Whole30 Batch Cooking

Hi there my friends! 

Confession: I've been slacking a bit on my veggies lately. Normally I pack int least 6-8 cups daily, but these past few weeks I've been a little under the weather and haven't had my usual appetite. Inconvenient....because when you're sick, you want to pack in as many veggies as possible!! I decided to keep things super simple this week and really challenge myself to up my veggie game. Sometimes when I overthink it, it starts to feel overwhelming. 

My biggest tip? Chop those veggies up (or buy them pre-chopped), toss them with some oil and salt, and roast baby roast! Add a few easy batch cooked proteins (meatballs, Instant Pot chicken, etc) and you're good for the week. I'll also be making sure I have at least one bottle of Zupa each day, because it doesn't get much easier than that!

Here's this week's easy, Whole30 Compliant meal plan:

Breakfast: Chicken and Veggies // As you might have seen on Instagram, my husband recently got a Traeger smoker/grill, and let me tell you, that thing is magic. We've been smoking chickens on there and the flavor is incredible! We usually do two at a time (because #leftovers), so that's what I'm using as my breakfast protein this week. For sides, I added some steamed green beans (I'm playing around with these; in the past I haven't digested them well, so I decided to steam them to make them extra digestible) and roasted cinnamon sweet potatoes. For the sweet potatoes all I did was peel and cut them into 1" cubes, toss with a bit of coconut oil (my FAVORITE brand), salt, and cinnamon, and roast on a parchment lined pan for 30 minutes at 350 then 30 minutes at 400 to get that golden crust. I'll also be adding an egg each morning. Starting them at the lower temperature makes them extra sweet! 

Lunch: Ginger Scallion Chicken Meatballs with Veggies // For the meatballs, I mixed together 1# of ground chicken from US Wellness Meats with about 1 cup of chopped green onions, 1 tbsp coconut aminos, and a 2" knob of fresh ginger, minced. I formed 16 meatballs then baked them at 425 for 12 minutes until cooked to an internal temperature of 165. The veggies are pretty simple: carrots roasted in Tin Star Foods ghee, yellow squash roasted in Kasandrinos olive oil, and bok choy sautéed in coconut oil with coconut aminos and fish sauce. 

Dinner: Lamb Hash // One of my favorites, as you know! You can find the recipe here. 

Snack: Zupa + Ayobayo or RXBar // You know my love for Zupa as an easy way to pack in the extra veggies! Don't forget that you can get 15% off of EVERY ORDER with the code "wholedailylife" and until the 23rd, you can use the additional code "fourfree" for 4 free bottles! This is a serious deal you guys. Don't miss out! Also, Ayobayo Droewors is my FAVORITE jerky out there. The flavor is top notch, and the ingredients couldn't be any cleaner!! Last but not least, RXBar, which is a perfectly balanced whole-food based protein bar that I love to use around my workouts. I'll be doing a giveaway later this week, so stay tuned!
 

That's all for this week! (Also, this meal is almost completely AIP compliant!) Let me know in the comments, what's your favorite way to sneak some extra veggies in? What are you cooking this week?

Have a great one!

-Tracey 

Easy Meals For Your January Whole30!

Alright folks, who's doing the January Whole30? While I'm not officially participating, I generally cook Whole30 compliant meals during the week, so I'm looking forward to sharing lots of resources along the way! I'm also working on a project that involves LOTS of W30 everything, so there's that. If you want to follow along, be sure to connect with me over on Instagram, where I share lots of day to day tips and strategies, as well as glimpses into my non-W30/food-related life! 

Here's what's on the meal plan this week:

Pre-workout: Rx Bar Mini or Banana + Coffee // These are my go-to options for a W30 compliant pre-workout snack! Alternatively, I also LOVE the Rootz Energizing Superfood (which is not compliant, but is amazing and has super clean ingredients); use code "wholedailylife" for 10% off. My choice of creamer for my coffee has been Nutpods for many months now. I used to drink it black, but I LOVE this W30 compliant option!!

Breakfast: Butternut Soup with Venison Sausage and Pesto // Back in my SIBO days, I lived off of this soup! It was also one of the things that helped me transition away from breakfasts loaded with sugar and lacking nutrients (think sweet cereal, cinnamon rolls, toaster strudels...) because it has a natural sweetness and familiarity, similar to a cozy bowl of oats. It's super easy to make, too, and is one of the recipes in my e-cookbook, Weeknight Paleo! Here's the gist: 1 large butternut, peeled and cut into 1/2" cubes, tossed with ghee (this batch was about 16 cups squash and 1/4 cup ghee). I roasted that at 375 for about an hour until golden, then blended with 4 cups of bone broth and a can of full fat coconut milk. For the venison sausage, I cooked 2# of ground venison in a large skillet with 2 tsp each of salt, basil, oregano, and 1 tbsp each fennel and garlic. The pesto is another staple of mine, and you can find the recipe here! I added walnuts and nutritional yeast (this is the ONLY brand I use because it is not fortified with synthetic B vitamins) to this batch, which made it extra creamy and delicious! 

Lunch: Zupa + Sardines or Smoked Chicken + Avocado or Nuts // Zupa coming in clutch this week for an easy no-cook Whole30 compliant lunch! Each day I'll pair a bottle with either a tin of sardines or some leftover smoked chicken that I froze in single servings. I'll also add a fat, either avocado or nuts. Use code “wholedailylife” for 15% off of your order at Züpa and the additional code “fourfree” for, you guessed it, four free bottles of their seasonal flavors!!

Dinner: Macadamia Coconut Crusted Chicken with Roasted Carrots, Sweet Potato, and Asparagus // Another of my favorites; you can find the recipe here! When it comes to the sides, I usually just pick some veggies (often whatever is on sale) and roast in large batches, then portion out into containers for the week. 

What are some of your favorite easy weekday meals, Whole30 or not?

-Tracey

Meal Plan 12/18/17: Freezer Friendly Whole30

Well hello there!

It has been a few weeks since I've written out my meal plan, mostly because life has been extra busy lately! This meal plan is simple, but strategic, so I wanted to share it. I was out of town this past weekend and knew that I would be getting back on a Sunday evening with little time to prep for the week. As such, the weekend before I left I actually cooked up a few extra dishes so that my husband and I could have food ready to go in the freezer when we got back! I made some taco meat for him, which he'll use on taco salad for dinners, and did a quick grocery store run last night to snag some fruit, veggies, and protein for no-cook style lunches. I've been preferring warm and cooked food to cold raw lately, so here's what I made:

Breakfast: Smoothies // Definitely not warm, but the convenience can't be beat. I used Vital Proteins collagen for protein with some steamed and frozen cauliflower/squash, some frozen chopped spinach, and either frozen steamed sweet potato or frozen fruit as my carbohydrate. I've also been adding in tahini and sunflower seeds for seed cycling! (See more on that here.)

Lunch: Yai's Thai Yellow Curry // I started by steaming some chopped carrots (1#) and yellow squash (1.5#), cooked up a bag of cauliflower rice (1#) on the stove with some coconut oil, and pressure cooked some chicken (1.5#) in my Instant Pot. I portioned all of that out into 5 pyrex dishes, then topped each one off with a mixture of 1 jar of yellow curry and one can of coconut milk. Added some fresh cilantro, let them cool in the fridge, then popped them in the freezer!

Dinner: Bison Chili with Avocado // This is probably the first paleo recipe that I ever tried and is still one of my favorites: Robb Wolf's Ultimate Paleo Chili! I used 1# of US Wellness Meats bison and added in some extra veggies. I'll be topping each serving off with a whole avocado and some green onion. PS, I did this in my Instant Pot in about 40 minutes. That thing is a lifesaver.

Snack: Zupa and/or Rx bar // Two of my favorite Whole30 approved snacks! As always, 15% off of Zupa + free shipping on 8+ bottles with "wholedailylife"! 

Prepping these things ahead of time took a load of stress off of my during my trip because I knew that I had a full week of healthy meals waiting for me at home, and it was probably only an extra time investment of an hour and a half! I'm all about that batch cook life! 

Happy Monday!

-Tracey

Brownie Batter Protein Balls + December Promo Code!

These balls are seriously a treat, and they’re loaded up with healthy fats and protein! I like to keep a batch in my fridge for whenever I need a sweet bite, and I’ve been known to have a few as breakfast too, along with an extra scoop of collagen in my coffee! I was inspired by a recipe that nurturingbodyandmind posted on her Instagram a while back and I modify a little bit with each batch...they're very forgiving. The key ingredients here are the Nuttzo Chocolate Power Fuel and the Chocolate Fudge Nuzest, which really pack in the brownie batter flavor! A couple of my other favorite brands have made it in as well, including Nutpods and Guiltless Goodies!

Here’s the recipe; I hope you give them a try!

PS. Nuzest hooked me up with a special discount code for all of December: use wholedailylife25 for 25% off of any regular priced item instead of the usual 15%!!

Brownie Batter Protein Balls

-1/4 cup Guiltless Goodies Superseed Flour (alternatively, ground flax seeds)

-1/4 cup hemp hearts

-1/3 cup walnuts (or sub other nut of choice)

-2 scoops Nuzest Fudge Chocolate protein powder

-2-3 tbsp Nutpods (any flavor, I used original )

-1/2 cup Nuttzo Chocolate Power Fuel 

Toss everything in a food processor and blend away! I like to blend up the seed flour, hemp hearts, and nuts first, then add the Nuzest, followed by the Nutpods and Nuttzo, but it really all ends up the same. If the mixture feels a little too dry, add more Nutpods 1 tbsp at a time until you get a soft consistency! I use a 1oz cookie scoop to form the balls. Dust them with some cocoa powder if you're feeling fancy! You'll want to store these in the fridge, if they last past a day.

Enjoy!

Chocolate Granola No-Bake Almond Butter Fudge Pie

How's that for a mouthful of a name?! Believe me, the flavor lives up to the hype.

I've always loved the combination of nut butter and chocolate, so when I got my hands on a bag of Kitchfix chocolate sea salt granola, that's immediately where my mind wandered. I also had a couple of jars of Barney Butter almond butter that were begging to play, so I sketched out a rough recipe on a piece of scratch paper and got to work! 

I got lucky and nailed this one on the first try. The only thing to note is that it does soften up (to more of a mousse consistency) at room temperature, so it's best to slice and serve it chilled. This pie is definitely rich, and the base recipe would be great for experimenting with different types of crusts, mix-ins, and toppings!

Ingredients:

2 cups Kitchfix Cocoa Sea Salt Granola

3/4 cup coconut oil, divided (the only brand I use is Dignity Coconuts!)

3 tbsp cacao powder

1/2 cup shredded unsweetened coconut

2 dates, pitted and roughly chopped

1.5 cups almond butter (I used a mix of original and chocolate coconut Barney Butter)

2-4 tbsp pure maple syrup

1 tsp vanilla extract

Toppings: almond butter to drizzle, melted chocolate to drizzle, Eating Evolved chocolate chunks, more granola

Instructions:

1. Start by lining a 6" pan with parchment paper. (I made two long strips (each about 2" wide) that made an X across the bottom and extended about an inch above the sides, then laid a round piece on top of that.) Spray everything down with a spritz of oil so that it stays in place. 

2. In the bowl of a food processor blend the 2 dates, 3 tbsp cacao powder, and 1/4 cup of coconut oil until smooth. Add in the 1/2 cup of shredded coconut and the 2 cups of granola and pulse until the mixture comes together. Transfer it to the lined pan and press down to form a crust on the bottom and half way up the sides. Set it in the fridge while you prepare the filling.

3. Wipe out the bowl of the food processor (no need to wash) and add in the almond butter, vanilla, and remaining 1/2 cup coconut oil. Pulse to combine, then add in the maple syrup to taste. (My almond butter had a bit of sweetener in it already, so I stuck with 2 tbsp, but if yours doesn't, you might want more!) Pour into the crust, smooth the top, then place in the fridge to set.

4. Let chill for at least 2 hours, until firm. To remove from the pan, flip upside down, run hot water over the bottom and sides, flip right side up again, then use the strips of parchment that cross under the bottom to lift the pie out.

 5. Add toppings of choice! I used some additional almond butter, some Eating Evolved chocolate that I melted to drizzle, and some Eating Evolved chunks. I also finished off the rest of the bag of granola on top!