[turkey chili]

Winter is definitely soup and chili season, but also weight gain season. In an effort to enjoy all those delicious foods but not gain the weight, I'm taking on some of my favorite meals and trying a healthy twist on them. I've got a whole 'clean eating' board on Pinterest, to pull ideas from. This one is basically my spin on this Turkey Chili recipe I found. 

The process is actually really simple, only taking a little over an hour to have this dish ready to serve and eat! I made it on a sauce pan, because I don't have a crock pot or slow cooker, but that would probably work too. Here's a step-by-step look at the process. 

My ingredients: I bought the turkey specifically for this, but surprisingly I had the rest in my kitchen! I used 1 can of kidney beans, 2 cans of diced tomatoes (next time I plan to use fresh tomatoes), 1 onion, 6 cloves of garlic, 1 green bell pepper, some oregano, chili powder, and cayenne pepper.

Step 1: Sauté the chopped garlic and onions. 

Step 2: Add meat til it browns, then add the rest of the ingredients and stir. 

Step 3: Stir every 10-15 minutes for an hour and voila! It's ready!

Printable version:

Enjoy!

"the desire to reach for the stars is ambitious. the desire to reach hearts is wise."
- maya angelou

[DIY: flavored water]

Part of clean eating is clean drinking too. While I love water, it can sometimes get a bit dull and I sometimes crave something with more flavor to it. Enter in flavored waters! No, not the store bought kind, the homemade kind! Basically what happened was I bought way too much fruit one day and realized it was going to go bad before I had a chance to eat it, so I used it to make water!

Here are two different flavors I made with what I had in my fridge: mint, lime and pineapple water and peach and pineapple water. All you do is cut the fruits and herbs, put in the jar and then add water! Then I let them steep at least a day to really get as much flavor in as I can.

Much better than soda and since I don't like tea, it works for me!!!

"came from a plant, eat it; was made from a plant, don't."

- michael pollan

[food i'm loving]

I'm going on this health food kick and trying to really keep at it. Of course, it's a struggle to stick to it and then definitely hard to keep things from getting boring, but I'm trying. It's also hard what with my work schedule to be able to eat regularly and well at the same time.

New favorite salad:

Raspberry Vinaigrette Salad:
(spinach, cucumber, tomato, carrots, raisins, sunflower seeds, and grilled chicken)

Midnight snack (because I get home from work at midnight):

Cucumber slices with lime and Tajin (a chili lime powder)

Also: who even eats chips anymore? I've started buying English cucumbers and cutting them in thick slices. I use them as chips for dipping all kinds of things. (I don't have a picture but that's pretty self explanatory.)

"change is inevitable. growth is optional."

-john maxwell