Tag Archives: whole30 meals

Day 23 Eats!

Isn’t it crazy how you can stay home aaaallllll day and yet still be busy as anything from sun-up to sun-down? Today, that was us. We have a family staying with us for a few days, starting tonight, from Dallas. They are here to participate in the Houston homeschool speech and debate competition. We had a lot of work to do to get the guest room ready for them… after we finished school. Who knows how long cleaning a room full of toys and dress-up clothes (and then the aftermath that leaves in other rooms) takes for most people but for us, it takes hooouuuuurrrrsssss. We had to cancel a playdate just to make sure to get it done, but it was worth it. I’m loving my clean and organized guest room!

Before we started all this work, we started with a delicious and filling breakfast of chorizo and eggs. Too bad we don’t have any left now. (sad face) I am looking forward to my baby doctor visit next week so we can stop by the Whole Foods down the road and get more chorizo!
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Day 14 Eats!

We are in full swing school, work and life over here. How bout you?

Today we started our day in the word, learning about how to know what the truth is in various circumstances and the only true place we can find the truth, the bible. It was cool to see the kids really understand what they were learning and we got into a long discussion about this and more. It was yet another reason I love being home with them, to be able to explore these truths and dig deeply into them alongside my kids.

After bible time we had some eggs and sausage with a side of frozen blueberries. My kids favorite snack right now is frozen blueberries and I have to admit, they really are good. Sort of like nature’s dippin’ dots. Oh yeah…

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Day 13 Eats!

No matter how hard I try, Sunday mornings still end up with us rushing out the door to get to church in time. I don’t know how that happens!

Thankfully, this morning I had the perfect amount of waffles left over for pumpkin waffle almond butter banana sandwiches… and Brandon finally got to try some! They were just as big of a hit as last time. And guess what, we kind of got to church on time! LOL

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After church we went out with some new friends, soon to become great friends, for lunch. We went to a restaurant where not only kids eat free, they have at least one thing on the menu that we can eat and feel good about. Hey, one is all we need!

We were having such great conversation that I forgot to take picture (darn it) but I can tell you it was all good food. The ordering part was pretty funny though. Our waitress certainly earned her tip! “Can I order the appetizer bowl of guacamole without chips but lots of veggies instead? Can I also please order the kids fajita with no cheese, no tortilla, no rice, and no beans? Can I also order the mixed fajita plate for 2 with no cheese, no beans, no cheese, no sour cream, no tortillas and a whole lot of guacamole? Thanks.” I tried not to laugh. It was super tasty and super good for us.

Here’s a stock photo of my fajitas to give you an idea of our lunch:

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After lunch we interviewed a babysitter for the kids, cleaned up the rest of our Christmas stuff, got down all our baby girl things from the attic, and fell over exhausted. At 7 I realized I needed to feed the tribe and didn’t have anything ready and I was tiiiired. Soooo glad to be going by a meal plan which means I had all the ingredients for all those meals on hand.

I wanted to make the spaghetti casserole but my spaghetti squash was bad so I went for a bowl of spaghetti chili. I sautéed a diced sweet potato, 6 diced carrots, a diced onion and a package of chicken sausage, diced. I threw all that in with a large can of crushed tomatoes, some herbs de provence, garlic, salt and pepper. A few minutes later everything was hot and dinner was on the table. It was the perfect ending to a long day.

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It’s funny how cooking at home and not giving yourself the option to run to a fast food restaurant (like we surely would have) changes the way you think about “fast food”. All of these ingredients were in-house and available to make a fast, healthy meal but I still wanted to run out and grab something that would have been awful for all of us. Why? Old habits die hard. The more important question is: did I? No. I got up, I threw some tasty ingredients together, and I made a homemade, delicious, healthy meal that everyone enjoyed.

It’s all a choice. What choices are you making? 

Day 12 Eats!

It’s the weeeeeekend!!! Ahem… 

I’m always glad to have some time to sit back and breathe and get ready for the next week, as I’m sure we all are.

For breakfast we still had leftovers of my ginormous Lagniappe Casserole so we warmed some up and ate it with grapes. Seriously, if you’re looking for an easy breakfast meal that will last for days, make this casserole- it works great.

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We’re starting to make a habit of eating late and today was no exception. We spent the good part of the day un-decorating from Christmas and making our house look bare. So sad…

Jeremiah was eager to make us his “Crazalad” and that he did. He did a great job but by the time he was done it was 5 o’clock so lunch turned into dinner. Oops! We were pretty hungry by that point and it was so good that we ate the entire HUGE bowl. If you’re looking for a great lunch that everyone will love, you need to make Jeremiah’s crazalad. It is so refreshing and delicious, you will love it.

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After dinner we went out with Jazz to do a little training and get him some healthy treats.

It was a slow, quiet day. Just the way I like it. 

 

Week 3 Paleo Meal Plan

I’m going to try something new with this week’s meal plan. Last week leftovers were in abundance, we ate out for 1 lunch and 1 dinner and didn’t get to as many meals as I had planned for. Totally okay, but I thought I would try a new way of listing the meals. I am going to list a few meals for breakfast and dinner, with lunch always being leftovers of the previous dinners. This way, you still have all of the ingredients available and in-house for these meals, but it gives you more flexibility as to when you want to make them- without feeling bad that you didn’t make them on the day it was scheduled. Make sense? Here goes:

Week 3 Paleo Meal Plan: 

Breakfasts

A couple of these meals will be repeats, which is completely okay. If you love chorizo, as I do, make enough eggs for the next day as well. If you’re like my kids and can’t get enough of the pumpkin waffles, make a bigger batch and have sandwiches twice. I don’t think anyone will be anything but thankful for the great food coming from your kitchen!

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Ham and Eggs with a side of avocado: This is exactly how it sounds. Dice up some ham, brown it for a couple minutes, throw in as many eggs as you need and scramble them all together. Season with salt and pepper and plate with avocado. Perfect!

Sausage and Eggs: Yep. Brown up some sausage (most stores have great breakfast chicken sausage) and then make your eggs as you like them. I would add again to add the avocado and start your day with some wonderful, good fat.

Apple Muffins: These are a great recipe from Everyday Paleo and we haven’t made them in a very long time. It’s always nice to have one super easy, make ahead breakfast meal for the week, especially on Sunday’s for us.

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Chorizo and Eggs: My most favorite breakfast meal is chorizo and eggs. Good chorizo cannot be found at a regular grocery store as they add lots of fillers. Check out Whole Foods or your local meat guy for the good stuff. Brown the chorizo for a few minutes, then add the eggs right into the pan. Scramble together until everything is fully cooked. So good!!!

Pumpkin Waffle Almond Butter Banana Sandwiches: My kids loved these so much they are begging to have them again. At some point in this week I will gladly oblige. (I kind of really like them myself.)

 

Lunches

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Our lunches consist of lots of LEFTOVERS!!! Might not sound glamourous but with the deices food we make for dinner, lunch is just as delicious. It also makes it super easy while working, doing school, or just trying to keep the kitchen clean for a tiny bit of the day- to warm up leftovers! If we happen to not have leftovers available that day we always have salad of some sort available. That might be tuna salad, chicken salad, or a regular salad. Have a back up if needed… and enjoy those leftovers!

 

Dinners

Here’s where the fun and creativity happens! I am listing a few meals to put where you want for the week and don’t forget about the weekend! We certainly don’t want to get to the weekend and not have anything ready and run off to a msg infested restaurant. Continue your plan even into the weekend and you’ll be prepared and ready for anything. Of course, if you make enough of these meals, they might last you way into the next week- what a great problem to have! All of the meats with these meals can be frozen up until the time you need them so don’t fret. Have the ingredients ready and know that you are more than prepared to feed your family healthy and delicious meals for the entire week.

20120727_183605Chicken Curry- This is a warm comfort-foodie meal that can be made in a massive batch, or a small one. Totally up to your needs. You can also choose which meat you want. For instance, I will be using shredded turkey instead of chicken because that’s what I have available and it tastes great. I would add that you really need to top your curry with a few slices of avocado, it makes it even better!

Crispy Chicken Legs- I will be following the recipe of spices from my chicken wing recipe but since chicken legs were on sale, chicken wings it is! Cook them on a slightly lifted baking rack (like a cookie cooling rack) on a cookie sheet. This way the heat can reach all around the chicken and make it crispy. Cook at 400 for about 35 minutes, rotating once during cooking. Side with a green veggie and a starchy veggie. We’ll most likely be going with butternut squash and asparagus.

Tin Can Chili- Jeremiah is working on a delicious and easy chili recipe for the crockpot with this one. Here’s what you need: 3 large cans of crushed tomatoes (with naturally derived citric acid), 1 regular sized can of tomato sauce, 1 cup of veggie broth, 5 medium cans of chicken (or boil and shred the equivalent yourself), 2 cans of chopped spinach (the equivalent fresh), 5 carrots, 2 onion, cumin, cayenne pepper, chili powder, salt and pepper.

20120723_085617-1-8-08-18-amSweet Beef Scramble- This one is super easy and super fast to make- and can be made in a huge batch if needed. My kids love the sweetness and I love that it has everything in one bowl and super healthy.

Pork Ribs- One of my favorite meals is one I don’t have to cook. Right?! That’s why we have the pork ribs. These can certainly be made in the oven but if you have a grill outside- go use it! My hubby takes over the domain out there and I am only responsible for the sides. Brandon seasons differently every time with a little bit of this and a little bit of that- and it always turns out great. If you need a spice recipe to follow try this one and work your way up to your own creativity. The sides are totally up to you here- I’ll probably be making sweet potato fries and a green veggie like steamed broccoli.

img_02541Spaghetti Casserole- This is a new one but a super easy one too. Here’s what you do: Make some homemade spaghetti sauce with a good meat or sausage. Cook a spaghetti squash by cutting in half lengthwise, scrape out the seeds, drizzle with olive oil and place cut side down on a foil lines cookie sheet. Cook in a 425 degree oven for 25 minutes. Shred spaghetti squab with a fork and mix in with sauce. Toss the whole thing in a baking dish (if you’re good with cheese add some on top here) and stick it in the oven on 350 for 15 minutes. Spaghetti isn’t spaghetti without a side salad and that’s what we’ll be having!

 

Our week 3 is filled with a whole lot of scrumptious, healthy, easy meals that your whole family is sure to enjoy.

Now go shopping and be ready for the week!!! 

Day 4 Eats!

The days are flying by already!

I got my nerve up and weighed myself this morning, mainly out of curiosity after all my Christmas goodies, and guess what? I lost 4 pounds of sludge in 3 days! Am I trying to lose weight? Heck no. Am I trying to be healthy and fit? Absolutely!

Already the heartburn that I was having, making me pop Tums like m&m’s, is almost non-existent. My tummy is soft without bulging intestines (and yes I could feel them) due to eating gut irritating foods. My body hurts, in a good way, from doing the crossfit challenge and I’m excited to end this pregnancy on the right foot, with the hopes that I will get back into great shape soon after my baby comes, with the help of the work I’m doing now.

It’s a journey for sure, and I am glad to be on it. 

Okay: breakfast! A simple, scrumptious meal of sweet potato hash and eggs over easy… with a side of avocado. I seriously ate at least 4 times the hash pictured here. It was soooo good I couldn’t help myself. My poor kids wanted more but I had already eaten all the extra! Oops.
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Lunch was leftover Sausage and Cabbage Delight and was just as good as the day before. What did you expect?

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We watched Ice Age tonight and ate a hodge-podge of leftovers and fruit while we did. We had a little of each of these meals left so we all chose one with an apple and a slice of pineapple for dessert.

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A casual day of eating surrounded by a lot of school, house-cleaning, and playing outside with friends.

Does our day revolve around food? Not at all. Is the food we eat delicious, filling, and making our bodies work at their best? Yes.

And we’re loving it. 

Day 26 Eats!

We’re finally getting back to normal! Of course, our normal is a little off to begin with but hey, it works for us!

We ate breakfast this morning as an appraiser walked around our house. It was interesting to say the least. He commented quite a few times on how well my kids eat which was pretty funny. Levi probably ate about 4 or 5 eggs on his own and 4 pieces of sausage. You can only imagine how much the other two ate. It was a pretty darn good breakfast if I do say so myself. Plain old sausage and eggs. Haha.

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Day 25 Eats!

Talk about a lack of energy today. After running around like crazy people for the last few days we are worn out today! No time to rest though. The appraiser is coming tomorrow and our messy house needs to get clean. Talk about a day of basic eating. Breakfast was fruit. Yep, that’s it, fruit. We have zero food in the house except for the leftover fruit we had brought with us to Houston. So we ate fruit.

Last night I defrosted some frozen spaghetti chili to last us the next couple days, perfect plan. I always think spaghetti tastes even better as leftovers, and it really does.

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Day 24 Eats!

Time to go home! We’re on our way back to NOLA today. This will be our last drive “home” to New Orleans although we will absolutely be coming back to visit. Especially when we finally get our diabetic alert dog we will be coming back to show him off to all of our amazing supporters. I can’t wait for that day!

We started off with a great breakfast of eggs and bacon. The kids took it upon themselves to make a “fruit cocktail” for all of us. They were too cute.

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Day 23 Eats!

Today was a day of waiting….and waiting…..and waiting some more. I’ll tell you what, being under a massive amount of stress and eating only whole30 approved foods is NOT easy. As we sat in our realtors office and drooled over the jar of cookies, and the jar of candy, and the other jar of candy, and the pitcher of pink lemonade, it was NOT easy! But we did it. I will say that it is easier to make the right decisions when your whole family is making the same decision. If my kids were eating candy while I tried to have self-control on my own, that self-control would turn into a deep lack of self-control quickly. When all of us are saying no we all are strong together. Doesn’t get any better.

Breakfast this morning was a sausage, eggs and fruit. A simple, healthy way to start off the day, complete with salsa in our eggs. Hey, we’re in Texas!

 

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Day 22 Eats!

Day 2 of house hunting! We looked at 12 houses yesterday and looking at 12 more today. Making sure we have covered our bases for sure. Thankfully, we are eating well and my ginormous box of homemade trail mix has been serving us well.

Brandon’s best friend from college lives here in Houston so we’ve been staying with him and his precious wife Ashley…and their 2 adorable children. It’s been a blast and they’ve gone out of their way to have whole30 approved food available for us.

Breakfast this morning was eggs with salsa, sausage and fruit. Oh yeah, and coffee! Wonderful breakfast with wonderful friends.

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Day 19 Eats!

Thank God it’s Friday! I actually didn’t realize it was Friday until the evening which just shows how much  I needed it to be Friday. Haha. We kept it simple at breakfast and used up the meats we had left before shopping at the Farmers Market on Saturday. I made chorizo and eggs with what chorizo we had left and ham and eggs with the ham that was left. Of course, I picked the chorizo….and vitamins. Cute, huh? 

We’ve been enjoying going to the summer movies and today was the last movie showing, Kung Fu Panda. Instead of popcorn and candy we went for a snack of sushi. Perfect!

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Day 17 Eats!

Day 17 already?! The time is flying….well, sometimes. How’s it going for you? We are getting into a groove and Whole30 has pretty much become the norm around here, which is fantastic. We had been testing the waters off the wagon before this whole30 and Brandon and I are both glad to be back on it with happy tummies. Crossing our fingers that we remember how great we feel when temptations arise!

Yesterday I cooked a bunch of meals and I am sooooo glad I did. I forgot about pre-cooking and how much easier it makes the next couple of days. There were 3 options for breakfast today and we chose to go with the cabbage and sausage. Surprisingly my kids love this dish although they have no idea how great it is for them too. 

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Day 16 Eats!

I spent a while today prepping, cooking, chopping, mixing, freezing and storing food for the next few days. Yes, it took some time, and a good amount of dishes (thankfully my trusty dishwasher, Brandon, cleans them for me), but I feel so accomplished to have a refrigerator full of great food for all different meals. Here’s the count:

-Cabbage and Sausage Stir Fry

-Chicken Salad

-Seasoned Okra

-Hawaiian Chicken

-Homemade Chicken Stock

-Serving sizes of fresh salmon bagged and frozen

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Day 15 Eats!

Sometimes it feels like these whole30 days are going by rather slowly and yet then I look up and…we’re halfway through!

I am so proud of all of us and how great we are doing. No, the desire to eat onion rings or red beans and rice or ice cream hasn’t gone away, but we are loving the great food we are eating and how we feel eating it. I’ll tell you what, when our family says we’re going to do something, we do it. And we do it with style.

We’re spending more quality time together, we’re in the word, we’re sleeping better, we’re exercising, we’re feeling better, Jeremiah’s numbers are doing well, and Brandon’s tummy is quickly going down. We are so blessed to be where we are and beyond thankful for the season God has us in. Blessing after blessing has been poured on our undeserving heads these past few weeks and we are humbled and thankful for them. Some you know of, some we will share with you later.

The main blessing? The strengthening of our family. We have purposefully been spending quality time together and it’s been wonderful. We’ve been playing games, reading, cooking, cleaning and resting…together. If you are running around so busy that you only get a few precious minutes with your family at the end of the day, I urge you to see what can be moved around to remedy that immediately. It’s a beautiful thing how time spent with your family can do so much, just by being together. Try it, you’ll like it!

So how did our day 15 go? It was Whole30 approved, that’s for sure! 

Breakfast was a casserole of eggs, steak and asparagus. We’re cutting back on Jeremiah’s egg consumption so he had a bowl of salmon and veggies.

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Day 14 Eats!

I know you know but I’m going to say it again just for good measure: we successfully made it through another great day of eating whole30 approved foods and we feel great!

One of our goals with this whole30 was to be together as a family more. It’s really cool to see that actually happening. Today was a day spent together, not by chance, or after a busy week, but a day spent together after many days spent together. And I think it ‘s growing on us.

The kids are playing together nicely, Brandon’s on the floor with them every evening, we’re having a great time cheering on team USA together, and we’re making wise decisions together as a family. I’ve got to say my most favorite, and selfish, part of this togetherness is the agreement Brandon and I made. Since I’m doing 95% of the cooking and it is creating a huge amount of dishes Brandon offered to be my dishwasher.

It’s working great  and it’s really nice to be working together. Hint, hunt guys! Brandon has also been enjoying grilling lately, as we all have. Just another way we are all working together.

Breakfast today was my have and one you’ve seen a lot of, and will continue to see, chorizo and eggs. Although we have brought eggs back into our diet, when it comes to Jeremiah I am still limiting his eggs. He is trying to hold in his excitement because he isn’t fond of eggs to begin with. So breakfast for Jeremiah was leftover salmon with the leftovers from lunch yesterday.

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Day 13 Eats!

Let me preface today with….it’s Saturday! Today was not a great day for gourmet meals, at least for breakfast and lunch, but it doesn’t have to be. We ate good food, had a fun day, and still feel great. What more do we need?

Breakfast was such a hodgepodge of whatever you could get your hands on and whenever you decided to wake up that pictures didn’t happen. I grabbed a banana and ran out the door to the farmers market and the gym. When I got home Brandon left for the gym, after doing a sink-full of dishes and eating an orange with sliced ham. I told you it wasn’t glamourous, but we ate!

When we were all home again and sitting around the table playing Monopoly I made a very quick snack that was devoured in a matter of seconds. Perfect mid-morning snack of smoked salmon and kiwi!

 

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Day 12 Eats!

At the beginning of the week we had steak at one meal and pork chops at another. With both we had a tiny bit of leftovers, and this, aides and gentlemen, is why I keep ALL leftovers. I cut up the meat into small bite-sized pieces and tossed it with cubes of butternut squash and sweet potatoes cooked in coconut oil. Dang. That’s all I can say. Dang. (I mean come on, look at the picture!)

Next time you have leftovers, be creative. You’ll be amazed at the delicious meals you can come up with!

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Day 11 Eats!

For breakfast on our Day 11 we had leftover Spicy Shred and Sweet Beef Scramble. Still great! 

Every Thursday we’re out and about and normally eat out. We were at the mall at lunch time where we might have normally ran to the chicken strips but we did good! We ordered a pound of lamb from our favorite greek restaurant with a side of steamed veggies. Perfect! (Even though we were smelling the freshly baked cookies as we were eating.)

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