To all clean eaters - I need some saucy help!!!

So I have been practicing clean eating, and I need some major help on spicing up my meals. For dinner I normally have either fish or extra lean chicken/turkey meatballs (yes, I taught myself to make those with no added fat or unclean things!) with a chunky sauce of some chopped onion, garlic, ginger, chilli powder flakes, diced tomatoes and a tad bit of natural soy sauce. It is SOOO good, but eating it almost every night gets a bit repetitive. I would really like some sauce ideas that don't take too long to make or require too many ingredients. (I am a student with not much time or money.) My tummy and I would thank you bunches for any help we can get! :)

i like chunky sauces too.  i'm a fan of sliced red onions, bell peppers, diced tomatoes with balsamic vinegar and basil or oregano.  let the veggies sautee first and then add the vinegar as a finisher.  let it simmer and reduce down just a bit to bring out its sweetness.

laura - It never crossed my mind that I could heat up balsamic vinegar. (For some reason I always associated with only salad dressing.) It's a fantastic idea! And I LOVE red bell peppers. I have one at least once a day, if not twice. They are so juicy, sweet and refreshing. I like the though of having its sweetness in the sauce. Mmmmm.... I shall try this sauce out soon since I have all the ingredients already. Thanks!

Do you like Indian food?   If so.... there are a lot of simple lentil and chickpea-based indian dishes (dhals) that are extremely low in fat and calories, high in fibre with lots of fantastic flavours and - even better - incredibly cheap to make.  You have to invest in a few basic curry spices to start the ball rolling but they last a long time.  This is my recipe for Green Lentil Dhal.  Serve it either on its own with rice as a complete vegetarian dish or with some grilled meat/fish as a side dish

http://caloriecount.about.com/green-lentil-dh al-rice-gi-recipe-r40227

I use a lot of onion powder, chili powder, garlic powder, red pepper and paprika. Salsa and mustard.

Some tasty spices you guys have mentioned!

gi-jane - I do LOVE indian food. What you make sounds delicious! But whenever I try to make lentils, they never seem to work out quite right. I guess I shall have to keep on practicing. :P

If your lentils tend to stay tough, don't add salt (or ham or anything else salty) to them while they're cooking and make sure you're adding enough water.  Soak & cook first, add salt later... could help. 

gi-jane: My lentils are actually always one big pile of watery mush when I want something with texture! I need to add less water, but I never get it quite right. Do you use a certain lentil:water ratio? And how long does it need to soak for? Thanks! :)

I eat a really clean diet as well and have PLENTY of recipes to spare - one would be white clam sauce! Oh baby, this white clam sauce is DELICIOUS on salmon, halibut, vegetables, spaghetti squash... a car BUMPER (yea, I took that one from Emeril Lagasse! ha ha!)... So here goes, cause I want you to enjoy it as much as I do!!!!

WHITE CLAM SAUCE (not your typical FAT BOMB!)

- Olive Oil

- Shallots

- Garlic

- White Wine

- Clam Juice

- Clams

- Salt, Pepper, Thyme 

- Parsley 

**You must let the wine REDUCE down until you can no longer smell it before putting in the clam juice & clams... sometimes I make this with minced shrimp & scallops too - MMM! :)** 

- My dad makes this dish the best... what we do is make the sauce, pour it over salmon fillets that are in a baking dish and then bake the whole thing in the oven @ 400 degrees for about 11 minutes - TO DIE FOR!! Seriously! ha ha! 

Oh my oh my giasbash! Does that ever sound good!! I love all things fishy (and yes - sushi is my favourite food...). I would love to try it with some tender halibut. Mmmmm..... *mouth waters* Though I was under the impression that alcohol is not really considered part of a clean eating lifestyle? (I am just a beginner though, so I am likely wrong on that.) And this may be a silly question, but do you first sautee the shallots and garlic in the olive oil and then add the wine? And what step do you add the herbs/spices? THANKS! (And I am always open to more recipes if you have time to share - no worries if you don't. :D)

You know, after I wrote that I just KNEW you would ask for some instructions! Uh duh! ha ha! Well you get a big pot - put some olive oil in there, sautee the shallots until they are "sweating" (ha ha) then you put in the garlic & then you put in the herbs & then you put in the parsley & then you put in the white wine (in limited amounts wine is fine - I ONLY use it in COOKING & the alcohol & sugar cook off during the COOK DOWN process so it's ALL GOOD ha ha!)... then when the wine is all cooked down you add the clam juice and let that simmer for like 15 minutes but keep your EYE on it because every so often you may either need to add a little more clam juice or water and then add your clams and let cook for another 5 minutes or so and there you have it!! :) 

When did you start your clean eating life style? What types of foods have you been eating? Do you feel better so far on it? 

Original Post by vidaloca:

gi-jane: My lentils are actually always one big pile of watery mush when I want something with texture! I need to add less water, but I never get it quite right. Do you use a certain lentil:water ratio? And how long does it need to soak for? Thanks! :)

 Are you using red lentils or green lentils?  If you want the lentils to hold their texture, use green.  (Personally, I prefer mushy red lentils and find the green ones too firm.  Sounds like you're the opposite to me.)  Lentils don't need soaking at all.  Just rinse them, pick them over (i.e. pick out any loose skins, etc.) and boil them for about 45 minutes to an hour.  Soaking lentils would probably make them really mushy.

giasbash - Awesome! Thanks for the instructions! I will have to try it out after midterm season is over! I started clean eating almost 1.5 months ago. I think it might be too early to see any real results from it yet - like better skin/hair. And I can't tell whether it's given me more energy either because I think that might be negated by me going to the gym 6 times a week, having 8 courses this semester (35 hours of class/week), tons of work, and always going to bed exhausted! lol

Also I still have trouble controlling my portions sizes (I overeat quite often because I used to binge, and am slowly breaking out of the habit). BUT, I have noticed that I feel better about myself. Even if I do overeat, I know that what is going into my body is GOOD for me. I am not feeding my body things it is not meant to be fed! Plus, it has helped break my calorie counting habit (that I had from anorexia), so I am really happy about that. I can eat without constantly counting numbers! I am really happy to have started it, and I am sure I will see better results once I am able to control portion sizes. Plus, again, I think I am too new to clean eating to see any really good results yet. So, I am definitely going to keep this up, because I do feel happy about treating my body right.

The types of foods I eat include: fruits and veggies (especially red peppers and tomatoes! maybe red is a theme for me?), quinoa, oatmeal, lentils, organic whole wheat flour, skim milk, cottage cheese, eggs, extra lean turkey, extra lean chicken, LOTS of different fishy things (especially shrimp and sole fillets), tons of herbs and spices, balsamic vinegar, extra virgin olive oil, natural/clean soy sauce (though when I use it, I don't use a lot because of the sodium) and flax seeds. There are probably more than I can't remember right now. I have a hard time mixing things up though, and often stick to salads because it is quick and easy. Hence, why I am asking you guys for saucy help! Though I do LOVE making soups. I have made carrot ginger (with too much ginger though), tomato and veggie with extra lean chicken meatball soup so far! I have only tried each one once so far, and they definitely need working on...

(Note - I do make one exception for an "unclean" thing, and that is my whey protein for after my workouts...) Haha, well that was REALLY long. Hopefully you got what you wanted to know. But you said you eat pretty clean yourself. How long have you been keeping it up for and have you noticed anything yet?

susiecue - Thanks for the reply! I am using green lentils actually, but they still get mushy. So I just need to boil them - I always that you had to kind of simmer them with the lid on? Do you boil them without a lid and keep on adding water over the time period once the water has all evaporated?

Ah ha! I see - sounds good, well keep it up for sure!!!

Oh and about that whole OVER EATING THING: welcome to the club my friend! I over eat like EVERY night at dinner just because I know the foods I am eating are super healthy for me and pretty low calorie (hello spaghetti squash, asparagus, spinach, mushrooms, eggplant, etc! ha ha)... and I tend to get OH A WEE BIT BLOATED but hey, it was delicious going down!

Good luck with your mid-terms! Just went through that HELL and thankfully it is OVER yet... I still have LOADS to do! Where do you go to college? I go to University of Colorado in Boulder, CO 

Haha - I feel the same way... everything I have is good for me, so it's okay to eat a little more than I should. :P

I am Canadian and go to Queen's University in Kingston, ON! Yay for you for having midterms done and over with! I just came back from one! lol. By the way, you have a great postive energy - it's really nice to have people like you on CC!!! Thanks for your help!