my obligatory blogger recipe list.

whole30, paleo, low-carb... creativity is the only way to get through it

recently my sister and i embarked on a (seemingly) impossible task of completing a "whole30". what is that, you may ask? basically, it's an intense, ridiculous 30-day food challenge that, on the website, says it will reset your body and start some new, amazing food habits that make you feel like one thousand million gajillion dollars when you're done. in reality, i'm sure it could do something that cool, but starting a 30-day elimination diet when i was barely 9 weeks pregnant was maybe not my best idea. 

however.

my sister is awesome and she is a good motivator and teammate, and we decided to do it together. and secretly, i was hoping that restricting my access to apple jacks and ramen noodles and rocky road ice cream would help me feel better about pregnancy weight gain. so we started. 

and we did it. for 24 whole days! this blog is not necessarily about my experience, buuuuut the long-short of it is that i learned my true kryptonite is candy. (candy. candy. yum.) and guess what happened on day 24 of our whole30? halloween. i was a goner. that night i couldn't deny my love affair for twix and reese's peanut butter cups. and it didn't help that my good friend brought over gourmet, individual acorn-squash-fondue-cups. i mean, seriously. i had no hope... 

despite our lackluster finish, we did have a good experience on the food challenge. while we didn't last the full 30 days, and i didn't feel like a rich, jillionaire from the inside out (i partly blame the small little human growing inside me), i did enjoy learning how to cook differently, and more often. i really would like to stick with some of my new habits, but also feel totally ok with having a second bowl of rocky road ice cream every once in while...

because i did really enjoy learning how to cook new recipes and using new ingredients, i wanted to share some of my favorite dishes from the past few weeks. below is a list of links to some yummy (and easy!) food, as well as a few of my own recipes that i 'perfected' as i went. cheers!

Sausage Stuffed Acorn Squash, from Tasty Eats at Home

Easy Balsamic Infused Beef Pot Roast from Just Enjoy Food

Sun-Dried Tomato and Mushroom Meatloaf from Rubies and Radishes

Tropical Salmon from The Organic Kitchen

Lemon Rosemary Chicken from Bravo for Paleo

Mexican Pulled Pork (slow cooker) from Paleo Cupboard

Sausage Stuffed Peppers from Paleo Pot

Paleo Crock Pot Chili from Meatified

Slow Cooker Chili Verde  from A Girl Worth Saving

Chicken Curry from My Natural Family

 so let me be honest and tell you that while the end product of this recipe was AMAZING, I found the recipe to be a titch bit...lacking. I mean, there isn’t even measurements! So I added a little here and there, and this is what I came up with….

Ingredients:

• 1 lb Chicken breasts/tenders, cut into bite sized pieces
• ~1/2 bottle of (dry) curry powder
• 2-3 tsp paprika
• Salt, to taste
• 6 Roma tomatoes
• 1 zucchini
• 1 yellow squash
• ½ can tomato sauce
• 1 can tomato paste
• 3-4 cups chicken broth (to taste/consistency)
• 1 can coconut milk

Preparation:

• Heat a lot of coconut oil in frying pan, and add chicken and spices. Allow chicken to cook and spices to carmelize (cook a lot longer than you think! The carmelizing of the spices is the best part).
• Add chopped veggies, tomato sauce and paste, then chicken broth to taste and desired consistency
• Cover and simmer about 10-15 minutes
• Remove from heat, stir in coconut milk
• Serve over cauliflower rice or baked potato

 and below are three of my favorite new staples in life... mostly adapted recipes that I tweaked to my liking. my contribution to the whole30/paleo/low-carb craze, if you will...

Baked Apples

• Ingredients:
• Apples
• Ghee
• Cinammon, Nutmeg
• Coconut milk
• Preparation
• Buy large, delicious apples. I went with one apple per guest, and bought enormous, crispy Honeycrisp apples. But you can buy as many of any type of apple you’d like
• Core each apple, but leave the bottom in (i.e. don’t put a hole through the whole apple- core just enough of the apple but leave the bottom in tact to keep all the good juices in!
• Heat oven to 350
• Stuff the core of each apple with a huge spoonful of ghee, and sprinkle with a healthy dose of cinnamon and dash of nutmeg
• Bake for 20-60 minutes- until apples are soft (the bigger they are, the longer they take!)
• Serve with a splash of coconut milk

Cauliflower Rice: my own recipe

• Ingredients:
• Cauliflower
• 3 cloves garlic, crushed
• Salt, pepper to taste
• Preparation
• Get a head of cauliflower. A good, big one with no brown spots
• Wash it up, de-leaf and cut the bottom stem out, leaving just a nice ol’ cauliflower head
• Grate the florets of the cauliflower with a cheese grater, down to the stems
• Put grated cauliflower into a pan with coconut oil, some salt, pepper and 3 crushed garlic cloves
• Saute for 8-10 minutes, or until the cauliflower is nice and tender.
• Eat it up. So good!

Chicken Tortilla Soup

• Ingredients:
• 1 medium onion
• 3-4 cloves garlic
• 4-5 chopped tomatoes (or 1-2 cans diced tomatoes)
• Chopped cilantro
• 3-4 cups chicken broth
• 1 lb chicken breast, shredded
• 6-8 limes
•  Preparation
• Brown onion and garlic in sauté pan
• Add tomatoes and lime juice from 2 limes. Sauté about 5 minutes
• Add chopped cilantro to taste
• Puree in food processor/blender with juice of 2 more limes. Put back in pan
• Add chicken broth and shredded chicken, plus more lime juice to taste
• Simmer for 10 minutes or so
• Garnish with lime juice, avocados 

I hope you enjoy!