Whole 30: Week 1 Recap

Hey hey!  How was everyone's winter break?  Ours was glorious!  Filled with tons of playing, friends, family and art.  The kids and I were both bummed when Monday morning rolled around and they had to go back to school.

The other thing that as quite the bummer about Monday was Mark and I starting the Whole 30.  Are you familiar with it?  It's basically 30 days of eating nothing processed, no dairy, grains, soy (or legumes of any kind), MSG, or anything that tastes delicious.  The point of it is to 'reset' your system, relearn how to eat the way nature intended (eating until satiety, instead of engorgement), and to just generally feel better.  We've done this once before, 2 years ago, and both loved the way that we felt, so we decided to do it again!

We started on January fifth, so today is day 8 for us.  I feel like I'm finally turning the 'bloated, withdrawing from sugar/carbs' hump, and am feeling good!  I've also made my way back to the gym, where I am spending way too much time working on my upper body.  I'm only cleared from the ribcage up, so I'm basically turning these shoulders into boulders, and I'm trading in my boobs for pecs.  Sexy, like a man.  Anyways.  I've made some super delicious recipes this week, and wanted to share my top 3 with you guys!

Cinnamon Roasted Butternut Squash 

(Recipe from Make With Your Hands)

Ingredients:
1 whole butter nut squash (3 c. cubed)
2 tbs. coconut oil (melted)
1/2 tbs. dark cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1 tbs. fresh ground black pepper

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Toss squash, coconut oil & cinnamon together until all of the squash is thoroughly coated with oil and cinnamon.  Lay the butternut squash on a parchment lined baking sheet, or silpat and bake for 35 minutes.  Pull it out of the oven and  immediately toss with the nutmeg and pepper.  Put it back on the baking sheet and allow it to cool.

Seriously, this is delicious.  Use the full TBSP of pepper.  The nuttiness of the nutmeg, combined with the spiciness of the pepper and the sweetness of the cinnamon is an unreal combination.

Chipotle Meatballs  

(Recipe from Health-Bent)

Ingredients

1 lb ground meat (we used beef)
1/4 c almond flour
2 eggs
1 T chipotle adobo sauce 
1 t dried oregano
1 t onion powder
1 t garlic powder
salt

For the Sauce

1 c chicken stock
15 oz can tomato sauce
1-2 finely diced chipotle peppers in adobo sauce or you could use just sauce
2 t dried oregano
2 t onion powder
1 t garlic powder
salt

Directions

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.  Combine all of the ingredients for the meatballs, and roll into small, 1.5 inch x 1.5 inch balls.  Bake for 15-20 minutes.  While the meatballs are cooking combine all ingredients for the sauce in a saucepan over medium-low heat, and allow to simmer until it reaches desired thickness.  We served these over roasted spaghetti squash with a side of avocado, because this is a spicy recipe!  The original recipe serves it with a side of guacamole.

These meatballs are delicious!  But, our favorite part about them is the sauce.  Because you can't have ketchup or BBQ sauce on the Whole 30, things sometimes seem a bit dry.  This sauce is the perfect solution!  

Bulletproof Coffee

Ok, let's talk about this one.  I was nervous about it too.  It crossed my radar a long time ago, and I immediately thought "Yuck! Hell to the no!"  But, I decided that I needed to woman up, and give it a go, and I am so thankful that I did!  That first day that I tried it I was like the freaking energizer bunny.  I could not sit still!  Which was kind of a bummer, because my bursitis was CRAZY bad, and it hurt me to move, and I couldn't bring myself to sit still.  I didn't make true bulletproof coffee because I'm not having dairy, and the real recipe calls for butter.  Anyways, give it a try!  

Ingredients:

1 tbsp Coconut Oil (virgin coconut oil gives a stronger flavor, so if you don't like coconut just look for regular coconut oil)

1 cup of brewed coffee.

Directions

In a blender combine the coffee and oil and blend until frothy.  I used an immersion blender in my cup, because I hate doing dishes.

Let me know if you have any questions!  These are my top 3 recipes, but I made SO many more!  Missing all of my food posts on Instagram?  Don't fret, I made a new account, just food and fitness related.  Follow me @kendalgetsfit. 

Brown Sugar Glazed Pork Chops

I have been on such a pork roll lately.  I love the way that it works so well with so many different flavors!  Plus, it's the other, other white meat.  And, I'm at that place where if I eat one more chicken breast I might drive my car into the guard rail of the freeway.  Anyways, it all started with a craving for my vegetables to be prepared in a new way, and has spiraled into pork prepared 3 different ways over 3 different nights.  I feel like I've been in such a rut when it comes to vegetables.  Balsamic brussel sprouts?  Bam, I got it.  Balsamic cauliflower? Done!  Roasted broccoli? Owned it.  Those are delicious recipes, but man, are they tired.

Anyways, I was perusing Pinterest, and I saw tons upon tons of brown sugar glazed pork chop recipes, and, I had pork chops on hand!  They're all basically the same, but I modified a few things to make it even more amazing.  You know what the best part of this recipe is?  It only uses one pan.  Seriously, make this for dinner tonight, you won't be disappointed!

Ingredients:

4 bone-in pork chops

5 slices of bacon

1 package of shaved brussel sprouts

1 tbsp. olive oil

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 tsp. cayenne pepper

1 tsp. garlic powder

1 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. black pepper

How to make them:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2.  Combine the brown sugar, cayenne, garlic powder, salt & pepper.  Dredge the pork chops in the mixture.  Make sure they're thickly coated.  There will be some mixture left over, rest assured, we use it later!

3.  Heat the olive oil and brown the pork chops.  Cook them over medium to medium-high heat for 5 minutes on each side.  

4.  Remove the pork chops from the pan and cook your bacon.  Remove bacon, let cool and cut into small pieces.

5.  Toss the brussel sprouts in the pan with the bacon grease & pork chop drippings, and sprinkle with the remaining spice mixture.  Let this cook down for a few minutes.

6.  Add the bacon & pork chops back to the pan.  Put the pork chops right on top of the brussel sprouts, so that all of their amazing juices drip right onto the sprouts, making them extra yummy!

7.  Bake for 10 or so minutes, until the meat is as done as you would like.  I like mine done medium, so I only did mine for 7 minutes.

Everything in Moderation....Even Panic

So this weekend it kind of dawned on me that we are in the teens for number of days before my surgery, and I freaked out.  Not in a 'let's clean every surface that we can find' kind of way, more like a 'cry and eat all the food that I see' kind of way.  Obviously that isn't conducive to my weight loss goals, so I need to let go of what happened this weekend and really just move on to tackling things that I can get sorted out now, and focusing on the positive.

Back to this weekend.  We were crazy busy, as we always are, and I was so unprepared with food.  Friday morning the nerves started creeping in, but I kept it together, ate healthy, and allowed myself a cheat of pie and ice cream for dessert.  I figured that would be enough to keep me happy through the weekend.  Ha!  What a fool I was.  Saturday Reese officially started cheer, and we spent all day out at a football field in a town over an hour away.  What I should have done was spend Friday evening prepping chicken, turkey and salad and packed myself a really healthy day.  What I actually did was have two coffees, skip eating and then go over to friends house for a BBQ and eat all of the chips and salsa that I could get my hands on.  Obviously, that went terribly for me.  On the upside, Reese might be the cutest cheerleader ever.  Here's a picture of her squad, clearly I make children that don't grow.

(Yes, that is her in the center.)

Sunday was no less chaotic.  Cam had BMX all morning, and then we had to head to the grocery store so that we could do little things, like eat this week.  I started my day off with a coffee, skipped breakfast and then went to Panera for lunch.  I don't need to go into the details about how dinner was also a diet flop.  

One huge thing that happened on Sunday night was a drinking opportunity.  I took August off of booze with my sister and a few girlfriends, and almost everyone hasn't made it.  I mean, we're 11 days in and I'm pretty sure only two of us have abstained from having a drink.  So, my nerves are frayed, I've been busy all weekend, and Sunday night I get to my mother in law's house and find one of my favorite bottles of wine in her fridge.  I decide to just go for it.  One glass, and I'll be done.  I open it up, pour my sister in law and brother in law's girlfriend a glass, and one for myself.  I sit there and look at it, and in that moment I decided that it wasn't worth it.  I made a commitment to friends, and most importantly, to myself that I was going to take this month and have no booze all of the way through.  It felt like such a huge win.

And this brings us to today, I'm letting go of all of the fails this weekend and I'm getting back on track.  Yesterday I bought a bunch of good stuff, meal prepped and set myself up for success this week.  

Ground turkey might be the key to everything.  Cook it up, season it well and eat it on everything.  It has TONS of lean protein, no carbs and low fat.  I could go on and on, but we will just leave it at that for now. 

This week for dinner we are keeping it super simple.  I need to start freezer cooking so that I can have some sort of a meal plan for after surgery, so I want to try out a few recipes for taste this week, and then if they're good freeze them over the weekend.

Monday: Honey Apricot Chicken. (This one is a freezer cooking test)

Tuesday: Chicken Tacos.

Wednesday: Rotisserie Chicken

Thursday: Chicken Stir Fry

Friday: Pizza.  So unique, I know.

This much chicken makes me wish that I liked fish. 

Oh my gosh.  The funniest Camden conversation happened with Camden this weekend.  He is such a sassy little thing!  He asked for an apple, and we gave it to him, and he ate a few bites and wanted to switch to chips.  Well, this homie don't play that way, and we do not waste food.  You take it, you eat it.  Obviously I refused to let him switch snacks, which then led to this conversation:

Camden: "Well I'm gonna call 991 and tell them that I don't even have any parents."

Me: "Well then the police will put you in jail for lying to them."

Camden: "Well then I would be freaking scared!"

I was CRACKING UP after that conversation.  Oh, and before you wonder, yes, we talked about how freaking scared is not an appropriate thing for a five year old to say.  He then told me that it was because it's how he would feel.  Sassy I tell you.  

p.s. I totally forgot to mention this, but I am rocking getting dressed every day!  AND, I'm still not pregnant! #winning 

p.s.s. The pregnant thing is a joke, because if you watched Desperate Housewives, Lynette got pregnant. 

Sunday Funday

....or what used to be Sunday Funday, now it's all about meal planning.  Do you ever feel like you're drowning in kids activities, constantly shuffling one kid to one side of town while the other kid has to be on the complete opposite side of town, at the exact same time?  I swear, at the end of some days I look back and think, 'how did I survive today?'  Well, let's be honest and say that some days I don't.  Some days we wind up in the Chik Fil A drive thru, and it's just a part of life.  Plus, their diet lemonade and Asian Salad is amazing, so it's almost totally fine.  But, on those days when I do have myself together it's because I meal planned, prepped and got dinner 95% done by 10 am, so that that night I just had to pop it on the BBQ or stove, or in the oven.  So, what's going on your plate this week?  Here's my meal plan, filled with lean proteins & veggies.  All grains are for the kids & Mark's enjoyment, because I just don't love going to bed weighed down with carbs.  I've included the calorie & nutrition breakdown for each main dish, but all of the sides are on you ;).  Before I jump to the list, add these macros in to your calorie counting app at the start of your day, and then plan your meal around it!  It makes eating through out the day a lot easier, and then you don't get to dinner and realize that you only have 100 calories, or 5g carbs & 10g protein left for the day.

Monday: Honey Lime Chicken Skewers.  I swear, if you've never tried these they need to be on your menu tonight!  I've used Sprite instead of lime, been out of cilantro, used half the honey, really, I've made every variation of these depending on what ingredients I had on hand, and every time it's turned out fantastic.  The *only* thing that I do differently is to skewer breast tenders instead of cubing the chicken, simply because it saves me time.

I mean, right?  If you can believe it, they taste even better than they look!

Tuesday: Cobb salad for Mark & I, and grilled cheese with fresh fruit and broccoli for the kiddos.  Go simple on your salad, you don't have to over complicate it by adding 17 ingredients, and skip out on dressing when you can.  I promise there is romaine lettuce under all of that deliciousness.  I didn't have the chicken on in this picture, but chicken marinated like this tastes AMAZING on top of this salad.  

(This breakdown DOES NOT include the chicken)

Wednesday: Tilapia & salad.  Yuck.  Mark & Reese love fish, and I'm sitting in the corner like "anyone wanna go to Chik Fil A?"  Anyways, I want Reese (and the other kids) to love fish, and all kinds of food, so even though I absolutely hate it, I go out of my way to buy frozen fish for them to enjoy.  I buy it frozen and pre seasoned, so all that I have to do is throw it on the grill (outside, obvi, so it doesn't stink up my entire house), whip up a quick salad an voila, dinner is done!  Which is awesome because on Wednesday nights, because Cam has soccer practice & BMX, and Reese has cheer practice, so I am quite literally, all over town.

Thursday:  Pork chops, Taylor Farms kale & brussels sprouts salad and baked sweet potatoes.  Mark is dying for them, and I've been slacking on them.  A little salt, pepper & BBQ sauce goes a long way with these, so they're super simple for me to make.  Have you guys tried this salad from Taylor Farms?!  Seriously.  It is delicious.  Even Mark, who absolutely hates kale AND brussels sprouts will eat this salad.  

I'm not adding the pork chop macro breakdown, because well, it's a pork chop.  Remember to weigh it, and measure how much BBQ sauce you smother on it.  BBQ sauce is high in carbs, so 

ADD IT AT THE START OF YOUR DAY!

Here is the macro breakdown for the salad sent straight from heaven (includes everything in the bag):

Friday: Pizza for the family, salad for me.  Friday's are my happy place.  No kids have any sports, the week is winding down, and for the first time in four days I feel like I can just breathe.  I have no interest in wasting one single second cooking, so I use some pre prepped chicken for me, and pick up a Little Caesars for the kids, and then spend the rest of the night watching a movie or playing a game.  

Hopefully your meal plan is as yummy as mine, and that your week is far less hectic!