One of the things I like best about clean eating is that a few simple ingredients blended together can make a delicious meal that can be super easy.  I routinely like to keep it simple with the freshest ingredients. Make it a one pot meal and it’s even better – less mess in the kitchen.

The inspiration for this recipe came from Clean Eating Magazine.  Awhile back I had seen a recipe with black eyed peas and collard greens but I wasn’t so wild about the potatoes.  I actually was looking for it recently, couldn’t find it and put together what I thought sounded good, with some additions and changes.  It was absolutely delicious and it’s so basic that I can see making this pretty regularly in my meal planning routine.

You’ll love this clean eating recipe because it’s so fast, you have it made in about 30 minutes. And with greens, beans and sweet potatoes, it’s brimming with a whole host of nutrients your body needs.  I love that it features so many complex carbohydrates and it will keep your energy up for hours.

Ingredients:

1 medium onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp olive oil
1 32 oz. carton low sodium vegetable broth
2 cups water
2 medium sweet potatoes, diced
1 bunch collards greens, chopped
15 ounce can black-eyed peas (I like Eden Organic)
14.5 ounce can diced tomatoes (I love Muir Glen, all organic)
½ tsp. dried oregano
½ tsp. dried rosemary
Sea salt and fresh pepper, to taste

Directions:

1. Sauté onion and garlic in olive oil until soft, about 5-7 minutes.
2. Add broth, water and sweet potatoes, bring to a boil and simmer for about 10 minutes.
3. Add black-eyed peas, tomatoes, collards greens, oregano and rosemary and simmer until collards are tender, approximately 10-15 minutes.
4. Season with salt and pepper.

What’s your favorite way to combine beans and greens in a soup? Have other ideas for a quick and delicious soup that’s healthy? Do tell!

But to me, losing weight is all about making permanent lifestyle changes in how you eat, exercise, and manage stress, not a short term fix from the latest diet book. It simply doesn’t work.

So I was intrigued by the idea of certain foods that are helpful, and of course, I had to flip through to find out what they were. Interestingly, I regularly eat half of them, some of them I’ve even talked about like kale and quinoa. And last week, before I even saw the article, I wrote a blog post about how I combined three of them into one dish (quinoa, kale and lentils) that was healthy, delicious and low in fat and calories.

Here are the 20 foods they mentioned:

Steak, eggs, kale, oats, lentils, goji berries, wild salmon, apples, buckwheat pasta, blueberries, almond butter, pomegranates, chiles, yogurt, quinoa, sardines, tarragon, parmesan, avocado and olive oil.

I have to say, I eat about half of the items on a regular basis, and it’s a fact, things like kale, oats and lentils can help us lose weight for a host of different reasons.

You can read the whole article with explanations about why these foods are so good by clicking here.

I’m curious to know how many of these foods you’re regularly eating. Which ones are staples in your diet and to what degree does it help you to lose weight?