Tag Archives: Meal plan

menu monday: my whole30 recap

This week we’re eating from the freezer again and it’s really simple.

Breakfasts: Salmon Cakes w/ mayo from Well Fed 2. I’m finally feeling like eating fish again for breakfast. I know this may sound weird, but if you’re looking for something less traditional for breakfast these are delicious.

Lunches: I found a casserole dish of bolognese in the freezer! I was so excited, no prep for lunches this week aside from squash to go with it.

Dinners: On Saturday I tried a new recipe for steak and potatoes in the crockpot. I love finding new uses for my crockpot and figured why not when I came across this post. It isn’t much of a recipe, but more a method. Sadly, we ended up with four very dry steaks. The potatoes cooked well (we skipped the corn), but I won’t be risking my good meat with this method again. For the rest of the week we’ll be eating salmon, the very last (finally) of the PreMade Paleo meals, and balsamic short ribs (another slow cooker recipe).

4th Meal: Since I made the switch back to eating a very clean diet, I eat A LOT. Instead of snacking all day, I’ve just incorporated a fourth meal into my diet. This week it will be egg salad with hard boiled eggs, mayo, and hot sauce.

———-

The Whole30 Recap

On Wednesday I finished what I think is my 3rd complete Whole30. I’ve done several other Whole14s, give or take a few days, when I’ve felt the need to really get back on track, but this was a full on, 30 days of squeaky clean eating.

So how did it go? In a nutshell – fantastic. At the beginning I had set out five reasons for taking this on, which I’ve recapped below in addition to a few other insights and results from my thirty days. I believe how we nourish ourselves is of huge importance to our health but I also recognize that there are other factors. Where I made changes in addition to good food changes I’ve also included them.

Sleep. I am consistently falling asleep within ten minutes of getting in bed. This is big for me, who usually tosses and turns and has a very hard time getting to sleep. I do still wake up once (or sometimes even twice) to use the restroom, but I think we can blame that on Martian. I’ve also committed to getting of my computer by 9pm every night, no excuses. I spend about half hour straightening the house up and getting ready for bed, then get in bed at 9:30 and read until 10ish.

Digestive issues. About two weeks in I declared myself digestive issues free. No need for details, but it’s a good thing! And nightly heartburn is gone! I got heartburn a handful of time during the Whole30 and each time it was after eating a piece of fruit on it’s own. Easy fix is to stop eating fruit alone. I added apple cider vinegar to my herbal tea almost every night. I love the tangy taste and it helps improve the acidity in my stomach.

Eczema. My wrist is almost clear. Eczema takes a long time to heal and it’s super frustrating. I have about a one inch by one inch patch left that is very dry and no longer inflamed or itchy. I wish I knew exactly what caused it. My best guess is dairy, but I have no real desire to test that out. After being very stubborn for months, I finally took my Fitbit off my arm to allow the eczema to heal. I don’t think it was the cause, but I do think it was irritating the broken skin and making the healing slower.

Lethargy. My energy is awesome. I’m waking up ready to go, working all day at my full time job, then coming home and building out my little business in the evening. I’m sure having something I’m incredibly excited about helps keep me motivated and focused, but there was no way I had this energy in the early part of my second trimester, before the Whole30.

Mama guilt. Greatly diminished! I have felt guilty for moving a heavy box, not caring about reading the million books every expectant mother is expected to read, and other such things. But I know that every single meal I ate over those 30 days provided Martian with the nutrients he or she needs to grow and that is a great feeling.

What I wasn’t looking for, but (happily) found:

One thing that I noticed is how even-keeled I became over the thirty days. I’m not a highly emotional person, but I am very easily annoyed. My typical response is silence. I don’t want to deal with you, but I want you to know I’m annoyed with you. When things came up that would usually put me in this mood I just shook them off and moved on. Either there was no point in wasting my energy or there was a bright side to be found.
Stress didn’t get to me like it normally does. I work very well under certain stressful conditions, like deadlines. However, once I get to the point where I feel like things are out of my control I get very cranky and not nice to be around. October was insane. Between coming out of September where we were gone three out of four weekends, Greg working round the clock many nights, our entire interior of the house being painted, finishing my NTP program, and work getting busy, history states that I should have lost it. But I never did. I didn’t have a single “I can’t do this moment”. I just made a to-do list everyday of what needed to get done and did it. I credit the better sleep (nothing makes me more cranky than being tired), the increased energy, and the general even-keeled mentality.

The Whole30 and Pregnancy

Several people have asked me if the Whole30 is safe while pregnant. I’m honestly not sure how to respond to that because the only thing I did was eat real food for thirty days. I know that we live in a world of extreme diets and I can see why anyone, without knowing the details of the Whole30, might think this is just another crazy fad. But I get so discouraged when people ask me what I’m eating now that I’m pregnant, waiting for and expecting the juicy details of nightly ice cream binges, then look at me crazy when I describe the Whole30 and ask if that’s something I should be doing. My response is usually something along the lines of “I can’t think of anything healthier I could be doing.” Here’s a few reasons why:

I’m probably going to make a few people angry with this one, but I’m starting to question a lot the of the conventional symptoms of pregnancy that we’re just told are part of experience and that we need to deal with. Yes, my body is changing like crazy and that may result in a few aches and pains. But heartburn? Gone. Leg cramps? Gone. Back pain? Gone. Crappy sleep? Gone. Wrist pain? Gone. I mentioned all five of these to my midwife and my prenatal yoga instructor who both sympathetically nodded and said something like “oh, pregnancy”. Maybe the changes in my body made me more susceptible to the conditions but I just proved that (for me, only talking about my situation here) eating a nutrient dense diet fixed every single ailment. I’m getting close to soapbox territory here, which is not my intent, but I wish that pregnancy was handled very differently in our culture.
I’m about six months pregnant and my engagement ring is twisting around my finger. One of the (way too many) pregnancy emails this week told me that it might be time to take my rings off before they get stuck and wear them around my neck. Also, my boots are easier to zip up than they were a month ago. Real food wins, non-scale victories.
My twenty week appointment was on Day 2, followed by my 24 week appointment on Day 28. Between those two dates I lost one pound and Martian grew the exact number of centimeters that they want to see.

So what’s next….

I’ve started to eat out a little. I tried rice noodles in Pho on Friday night (felt fine). I don’t plan to reintroduce dairy or gluten at this time, but I will try a little sugar to see how I feel, mostly in preparation for the holiday season. I’ll probably try corn chips as well. Our marriage is built on Mexican food people, there’s only so much I can ask of Greg and giving up dinner at Rosita’s isn’t on the table.

The one thing I want to improve on is asking myself “is it worth it” when I want to eat something that I know isn’t going to make me feel great. It’s totally okay if the answer is yes sometimes, the part that’s not okay is not thinking about it and absent-mindeldly popping whatever in my mouth. I couldn’t find an article to link to, but I love the idea below (from the creators of the Whole30 program). Stop thinking about cheats and start thinking about choices. Own what you put in your body.

Whole30 results are always better with photos, so here’s a little comparison. On the left is Greg and I at a wedding the weekend before I started my Whole30. On the right we are in our Halloween costumes this past Saturday, four days after finishing my Whole30. It is not a dramatic transformation (I am growing a human being, after all), but I can see the difference in my face. It is way less puffy, especially in my cheeks and around my eyes. Even my butt chin is back! #nonscalevictory

If you’re interested in the Whole30, I’m more than happy to answer any questions in the comments. There is also a wealth of information on the website, including the rules and great articles on the blog. I highly recommend picking up a copy of It Starts With Food, which explains both the how and the why of the Whole30 in detail.

menu monday: eating from the freezer

2 Replies

This week’s menu is all over the place as I’m trying to clean out our inside freezer. Our new meat shares will be ready shortly and I want to clean out the chest freezer and defrost it before adding our 2015 meat. We don’t have much left from 2014, but I need a little room inside to store what is left.

When I plan an ‘eat from the freezer’ week (usually once every few months) my goal is to clear out as much as I can and shop for as little as possible. I create a list of what I have and look for recipes that will use the ingredients, or just make them up.

One jar of chicken broth and a bag of frozen cauliflower is in the fridge, turned into one of my favorite fall soups, Golden Cauliflower Soup. One of the few bonuses to rainy, cold season is that I start making and consuming a lot of broth.

For Sunday dinner we enjoyed this recipe for beef shank. A friend at work gave me a sugar pumpkin and I made my own puree with it for the first time. As a side to the beef shank we had pumpkin spaghetti squash, featuring the puree. With the rest of the pumpkin and a big chuck steak (not pictured) that I ground up, I’m making pumpkin chili for dinner tonight and lunches the rest of the week.

I made an egg casserole with the shredded sweet potatoes and cubed pork for our weekday breakfasts. Greg is now eating breakfast (yay! my first NTP success!), but that means I have to have ten servings of breakfast ready to go each week. Two big casseroles is usually the easiest way to make that happen and we end up with a two extra serving bonus for the next week. I cleaned out my spice cupboard on Saturday (a project I started back in March and maybe will get around to sharing on the blog before the new year) and found a few spice blends that need to be used. I added one of the mixes and extra veggies from the weekend. Casserole done.

For weekend breakfasts we had sugar-free bacon, eggs, sauerkraut, and potatoes. I don’t have them pictured above, but the remaining PreMade Paleo meals are defrosting in the fridge for any time one of us is eating alone or needs a quick meal. I’m on a four meal a day plan some days (finally gave into four meals versus a ton of snacking) and I defrosted a bit of carne asada that can top a salad. I also defrosted what appears to be meatballs (in the jar on the right). I didn’t do a great job of labeling so I’m not positive what they are, but hopefully they are tasty.

Towards the end of the week I’ll defrost salmon and pork chops for dinners. And we don’t eat all meat around here, there is plenty of veg in the fridge from my CSA box. We have lots of winter squash, beets, potatoes, and salad and spinach for greens. The freezer is looking better, though I’ll probably need to do a second week to make enough space for the chest freezer contents. Oh the trials of an urbanite who likes to pretend she’s a homesteader…

——–

I’m going into the final few days of my Whole30. This has been by far the fastest one has ever gone by. Between the craziness of the month and dietary restrictions due to pregnancy anyway (i.e. no booze), it seems like I just started. I’ll be doing a big recap post next week once I’m done.

The only noteworthy moments from this week are that I finally ate out after 25 days of only cooking my own food. Not sure that I’ve ever gone 25 days without eating out. I can say that it felt great AND our credit card bill notices the difference! I had a little meat at a friend’s on Saturday and Greg and I had Chipotle for lunch on Sunday while car seat shopping. Things are just getting crazy around here.

Have a great week!

menu monday: premade paleo

Leave a reply

Last week I had our food delivered from Pre-Made Paleo. Painters were in the house for the week, transforming our colorful walls to a lovely neutral shade. I wasn’t sure what sort of access I would have to the kitchen and, not wanting to deviate from my Whole30, I decided to order five days of prepared, frozen, Whole30 compliant food. My one qualm was cost, but a few quick calculations showed that ordering the meals was equivalent to the cost of eating them all out. Sold.

The order. The most cost effective way to order is to select one of the current menus. Each menu comes with 5 meals for two people. A meal consists of a protein and a veggie side or a combo of the two (a chili or soup where the veggies are included with the protein). I picked up one menu for our dinners and added five breakfasts for each of us, chicken sweet potato hash for me and pork skillet for Greg. Greg eats lunch at work everyday but I needed something for me. I went with five different chili/soup options as they seemed like the easiest items to reheat at work. I added a few more items to save in the freezer for food emergencies to get to the free shipping minimum ($250).

These pictures are terrible as it was late when I got home. First is the menu, where I grouped our proteins and veggies together into dinners. The second photo is lunches and breakfasts. Also, these are the last photos EVER of the purple kitchen walls. Because they are no longer purple. Hallelujah.

The ordering. I ordered at the last minute for getting the food by the time we needed it. When I emailed Pre-Made Paleo to make sure they’d be able to ship in time, they responded very quickly and were helpful. It was painless to order and everything arrived solidly frozen.

The cooking. Or I should say, the “cooking”. I woke up each morning and cut open my breakfast pouch and tossed the contents into a hot pan with a little ghee. While it reheated I transferred Greg’s breakfast from the plastic pouch to a glass container for transporting and reheating and did the same with my lunch. Dinners went much the same way. Heat skillet, add cooking fat (or water), reheat protein for a few minutes then throw in veg. It was beyond easy and no mess minus washing out the pan. The food tastes significantly better if you allow it to defrost in the fridge before cooking. This requires a little bit of planning, but worth it.

The quality. The quality of the food is fantastic. All vegetables are organic and the meat used is all grass fed and pastured. Nothing but good things to say about where they source their products from.

The taste. Hit or miss. Some of the flavors I really enjoyed, some were not so enjoyable. Buffalo chicken was delicious as were most of my chili and soup dishes for lunch. Greg’s breakfast was tastier than mine (I ate his instead of mine one morning when he had a work breakfast).

The texture. Proteins heated really well on the stove top but became rubbery when heated in the microwave (they do not recommend heating in the microwave, by the way). Chili and soup dishes tasted great out of the microwave, which is my only option at work for heating food. The veggies were where I struggled the most. It is really hard to have good texture when you are reheating cooked, frozen veggies.

The filling factor. This is hard for me to judge because my appetite is off the hook right now. Greg seemed to do just fine with the dinner servings but I typically ended up needing something extra after. I also added a hard boiled egg to my breakfast each morning and a side salad to my lunches.

The value. It is not cheap but it is quality. I was able to put real food on the table in less than five minutes for every meal last week and not question whether or not I was staying Whole30 compliant. It was the cost of a week of combined take-out and eating in restaurants, though since I did add more to each meal I suppose you could say this route was slightly more expensive.

The verdict. Though it’s more cost effective, I probably won’t order a menu again. I just can’t get past the veggies. I should add that there are very few tastes I don’t like, but textures do bother me. I only started eating watermelon about two years ago because it feels like a sponge on my tongue. The veggies are probably perfectly fine for most, I’m just texture weird. I am, however, thinking hard about doing a big order of breakfasts and chili and soup dishes to have on hand for when the martian arrives. I’ll wait until we get closer to see how much food I’m able to prepare and put away and see how much freezer space we have. If you have a time period where you need extra help in the kitchen for whatever reason, I do recommend giving it a try.

Greg’s review. “It was good. I enjoyed it.”

—————-

As for my Whole30, I’m going strong and on day 14 today. I didn’t keep up with my nightly journal entries because I am trying to get off the computer and get to bed at a reasonable time. Staying up later than necessary to blog about my good nutrition seems silly. I’m just about halfway through and thought I’d revisit the five reasons I decided to take this on at a less than opportune time.

Sleep. This was so rough the first week. But now I’m sleeping as well as I can considering the volleyball-sized growth on my abdomen. I am falling asleep easily and not waking up at 4am. I do wake up when I find myself in an uncomfortable position, but I’m falling right back to sleep.

Digestive issues. Few and far between. I’ve had heart burn once that I can remember since starting and it was very short lived.

Eczema. At the beginning of week two my wrist flared like crazy. I would have been frustrated, but thanks to my NTP class I know about common reactions to nutritional protocols. One is a healing reaction, which looks just like the symptom you’re trying to fix. If it’s not severe, the best thing to do is push through it. (I am not a doctor and this is not medical advice.) The flare lasted a day or two and now my wrist is almost entirely clear.

Lethargy. I’ve got energy! Don’t get me wrong, I’m tired as hell. Work is crazy, Greg has been working around the clock, I’m trying to study for my final in the hours before and after my time in the office, and we’ve dealt with home repairs and changing renters in the condo all in the last ten days. I’m beat. But I wake up well rested and have enough energy to get through all of the above without feeling completely worn down and unable to deal. At the moment I’m only making it to my weekly yoga class, though I’m very much looking forward to working out more once class is over next week.

Mama guilt. I’m feeling really good. The martian is kicking around like crazy which is a constant reminder that my choices are no longer just for myself. While I assume I will always think I can be doing more when it comes to motherhood, right now I feel like I’m doing a good job.

Maybe it’s because I’m too busy to think about food, maybe it’s because the reason I can’t have a glass of wine is bigger than the Whole30, or maybe it’s because it’s my fourth (?) Whole30. For whatever reason, I just am not that focused on it. That’s not to say I’m not being completely compliant and absolutely feeling the benefits. It just doesn’t feel like that big of a deal. I eat something that makes me healthier when I feel hungry. It’s that simple. I can do that for thirty days. But maybe I should pretend it’s harder for me than it really is this time around so I can pick a Whole30 reward.

I really don’t mean to trivialize taking on a Whole30. It is a big undertaking and I applaud anyone’s efforts to do so. The other Whole30s I’ve done have felt much more intense, for lack of a better word. I don’t know why this one isn’t the same, but I’m grateful. If it felt more trying than it does, maybe I wouldn’t be able to continue given what else is on my plate. I’m actually finding that it feels like something has been taken off my plate during this crazy month rather than the other way around. My food choices are very black and white, one less thing to deal with three times a day. This is just my experience of this specific Whole30. Whatever your experience is is totally legitimate and real as well.

menu monday: super simple whole30 tips

2 Replies

This morning starts day seven of my Whole30. I started last Tuesday and because we were out of town the weekend before I didn’t have much time for prep. I thought I’d share today how I put together a simple plan for a week of Whole30 eats.

Make a plan. Even if you have really limited time to prepare, taking a second to make a plan is key. When I don’t make a plan, I find that I never end up with enough food. Not having enough food on hand is one of the reasons I’ve ended up not completing a Whole30 in the past, or in general picked a less healthy meal option. The plan doesn’t need to be fancy, but getting down what you’re going to eat for each of your 21 meals that week is the only way you’ll have an idea of what you need to have available. Here’s the quick menu I put together in about five minutes while timing friends on an exercise at study group. I’m not sure it can get more simple than this.

Eat and repeat. If you don’t like repetition this might be hard, but I don’t mind eating the same foods for my breakfasts and lunches all week. The key here is to make meals you know you like. Don’t try a new recipe for a week’s worth of lunches. Been there, done that, thrown it out, and picked up other food. I only go with favorites if I’m going to be eating one meal all week. Breakfast this week was hard boiled eggs mixed with homemade mayo over baby spinach and topped with sauerkraut. Lunch was chocolate chili over spaghetti squash and a side salad. One of my favorite meals ever.

I had one hour to prep food on Sunday night and made the most of it. I got the chili together and simmering then put the squash in the oven to roast. Once those were both going I hard boiled the eggs and made the mayo. Finally, I used my “convenience foods” to put together salads for each day of the week.

Mix protein, fat, and veggies. I didn’t have time on Sunday to prep meals for dinner so I went another easy option, creating super simple meals to make each night. When I need to cook on weeknights, I follow the formula of a quick cooking protein and veggies with a good fat. Greg ended up working late in the office most nights this week and my food went further than expected. Boo for no hubby, yay for less cooking. I made cracklin’ chicken that lasted several evenings and finished off the week with salmon on Friday night (living large here, people). The key to the formula working is making a plan to ensure that you have purchased or defrosted your proteins. Not having anything defrosted makes it very difficult to put together a ten minute meal.

This salmon dish took less than 15 minutes. I melted ghee in one pan, tossed the salmon with Old Bay seasoning, and pan seared it until done. At the same time I had bacon fat in another pan and let cherry tomatoes cook down (I recently read about this but can’t remember where). Once the tomatoes were done I sautéed spinach for a minute or two with a shake or two of sea salt. Dinner.

Buy convenience food. Typically when I’m going to do a Whole30 I have a lot more prep time and make more than normal from scratch. Since that wasn’t the case last week I needed to rely more on prepared and convenient foods. I like to think of this as my own version of don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good (commonly attributed to Voltaire). Sure, homemade everything is best, but you know what’s a lot better than eating pizza for lunch? Eating salad dressing on my salad that someone else made out of good, clean ingredients. Be practical and be realistic with yourself.

For my lunch salads I purchased pre-washed lettuce, cherry tomatoes, sliced mushrooms, cooked beets (I did have to chop these), and my favorite Tessemae’s dressing. I also picked up ghee, which I’ve only ever made in the past. Butter is off limits, but ghee (butter in which all milk proteins have been removed to make a pure fat) is okay. Knowing I would need options for sautéing, I picked it up and moved on. I also bought a package of prosciutto, bananas, and the no-sugar added version of Sunbutter for snacks.

This coming week we’re trying something new with PreMade Paleo. Painters will be in our home all week, turning our walls into one, neutral color (you don’t even understand how excited I am). I have five days worth of meals being delivered on Monday because I don’t know how much access we’ll have to the kitchen during the week and I’m not willing to compromise on these thirty days. I will report back next week on how we feel about the service.

_________________________________________________

I’ve been taking a few minutes to jot down my thoughts every night, mostly out of my own curiosity to understand what I get out of the experience. If you’re curious on the musings of someone on a Whole30, here you go. Everyone’s experience is different, but the Whole30 creators put together a general timeline as well that I find to be pretty accurate.

Day 1 Sleep deprived and had to get up earlier than normal for our 6:30am ultrasound. Glad I had the guidelines or I would have snacked all day because that’s what I do when I’m tired. Planned for big enough meals I didn’t get too snacky. Did have a banana with sun butter in the afternoon. Going to try to get 8+ hours tonight. Fingers crossed.

Day 2 I woke up wanting donuts, which is funny because donuts are not a go to vice of mine. Though maple bars are delicious. Mmm, maple bars. I digress. Fall tea (my favorite: Tazo Baked Cinnamon Apple) with a splash of apple cider vinegar is the perfect evening treat. I’m hoping a little ACV in the morning and evening will help with my heart burn. Slept okay last night, better than lately but still running very behind and need to catch up. Eating the same meals over and over actually reduces stress on busy weeks. I don’t have to think about it, I just eat what’s in the fridge when I’m hungry and move on.

Day 3 I slept last night! So happy. Woke up once with a terrible leg cramp (pregnancy fun?) but immediately went back to sleep. It’s amazing what a different outlook on life I have when I actually get more than a couple hours of fitful sleep. Made it back to prenatal yoga after two weeks off, too. Was much needed. Starving all day and ate a ton of fruit around the office. Hardest thing about doing Whole30 while being pregnant is not knowing when I’m going to have starving days. I guess I just need to prepare more food.

Day 4 I slept poorly last night, waking up at 4am and not really getting back to sleep after that. It’s frustrating, but I also understand I can’t expect 72 hours to fix a few months worth of bad habits. On a positive note, I’m not having any cravings for any off limits food. I’m so happy to be eating home cooked food after weeks of take out that I’m feeling really satisfied (and digestively good) with what I’m making myself. Ready for the weekend and some more sleep!

Day 5 Another crappy night of sleep and a headache that has lasted most of the day. I get why on the timeline these are called the “kill all the things” days. I’m exhausted and grouchy, but at least I know it’s just my body making sense of the changes. And I know WAY better days are just around the corner. So I’ll keep sipping my fall flavored tea and studying my notecards. 15 days to go with school, 25 with the whole30. Martian and I have got this covered.

Day 6 I slept so much better last night and feel really good today. Tons of energy. I have only eaten homemade food these six days and there’s such a difference. Wondering if I can go the full thirty days without eating out? Best part of today – finding sugar free bacon and having a $20 off coupon at our local co-op. FREE sugar free bacon.

menu monday: a guide to making nutritional recommendations a reality

Leave a reply

This isn’t a real menu monday post, but I’m very excited to share the following with you…

Official school countdown: 20 days! I can’t believe this journey is coming to an end, even if it feels like the next three weeks will be a little hellish. I’ve learned way more than I anticipated and am fired up in different ways than I thought I would be. Not better or worse, just different. One of the bonuses is the group of new friends who have come with the class. I look forward to supporting and leaning on them as we move outside the classroom and into the real world.

One of the last assignments I needed to complete (aside from my written and practical finals coming up in 18 days) was my community project. Our program has been very big on application and while it makes me uncomfortable, I’m glad it pushed me out of my comfort zone. I will book learn, take tests, and rock them all day. I much prefer assignments that are black and white, have right and wrong answers. But the community project and the Functional Eval that we learned are so not that. It’s good to stretch yourself, right?

If you’ve read my blog before you know I’m a total Type A who loves to plan, especially when it comes to food. For my project, I took this love and turned it into a resource for anyone who is transitioning to a real food diet and might need help with making it work from a practical standpoint. I go into detail on shopping, meal planning, and doing a cooking session to prepare for the week ahead. I have many more ideas I want and hope to add in over time, but I had to draw the line somewhere for my project.

More details and the link are on my new Thriving in the Kitchen page. I hope you enjoy and find it useful!

I have to give a quick thank you to my mom who edited and provided a few of her tips as well.

menu monday: i love the whole30

Leave a reply

You guys, I feel amazing. Five days into my mini Whole30 and I am feeling better than I have all summer. My sleep hasn’t improved yet but I usually see that sometime in the second week. I’m also basically a bottomless pit. That happens with every Whole30 and as the days go by I start to right size my meals and cut back on snacks.

I was pretty good at taking pictures during the week but failed most of the weekend. I did stick to 100% Whole30 eating, just no pictures to prove it. Other meals that I can remember but didn’t capture in a photo: pork spare ribs + easy cabbage slaw; Chipotle salad with carnitas and guac; grilled salmon and peaches; greek salad with chicken (hold the feta) at our local pub.

On to this week. It’s nice to be excited about cooking again. The cooler weather and getting back into a routine with work have really helped.

Breakfasts: chorizo with home fries (yay! potatoes are Whole30 approved now!), greens (mix of spinach and beet greens), and tomato; egg salad. I’ve been eating a ton of eggs lately (nothing wrong with that) and decided to try an eggless breakfast this week for a few days, before I burn out on my favorites.

Getting my veggies in with breakfast – going to be so good with home fries, chorizo, and salsa verde!

Lunches: tuna salad with cucumber and tomato; pork roast with veggies. WF2 has several variations of the pork roast and I’ll make whichever one sounds good tonight when I throw it in the crockpot.

Dinners: london broil with red pepper sauce; pork chops + veggies; steak + veggies. We’re almost a year into our quarter cow and half pig, so I’m down to all the cuts of meat I’ve been avoiding. I wasn’t excited about the london broil until I came across the red pepper recipe. If the sauce tastes half as creamy and delicious as it sounds, I’m going to be putting it on everything going forward.

Veggies/Sides: tomatillo salsa verde (tried a second recipe just for fun and liked it better than last week’s); pesto (awesome dairy + nut free recipe); mayo; roasted beets; kale; tomatoes; cucumbers; carrots; summer squash. I prepped three weeks of CSA beets today and roasted half of them. The other half is ready to be roasted later in the week (I think cooked veggies taste good for about three days max). And sauces. I know I’m back on my game when I have multiple sauces to choose from all week.

The red sauce is homemade ketchup that I used for ribs last week. Ribs weren’t so great but the ketchup is.

Three weeks of beets from our CSA. Don’t forget the tops are edible and tasty!

A friend generously gave us some of her bounty. That one squash made two pyrex dishes worth of ‘noodles’.

menu monday: back at it

2 Replies

It’s been a while since I’ve done a menu monday post, for no reason other than I haven’t menu planned in a very long time. Over the weekend I made a few goals for the rest of August and one of them is to get back to weekly menu planning. Not menu planning (and traveling, etc.) has lead to really sub-par eating the last month or two. I’m ready to get back to eating what makes me feel good and I know from experience that for me this requires being organized and planning ahead.

breakfast: Leftover Southwest Frittata from last week; hard-boiled eggs with mayo and hot sauce. Lately I’ve been adding 1/2 an avocado and a good-sized serving of sauerkraut to my meal.

Weekend breakfast: diced sweet potato, eggs, avocado, sauerkraut.

lunch: Salmon salad with veggies*; lamb stir-fry with middle eastern seasoning and veggies. I used canned salmon with skin and bones + a little mayo and a ton of chopped veggies to make my “salad”.

dinner: Greek Beef Stew over veggies; slow cooker spare ribs with veg.

Greek stew over sautéed cabbage.

bonus: My CSA box had tomatillos this week, which I’ve never worked with before. It was fun to try something new (and easy). First I removed husks, cut in half, and broiled them for 4 minutes. Then they were turned into salsa verde and tossed in the crockpot with two pounds of chicken thighs for emergency protein in the freezer (based on this re cipe).

I might never buy salsa verde again – it was so easy to make and tasted amazing.

*I’m still in love with my weekly CSA box and find it easier to not “assign” veggies to each meal and instead pick whatever needs to be used next (or sounds good) to go with the protein de jour.

I’m all about keeping things simple right now and limiting the number of recipes I cook versus meals that can be prepped without a recipe or specific ingredients. I’m also looking for recipes that make a good amount of leftovers to maximize my cooking time. Down the road (i.e. when school is done and it’s not ten million degrees in our house every day), I’m hoping to get back to cooking through Well Fed 2 and having more time in the kitchen. For now though, my goal simply is to start eating better.

menu monday: csa week one

2 Replies

I picked up our first summer CSA box on Thursday evening. I wasn’t loving the home delivery one we had and found a more traditional box. It’s delivered to a home in our neighborhood every Thursday and we get a mix of what’s in season that week. After several months of not having a CSA, I decided to start again for a few reasons.

Simplicity: Lately I’ve been making a lot of recipes and it’s getting exhausting. I’m looking forward to a summer of easy meals – grilled meats, quick salads, sautéed greens, fresh fruit, etc.
Time Saving: I’m spending a lot of time planning and shopping. I like the idea of picking my box up on Thursday and making do with what we get and what we already have.
Money Saving: My grocery bills have been pretty high lately. My goal is to have several weeks this summer where I don’t go to the grocery store at all. We have tons of protein and plenty of fresh veg now. It should be possible.
Variety: I tend to buy the same vegetables over and over again at the store, and make the same recipes. I’m looking forward to getting a good mix of local veggies throughout the summer to get out of the rut.

I love that since this particular CSA only does local food and because we’re in WA we’ll get more vegetables than fruit. I like to view fruit as more of a treat and some of my other boxes have been fruit heavy. This week the box included strawberries and cherries. I have the Martins to thank for my love of cherries; before my first visit to the orchard I had a silly notion that I hated cherries. (For the record, I still think maraschino cherries are disgusting.) We got a good mix of greens (purple kale, lettuce, spicy salad mix, and spinach) and other vegetables (radishes, asparagus, sprouts, sugar snap peas, garlic scrapes, and spring onions).

I still plan on meal planning for the week as it helps me make sure I have enough defrosted and prepped food for the week. My inside freezer was getting really full, so I’m getting off extra easy this week eating a lot of already prepared food*.

Breakfast: Bacon + eggs, Pork Breakfast Skillet*, Salmon Cakes*

Lunch: Egg + Radish Salad, dinner leftovers, Bolognese* with spaghetti squash and spinach

Dinner: Steaks, Carne Asada salads, salmon, pork chops, shrimp

I don’t typically love radishes, but this salad was a definite winner. Perfect for a summer lunch. To not be wasteful, I lightly sautéed the radish greens and tossed them in the salad as well.

Super simple summer meal, ready in ten minutes. Greg grilled the steak while I cooked the asparagus and snap peas. The mango salsa was leftover from Friday night (and bought pre-made).

menu monday: no menu, but freezer tips!

2 Replies

We spent our weekend on Oahu (post to come!) so I haven’t meal planned or shopped for this week. I did prepare ahead of time by making extras of several meals over the last two weeks for the freezer. We’ll be good to go for the first few days of the week while I get my act together. In the meanwhile, this seems like a good time to share my tips on freezing foods. So, straight from a cabana in Waikiki, here’s how I make my freezer work for me:

Foods That Freeze Well

Breakfast casseroles that are egg based freeze great. I typically bake, slice into single servings, wrap in aluminum foil, and toss in the freezer. (Disclaimer: After recently studying the mineral module for my NTP certification, I’m looking for a new alternative to the aluminum foil solution.) I try to plan ahead and defrost in the fridge, which leads to a much better texture than nuking in the microwave from frozen.
Mealballs are so easy to make in bulk and then freeze, it’s a no brainer.
Salmon cakes freeze well! This is a recent discovery for me and I’m excited. Since I prefer to eat my salmon cakes room temp, I let them defrost first. If you prefer them warm/hot, you could try heating from frozen.
Ground meat is a freezer staple of mine. Often times when I’m making taco meat or another seasoned ground meat, I will double and freeze one pound. It’s an easy way to get a stash of meals going in your freezer without a lot of extra work.
Stews and chili taste great post-freeze. I hadn’t thought of this rule of thumb before, but I’m thinking that if you can make it in the crockpot, you can likely freeze it. These meals typically don’t loose their texture once defrosted. I like to reheat on the stovetop as that helps with some of the liquid that seems to accumulate while frozen.
Soup is souper (ha!) easy to freeze. I try to always double a batch of soup and freeze half for later. Such an easy vegetable side for dinner and usually has the added bonus of bone broth.
Speaking of, bone broth! Keep a freezer stash full and you will never again have to use store bought broth with it’s long list of ingredients.
Vegetables are more tricky (for me at least). Grated sweet potato is about all I freeze. Suggestions? Leave ’em in the comments, please!

Crockpot Freezer Meals

I wish I had a long list of ideas for you here. Crockpot ready frozen meals seem awesome in theory and I love the idea of once-a-month cooking. Salsa chicken verde (there are a million recipes out there) is the only idea I’ve had that meets my ingredient requirements and doesn’t turn out mushy. I start by tossing all the ingredients in a freezer bag (make as many freezer bags/meals as you have space to freeze!). The night before I want to cook it, I toss it in the fridge to defrost. You could skip this, but it might be hard to get the food out of the freezer bag if it’s rock solid. Then I toss it in the crockpot to cook. If you have other ideas, I’d love to hear them.

Tips for freezing food

Follow safety standards. I’m not an expert here so read up on your own and do what you need to do. I always make sure to let food cool before putting it in the freezer. I buy the freezer safe glass jars and never fill past the indicated max fill line.
Label your food. I know you think you will know what it is, but I promise you won’t remember. I use either painters tape or masking tape to write on with a sharpie. Include the item, the date, and the number of servings or amount.
Buy smaller glass freeze ware. I find that freezing and defrosting single (I do double as well since there are two of us in the house) portions is the most likely way for me to actually make it through my food stash without wasting. I like knowing I can defrost one or two meals worth of something and not be eating a stew for the next six nights in a row.
Freezer friendly mason jars are great as well, I’ve been using them for everything lately (both in the freezer and just as tupperware now that I’ve thrown out almost all of our plastic). I use both the pint and the two pint sizes.
Also freeze non-meal food in different quantities so you don’t have to defrost more than you need. I try to have varying amounts of bone broth frozen (ice cube sized, 1 cup, and 2 cup). For shredded sweet potatoes I often do a few 1 cup and a few 2 cup portions.
If space is a concern, try freezing soups, stews, chili, and broth in freezer bags, laying them flat. Once frozen they will be nice and flat and you can stack several on top of each other, or “file” them standing upright.

Enjoy your week!

menu monday: it’s bbq season!

6 Replies

Though I try really hard to enjoy and be thankful for every day, it’s not big secret that I live for summer and fall. As far as I’m concerned we can do without January through May. This weekend we celebrated what might be my favorite weekend of the year, the start of BBQ season. We had a 1pm Sounders game and 75 degree weather. How do you not follow up a 4-0 victory on a sunny day with a BBQ?

I’m still cruising along with my 12 week challenge (week three starts today!) and Whole30. I wanted to make a meal that everyone would enjoy and that would be compliant for me as well. A bit of Pinteresting later and I had decided on build your own kabobs. This is perfect for our Sounders group, as we have big carnivores (me) and those who much prefer mostly veg with a bit of protein (my dear friend Becca). With this set-up, everyone made their kabobs to order and threw them on the grill as they wanted another one. Note: the potatoes are not Whole30 compliant.

You could totally change the recipes and do you own thing, but I went the easy route and copied The Meanest Mommy’s plan exactly as she posted (skipped the hot dogs as we only had 7 people eating). All the meats got great reviews, though I think my favorite was the chicken. Not sure I’ve used tarragon much before and I really like it. I prepped all the meat and chopped the veggies before the game (took about an hour) and there was almost no work once we were ready to eat. I get made fun of every time, but I don’t believe a party is truly a party if there are not some sort of food labels.

We ended up with leftovers so my menu plan for the week is looking really easy. It’s one of those weeks where I’m just going to eat the same thing for each meal all week because it’s easy and, if it’s something I enjoy, I totally don’t mind the repetition. That really is the key to eating the same meal over and over. You need to make sure it’s a meal you love. I do not recommend planning to eat a chicken breast and roast broccoli for lunch four days in a row. I guarantee (from past experience) the pizza in the cafeteria will call your name by Wednesday.

Breakfast: Tropical Salmon Cakes with Spicy Coconut Mayo from Well Fed 2 (recipes not available online so go get yourself a copy!). I am loving salmon cakes for breakfast. They are easy to make ahead, something different from eggs, help me get a daily serving of seafood (a new goal I’m working on) and with a little mayo easily keep me full until lunchtime. Well Fed 2 has about 10 different variations which help change it up a bit.

Lunch: Turkish Doner Kabob with Zucchini Noodles and Tahini Sauce. A new Well Fed 2 recipe, finally! I need to do a recap of where I am with my cooking through the book. Clearly taking much longer than anticipated, but I also didn’t expect to start a complete career change this year.

Dinner: Leftovers from the BBQ with whatever veggies I find in the fridge.

The week ends in pretty much the best way possible: a super quick weekend trip to Waikiki with my hubby. It will be my first traveling Whole30 and I’ll try to write a bit about how I plan (and succeed!) to tackle that next week.

West Coast Martins

our adventures, documented.

Tag Archives: Meal plan

menu monday: my whole30 recap

menu monday: eating from the freezer

menu monday: premade paleo

menu monday: super simple whole30 tips

menu monday: a guide to making nutritional recommendations a reality

menu monday: i love the whole30

menu monday: back at it

menu monday: csa week one

menu monday: no menu, but freezer tips!

menu monday: it’s bbq season!