Life Changing Bag O'Goodness

I am all about convenience, which is a funny thing to say when eating Paleo...because let's all be honest. Paleo isn't the easiest way to eat. It takes time, dedication, and a whole hell of a lot of will power. Hence the reason why I absolutely cannot keep items in my house that I will be temped by. And hence the reason why I must, absolutely must, have convenient items ready to go in moments of crisis/starvation. This new product from Trader Joe's is just that. It's so versatile and so quick that I have now added it to my "buy one every week list." You can eat it as a salad or cook it up.

This past week I have implemented a one meat, two veggie rule for all our dinners. I was becoming increasingly frustrated with providing a fairly decent portion of meat and veggie and the kids scarfing that down and then wanting more food, but never wanting more meat or veggies. I recognize my "problem" with my kids eating a ton of healthy foods in one meal isn't really a problem since most parents struggle to get their kids to eat anything besides PB&J and there is a large population who don't even have enough food period. But for me it is frustrating to have to add at least two or three more items to a meal to fill them up. And there began the one meat, two veggie model. Thankfully, my kids do like a variety of veggies so for example to the right is a cauliflower gratin that is incredibly tasty and easy and some of the TJ Cruciferous Crunch sauteed in bacon grease with some freeze dried shallots and salt. This paired with a dill tilapia to round out the meal. After this they both asked for more of the sauteed greens and then had a pear to finish up. Here's to more veggies than a vegetarian!

Balsamic Glazed Drumsticks

I love easy. Any time I see a recipe that involves minimal prep and minimal attention will make me interested in it. This recipe for Balsamic Glazed Drumsticks meets all those qualities. The only changes to the recipe I made were to use coconut aminos instead of tamari and I threw in some of my new favorite freeze dried shallots. This will be on the regular rotation for sure. I paired it with some peas and fried cabbage.

This weekend I also threw together some coconut white vinegar, melted coconut oil, ginger, garlic powder and salt. I used that as a marinade for salmon and then dumped it all in a pan and baked it until cooked to medium doneness. I used the shaved Brussel sprouts from TJ's to complete the meal.

We did go out to eat twice over the weekend and while I made pretty good choices for my main meal by choosing all gluten free options the consistent area I falter in is dessert, I love me some sweets. I am amazed at how miserable I feel after eating non-Paleo foods. I don't know why, it happens consistently every time I eat something that isn't on "the plan," which just further motivates me. So motivation I have for the next few weeks.

Valentine's Brunch

This morning we had the joy to spend several hours with some of our besties at their house for a "family" brunch. We split up the chore of cooking and she covered this incredible tasty egg casserole from Health-Bent and bacon. We like our meat so she double the sausage and it turned out amazing! So flavorful and perfect after spending the morning at hot yoga together! I threw together some my favorite sweet potato pancakes (also from Health-Bent) and this time I actually made the maple, pecan butter (I used clarified butter instead of coconut butter). It was so tasty. I didn't need additional maple syrup. Threw some berries on the plate and called it good!!

Since we ate a late breakfast/lunch we ended up being pretty hungry mid afternoon too so we swung by our favorite, non-Paleo pizza place for our "special" Valentine treat. The little salad lover (our youngest) and I split a salad to start and then I had one piece of the best deep dish in St. Louis.....and I've been paying for it ever since. My tummy has been protesting since and I'm sipping on a cup of healing bone broth!

If I do eat I'll be eating left overs from last night. I made the most amazing fried chicken-ish dinner ever. I tell you what, that Nomnompaleo knows what she's doing. I made her cracklin' chicken and it was worth the insane amount of clean up required after all the grease splattering. This very much tasted like fried chicken without the floury breading. This will be made again for sure!!!

Two New Meals in One Day!

I have made spaghetti squash in the crock pot three or four times now and I think I finally have a consistency that I am happy with. I cooked this one on high for 3 hours and it was just perfect. I used it to make a spaghetti squash casserole from My Heart Beats and it was so good. Like as in the four of us at the whole recipe for lunch. The night before I did everything up until baking it and that was so nice! I love having stuff prepped and ready to go!

The second recipe was for Moroccan Meatballs from The Clothes That Make the Girl. These were super easy to whip up and ended up being so flavorful. I do think next time I won't cook them as long because they were slightly dry. Maybe I'll put them in after the sauce has boiled down some. I did make some cauliflower couscous to sop up the delicious sauce and while it wasn't the kids favorite (so surprised that this is the one thing they don't like much...) it added some more substance to the dish!

Both will be added to my list of ones I'll make again!

Post Serendipity Day

Sugar makes me feel almost drunk...that's right, it's quite the buzz when ingested in large quantities. And by large I mean a regular scoop in a chocolate dipped cone. That's right, there was no resisting the joy of serendipity...I'm not sure what I was thinking when I thought I would just eat a kids scoop in a bowl. It was everything I dreamed it would be. It was totally worth it. Here are the things I noticed after eating it:

• I really did feel that "sugar high"
• I really did crash hard! 
• I slept horrible. The hubs is refusing to attribute it to the sugar, but I'm not so sure. I have been sleeping like a rock these past 5 weeks and last night I woke up no less than 4 times
• I have been sluggish all day today
• I have wanted sugar most of the day
• I am really crabby today...who knows if that's related, but I'm going to blame it on the sugar!!!

Today I had an almond milk latte today with a swirl of honey in it. It was super sweet and I think I would've been fine without the honey but it was so amazing with it! Onward to real food eating for a while!

IT'S SERENDIPITY DAY

It's finally here...the day I've been anticipating for 32 days. I have had the option to eat non-paleo foods since finishing my Whole30, but I've saved myself for this evening. I even took the kids to the movies and smelled the delicious popcorn, I have opened the bag containing the left over salty-caramel dark chocolate bar from TJ's for just a sniff, and I have been tempted by gooey brownies sitting at work...but I've persevered and it's all be worth it because today is "Serendipity Day." This morning I received a text from my husband that contained this picture:

In case you can't see it...the first post on Serendipity's Facebook page states that they're closed tonight...I originally was furious...I've waited a LONG time to eat this amazing, perfectly balanced salty caramel ice cream. Then I wondered why I didn't see this on Serendipity's page when I was perusing Facebook this morning so I pulled up there page and noticed it wasn't on there...and that's when I looked closer, the post below (that the date isn't strategically cut off on) says Dec 12, 2013. I am not surprised he tried to ruffle my feathers, but I am surprised he went to so much trouble to do it! 

The last two days I've tried three new recipes that I have been VERY impressed by. 

1.) Crispy Grain Free Waffles from Health Starts in the Kitchen.  I used 1/8 cup of Palm sugar instead of the 1/4 and it was plenty sweet for me sans maple syrup and for sure plenty sweet with the syrup for the kids/hubs. I may try no sugar next time to see how those go. I also used canned coconut milk, but I am wondering if she meant to use the boxed kind. My batter was not thin AT ALL. It was way more thick so I added more canned coconut milk. They turned out delicious and super crispy. I would warn you to liberally butter your waffle iron. I don't have a fancy ceramic one (but yes, now I'm lusting after one...) and my first batch stuck pretty bad, but once I added more butter the remaining waffles had no problems. The kids tried them cold and still liked them so this was their special Friday lunch for today.

2.) Paleo Chicken Nuggets from Our Savory Life The only sub I did with this was taking out the "heavy cream" and replacing it with canned coconut milk...oh and I didn't use an egg because there wasn't one left out of the 7 dozen I bought a week ago...These were SOOO good. The boy kept saying, "mom these are better than McDonald's" so I'm going to consider this a win. I chopped up my chicken the night before which was a huge time saver. I also mixed up my spice mixture the night before so that was already taken care of. I only had about 45 min to marinate my chicken in the pickle juice (you read that right...) so I would like to see how marinating longer would change the flavor! Make sure you have some bacon grease for these, it makes them that much better. I paired this with roasted broccoli and it was a great meal that was on the table in 30 min after we got home. 

3.) Spicy Sausage and Sweet Potato Soup from Peace, Love, and Low Carb I love having close friends to enjoy life with and thankfully some of our best friends also eat Paleo and share recipes with us all the time. This is one of those and I am so glad we found it. I put this in the crock pot last night so when I got up before the sun this morning it was ready to go. I hadn't planned on it, but when I was getting my lunch out to leave for work I realized I had nothing packed for breakfast so a few ladles of soup later I was ready to go. I got lots of weird looks for eating soup for breakfast, but with a temp of 7 degrees when I got to work it was a great warm way to start the day. It'll be dinner tonight too. I would suggest to make sure you pay attention to the "drain excess grease off sausage" step. I did not and it's a little greasy. I am hoping after sitting in the fridge all day I can scrape some of it off the top before we eat it. 

Enjoy! 

Whole30 Day 30

Well that was uneventful. I guess that's a good thing, but in reality it didn't even cross my mind that I was actually done with what turned out to be my "loosest" Whole30 ever. Some thoughts on how this one went:

1.) I could totally eat this way all the time. What I mean by that is that I wasn't a crazy freak about not eating bacon; . I drank once (which is a HUGE improvement from the bottle of wine per night the hubs and I used to consume pre-Paleo) and is completely manageable; I survived without any Paleo "treats." I also survived without a significant amount of Paleo "subs."

2.) I started feeling better a lot later this time. I believe this is primarily related to how poorly I was eating the weeks prior to starting this one. I do think I didn't have as many problems switching to fat metabolism when working out like I did the first two times, but any changes in my body fat percentage seemed much later this time too. Which I know isn't the point, but it sure is a nice benefit!

3.) I feel like towards the end I finally got a good grasp on my intake/output ratio to mange the afternoon starving that was happening early on in my Whole30.

4.) This will continue. I have really evaluated the things that I missed. And in no particular order they are: sweetened almond milk lattes (either rosemary brown sugar or honey almond) from my favorite coffee shop and ice cream. That's it. That's not to say I won't have an occasional Paleo pancake, muffin, or non-Paleo treat but if I can make it through a Mexican restaurant with fresh chips and salsa, Super Bowl Sunday with pizza, and a party at a bar with AMAZING bar food then I think I'm on the right track. As for my favorite lattes and ice cream...Thankfully, I can ask for half (or maybe a quarter) of the sugary substance that goes into the lattes, but I am going to definitely reduce the number of them I am drinking..my body and my bank account will thank me! And for my favorite ice cream place I am sure I will be satisfied with a small kids size scoop in a cup instead of the biggest one available in a chocolate dipped waffle cone, we shall see on Friday! I don't want to be unreasonable and "that crazy lady," but I do want to value my body and know that I can enjoy an occasional treat without destroying all the healing and health benefits I have reached so far.

I plan on continuing to document what I'm eating. I will also keep posting new recipes that I have tried and any helpful hints.

So, for the last day meals! Breakfast was the usual meat/eggs/avocado. For lunch I had a big salad with mixed greens, tuna, kalamata olives, artichoke hearts, grape tomatoes and some balsamic vinaigrette. Dinner was loaded bacon burger soup. And it was okay, nothing great. I won't make it again. It seemed very bland compared to so many other Paleo meals that are bursting with flavor. I was leery of the pickles in soup but they were probably the tastiest part! I did roast butternut squash in coconut oil to go with it and that, as always, was delicious. It is so time consuming to dice up those guys into little cubes, but I love how crispy they get on the outside and gooey on the inside. And I since I didn't even realize it was over I didn't celebrate with anything "special"....I'm saving myself for Salty Caramel ice cream....

Whole30: Day 29

I'm enjoying the variety in breakfast now since I've discovered the okayness of pre-frying my eggs to sit on top of my meat of choice. Nothing tastes better under eggs than crispy carnitas...and I mean nothing! Paired that with some avocado and I was set all morning.

Lunch was left over scallop chowder, so yummy! I was slightly sad that I got home and realized I had wings left and didn't pack those...but don't worry I had those as a snack in the evening.

I had originally cooked the carnitas for dinner tonight since I work late on Monday's and the boy has some sports practice...too many to keep straight! So the hubs cooked up some peas and reheated the meat and that was done! I swung by for a few minutes to eat quickly and hop in the car before going to watch several cute 7 year olds try to be the next Michael Jordan....love the sweet dreams and goals of kids!

Whole30: Super Bowl Style

Eating as much or more as on Thanksgiving...that's what reportedly happens on Super Bowl Sunday. Thankfully I prepared myself for such gouging and had lots of healthy options just a reach away. Breakfast wasn't anything special, eggs over left over meat and an avocado.

For lunch I threw together a pot of scallop chowder, it still is one of my most favorite soups. So much flavor with so few ingredients. For a snack I finally got an Epic bar. So tasty. Unfortunately they are going to become a regular snack. So tasty and full of such good stuff!

Dinner/snacking was as follows: sweet potato chips with salsa (sugar free is tricky to find, but it's out there); veggies cut up with homemade ranch; Papa John's pizza for the hubs and kids (I smelled it plenty of times but refrained from partaking), candy (see above...); trail mix made with unsweetened banana chips, walnuts, unsweetened coconut flakes and some cinnamon; wings; and my "treat" was a coconut miracle tart from Hail Merry. Yes, there is sugar in it...no, I don't care. These really are amazing little guys and complete worth it!!

Whole30ish: Day 27

For real, 30 days is hella long...and today I ate maple syrup. Now I know this hasn't been an incredibly squeaky clean, by the book Whole30 so I don't feel too bad about eating a delicious dinner with a smidgen of maple syrup in it. So let's do dinner first today. One of my favorite summer time meals is maple-mustard chicken from Health-Bent. I know I've said this before, but they are one of my favorite sites. All their food is amazing and like always, this didn't disappoint! Today I bought some ground rosemary, freeze dried shallots, and freeze dried ginger at Penzy's. I used the ground rosemary in this dish and it was EVEN BETTER THAN BEFORE. Since it's not exactly grilling weather outside I decided to try cooking them a little different way this time. So, this afternoon I diced the chicken thighs, put them and the marinade in a bag and let it sit in the fridge for a while. When I was ready to fix dinner I just heated a cast iron skillet and put all of it in once it was hot. I let it sit for quite a while to get a good crispy outside on the chicken then stirred it around a few times until it was cooked through. The maple/mustard/rosemary sauce got really thick and was so incredibly flavorful. Because I am "technically" still on Whole30 I only used 1T instead of 3T of the maple syrup and it still had incredible flavor. I made some of our favorite brussel sprouts too. I used some of the freeze dried shallots and they were so tasty, way easier than fresh and still the same incredible flavor.

Just to review how I make them:

1/4 pound of bacon, diced
1 bag shredded brussel sprouts (from Trader Joe's)
2 T freeze dried shallots (or one small diced)
1/4 cup sliced almonds
1/2 lemon
1/4 tsp garlic powder
Salt
Pepper

1.) Fry bacon in cast iron skillet until crispy, remove and set to the side
2.) Dump bag of brussel sprouts in hot grease, add shallots, salt/pepper, garlic powder. Stir to coat with grease then leave them alone to crisp on the bottom layer.
3.) Once done to your liking (we like ours still slightly crunchy), scoot all to the side and move your pan off the fire a bit so the exposed pan is over the flame and add your sliced almonds to toast them. Stir often and watch as to not burn them.
4.) Stir to incorporate toasted almonds and brussel sprouts, squeeze juice of half lime over entire pan and stir again. Taste often to adjust spices.

Now to go backward: Lunch was a quick one between the girl's gymnastics and the boy's basketball. I ate some tune straight from the can, reheated leftover peas, and some sweet potato chips.

Breakfast: When I heard something making noise at 4:34 I thought it was my alarm going off since I wake up around that time most days of the week, but it was actually a call from work. After taking it I realized there was no way my body was going back to sleep. I tried for about 30 minutes finally giving up. I knew the kids were having a pretty physical day so I decided I'd whip up some sweet potato pancakes (another FABULOUS recipe from Health-Bent) and it turns out when you're up way before the sun you have time to bake the potatoes, cool them off, and then make the pancakes with plenty of time to spare. I didn't make the maple, pecan coconut but I'm sure it's amazing. Also, I don't buy carton coconut milk which is the kind the recipe calls for, but have always used the can version and these have turned out fine. After reading the reviews I did want to say that I've never had problems flipping them, I do use a ton of butter on a non-stick griddle though :-)

Enjoy!

Whole30: Day 24-26

Three days of breakfast of much of the same. This morning I did try something new. I had some leftover chorizo and I love that under a fried egg, but then got really sad that I don't have a place to cook a fried egg at work...and then I decided I would try something. I fried one last night just enough for it to stay together, would be probably over easy in biz terms, and then put it in a bowl on top of my chorizo. This morning when I got to work I put it in my "work" bowl (I have a ceramic bowl I eat all my meals out of b/c I don't like heating plastic containers) and zapped it for a min in the microwave and voila the eggs weren't too done and I still had my fried eggs!! It's going to be my new go to, except it is more work than boiling a dozen eggs at once. I've still been eating avocados and a small amount of fruit each morning.

Lunches have been pretty much the same, leftovers for the most part. I did have an unwhich from Jimmy John's and I'm pretty sure even with all my specific requests there was still something bad in there...I mean the meat couldn't be that good for me, but I was hoping it wouldn't give me a bloated belly...wrong!

Dinners have been delish. Wednesday we had tilapia cooked in coconut oil and dill, cabbage fried in bacon grease, and peas slathered in clarified butter. The kids both had seconds of everything, it's one of their favorite meals. Thursday is hell day and I worked late so the hubs fed the kids Applegate hot dogs (grass fed, organic beef) and I ate a Steve's Paleo Kit and half an avocado as I was walking out the door to go grocery shopping. Tonight we went to our favorite Mexican restaurant, Milagro. I had tuna ceviche for an appetizer and then had pan fried salmon (no Mexican brown sugar/spice rub..boo), grilled zuchinni, and a heirloom tomato salad. It's been a couple hours and I still haven't had any bad pains or bloating so I think I did pretty good. I did avoid the chips and margaritas all together too!!! Baby steps people!

As I get ready to enter my last week (my last official day will be next Friday as we celebrate Serendipity Day with some of our besties) I am excited to feel so much better. I am going to continue to eat pretty much Whole30 with the occasional treat. I am also going to continue to blog as much as possible. This month has also shown me a lot about time management. I feel relaxed and ready to take it on!

Whole30 Day 23

This morning I had what many would call a breakfast casserole...and it was delicious. Let me say that any recipe that includes frying sweet potatoes and onions in bacon grease is good with me! I loathe getting out the food processor and then cleaning it up, so this time I thought I would use my spiral slicer and it ended up making these beautiful noodles! I used a 8x11 instead of 8x8 so it wasn't as thick as I would like, but it was still amazing. I used the Paleomg sausage recipe I  used last week for the sausage. The flavors of the caramelized onion and sweet potatoes sandwiched between sausage and eggs then topped with crispy bacon were so yummy!!

Lunch was leftover spicy spaghetti sauce and spaghetti squash with a salad and apple.

Dinner was Paleo paella. The recipe that I used (and linked) wasn't my favorite. It had more of a cajun seasoning (which I should've assumed since that was the major spice) than I prefer in paella, but based just on flavor it was very good. Instead of using a rotisserie chicken I just cooked some diced chicken because it was on sale this week. I made the entire thing except adding the shrimp yesterday and just put the pan and all in the fridge. Tonight when I got home I reheated the whole thing and added the shrimp just long enough to cook it through. Despite it being a one pot meal and being able to make it ahead of time I'm not sure I'll make it again. I would like to try some more traditional paella recipes with cauliflower rice.

Whole30 Day 22

Fried eggs over beef/broccoli leftovers once again for breakfast. I had some kombucha and some blackberries with it.

After church we had some errands to run so we swung by Whole Foods and got a snack. I got a chia pod and an apple. The kids both got an apple and a Justin's Maple Almond butter packet, I wanted some too but all they had were the maple and honey variety :(

For lunch we had leftovers. Some balsamic roast, carrots and a salad for me.

This afternoon I had lots on my "to do" list, but it all got pushed to the side so we could spend a couple hours outside playing catch and doing cart wheels. It was completely worth it and surprisingly I ended up getting everything done I wanted to anyway! It's amazing what some fresh air, sun, and 60 degree weather does for the soul (and the kids attitudes!!!)

Dinner was spicy spaghetti sauce over spaghetti squash. I put a whole medium-large spaghetti squash in the crockpot on low for 3 1/2 hours and it came out perfect. Don't add water, but make sure to take the produce sticker off...it got pretty baked on to the bottom of my crockpot...Be careful when cutting it, it does spew some steam out when you break the skin. While dinner was cooking I made Paleo paella for dinner tomorrow night (I'll cook and add the shrimp when reheating tomorrow) and a breakfast casserole bake, both of which I'll talk more about tomorrow!

Whole30 Day 21

Three weeks down. It's a breeze at this point, right?? Today for breakfast I fried eggs and put them on top of some left over beef/broccoli from last night. I miss fried eggs during the week. If I could somehow figure out a way to make them in a microwave... I ate it with a scoop of sauerkraut (Bubbies is my favorite brand), a kiwi (because they have 100% of your vitamin C dose in one little guy), and a cup of bone broth. I woke up with a scratchy throat and got less sleep than normal last night so I'm doing all my usual things to fight this naturally, kinda funny how opposed I am to medicine when that's my job...

After our usual Saturday morning gymnastics marathon we had to run some errands so we all loaded up and headed out to eat for lunch. The hubs isn't eating bread or drinking soda currently (he's Paleo 80% of the time when I cook or pack his food) so finding a place we could all eat was a bit challenging. We chose Chipotle and it worked out fine. We both got a salad with double meat (chicken/steak), no cheese, no dressing, add guacamole, salsa, and squeeze of lime juice. It was tasty and satisfying. 

For dinner I made CPK Thai Chicken Meatza. It's so good, except I would caution anyone about letting a non-cook (ie a hubs) do the sauce and be responsible for measuring the dried red pepper flakes...whew it was spicy tonight. Thankfully both the kids aren't picky, but after a bite or two the little one did scrape all the toppings off and just eat the chicken base. I should've paired this with a salad. We were all hungry after and ate the whole thing. I think in the past I have doubled it to make the crust a little thicker. Oh well, lessons learned. Enjoy!

Whole30 Day 20

2/3 of the way done means only 10 days left, except it's really 14 more days because Feb 7th is officially Serendipity day. That means I get to eat my most favorite food, salty caramel ice cream. I am looking forward to this and sharing the time with some of our closest friends who will also be finishing up a Whole30.

Today after spending the morning sweating and drinking amazing coffee with one of my besties I ate a quick Coconu Paleokit from Steve's Paleokit's before I headed to the grocery store.

Lunch was left over food from dinner last night on the run. I was reading to the youngests kindergarten class and then had the privilege of sitting with her at lunch. Lunch at school always makes me sad and reminds me why I pack a lunch for them every day. It has to be hard to use so much brain power when the kids eat one bite of lunch and then can buy a "treat." I know my kids eat far from perfectly, but I am a firm believer in quality food for constant energy and proper learning.

Dinner was quick. I made Asian Broccoli Slaw. I use the precut shallots, onions, and garlic from Trader Joe's instead of chopping all those. It's super quick and tasty. We don't use the lettuce cups. I baked some sweet potatoes to finish out the meal.

Whole30: Day 18 (and 19)

Yesterday was a long day, I know my kids need sleep and it amazes me how a mere 15 min of sleep (or lack of) can change the course of our day. It doesn't help when their hungry...or when I'm hungry!!! I had mixed up a combo of chia seed, coconut milk, cinnamon, vanilla, and nutmeg and have eaten that for breakfast the last two days. Because of the coconut milk that isn't normal for me I ate half an avocado instead of a whole one for breakfast. I still had my normal two hard boiled eggs and was still full until lunch time.

Lunch yesterday was left over pineapple pork with a side of salad. Today I had a salad with some chicken breast I quickly cooked in coconut oil with a couple shakes of garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper.

Dinner last night was quick. On Wednesday's we usually stop by the store on the way home from the kids yoga and my spinning just to grab some fruit and something quick for dinner. Unfortunately the kids usually pick fried chicken from the deli (which smelled so amazing last night) and I let them eat some non-paleo foods every once in a while. I was busy running around getting lunches packed and everything ready for today so I just threw some chicken in a pan. I munched on fresh veggies and then tossed the chicken in hot sauce and homemade ranch.

Dinner tonight is cooking away in the crock pot as I speak. I threw a grass fed chuck roast on top of a chopped onion, dumped some balsamic vinegar and fire roast tomatoes on top of the meat and set it go before I went to bed. The hubs dumped a bag of frozen carrot balls (I think they're actually called Perisian carrots, but the kids eat them up when we call them carrot balls) that I get from Trader Joes in before he left for work this morning and it'll all be done and ready to go for our late afternoon dinner before we start the Thursday night insanity!!! I'm also going to quick steam/fry some green beans!!

Whole30: Day 16 and 17

The last two days I've expanded my breakfast choices...I know...getting crazy! I bought some new silicone muffin liners and wanted to try the egg muffins where you just put the whole egg on top so this is what I did...First I made PaleOMG's breakfast sausage recipe omitting the sugar and fennel, I loathe fennel. And I would suggest to not use the "dump" method for ingredients that a "pinch" is called for..I ended up scraping a ton of ground cloves out of my bowl because of this!! I mixed this up and then made little patties to put in the bottom of my  muffin liners. I put the liners on a gross cookie sheet that is perfect for this!  After that I put them in a prewarmed 350 oven for about 15 minutes. Once they were done I pulled them out and cracked an egg on top of each of them, learning after about 2 that half of the egg was spilling out and that I should dump out all the grease that had collected to make room for the egg!! Bad lighting, but aren't they pretty! I had to bake mine for an additional 20 minutes to get them to set. I added a little piece of bacon on top for pizzazz. These were delicious and would've lasted me longer if I didn't have three other people scarfing them up too! I paired them with an avocado and berries. Kept me full all morning!


For lunch yesterday I had a salad with albacore on top. Today I had leftover pinapple pork for lunch and leftover cauliflower fried rice and chicken/veggie stir fry from last night. My basic stir fry includes a protein, a container of precut stir fry veggies from Trader Joes and some additional veggies that I have left hanging around the fridge. I give a couple shakes ground ginger, coconut aminos, and fish sauce to make a sauce and call it good. This was the first time I had made the cauliflower recipe. It seemed like a lot of work for not a ton of flavor..not sure I'll make it again...

Whole30: DAY 15!!!!

HALF WAY THERE!!!! (Except I'm going to try to stay eating like this after, there really isn't much I miss...but more on that after my Whole30 is over)

The hubs had Sunday off so we loaded up the family and went to breakfast before church. We went to the Original Pancake House and I reluctantly got two eggs, bacon, and fruit for breakfast....and was pained when I smelled the giant apple dutch baby pancake that was plopped down at the table next to us. And then I remember, I would be miserable after eating that because I have no self-control...that whole "only eat until your craving is satisfied" concept doesn't work for me. I'm more of the "eat until you're miserable and can't really breath" mind set!

For lunch we reheated some meatballs from the night before and had some raw veggies and dip.

Dinner last night was ginger pineapple pork roast, it was simple. I put a 4 lb pork roast in the crock pot, covered liberally with sea salt, grated a piece of ginger on top, drained a can of crushed pineapple (in juice, not syrup), dumped that on top and gave a couple shakes of coconut aminos over the whole thing. It cooked for about 10 hours and voila dinner is almost served! I boiled some peas and sauteed some quartered mushrooms in a ton of butter. So really dinner was on the table 15 min after I started. I love those kind of meals!

Whole30: Day 13 & 14

Yesterday for breakfast I had leftover mexi-cauli rice stuff and no eggs (I had run out of my boiled stash in the fridge thanks to two kiddos who love them for snacks). I ate an avocado and apple with it. Today I hd some scrambled eggs on the way to yoga and I was starting by 1030.

Lunch yesterday was left over scallop chowder and today was a salad with the final bits of kalua pork on top.

Today we had an afternoon movie date with the kids (after we got all dressed up and went to a birthday party that in fact is tomorrow, not today...oops). For my snack I sliced a banana and fried it in coconut oil with a sprinkle of cinnamon on top. One of my friends who is also doing a Whole30 mentioned making that and for being so simple and easy they were really delicious. My banana was fairly green, but it was still very sweet.

Last night was my work holiday party and the hubs and I went to dinner before we went to get our groove on. We went to this amazing restaurant in our town that is also a butcher so they are legit when it comes to sourcing quality meat (all their beef is grass fed and flax finished). I always get the ribeye and it is melt in your mouth good. I got a side of flash fried brussel sprouts. These might be my favorite vegetables ever. They fry them in bacon grease, then put lemon, toasted almond slices, and bacon on top. They're incredible. I won't lie, I did partake in some spirits...but it again is all high quality stuff there with no added sugars. So should I consider myself a failure on whole30...probably so, but this time it really is about a more permanent change so I think this was a real representation of how to do it in real life. I didn't eat any of the pub pretzels that the hubs got as an appetizer, nor did I eat any of the pub food that was at the holiday party. Seems reasonable, at least in my head...

Dinner tonight was from the Everyday Paleo website and is one of our standby summer dishes, but I actually made it the way the recipe says and made meatballs instead of burger size portions. These are such a perfect blend of salty, savory, and sweet. We paired it with some roasted broccoli and cauliflower. This is one I always double and may need to start tripling at the rate the kids are eating lately!!

A ginger pineapple pork roast is already in the crockpot ready to start for dinner tomorrow night.

Whole30: Day 12

Today was much of the same for the morning, and for the first time ever I believe that I was tired of the same kalua pork (it wasn't until I had it for lunch too that I got cranky about it....right after the hubs sent me a text telling me he was going to one of our favorite pizza places for lunch...brat!)

Lunch was more pig...with a salad and some broccoli with that amazing roasted red pepper dip I talked about yesterday, thankfully I got the site and it's linked above. 

Thursday nights are hell around here. We get home from school at 3:30, have to eat dinner and leave by 4:45 to get the girl to gymnastics. I drop her off and Jason meets us to get the boy and while I grocery shop he takes him to soccer, I go back to get the girl at 7:30 and the boy is done with soccer at 8...then we all need a snack before heading to bed almost an hour after their normal bedtime. The only nice thing is that both kids have an activity on one night instead of late nights more often! 

For dinner I had set out some grass fed ground beef to thaw and had cut up some cauliflower last night thinking I was going to roast it for dinner. A quick search for paleo recipes containing ground beef and cauliflower resulted in this beefy mexi-cauli-rice recipe. I didn't want to get the food processor out so I just pulsed the cauliflower florets in my ninja until it was rice consistency. I didn't measure the chili powder and added dried onions and cumin. I had a fully two pounds of meat, a medium cauliflower, and used a regular size fire roasted tomatoes (not drained). I dumped it all together and cooked until the liquid was cooked off. I did use the avocado and it was actually very tasty. I wasn't expecting much with the ingredients that were listed and the kids kept saying "that smells good, but it looks nasty." They ended up really liking it though and it made enough leftovers so I don't have to eat more pork tomorrow for breakfast!!! Woo Hoo!!

Then I went to the store and saw this little gem and it somehow made it in my cart...stupid Whole Foods and their marketing department. For now it's in hiding!

Whole30: Day 11

Breakfast was still very uneventful. Eggs, leftover meat, an avocado and a Clementine. Tomorrow is grocery store day so it'll be more leftovers again in the morning. I tried to find a simple chia seed recipe but most contained honey so I'm going to do some experimenting tomorrow to see what I can come up with.

For lunch I had pork, a big salad and tried to have a grapefruit but it was disgusting...My hunger and intake are starting to even out so I think the increased fat and veggies are helping.

For my afternoon snack I had broccoli with this delicious red pepper and walnut hummus my boss made me. It's so good! I can't remember which recipe she used but I'm going to find out because I'm going to need to make some more of that!! The kids loved it too, but they pretty much eat anything!

When I got home I knew we only had a short time before we had to leave for our Wednesday night activities and not a ton of time when we got home before bed times so I started fixing dinner which was a scallop chowder. This is an amazing winter soup that uses parsnips to thicken it, making it feel more like a cream based chowder than just a simple soup. I cooked the bacon (I didn't put the cooked bacon on top of mine...), then cooked the scallops and veggie mix before it was time to go. When I got home I added the liquid, parsnips (I cut those up before) and thyme. My parsnips were done in 25 minutes so it cut down the coming time significantly. A few quick passes with the immersion blender and it's good to go. My kids eat this up. I'm pretty sure the biggest ate three servings tonight! I won't lie, some cheddar biscuits would have be delightful with this but it's rich and savory all by itself too. Enjoy!

Whole30: Day 10

Another long day getting home later than normal. Thankfully I had prepped everything last night so dinner was very easy tonight.

Breakfast was eggs, leftover kalua pig from last night and an apple. By 10 am I was starving and knew I had meetings from 11-12:30 so I decided to just eat my Justin's almond butter packet for a mid morning snack.

For lunch I had more kalua pig, green beans, and peas. I had brought a salad for my afternoon snack but never got around to eating it...more back to back meetings :(

Now to dinner, last night I mixed up the marinade and cubed all the chicken breast. This morning I dumped it together and out the door I went. We had 5 Ingredient Coconut Curry Chicken , which happens to be another of our favs. I never have added the nut butter, so I guess mine's technically 4 ingredients and I don't make kabobs with them like the recipe says, I just cook it all together in a big pan and then thicken it with some arrowroot powder if needed. We serve these with 3 Ingredient Paleo Naan. Now I'm going to go out on a limb here and say they're not "officially" Whole30 based on the fact that they're a "substitute" for something. But I also believe that can be interpreted many ways, and my way is that quality ingredients and only eating it once (as opposed to the Paleo muffins that I eat for days and days and days when I'm not on Whole30) makes it a little okay...maybe :-)

Whole30...Day 8 and 9

Sleep deprivation and hunger do not mix well in our household. It doesn't matter who I am speaking of, it's a general known fact that if any of us is tired it's going to be a long long long day. Well, this was three of the four of us yesterday (hence no blog post). I had worked late the night before so that was my excuse. After church and lunch the kids and I met some friends at a park since the polar vortex had left the area and they literally ran for 2 1/2 hours straight! Then I thought we would be "okay" if we ran by the grocery store to grab some snacks before heading to watch a gymnastics meet. I let the kids pick what they wanted and both picked "normal' food. I did ask both of them to eat some tuna to hopefully prolong the dinner time hunger pangs since I knew we wouldn't be leaving the meet until dinner time, but my plan backfired horribly. They kids were exhausted from all the fresh air and they were starving...so we left. The evening ended with horrible parenting and apologies...but that's just how it happens sometimes.

So onto food. Breakfast was much of the same. Fried eggs, avocado, and some fried cabbage. Lunch was a giant salad with some chicken I quickly cooked in coconut oil and salt/pepper. I threw in some kalamata olives and red onions, used my favorite Persian lime vinaigrette and called it good. At the store I bought a tuna pouch, apple, and Justin's almond butter packet.

While we were eating lunch I prepped dinner which was a buffalo chicken and cauliflower bake. The only modifications I made were to sub coconut oil for the olive oil (heating olive oil is bad) and to chop the bacon and cook it on top of the cauliflower. I cook mine for closer to an hour because I like for the cauliflower to be really roasted. After this was done I dumped it all in a bowl so when I got home I put it back in the pan and dumped my pre-chopped chicken on top and baked for 15 more minutes. I use my homemade ranch on top and it's delish.

After throwing my temper tantrum last night I started dinner for tonight....crockpot kalua pig from nomnom paleo. Two things about this recipe, anytime (and I mean anytime) it starts with slices of bacon being placed under a giant chunk of pork it's gonna be good and secondly, anything from nomnom paleo is legit...buy her new book, I got it from my boss for Christmas, it's amazing.

Okay, today...breakfast...the same, I'm sure it's boring to everyone else but I could eat it every day...

Lunch was left over buffalo chicken bake from last night and it's even better the second day, so good. I added a side salad with olives, artichoke hearts, and grape tomatoes to up my veggie intake.

The meat for dinner cooked in the crock pot for 18 hours..so when I got home I quickly steamed some green beans then flash fried them in bacon grease (so maybe saying I rarely eat bacon on whole30 was a little fib...) tossed some sliced almonds in there and squeezed half a lemon on top. I also quickly boiled some peas so dinner was on the table 25 minutes after I got home. The pork melted in our mouths, it was perfect. I'm excited to eat it for breakfast...and lunch tomorrow.

Almost 1/3 of the way done...

Whole30: Day 7

One week is over, that means only three weeks left! I know it's not the home stretch, but after a week is when I personally start to feel the changes. I am still experiencing some afternoon sleepiness which I'm hoping will go away next week and am having skin issues worse than when I was a teenager, but that too will go away. It just further confirms my belief that our bodies are full of toxins from the crappy foods we eat. Today I got to spend the morning working out with one of my besties. I don't like to eat before working out in the morning but knew that from there I would be going to watch the last half of the littlest's gymnastics so I wanted to be prepared. I packed a chopped up sweet potato, some cold pork tenderloin from the crockpot the other night, and two hard boiled eggs and threw it in the car. On the way I drank my daily bulletproof coffee. After class I stopped by my favorite coffee shop only to be saddened at remembering that I couldn't get my normal almond milk latte (they use sweetened almond milk and a brown sugar simple syrup. They still have amazing coffee so I just enjoyed that instead. I ate my breakfast in the car so I wouldn't be that "weird" mom at gymnastics. For lunch I had leftover damn fine chicken, roasted veggies, and a banana. I was working extra this evening and we made last minute plans to be gone all afternoon so I just quickly chopped a chicken breast and sauteed it in coconut oil and Sunny Paris seasoning and threw a giant bowl of mixed greens and some of my favorite dressing in my lunch box. I got pretty hungry as I was heading to work so I stopped by a store and grabbed some pistachios. My activity level has increased over the last few weeks and I seem to be needing more food. I am going to try to increase my fat and veggies at each meal over the next week to see if that keeps me satisfied longer.

Whole30: Day 6

Before work I went to my first ever hot yoga and it was such a great experience, but I was STARVING all morning. After breakfast I had to wait to eat until after 12:30 because of some lab work I was getting done so this was a long morning (I normally eat at 11). I added a grapefruit to breakfast and ate three smaller eggs instead of two big but it didn't help. Thankfully the lab lady came early so I could shove my face sooner with lunch! The lady and I did have a good conversation about Paleo and why I eat the way I do. She is convinced that my cholesterol is going to be ridiculously high and I can't wait to get them back to see!

Lunch was a combo of a huge salad with my favorite dressing from Heavenly Oils and left over soup.

My pork loin that I had put in the crockpot last night was pretty dry this morning, lesson learned...pork tenderloin isn't the best in the crock pot. So while I was trying to come home in horrible rush hour traffic the hubs baked some sweet potatoes and reheated the meat. He tossed his and the kids meat in some BBQ sauce. He brought me a sweet potato with pork on top to the oldest's soccer game since I sat on the parking lot highway long enough to miss dinner.

Whole30: Day 5

Today was pretty much a repeat of the past few days.

For breakfast I ate another chia seed pudding, hard boiled eggs, and an avocado. I know..not exciting at all.

Lunch was leftover chicken from last night with more raw veggies and ranch with an apple.

For dinner I threw all the extra broccoli and cauliflower that I had chopped for the week on a pan with coconut oil and salt and roasted it until delicious! I cut all the meat off of the leftover drumsticks and reheated it on the stove with the sauce from the bowl. Since the kids (and hubs) didn't eat it last night they were all happy!

Dinner on Thursdays is at 4 because of the littlest gymnastics schedule so I am usually hungry again later in the evening and Thursdays happen to be grocery store night so tonight I got some kombucha and a Justin's almond butter (so hard not to get my favorite, the maple flavor) packet for an evening snack. I am making a valiant effort to not eat 2-3 hours before bedtime but tonight I just couldn't do it!! I am also making sure to get as close to 8 hours of sleep every night as possible and to drink lots of water.

I already have my dinner cooking in the crockpot for tomorrow night and can't wait to see how it turns out in the morning (I like to cook over night and let it rest all day before we eat it)

Whole30: Day 4

Pictures, that's what I need more of for these 30 days..I'm a horrible photographer, but some things I make are pretty so I'm going to try to take more pics of what I eat!

Yesterday I hinted about what I had made for breakfast this morning and now I'll tell you. It was a chia seed pudding made with coconut milk, eggs and a green tipped banana. First off I have to admit I am really bad at tempering eggs so it didn't start out the greatest but it turned out tasty. I do have to give a warning that if you have texture issues this isn't for you. It tasted very similar to banana pudding and had the texture of tapioca. It made four servings and one jar with a couple eggs and a Clementine this morning kept me full until lunch time. The kids both liked it enough to try a couple bites but left about half of one jar which I used as my afternoon snack. I did reheat it and liked it better warm.

Lunch was leftover soup with guacamole from a couple nights ago, some fresh veggies and ranch. Nothing exciting, but tasty anyway.

Dinner was not all I had hoped it would be, I had forgotten how rushed we are during the week with the kids activities after school and had planned on cooking damn fine chicken which is one of our top ten recipes of all time!! But baking chicken for an hour didn't work out. So the kids had their favorite grass fed hot dogs and I waited patiently for the chicken to cook and just ate more veggies and ranch while I waited. It really is the best chicken I had ever made the combo of shallots, vinegar and coconut oil is incredible. I always double the recipe so we have any leftovers because the four of us can eat all 10 drumsticks that the original recipe makes!

Starting to feel the mental clarity and energy return...that's what makes it all worth it!!!

Whole30: Day 3

Will Christmas break ever end??? That horror has completely taken over all my thoughts which has been a nice distraction from missing treats, but I'm hoping it's coming to an end soon! Yesterday was the hubs regular day off but today I had to stay home for the snow day and let me tell you we are all ready for a break from each other!!! Don't get me wrong, I love my kids but it's gone on too long!!! Today we ended up going to the mall to run some errands and made our way to Starbucks for some afternoon treats (hot tea for me) then headed across the hall to the Disney store. They happened to have a sale going on so the kids got some treats to entertain them and now, thanks to a new princess dress, my house is completely covered in glitter...and I don't even care because after they go back to school I'm going to deep clean (aka through away all accumulated junk)!

For breakfast we had eggs, some bacon (some say "no" on whole30, but one piece is fine for me since I feel that the minute amount used for curing is washed off), half an avocado and some bulletproof coffee. I did make some special breakfast for tomorrow so I'm hoping it works out...more to come then!

We were still out for lunch so we stopped by Bread Co. I get the Fuji apple salad with extra chicken, no cheese, no dressing and add olive oil. I haven't ever checked the lemon pepper chicken ingredients and can't find it on the website so it may have bad stuff in it...

I had an apple for an afternoon snack. I do have to say I seem to not be as hungry in the afternoons as I have previously but I have also been eating lunch later too.

Dinner was butternut squash lasagna from Health Bent, my family has grown to love this recipe and pretty much everything else from their site! Tonight was the first time without cheese added. Previously I had used some really tasty high quality mozzarella and I am a little sad it's missing, but it was still very delicious. For the Italian sausage I just used pork and Italian seasoning since its hard to find sausage without any sugars or oils in them. I do double the meat and tonight used ground venison because we have a ton in the freezer. The brand of pizza sauce I use is yummy and legit from Whole Foods. I always remember as I'm packing up the one remaining serving that I should double the recipe...so I will sacrifice for my hubs and let him have it tomorrow!

If you're doing a whole30 too I hope it's going well! I'm dreading days 4-6 (my least favorite!)

Whole30...Day Two

The dreaming about food...I had forgotten about that, but it's real. Last night I dreamt about eating truffles. I don't particularly love truffles, but when I woke up I had a moment of panic about not making it even one day before succumbing to my desire to eat sugar!! Then I remembered that I do this, I dream about eating sweets when I'm starting a whole30. I'm happy to know that I'm not the only one this happens to, but it's still crazy that they are so vivid it takes me a while to realize whether or not I really ate sugar!

Day two started out the same as day one...eggs, chicken, and sauerkraut...I'm pretty happy with consistency when it comes to breakfast.

Lunch was some exciting leftovers from last night with a salad made from the salad bar at work all because I'm too lazy to pack anything else fancy. I did forget my dressing at home and let me tell you it is amazing. My mother-in-law had all these different bottles of infused vinegar and oils when we stayed there last week and of course I had to go try the store out for myself! I ended up holding back a little bit only because I didn't want to take out a second mortgage just to buy all of the flavors, but what I did come home with is amazing. I got their basic 18 year aged balsamic vinegar and bought some Persian lime infused olive oil to mix with it and it is absolutely delicious, like for real...my daughter even drank it straight out of a glass it's so good...I'm sure other oil/vinegar places are delicious, but Heavenly Oils will be getting my business for sure!! I also got a honey ginger vinegar that I used on some tilapia last week that was incredible as well!! I'm waiting to mix my coconut vinegar with some Persian lime oil too...my mouth is watering just thinking about it...yum!!!!

Dinner was a Mexican chicken soup that I threw in the crockpot this morning for the hubs to start while he manned the children on the snow day. At 2:30 I got a text asking what time he was supposed to start it, with the answer being at 1...so when I got home the chicken wasn't quite done so I just dumped it all in a pot on the stove and finished  it there. I did use half the cayenne pepper since the kids were eating it too and it still had a good kick. We put some guacamole on top and it was perfect. Super excited to try the leftovers tomorrow and see how the flavors meld together!

Day two done, here's hoping to dream of ice cream!

Whole30...Again...Day One

Today is Day One of my third Whole30. These past few months have been met with eating Paleo about 70% of the time and I have consistently felt like poo..joint pain again, bloating, chronic exhaustion, and looking back I feel like I've generally been living in a haze. All things that are eliminated when I am eating 90-95% Paleo. I am thankful that I don't have some chronic medical condition that prevents me from occasionally enjoying a non-Paleo treat, but my definition of "occasionally" has gotten very lax. This time I am very excited to start but I have more trepidation than previous times, but I think that is do to a lack of preparation in general. I have bought extra protein and veggies, but they're all still sitting in my fridge. Even if not one person reads this blog, I am going to document everything I eat for the entire Whole30...I know I've tried before to use this as a tool to keep me on track and I'm hoping that a more consistent schedule between work and home will allow for me to stay active on the blog!

So here goes...Day One....

For breakfast I ate two farm fresh eggs fried in grass fed clarified butter with a side of leftover rotisserie chicken, sauerkraut and blackberries. I love love love Sunny Paris seasoning from Penzy's so I sprinkled some of that on my eggs and chicken. I also drank some coffee blended with grass fed clarified butter and coconut oil (called Bulletproof by some). I recently read an article about how much coconut oil to consume per day and after reading several other post from well known bloggers and several coconut oil sites it seems like a total of 3T per day will be where I settle.

Lunch (since we were all smushed together due to the blizzard outside) was chicken wings and carrots with homemade ranch. I love making wings at home, I boil them for 10 minutes before putting them in a 450 degree oven for 40ish. The come out super crispy and are delicious tossed with some hot sauce/butter mix. It was delicious, but I'm not going to lie...I wanted some of the amazing coconut gelato my husband brought home from his trip to the store in the 12 inches of snow!!

Dinner was meatloaf (http://www.lifemadefull.com/2013/11/10/paleo-meatloaf/) baked sweet potatoes and peas. It wasn't the most amazing meatloaf ever, but it did have a unique Mexican twist.

So, I made it...one down....