Week 3 Menu Plan

Can't believe we're about halfway through this! We're feeling great and loving what we're eating! This next week is a little tricky because Dustin will be in St. George for a few days to meet with his hopeful future employer/business partner.  While this is exciting and *fingers crossed* that it goes well and we'll know our post graduation plan after this week, I am really going to miss  him!  This also means I have no one else to cook for and no one to help with dishes.  Therefore, this week is the week of salads.  Which I think I'm ok with because we haven't had any yet besides Chipotle. 

Here's how dinners are looking this week:

15. SU: Pot Roast with carrots, onion, green beans, and a baked sweet potato

16. M: artichoke chicken thighs (originally planned for day 14 but moved to this day to use up other produce for day 14.)

17. T: slow cooker Kahlua pork

18. W: Wow Burger before dropping Dustin off at the airport

19. H: "Nuts about Berries" salad with grilled chicken

20. F: "Cafe Rio" pork salad

21. S: Steak Fajitas

Day 13

Breakfast was half a grapefruit with an egg scramble with zucchini, asparagus, red pepper, prosciutto bacon, and onion and topped with fresh salsa.

Lunch was leftover coconut crusted chicken with avocado mango salsa, roasted rosemary and garlic carrots, and a handful of strawberries.

Dinner was homemade hamburgers over lettuce with tomato, avocado, pickle, and homemade mayo, with SP fries.  Also had some Odwalla Mango Tango juice at our movie date night.

Thoughts on today:
Breakfasts are starting to get a little old, but mixing up the veggies to eat with eggs has been good.  I feel officially Whole30 now that I've made my own mayo! It was easy to make and tastes good! I'm glad we found out that Cinetopia has Odwalla juice (though Odwalla is not as good as Naked) so that's a nice treat to have at the movies to use our drink credit for besides water. 
It's getting easier to not snack and feel full from our 3 meals.  I feel like we are making balanced meals and I love adding lots of colors in with fruits and veggies.
We're feeling great!

Day 12

Breakfast was a tropical fruit salad of fresh pineapple, banana, and strawberries with coconut flakes and 2 fried eggs over SP browns.

Breakfast with a side of work

Busy day today!

Lunch was leftover grilled sausage with veggies, a few pistachios (I didn't eat them all because they didn't taste that great to me), and a Blueberry Muffin Larabar.

 

 

Dinner was coconut crusted chicken fingers with avocado mango salsa (which looks gross in picture, but tasted really good!) and rosemary and garlic roasted carrots.

Thoughts on today:
I don't have much to say about today.  We're feeling great! Work was a busy day, but I had good energy and feel like I got a lot done.
The big boss came into my office while I was eating breakfast and saw my bowl of fruit and said, "Breakfast? Looks healthy."  I thought it was kinda funny.  It WAS healthy, and it was also delicious. :)
I feel like my body composition is definitely changing and I wish I could weigh myself to see if I've lost anything, but the rules state that you can't weigh yourself again until it's over.  I even had Dustin hide the scale on day 1 so I wouldn't be tempted to cheat.  I think that our energy and overall good feeling is an excellent sign of progress!

We're changing up this weekend's menu a little to use up some produce that we have before it goes bad.  Looking forward to meal planning and getting organized for the next week tomorrow.

Day 11

 

Breakfast was SP browns with a chicken apple sausage and monkey salad.

Lunch was a Chipotle carnitas salad, extra meat, split between the two of us.

Dinner was grilled veggie kabobs and Italian sausages, fresh pineapple, and then fruit snacks and leftover strawberry ice cream from Monday night because we were still hungry (our dinner had no fat so the ice cream was fulfilling that requirement- justified).

Yep, that's SYTYCD in the background. Hooray for the best summer tv show!

Thoughts on today:
While yesterday I was the very hungry caterpillar, today I wasn't very hungry at all until dinner and then I was super hungry, but that could have been because we didn't eat until way late. 
My finger is healing nicely! I will probably end up with a nice little scar.  
Don't have much else to say about today.  We felt good, it was just a crazy busy day.  And the next few days are when cravings are bad too, so I'm not looking forward to that.  After we get through this week we should start to feel the "tiger blood" so just a few more days and the magic will take over! Woot woot!  If we're feeling good now and it only gets better, I can't imagine how awesome we will feel next week. :)

Day 10

Breakfast was half a grapefruit, SP browns with scrambled eggs and prosciutto bacon crumbles. 

Lunch was steak and grilled zucchini leftovers, baby carrots, and apple slices with almond butter.

 

Dinner was lemon pepper buffalo wings, grilled asparagus, and strawberry spiked monkey salad.  I saw an instagram post from the Whole30 group and it used Franks Red Hot Original sauce and it got me really excited to make buffalo wings! I used the lemon pepper marinade, but not the sauce.  If the red hot sauce is too hot for you (it is for us), dilute it with some melted ghee and heat together.  Way to go Franks for having a sauce with real ingredients that I can pronounce!

 

Thoughts on today:
I felt like the very hungry caterpillar today, but I kept strong and didn't even snack! Just ate a little bigger meals (added a fruit and fat) and felt good with those.  Days 10 and 11 are known as "the hardest days" and people are most likely to quit on these days.  I still feel great about this lifestyle and there's nothing I miss enough to quit.  Dustin really misses sugar but this shall pass. :)  Our energy is up and we just feel good in general!
I used free range chicken drumsticks from New Seasons for dinner and they were SOOOO good! So juicy and meaty and awesome! I'm excited to try our free range chicken thighs later this week.  New Seasons is also where we got our steak from that was super good.  I haven't bought a ton of fresh meat from the butcher before, but I thought the prices were very good!
I guess I don't have much else about today.  I think I will try to post some of my favorite finds so far and helpful hints in meal planning and making a shopping list.  Would anyone who's thinking of doing a Whole30 be interested in these kinds of things?

Day 9

Breakfast was two fried eggs over steamed asparagus, prosciutto bacon, and half a grapefruit.  I wanted to make a paleo hollandaise sauce and do poached eggs but I needed something easy with my finger.

 

Lunch was leftover balsamic basil chicken, baby carrots, and diced avocado with lemon pepper.

Dinner was grilled steak using this marinade, sauteed mushrooms, grilled zucchini and an Izze (it's a holiday!). For dessert we made a SWYPO strawberry ice cream made with just strawberries, one banana, a smidgen vanilla, and a can of coconut milk.  It was so good and the perfect Memorial Day Monday night treat! And this week I will try much harder to not make any SWYPOs. 

 

This morning I felt better, still a little icky in the morning, but by the afternoon I felt much better.  Dustin went to Walgreens to get more bandaids for my finger and a brace so that I won't bend it.  The cut is right above my middle knuckle so when I accidentally bent it, it hurt like crazy!
We went to a movie today and only had water.  The couple next to us had a big old bag of popcorn and a big old soda and I couldn't help thinking- that was us.  We always got popcorn and soda and I missed it, but I know it's for the best. 
I asked Dustin today what he misses the most and he said pizza.  I miss cheese.  Then we grilled up dinner and holy smokes, it was SO good!  Steak night can replace pizza night in my book. :)  Even though steak is a little pricy, it's cheaper (and more delicious!) to make it at home than if we were to go out for steak at a restaurant.  Cheaper even then buying a good pizza! So this may have to be a weekly meal.
It's back to work tomorrow which means I need to prep more SP hashbrowns and eggs tonight.

Day 8

 

Breakfast was half a grapefruit and an egg scramble with onion, mushroom, green pepper, and zucchini topped with fresh salsa.  I should have added some avocado too but forgot. 

We had a late breakfast and a few hours later (around noon) I was hungry again so we had a little snack of pickles and a Crio Bru "smoothie" with a little frozen banana, almond butter, and ice.  But it was mostly Crio Bru. The banana and almond butter added a good sweetness to cut the bitterness of 100% cocoa and I liked adding fruit to it.  The ice was a little chunky (we REALLY need a Blendtec!) so it had a little chew factor which was kinda refreshing and satisfying, but would be better without.  Another SWYPO on this one? I dunno.  Something has to be added to that Crio Bru to make it drinkable so I say no. :)

Lunch was late (around 3) since our whole schedule was off.  I started making the Philly steaks and had the onions and peppers cut up and was working on cutting a sweet potato long wise to make sweet potato "toast".  After slicing my finger we gave up on the sweet potato and put it all over lettuce, added fresh salsa, and avocado.

Dinner didn't happen until almost 8.  We had pork chops, steamed broccoli with ghee and garlic salt, leftover cauliflower "mashed potatoes", and cinnamon apples cooked in coconut oil for a treat (they were super good!).  And then I got hungry a little later so I had a cherry Larabar.

 

Thoughts from today:
I woke up this morning and felt like I was run over by a truck.  I expected to feel sore from the hike yesterday but man, this was bad.  Also, my uterus hates me (no surprise there based on the past 5 years of infertility and miscarriages) and I had such bad cramps that I almost felt like puking.  So we stayed home from church and read General Conference talks that we missed back in April and took it easy (with ibuprofen and a rice pack). After breakfast and taking a nice hot shower my body felt better from the hike's soreness, so at least that helped a little.

I can't believe I was so dumb to use terrible knife safety and cut my finger like that.  It's a pretty deep cut, but we don't think it's bad enough for stitches so Dustin bandaged it up and it feels fine now.  Good thing he's almost a doctor!  I'm so appreciative of him and all he did today to help with food prep.  He finished off lunch while I cried all hormonal on the couch (I think I was in shock too), helped with fixing dinner (especially anything that needed knife work), and is doing the dishes right now.  I married a good one!
I know I need to cut back on the fruit. They recommend 1-2 servings a day and we seem to have 2-3 continually.  I'm starting to like veggies more so hopefully that will help in starting to sub in veggies for snacks instead of fruits, but I wouldn't count on it this week. I know I was emotional and hormonal and felt bleh today, but I really missed having homemade popcorn while watching a movie and dangit, some chocolate sounds real good.  The Whole30 general timeline says these cravings will happen over the next week so I'm just going to have to hang in there.
Now I just need to get steaks for tomorrow night marinating and then we'll be off to bed after this icky day!

Day 7

I can't believe it's been a whole week! Time sure flies when you're cooking and doing lots of dishes. :)

Breakfast was egg sandwich sliders with a sweet potato bun, baked prosciutto "bacon" and a fried egg. And half a grapefruit. I made my cousins waffles and chocolate milk and didn't have any myself, so I obviously must love them a whole lot. ;) 

 

 

Lunch was an open basket double "Frack" burger (no cheese, no sauce, no bun). We added our own prosciutto bacon crumbles and avocado.  It was eaten with a fork salad style and it was a nice change from your traditional bunless lettuce wrapped burger.  Instead of a milkshake we chose a strawberry fruit leather.

Burger on it's own

Burger made better with homemade fixins

 

After hiking all afternoon, we snacked on carrots and green peppers (and a few pistachios and coconut flakes) until we hit dinner at Nancy's for lettuce wrapped grilled chicken.  To go with our protein we picked up a small (that we split) Berry UpBEET only fruits and veggies smoothie at Jamba Juice.

 

 

 My thoughts on the day... and on other things like bacon:
We didn't know for sure that we would be going with family to hike Silver Falls today until we woke up this morning, so our meal plan for the day was totally screwed.  We thought we could make the best decisions possible knowing they were going to be eating at burger joints for lunch and dinner, and I think we did a pretty great job! Smoothies are not advised on Whole30 as they contain a lot of sugar and it is not as satisfying to drink your meal.  After hiking a pretty intense uphill battle, all I wanted was a smoothie! We figured a grilled chicken breast and a smoothie packed with veggies was a good compromise, especially as the smoothie wasn't the entire meal.  The Berry UpBEET smoothie is made up of Strawberries, Blueberries, Mixed Berry Juice Blend, Red Vegetable Juice Blend (Carrots, Beets, Broccoli, Spinach, Kale, Lettuce), Mangos, Ice.  It was so stinking good and so refreshing after such an intense workout!  I've never loved beets, broccoli, spinach, kale, and lettuce so much!  We're not perfect at this, but we're trying to do the best with the situation of the day and make the best possible choices we could while having little control over the matter.
Getting a good hike in today was really nice and felt great.  While our family was having big ole burgers with fries, onion rings, and milkshakes it at first seemed a little sad to be left out of those foods we've loved so much.  But as soon as we got moving on that hiking trail, I knew I was SO glad that I did not eat all that junk.  I felt energized and happy and it was a great afternoon! I will definitely be sore tomorrow.  We have not done a workout since starting Whole30 and I know it's something that will be good to add in to our routine but for now I am just trying to get in making three full healthy meals a day and get the dishes done after! Maybe by our next round of Whole30 we will be able to get exercise in too. :)
The boil water ban is over in Portland now and I'm so happy about it!!!  You never realize how important something is until you can't have it.  I love water!
I've seen so many questions and comments in the Whole30 forums about bacon and I really don't understand what the big deal about it is.  The prosciutto is just pork and salt and it fries up just like bacon and tastes just like bacon and can be used just like bacon.  Maybe bacon is a big paleo thing that I don't quite understand, but even without prosciutto bacon you'd think that giving bacon up for a month just like sugar, dairy, or anything else wouldn't be such a big deal.  Weirdos.
I also don't understand how some people will do the Whole30 program by themselves and cook different food for their families.  Say WHAT?  Seems like a whole lotta wasted work when making Whole30 food is delicious and easily can fit a family's palette.
We've done our shopping for the week and I'm so excited to try out these new recipes!  Eating out made me miss a good home-cooked meal and I appreciate them even more now!