Whole30: Day 5 & 6

Day 5
I'm starting to get behind on my daily posts for Whole30 so I've got a lot to cover today. Yesterday my mom took Ethan so I had several hours to myself. It's great to have a break once in a while and get some items checked off my to do list that I just can't seem to get done with a nosy baby around. For breakfast we had scrambled eggs with ham and tomato. Simple and quick to make and eat. 

For lunch I went with the search the fridge mentality. I found the leftover sweet potato hash, Kalua pork, and 2 fried eggs for breakfast for lunch. 

Lunch: Hash, Kalua pork, & eggs

It was girls night for me so I made a quick dinner before heading out. Back in October I made some frozen meals that I still hadn't used up so that was the perfect option. I defrosted some Jalapeño Chicken Burgers and pan fried them. I served these on a bed of fresh spinach topped with homemade mayo and sautéd onions. Then I made some sweet potato wedges in the oven on 425' for about 22 minutes. We prefer them crispy so I cranked the oven up to broil for the last couple minutes. Make sure to watch them carefully at this point though because they can burn very quickly. Dinner was served in less than 30 minutes!

Dinner: Jalapeño Chicken Burgers & Sweet Potato Wedges

Day 6
Today Ethan and I had a stay at home day catching up on Netflix. I love that we can do this once in a while to recharge our batteries and Ethan can catch up on sleep. For breakfast my husband fried up some bacon and plantains before heading off to work. Once Ethan woke up, I made some scrambled eggs with green onions, avocado, and hot sauce. Some we had a great breakfast of eggs, plantains, and bacon.

Breakfast: Plantains, bacon, & scrambled eggs

Leftovers for lunch are one of the easiest meals to do. What's great is almost every meal I make serves 6-8 people so there's plenty to spare. Today I reheated my homemade pho and enjoyed a huge bowl of it.

Dinner tonight was just Ethan and I. I just didn't feel like making a big grand meal for a one year old so applesauce and stir fry it was. I found some chicken sausage in the freezer that I browned then tossed in red bell pepper, onion, and mushrooms. We both gobbled it up!

Dinner: Sausage & veggie stir fry with applesauce

I'm still finding that the Whole30 can be way too overthought. My goal of it is to get rid of my addiction of sugar. Fortunately we haven't been eating processed foods for a while so that's not too difficult. I'm really enjoying how easy cooking has been so far. So less,planning for me seems to be the right answer, we will see if that continues.

Whole 30: Potato Soup & Cauliflower Base

I didn't get a chance to post yesterday as I had by time busy with watching my girlfriends 5 month old. I hadn't realized 2 children that don't walk wouldn't be an easy task and my little one decided he would be jealous of mom for the first time. Therefore, my meals were quick between naps and activities.

Breakfast was one of my favorites, scrambled eggs. I added green onion to them and then topped them with Thrive Special Sauce and avocado. I noticed after I covered my eggs that it does have agave so isn't technically Whole30 but it was delicious. If you haven't tried avocado on your eggs, your missing out! I've found that it's the perfect addition to replace cheese because it has that creamy texture to it. I also had 4 slices of bacon and 2 satsuma oranges along with a cup of decaf coffee. Yum!

Lunch wasn't too exciting as I had about 10 minutes while one kiddo was sleeping and the other was eating lunch. I sliced up a tomato and some more avocado then topped it with the remaining Pesto Chicken Salad from the other day. Although it was quick, it was once again extremely satisfying. 

Dinner prep was difficult as Ethan was wanting to be held while I was in the kitchen. It's not possible to cut up food and hold a baby. So I distracted him and quickly started my version of my momma's Potato Soup. I'm pretty proud of my changes on this recipe to make it dairy free and yet still creamy. 

Potato Soup 

Serves 6

2 cups leftover ham or 8 slices bacon, diced

3 TBLS bacon fat or fat of choice, divided

4 carrots, peeled then cut in half and sliced

1 onion, diced

2 russet potatoes, peeled and diced in 1/2 inch pieces

4 cups chicken broth

1/2 cup cauliflower base (recipe below)

1 cup canned full-fat coconut milk

1 TBLS ghee

Salt & Pepper

Directions:

1. If using ham, turn skillet on medium-high heat and melt 2 tablespoons bacon fat. Add ham and cook 15 minutes or until seared, stirring occasionally. If using bacon, cook bacon until crispy. Remove from heat. 

2. In dutch oven over medium heat, melt 1 tablespoon of bacon fat. Add in carrots and onions and saute until cooked, about 7 minutes. 

3. Add potatoes and chicken broth. Turn heat to medium-high and bring to boil. Cook until potatoes are no longer crunchy but aren't falling apart. This usually takes about 10 minutes. Turn heat down to low.

4. Add ham or bacon, ghee, cauliflower base, coconut milk, salt & pepper into dutch oven. Stir and allow to cook together for 5 minutes longer. 

5. Remove from heat and serve.

This soup freezes really well too. I will portion it out after dinner for one lunch and then freeze the remaining portions for a later day. Just remember to not fill it too full as it will expand when it freezes. 

Cauliflower Base

Yields 4-5 cups

1 head cauliflower, about 4 lbs in size

1 onion, diced

1 TBLS ghee

2 tsp garlic, diced

1 cup chicken broth

1. Cut cauliflower into equal sized pieces. The smaller the pieces the shorter the cooking time. 

2. In medium stock pot, melt ghee over medium heat. Add in onion and garlic and saute for 3 minutes.

3. Add in cauliflower and broth. Place lid on pot and let simmer for 20-30 minutes, stirring occasionally. You might need to add a bit more stock to ensure the pan doesn't go dry and burn.

4. When the cauliflower is fork tender, turn off heat. 

5. Using an immersion blender, blend the mixture until smooth. Again, you might need to add more to ensure it's not a paste. The consistency should come to be a thick soup.

Add to soups at this point to thicken. I usually add 1/2 cup cauliflower base and 1 cup canned full-fat coconut milk to my soups to replace heavy whipping cream. This freezes beautifully too. I usually freeze it in 1 cup amounts in food saver bags.

Whole30: Green Smoothie

I rocked Day 3 of Whole30. Every piece of food I put in my mouth today was delicious. I also wasn't hungry and snacking throughout the day which was quite an accomplishment. Breakfast time I decided to try making a fritatta again. It's been several months since my husband stopped eating eggs and now that he's putting them back in his diet, I have been craving egg dishes. So I put together the fixings and whipped up a quite fluffy fritatta, side of bacon, and he fried some plantains. I know, we are a bit addicted to plantains.

Breakfast: Zucchini, Kalua Pork, Green Onion & Spinach Fritatta

Last night, when the baby should have been in bed, we drug him to the Asian market to get the fixing for making Pho. I have a friend that lives in Arizona that makes Pho every time we visit and swears it's easy to do. I thought I'd give it a try too. She sent me her recipe which had a lot of steps. I also had Nom Nom Paleo's recipe from her cookbook so I made my own hybrid concoction. It worked pretty good but wasn't as exceptional as my friends usually is. There's definitely room for tweaking and fortunately I have enough ingredients to try it again. I'll post a recipe when I come up with that awesome Pho. The one things I did do which made it Whole30 compliant and we really enjoyed, was replace the traditional rice noodles with zoodles (zucchini noodles). They didn't get soggy and still had texture and a slight crunch. Oh, did I mention I'm making it in my Instant Pot pressure cooker? It only took an hour to cook the broth instead of the 10 hours the other recipes suggested. I'm loving this Instant Pot more and more each day.

Lunch: Pho with Zoodles

We also got a new blender for christmas. Our old one just couldn't handle the volume of smoothies we were making so we researched and decided on the Blendtec blender. So far, I'm very satisfied with it. It does the job and gets all the chunks out of the mix but you do loose a bit of your hearing each time it runs. It's crazy how loud it is. I wasn't sure of the flavor when I was done but my husband and son loved it. I guess it's just that I don't prefer coconut water. 

Dinner: Ham, Sweet Potato, Peas & Carrots

For dinner I went the easy route and threw in the oven a smoked ham steak from our freezer. My dad raised pigs this last year and we bought one from him once it was butchered. This was hands down the best decision we've ever made. We've been buying portions of a cow for several years now but this was our first pig. The difference in quality and flavor of the meat is very noticeable. It's also fun being able to use different cuts that I haven't used before. The smoked ham steaks are convenient because they are 2-3 inches thick, so can be defrosted quicker than a ham shank. I was able to defrost, cook, and eat the ham steak all in about 4 hours. With the ham, I threw a few sweet potatoes in the oven to bake and then heated up some frozen veggies. Dinner was simple but satisfying and a breeze to do. 

Green Smoothie
Yields: 6 cups 

2 cups pineapple, chunked fresh or frozen
2 cups spinach
1/2 green apple
2 cups coconut water
1/4 avocado, optional

Blend all together until smooth. Then add in 1 cup of ice and blend again. 
This doesn't store in the fridge well as it will separate. Just cut the recipe in half to yield less, if desired. 

Whole30: Sweet Potato Hash

For the past year, my husband and I have happily enjoyed "Saturday Breakfast." It's almost always consists of my Sweet Potato Hash along with some sort of meat. Most days it's bacon but on occasion it will be sausage. Our Saturday breakfast has evolved to be the same almost every day so even though it's not as special, it's still a tradition. I usually prefer my hash topped with 2 sunny side up eggs and hot sauce. My recipe is below. 

Aside from breakfast, I was in the kitchen most of the day. Making stock has been an enlightening process to me recently. I never realized how easy it really is to do and inexpensive. I've started freezing my carrot, celery, and onion scraps in Ziploc bags to toss in with the poultry and beef bones, making my homemade stock free of cost. I made some chicken stock several days ago in my Instant Pot pressure cooker that I needed to process, today was the day. Earlier this year I purchased a pressure caner to allow myself to can stock rather than freezing it. This was going great until I dropped the lid off the counter last month and broke the pressure gauge. Fortunately it was an easy piece to replace and it's back in working order. 

For Whole30 lunches I really enjoy making chicken salad or soups. Today I went the chicken salad route and put together 1.5 cups shredded chicken, pesto (made & froze in the summer), 1 tablespoon lemon juice, salt and pepper. I put this on slices of tomato and avocado for a refreshing yet filling lunch.

Chicken Pesto Salad

I started dinner last night actually, as I wanted to make Nom Nom Paleo's Kalua Pork. It is one of the easiest and flavorful slow cooker recipes I've ever made. This pork shoulder was a bit stubborn though and after 18 hours in the slow cooker, wasn't tender enough to pull apart. Since I was using my Instant Pot, which is an electric pressure cooker as well, I pressure cooked the meat for 20 minutes to get the desired texture. The meat was tender and easily pull-able at this point. My husband did the pulling while I fried up some plantain slices in leftover bacon fat for our side. It was so delicious and satisfying!

Kalua Pork

Here's my standard Sweet Potato Hash recipe. What's great about making a sweet potato hash is you can use whatever vegetables you have on hand to make your hash which also helps mix it up a bit. We often have zucchini, kale, or apples in our hash. 

Sweet Potato Hash
Serves 4

3 Medium sweet potatoes, diced in 1/2 inch pieces
2 TBLS bacon fat or fat of choice
1/2 Onion, diced
1/2 tsp granulated garlic
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
Salt & pepper, to taste
1 Bell pepper, diced largely
2 cups spinach, roughly chopped
8 eggs, optional

Directions:
1. Dice sweet potatoes and place in a microwave safe bowl. Microwave for 2 minutes.

2. Heat cast iron skillet to medium heat and add in fat. 
3. Add sweet potatoes and onions to skillet. Add garlic, oregano, and paprika, then toss. Cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. 

4. Add bell pepper and cook until just loosing crunch, about 4 minutes.

5. Add spinach and cook for additional 1-2 minutes or until spinach starts to wilt. 

6. Top with eggs and hot sauce, if desired. (I prefer my eggs to be over easy to medium so the egg yolk is runny and an added sauce.)

Whole30: Day 1

We were supposed to start Whole30 yesterday but I accidentally went to Starbucks and got a latte. I was so excited to have time to go shopping by myself I completely forgot it was filled with sugar. Oops, my bad. So, January 2 officially starts off our second Whole30. 

What is Whole30?
Whole30.com is a great resource to read more about the Whole30 concept. What the Whole30 comes down to is eating clean fresh food for 30 days. It removes grains, dairy, legumes, sugar, alcohol, and baked treats from your diet to achieve this healthier eating.

Why Whole30?
The reason that I want to do the Whole30 is to eliminate my dependance on sugar and alcohol, especially after the holidays. We already eat grain and dairy free but I've gotten into making pancakes, cookies, and other treats way too often. I've found that when I remove sugar from my diet, I am more focused and overall feel more positive. 

How to start Whole30
Last October we did our first Whole30. I planned every meal and snack out for 30 days to eliminate the question of what to eat. This was a TON of work. I probably spent 10 hours before the Whole30 started digging for recipes and filling in my spreadsheet. I started this plan again and realized it wasn't necessary. My intent is to do my dinner meal planning for a week and then make sure I have Whole30 compliant snacks. For me these include cashews, almonds, homemade larabars, hard boiled eggs, veggies, apples, and salami.

What's a day look like with Whole30?
Here is what I plan on eating today for my first day of Whole30. Most days will be pretty similar but with a different dinner option. 

Breakfast: Scrambled eggs with bacon & avocado topped with hot sauce, fried plantains
Lunch: Pesto chicken salad, 2 satsuma oranges
Snack: Fruit smoothie (pineapple, apple, spinach, coconut water, blueberries)
Dinner: Baked Lemon Dill Trout 
Snack: Apple slices with almond butter

Breakfast: Scrambled eggs with fried plantains

How does this work for the whole family?

My 1 year-old, Ethan eats the same as us. He's a great eater and would prefer meat over any other foods everyday. We've always fed him foods we would eat so he's gluten free as well. 

Cleaner Eating

I haven't always been good in the kitchen. My sister is a chef and my mother was always in the kitchen growing up. So why would I need to cook? I started cooking in college when my boyfriend said I could move in if I fed his roommate and himself. Little did they know I burned everything, even mac & cheese from the box. I kept with it though and several years later our roommates were paying for dinner every night. 

In 2011, after battling stomach cramps, bloating, and nausea everyday from what my doctor thought was lactose intolerance, it was suggested I try omitting gluten from my diet. All my issues were gone within 3 days. This was probably the hardest point in my life in regards to food. Prior to going gluten free, I was eating bread, cereal, and pasta for almost every meal. Instead of trying to eat differently, I just wanted to eat the same items but gluten free. That just didn't work and was even more frustrating. My stress reliever was baking and I quickly found that gluten free baking didn't work out the same as traditional baking. 

Fast forward to 2013 when my hubby brings up wanting to eat Paleo. I was 100% against it but said we could give it a go. The food was almost the same every day with limited variety, was costly, and way too much work for me. We would just have a protein and vegetable for dinner nightly for weeks until we were bored of it. This started our on again off again Paleo eating for the next 2 years. 

People say everything changes when you have a baby. They are completely true. When we welcomed our bundle of joy in late December 2013 we had no idea what we were in for. Not only were we the sleep deprived parents with an always hungry newborn, we were dealing with a large amount of reflux from our newborn. After researching reflux in newborns, I quickly found that removing dairy from mom's diet can help so that was the first to go. My husband had already been showing signs of lactose intolerance and was mostly dairy free at this point anyways. When we removed all dairy from our diet, the most logical move at this point was to eat Paleo. My mom and sister were bringing us dinner nightly to help out so when we told them meals needed to be dairy free in addition to gluten free, it wasn't easy. This made me realize that we had gotten so used to food having so many things added to it, we weren't eating clean food.  

This time around we purchased cookbooks that had recipes of meals that weren't just a protein and a vegetable. This started the creativity and hooked us on our new way of eating. As a nursing mom I was starving all the time so proteins were our #1 focus. I've been learning how to buy seafood on sale and utilizing our frozen foods is key for our ever important budget. Through this blog I hope to show how we've transformed how we look at food and try to live cleaner and healthier.