Protein Waffles

If I could eat these daily, I probably would. What turned out as a messy experiment ended up as a glorious success! These beef protein waffles are a perfect post workout breakfast, and topped with dairy free yogurt and fresh berries, I don't think they couldn't get any better!

Ingredients:

-two large white fleshed sweet potatoes (about 4 cups)

-5 scoops Equip Foods Vanilla Beef Protein Powder ("wholedailylife" for 15% off)

-10 eggs

Instructions:

1. Peel the sweet potatoes and then steam until tender (I used my Instant Pot). Let them cool until able to handle.

2. Process the sweet potatoes in a food processor with the 5 scoops of Equip Foods Vanilla Beef Protein Powder, then add the eggs two at a time.

3. Preheat the waffle iron and spray it with plenty of Primal Kitchens Avocado Oil. Add the batter and let the waffles cook for several minutes (I left them in for about 5. 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!)

4. Serve topped with yogurt (try my dairy free coconut milk yogurt!) and fresh berries!

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

Tom Kha Gai

This flavorful soup is always on the rotation at my house! For a heartier meal, I add a starch on the side, such as roasted winter squash, sweet potato, or white rice.

Ingredients:

2# bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts

2 tbsp coconut oil

1 tsp salt

4 cups bone broth, divided

1 can full fat coconut milk

3 stalks lemongrass, chopped into 3 inch pieces

2 inch knob of ginger, sliced into coins

Zest and juice of 1 lime

2 tbsp Red Boat fish sauce

2 tbsp coconut aminos

2 cups sliced mushrooms

1.5# zucchini

Handful of cilantro and sliced thai chili, for garnish

Instructions:

1.     Heat 2 tbsp coconut oil in a large pot over medium heat. Salt chicken on all sides, then place skin down in oil. Let cook undisturbed for 5 minutes, then flip and cook for an additional 3 minutes. Pour 1 cup of broth in the pot and cover. Let cook for 15-20 minutes, until internal temperature of chicken reaches 165 degrees F. Remove chicken and set aside to cool.

2.     After removing the chicken, add the rest of the broth and the coconut milk to the pot with the lemongrass and the ginger and bring to a simmer. (To make it easier on yourself later, you can put the lemongrass and ginger in a piece of cheesecloth with the end tied closed so that you can easily remove it before serving.)

3.     Trim the ends of the zucchini and chop into rounds, then quarter them. Add zucchini and sliced mushrooms to the pot and let simmer for 5-10 minutes, until soft.

4.     In the meantime, separate the chicken from the bones and skin. (Save the bones in the freezer to make broth later on.) Shred or chop it into small pieces, then add to the pot to warm back up.

5.     Add the fish sauce, coconut aminos, lime zest, and lime juice. Adjust seasonings as needed. Remove the lemongrass and ginger, then ladle into bowls and garnish with fresh cilantro and slices of thai chili!

NOTE: I sometimes like to use 3-4 drops each of doTERRA Lemongrass, Ginger, and Lime essential oils in place of the fresh lemongrass, ginger, and lime zest to make this dish even easier! I will also often cook boneless/skinless chicken breasts in my instant pot and shred those to add to the soup instead.

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

Coconut and Macadamia Crusted Chicken Tenders (low FODMAP, GAPS)

I really think I could eat the whole batch in one sitting. These little nuggets are a delight, with their sweet/salty flavor and resemblance to a childhood favorite!

I originally shared this recipe on the US Wellness Meats page as part of their Featured Chef project, but wanted to share it here as well! The recipe is simple (as most of my recipes are), and the most time consuming part is the actual dipping process. If you're looking for a shortcut, just skip the part about cutting them up. They'll turn out just as well!

Coconut and Macadamia Crusted Chicken Tenders

Ingredients:

1# chicken tenders, cut into 1-2” pieces

1 egg

2 tbsp coconut milk

1 cup raw macadamia nuts

1 cup finely shredded unsweetened coconut

1 tsp salt

1 tsp garlic powder (omit for low-FODMAP)

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. In the bowl of a food processor, pulse the macadamia nuts, coconut shreds, salt, and garlic powder until a fine meal formed. Be careful not to over-process or it will start to turn into a nut butter! Transfer to a wide, shallow bowl.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs and coconut milk until well combined.
4. Dip each chicken tender into the egg mixture and then into the coconut/macadamia mixture, being sure to coat all sides. Place tenders on the parchment lined sheet.
5. Bake at 350 degrees for about 15-20 minutes until chicken is cooked through and coating is starting to brown.