Well, it's that time of year again. Holidays are over and I had my way with them, and I enjoyed myself immensley. Now it's time to get back to this lifestyle thing and I am energized and ready to go. I don't know what it is that feels so good about letting loose during the holidays, but I do know that once it's over, I feel cruddy and sluggish. So here we go with a Whole30 kickstart and then a transition back into a more practical, sustainable way of eating and living. A Whole30 can be challenging, but when you are fueled by endless post holiday motivation, it seems to go by pretty fast.
I am leading a group from my gym, CrossFit St. Louis through a 6 week nutrition challenge and thought this post would be helpful when people ask, "What should I cook". Here are a few things I did this week to make the first 4 days go as smoothly as possible.
SUNDAY - New Year's Day. After cleaning up all the Christmas stuff and putting away our attic firs, I cleaned out the fridge and the pantry. Tossed all things that tempted me or were expired. Apparently that weird chutney that I had on my pantry shelf expired in May of 2008. Cleaned out the fruit and veggie drawer and readied my shopping list.
MONDAY
Prep day. I went to the store and stocked up on Whole30 approved items and lots of fresh veggies. I wanted to make an easy grab and go breakfast for those mornings when I had to be at the gym early to teach my rowing class. Here's how it all panned out.
Mexican Breakfast Muffins
9 eggs
1 lb chorizo from Lucky's Market (no sugar or bad ingredients added)
3-4 large handfulls of spinach
1 cup chopped mushrooms
1/2 onion chopped
salt and pepper to taste
Saute chorizo and set aside reserving a small amount of grease for the veggies. Sautee onions and mushrooms till soft and add spinach. Saute until greens are wilted.
In a non stick muffin pan, layer chorizo and sauteed veggies in 12 cups. Meanwhile, whisk the 9 eggs together until blended. To the eggs, add about 1/2 t. salt and pepper (or to taste.) It's hard to know how much because sometimes the chorizo can be salty. Pour the eggs evenly over the sausage/veggie mixture. I fill until it almost reaches the top.
Bake at 350 about 20 min or until firm and set in the middle. They will come out nice and fluffy, but tend to deflate a little while they cool.
After I made these, I realized that adding about 1/2 cup rotel to the egg mixture would make them taste even better. I'll do that next time.
I am leading a group from my gym, CrossFit St. Louis through a 6 week nutrition challenge and thought this post would be helpful when people ask, "What should I cook". Here are a few things I did this week to make the first 4 days go as smoothly as possible.
SUNDAY - New Year's Day. After cleaning up all the Christmas stuff and putting away our attic firs, I cleaned out the fridge and the pantry. Tossed all things that tempted me or were expired. Apparently that weird chutney that I had on my pantry shelf expired in May of 2008. Cleaned out the fruit and veggie drawer and readied my shopping list.
MONDAY
Prep day. I went to the store and stocked up on Whole30 approved items and lots of fresh veggies. I wanted to make an easy grab and go breakfast for those mornings when I had to be at the gym early to teach my rowing class. Here's how it all panned out.
Mexican Breakfast Muffins
9 eggs
1 lb chorizo from Lucky's Market (no sugar or bad ingredients added)
3-4 large handfulls of spinach
1 cup chopped mushrooms
1/2 onion chopped
salt and pepper to taste
Saute chorizo and set aside reserving a small amount of grease for the veggies. Sautee onions and mushrooms till soft and add spinach. Saute until greens are wilted.
In a non stick muffin pan, layer chorizo and sauteed veggies in 12 cups. Meanwhile, whisk the 9 eggs together until blended. To the eggs, add about 1/2 t. salt and pepper (or to taste.) It's hard to know how much because sometimes the chorizo can be salty. Pour the eggs evenly over the sausage/veggie mixture. I fill until it almost reaches the top.
Bake at 350 about 20 min or until firm and set in the middle. They will come out nice and fluffy, but tend to deflate a little while they cool.
After I made these, I realized that adding about 1/2 cup rotel to the egg mixture would make them taste even better. I'll do that next time.
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Here is a video of how I put everything together: https://youtu.be/IxaCrcxs4wMyoutu.be/IxaCrcxs4wM
While those were cooking, I made a batch of tuna salad. Used two large cans, 4 hard boiled eggs, chopped celery and onion, celery seed, and some homemade paleo mayonaise. I like to have that in the fridge and ready to go.
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Once the egg cups were cooling and the tuna was made, I also cooked up some plain breakfast sausage from Lucky's meat counter. After inquiring, they said there was no added sugars, fillers or wheat products so the ingredients looked pretty clean. I like to have that on hand for quick egg scrambles. Makes the morning go quick. Below is a video summary of my food prep.
Dinner on Monday night was a new recipe I found from Zenbelly. I have their cookbook too and it is amazing. The recipe was called "INSTANTPOT CRISPY MOJO PORK SHOULDER WITH SPICY SLAW and it was delicious. I made the pork and the slaw to go with and it was good for leftovers as well. I used my Instantpot which I LOVE. If you don't have one, you can order one on amazon. It's part electric pressure cooker, part slow cooker and part saute pan all in one. For more on an Instantpot, go here.
Tuesday
Breakfast was my easy egg cups that I made on Monday. I had two with my coffee. Lunch was some rolled up turkey with paleo mayo and mixed greens. For Dinner, we had "Salad Surprise" which was basically your choice of egg salad, tuna salad or ham salad (all made ahead) along with a green salad. The ham salad was easy. I bought a half of a Boar's Head tavern ham and chopped about 3/4ths of it in my food processor. I added whole ground mustard and the rest of the paleo mayo I made the day before. I chopped some dill pickle and some onion and mixed it all in. It went fast.
Wednesday We went to see Arrival at the movies at 7:45 that evening so I knew I needed something quick. I went to my old reliable favorite Sweet Potato and Kale Chicken Patties from this blog in recipes. These have it all...kale, sweet potato and white and dark meat chicken fried up in a little ghee. They are wonderful and I love them for breakfast as well.
Breakfast was my easy egg cups that I made on Monday. I had two with my coffee. Lunch was some rolled up turkey with paleo mayo and mixed greens. For Dinner, we had "Salad Surprise" which was basically your choice of egg salad, tuna salad or ham salad (all made ahead) along with a green salad. The ham salad was easy. I bought a half of a Boar's Head tavern ham and chopped about 3/4ths of it in my food processor. I added whole ground mustard and the rest of the paleo mayo I made the day before. I chopped some dill pickle and some onion and mixed it all in. It went fast.
Wednesday We went to see Arrival at the movies at 7:45 that evening so I knew I needed something quick. I went to my old reliable favorite Sweet Potato and Kale Chicken Patties from this blog in recipes. These have it all...kale, sweet potato and white and dark meat chicken fried up in a little ghee. They are wonderful and I love them for breakfast as well.
 |  This Dijon mustard made by Annie's is Whole 30 approved as it is not made with wine or other alcohol.  |
Thursday - Egg cups for breakfast, leftover tuna salad and mojo pork for lunch.
Dinner was a pleasant surprise. I had a pack of 8 boneless, skinless chicken thighs that I bought on sale at Lucky's the day before. I didn't know what to do with them so I simply googled "boneless skinless chicken thighs paleo recipe" and the first thing that popped up looked so tasty that I made it. It was called Mustard Balsamic Chicken Thighs by PaleoHacks and it was a keeper. I roasted some sweet potato, multi colored carrots and turnups in olive oil and salt and pepper to go along with it.
Dinner was a pleasant surprise. I had a pack of 8 boneless, skinless chicken thighs that I bought on sale at Lucky's the day before. I didn't know what to do with them so I simply googled "boneless skinless chicken thighs paleo recipe" and the first thing that popped up looked so tasty that I made it. It was called Mustard Balsamic Chicken Thighs by PaleoHacks and it was a keeper. I roasted some sweet potato, multi colored carrots and turnups in olive oil and salt and pepper to go along with it.
I've found that if you prepare well a Whole30 can go very smoothly. Have a breakfast made ahead of time or something easy enough to prepare quickly in the morning. Outline a few dinner recipes and use a crockpot or instantpot. And have some snacks ready to go like avocados, coconut chips, jerkey, boiled eggs or veggie sticks. You won't go hungry and you'll enjoy all the goodness that whole foods have to offer. Weekend, here we come!
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