Day 15: Burgers with Mixed Vegetables and Sweet Potato French Fries

This challenge is just flying by!  I have had to change my menu a little bit once again, my parents are going through their own little "challenges" not the 24-day kind but therefore, we have had a few different constrictions on the diet.

Menu:
Breakfast: Meal Replacement Shake
Snack 1: Apple
Lunch: 2 poached eggs with sliced tomatoes and turkey sausage
Snack 2: Carrots
Dinner: Burgers with Mixed Vegetables and Sweet Potato Fries

We made 6 burgers out of 1 1/2 lbs of ground beef.  Sprinkled a little sea salt and pepper along with some burger seasoning.  Once the burgers were on the grill and the Fries were in the oven, we sauteed some zucchini and onions.  I cooked some fried eggs to go on top of the burgers and served the burgers with fresh tomato slices, lettuce and whatever fixins anyone wanted!
Delish!

So messy to eat but so yummy!

Day 9: Turkey Burgers (Delux) with Sweet Potato Fries

Ok!  I know I've missed a couple days... between being busy and feeling guilty I just haven't been able to blog the last few days.  My menu has gotten a little bit off so I had to edit it... but that's ok, I left a few days open for wiggle room.

Day 6:  Leftover Night... Tuna with lightly cooked vegetables and brown rice


Day 7:  I cheated a bit... I went to an engagement party at Xanki... and well you can't go to Xanki and not eat.  The whole experience is about eating!  So I had chicken and veggies... but technically they were cooked in oil and with some soy sauce (not low sodium)  Woops!

However, since I cheated the day before I was suuuuper good on Day 8.
Day 8:
Breakfast: Meal Replacement Shake
Snack 1: Apple
Lunch:  Leftover from Day 5
Snack 2: Spinach Salad
Dinner: Winter Chicken Bake (One of the pre-made meals that was in the freezer... cooked in crockpot)

Today is Day 9
Menu:
Breakfast: 2 Over Medium Eggs with 1/2 of an Avocado
Snack 1: Fresh Fruit Salad
Lunch: Leftovers from Day 8
Snack 2: Carrots with home-made hummus
Dinner:  Turkey Burgers with Sweet Potato Fries

These burgers were one of my premade meals... I just froze them in individual bags so that they were ready to throw on the grill.

Burgers
Mix a pound of ground turkey with 1 T minced onion, 2 garlic cloves (minced), and 1 T soy sauce.  Separate into 4 patties.  

I started out cooking the fries because they were set to take 26 minutes.

As the fries were cooking I cut salad fixins and lettuce.

After about 10 minutes I put the burgers on the grill.  Cooking 10 minutes on each side (they needed a little extra time since they started out frozen).  They were so juicy and yummy!

I also chopped up an avocado and made a quick guacamole with a spoonful of salsa, some lime juice, a dash of garlic powder and onion powder.  

To assemble my burger I topped with 

Onion

 
Tomato --------------------->


















Guacamole
...and then I also fried an egg and put it on top :P I love fried eggs on my burgers! --------------->

VOILA!

It was pretty delish!

Tomorrow's dinner:  Chicken Fajitas (Pre-made Frozen Meal)

Day 5: Tuna Stew

Day 5 is complete... and that marks halfway through the cleanse phase of the 24 day challenge!  

Today's Menu:

Breakfast:  2 Scrambled Eggs, leftover turkey bacon (from Day 3)

Snack 1:  2 Hard Boiled Eggs

Lunch: Leftovers from Day 4 dinner

Snack 2:  Carrots

Dinner:  Tuna Stew with Peppers and Potatoes...  

So, I realize Tuna can be expensive, but when thinking about my meal plan for my challenge I asked for suggestions from my family... since they'd be eating it too.  And I tried to tweak things accordingly so that I could eat them.  One suggestion my Dad really wanted was a Tuna soup.  I found this recipe on a great blog and tweaked it a bit to fit the challenge.  AND!  The best part was... Tuna just happened to go on sale during the first week of the challenge!  It was awesome to get groceries ahead but I am still looking at about 5 ads for different grocery stores each week to check out who has the best prices.  

I will warn... this recipe had some heat to it.  If you would prefer little/no heat try it without the jalapeno and poblano peppers.  But Oh My Gosh!!!!  It was sooo good.  And with how late I've been staying at work all week... I emailed the recipe to my Dad and he actually cooked the meal tonight! :)

Tuna Stew  (Advocare Cleanse or Max Phase Friendly)

Total Time: 35 minutes

Ingredients

No fat/No calorie cooking spray

1 1/4 pounds tuna steak, cut into 1-inch cubes

Sea salt

1 sweet onion, finely diced

1 red bell pepper, finely diced

1 poblano pepper, finely diced

1 jalapeno, ribs and seeds removed, minced

2 large garlic cloves, minced

1/2 teaspoon red chile flakes

1 large tomato, diced

1 large sweet potato (about 1 pound), peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes

3 cups fish stock or water

Instructions

Heat a large heavy bottomed saucepan or Dutch oven, spray with cooking spray.  Season the tuna with salt and sear it in batches over medium-high heat until browned on at least two sides, about 2 minutes total. Remove to a plate.

Add more spray and the onion, peppers, garlic, chile flakes, and 1 teaspoon salt. Saute over medium heat until the vegetables are very soft but not browning, about 10 minutes. Stir in the tomatoes and potatoes. Cover with the stock or water and bring to a boil. Turn the heat down to medium-low and simmer until the potatoes are tender and the broth has thickened, about 15 to 20 minutes. Taste for seasoning and add more salt as necessary.

Stir in the tuna. remove from the heat and let stand 3 minutes, until the tuna is heated through and just barely cooked.  Voila!

Happy, Healthy Eating!