Dinnertime in our house is some kind of special.  There should be an award for moms who cook clean meals that a 3-year-old successfully consumes.  I REALLY try to avoid having to cook 2 different meals; but sometimes, that’s the easiest route.  Easier than having to negotiate, bargain, convince and persuade a 3-year-old about how delicious their food is if they’d only take a bite. Just. One. Bite. There’s nothing worse than a 3-year-old spotting that one fleck of black pepper than got away from the adult version of dinner and pointing at her meal as if it’s frog’s legs topped with snail gravy, and pushing her plate away, while I hang my head in defeat. Once I get that first bite in, I’m golden. 
 
So, when I find a dish that the whole family LOVES and it’s on my meal plan, I consider my whole day to be a success.  This meal is one of those times I hit the dinnertime jackpot.  I’m currently doing a 3 week Beachbody program called Shift Shop.  The nutrition plan is pretty intense and gets more intense each week.  It eliminates grains and gluten from the diet.  Basically, just sticking to meats, fruits, and veggies.  I’ve had to branch out with my dinner ideas since many of my tried and true backups aren’t Shift Shop approved.  So, this here is a healthier, CLEANER spin on an old classic.  I ALWAYS make my own spaghetti sauce from scratch, as opposed to the jarred stuff.  Those contain lots of preservatives, unnecessary sweeteners, dyes, and other ingredients that add absolutely no value to me.  Plus, I think my sauce tastes better :)
 
Kid Tested, Shift Shop Approved Spaghetti Squash Turkey Spaghetti

Spaghetti Squash
1 Spaghetti Squash (more if you want to make bulk, plus it freezes well)
Olive Oil (or any cooking oil, a couple of drizzles per squash)
 
Spaghetti Sauce
1 tbsp olive oil (or any cooking oil)
1 lb ground turkey
1 tbsp minced garlic
8 oz. sliced mushroom
1 can diced tomatoes (you can use fresh)
1 small can tomato paste (canned)
1 can tomato sauce (canned, make sure it’s just pure tomato sauce, no additives or other ingredients)
1 can water
2 tsp. basil (fresh or dried)
2 tsp. Italian seasoning (get it HERE) 
Salt and pepper to taste
 
Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. 
2. Cut spaghetti squash in half, width-wise (be careful cutting the squash, they are extremely hard).
3. Lightly drizzle oil on the exposed cut portion of each half (the pulp) and place cut side down on a cookie sheet, or baking dish.
4. Bake for 45-60 minutes depending on your oven and preference of texture.  You should be able to see the layers of squash pulp separating on the cut insides.  If squash does not appear to be separating, continue to cook in 10 minute increments until it begins to separate.
5. Remove from oven, let cool.  Once cooled, take a fork and scrape the inside of the squash halves.  The layers of pulp should begin to separate into strings like spaghetti noodles. 
6. While squash is cooking, add olive oil to a pan and heat.
7. Add turkey and brown 4-5 minutes until cooked.
8. Add garlic and mushrooms to the pan with the turkey and sauté for 3-4 minutes until garlic is fragrant and mushrooms begin to wilt.
9. Add diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, tomato paste, 1 can of water (use the tomato sauce can) to turkey, garlic, and mushroom pan and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to simmer.
10. Add basil, Italian seasoning, and salt and pepper and continue to simmer for 20-25 minutes until sauce thickens and tomatoes are stewed.
11. Mound spaghetti squash “noodles” onto a plate and top with sauce and freshly grated parmesan cheese.  Enjoy!

 
I usually make a large batch of the spaghetti sauce and freeze in freezer bags.  To thaw, remove from freezer and set in room temp water until thawed.  Once thawed, heat in a sauce pan until heated through.  I froze 5-6 bags when I was pregnant, which made for easy and speedy freezer meals after baby was born.
 
I hope you and your little ones and families enjoy this dish as much as we did!

​Okay, so I want to post some tips about clean eating.  It can get a bit overwhelming.  The number 1 thing I can’t stress enough is to READ THE LABELS.  I’ve posted an example below from a popular breakfast cereal: 

This example has corn syrup, hydrogenated vegetable oils, caramel color, artificial flavors, BHT to add freshness to the packaging (wtf?!).  Not to mention the vitamins and minerals the company adds to the product to give it some sort of nutritional value. 
 
If you can’t pronounce it, put it back on the shelf.  A good rule of thumb is if it has more than 5 ingredients, move along.  I know what you’re thinking “but it tastes so good!”  Well, of course it “tastes good”.  These processed food companies make sure of that.  If it didn’t taste good, you wouldn’t buy it, and they wouldn’t make money.  These ingredients aren’t found in mother nature and add to the color, flavor, texture, or preserving of food items.  Those unclean ingredients are responsible for a plethora of ailments, including:

• CANCER
• Obesity
• Heart disease
• Autoimmune diseases
• Impaired thyroid function
• Gut imbalances/Digestive disorders
• Suppressed immune system
• Anxiety/Depression
• Metabolic dysfunction
• AND MORE!

 
These foods are addictive.  When you first cut them out by switching to a clean diet, you can experience some withdrawal and detox symptoms. The good news is, that is your body’s way of showing you it’s getting rid of bad stuff.  Make sure to drink tons of water to help with the elimination of these toxins. Once you get over that hump, it’s smooth sailing.  The cravings go away, you’ll feel better, get sick less often, can think more clearly, and just be an all-around happier, healthier YOU.
 
Eating clean also allows your body to work at it’s highest level of efficiency.  Without all the toxins and chemicals bogging it down, it can focus on using food for fuel and speeding up metabolism.  Per a reader’s request, I’ve included the recipe for my Shrimp and Chicken Curry.  This turned out delicious, and it looks pretty too J All of the fat content (coconut milk and oil) is good, healthy fat that actually boosts metabolic rates.

SHRIMP AND CHICKEN CURRY
I adapted my recipe from JoCooks.

*Note: This dish can be served on its ow, or paired with rice.
 
Shrimp Marinade
12 shrimp (I used frozen)
Juice of one lemon
1/8 tsp cayenne
Salt and pepper to taste
 
Curry Sauce
2 tbsp coconut oil (divided, you can find it HERE)
1 lb chicken breast (cubed)
1 cup chopped broccoli (fresh or frozen)
1 Green bell pepper (diced)
1 onion (diced)
1 tbsp minced garlic
1 tbsp minced ginger (I get mine HERE which is a HUGE time saver) 
1 can Organic coconut milk (full fat, I get mine HERE) 
1 tsp Turmeric
1 tsp Curry powder (I get mine HERE) 
1 can diced tomatoes (drained)
Salt and pepper to taste
 
Instructions:

1. Add all ingredients for shrimp marinade to a bowl or Ziploc bag.  Stir, and set aside.
2. After prepping all ingredients, add 1 tbsp of coconut oil to large sauté pan over medium heat.  Add cubed chicken.  Cook 3-4 minutes until seared evenly on outsides.
3. Add second tbsp coconut oil and chopped broccoli to pan with seared chicken and cook an additional 2-3 minutes.
4. Add onion, bell pepper, garlic, and ginger. Stir and sauté for 2 minutes.
5. Stir in shrimp coconut milk, turmeric, curry powder, tomatoes, salt and pepper.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer 5 minutes.  Shrimp should be pink.
6. Spoon into bowl or over rice.  Add sriracha or thai chili for more heat.  I’ve actually made my own sriracha.  Recipe to come!

 
I hope you enjoy!  Let me know how it turns out.  Chow!

What is clean eating? The short answer is: clean eating means one refrains from eating processed foods.  If you can't pronounce the ingredient, or it didn't come from God's green earth, it's out.  The details of this can vary slightly from individual to individual; but in the long run, it's a healthy take on what you put in your mouth.

Clean eating has been a priority of mine for the last 4-5 years or so.  I used to have the WORST diet! Fast food, processed, prepackaged, gimmicky diet.  I loved going out to eat, ESPECIALLY during my lunch break.  Talk about calories and $$$$ down the drain. I packed on the pounds FAST.  I was not eating to fuel my body.  Even when I started to lose weight by tracking my calories, I still wasn’t properly fueling my body.  Granted my bank account was healthier, but the Lean Cuisines I took to work were far from nutritious.  I was still eating packaged junk.  BUT, it was a start.  Baby steps to begin making the right choices I needed to take my body to optimal health.  
 
Depending on where you’re starting, it can be overwhelming to think about making a change when you picture where you want to be.  Which can lead to lack of motivation and success.  That’s why it’s important to start with just one thing.  Get that down, then add on another component.   Once I had the portion and tracking in place, it was easy to start incorporating other changes throughout the months.
 
So, I have a lot of people asking me about my recipes.  I'm going to start documenting them, not only so I don’t forget what I put in something the next time I’m craving it, but also so people can make their own version.  I’ll set up a quick link on my page that goes straight to recipe posts.  Easy peasy!  Sometimes I just come up with something on my own, and other times I get inspiration from Pinterest or Google, and then modify the heck out of it.  Hey, being in the service industry for so long made me become a major recipe modifier offender.  It got boring eating the exact. same. menu. item. every. single. day.
 
I’ll start with the recipe for this super summery, light shrimp pasta.  I completely made this up off the top of my head, so I’ll try to get the measurements right.
 
LEMON AND GOAT CHEESE SHRIMP PASTA

Ingredients:
1 tbs. butter
1 head broccoli
12 shrimp
3 cloves garlic
Juice of 1 lemon
1 cup (uncooked) Red and White Quinoa Macaroni (get it HERE)
¼ cup shredded parmesan
2 tbs. goat cheese
 
Instructions:

1. Heat a pot of water to boil.
2. Heat a large sauté pan on medium heat and add butter.
3. Add the broccoli and sauté for 3 minutes.
4. While broccoli cooks, add the pasta to the boiling water and cook per the package instructions.
5. Add the garlic and shrimp to the sauté pan and cook for 2-3 minutes flipping the shrimp halfway (shrimp cook fast!).  Cook until the shrimp turn pink.
6. Turn the heat to low and add the lemon juice.  Stir to deglaze the pan.
7. Drain the pasta and add to the sauté pan with parmesan and goat cheese.  Toss and enjoy!

 
Note:

• I said this made 2 servings. One of us in my house eats larger servings than the other, so I had about 1/3 and the other had 2/3.  Depending on your family size, this could easily be 3 servings especially if paired with a salad.
• I plugged this into MyFitnessPal and it says the calories are 660 per serving, but don't hold me to that.

 
I don’t think we ever get to a point of perfect, healthy living.  Do I eat clean every meal of every day of every week?  Heck no!  But, I don’t beat myself up about it, and I pick back up when I stumble.  Tracking what I eat is a really eye opening experience.  If you’ve never kept a journal of what you eat throughout the day, I challenge you to give it a try.  If only for a week.  I use MyFitnessPal to help me keep track of my meals.  Once you start doing this, you’ll be amazed at how many calories there really are in that sandwich, or “healthy salad” or side of ranch dressing.  These things start adding up.  It really takes a mental shift in how we perceive food for a lifestyle change to happen.  And that’s when you’ll start seeing results.
 
Let me know if you have any tricks, or helpful apps in keeping your diet on track.  Anything that makes it easier and convenient will help us remove the excuses that keep us from sticking with it.