Kale for breakfast, lunch and dinner...What!
Having lost 30 pounds in my 30's, 30 pounds in my 40's (after the weight gain of childbirth #4), and 17 pounds plus (during the toughest journey yet through perimenopause), I have received several suggestions of providing meal ideas that have helped me - especially in the past. I did not follow the sequence of these meals nor any meal plan per se. I just consumed mostly healthy foods, drank a lot of water, and drank sugarless herbal teas plus kept a regular exercise routine. Nevertheless, as I present the meals as ideas that have helped me, I pull them from old email files, scribbled notes, current home-cooking practice, and good ole-fashioned memory.
So, here goes...
Monday Breakfast Power Smoothie:
Option 1 - Just go to Jamba Juice!
Jamba Juice's Greens & Ginger (Small)
Substitute the lemon (actually lemonade) with a juiced apple for a small upcharge.
Light on all the other fruit, which include mango and peach.
Request extra ginger for uncharge.
Boost with extra kale plus with collagen and chia seeds.
Option 2 - DIY
Frozen kale (a fistful - more or less)
1 whole juiced apple (then slightly frozen to a slushy consistency)
5 frozen strawberries
Frozen blueberries (a fistful)
1/8 cup of crushed ice
2 tablespoons of chia seeds that have been soaked and refrigerated overnight or longer
Monday Lunch Chicken Salad Combo:
Combine the following with stirring until you reach a desired consistency:
-----Shredded chicken (2 breasts, 2 legs, and 2 thighs), coated with extra virgin olive oil
-----4-5 diced boiled egg whites
-----1/2 cooked yellow onion
-----Finely chopped kale (beginning with 1-2 fistfuls)
-----Egg yolk cream mix (4-5 boiled egg yolks, 2 -3 tablespoons of extra virgin avocado oil or extra virgin olive oil, lightly add honey to taste, about 2 tablespoons of mustard, 2 teaspoons of apple cider vinegar, optionally 1 diced apple with or without skin, light salt to taste, add paprika to taste, optional light amount of red pepper)
Serves 4+ people with multi-grain flax crackers or multi-grain bread.
Monday Dinner Kale in Bone Broth:
Cook raw chicken (8 pieces) in a large pot of water:
Salt
Add 1-2 tablespoons of avocado oil if desired
Add dried oregano flakes
Add 1-2 chopped yellow onions
Add 3 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar
Boil for 1 1/5 hours
Simmer for 5-6 hours (Chicken will fall from the bones)
With a straining spoon, pull all chicken and bones from the broth and separate on the side during a long process until boneless tender chicken can be added back into the pot.
Add fresh kale and cook in a high to medium simmer for another 45 to 60 minutes. (If you are adding frozen kale, follow instructions on the package with the broth used in place of the water that it will call for.)
Snacks Ideas (Choose one or two):
Almonds (Almonds and kale love each other. At least, in my body they do. My best lay hypothesis is that it has to do with the fiber and protein in the combination.)
Pistachios (This is one of the few types of nuts that I have been able to splurge on without having to worry about calorie intake - not that I'm supposed to worry about that anyway if I'm eating clean foods.)
Boiled egg (One, that is)
Almond butter and flax crackers
Sunflower seeds