Whole30: Days 3-6

So I've been busy with work and totally forgetting to take pictures of all my meals. So I'll recap them and post the pictures of the meals that I did take pics for. 

Day 3

I didn't get to eat much this day. I worked Monday night and then slept until 3:30 pm on Tuesday afternoon. 

Meal 1: 2 Simply Balanced Spinach & Garlic chicken sausages and a steamed broccoli drizzled with olive oil. 

Meal 2: large salad with lemony dressing

Day 4

I ended up working this day during day shift. What can I say? I like to mix things up a little. 

Meal 1: Scrambled eggs with avocado and boiled new potatoes drizzled with olive oil. This was kind of on the run. I ate the eggs at home, but the potatoes in the car. 

Meal 2: Curried Chicken Salad, baby carrots and a red pepper with guacamole as a dip. 

Meal 3: Chipotle! I got a salad with double carnitas, fresh tomato salsa (pico de gallo) and guacamole. 




Day 5

Meal 1: Scrambled eggs with avocado and sauteed green beans drizzled with olive oil. 

Meal 2: Zoodles (zucchini julienned to make "spaghetti"), Rao's Arrabbbiata sauce and Mulay's Mild Italian Sausage. I was craving some comfort food on a rainy day and this hit the spot! I steamed my zoodles in a Lekue steamer in the microwave. I used my peeler this time to julienne them, but I think the mandoline works a little better. 

Meal 3: Curried Chicken Salad and salad with lemony dressing

Meal 4: 2 Aidells Chicken & Apple sausages and a peach. At this point in the night I didn't want to mess with my veggies. Plus I was full from the sausages and the peach. This was to tide me over until I got up on Friday.

Day 6

Meal 1: Pulled pork, steamed veggie mix with ghee 

Meal 2: Grilled grass-fed beef burger with lettuce "bun", tomatoes and guacamole & oven baked "fries". 

Overall I think there were some good days. Even with prep I realized that I should have bought more quick prepare food since I am on the go so much. I often don't have a lot of time to make food in the morning. Meals at work need to be easy too. I feel a little more prepared now. I think this week might be easier. I definitely loved having the chicken salad prepared and ready for me to throw in a container to take to work. 

Curried Chicken Salad

This was delicious and I will definitely be making this again. Below in the recipe, there is a link for the paleo/Whole30 approved mayo. You use an immersion blender and it is sooooo easy! This makes quite a bit, but I ate it throughout the week. Plus it's one of those recipes where the longer it sits the better it gets. You could even add water chestnuts for additional crunch. 

Curried Chicken Salad
adapted from Whole Foods

Prep Time: 30 minutes
Serves: 6-8 

Ingredients

2 1/2 pounds cooked chicken, diced

1/4 cup diced red onion

3 ribs celery, diced

1/2 to 1 cup chopped almonds (optional)

1/2 cup chopped grapes (optional)

1 1/2 cups homemade mayonnaise

2-1/2 tablespoons curry powder

Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

Directions

In a large mixing bowl, combine cooked chicken, red onion, celery, almonds and grapes.

In a smaller bowl, mix together mayonnaise and curry powder. 

Pour the mayonnaise mixture on the chicken, tossing to coat.

Let it sit for 30 minutes or more to let the flavors meld together. Serve on a bed of lettuce. 

Whole30: Day 2

Still feeling the effects of the "carb flu". I know that it's because I'm probably too low carb and need to add more starchy veggies into my meals. Today has been a weird day for me in the sense that I am going to work tonight so I have to pack food and think differently about what I take. Normally I would eat something before going to work and then eat around 2 or 3 am. Sometimes I don't eat at all before I go and then I'll eat around 10 or 11 pm and then not eat again for the rest of the night. If you are a night shifter trying to figure out how to do this Whole30 thing then I recommend Nom Nom Paleo's blog post about Surviving the Night Shift.

So I will end up eating 4 meals "today". I say "today" because it really rolls into tomorrow because of the shift, but it's pretty much the same day for me since I will not have had a full nights sleep.

Meal 1: Eggs with spinach and mushroom sauteed in ghee and topped with salsa. It looks the same as yesterday minus the avocado. I didn't even bother to take a pic. I struggled to get this meal down. I was not very hungry and eggs two days in a row were just gross.


Meal 2: Curried Chicken Salad on a bed of butter lettuce. This was soooo yummy! I had a hard time not nibbling on it after I made it. On a side note, I know that I definitely don't have enough veggies on my plate here. I wasn't hungry after I ate and didn't get hungry again until 9 pm so I think I did okay.

Meal 3: Salad of romaine and iceberg topped with Mom's Beef Chili, jalapeno, black olives and Creamy Avocado Dressing. It looks sketchy and gross, but it was really good. I totally forgot to get a pretty shot before I started eating. I was just too hungry!

Meal 4: Aidells chicken & apple sausage and steamed sweet potatoes with ghee, nutmeg and cinnamon. This was at 3am while I was trapped in the nursery. I didn't take a picture and the sweet potatoes were sorta gross. Some were soft and some were crunchy. I ate half and threw the other half out. I was still kind of hungry so I took 2 hard boiled eggs and mixed it with the left over Creamy Avocado Dressing. It was so good!

Mom's Beef Chili

Mom's Beef Chili

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 2 to 2 1/2 hours
Servings: 15+

Ingredients

3 lbs Ground Chuck

1 – 28 oz can Tomato Puree

2 – 28 oz cans of Crushed Tomato’s

12 oz can Tomato Juice (Campbell’s)

15 oz can Tomato Sauce

2 large onions, diced

4 garlic cloves, minced

¼ cup + 1 Tablespoon chili powder

1 Tablespoon cumin

2 tsp salt

1 Tablespoon paprika

2 tsp oregano

¼ cup cider vinegar

Tabasco, a couple of shakes

Fresh ground pepper

Directions 

Over medium heat, brown ground chuck and diced onions together in large dutch oven, when onions are translucent toss in the garlic and cook for a few minutes.  Drain fat from pan.  Add all spices / herbs to meat mixture and mix to coat.

Add all liquid ingredients and mix well.  Simmer, partially covered on low for about 1 ½ to 2 hours until thick, stirring occasionally.  If not thick enough for you – take of the cover and let it simmer longer.

Whole30: Day 1

Well I think today has gone pretty well. I feel good  I did have a little "carb flu" earlier today and felt really foggy & tired. My energy definitely picked up once I ate lunch. I feel like hubby and I accomplished ten times more today then we normally do on a weekend day. Anyway on to the meals, that's what you are really here for, right?

One thing I learned today... I HATE coconut oil. I didn't have any ghee made yet, but had some coconut oil sitting in the back of my pantry. I had read on a forum that while it smells like suntan lotion it doesn't taste like it and is delicious. Those people must be deranged. Or have no taste buds. Coconutty eggs is quite possibly the nastiest thing I've ever had. Okay enough said. 

Meal 1: Eggs sautéed in coconut oil with spinach & mushrooms. Topped with avocado and salsa. 

Looks good, doesn't it? Except for that darn coconut oil. 

Meal 2: Grilled steak salad with carrots, orange bell pepper, avocado and lemony dressing. Oh and that's not cheese, it's grated egg. Even my two year old was confused. It's fabulous like that. 

The steak was a left over from last night so it was nice to have something that didn't take too much prep time. 

Meal 3: Mom's Beef Chili. Yep, my mom. Totally compliant from the start. No tweaking necessary. Guess she didn't know she was a trendsetter. I topped mine with avocado, but I'll be heading the to store tomorrow to grab some olives for later this week. 

I also did a small side salad with the same stuff from lunch, but minus the steak. 

Today was also a huge prep day for me. I made the chili which will serve as the base for several meals this week (hubby is also taking it for lunch). I made ghee which made the house smell like I'd been baking. I roasted chicken for Curried Chicken Salad this week. I forgot to make the frittata. Maybe tomorrow?

Weekly Menu: October 5-11

This week I'm kicking off my Whole30 journey. So no dairy, no grains and most importantly NO SUGAR! The funny thing is that I think the no dairy will be harder then the no sugar for me. I love Starbucks in the morning. I don't think I need coffee to wake up, but I just love the taste of it! Lots of tasty things on the menu this week. I'll also try posting day-by-day with a food log.

Mom's Beef Chili

Curried Chicken Salad

Homemade Paleo Mayo

What?!

So you are probably wondering what's going on over here at Meals by Morgan. All of a sudden I'm changing the site and posting again?? Well, some big things are coming your way this week! I've taken a lot of time off from my blog and I feel like it's time to get back to doing what I love - cooking and sharing it with others. I look forward to the recipes and posts coming next week and I hope that you will too.