Whole 30 - Day 6

Today's Menu

breakfast: scrambled eggs, fruit salad, and a green smoothie

lunch: sauteed mushroom and bok choy (with coconut oil and splashes of sesame oil, fish oil, and coconut aminos), sliced leftover pork, and a soft boiled egg, topped with garlic pepper sauce

snacks: marcona almonds and a manadarin orange

dinner: Roasted Carrot and Fennel Soup (we didn't have basil or marjoram, I used tarragon. I also added a vegetable bouillon cube) garnished with with San Miniato Sausage Meatballs and fennel fronds

The finished product. YUM!

Roasted Carrots and Fennel
simmering with other goodness...

Whole 30 - Day 4

This morning I made nut-ola (grain free granola) because my beloved really likes to have a bowl of crunchy goodness for breakfast... also, I was excited to find a granola recipe we can use in the future since I have an oat allergy!

I found the basic recipe at Real Food Kosher.  I halved her recipe because I had two eggs whites in the fridge leftover from making mayo yesterday. There are some things I'd do differently if I made it again. My interpretation of the recipe follows:

noe's NUT-ola

In a medium bowl, whisk together:
2 egg whites
3 T date puree (or apple, prune, etc)
2 t extract (almond, orange, vanilla--use your favorite)
spices, 1-2 t each (use your favorite mix... my suggestions include cinnamon, ginger, allspice, nutmeg, orange or lemon peel, cloves, cardamom, etc)
1 t salt

In food processor, chop to desired size:
2 C mixed nuts and seeds (we had walnuts, pumpkin seeds, pecans, almonds, cashews in the pantry)

Stir nuts into the wet mix along with:
1/4 c dried, fruit (no sugar, oil, or sulphites added)--I used raisins
1/4 c unsweetened, flaked coconut

Spread the mix in a coconut oil greased jellyroll pan and baked at 275° for about 45 minutes.

Stir and re-spread the mix in the pan every 15 minutes, checking it every 5 minutes after it's been in the oven half an hour to avoid burning.

Let cool completely before placing it in a sealed glass jar or container.

Today's Menu

breakfast: green smoothie and paleo blueberry muffin

lunch: kitchen sink soup (everything in the pot but the kitchen sink! well, not exactly... it's the last of the shepherd's pie leftovers, canned tomatoes, turkey stock, carrots, rutabaga, mushrooms, chicken sausage, and kale. YUMMY!)

snacks: earl grey with coconut milk, marcona almonds, banana

noe's dinner: I was driving a friend t the airport, so I had to get creative at a restaurant. The patty of a lamb burger on a bed of greens with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

jess's dinner: soup from lunch, a salad, and mix fruit with grated ginger and unsweetened flaked coconut

Whole 30 - Day 3

Today's Menu

It's not the best photo in the world, but it sure did taste wonderful. . . 

breakfast: green smoothie and breakfast hash (butternut squash, apple, chicken sausage, toasted pecans, and cinnamon in the frying pan)

snacks: half an apple, a banana, and paleo blueberry muffin

lunch: leftovers from last night

dinner: half an avocado and tuna salad lettuce wraps (tuna, homemade mayo, grainy mustard, s/p, chopped apple, slivered pecans, and dill)

Whole 30 Day 2

Today's Menu

Breakfast: a paleo blueberry muffin and purple smoothie (many of yesterday's ingredients plus avocado and blueberries)

Lunch: leftovers from the bottom part of yesterday's shepherd's pie (plus nutmeg, mushrooms, and kale) with a poached egg and Louisiana Gold hot sauce

snack dispersed throughout the day: mandarin orange, marcona almonds, carrots, a kiwi, earl grey with a splash of coconut milk

dinner: paleo rice via nom nom paleo, oven roasted goodies (ginger, onion, carrot, broccoli, cashews, pineapple, coconut oil, sesame oil, and fish oil), asian inspired baked chicken thighs (recipe below)

Asian Inspire Baked Chicken Thighs

place 6 chicken thighs in a pyrex baking dish (I used the loaf shaped dish)

In your blender, liquify:

1/4 c pineapple chunks
1 small apple, peeled, cored, and chopped
1/8 c diced onion
2 garlic gloves, chopped
1 thumb of ginger, peeled and sliced
1 t orange peel
1/4 c broth
1 T sunflower butter
1 T fish oil
2 T cider vinegar
the juice of 1 lime

set oven to 350°

Pour blender mix over chicken and let rest for half an hour.

Bake 40 minutes, or until chicken is done.

Serve with stir fried or roasted veggies and cauliflower rice.

Whole 30 - Day 1

Today we began the Whole 30 challenge. You cut out a lot of foods that seem to be high intolerance foods for many people and eat what is sometimes referred to as a cave man diet. Basically you eat grass fed or wild caught meat, vegetables, fruit, tree nuts and seeds. No sugar, no booze, no dairy, no grains, no legumes. They also say you shouldn't paleo-ize junk foods, but I'm not really doing that part, I'm mostly concerned about the ingredients. I just think determining what is and isn't a junk food is pretty personal. Like they say you can paleo-ize fried chicken, but not pizza. They are also anti baked goods. Great for them! We're using our own sense to determine what works best for us in this plan.

We are doing this for a couple of reasons:

• we both know we have different food intolerances and we want to see how an elimination diet will teach us more about the way certain foods affect our bodies
• we hear it gives you a lot of energy and makes you less sluggish 
• some people claim amazing health benefits around things like acne, joint pain, ibs, depression, headaches, etc. (we'll tell you at the end if we experienced any of that)
• we want to be more intentional about the things we eat

Both of us thought it might be a good idea to blog about our daily menu, any changes we notice in energy or our bodies in general, and recipes we discover. So far I've made almond-hazelnut milk (ridiculously easy!) and learned how to soft boil an egg (hard to believe I had to look this up!).

I also learned about paleo baking (technically this is not whole 30 approved, but all the ingredients are, and I think food should be varied, fun, and delicious!) These blueberry muffins are adapted from a Today's Letters' recipe.

Paleo Bluberry Muffins
(this made 6 good sized muffins)

3/4 c cashews
2 T walnut oil
2 ripe bananas
1 egg
1/2 c almond meal
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t baking powder
1/2 t vanilla
1/2 t cinnamon
1/4 t cloves

1/2 t nutmeg

1/2 t ground ginger

1/2 t orange peel 
3/4 t Salt 
1/2 c frozen blueberries

  1. preheat oven to 375° 
  2. grease muffin tins with coconut oil or ghee 
  3. in your food processor, grind the cashews to a fine meal 
  4. add walnut oil, processing until well combined 

  5. add the bananas, processing to a sticky paste 
  6. in a separate bowl, whisk the egg

  7. stir in the cashew / banana mixture and vanilla
  8. stir in remaining dry ingredients

  9. gently fold in blueberries. 
10. spoon batter into greased muffin tins 
11. bake for 15-20 minutes or until done
12. cool completely before storing

  Today's Menu

Breakfast: soft boiled egg and green smoothie (mango, banana, orange slices, ginger, kale, almond milk, almond mush left from creating the almond milk, and parsley). We ate at 9 and I was still functioning at 1:30 (it was a late lunch kind of day).

Lunch: kale salad (with roasted pork, shaved carrots, lemon juice, olive oil, and some chopped, toasted pecans), baked sweet tater half (with olive oil, s/p, cinnamon, cayenne, garlic powder, and toasted pecans), carrot sticks, half an avocado.

Lunch!!

my afternoon Snack: a handful or TJ's salted marcona almonds and a banana

Dinner: sauteed kale (with proscuitto, onions, and cider vinegar) and shepherd's pie (ground beef, onions, carrots, rutabaga, s/p, cloves, and a bit of ghee in the pan + steamed, pureed cauliflower,  rutabaga, garlic, ghee, s/p, and nutmeg)

ambrosia salad

i love the stuff, do you?

i was thinking about it while driving today (who knows why) and trying to decide how i could create a version without dairy or added sugar...

must try this soon

1. whip coconut whipped cream (the base of all yummy vegan dessert in our house) with pureed banana for a sauce.
2. stir in orange and grapefruit segments, toasted pecans, unsweetened coconut flakes, and whatever fruit floats your boat. 
3. skip the marshmallows. 

this should work, right?

that's all I've got... not much cooking has been going on in our kitchen lately. maybe soon...

beet soup

6 roasted beets

1 onion, diced

butter/olive oil, about a tablespoon

2 star anise

1 bay leaf

3 c broth (any kind)

2 t cider vinegar (I use Braggs)

1/2t cardamom

So I had roasted beets in the refrigerator which I cut into quarters. In a soup pot I heat olive oil and butter (about 1T total) and cooked a chopped onion. I tossed in the anise and cardamom and cooked the onion until it was soft. Then I added broth, vinegar,  and a bay leaf and let it cook for about 10 minutes. Added the beets and cooked another 10 minutes. Removed the bay leaf and anise. Blended the soup until it was smooth

Triple C Bisque

bring these items to a simmer in a pot until the carrots are tender:
4c broth
6c chopped carrots
3 cloves garlic
1 thumbs worth of ginger

add:
1/4c cashew butter
1 can coconut milk

blend everything together, season with salt, and garnish with thai basil and chopped cashews

YUMMY!