Today I ate the menu offered by Danielle Ricci for the Clean Plate Challenge to design my perfect eating day. Here’s a screenshot of her menu.
Black bean soup for breakfast. It was actually pretty good. I tend to go for sweet things for breakfast, but perhaps I will have to explore the world of savory breakfasts.
I noticed two things about Danielle’s menu: 1. It’s vegan and 2. It doesn’t seem like a lot of food, so I had to mix it up a little bit.
Mid-morning snack: a Cara Cara orange and chai tea.
For lunch: a giant arugula salad, whole-wheat pita, and hummus. I didn’t eat all that hummus. This was really good. I should definitely do more salads at lunch.
Danielle had given me some leeway on snacks: “something that responds to your craving–salty, crunchy, sweet,” she had said. I did want to get some dairy into the day, so I had this Siggi’s orange and ginger yogurt with crunchy Grape-Nuts on top. The yogurt tasted like ginger snaps.
Still hungry, I added a banana:
And then dinner: Check it out! I made chana masala and chapati! I was going to make raita too, but, as you can see, it was already pretty late (I work until 8 p.m. every other Friday), so I topped it with a dollop of lowfat sour cream instead. The chana masala was spicy–I’d tweak the spices a bit next time. I managed to successfully halve both recipes.
I am in big trouble with this chapati, though. I love this stuff. A local Asian fusion restaurant sells these as an appetizer called Indian pancake with a spicy sauce. A local Israeli restaurant sells them for brunch with eggs and harissa. Now I can make it at home? Uh-oh.
Overall a good menu: beans, lots of vegetables, whole grains, fruits. Mexican, Middle Eastern, and Indian food all in one day. Delicious and not too difficult. Thanks, Danielle!
