Summer Fruit Salad

Oh my word where have I been? Whatever, this salad is so delish you'll forgive and forget my absence!!

I'm forgiven already, aren't I??

Okay so I was wandering around Wegmans, which is oh so dangerous...I usually make my list in the app and it tells me exactly where to go and I (usually) don't allow myself to get anything that's not on the list. And I usually go on Sunday. But I skipped yesterday and was just going to wing it this week, but I decided I really wanted a salad with fruit in it. So here we are! I found this gem of a dressing: 

Then I picked up my favorite berry trio - straw, blue, and rasp. They went on the bottom of the pile, atop of the dressing of course. Next I packed in the spring mix, then some goat cheese and topped it all off with some candied pecans! Simple right?

I candied the pecans myself, but you can buy them already done if ya like. I just liked controlling what went in them. Mmmmmmmm :)

Enjoyyyy!

Asian Salmon Salad

I cheated...this is probably the easiest salad in a jar ever! It was so easy that I made tomorrow's dinner because I felt like I was slacking :-/

Alright so I started with this amazing dressing (well it smells amazing, so I hope it tastes amazing):

Then here comes the part where I cheated...I used chopped salad mix! I didn't use the dressing that came with it because it had literally 15 ingredients, so that went in the trash. But I just put about half a bag of salad in each jar, topped it with super yummy salmon I made (that I swore I've posted before, but apparently not, so that will come later), and then topped with the wonton noodles and almonds that came in the kit! So yummy!

Pasta Salad with Tuna!

Oh my gosh where have I been?? 

Ireland...that's where! I went to Ireland over spring break with my mom and sister and it was so much fun! I obviously had to kiss the Blarney stone so I could continue the gift of gab to keep up with you good people! You're welcome! I also got to see Michael Flatley in his new show Lord of the Dance: Dangerous Games. It was amazing. It made my life! (Just in case you're judging, please know that I was a competitive Irish dancer growing up. If you still feel the need to judge, go ahead. Juuuuuuust as long as you have your all your facts). 

And then after I got back, I was busy planning a surprise 60th birthday party for my cute mom! 

Cake is clean...right?

So, now to this week's recipe! It was inspired by the food I made for my mom's party. I was actually planning to use the leftovers from the party but as it turns out, there weren't any and I had to make more. But that's okay! Here we go:

I used my favorite Weggies organic pasta. Call my crazy, but I think the shapes make it taste better! So I cooked the pasta and then rinsed it with cold water. Then I added tuna, 2 chopped bell peppers, olives, feta cheese, and a few squirts of Caesar dressing (I would say 2-3 TBSP if you made me give a measurement). Just mix it all up and you're ready to go!

I've been eating it at lunch this week at school (obviously...duh Kathryn) and my kiddos keep saying how good it looks!

Caprese Salad

I clearly got into the warm weather today. When I think Caprese salad, I think of tomatoes fresh off the vine and basil fresh from the herb garden. I don't have either of those right now, so I had to make do with these:

I did have to Goldilocks the mason jars. I thought one was going to be perfect, but I forgot when you add in the mozzarella, it was going to take up more space...oops. The next one would have been perfect, but the mouth wasn't wide enough to fit the tomato slices. The one I ended up using has a little extra room on the sides, but whatever, it'll do!

So I cored and sliced the tomatoes, bought pre-sliced mozzarella (don't judge - it was on sale), and chopped the basil. I use a glaze from Harris Teeter, which is totally delicious. Then I just layered them in the jar and BOOM! 

Cute right??

And there were no blueberries or raspberries at the store - how crazy is that? So I had to vary my berry parfait. But, please don't worry - I used blackberries and strawberries, so it is still a berry parfait.

Yum!

Prepping my meals for the week saves me so much time, energy, money AND calories. I highly recommend doing it. People ask me if I get sick of eating the same thing every day, and I really don't because every other meal I have varies that week. Give it a try!!

Tasty Turkey Chili

So I don't mean to brag, but I make really good chili. And I've decided to share it with Y-O-U! You're welcome ;)

As always, I have to start with my dream team. I want to start making my own sausage, so if you have any good sausage seasoning recipes, send them my way! Until then, its turkey sausage from the package :-/ The beer is up for debate. Usually, I use whatever we have on tap (yes on tap...my brother brews). But today we had 1 bottle of Guinness blonde. Just 1. And it was bothering me that it was in the fridge. So I used it. I'm feeling muuuuuuch better now!

First step - cut the sausage out of the casing (if you're lazy like me and don't make your own) and brown it on medium heat. 

Next up, add in the onion and garlic. Make sure you scrape up the good stuff on the bottom. Let that cook for a few minutes until the onion gets soft and you can start to smell the garlic. Then add in your beer of choice. 

Bring that to a simmer, add your cumin and chili powder and stir. Then you can add in everything else - beans, crushed tomatoes and tomato paste. I'd let it simmer for at least 20 minutes on low heat (covered). Then serve it on its own, over rice/quinoa/spaghetti (yea, I thought it was weird too but apparently its a thing). I bet it would be good over spiraled veggies too!

You can easily double and triple batches and it freezes really well. 

Chopped Chickpea Salad

I am pretty excited about this week's lunches! I had a request to do something vegetarian - that's right, I take requests AND someone requested something. Pretty cool, eh? I mean, it was my cousin but I'm still putting a check in the cool column. Thanks Rach!

So, I don't really have a recipe, but I can tell you what I put in this jar! It all starts with my friend Annie:

 ^Seriously one of the best salad dressings I've ever tasted. But I can only find it at Wegmans. I've looked for it at Target, Giant, Safeway, Harris Teeter...but Weggies never lets me down. I made 5 salads, so after the dressing, the layers go like this in each jar:

1/2 cup chickpeas

1/8 cup dried cranberries

1.5 chopped peppers divided

1 chopped cucumber divided

2 oz goat cheese

Go crazy and swap out whatever you don't like with something you do! Some sort of nut would probably have been nice. Or maybe some sunflower seeds???? That could have been fun. Next time!

Shredded Chicken Tacos

It's my birthday and I'll cook if I want to [eat]...

So my 27th birthday was this past Thursday (yikes...late twenties). We had invited some friends and family over and I knew I didn't want to order pizza, but I also knew I didn't want to cook when I got home from work (yes, it was the only day I worked all week, but still...). So, I decided to pre-make dinner! Yayyyyy I'm so smart.

All I had to do was throw this in the crock pot to heat up!

So to start this party off, you have to throw your favorite taco seasoning on your chicken. I've turned into quite a snob in regards to taco seasoning (YES ONLY TACO SEASONING). I was on the hunt for a clean taco seasoning and stumbled onto this recipe from Pinterest. It's so super easy and you probably have everything in your spice cabinet already. I just make a huge batch and once and store it in a mason jar.

So, once you have your taco seasoning, go ahead and season your chicken. Then bake it in the oven at 425 for 25-30ish minutes.

Once it's done, throw your cooked chicken in the stand mixer to shred it. Once its cooled, put it in a freezer bag and then layer a jar of salsa, a can of black beans, and a can of corn.

This is the dream team I use

At that point, you can either freeze it for a lazy night when you don't feel like cooking, or put it in the fridge for the next few days. When you're ready, throw it in the crockpot on low until its heated through (if you froze it, make sure its thawed overnight). Then throw it on your favorite taco shells with your favorite taco toppings!

Lettuce and pico for me!

This is so easy to make in huge batches, too! I made 3 pounds of chicken in this batch. Just make sure you're using 1 each of salsa, black beans, and corn for every pound of meat you're using!

Banana Pancakes :)

So, I've seen these recipes for 2 ingredient banana pancakes all over clean eating/fitness blogs and instas that I follow. And I was like yea right...no way that is legit. But, I had some bananas that were about to go bad (this is the second week in a row that's happened...maybe I should go on a banana buying hiatus?), so I decided to test them out!

All I did was mash two bananas and then beat in an egg. Aaaaaaaand here's what happened :-/

Not the best...

But I didn't want to add flour, because the whole point was to have these be as clean as possible. So I added in about 1/2 tsp of baking powder (and when I say about 1/2 tsp, I literally have no idea because I was just going to sprinkle a little in...but I hit it too hard and added more than I meant to. Oops). So this is after adding the baking powder:

Getting there, but I thought we could do better...

So, I decided to turn the heat down to low and make them as thin as possible:

Yay! Finally they look like normal pancakes!

In total, I got 6 pancakes out of that "batter." I think if I had made them this thin from the beginning I would have had 8-10. Also, if you don't like banana, don't make these. Because they taste like banana. Just want to be clear about that part :)

I added some delicious Justin's Maple Almond Butter!

Curry Chicken Salad with Avocado

I have a paper due at 7 p.m. so what better time to write a blog post than right this second?! I will do almost anything to avoid writing papers...I mean it...after this I'll probably go clean the snow off my car. After doing laundry, and then the dishes. Yikes!

Okay, so curry chicken salad! So good (well if you like curry it's so good. If you're not a curry fan, don't put curry in, silly)!

I didn't split it into individual servings in the hope that we are out of school all week..a girl can dream!

First you have to bake your chicken. You know I like to spray mine with a little cooking spray and then with onion, garlic, cumin, and pepper. I bake at 425 for 30ish minutes. Then, while they're still warm, throw the chicken breasts in your stand mixer to shred! My super smart friend Amanda showed me that trick and it has saved my life. Thanks :-*

Okay so after you've shredded your chicken, throw your avocado in there and it kind of melts into the chicken which will help hold everything together in a chicken salad-y way (and no mayo, which is a huge plus). Mix in the curry powder.

Not the cutest pic, but since avocados are pricey and not always ripe, I buy a bunch from Costco, wait for them to ripen, then quarter them and keep them in the freezer until I need them!

After that, fold in your favorite chicken salad enhancers (fold is my fancy way of telling you not to use the mixer anymore. Don't want to squish the grapes). I enjoy celery and grapes. Sometimes I'll throw almonds in there, but I was not in an almond mood today. Other suggestions: raisins, bell peppers, tomatoes, onions. Go crazy - today is your day! 

I know I've mentioned it before, but the OXO Good Grips Grape Cutter is my best friend! Get one now!!!

I even got all fancy and wrote up a recipe! Thanks Microsoft Word templates!

Test it out! Let me know if you make any changes: kathryncleansup@gmail.com or @kathryncleansup on Instagram!

Make Ahead Lunches Volume 2

I am so excited for so many reasons this week:
1. I was stalking one of my favorite fitness instas (which happens to be run by one of my favorite people) and saw her weekly meal planner. I went straight out to the container store last night and bought one and I'm obsessed with it! Get one here...it will seriously make your life so much easier! Here's a peek at mine for this week:

This is amazing, right?!

2. I'm starting a new fitness program that involves some 2-a-days...hopefully this will be good! I'm feeling determined to become my best self, and the support that you all have given is insane! Like crazy insane! Thank YOU!

3. I am obsessed with Fitbit. I had an issue and their customer service is amazing. Something that could have been a setback just really turned around and I was so impressed with them! Yayyyyy Fitbit!

4. I discovered that Silk makes Dark Chocolate Almond Milk. Yes, it really is as good as it sounds. Go get some right now (well after you finish reading, because maybe you need some other ingredients, too. Don't be so hasty)!

5. The Bachelor is on tomorrow. Those girls...

Okay, but lets be serious. We are all here for the food. And this week does not disappoint! Look how cute it is:

Just stop!

You'll need: 2 avocados, 1 lb of pasta, 4 cans tuna in water, 1 bag of frozen green peas (thawed), celery.

I didn't end up using the tomatoes...sorry for misleading you!

Okay, prepare your pasta. I added about 1/4 cup of chopped onion when I threw my pasta in. It was a great spur of the moment decision. So, I guess add some chopped onion to the above list. I guess I could have just gone up and added it. But it's not in the picture. Whaaaaaaatever

While your pasta (and onions) are cooking, mash your avocados. After you've drained your pasta, mix in the avocado.

Then add in your tuna, chopped celery, and peas. That's it! It's ready! Soooo yummy :) Let me know if you make any changes!! Enjoy!

Ready for another week!

Want more? Check out @kathryncleansup on Instagram for more frequent updates :)

What to do with Leftovers!

So when I was prepping lunches for this past week, I made too much quinoa - or maybe I was secretly getting ready for a leftovers post? Yes, let's go with that. So when I was prepping lunches for this past week, I purposely made extra quinoa so that I could use it later in the week for a dinner, which led to this:

I also had a couple peppers and an onion to use up, and I was inspired by the dinner I had a few weeks ago at my BFFs house. Her fiance made his specialty, and it just so happened that the ingredients for his dinner were what I had in my kitchen, minus a few things. I picked up some sauce and sausage at Harris Teeter on my way home from work. 

If you've never tried this sauce, I highly recommend - its super good!

Okay, so I chopped up my peppers and onion and threw them in a skillet with some garlic.

While the veggies were cooking, I prepped the sausage. Then all I had to do was reheat the quinoa and throw everything on a plate! So quick, so easy, so good :)

Are those not the best looking leftovers you've ever seen?

Only problem was that I used up my extra quinoa and now had extra veggies and sausage. Which brings us to about an hour ago. I took all those leftovers (minus the sauce, because ew with eggs) and roughly chopped them - along with the mushrooms I forgot to use last night, oopsie :-/ and threw them in an omelette!

Tell me that doesn't look delicious...I dare you!

Snowflakes for the Snow Day!

This morning school was canceled due to SNOW! I love a good snow day. It definitely went in the pro column when I was deciding about careers. I love making pancakes on snow days and I had recently discovered Immaculate Baking! If you've never tried it, you should. Target carries most of their stuff and I've seen some products at Wegmans.

Making them on my snowflake pan was a bonus. I got the pan for Christmas from a friend who clearly knows me well! They turned out super cute! I sprinkled some raw cane sugar and berries on them and voila:

Berry delicious!

So when my December box from The Honest Company came in, there was a surprise! Organic sugar cookie mix and a really cute snowflake cookie cutter. I meant to bake them over the holidays, but I just never got around to it. Today seemed like the perfect day! So I dragged out the old Kitchen Aid and got to work!

They taste as good as they look

2 posts in 2 days...maybe I'm a blogger after all?