Day 30 - My favorite easy meal

Tonight it is just the girls and I for dinner.  I wanted something easy that they would eat so I wouldn't have to make two meals.  I decided on grilled chicken with rosemary and balsamic glaze (the kids' chicken was plain), yam fries, and a spinach/kale salad. This is one of my favorite easy to prepare meals on the challenge.  My other "go to" meal is salmon with baked sweet potatoes and salad - see Day 11.

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Simply toss the yam sticks with coconut oil, season with salt and pepper (and anything else you'd like) and put on a cookie sheet at 400.  Watch to make sure they don't burn.  Easy and tasty!

For the chicken I grilled it with just salt and pepper and then added the chopped fresh rosemary and balsamic glaze after.  Perfect combination!  I purchased my balsamic glaze (reduction), but you can easily make yours by placing balsamic vinegar in a saucepan, bringing it to a boil and then reducing the heat to a simmer until the desired consistency   I like mine to be syrup like.  If you prefer to buy, I have seen some at the local grocery stores, or my favorite is online - Tondo.  I got it from a foodie friend, but have seen it on Amazon at times as well.

Day 29 - Hosting a baby shower

So, today was a rough day on the challenge.  I hosted a baby shower and most of the food was not approved.  I ate mostly what I am allowed, but had to have a couple of cheats.  It was a fun though!  Menu:  mini egg frittatas, bacon, fruit salad, strawberry shortcake skewers, mini cinnamon rolls, sugar cookies from Cashmere Cookies (yumm!), and mimosas!

Day 28 - Tuna Salad Lettuce Wrap

We are half way through the challenge.  I feel great.  I plan to use this site to come back and make many of these meals again and incorporate what I have learned into our every day lives.  My focus will be clean eating with mostly whole foods.

This one is for after the challenge for all of you on a strict WLC nutrition.  I am on the modified version and am allowed yogurt. This is so good that it is worth the post - I will never make my tuna salad with mayo again!  This is tuna from Trader Joe's (a recommendation from our tour guide a couple weeks ago) mixed with nonfat plain Greek yogurt and pickles, with red onion on top.  Simple, healthy and really good.

Day 26 - Mahi Mahi with sesame kale salad

Grilled Mahi Mahi with sesame kale salad and macadamia nuts. 

Day 27 - Steak Fajitas

Easy dinner tonight with leftover steak and chicken - steak fajitas without the tortilla.  Still lots of great flavor!

Here is my new avocado saver from Matt - it works great when I want half of an avocado at breakfast and the other half at lunch.  For dinner we almost always finish a whole one!

Day 25 - Fresh beet and chard salad

I had a beet and some chard in the fridge from last weeks Dandelion Organic delivery, so I went searching for a recipe to use it for lunch today.  I used the ingredient search on allrecipes.com and found the Fresh Beet Salad recipe.  It sounded perfect and I had almost everything to make it.  I didn't have peas, so I left them out and added avocado and a few almonds.  I also left off the feta for now, but will add that or goat cheese when I make it again after the challenge.  I used a balsamic glaze on top for a little extra flavor.  It turned out great - a perfect lunch.

Day 24 - Pork Chops and Butternut Squash

Pork Chops and Crock Pot Butternut Squash

Made this dish from PaleOMG tonight and it turned out great.  Lots of flavor.  I didn't add the honey, but it was still very sweet with the caramelized onions and apples.  I added a salad with pears, red onions and walnuts with a balsamic glaze.  And, some brussel sprouts.

Day 23 - Cilantro turkey burgers minus the bun

Cilantro Turkey Burgers

Today for lunch another meal made for me by +S'rae McCaslin.  These meals have come in really handy this week.  We had fun making them and when I haven't planned well enough in advance, I just grab one of these meals out of the freezer.  Now, if I can just do this myself each weekend to prepare for the week ahead.  Won't be as much fun as it was having all of us ladies around chatting and the kids running wild around the house.  Oh, and cute little Ava and Corin drooling on each other!

I was missing one very important ingredient - avocado!  I don't know how I let myself run out!  And, those are yam "fries" next to the burger.  All I did was slice them thin and put them in the oven with a little salt.  So good!

Day 22 - 13.1 Workout, then brunch at The Fork

Today we did the first workout for the CrossFit open games.  After doing 70 burpees and 30 snatches, I figured I deserved to go out for a good meal.  We ended up at The Fork again and I ordered the eggs with shredded pork.  I didn't ask for it to be WLC compliant, I just figured I would eat what I could.  I had to take the onion rings off the top and eat around the cheese on the black beans, but other than that it was a perfect WLC meal.  Again, this is a meal I would have never ordered prior to starting the challenge, but it was really good.  Especially for an after workout brunch.

After our meal the owners (whose little girl goes to preschool with our youngest), sent out a special treat.  This was definitely not WLC compliant.  I watched my kiddos and Richard enjoy it while I took a few photos.  After the challenge is over, we will be going back so I can have some.  Yummm!

Day 21 - Rosemary Balsamic Chicken

For dinner tonight I made Rosemary balsamic chicken with a spinach salad and turnips and zucchini sauteed with garlic and fresh thyme.

Day 20 - Crockpot Meatballs

Paleo Crockpot Meatballs

For dinner tonight, the meatballs that +S'rae McCaslin shared with us.  She found this recipe at Once a Month Mom.  It has some great plans for freezer meals (Paleo and several other dietary options).  They were great and so easy.  S'rae had made the sauce and meatballs in advance and put them in a Ziploc bag for us.  I pulled it out of my freezer, put it on to slow cook until warm and added a salad.  Very satisfying!

Day 19 - Coconut Chicken and Sweet Potato Fries

Coconut Chicken and Sweet Potato Fries

+Patrice Valentine brought this over on Sunday to share with Karen, S'rae and I.  She had all ingredients for the coconut chicken in a Ziploc bag except the egg and the chicken.  All I had to do for lunch today was dip the chicken in the egg and throw it in the bag and give it a good shake.  Same with the sweet potato fries.  She had them all cut up and the seasoning all ready for us so we just had to put them together and shake.  Her instructions on the Ziploc required that we do burpee's while we did the shaking.  I managed to get in a few, but I was too hungry and needed to get the food cooking!  (: Thanks Patrice, they were great and so easy after all of your prep work.

Coconut Chicken

Ingredients:
Chicken Strips
1 Egg
1 C Shredded Coconut
1 C Almond Flour
Salt (to taste)
1 T Coconut Oil

1. Mix flour, coconut and salt in a bowl.
2. In another bowl, crack and beat egg
3. Dip chicken strips in egg, then coat in the flour mixture.
4. Fry in pan with coconut oil until coconut is golden brown. If it is browning too quickly, remove from pan and bake until chicken is done at 375 degrees.

Sweet Potato Fries

1 Sweet Potato or Yam
1 t Cumin
1 t Salt
1 t Coriander
1 t Paprika
1 t Coconut oil
Peel and cut sweet potato into strips (try to make them all the same thickness).
Place in Ziploc bag, add seasoning and oil. Shake until fries are well coated.
Place fries in a single layer on a cookie sheet.
Bake in preheated oven (425 degrees) until done (approx 25 minutes)

Day 18 - Yam Lasagna

Yam Lasagna

Well, it was suppose to be sweet potato enchiladas, but I got yams and after deciding to layer it rather than roll and forgetting the green chili's ... it turned out more like a lasagna (no cheese of course).  I thought it turned out pretty good, but we'll wait to hear the final verdict after the other three ladies who took some home give it a try.

Recipe I planned to follow comes from PaleOMG.  

I followed the recipe pretty close, except for forgetting the green chili's (a major part for enchiladas I think), and just layering it in the pan rather than trying to wrap them like an enchilada.  Cutting the yams was a lot harder than I thought it would be.  I even have a wound to show for it.  Not sure if sweet potatoes would have been easier or not.  Maybe next time I will try to zap them in the microwave for a short time before trying to slice with the madoline.  

If you decide to try the enchiladas from the PaleOMG site, or my version of lasagna, it's worth a try.  Maybe you'll come up with something of your own.

Day 17 - Omelet Muffins

Omelet Muffins

Here is one of the items Karen made and shared with Patrice, S'rae and I for the week.  She made up these muffins and gave us each a dozen to eat throughout the week.  Yumm.  I warmed mine up in the microwave and served with a grapefruit.  Perfect breakfast.  I was satisfied all morning even through my workout.  Thanks Karen!

Omelet Muffins

• 1lb ground meat (turkey, chicken, sausage or combo) or bacon or ham
• garlic powder
• onion powder
• 1 cup chopped bell peppers
• 1 cup chopped sweet onion
• handful of fresh spinach, chopped
• 18 eggs (or more if needed)

In a medium skillet, brown meat; adding peppers and onions about half way through.  Add seasonings.  Gently stir in spinach.  Spray muffin tins generously with olive oil non-stick spray.  Divide meat mixture evenly between all 24 muffin holes.  In a separate bowl, beat eggs.  pour eggs over meat mixture, dividing equally among all 24 muffins.  Bake at 325 for 20 minutes or until muffins are set in the middle.  Remove from oven and let sit in pan for 5 minutes.  Using a small rubber scraper, carefully remove each muffin to cool completely on wire rack.  

When cooled, place in Ziploc bag and store in refrigerator.  To heat, place muffin(s) on plate and microwave about 30 seconds.

Day 16 - Dinner out at The Fork

Today a few of us that are doing the challenge met to make some food to share for the week ahead and share other recipes that have been a success.  I will share the recipes that we made this week.   They all look really good and I am excited to have some "easy" meals ready.

My cousin is in town, so for dinner tonight we went to The Fork for dinner.  They had a couple of dishes on their menu that I think are pretty close to WLC approved.  I didn't ask for specifics because I am doing intermediate, so a small amount of unapproved in a prepared dish is ok with me.  I wish I would have remembered to take a photo of the entree's, but here is a description of them.  If you get a chance go out and try them.  So good!


ZINFANDEL BRAISED SHORT RIBS
CAULIFLOWER PUREE, BRAISED KALE, 
CHANTERELLES, NATURAL JUS 28.


GARAM MASALA BONE-IN PORK CHOP
MILK BRINE, SWEET POTATO-BRUSSELS SPROUT
HASH, TANGERINE-PEAR CHUTNEY 26.

Day 15 - Stir Fry

Day 15 - Saturday

Two weeks down!  I am feeling great and loving finding and making these great new recipes. 

Stir Fry

Here is what I did for mine ... adjust as needed to what you have and what you like.

1.  Season chicken with salt and pepper and grill

While chicken is cooking:

2.  Saute carrot "noodles" in sesame oil.  To make the noodles I simply grated the carrots length wise.  Remove from pan and place in separate bowl.

3.  In the same pan saute:

sesame oil

garlic

red onions

celery

red bell pepper

red pepper flakes (for heat)

4.  Add:

tamari

fish sauce

hoisin sauce?

chili sauce?

ginger

carrots (I added the carrot, broccoli slaw from TJs)

bamboo shoots

bean sprouts

snap peas

5.  Last minute add:

kale

Cabbage (I used a kale, cabbage, spout mix from Costco)

broccoli (and broccoli florets that I had steamed - added at the end)

6.  Take chicken off grill, rest and then slice.  Serve over the stir fry veggies.

7.  Top with:

cilantro or maybe Thai basil

green onions

sesame seeds (I used black too for presentation)

Looks like it is really and long and difficult, but mostly just having the ingredients ready to go - it cooks quick.

Day 14 - Traveling on the challenge

We are away from home today.  We drove down last night to Seattle to spend the night with Richard.  He has been working down here all week.  Sticking to the challenge was a little difficult while on the road and I forgot to take pictures of everything.  But, dinner last night I order chicken skewer with salad.  This morning for breakfast I had a veggie omelet (no cheese) and some fruit.  My lunch today was a Thai chicken salad.  It was really good.

Day 13 - Vanilla Bean Chocolate Chunk Cookies

I made some paleo cookies today.  They aren't Whole Life Challange approved because of the honey and chocolate chunks, but I figured if I was going to cheat a little than at least I could feel a little better about my cheat and still maintain at least gluten free.  I followed the recipe exactly (I even had a vanilla bean) and they turned out great.  Here is a link to the recipe on PaleOMG: Vanilla Bean Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Day 12 - Grilled Mahi burger with mango salsa salad

For lunch the last couple of days I have used the rest of my mango, pineapple, avocado salsa on a mahi burger (from Trader Joes) on top of a spinach salad.  I added some macadamia nuts and fresh tomatoes.

Day 11 - Grilled Salmon with Sweet Potatoes and Strawberry Kale Salad

Dinner tonight was for Lisa's birthday ... grilled salmon with baked sweet potatoes (and yams) and a sesame strawberry kale salad.

The salmon was seasoned with salt and lemon pepper and grilled.   We started the sweet potatoes and yams in the microwave to soften and then put them on the grill whole with the salmon.

The kale salad was so good.  We used a kale salad mix from Fred Meyer and added strawberries, red onion, rosemary almonds and avocado.

Day 10 - Paleo Pancakes

I made paleo pancakes for breakfast.  Both girls gobbled them up right away.  Jewel noticed the banana taste in hers about half way through and decided she didn't really love that in her pancake.  Ruby had a couple though - the first with bananas on top and then huckleberries.  Jewel had hers with peanut butter.

Ingredients:

• 2 eggs
• 1 banana
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 cup almond butter