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...