Day 2: Week of healthy meal plans & Summertime Clean Eating

Here's Day 2 of recipes to hopefully inspire you to eat delicious and healthy this week! Enjoy!

Breakfast: Oatmeal Berry Smoothie and Oatmeal Banana Flax Muffins

Oatmeal is a hearty, wholesome way to start the morning, but in summer months the idea of eating a steaming bowl of oatmeal is not appealing. Instead, get creative and add it to your smoothies and muffins. You not only get the benefits of the grains but it also makes your smoothies creamier and more textured.

For the Oatmeal Banana Flax Muffins recipe, check out this post where I'd made them previously. I doubled the recipe this time because they are that good!

For the Oatmeal Berry Smoothie, blend together 1 1/2 cups almond milk, 1/2 frozen banana, 1/2 cup berries (I especially like blueberries here), 2 Tbsp. oats, and 2 scoops vanilla protein powder. So creamy and delicious!

Lunch: Avocado and Tomato Sandwich 

Avocado is one of those heart-healthy fats that is a must to incorporate in any clean eating week. For this sandwich, I toasted a slice of bread and topped it with hummus (any flavor is great, but the roasted red pepper was especially yummy with this combination!). Then top it with lettuce, sliced tomato, and sliced avocado.

Dinner: Balsamic Chicken

Inspired by Cooking Light 

Ingredients:

Serves 6

1 cup brown rice

6 skinless chicken breast halves

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 Tbsp. olive oil, divided

1/4 cup chopped shallots

3 garlic cloves, chopped

1 chopped seeded plum tomato

1 1/2 teaspoons tomato paste

1/2 cup fat-free, lower-sodium chicken broth

2/3 cup balsamic vinegar

1/4 cup chopped green onions 

Preparation:

1. Prepare one cup of brown rice according to package instructions.
2. While rice is cooking, sprinkle chicken evenly with pepper and salt. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat, and add 2 teaspoons olive oil to pan. Add chicken and cook 5 minutes per side. Remove chicken from pan and set aside. 
3. Return pan to medium-high heat. Add remaining olive oil, shallots, and garlic. Saute for 1 minute, stirring continually. Add tomato and tomato paste and saute for 1 minute, stirring continually. Add broth and bring to a boil while scraping pan to loosen browned bits. Add balsamic vinegar and reduce heat to medium-low. 
4. Add chicken back to pan and cook for 20 minutes or until sauce is reduced and chicken is cooked all the way through. 
5. Serve chicken over brown rice, topped with sauce and chopped green onions.