Whole 30 COMPLETE!

Well we did it! Tara and I completed our Whole 30 journey with no slips!  Clean nutritious food for 30 days! We have had slightly different changes come from this experience but overall we both feel really really good:) I found inspiration from all sorts of spots, Pinterest, instagram pages, whole 30 advice boards and Tara!  Having a partner in crime is the best way to go! I have never stuck to any type of food plan the way I did with the Whole 30.  Tara and I both have busy schedules and made it work and I am super proud:) Of course the physical changes made me smile as well..I lost a total of 9lbs and 8 1/2 inches total! I feel like my little holiday fluff suit fell off.  O yeah and..Tara lost an amazing 14 lbs!!
Here is us face timing on our very first night food prepping for day 1....

 Here we are celebrating our success.....

Cheers to eating real food!

This is what I ate..like literally every single meal:)....

Here was week 1
Here was week 2
Here was week 3
Here was week 4

Happy Day!
Love, T

PS Here was my day 29 & 30...

Cherry Apple Larabars

Week 4 was made up of simple meals focused on lots of fruits and veggies so I really don't have any meal recipes to share but I do have a fun snack..

Homemade Cherry Apple "Larabars"

Dates, Cherries, chopped apple, almonds, walnuts and pecans

Blend the nuts together and blend the dates and fruit separately, stir two mixtures together and form into bars. Enjoy!

There are all types of combinations you can make and good ole Pinterest is FULL of ideas!

Happy Making!

Love, T

Here is the link to my week 4!

Whole 30 Week 4 Complete!

Here I am catching up per usual:)
Whole 30 week 4...

 

This week had the Super Bowl in it and I am happy to say Tara and I succeeded with flying colors:)  I will share a few of our yummy Super Bowl treats soon!

Happy Eating!

Love, T

Recipes: Whole 30 Week3

This week was much different in comparison to the first 2 weeks of my whole 30 journey.  Johnny was out of town most of the week which surprisingly enough made a difference in my choice of meals.  So what does that even mean? Soup, veggies fruit...repeat!  He enjoys those things however he also is a meat lover and leftover non-lover. So all I had was me to cook for so I took full advantage!  So I don't have too many recipes to share this week but I still have a few...

First up Potato soup..
Chop celery, potatoes, carrots and onion
Heat up olive oil and garlic in bottom of pan, add veggies and cook until slightly soft
Add chicken broth
I used a large Mason jar of my homemade chicken broth (click here for chicken broth directions)
Season with salt and pepper as desired
Simmer for 20min or so...enjoy!

Next up..Clean out the fridge veggie soup
The name says it all..basically I needed to use up some veggies so I threw them in some organic tomato sauce and added tomato paste and garlic
The veggies I used were: green beans, squash, turnips, carrots, celery, onions, peas, broccoli and cauliflower
Simmer until veggies are soft
Season as desired

This next dinner idea is just stir fry but instead of cauliflower rice just use broccoli slaw!
Instead of meat I used pineapple which sweetened it up nicely!

Last but certainly not least..

Homemade Almond Butter..

Just toss about 2-2 1/2 cups of almonds into a blender or food processor for about 5 min or so and you will have this deliciousness!! 

That is one little trick that will be sticking around long after the whole 30 is over:)

Happy Cooking!
Love, T

See a complete overview of my week 3 here :)

Whole 30 Week 3 Complete!

Today is the final day in week 3 of my whole 30 and here is what I have been filling up on...lots of colorful goodness....

Johnny was out of town for most of this past week so I took advantage of my time alone and enjoyed soup almost every night and leftovers:))

Happy Eating!
Love, T

Mini recipe roundup from week 3 here :)

Recipes: Week 2 Whole 30

In my previous post I rounded up last weeks meals and here are a few recipes from my week 2...

First up is stir fry with cauliflower rice from day 8 dinner...

I was really curious about cauliflower rice even before the whole 30 and I think it will be one of the things that sticks after this journey is complete!

Chop your cauliflower into medium sized pieces, throw in your blender
Pour into skillet with olive oil and some pepper and cook until slightly soft and it's ready!

Chop up your fav veggies and stir fry with coconut amino's (soy sauce replacement), ginger and garlic and you have yummy stir fry! You won't even miss the rice!

Next up..Chili from day 9..

With football season and chilly weather you have to make a big pot of chili on the weekend right?

Basically to stay whole 30 compliant just leave out the beans and add lots of diced bell pepper and onion and more meat! For seasoning I used cumin, paprika, sea salt, garlic and pepper since the chili seasoning I usually use has some funky funky stuff in it and the best part is this chili tasted better! Also read your labels if you use canned tomatoes:) 

The best thing about chili is it usually makes a ton and there are leftovers... so make chili dogs!

Again read your labels for hot dogs, these are uncured apple gate beef hot dogs sitting on top of a plain smashed baked potato and topped with chili.

Next up is dinner from day 11..

Roasted chicken and veggies..

So this is my first time ever cooking a whole bird and I was way too excited about it:)  

I don't know why I never did, I guess it seemed like too much work or too complicated but in reality it was quite easy and fun! 

I stuffed lemon slices inside and coated the outside of the chicken with olive oil, pepper, garlic, basil and sage.  Chopped up onion, carrots, celery, Brussels sprouts and potatoes and threw them in around the chicken. 

Cook at 350 for 90min or until the center is hot enough! I recommend buying a meat thermometer because we just did and I have no clue why we waited so long because now there is no "do you think it looks done" conversations happening! 

We ended up having leftovers of course so I made some chicken salad and chicken broth from the remainder!  

Chicken salad...

1 cup or so of chicken, 1 avocado, 1/2 cup pecans, 1/4 cup sunflower seeds and 2T lemon juice

To make your own chicken broth just throw the remainder into water with your favorite seasonings and simmer for 2 hrs...

 Strain and bottle up! From what I read online..it stays good in the fridge for a couple days and good frozen for a couple months!

Last but not least..

Stuffed acorn squash..this is probably my favorite meal of the program so far..

Cut the acorn squash in half, scoop out your seeds, bake face down on a baking sheet for about 30 min at 350.

About 15 min before it is finished throw a pound of ground sausage, sage, pepper and garlic in a skillet with diced celery, onion and a chopped apple.  

Enjoy!

 It is even better all smashed up like below..

Happy Cooking!

Love, T

Click here for my complete week 2!

Whole 30 week 2 complete!

Today is day 16 of my whole 30 so that means week 2 was a success!  No cheats! So here is how week 2 went..

Happy Eating!
Love, T

Recipes: Week 1 Whole 30

I shared with you pictures of all the yummy nutritious food I ate all week and now I want to share a few recipes to go along..

Lets start with Roasted turkey breast  topped with avocado from day 2..

 Preheat oven 350
Drizzle olive oil over turkey breast, sprinkle desired seasoning and rub into both sides of turkey breast.

 Dice 1 onion and place in the bottom of a greased baking dish

 Cook for 1 1/2 hours or until the center is at least 165 degrees.
Top with a huge spoon full of avocado and ENJOY!
Keep the leftovers for another recipe!

 Day 3 Dinner
Saltee broccoli slaw, Brussels sprouts and 1 onion with olive oil, garlic, ginger and amino acids (soy sauce replacement)
Grill Aidels chicken and apple sausages and throw them on top
Eat up!

 Day 4 Dinner was a combo of multiple recipes I saw online mixed with what ever I had around
Preheat oven 375

 Chop up broccoli, mushrooms, carrots and onions
Saltee with olive oil, pepper and garlic

 While those veggies are cooking throw 2 sweet potatoes in the microwave,once soft scrape the insides into a bowl
Add 1/2 can pumpkin and 1 egg
Mix well

Chop up your left over turkey from day 2 and throw it in with the veggies

Add 1/2 c almond flour and 2 cups of water, simmer until it becomes a creamy texture

Top veggie mix with sweet potato mixture and bake for 20min 

Dig In!

 Here is a super easy lunch idea..
1 can tuna and 1/2 avocado mix in a bowl and enjoyed with red bell peppers

 Day 5 Dinner: Paleo Meatloaf
Preheat oven to 350
Mix together..
1 lb ground beef, 1 egg, 1/4 c almond flour, 1/2 diced onion, 2 T tomato paste, garlic, pepper
Bake for 45 min

Sweet Potato fries:
Peel sweet potatoes and cut
place in bowl and drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle pepper and mix until coated
Throw in the oven the last 25 min with the meatloaf
Dinner served!

 Day 6 Dinner: Spaghetti squash and turkey meatballs

 Instead of pasta sauce use crushed tomatoes...tasty and no funky ingredients!

 Bake your spaghetti squash and scoop out insides..

 Turkey Meatballs..
1 lb turkey,1/2 can tomato paste, 1/2 c almond flour, 1 egg and pepper
Bake at 400 for 20 min
Put it all together and ENJOY!

 Last but not least.. Sweet potato tuna cakes
Preheat oven 350
Mix together..1 cooked sweet potato (no skin),1/2 can pumpkin, 1 egg, 3 cans of tuna and garlic
Spoon into greased muffin tins
Bake for 20min
Dig in!

Well that pretty much sums it up:) Hopefully you will like at least one of these recipes!
I would love to keep sharing but school starts back tomorrow so we will see how that goes:) Recipes are fun to share so I will try pretty hard but I'm not going to make any promises:)

Happy Cooking!

Love, T

See how my week 1 went here!