Meal Plan 8/27/17 + I Was On Live TV!

Firstly, can we talk about the fact that I was on live TV for the first time ever this past week?? For those who don't know, I work full time at Sharp Rees-Stealy here in San Diego, in addition to maintaining my small business on the side. Well, on Tuesday afternoon I got a call from the media team at my office asking if I could respond to a media request for someone to talk about protein intake, following the story of a young mom who died from a protein overdose (due to an underlying genetic condition). I figured I might as well get out there and try something new, because it's always good to get out of our comfort zones, right? I accepted the offer and spent the next couple of hours coming up with talking points, then swung by Whole Foods on my way home to pick up some real-food props. 

The next morning was an early start, and before I knew it I was live on the Channel 8 Morning Extra at 7:15am! The segment was only a couple of minutes long, and in my head, I felt like it was completely jumbled. I was nervous and felt kind of tongue tied in the beginning. I found my voice though and I think it ended up sounding a lot better out loud than I was thinking that it did. The one thing I learned though is that if I want to communicate a point, I need to be bold and just jump right in and say it! The anchor was talkative (she loved nutrition too) and I didn't really have the opportunity to even say what I wanted to say. Even so, it was a (very brief) opportunity to talk about real food nutrition on the news, which I'll take any day! Plus, I got to eat all the real-food props that I used on the show, which meant that I was having kale salad, salmon with mango salsa, and fresh fruit for breakfast, and I loved every bite! Here's the clip if you're interested. I didn't write the blurb underneath it though, nor do I necessarily agree with it. (I think those numbers are far too low.)

Alright, enough about that. 

The Meal Plan 

Breakfast: Smoothie // I'm cleaning out the freezer of all the half-used bags of frozen fruit that seem to have accumulated! I'll also be adding in some frozen spinach or kale, along with the steamed and frozen zucchini that you see in the picture. For protein, I'll be mixing it up between Equip (pictured; 15% off with code "wholedailylife"), Vital Proteins Collagen (pictured), and a couple of others. 

Lunch: No Cook Plate // This is my go-to three out of four weeks of the month. I almost always have cucumber, radishes, and an apple, along with some kind of protein. This week I'll be having Safe Catch Seasoned Elite Tuna with a mashed avocado and some arugula! These cans of tuna are PERFECT for a no-cook lifestyle because they're not only top of the line in quality, but also packed with flavor! 

Dinner: Meatballs + Sweet Potato + Red Cabbage // I have a couple of leftover frozen meals in my freezer from previous weeks that I'll be rotating in here as well, so this week I made a batch of my basic meatballs and packed them up with some roasted sweet potato and balsamic red cabbage. I'm trying out meat from Free Raised Direct for the first time this week; more on that below!

Snack: Zupa + Protein // They didn't make it into the picture, but if I need a little something extra (I eat intuitively based on my hunger), I'll have a DNX bar or a couple of Paleo Valley jerky sticks with a Zupa soup. As always, you can get 20% off of your Zupa order + free shipping with the code "wholedailylife" at checkout!

More about Free Raised Direct

Free Raised Direct is a meat subscription service that provides 100% grass fed and finished meat from Strauss, a collection of family farmers.  They reached out to me to see if I would be interested in sampling some of their products. The ground beef that I used this week is the first that I have tried, and it is clear by the flavor that the meat lives up to the standard that they proclaim. (Once I moved over to grass fed beef it is so apparent when the meat I'm eating is not!) I'm not affiliated with this company in any way, but if you'd like to learn more about them, you can do so here. I look forward to cooking with more of their meats in weeks to come, and will be sure to share my experience!

Have a great week!

-Tracey

Meal Plan 8/21/17: Freezer Sweep

Hi there!

I've shared before that every time I have an extra serving of food I stash it away in my freezer in a single serving portion to pull out on a rainy day. (Aka, a day that my plans change, or that I'm not in the mood for the food that I prepped for the week.) Every once in a while my freezer gets so overstocked that I try to plan a week around using up most of what I have in there! It's kind of like a game. I usually end up with some mismatched meals, but it makes for a cheap week of groceries! Well, this past week I was getting something out of the freezer and one of my perfectly prepared and portioned meals came crashing down and shattered all over the floor (after the longest workday, nonetheless), which was a sign that it was definitely time for a freezer sweep!

In other news, this past week I got to host the Autoimmune Paleo Instagram account, which was SO FUN! I really enjoyed getting to share so many of my strategies, tips, tricks, and recipes with the autoimmune community, and loved getting to learn from so many others! If you want to check out my posts, you can use the hashtag #traceyaip. It definitely made for a busy week though, so the freezer sweep came at a good time...less cooking over the weekend!

Here's what I'm having this week:

Breakfast: Fruit and Veggie Smoothie // I love adding steamed and frozen veggies into my smoothies, and this week I picked up some organic yellow squash to blend in! I also grabbed some frozen organic spinach to incorporate because (a) it's cheaper and (b) it's already frozen and chopped! I have lots of different fruits on hand currently (pineapple, cherries, berries, mango, pomegranate) so each day I'll have about 1 cup of fruit with the veggies and some protein powder. I'm currently rotating between several: Vital Proteins Collagen Peptides, Ancient Nutrition Bone Broth Protein, and Equip ("wholedailylife" for 15% off!).

Lunch: No Cook Spread with Pâté, Dairy Free Cheese, and Zupa // I have some dairy free cheese and pâté left over from last week's meal prep, so I'm using that up this week. I'm adding my usual cucumber, radish, and apple, and bulking up the veggie content with a Zupa! You already know my love for these super convenient, Whole30 approved, nutrient dense, drinkable soups :) Use the code "wholedailylife" for 20% off your order and free shipping! My current favorite is the beet. It's so summery and fresh!

Dinner: Turkey Patties and Veggies // This is where the true freezer sweep comes into the picture. I had a bag of frozen cauliflower rice that I cooked up in some ghee until golden, a combination of frozen chopped kale and fresh kale that was on sale at the store (again, sautéed with ghee until tender), some frozen sage roasted butternut squash that I had plenty of leftover from a previous week, and some turkey patties by Man Cave Craft Eats. More on that below!

Snack: Rx Bar

A little more about the Man Cave brand:

Man Cave sent me some of their goods a few weeks ago to try out, and I finally got around to incorporating them! They have several really unique and creative products, such as Italian sausage with prosciutto, resiling, kale, and smoked gouda chicken sausages, and an all in one breakfast sausage that includes eggs, bacon, cheese, and hash browns. Several of their products do contain gluten and/or dairy though, so be sure to read the labels if you're sensitive to those things!

The two products that I tried this week are the Italian sausage with prosciutto, which I worked into a lasagna casserole for my husband, and some southwestern turkey patties (which actually aren't listed on their site, I think they are a product that they phased out). I will say, the flavor is great! The company also has a really neat mission with their Bite Back program, which helps to give food to children in need. You can read more about that here.

In talking with them about where they source their meat, they assured me that the meat comes from smaller family farms, but couldn't tell me whether it was grass fed/pasture raised. As well, they do use some ingredients that I prefer to avoid, such as soybean oil, nitrates, added sugars, etc. Personally, I probably wouldn't purchase these products, because it is a high priority to me to source top quality meat products, and they couldn't confirm with confidence that their products meet that criteria. However, I have many friends and family who don't have the same health concerns and would love the novelty aspect of some of these products! Their purchase would help to support Man Cave's mission to end childhood hunger, which I absolutely think is a valuable endeavor. 

I never like to share a less than glowingly positive review, but it's extremely important to me that you guys know that I'm being honest with you! I don't recommend products that I don't absolutely love and trust to use for myself. That's just how I roll! 

That's enough for this longer than average blog post, so let's wrap it up. Have a great week, and I'll see you back here next week for another meal plan!

-Tracey

Meal Plan 8/14/17: All About AIP

Hi there, and happy Monday! I had a neat opportunity to host the Autoimmune Paleo Instagram account this week, and as such, prepared only elimination phase complaint foods! If you're not familiar with the AIP diet, it's a diet originally pioneered by Sarah Balantyne of The Paleo Mom. It starts with the basic paleo template but then also eliminates eggs, nuts and seeds, alcohol, and nightshade vegetables, each of which has been shown to have a potential impact on gut health. By eliminating these foods (along with the obvious offenders like gluten/grains, dairy, sugar, etc) I, along with many of my clients, have seen a huge improvement in gut health, which translates to an improvement in autoimmune symptoms. There's a great overview of the diet here. 

When I work with clients on this diet I usually recommend that they follow the elimination phase for 1-3 months, or until they see a noticeable improvement in their symptoms. At that point, we start to strategically reintroduce foods and monitor for any changes in their symptoms. Ultimately the goal is for them to be able to eat the most liberal diet that they can while maintaining their health.

Here's what I prepared for the week!

Breakfast: Cinnamon Ginger Hot "Cereal" // This is the perfect AIP friendly alternative to the classic bowl of oatmeal! My batch is inspired by this recipe from Eat Heal Thrive, and uses spaghetti squash and carrots as the base. I modified the recipe by using extra spices, extra coconut milk (my favorite brand), and half of the apple cider. I'll add in some Vital Proteins collagen peptides every morning for protein. 

Lunch: No-Cook Spread // I have a variety of different things this week to incorporate a bit of variety! As usual, I have cucumber and radishes as my veggies, an apple for carbohydrate, and an avocado for fat. I have turkey for protein on a couple of days, an Epic bar for one day, and some dairy free cheese (by The Spunky Coconut and featuring my favorite Sari Foods Nutritional Yeast) and pâté (chicken livers from US Wellness Meats) on the others! I'll put the pâté recipe below!

Dinner: Coconut and Plantain Chip Crusted Chicken with Assorted Roasted Veggies // This chicken is the AIP version of the one that I posted on the US Wellness site as their featured chef this month! For veggies, I picked up several different types (cauli rice, zucchini, yellow squash, asparagus, sweet potato) and mixed and matched for the week! I'll put the chicken recipe below.

Snacks: Gut Healing Gummies and Carob Bites // For the carob bites, all I did was mix one part carob with two parts coconut butter until smooth! I also turned a portion of this mixture into a bark with dried cranberries and coconut on top which was so much more delicious that I even imagined! I made this batch with Eating Evolved roasted coconut butter, which definitely added some depth of flavor. If you order online, use the code "traceygmt" for a free gift with your order!

Chicken Liver Pâté

-1 yellow onion, diced

-1# chicken raw chicken liver

-6 cloves of garlic, minced

-1 tbsp coconut oil

-2 tsp each: dried sage, dried oregano, dried rosemary (or use fresh if you have it!)

-1 tsp salt (I like @redmondrealsalt)

-2-3 tbsp apple cider vinegar

-2-3 tbsp coconut oil

1. Caramelize the onion in 1 tbsp coconut oil, then add in the garlic and cook for 1 additional minute.

2. Add in the chicken livers and cook until no longer pink.

3. Transfer the cooked chicken liver to a food processor and add all other ingredients.

4. Process until completely smooth, then transfer to small jars. Top each jar off with 1 tsp coconut oil to seal the top.

I like to make a batch of this each month and freeze the jars to pull out when I want them!

Coconut and Plantain Chip Crusted Chicken Tenders:

-1 cup shredded coconut (I buy mine from Trader Joes!)

-1 large handful plantain chips (Inka brand is compliant)

-1 tsp salt (I like @redmondrealsalt)

-2 tsp garlic powder

-1.5# chicken breasts

-1/2 cup coconut milk

1. Add the plantain chips to the bowl of a food processor and pulse until chopped into small pieces. Add the shredded coconut, salt, and garlic powder and process until you achieve the texture of breadcrumbs.

2. Cut the chicken breasts into 1" pieces and pour the coconut milk into a small bowl.

3. Dip each chicken nugget into the coconut milk, then coat with the plantain and coconut mixture. Place each piece on a parchment lined baking sheet.

4. Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes until internal temperature reaches 165.

Have you been curious about giving the AIP diet a try? Here's a meal plan to make it happen! It really can be super simple. My quick go-to's are a breakfast hash with ground meat and veggies, a no cook lunch with raw veggies, fruit, and deli turkey, and a dinner of a soup or something like roasted meat and veggies. Easy peasy! 

Have a great week!

-Tracey

Meal Prep 8/7/17: Simplicity + Featured Chef Project!

Hi there! Gosh, it has been a busy few weeks! I'm pretty sure that's how I started last week's meal plan post, but that's just the reality right now. 

I had a follow up with my doctor last week, and the good news is, everything is moving in the right direction! We didn't make any changes to my current protocol and are planning on continuing on as things are for another three months or so. I'm content with that, other than the part of having to take dozens of supplements. But they're making a difference, so that makes it worth it! 

We had company in town again this past weekend, which was a breath of fresh air. It's always so good to spend time with good friends! We did plenty of eating out at some of our favorite restaurants here in SoCal: GoodOnYa Deli, Breakfast Republic, Urban Plates (a new find!), and Pressed Juicery, of course! After all of that, I'm looking forward to returning to the simplicity of normal work-week food. As with any extra busy weekend, I did take a few shortcuts, which I'll explain below.

Breakfast for me: Pork and Spinach Hash + Sage Roasted Butternut // I recently found the bags of chopped organic spinach in the freezer section of Trader Joe's, and I've been taking full advantage of their convenience! In the past I would have chopped up a couple bags worth of fresh baby spinach just to toss it into the skillet to wilt, but the frozen bags taste exactly the same to me, and they're so much less hassle! Cheaper too :) I started this meal by cooking up 1# of plain ground pork from US Wellness Meats (did you see? I'm their featured chef this month!) in my Le'Creuset dutch oven with about 1 tsp salt, 1 tbsp ground garlic, 2 tsp fennel seeds, and 2 tsp ground sage. When that was cooked through, I added in a 1# bag of chopped organic spinach that I had thawed and removed a bit of the extra water from, then portioned everything out into Pyrex containers. At the same time, I roasted a couple of trays of butternut squash cubes (1/2" pieces) that I had tossed with some coconut oil, salt, sage, and mustard. Those cooked  400 for about 30 minutes until soft. 

Breakfast for him: Protein Packed Banana Oat Bread // We've been relying on frittatas for several weeks in a row now, so this week I mixed things up with this oat bread. While nutritionally I do prefer the frittata, the oat bread is a bit easier to make (one step instead of several) so it's convenient for busy weekends. I started with this recipe as a base, but honestly, I never measure the ingredients! Here's what it usually ends up being: 3 blended ripe bananas, 1 egg, 5 scoops of whey protein powder, 1 carton of greek yogurt, about 1/2 cup water, 1 heaping cup of oats, 1 beaten egg, 2 tbsp maple syrup, 1 tsp baking powder, 2 tsp cinnamon, and about 1-2 cups of frozen berries. I mix it all together then pour it into a greased baking dish (usually an 11x7 Pyrex) and bake at 350 for about 45 minutes (or until a toothpick comes out clean). 

Lunch for me: Beef Sausage + Veggies // Really guys, if you're not buying meat from US Wellness, you should take a look at their site! I make a big order every few months and stock up on plenty of ground meat, whole cuts, and convenience items like these sausages. Pro tip: they send out a 15% off coupon in their newsletter every few weeks, so keep an eye out for that! All I did for this meal was roast some sweet potatoes (in Fourth and Heart Vanilla Bean Ghee YUMMM), sauté some kale on the stovetop until crispy (again, featuring Fourth and Heart, garlic this time), and roast some zucchini in the oven while the sausages cooked in a skillet. 

Lunch for him: No-Cook Spread // His usual of veggies (this week with some hummus for dipping!), fruit, deli turkey (one of our staples for shaving some time off of meal prep), and nuts. Veggies and grapes are in our favorite Stasher Bags.

Dinner for me: AMPLE // You may remember these from a couple of weeks ago. Ample is a meal replacement shake that I discovered in the Spring. It is designed as an all in one "just add water" kind of product, and after looking at the ingredient list, I was impressed! They have a whey and collagen based formula, which is the one I'll be having this week, as well as a vegetarian pea and rice protein based one. While I do generally prefer whole food based meals, having something like Ample is an incredibly convenient backup for busy weeks. If you'd like to try it out for yourself, you can use the code "wholedailylife" for 10% off of your first order!

Dinner for him: Chicken Sausage + Potatoes and Broccoli // Pretty much the same as my lunch, but with different sausages and different veggies. I make a weekly trip to Grocery Outlet (If you've never heard of it, it's a bargain grocery store, just like it sounds! They carry lots of name brand products there but at great prices. I've found The New Barn, Artisana, Purely Elizabeth, Chosen Foods, and plenty of other amazing brands! It's like a treasure hunt every time.) and a couple of weeks ago they had Aidels chicken and apple sausages on sale for $3 a pack, so I snagged a few packs to put in the freezer. 

Snack for me: Apple +  Artisana Coconut Butter //  Pro-tip: stash a full jar of coconut butter stashed at work. You'll thank me someday :) 

Snack for him: Epic Snack Pack 

Alright, I have plenty more that I could write about, but I'll have to save that for another day. Have a great week!

-Tracey

Meal Prep 7/31/17: Waffles and No-Cook Soup

It's been a whirlwind of a few weeks around here! We were staying at a friend's house to dog-sit for our last week of the Whole30, then went straight from there to spend a weekend in Santa Cruz for a wedding. We jumped right back into normal life for a full work week and then have had both family and friends in town this past weekend, only to head right back into another week of dog-sitting! Needless to say, I'm making good use of all of my time saving tips and tricks in this week's meal prep.

Breakfast for me: Protein Waffles with Cashew Yogurt and Berries // Okay, so this one wasn't so much of a time saver, but I've been dreaming it up for a while and wanted to give it a try! After a bit of a rough start, I was pretty pleased with how these turned out. I started with two large hannah sweet potatoes that I steamed in my Instant Pot. I processed these in my food processor with 5 scoops of Equip Foods vanilla protein powder ("wholedailylife" for 10% off) and 10 eggs, then cooked them up in my waffle iron that I sprayed with plenty of Primal Kitchens Avocado Oil. I learned after the first batch that I definitely needed to leave them in for a while in order to get them to come off in one piece! Since the waffles already have about 30 grams of protein per serving I plan on topping them off with some Forager Project Cashewgurt and fresh berries!

Breakfast for him: Frittata + Banana // This is a definite staple in our house. You can see how I make it here!

Lunch for me: DNX Bar, Zupa, Cucumber, Radish, Apple, Avocado // I'm all about that no-cook kind of meal. Zupa soups are a permanent fixture in my fridge, perfect for weeks when I need a veggie boost but don't have a lot of time. I'll be having that with some fresh zucchini and radish, a small avocado, an apple, and a DNX bar for protein! Lots of volume here, so in reality I'll eat until I get full and then save the rest for later. If you want to stock your fridge with Zupa too, use the code "wholedailylife" to get 20% off your order + free shipping!

Lunch for him: Raw Veggies, Fruit, Deli Turkey, Nuts // Have you gathered that he's a creature of habit when it comes to food? I don't mind, it makes meal prep easy! We love using Stasher Bags for his lunches because they're reusable and they don't leak! 

Dinner for me: BBQ Pork + Roasted Potatoes + Greens // I've had a package of pork tenderloins in my freezer from US Wellness Meats (where I buy all of my grass fed/finished meat) in my freezer for a few months now because I could never decide what I wanted to do with it! I was originally thinking that I would put it in the crockpot with some salsa verde to make tacos, but then I saw a BBQ salad on Instagram that totally inspired me and I changed direction entirely. I have had some Tessemae's BBQ sauce in my fridge that I bought for the Fourth of July and decided to use that up too. I cut the tenderloins into 3" chunks to make them easier to shred later, dumped in the sauce, and let it all cook on medium heat on the slow cooker setting of my Instant Pot for about 4 hours. When that was done, I shredded the meat, added it back into the pot with the juices, and added some additional BBQ sauce. In the meantime, I also roasted up some fingerling potatoes with Primal Kitchens Avocado Oil (I use this oil pretty daily; it's very neutral in flavor and high heat tolerant!) and plan on tossing both over some fresh greens and drizzling with Primal Kitchens Ranch! 

Dinner for him:  Grilled Chicken and Veggies // We did this a couple of weeks ago and it made things super easy, so since we currently have access to a grill, we're doing it again! I planned for a full potato, a whole bell pepper, a portabello mushroom, a whole zucchini, and 2 chicken thighs per night. 

That's the plan for the week! Also, stay tuned for a giveaway of DNX bars, coming soon!

-Tracey