Philadelphia native Chris Consalvo endured hardship in her teens, but she managed to make the most of the situation, and the experience inspired a passion-filled career involving “conscious cuisine.”

At age 14, Consalvo provided care to her terminally ill mother, which included food prep. According to her website, “She strived to make the food look and taste good, while keeping in line with the doctors dietary restrictions…She began to realize the nutritional value that whole foods held and became aware of how much more energy she and her mother had by avoiding processed or fast feeds.” Without enduring these trials, there would be no Chef CC, and Los Angeles wouldn’t have Clean Plate Meals.

Chef CC designed Clean Plate Meals to deliver “cutting edge cuisine” to Angelenos. She avoids dairy and wheat/gluten and makes sure her food utilizes at least “90% farm fresh organic ingredients,” including free-range and hormone-free meat and line-caught fish. Her target audience: “people with alternative eating styles and those who simply want to feel better, lose weight naturally have natural energy.”

To ensure maximum quality and freshness, each meal and snack is prepared the day it is delivered. Chef CC delivers food for Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday on Monday and food for Thursday and Friday on Wednesday. Orders must be placed by midnight Thursdays for a Monday delivery the following week. The Clean Plate Meals website always lists last week’s menu, this week’s menu and next week’s menu. There’s also a weekly kid’s menu involving options like blueberry-cashew pudding, black bean & fall squash enchiladas or bite-sized dried cherry, coconut and almond butter truffles sweetened with agave.

Last week, Chef CC provided me with some samples to get a better sense of her approach. Dinner featured a firm but moist pecan-crusted Northern halibut fillet with a generous helping of whipped sweet potato and simply sautéed spinach with pumpkin seeds. On the side: a dish of tangy lime cream, which paired well with each of the components.

My first “Snack PM” was the sweet and spicy nut mix with dried apricot. The sticky mix incorporated almonds, pistachios and cashews, all chile-dusted and subtly sweet.

“Snack AM” was a clean-tasting strawberry salad with mint, agave and sunflower kernels for textural contrast.

The other “Snack AM” – incredible granola with coconut shavings, pumpkin seeds and oats.

For now, Chef CC limits delivery to the Westside cities of Bel-Air, Beverly Hills, Brentwood, Century City, Culver City, Hancock Park, Hollywood, Marina Del Rey, Mar Vista, Miracle Mile, Pacific Palisades, Santa Monica, Venice, West Hollywood, West L.A., Westwood and Wilshire-La Brea. Chef CC offers a number of packages, ranging in price from $190 for the Basic Meal Package to $410 per person for the Essential Meal Package, depending on how many lunches, dinners and snacks you want per week. No matter what option you choose, weekends are omitted. Visit the Clean Plate Meals website (clickable above) for more details.