Oh sweet artichokes come to Mama!

I'm sometimes a planner. I'm sometimes not. Sometimes I'm 'type A,' sometimes I'm SO not. But when it comes to meals, I have to plan. And I'm all out of whack due to the holidays. The week of New Year's, we had all sorts of food so we got off track with meal planning although I continued to eat compliantly, I started making things on the fly. Then David went out of town, so I wasn't cooking for two adult mouths, just mine and my three kids. But I thought I'd share the recipes we've BEEN eating the last few days and also share what is coming up for the rest of the week. I prefer to plan on Saturday and shop on Sunday so hopefully I will get back in that routine this weekend! Artichokes are happening tonight so YIPPEE!!!!

One of my favorite things about a whole30 challenge? You don't get on the scale. Nope. Just the day you start. And then you don't get back on it until your 30 days are completed. Freedom people!

What did we eat these last few days? Trying to remember...

Last Friday Night: Mediterranean Beef Stew  This was a recipe I have been making for years. It is literally THE easiest meal EVER. It first appeared in a Southern Living cookbook.

Last Saturday Night: Leftover beef stew

Sunday Night: I seriously can't remember what I ate! Something leftover I'm sure!

Monday Lunch: Leftover Pulled Pork with Beasty Sauce and Spinach leaves with almonds and homemade Italian dressing

Monday Dinner: Easy Paleo Chili My suggestions on this dish: Either cut in half the amount of vegetables OR double the meat. I also added water to it. It is a very thick chili without adding water. It's also very spicy so water helps stretch the spices. Next time I'm going to double the meat and still add water. I might have to adjust the spices some. I would also cook it longer so the peppers and onions are softer. I'm not big on crunching onions and peppers but I like the flavor so I prefer them super soft.

Tuesday Lunch: Leftover "parmesan" chicken and steamed broccoli with ghee and sea salt

Tuesday Dinner: Mustard Marinated Pork Chops and Pan fried sweet potato in coconut oil

Wednesday Lunch:  Leftover chili

Wednesday Dinner: Prosciutto Wrapped Spinach Artichoke Stuffed Chicken and Fried Cauliflower Rice I plan to leave off the red pepper because I don't care for that spice. Also be sure to drain the artichokes and get out any excess water. The recipe doesn't say to do that but you need to.

Thursday Lunch: Leftover stuffed chicken and cauliflower rice

Thursday Dinner: Slow Cooker Chicken Sausage Ragu with Spaghetti Squash. This is my method for cooking spaghetti squash. I also put it in the microwave WHOLE for a few minutes to soften it to make cutting it easier. Otherwise you could lose a finger! I found chicken sausage at Sprouts. However, check the ingredients if you are following a whole 30 challenge. The basil one has sugar. There is one that does NOT have sugar. I think I'm going to try Whole Foods next time for chicken sausage. That sugar is snuck into everything!

Friday Lunch: Leftover Ragu with zucchini or spaghetti squash

Friday Dinner: Balsamic Marinated Grilled Chicken and Butternut Squash Risotto

Saturday Lunch: Leftover Grilled chicken and risotto

Saturday Dinner: Balsamic Marinated Grilled Steak and any veggie I have leftovers of! Or I'll pan fry some zucchini or a sweet potato! I use the same marinade recipe as I used for the chicken. I marinate both for 24 hours and then David grills them at the same time. Knock out two meals at once!

A tale of biceps and sweet potatoes

I do a class called Body Pump twice a week. Today was a new release and it was a killer. Afterwards, in the words of the instructor, I seconded her: "WHAT just happened?" As I type, my biceps hurt. Everything hurts. My daughter wanted to go to Target afterwards for a cookie. Nope, kiddo. Mama is using what little strength she has left to buckle you in. There's no way I can buckle you in only to unbuckle you and then rebuckle you.That's just too much work for my arms now.

I rarely fantasize about eating during a workout. I'm usually just hoping I don't collapse and if I do collapse, I hope I can pull of a graceful swooning of a 19th century society woman. But today during the bicep track, I started thinking of what carbs I could load up on today after this workout and decided I'd make an omelet with sweet potatoes and spinach. I had no clue if that would turn out but I was willing to try.

I was pleasantly surprised at how delicious this treat was. I felt like a stellar chef when I threw in some basil and that really made it yummy. I considered throwing in curry but wasn't sure how that would blend with basil. Here's what I did:

Ingredients: 
Small sweet potato
10 spinach leaves
4 eggs
Sea salt and basil season to taste

Dice up sweet potato and pan fry it on medium-low in coconut oil. (when in doubt with how much oil to use, go liberal. It's a good healthy fat that gives your food flavor)
Scramble 4 eggs. Melt coconut oil in another pan and pour eggs in.
Add sweet potatoes, spinach leaves (which will wilt from the heat), and season with sea salt and basil.

I had leftover sweet potato so that's a side dish for another meal. This was an amazing lunch. I want to use more basil next time. I just dumped some in so who knows how much I used. OH! Almost forgot. I discovered that the soft sweet potato chunks have a cheese-like texture. So really soft potato is a great cheese substitute in an omelet. Who knew?!

I imagine if you shred the potato, that would even blend even more so like cheese.

And the photo isn't great because I need better utensils for making an omelet look good too!

I don't wanna be fast, cheap, easy, or fake!

"You are what you eat--so don't be fast, cheap, easy or fake!" I love this quote! No doubt about it, planning and preparing meals takes some time. But I've decided my family and my body are worth the time. I just have to share some yummy things I made this week that I hadn't even planned to make! AND also share some pointers on how to find sugar-free pasta sauce. But first, drum roll.....proscuitto wrapped asparagus!!!! Oh my GOODNESS!!!!! I made this this week and it was SO EASY and tasted like a 5 star restaurant had made it!

 Now that I"m cooking, I'm starting to think that the food industry has duped us all into believing they are 'superior' and know how to make the best foods. And that's a HUGE LIE. My husband grilled up steak this week that we had marinated for 48 hours. No restaurant could've competed. Once you start making your own food and seeing all the rich flavors available in the spice world, you will start to wonder why you eat out. Of course I love to eat out because I don't have to make it! I served it with the turkey meatballs from my menu this week. Normally I make my own sauce but this week, I used my handy stand-by sauce. I've had to search for sugar-free sauces. Be careful when looking because sugar is snuck into the sauce in the form of honey and cane sugar is STILL sugar. I've found this Central Market brand at my local HEB: 

And I've found this one at Sprouts. These are both marinara sauces but they work well and one of my recipes calls for half a jar of my favorite sauce so I use this one in my creamy tomato chicken soup: 

Oh and that chicken soup calls for chicken broth. But you have to make sure there is no added sugar. They sneak it into the broth too! I have found this at Sprouts. AND it is from free range chickens to boot: 

And now the drumroll...zucchini hummus! I felt like a total chef making this and it was SO EASY. and DEELISH. When I did my first whole30 in October, I was a hummus addict. I loved hummus. And it was a sneaky caloric inflammatory food that was working against me! So to find an alternative that is so whole and clean is delightful! It is perfect with carrots. I also used plaintin chips with it which are whole30 compliant and you can find at Sprouts and dish out the amount you want. They are addictive so I limit myself. It would be easy to eat the entire bag of them! Yikes! The only item I had trouble finding initially was tahini but I did eventually find it near the peanut/almond butter section at Sprouts. I haven't looked at HEB for it but will check next time I'm there. Tahini is a paste made from ground sesame seeds popular in Greek, Turkish, North African, and middle eastern dishes. ALSO bonus perk of this spread! It freezes well and you simply lay it out to thaw on the counter and it's just as if you made it! Use it also on lettuce wraps. That's my next project for the hummus. Yummo! Great appetizer alternative for those gatherings when you need to steer clear of the dirty food. 

I'm doing a post in a few days on body types that has totally rocked my brain! Cool stuff!