Week Two

Week two has been a little bit easier, but also harder. Let me explain. 

Meal prep and planning has gotten easier. I've gotten in a groove with breakfasts and it's definitely been easier to prepare for lunches and dinners. But, it's harder because I crave cookies, cupcakes, huge hunks of cake, bread, or really any baked goods. I was envious of my 2-year-old's PB & J sandwich the other day. I'm also craving my lattes. And with the cooler weather- pumpkin spice lattes in particular. 

I've also been worse about taking pics of everything- especially snacks. Sorry about that. I'll work on it. 

I think I also have about one La Croix drink every day- I never took a pic. But they help with the sweet cravings in the afternoons.

Day Eight (October 19)

Breakfast:
Shredded sweet potato, eggs, nutritional yeast, spinach, with salsa
One piece of Trader Joe's bacon
One piece of Applegate sausage

And a clementine

Lunch:
Apple, carrot, broccoli, and almond salad
Chicken breast slices
Hard boiled egg white (yolks are still yuck)
One leftover piece of bacon
Grapes

Dinner:
Almond crusted chicken nuggets with strawberry balsamic sauce (recipe- no sugar or corn starch in sauce- so yummy!!)
Asparagus
Summer squash

After dinner snack:
Apple
Pumpkin spice dip (recipe)

Day Nine

Breakfast:
Shredded sweet potato, eggs and spinach
3 pieces of uncured chicken and/or turkey sausage
Half a banana

Snack during church (why is it that I'm always hungry during church??)
This yummy Larabar
 

Lunch:
Beef taco meat with lettuce and olives and salsa on top

Snack (because that salad wasn't quite enough):
Grapes- they're so yummy!















Dinner:
Baked sweet potato (which J ate 1/4 of)
Cauliflower "rice"
Pork loin with the same strawberry balsamic sauce from last night, it was so good, I made it again!

Day Ten

Breakfast: (copy and paste from every other day...)
Shredded sweet potato with ham steak cubes, eggs, spinach, and salsa
Half a sweet potato
Grapes

Apparently, I was hungry

Snack/First lunch:
An apple with my yummy pumpkin spice dip

Second lunch:
Chicken breast strips with salsa



It was a busy day- we were out during lunch time, so I ate this lunch late...










Dinner:
Pumpkin butternut squash chicken soup
Broccoli

After dinner snack:
Dried apples and salted almonds

Day Eleven

Breakfast:
Shredded sweet potato, eggs, spinach and ham with WHAT?? shredded zucchini?? trying to mix it up- went a little crazy! But, I still put salsa on top
And I only ate one of those clementines

I wanted to make a latte sooooo badly that I tried to re-create one using coffee and coconut cream. It was pitiful, but I drank it anyway.

Lunch:
Salad with carrots, almonds, olives and sliced grilled chicken
Apples with more of my pumpkin spice dip
 

Dinner:
Coconut chicken (recipe- modified- no flour- used coconut flour, and no cornstarch- it didn't need it anyway) Yummy!!
Lettuce/salad
Asparagus

Day Twelve

Breakfast:
Shredded sweet potato and zucchini (I need to use these suckers!), spinach, eggs with salsa and avocado on top
Three pieces of Applegate turkey bacon
Grapes

Lunch: A bit weird, but it was leftovers...
My yummy pumpkin butternut squash chicken soup
Beef taco meat








 

Snack:
Dried apples















Dinner: forgot the pic...
Salad with carrots, olives and broccoli
Sliced chicken breast
3/4 of an apple (guess who ate the rest?)
One hard-boiled egg white

I was still super hungry when we got home from church, so I made scrambled eggs and turkey bacon!

Day Thirteen

Breakfast:
Shredded sweet potato with spinach, avocado, eggs and shredded chicken with salsa


I've always been weirded out by the idea of chicken and eggs in the same dish. It seems... I don't know... morbid or something. And this dish confirmed my hesitations. It was kinda bland and not super yummy...  





 

Found these at Big Lots- freeze dried apples with cinnamon. Not the best place to go when you are tempted to eat lots of cookies and sweets... But, these are W30 approved (kinda- they're technically snacks...) and were ok. Not like eating a fresh baked muffin or anything, but they crunched and were sweet.

Lunch:
Apple with pumpkin spice dip

and a salad with carrots, broccoli, olives and sliced, grilled chicken

Dinner:
Baked sweet potato
Stuffed pepper (recipe)














I also had some almonds in there somewhere... Probably a snack between lunch and dinner. 

Day Fourteen

Breakfast:
Shredded sweet potato and zucchini, turkey salami, eggs and salsa
Half a banana

Lunch:
Baked sweet potato with clarified butter
Some chicken slices
And about half an apple

Also, coffee with coconut milk- I was babysitting for a friend and needed a little caffeine boost...









Snack:
Apple (another one!)
Pumpkin spice dip

Dinner:
Veal stew with sweet potatoes, carrots and celery
Asparagus with clarified butter













After dinner snack:
A handful of coconut flakes



So, that's the end of week two!! I feel good. I definitely have more energy and I'm consistently one belt hole smaller. I can't wait to see how the rest of the 30 days go!

Pumpkin Butternut Squash Chicken Soup

I made this soup on day ten and it was so good that I wanted to share it! I used a couple recipes as inspiration, and then just improvised away. It was goooood. I think I'll make it again soon.

 

Pumpkin Butternut Squash Chicken Soup

Ingredients:
One whole peeled, cubed butternut squash (I blanch my squash in boiling water for about 3-5 minutes, then let it cool, then peel it. So much easier!!
One can of pumpkin
4 cups chicken broth
2 cups of shredded chicken
Chipotle powder, or can of chipotle peppers
Roasted red peppers (the kind in a jar)
Garlic salt
Rosemary

1. Take your squash and put it in the crock pot with at least 3 cups of broth on high until mostly cooked.
2. Add pumpkin and chopped red peppers and spices (to taste). I used the leftover juice from a can of chipotle peppers. Just a little bit- maybe 2 tablespoons of ONLY the juice/sauce. That was plenty of spice for me.
3. Use an immersion blender to smooth it all out. OR- scoop it all into a blender and puree until smooth.
4. Back in the crock pot, add the chicken and the rest of the broth (if you prefer it a bit thinner).
5. Heat in crock pot high for 20-30 minutes, until it's all warmed and yummy.


Sorry I don't have any creative, artsy pictures to go with it. 

I have this one:

It's almost gone there, so much be good, right?

Almond Pumpkin Spice Dip

As promised, here is my recipe for my pumpkin spice dip! Love this stuff!!

This stuff is Whole 30 approved and is super yummy to dip apples in! Doing the W30 during fall, I do feel like I'm missing all of the yummy pumpkin spice baked goods and oh those Starbucks pumpkin spice lattes!! I think this dip satisfies that little bit of pumpkin spice desire, while being healthy and compliant!

 

 

Almond Pumpkin Spice Dip

5-6 dried dates- roughly chopped

1/3 cup almond butter (I used a chunky, fresh-ground kind)

1/2 can of pumpkin

Cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves- to taste- start with 1/2 tsp each

About 1/4 cup apple juice

1) Put everything but the apple juice in food processor. 

2) Mix up really well- adding apple juice as necessary for consistency.

* I rarely measure, so these are approximate. It's a forgiving recipe, so add what you think it needs!

Enjoy!

Week One

Day One (October 12):

Breakfast:
Two eggs scrambled with a 1/2 an avocado and cherry tomatoes
Two slices of Trader Joe's uncured apple smoked bacon (there are three in the pic, but I only ate two)

Lunch:
Salad with apples, carrots, almonds, broccoli and shredded chicken on top with a homemade viniagrette
I think I saved that half a pear for later

Snack:
Unsalted almonds and coconut flakes

And coffee- black with coconut milk (looks kinda gross and definitely not as good as my latte)

Dinner:
Grass-fed angus burger (Trader Joe's)
Steamed broccoli with clarified butter
Baked sweet potato with clarified butter

Day Two:

Breakfast:
Two eggs
Sweet potato hash browns
Two Applegate turkey sausage














Snack during church:
Unsalted almonds and coconut flakes

Lunch:

Same salad as yesterday (forgot to take a picture!)

Pre-run snack:
Half of this Larabar

Post-run snack:
A couple slices of uncured ham, carrots and olives
La Croix orange (yummy drink with no sweeteners, but fixes that sweet craving anyway)

Dinner:
Taco turkey (just ground turkey with taco seasoning)
Cauliflower rice (much better than I expected it to be!)
Cubed butternut squash

"Dessert":
Clementine orange

Chai black tea with coconut milk

Day three:

Breakfast:
Same as yesterday

Lunch:
My apple, carrot, almond, broccoli salad with viniagrette
Sliced chicken
Half a pear (which I think I saved for later...)

Coffee- clack with coconut milk

Dinner:
Salmon
Kazakh salad (cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, olive oil, fresh dill and salt)
Swiss chard

Salted almonds and coconut flakes

Day Four:

Breakfast:
Sweet potato hash
One egg
3 oz uncured ham steak
Spinach
Salsa
Pomegranate seeds

Not sure why these pictures are upside down, and I don't know how to fix it- they were correct with I uploaded them...



Snack- apparently one egg wasn't enough for breakfast
Almonds and coconut flakes

Lunch:
Apple, carrot, almond, broccoli salad
Avocado
Chicken slices
Grapes

Dinner:
"Tortilla" soup (a kinda modified version of this)

Snack at Bible study:
Sliced apples with pumpkin almond dip- so yummy, and I didn't take any pictures and I didn't count how many I had! I'll post a sorta recipe ... sometime.
Then I had chai with coconut milk and more apples after.

Day Five:

Breakfast:

Sweet potato hash with uncured ham steak cubes, spinach, bell peppers, salsa wrapped in 1 whole egg, 2 egg whites scrambled but cooked flat- no stirring (kind of an omlet, or breakfast burrito)
Grapes

Trying to mix it up a bit, but it's really the same thing as every other day...

Lunch:
My Kakazh salad
Sliced chicken breast
2 hard-boiled egg whites (yolks are yuck!)

Snack:
The other 1/2 of my Larabar from the other day

Dinner
My same apple, almond, carrot, broccoli salad (I didn't eat all of it)
Sliced chicken breast
Some pomegranate seeds

Snack after church:
About 4 apple slices with my yummy pumpkin spice dip

Day Six:

Breakfast:
Sweet potato hash with 2 eggs, and spinach
3 pieces of Trader Joe's uncured apple smoked bacon (that stuff is sooo yummy!)

Lunch:
Egg drop soup with kale (recipe- but, I didn't have celery or green onions, so I used a tiny bit of onion, and added some frozen, chopped kale)

Snack:
Grapes

and:
Homemade coconut Larabar (recipe)- they look weird, but taste yummy!

Dinner:
Kazakh salad
Cubed, baked sweet potatoes with garlic salt and rosemary
Bison burger (Trader Joe's)

Day Seven:

Breakfast:
Sweet potato hash
One egg and two egg whites
3 oz uncured ham steak
Spinach
Salsa


What else??

Lunch:
Egg drop soup with kale
Taco beef

Weird lunch, but I'm trying to use what's in my fridge, ok??

Snack:
Apple with pumpkin spice dip

I was seriously dragging today- this felt like coffee! I was so energized about 20 minutes after this snack!!

Other snack:
<--- A handful of these. So good!!! 















Dinner:
Taco soup a friend made- basically I ate the chicken and tomatoes from it
Baked sweet potato with clarified butter

I was watching my friend's kids, and forgot to take a picture! 

Snack:
A small handful of coconut flakes


They were eating ice cream bars... Coconut flakes are yummy, but don't quite compare.












That's the end of week one! Yay!! 

I feel very tired, but after reading this timeline of how you'll feel during each period, at least I know it's normal! I discovered that I maybe just need to add some more fruit or starchy veggies earlier in the day. It's been helping a little, and I haven't felt quite like I'm gonna collapse.

I still feel like I'm eating a lot of snacks, but I'm just hungry and tired and need a pick-me-up! I'll work on it some more during week two.