let’s begin.
We will start with a dessert of sorts…
This is so simple I can’t believe I have never tried other nut butters. Honestly, this could work with many other J. Olive Co. dark balsamics! I used walnuts just because of the healthy Omega-3 essential fats it offers. Check out a quick video on how I made the walnut butter!
Crockpot Gyro Steak • CK Veggie Soup • Chicken Parm Bake
Download a complete menu, recipes and grocery list. I also included some extra meals to think about, as well as a sample day of food using the plan. I hope this helps all you new meal-preppers out there!
PDF Download: Crockpot Gyro Steak • CK Veggie Soup • Chicken Parm Bake_GroceryListRecipes_PDF
When the weather starts to get cooler (or in South Mississippi it gets cooler and hot all in the same day), we start wanting to pull out the sweatshirts a get cozy! It’s soup season!
At Clean Kitchen, we like to get a lot of bang for our buck when it comes to the food we eat. One way to really amp up the nutritional profile of a soup is to use real-deal bone broth. No, not the box stock or broth you can buy at the store. Bone broth has become pretty popular and for good reason, it is LOADED with nutrients and minerals that only comes from the slow cooking of the bones.
But before you turn your nose up at the thought of drinking bone broth hear me out. This is what your grandmothers and great-mothers used in their stocks for soups back in the day. You know the whole “eat chicken noodle soup when you sick idea?” Well, that is actually when people used bone broth for their soups. Nowadays the canned stock kind doesn’t have anything remotely close to the nutrients of bone broth soups and will not help you kick that nasty cold!
If you need a little more information on the healing powers of bone broth, check out this article. And if you are interested in learning how to make you own bone broth it is pretty simple. Check out my first experience making bone broth and the recipe I used here! Otherwise grocery stores like, Corner Market in Hattiesburg do sell Bone Broth!
The nutritional profile will change though. Just use what ever you have because these soups are AMAZING with either. Click on the links below for the recipes!
Bone broth is getting super popular. I’ll admit, I never really gave it much thought until recently when a Clean Kitchen client, Carly, asked me if I had any good soup recipes. Carly was in the middle of the CK 12 Week Challenge and about to have a procedure where her recovery required her not to eat solid food for 2 weeks! Talk about a doozy right smack in the middle of her 12 Week Challenge. It was just what I needed to to get inspired. Carly, just so you know, you inspired me to think outside my comfort zone and dig a little deeper into making clean eating work, even when faced with a “mush diet.”
This is a revamp of the Fit Kids Kitchen Beefy Soup recipe. Same great flavor, just a little lower fat and lower carb. We promise you will want more than one bowl of this! To make this a nutritional powerhouse, we use locally made beef bone broth, by Lisa Phelps in Hattiesburg, Ms.
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 15-20 minutes
Servings: 8 servings
Super simple and delicious! For an on-the-go lunch, try this on top of a salad and more veggies or make it into a whole wheat wrap. This is a perfect snack on top of sliced apples or cucumbers. It also fills all the Clean Kitchen Meal Habits, protein serving, plant serving, and fat serving! Learn more about these simple, yet effective habits in the Clean Kitchen 12 week Challenge!
This turned out so good! I have been wanting to add lentils to my menu for some time, but just never made the effort. Our CK recipes are all about easy, no hassle cooking so I knew crock pot was the way to go for this one. Just plop everything together, set it and forget it.
We like to make things simple around here. Because the first rule in eating cleaner foods is to make them easy access. The majority of our recipes are not complicated. As long as you have a well stocked spice cabinet, you can fix pretty much any of our CK recipes with a quick trip to the store for some fresh foods. In some cases, you can even make multiple recipes from the same ingredients.
The less complicated the better, especially for those just starting on this new journey of eating whole foods!
Another strategy we like to use is cooking in bulk, to use in later meals throughout the week. Sometimes even buying in bulk can save you money at the store. If meat or produce are on sale, think of two ways to use it! The meat you want is sold out? Just use a different kind! You can also substitute with chicken in these recipes. Clean Kitchen is all about getting you thinking of ways to make the planning process easier. This will go a long way in sticking with the plan.
Here are two recipes that use pretty much the same ingredients.
This crock pot gyro steak is another set it and forget it recipe! Oh how we love a crock pot. Even better, it comes with a sauce. If you are not a beef fan, you can sub it out for some chicken breast.
Ingredients for meat:
Store trip:
pantry ingredients:
