When my mom asked me if I wanted her George Foreman grill a few months ago, I said, “ummmm yes, please.” 

I like meat (my favorite food is filet mignon), but it can often be labor intensive to cook. Though I do eat a lot of protein rich food from non-meat sources, I do love me some chicken once in awhile – especially since getting enough protein is essential to the Eat Clean Diet.

For some reason, I always have a hard time baking chicken in the oven. I can never seem to get the timing right, and my meat always ends up being dry and chewy.

But with my new hand-me-down grill, cooking chicken is actually fun! Most importantly, it makes my chicken taste wayyyy better.

Now the only annoying part is grill clean-up….

Grilled Chicken Kabobs

Makes 2 servings (6 skewers)

Ingredients

• 1/2 lb chicken breast
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 1/2 tsp dried oregano
• ground pepper
• 1/4 large red onion
• tzatziki sauce

Note: skewers are needed for this dish

Directions

Place chicken breast in a gallon sized ziplock bag. Add all of the ingredients except the onion into the bag, zip closed, and shake. Slip your marinated chicken in the fridge for a few.

I only marinated the chicken for about half an hour, but the longer you marinade it, the better! This will make it more flavorful.

Cut up the marinated chicken and the onion into pieces and skewer.

Spray the grill with non-stick cooking spray. Place the skewers on the grill for about 6 minutes, rotating occasionally.

Serve with tzatziki sauce and enjoy!

Thanks as always to Jenn for hosting What I Ate Wednesday! 

What’s your favorite way to cook meat?

Do you know any good recipes for tzatziki sauce? I cheated and used a store-bought kind.

You’ll have to forgive me for jumping on the pumpkin bandwagon with this one. But come on, jump on it with me.

These pumpkin bars are my absolute favorite clean eating snack. Not gonna lie, they’re one of the reasons I’m excited it’s getting chilly out. Wrap these up and bring ’em to work or to a fall gathering – they’d even be a healthy hit at Thanksgiving!

This recipe is adapted from Jamie Eason’s LiveFit recipe.

Ingredients:

• ½ C brown sugar
• 1 4oz jar of baby food applesauce
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1½ tsp ground ginger
• 3 tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp salt
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 4 large egg whites
• 1 15oz can of raw pumpkin (sub for pumpkin pie mix for a dessert version)
• 2 C oat flour
• 2 scoops chocolate whey protein
• ½ C almond milk
• ½ C almond slivers

Directions:

• Preheat the oven to 350° F.
• Spray a 9 X 13 pan (I used a Pyrex one) with non-stick spray.
• Combine the first 11 ingredients in a large bowl and mix well.
• Add the final ingredients, and mix until smooth.
• Pour the batter into the dish and spread evenly.
• Bake for 30 minutes.

Makes 24 squares.

Because each square is only around 60 calories, I usually eat two for an afternoon or evening snack in place of a store bought protein bar or Larabar.

These savory bars are especially delicious as a late night snack with a few scoops of vanilla bean ice cream.

What is your favorite pumpkin dish?

Do you have a special baked good you like to make in the fall?

Thanks to Jenn for hosting What I Ate Wednesday!

Looking back on this summer (ack, it’s almost over!)  I realized one of my favorite new types of food is Mediterranean food. I.e. typical variations of all things pita, hummus, cucumber-y, and in my opinion, the most exciting – falafel!

Mediterranean food has definitely been one of my summer staples. I’ve eaten at Lebanese Taverna approximately a million ten times this summer, so I decided to commit to the next step in my relationship with Mediterranean food: make it myself.

Well, kind of. Make it from a mix and store bought pre-cooked chicken and sauce. But that’s how I roll, alright?

Plus, it didn’t hurt that falafel mix is $3.49 per box. That means about 12 falafel balls total, resulting in anywhere from 4-6 meals for 1 person or 2-3 meals for 2 people.

It might not be the healthiest of healthy food, being fried in vegetable oil and all, but I think the ingredients of the mix (chickpeas, fava beans, garlic, spice, baking powder, salt) still qualify as semi-clean.

Either my falafel patties were too big or my whole wheat pitas were too small!

Tuna totes gets the credit for Monday night’s meal – it was seriously like eating Lebanese Taverna but at home! Falafel with brown rice and pre-cooked frozen grilled chicken strips, all drizzled with Trader Joe’s Tzatziki sauce aka creamy garlic cucumber dip to non-foodies or to me before Saturday.

Time to infuse one summer staple with another: pasta salad with some Mediterranean flavor. Actually….regular pasta salad with more Tzatziki sauce because I can’t get enough of it.

This is a version of my mom’s pasta salad slash what I had in the freezer or lack thereof.

End of Summer Pasta Salad

5-6 Servings

Ingredients

• 1 package whole wheat pasta
• 1/2 bag frozen peas
• 1/2 bag frozen shelled edamame (good source of protein!)
• 1/2 cup sliced carrots
• 1/4 cup chopped red pepper
• 1/4 cup red onion
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• tbsp dijon mustard
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1/4 cup tzatziki sauce mixed in
• tbsp of extra tzatizki sauce on top of each serving

In other news, I am 3 lbs away from my goal weight, and a week and a half away from the Tough Mudder!

Wouldn’t it be cool if I could reach my goal weight and successfully complete the Tough Mudder in the same week? That would be pretty cool.

Does anyone have any recipes of healthier falafel (not fried in a ton of vegetable oil?) My apartment still reeks of fried food.

Do you usually try new types of food at restaurants or at home?