Pantry Items for Clean Eating

I often get asked what is in my pantry for clean eating. What are some of my go to items? Here are a few suggestions:

1. Steel Cut Oats: You can eat these with berries for breakfast. You can mix them with yogurt for snack. You can use them on chicken or pork as a crust for dinner. There are very versatile and can be used in a variety of ways.

2. Nuts: Nuts are high in protein and make a great snack. You need to be careful on the portion control with these though. If I purchase nuts I bag them in individual portion sizes and then I can only pull out one bag a day. If I don't I'd eat the entire container in one day.

3. Quinoa: This is actually a seed. It is easy to cook and very versatile. You can add chicken and some type of greens to it (ie. cooked kale) and add some spices and have a hearty dinner. You can eat it stand alone to.

4. Beans: I always have black beans, pinto beans, canelli beans, kidney beans, and Garbanzo beans in the pantry. These can be added to brown rice or corn for a Mexican meal. I can mix all the beans together and make my Mexican bean and corn salad (see the clean eating recipes page on my blog for the recipe). You can eat them alone.

5. Tea: I love a cup of tea in the morning. I also love to have a ice tea in the evening. I use mostly herbal teas. I do however have a decaf cup of tea every once in awhile. One of my favorite decaf teas is the decaf chai from Wegmans. My favorite herbals are all from Tazo.

6. Condiments: Ketchup, mustard, hot sauce, and vinegars are the next thing in my pantry. I use Wegmans organic Ketchup, Wegmans Organic Yellow Mustard and Wegmans Organic Spicy Brown Mustard. I love all three to add a small amount of flavor without a ton of calories, salt or sugar. I use these to enhance dressings too. I usually have balsamic vinegar, red wine vinegar, cider vinegar, and white vinegar in my pantry. Besides using these in dressing I use these to enhance the flavors of noodles or rice.

7. Oils: I love keeping both Olive Oil and Coconut Oil. I use a little bit of olive oil in cooking chicken or to make quinoa a little creamy. I use coconut oil in baking. I also love using sesame oil when making Chinese or thai food.

8. Whole Wheat Flour: Whole wheat flour is awesome to use for baking. I used it this week to make whole wheat tortillas, whole wheat pizza crust and zucchini bread.

9. Diced Tomatoes: These are great to make a simple sauce. They are also good to help steam any vegetable. Make sure if you are purchasing these in a can though that you purchase the low sodium type. I's excited for my garden to ripen so that I can can a lot of the fresh ones.

10. Dried Fruit: These are great to add to oatmeal or salads. One word of caution is that they are more compact so make sure to watch you portion! Also they can contain a lot of sugar. So make sure when purchasing you get the varieties that have no added sugar.

 This is my top ten. What are other things that are in your pantry for clean eating that you consider must haves? This by all means isn't a comprehensive list. Hope you have a great weekend.