So I started this new year with detoxifying my body from all the not so clean choices I made during the holidays! Since I got married and moved to Dubai all my eating habits changed, cooking takes more time with me because I have to get to know the groceries over here and learn which ones suit my lifestyle and which don’t and this takes more time than you can imagine!
Besides I didn’t move and settle in my own home yet so I still don’t have the ability to settle down and work in my own space so since September it has been hard for me to always have clean food in hand to enjoy. I tried not to stress about it too much because it is a phase that everyone who gets married and moves to live abroad passes through, I did my best to stay on track and maintain my weight and my clean eating choices but let just say I had few breakdowns in between!
Since yesterday after all the holiday parade is finished I started my clean eating 30 days detox!
I made up my mind to it, I prepared my menu for the whole month, I did my weekly food shopping for this week and I started pre-packing my meals so I will always have them in hand especially when I don’t have time to cook and I am to hungry.
And trust me I don’t have anytime right now with preparing to move to the house and preparing the house and traveling back and forth so meal preparation is my best friend right now.
I prepared 3 breakfast jars and 3 lunch boxes so I just heat it and enjoy it! go check my Instagram post about this breakfast jar quick recipe. I am going to share the whole recipes I used those 30 days with you guys to help you participate with me in this detox. and you can check this article to give you a quick head start on what are you going into!I am going to cook easy recipes that anyone can pull and cool for 3 days in advance so you don’t have to think about new recipes each day, in this way you can buy your groceries once a week and cook and pre-pack twice a week to gain time.
Today’s recipe is a very easy chicken bowl.
I will be having chicken for lunch this whole week. You can substitute chicken with other protein like fish or meat fillet.I cooked those recipe in a big batch for 4 meals and divide it into 4 fridge containers and stored it. for that i will have the same protein but in different marination to change up a little bit but without having to cook a lot.
In detoxing and clean eating it is really important to season and marinate your chicken so you don’t feel like you are eating dry, tasteless food. Because switching from deep fried chicken to clean eating version of chicken can be a chock to your taste buds after they have been numbed by junk food for so long.
Today’s recipe is fajita chicken bowl with some rice and kale salad to feel satisfied and not still hungry after your meal.
A fresh marination for the chicken with some roasted colorful vegetables and some black beans will change your mind about roasted chicken. I had those bowl for lunch and it was so filling and tasty and no dry chicken in it I promise.
I payed down all the ingredients next to each other but you can mix it as you like. You can mix chicken with roasted vegetables and black beans with the kale and enjoy it as a fajita chicken salad with a drizzle of hot salsa and the rice aside or you can enjoy it as I do in a bowl with the salad aside.
I am going to share the recipes of this month with the calories intake as I promised you.So lets get started with the recipe.
Please note that the recipe below is for one meal you multiply the ingredients by 4 to pre-cook for 4 days or 3 days however it suits you.I am going to cook a different chicken bowl for the rest 3 days of the week with different marination option and different style to change up things a little bit! Stay tuned
Chicken Fajita Meal-prep Bowl:
Serve 1 lunch bowl
INGREDIENTS:
For the chicken marinate:
- 85g-100g of chicken breast, cut into medium cubes
- 1 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
- 1 tsp. olive oil
- 1 Tbsp. fresh parsley chopped
- 1 Tbsp. mustard
- 1 tsp. apple cider vinegar
- ½ tsp. salt
- 1 tsp. sweet pepper
For the roasted vegetables:
- 1 small red bell pepper, cut into slices
- 1 small yellow bell pepper, cut into slices
- ¼ cup fresh mushroom, cut into slices
- 1 small onion, cut into slices
- ½ zucchini, cut into slices
- 1 garlic glove, minced
- ½ tsp. white pepper
- ½ tsp. black pepper
- Salt to taste
For the bowl:
- ½ cup brown rice, cooked
- ¼ cup canned black beans
Additional add-ins:
- Large Handful of fresh kale
- Red salsa of your choice (optional)
INSTRUCTIONS:
For the chicken marinate:
- Before 2 hours minimum , start with the chicken marinate: in a bowl mix all the ingredients together, toss the chicken cubes in and let it marinate for 2 hours (you can even prepare it the night before and let it marinate overnight in the fridge)
- Preheat oven on 180 C ◦, and lay some baking paper into a tray and set aside.
- After the chicken is done marinating, line the chicken cubes (don’t discard the remaining marinate sauce in the bowl, set the bowl aside) in the tray leaving space for the vegetables beside it. And set aside
For the roasted vegetables:
- Wash, drain, cut and prepare the vegetables.
- Pour the vegetables in the bowl with the remaining chicken marinating in.
- Add peppers, salt, olive oil and garlic. And toss it all together.
- Line the vegetables next to the chicken in the baking tray and bake in preheated oven for 25 minutes.
For the bowl:
- While the vegetables and chicken are baking, prepare the rice according to package and lay it in the serving bowl as a base.
- Wash and drain the black beans and lay it over the cooked rice leaving space to the chicken and vegetables.*
- After the vegetables and chicken are done roasting, remove from oven, let it cool for a couple of minutes and lay over the rice next to the beans.
- Steam the kale and top the bowl with it. **
- Drizzle some salsa on the top.
- Serve and enjoy!
NOTES:
*for the black beans and kale: I tried this method mention above and it was really filling and tasty but the next day I tried another version that I found more tricky to the eyes to make you feel more filled after your meal and with more fresh taste, here’s what I did:
I didn’t add the black beans into the bowl, instead I serve it aside with the kale as a salad with a fresh dressing of: 1 Tbsp. Fresh lemon juice, 1tsp.mustard, 1 garlic clove minced, some chopped parsley, 1 tsp. olive oil and salt to taste, I toss it all together and serve it as a side salad. I found it more satisfying and much richer in flavors, you can still go with the first easy way but I highly recommend trying this one.
** this recipe use 100 g of chicken breast: but I usually buy my chicken breast as a pack of 350 to 400 g so I cook the whole pack and divide it into 4 meals and multiply the vegetables for roasting accordingly by 4. I cook 1 cup of brown rice that makes me 2 cooked cups I divide it to 4 meals. I cook in big batch of 4 meals and then divide it into 4 containers and store it in the fridge for the next 3 days plus the current day.
*********AND FINALY AS I PROMISED YOU I AM GOING TO SHARE WITH YOU THE …
Nutritional Information:
Serving size: 01 | Calories: 425 calories | carbs: 51 g | fat: 9 g | protein: 27 g | fiber: 10 g | sugar: 6g