Clean Foods by Rebecca

Cooking at home…

What I have learned over the years is that cooking at home is a major gamechanger if you want to improve your health. That doesn’t mean you need to be a good cook – you can start with very simple & minimal-ingredient recipes. I’m actually not into following recipes at all when there are kids screaming and I’m trying to get dinner on the table. I like to look at the ingredients in my refrigerator, look for a recipe for inspiration and and then create what works. The important part of home cooking is that you are controlling the quality of the ingredients. Unfortunately, most restaurants are using inflammatory seed oils (canola, soybean, sunflower, safflower, corn, etc.) because they are much lower in cost. At home, we can cook with good fats such as olive oil, coconut oil and avocado oil. Please do not worry about having too much fat in your diet! If they are healthy fats you do not need to worry about counting your calories, and that fat will keep you full much longer. It is much more important to focus on the quality of your ingredients rather than it’s calorie count.

Ok back to cooking…one easy place to start is a cast iron skillet meal. I grab any ground meat I have (so important to buy organic grass-fed or pasture raised), any veggies and then whip up a sauce to drizzle on top. I start by using a good oil, throw in my chopped onion, then minced garlic, maybe a shallot, then the meat. Once the meat is broken up and mostly cooked I add in my diced up veggies. I like to stretch the meal further by using one pound of meat and going heavy on the lesser expensive veggies. Also, I always try to have a few cups of dark leafy greens each day, and throwing some diced collard, kale or spinach in at the end is a great way to do that. The smaller I chop these the more likely my kids will eat them without complaints 🙂

For the sauce, I make a cashew sauce, tahini sauce or Asian coconut aminos-based sauce depending on my cooking theme. I will share the recipes soon, but the cashew sauce entails soaked & rinsed cashews, water, nutritional yeast, garlic, salt & pepper. Soaking the cashews in water for about 4 hours removes phytic acid and enzyme inhibitors that can cause digestive upset. Nutritional yeast is an amazing ingredient that adds not only a delicious umami flavor, but also protein, B vitamins and other important minerals as well.

You can also easily turn the skillet meal into taco night with a Siete brand seasoning packet paired with their almond flour tacos & avocados. Another go-to are egg roll bowls (pictured above) with organic ground pork, slaw mix, coconut aminos, ginger & sesame oil. These meals are some of my dinner staples that everyone in the house enjoys…even the 3-year old! I am so excited to share more in-depth health & cooking info, recipes, lifestyle swaps and my favorite brands in upcoming posts!