Round three down!
Anyone can do the Whole 30 - YOU can do the Whole 30. I am frequently asked, "So, what DO you eat?" or told, "I don't think my boyfriend/husband would be into a diet." I wouldn't really call the Whole 30 a diet. It's a lifestyle change. It's about learning what foods make you're body (and mind) feel good. It's about breaking our addictions to certain foods or the daily sweet following savory cravings. It's not about being hungry and it's certainly not about being bored with your food. My boyfriend just completed his first Whole 30 (yayyy Justin!!! **proud girlfriend**), and he can attest - the food isn't the hard part. Not drinking beer/wine/milkshakes may be tough, but dinners don't have to be. Here are our Whole 30 dinners - hope they give you some ideas!
Day 1 - Slow Cooker Pulled Pork with Ghee Mashed Potatoes and Avocado Green Goddess Dressing (No photo, sorry!)
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| Day 2 - Grilled steak with baked prosciutto wrapped asparagus spears with a golden beet and fig salad with walnuts and a coconut vinaigrette |
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| Day 3 - Slow cooker shredded buffalo chicken stuffed sweet potatoes with homemade chipotle ranch on greens. This buffalo chicken is so easy!! I put a few breasts/thighs in my slow cooker with garlic powder, salt and frank's hot sauce (surprisingly Whole 30 approved). On low for 5-6 hours, shred with 2 forks and voila! Yummy shredded buffalo chicken! I usually make a big batch to eat over salads or wrapped in collard greens with a pickle and avo for lunch. |
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| Day 4 - Orange cashew chicken on sesame oil sauteed cauliflower rice Thank you to Jay's BakingMeCrazy for the recipe inspiration. I did not add any tapioca starch, omitted the honey, doubled the sauce, added half a chopped green cabbage, a chopped red bell pepper and a half a cup of raw cashews for crunch. |
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| Day 5 - Pork Egg Roll Bowl with Pineapple Sweet and Sour Sauce Egg Roll Bowl inspiration here and sauce recipe here Day 6 - Leftover Orange Cashew Chicken Day 7 - Leftover Egg Roll Bowl |
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| Day 8 - Sashimi platter with sweet sour daikon radish and cucumber salad We got fancy on a Friday! My bootcamp class happened to be next to Wholefoods so I picked up some sushi-grade tuna and salmon before heading home It was hot - so the oven was not gonna get turned on... like at all. Hence, sushi for dinner! Served with coconut aminos (like soy sauce) and wasabi powder mixed with water (read the label!). I used the leftover sweet and sour sauce from the egg roll bowl and mixed with some spiralized radish and cucumber for an easy side salad. And notice the La Croix seltzer... in a wine glass... I love. |
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| Day 9 - Hatch green chili ground lamb burgers with baked garlic rosemary turnip fries, homemade chipotle strawberry ketchup and salad with Tessamae's ranch dressing |
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| Day 10 - Baked garlic salmon with homemade dill tartar sauce and bacon chard brussel sprout saute (delicious!!) |
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| Day 11 - Slow cooker hatch chili pork tenderloin with pineapple served on romaine with cherry tomatoes, red onion and avocado |
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| Day 12 - Slow cooker Moroccan chicken with sweet potatoes and raisins on baby kale with tahini parsnip "rice" Original recipe by Real Food with Dana - found here Day 13 - Leftover Moroccan Chicken (such great flavors! This may have been my fave meal this round.) |
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| Day 14 - Salmon cakes with dill pickle tartar on baby kale with olive egg potato salad Recipe here |
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| Day 15 - Sage scallion turkey burger with guacamole on arugula with cherry tomatoes When I say "with" guacamole, I mean drowning in guacamole. I found that it was cheaper and easier for me to buy pre-made guacamole (read labels of course) this round. Also, the ground sage mixed in with the ground turkey gives it a sausage-like flavor. |
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| Day 16 BREAKFAST -- Bacon Hotdog Potato Hash Breakfast Pizza This was too good not to share. Cooked the bacon first - left the bacon fat in the pan. Added grated potato/carrot and cooked for 8-10 minutes until the bottom of the hash was golden brown and crispy. Cracked 4 eggs on top and covered until the eggs were almost cooked. Added bacon and Whole 30 hotdogs, cooked for another minute before slicing and serving. Day 16 Dinner - Leftover sage scallion turkey burgers drowning in guacamole over salad |
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| Day 17 - Greek stuffed turkey burgers with tahini sauce, almond crusted baked onion rings with roasted red pepper aioli and grilled romaine These burgers are stuffed with roasted red peppers (you can buy a jar at Trader Joe's), chopped black olives, red onion, arugula and a tablespoon of tahini. Burger brainchild and tahini sauce recipe here. Onion rings are dipped in egg and then a mixture of coconut flour, almond meal, garlic powder, paprika and salt before baked at 400 for 20 minutes (flipped halfway through). The inspiration for those was this recipe. |
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Notice our seltzer-filled wine glasses :)
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| Day 19 - Taco pie with a plantain crust, topped with salsa, guac and cilantro Day 20 - Leftover Taco Pie (also known as "mexican meat mountain") My "meat mountain" looks nothing like the beauty created by Kristin at LivingLovingPaleo. Her recipe can be found here |
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| Day 21 - Basil garlic meatballs with tomato sauce and spiralized zucchini (zoodles) |
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| Day 22 - Grilled London Broil with baked delicata squash "fries" and a salad |
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| Day 23 - Potato almond gnocchi with basil almond pesto, arugula and mushrooms with Trader Joe's Garlic Herb Chicken Sausage This was time consuming. But oh, what an indulgent and delicious meal! I used this recipe as a guide. Leftovers were eaten with scrambled eggs for breakfast EVERY DAYYY until they were gone. SO good. |
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| Day 24 APPETIZER - Prosciutto wrapped cantaloupe and figs |
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| Day 24 - Baked chicken wings with red pepper aioli, baked dill carrots fries and garlic pepper potato skins and romaine leaves After a steep 5 mile hike, we were hungry! Plus it was Sunday, soooo chicken wings. I saved the potato skins from the day before (gnocchi), tossed them in olive oil, garlic powder, salt and pepper and baked them for these tasty crispy potato skins. The drumsticks were not eaten this evening- I chopped up the meat and mixed with some Primal Kitchen mayo, curry powder, diced apples and onions for a chicken salad for the upcoming week's lunches.   Day 25 - Slow cooker bacon beef chili with sweet potato toast and guac My boyfriend's parents were in town to join us for this meal. His mom told me this was the best chili she'd ever had --- and she lives in Texas!!!!!! This will now be my go-to chili recipe. Also - sweet potato toast.. genius. You won't miss bread. I used this recipe by Paleo Paparazzi as my guide, adding some extra veggies (chopped carrots) and using a heavy hand on the spices.  Day 26 BREAKFAST - Sweet Potato Toast with Raw Cruchy Almond Butter (Trader Joe's), sliced banana and a sprinkle of cinnamon If you have a toaster, these are as easy as popping in 1/4 inch slice of sweet potato into the machine for two rounds. I don't have one - so I bake at 425 for 25ish minutes, flipping halfway through.   Day 26 - Spaghetti Squash Meatball Casserole Satisfied any and all Italian food cravings! I mostly followed (that's right - I followed a recipe - kinda) this recipe from LivingLovingPaleo. I don't measure my spices (why dirty another spoon?!) and could not, for the life of me, find sugar-free pepperoni so I subbed a few slices of prosciutto. I also forgot to buy parsley, so I used basil instead. Day 27 - Leftover Meatball Casserole  Day 28 - Roasted Carrot Thai soup with Asian Meatballs Recipe inspiration found here. Day 29 - Leftover soup and meatballs  Day 30 - Slow Cooker Buffalo Chicken with Delicata Squash and Dill Carrot Fries Annnnnnnnnnnnnnd we made it!  Day 31!!!! - Snickers Pie You better believe this lady and her man earned some dessert!! Instead of ransacking the Wholefoods dessert section and shocking our cleansed systems, I made this healthy yet sinful pie. The only non-compliant ingredients were coconut syrup and, of course, the much-craved and well-deserved dark chocolate. Recipe inspiration found here. And remember - you are NOT on a diet..... you are changing your life. :)Good luck on your journey! |
