Category: Whole30

Paleo Challenge 2017

1/6/2017

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.

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.

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.

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.

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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Breakfast Egg cups

8/23/2016

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I got my busy on today, preparing food for the week and one of my favorite things to do is make breakfast egg cups. These are my "go to" for fast, easy, on the go breakfast and the beautiful thing is you can add almost anything you want to these things and they always turn out good. In this version, I used sausage, zucchini, onion, spinach and tomato but I've also used peppers, mushroom, and kale and the results never disappoint.

Breakfast Egg Cups

Ingredients
1 lb pork breakfast sausage
1 T. Kerrygold butter
1/2 yellow onion
2 medium zucchini
3 cups spinach
12 cherry tomatoes cut in half
7 eggs
salt and pepper

Fry the sausage in a pan until done. Drain cooked, crumbled sausage on a plate with a paper towel. Add 1 T. butter to the pan and melt. Add onion and zucchini and saute until veggies are crisp tender. Add spinach and tomatoes and sauté until spinach is wilted and tomatoes are softened.

In a non stick cupcake tin, spoon the sausage evenly among 12 cups. Top the sausage with equal amounts of veggie mixture trying to even it out among the cups. In a separate bowl, beat the 7 eggs with a whisk until blended. Carefully pour the egg mixture into each cupcake space, partitioning out the egg mixture evenly among the cups. Season the tops with sea salt and ground pepper to taste.

Bake at 300 for about 15-20 minutes or until eggs are set. Let cool slightly and then remove them from the cupcake tin and let cool on a wire rack. Store in an air tight container in the fridge and enjoy a quick breakfast all week!

Egg cups with sausage and veggies. Egg mixture comes next.

These eggs came from my wonderful backyard chickens.

Nutrition Facts
I calculated the macronutrients per egg cup by adding together all the nutrition facts of the ingredients. Depending on the type of sausage, size of zucchini, and number of eggs, the ratios may vary a bit but here is a good guideline.
Total servings: 12
serving size: 1 egg cup
Calories: 155
Protein: 8 grams
Net carb: 2 grams
Fat: 12 grams
For those following a paleo, low carb, or keto lifestyle, these would fit in nicely. They are nutrient dense and high on flavor. They are also great for a post workout snack.

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Vegetable Beef Soup

2/24/2016

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I'm a soup fan. Love me some soup. But I only like good soup...ain't nobody got time for a bad bowl of soup unless you got it free with your haircut. One of my faves is vegetable beef. So simple, yet a one pot wonder of deliciousness. Here's how I make mine.

What you need
3 lb Grass fed chuck roast, bone in
Garlic salt, pepper and Penzey's Sandwich Sprinkle
8 C. water
5 cloves garlic, sliced
1 large yellow onion, sliced in quarters
1 yellow squash cut in coins
2 zucchini squash, cut in coins and then halved
1 parsnip, chopped
2 ribs celerey, sliced
2 carrots, diced
1 C fresh or frozen peas
3-4 small red potatoes, cut in halves or quarters
1 can diced tomatoes
6 green onions
1/2 cup chopped parsley
1/2-1 t. thyme
1 t paprika
salt and pepper to taste (I usually add 1-2 extra teaspoons of kosher salt but taste as you go)

How you do it:
Heavily season one side of a 3lb bone in chuck roast with garlic salt and pepper. Sear in hot pan on medium high for about 2-3 minutes. While one side is searing, season the other side generously with Penzey's Sandwich Sprinkle. (If you don't have that, just use garlic salt and pepper again, but order some because you will LOVE it.) Sear for about 2-3 minutes until browned and crust has formed. Add 8 cups water and turn heat to low. Add 5 cloves sliced garlic and one sliced yellow onion and simmer on low for 4-5 hours. This helps develop a deeper broth flavor. When done, strain broth in a colander to separate bones and meat from broth. Return strained broth back to pot. Pick meat off bones and add to pot.

Add yellow squash, zucchini, parsnip, celery, carrots, peas, red potatoes, green onions, parsley, diced tomatoes, thyme and salt and pepper to taste. Let simmer 30 more minutes until vegetables are done. Adjust seasonings if need be and enjoy! As always, it will be even better the next day. Also feel free to add or subtract vegetables to your liking. I say the more the merrier.

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Plantain Pancakes (Recovery Pancakes)

1/10/2015

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Did I just say “recovery pancake”? You heard me. And it’s not because this pancake just came out of the Betty Ford Clinic. This pancake is good recovery food. It looks pretty legit, right? It has a nice brown color, light fluffy texture, and a delicious crumb and chew. Here’s the good part…it is sugar, grain, nut and dairy free! I know what you’re thinking…”Then what the heck did you possibly make it with?” Here’s my secret. GREEN PLANTAINS. If you are skeptical, then you are just like I was. I saw a blog post from The Paleo Mom about making delicious pancakes with green plantains. I thought there was no possible way this could be any good. I watched her video on how to pick out the plantains and then headed over to Global Foods in Kirkwood because I know they always have good, weird produce. (But I’m sure you can find plantains at most grocery stores.) They had plenty of the big green ones so I paid for my fruit and headed home.
I cut open the plantain and pried it from its skin. Then I cut it into pieces and threw it into my food processor. A blender would work fine too. I added the eggs and the rest of the ingredients and gave it a try. It. Was. Amazing. Really!! And believe me, I’ve tried A LOT of paleo pancakes, some of which have ended up in the trash can. For all you athletes out there looking for something easy to eat post workout, these are great recovery food. They are made with good fats from coconut oil, eggs, and plantains and are loaded with Vitamins A, C, and Magnesium. Here’s what you have to do:

Plantain Pancakes

1 large green plantain (about 200g cut up without skin)
2 large eggs
2 t. vanilla (I like Mexican vanilla)
1 1/2 T melted coconut oil
pinch salt
1/4 t. baking soda

Peel plantain and cut into cubes. Place in food processor or blender and puree. Add eggs, vanilla, coconut oil, salt and baking soda and continue to process until it looks like pancake batter. In a small skillet, heat up a teaspoon more of coconut oil on med to low. Add pancake batter and cook about 3-4 min on that side, until it is bubbly and starting to dry. Flip over and cook about 1 more minute on the other side. Enjoy with almond butter, pure maple syrup or honey. Makes about three 7-inch pancakes.

Nutrition facts per pancake (3 per batch) Calories – 188
fat – 10.3 g
protein – 5.2 g
carb – 21 g

Make ahead and stash in your gym bag. Add a piece of ham (for more protein) and you’ve got a nice post workout meal. This is a good starch for replenishing muscle glycogen. The coconut oil is a good source of medium chain triglycerides that also aid in recovery and provide immediate fuel.
To see the entire post from which my plantain eureka came, please visit the Paleo Mom blog here:   http://www.thepaleomom.com/2012/09/perfect-paleo-pancakes.html Be sure to watch her plantain video too.

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What's a Week Look Like?

1/10/2015

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Happy January folks! We're about to get lean and mean in 2015. It's that time of year when everyone has had their fill of the excesses of the holidays and are ready to get back on track. With this in mind, I wanted to create a post to show people what a week's worth of paleo meals might look like and recipes to go with. For some people just starting out, going paleo can feel overwhelming. Whole food groups are missing for crying outloud. It does take some planning and a willingness to experiment in the kitchen. But like anything worthwhile, it takes practice. And it does get easier over time!
I logged all my meals for the first full week (M-F) in January and tried to remember to take pictures so you could see what a typical week looks like for me. I hope this helps you see how to plan, make use of leftovers, and open your mind to the endless possibilities!

Sunday afternoon - I headed to the grocery store armed with a list of ingredients needed for some of the week's meals. I knew I was going to be busier than a one legged man in a butt kicking contest preparing for the week ahead.

When I got home, I made a batch of paleo mayonnaise, my favorite pico de gallo, and the best jalapeno green sauce you can get your hands on. Strict paleo means getting creative with your food and pulling out all the punches in the condiment department. Makes things interesting, the food tastes great, and your deprivation factor is 0.0.

I also made a batch of Breakfast Cookies from Against All Grain. These little treats have no added sugar and are nice in the morning with a cup of coffee or during the day as a little snack.

Sunday night dinner: Crockpot Paleo Thai Stew from Against All Grain
I had to make a few adjustments to the recipe. First, I added lots more broccoli and added in snap peas. I like seeing more green in my dishes. For the carrots, I bought the baby carrots and quartered them lengthwise. Did not take the time to julienne them. I used yellow curry paste instead of red because the red has shrimp in it and my husband is allergic to shellfish. I'll save the red for the next time he gets on my nerves. Kidding...

MONDAY

Breakfast: I know it looks sparse, but on M, W, F mornings, I have minimal time to eat and have to grab something quick in order to get my daughter to school and myself to the gym to teach my class. This is my "get 'er done" breakfast and will get me through the morning.

Boar's Head Tavern Ham, strawberries and a breakfast cookie.

Lunch:

Since breakfast was small, and I didn't get my eggs, I decided to have eggs and spinach for lunch. The eggs are from my backyard chickens and they never disappoint. I added about 2 big handfulls of spinach. Since it shrinks up so much, it is an easy way to get a lot of veggies in without getting too full. Broccoli slaw made with paleo mayo, a side of strawberries, and a touch of the jalapeno green sauce round this flavorful lunch out. With the broccoli slaw, I simply bought a bag of rainbow salad which is basically shredded up carrots, cabbage and broccoli, added the mayo and a little Vom Fass Apple Cider Vinegar and called it a day. The quick slaw version.

Dinner I marinated a grassfed flank steak and skirt steak (from my cow share through MAC's Local Buys) with my favorite "Olin's Marinade" which is my dad's recipe that we grew up on. It literally makes all meat taste amazing. Even though it was flippin' freezing outside, we grilled the meat on the gas grill. I sauteed some red and yellow peppers and onions in olive oil, roasted some okra, and pulled out the slaw I made at lunch. I served it with pico de gallo and green sauce on the side. I made sure to grill enough meat for dinner and for lots of leftovers during the week.

Tuesday
Breakfast

Breakfast was easy since I was able to use steak from the night before. Being able to wrap your head around eating things not normally considered breakfast food (cereal, bagels, and rolls) is the first big step in eating a healthy breakfast and getting a little more protein into the diet.

Sauteed spinach, fried egg, leftover skirt steak, jalapeno green sauce

Lunch
This is a pretty basic lunch, easy to throw together, and tasty. I grab 3-4 pieces of Boar's Head mesquite turkey, spread on a little paleo mayo, sprinkle some Penzey's Sandwich sprinkle on that (it is soooo good), and add some mixed greens. Roll it up and chow down. After the first roll up, I decided that I wanted a little more of a kick. I recalled that my addicting hot sauce and pico de gallo were in the fridge, so I whipped them out and doused the remaining two. Then I imagined I was eating tacos.
I also cut up half an apple and put some almond butter on the plate to dip in. Yes, that's sea salt sprinkled on top!

Dinner

Fry 3 pieces of bacon, cut into pieces. Add one chopped onion and green beans. Sautee for a few minutes. Add about 1 cup of water and season with salt and pepper and cook until al dente or desired firmness.

I baked a salmon (sprinkled with Penzey's seasoned pepper, dill and lemon juice and topped with lemon slices), made a mixed green salad with tomatoes and beets, and topped with a balsamic vinaigrette.
Green beans (haricort verts from Trader Joe's) with sauteed bacon rounded it out. For a dipping sauce, I mixed my leftover paleo mayo with capers, dill, horseradish and pepper...no recipe, just a concoction of things that I thought would taste good in a dipping sauce.

Mayo, 2 t. capers, 1-2 t dill, 1/2 T. prepared horseradish, a squeeze of lemon and salt and pepper to taste

One of my favorite drinks: Sparkling water with a touch of POM coconut (or pomegranite). I don't add that much, just enough to give it a little flavor punch.

Wednesday

Breakfast

No time to make a production on Wednesday mornings so it's another quickie.

Hard boiled egg, slice of ham (that's all that was left or I would have had a bigger piece, and a small piece of apple.

Lunch Leftover Thai stew from Sunday night, leftover broccoli slaw, and a tossed green salad.

Mixed greens with balsamic vinaigrette and beets and a side of liverwurst. Yes, I love that stuff.

Dinner
Our evening was busy and we were eating in shifts so I made some Buffalo Chicken Egg Cups to have for dinner and breakfasts later in the week and pulled out the leftovers we still needed to work on. We made a big salad and grazed on egg muffins and whatever else was in the fridge.

Thursday

Breakfast

Buffalo Chicken Egg cups, strawberries and a side of pico de gallo

Lunch

Leftover salmon, broccoli slaw and salmon dip with a side salad of mixed greens, tomatoes and beets.

Dinner
I wanted to make something easy and with what I had on hand. Luckily, I bought a head of cauliflower on Sunday and I always have ground beef from my cow share in my freezer so I had a good start. I flipped through one of my favorite cookbooks, The Ancestral Table by Russ Crandall and came across a recipe called Loco Moco . (I linked the recipe from his site but the version I used from the cookbook is just a little different). You need to add his site, The Domestic Man to your favorites. His Shephard's Pie is amazing. The Loco Moco is basically a hamburger patty with a fried egg that sits atop cauliflower rice and it has a nice gravy to ladle over the whole thing.

Friday
It's the end of the week and we have dinner plans at a friend's house tonight. Today is the day I try to finish up all leftovers and then head to the store over the weekend and do it all over again!

Breakfast
Is this breakfast starting to look a little familiar? It's my quick fix because Fridays are limited in the time department. I also don't like to have a lot in my stomach before I work out so this is perfect and holds me over till lunch.
strawberries, hard boiled egg, Boar's Head ham, breakfast cookie

Lunch

Spoiler alert: My lunch looks very much like last night's dinner! Grass Fed beef patty with jalapeno green sauce on top, leftover cauliflower rice, green beans, beets, and a buffalo chicken egg cup. I am crazy about leftovers and I don't even mind if they are cold. This lunch is higher in protein and lower in carbs. My goal is to lean out and improve body composition, but I don't want to under eat and I want to get adequate protein levels to maintain and improve muscle mass.

Here's another drink option for you. It's a quick pour of Vom Fass Apple Cider Vinegar mixed with sparkling water. You can probably use any cider vinegar, but the Vom Fass kind is sooooo smooth. (Vom Fass is an oil and vinegar shop in Maplewood and if you haven't splurged on one of their vinegars, you should. It makes all salad dressings taste better.) Another option is a nice balsamic vinegar with the water. It adds a unique flavor and is supposed to be good for digestion.

I like to sip on this during the day or in the evening when I want something other than plain water or tea.

Dinner
For dinner, we were invited over to a friend's house with some other couples we hadn't seen in a while. Luckily, one of the other couples going to the dinner was also on a Whole30 so we were in the same boat. When we got there, my friend Steve asked if I was going to have a drink. He jokingly said he was looking for absolution and if I did, he would. I held firm and told him I was still running with my post holiday motivation, so we both enjoyed a nice glass of water, relieved to have structure to keep us on the straight and narrow.
They say when you go to a dinner party, you should always bring something you know you can eat. I wasn't sure what my friend was making but I told her I would bring fresh berries. Luckily, she made a beautiful salmon, some delicious green beans and a tasty salad. I had to pass on the potatoes that looked divine but were filled with cheese and cream. Next time...

So here it is, Saturday morning and I look back on my week of paleo meals. Did I feel deprived? Not once. Was I counting calories or fretting over macronutrient breakdown? Not really. My plan was to prepare delicious meals and to be prepared. I started with a protein and filled my plate with veggies and a little fruit. I ate when I was hungry and ate slowly until I was full. Between meals, I would have a few prepackaged cashews or almonds from Trader Joe's, a hard boiled egg, one of the breakfast cookies or egg cups I made earlier in the week, or a piece of apple and almond butter. My goal is to make this thing autopilot. And after a 30 day reset, good habits will be set into place and I'll be feeling great for it. I can't wait to see how my physical goes in February!

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Paleo Challenge 2017

Breakfast Egg cups

Breakfast Egg Cups

Vegetable Beef Soup

Plantain Pancakes (Recovery Pancakes)

Plantain Pancakes

What's a Week Look Like?

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