Buzzfeed Clean Eating Challenge - Day 2 - The Kale Conundrum

So I survived Day 1, despite a couple of hurdles, the most notable of which was chewing my way through like 2 pounds of kale.  My jaw hurts.  For reals.

I forgot to take pictures last night, so here's your obligatory kitten shot.

Anyway, I was having a panic attack yesterday evening so I opted to sub some light ice cream for my carrots & hummus.  Calorically they balanced pretty well, even though I know it wasn't "clean eating".  I'm not doing this to detox, I'm doing it for fun.  Don't judge me.

I then realized I had an hour till I had to leave for yoga, and I kinda wanted to go see my boyfriend afterwards.  This would involve me having to pack and prep all my meals from scratch as well as changing clothes.  So I furiously prepped my dinner, late night snack, and breakfast for Day 2. My chicken was still frozen so it ended up a bit tougher than I'd like (I had to cook it at a higher temp than I wanted), my quinoa and kale both ended up a bit more raw than I'd have preferred (I was in a rush) and I misread the dosage on the almond butter that I was supposed to drizzle on my pear as tablespoons instead of teaspons, which despite the caloric impact made for a happy accident, because even Bosc pears still taste like old lady smell.

 

Not as attractive as the mason jar overnight oatmeal I've seen on Pinterest.

 The Overnight Oatmeal didn't have the flavor or texture I had imagined.  The greek yogurt gave it a lot of tang and an uncomfortably gooey, cheesy texture.  Maybe sub in some silken tofu next time?  Some cinnamon would have been helpful too, as this mostly tasted like mushy yogurt with the occasional blueberry of salvation.

Today's lunch = More Kale!!! (yaaay)

 Fennel tends to be one of those veggies that I buy with the best of intentions, then leave in the fridge until it rots.  I haven't cooked it for quite some time, so I really should have given myself a refresher course on fennel prep.  But I was in a rush and thought I knew what I was doing. 

I didn't have the time to get out the slicing blade on my food processor or dig out my mandolin, so I just hacked off the fronds and sliced it up.  Yep, core and all the husky outer stalks too.  The strong, licorice like spice from the fennel paired with the rather overpowering mint from my garden kinda made me feel like I was eating soap.  Paired with the grit from the kale, I probably could make soap out of this and make a fortune.  It's good as an aromatic, good as an exfoliant, but wasn't particularly appetizing.  I still had parmesan sitting in my cheese grater in the fridge so I didn't bother shaving the parm. The orange vinaigrette is getting good and garlicky after sitting overnight.

Snack time - with basil from the garden

 Snack time tonight is basically a modified caprese salad using feta instead of mozzarella. I added salt and pepper to give the tomatoes some kick.  No complaints about this one.

So, I still have half a bundle of kale to chew through at some point this week.  There's mango on the menu tonight (oh, joy).  Hopefully I'll be able to shake the jaw pain/headache tonight and have a fresh start for tomorrow. Tomorrow has raw almonds on the menu twice, so I need my jaw for crunching things. 

I am actually excited for some of the stuff on the menu tomorrow, although I think I might have to flavor up the yogurt a bit in the AM.  I'm all about sour, cheesy things like sour beers and moldy cheeses, but if it's not in a savory dish it can be a bit too much.  True story - my favorite sour beer is Beatification ( http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/863/27992/ ).  I found this out when at a friend's tasting party - he asked me what I'd like to try and I said I wanted a tongue-puckering sour, something with a flavor profile that fell somewhere between really bad feet and really good cheese.  I was not disappointed.

I love lentils and have been wanting to try my hand at cauliflower "steaks" for some time now, so this, like the overnight oatmeal, are recipes I finally have a good excuse to attempt.  Is it sad that I'm super pumped for hot chocolate tomorrow night?  Like, OH FINALLY, A REAL DESSERT!  But I do have a beer bottle share tomorrow, so I might skip out on that in lieu of beer calories.

I need to get better about lunch and snack prep the night before.  My kitchen looks like it was hit by a tornado right now and I'm super OCD about keeping the kitchen clean, so knowing that I'm going home to a dirty kitchen is totally uncool.  I want to be able to leave everything sparkling the night before. 

And I need to remember to dig out my mandolin, because I completely forgot I had one before writing this post.