whole30: week 3 meal highlights

Happy Monday! I can’t believe I’m already into my LAST WEEK OF WHOLE30! This month has flown by. When I started this journey, I secretly feared how hard it might be, or how long it would feel, or how much I would hate it. In reality, this month has sailed along and I feel better than I ever have in my life, all because I’ve been giving my body 100% real, healthy food. It’s incredible, folks. And I was a relatively healthy eater to begin with (or so I thought). Imagine how good YOU might feel if your diet and exercise routine aren’t the best…

Here’s a recap of what I enjoyed last week!

Sunday morning: bacon (!!!), eggs, veggies and Sunshine Sauce to dip!

Sunday lunch: Andrew and I wanted to enjoy the weather outside, so we hit one of the only places in town with (open) outdoor eating: Wallenwein’s Hotel. I chose an antipasti salad (without cheese) and was able to make the leftovers into two lunches! Seltzer and lime to drink.

Sunday night’s pork tenderloin and salad was a HUGE home run with Andrew. Seasoned pork topped wit walnuts, kale and spinach greens with roasted sweet potato, apple, red onion and homemade balsamic dressing.

Monday breakfast: leftovers! Pork on salad – yum!

Monday night dinner: homemade bangers (seasoned sausage patties instead of store-bought links), mashed sweet potatoes with a little coconut milk and caramelized onions. OMG.

Tuesday breakfast: salad with two poached eggs and leftover mashed sweet potatoes with almond butter. I *almost* felt guilty eating the mash and almond butter because it tasted like DESSERT.

Wednesday night dinner: taco salad! Browned beef over greens with homemade pico de gallo, black olives, green onions, avocado and pickled jalapeños. Fried plantains on the side!

Thursday breakfast: a quick clementine and two hard-boiled eggs.

Not pictured: Friday night dinner out at Riley Street Station. Chicken Marsala with green beans and baked potato. Delicious.

Saturday morning breakfast: leftover taco meat sautéed with greens, topped with scrambled eggs and other taco fixin’s.

Saturday night dinner: Fiery jalapeño burgers with sweet potato ‘buns’ and homemade (baked) French fries and broccoli. Burger and bun recipe from Practical Paleo.

Later that night, Andrew and I decided to grab a Redbox movie and some snacks. He’s totally abandoned the Whole30, but I stuck to my guns and was pleasantly surprised at what kind of ‘compliant’ snack items I could find. I’ve been dying to have an excuse to spend $5 on a bag of seasoned pumpkin seeds to top salads, so I chose the spicy version, which didn’t have added sugar. The freeze-dried fruit clusters seemed almost too ‘candy-like’ to me, so I only had a couple. I was also able to find roasted coconut flakes dusted with cocoa! No added sugar or oils!

whole30: week 2 meal highlights

Hello hello! It’s day 18 (!!!) of my Whole30 journey and I cannot even tell you how great I feel! In the book, they call this ‘Tiger Blood.’ It’s when you’re over the hump of cravings and the ‘carb hangover’ and experience increased energy, you feel great and you’re just happy. I’m there! I noticed on day 16 (Saturday) as I drove to teach a 7 am cycle class that I was feeling almost euphoric. I mean, I’m a morning person and all, but I’m never that happy at 6:45 am. Ever since, I’ve felt better than I have in years (perhaps ever!), unhealthy foods don’t even tempt me and I’m craving only healthy, nutritious food.

I can’t say I experienced a lot of negative side effects or intense cravings, but I did have a little fatigue toward the end of the first week, and definitely some strange dreams!

Here are some of the best meals from this past week:

Sunday morning I loaded up on greens and veggies since we tend to go out to eat after church and I wasn’t sure what would be available. I topped my salad with leftover salmon from the night before. I whipped up a chicken and sweet potato chowder from the Whole30 cookbook that tasted better than it looked. I topped mine with cilantro, red onion and lime juice. Delicious!
I completely messed up the ketchup I tried to make (grabbed the wrong measuring cup, wasn’t paying attention, accidentally poured in DOUBLE the amount of apple cider vinegar), so I salvaged it by adding more tomato paste and making a GIANT vat of barbecue sauce. So, I thawed some chicken, baked it in a 9×13 with the sauce and called it a day. Served with homemade coleslaw and baked potato. ‘Protein salad’ of canned chicken, homemade mayo, sliced grapes, celery and walnuts atop spinach and kale greens.
A breakfast: dressed kale greens, homemade carrot/raisin/pineapple salad and homemade sausage with bbq sauce.

Another breakfast: sweet potato with cinnamon and ghee (clarified butter), eggs with veggies, salsa and avocado.

Friday night I really wanted to surprise Andrew with a steak dinner, so I pulled out all the stops and made his favorite roasted potatoes and asparagus. Saturday morning breakfast: a giant salad with hardboiled eggs, banana and almond butter, with V8 and tea.

Saturday night, I made short ribs (another surprise for Andrew) with the last of the bbq sauce, another batch of slaw and roasted sweet potatoes.

This week, so far, has been the week of PORK. On Sunday morning, we had BACON! I found smoked, sugar-free bacon at the butcher, which was so fun to make for Andrew. It didn’t taste exactly like the bacon we’re all used to, but it was tasty. We also had a delicious pork loin and salad tonight, and will have bangers (seasoned pork patties instead of store-bought sausages) with (sweet potato) mash.

Other recipes for this week include taco night, that apple-sweet potato hash I mentioned before, and perhaps a cold Thai salad. Happy eating!

in shock

Here’s another recipe I’ve had in my ‘to-make’ binder for like, A YEAR.

Cooking Light’s Butternut Squash and Bacon Pasta. I mean, come on. Does it get batter than that? While it isn’t cheesy, it appeared just creamy enough that I thought Andrew might not love it. Or even like it.

Nonetheless, I had exactly the amount of butternut squash leftover for half the recipe and decided to go for it. It does have a couple different steps, but none are all that complicated. I sprinkled my half of the top with gruyere and popped it in the oven. Twenty-some minutes later, we were enjoying this:

It was pretty darn good! Not only did Andrew have seconds; he had THIRDS. Seriously. I almost fell off my chair.

I might have to count it as our ‘Meatless Monday’ dish this week, as it looks like we’re going to need to do leftovers (stromboli or meatloaf–both full of meat) tomorrow and might do a fish-fry on Friday… I mean,the whole thing only had one slice of bacon in it. That’s not the same as having meat as an entree, right? (Not ideal, but that’s what I’m telling myself.)