Day 18

I didn't feel like bringing the leftover pork chops for lunch today, it seemed too heavy and I feel like we've had a lot of heavy meals lately. We had a little bit of tuna salad leftover so I brought that with a tomato and a big piece of lettuce to wrap it in. Should be good!  Dinner tonight is one of Jon's favorites that we did last time on Whole30: burgers and fries. With some modifications of course. No bun, no cheese and no deep-fried fries, they are baked instead. But still pretty awesome. And we bought more of the Tessemae's ketchup which has a much tangier taste that regular ketchup but it does the job of tricking your mind.

I made a chocolate shake after dinner that was AWESOME!  So much so that I forgot to take a picture of it. It was made with 1 banana, about 1/4 cup fat free coconut milk, about 2 tbsp of unsweetened coconut flakes, and some raw 100% cacao powder.  I modeled it after this recipe but didn't freeze the banana, didn't use the gelatin protein, used less coconut milk and also added some unsweetened coconut flakes to give it more of a coconut flavor. I didn't want to taste the banana as much and wanted to taste more of the chocolate and coconut flavors.  A little bit goes a long way with the cacao powder so I did about 1-2 teaspoons worth and it had plenty of chocolaty taste!  Mix that up in the Bullet and then add a bunch of ice to make it cold and give it that milkshake consistency. It was an awesome healthy indulgence after going to bootcamp 4 days in a row! If I can find some paleo-friendly protein powder this would make a great post-workout shake.

Breakfast:
Banana
Almond Butter
Green Tea

Lunch:
Tuna salad with tomato slices in lettuce wrap
Baby carrots
Cantelope

Snack:
Hard-boiled egg
Rx Bar

Dinner:
Burger
Baked fries
Chocolate shake (banana, coconut milk, unsweetened coconut flakes, raw cacao power, ice)

Day 17

I felt great yesterday afternoon and evening, maybe I'm getting into that Tiger's Blood stage after all! The fajitas with paleo tortillas turned out pretty decent! They were a little bit of work (make the dough, knead the dough, flatten into tortillas, fry up in a skillet) but it made the dinner feel more like a traditional Mexican dinner.

Breakfast:
Banana
Almond Butter
Coffee

Lunch:
Leftover chicken fajitas from last night

Snack:
Apple
Hard-boiled egg

Dinner:
Pork Chops
Savory Applesauce
Roasted Brussel Sprouts with bacon

Day 16

I feel like I've been eating a lot of potatoes and "heavy" things lately (too many plantain chips!) so I'm taking it easy today in my meal planning. Decided to just have a salad for lunch and have a light breakfast.  We are making baked chicken fajitas for dinner tonight and trying out a paleo version of tortillas so we'll see how those turn out...

Breakfast:
Chia pudding (banana, coconut milk, chia seeds, cinnamon)
blackberries
Coffee

Lunch:
Salad with Tessemae's balsamic dressing
Beats

Snack:
Dried mango slices (Target)
Grass Run Farms beef stick

Dinner:
Baked chicken fajitas
Homemade paleo tortillas

Day 15

Its day 15 so we are officially at our half-way point! I'm excited for this week because it is typically when you hit your stride during Whole30 and really start feeling good and full of energy.  I'm ready for some Tiger's Blood!

The Tessemae's mayo that we ordered arrived over the weekend so we were excited to be able to make some tuna salad this week. We made it last time we did Whole30 and loved it! I put a bunch of stuff in my tuna salad to give it lots of great flavor: mayo, dijon mustard, celery, pickle, dill, parsley, red pepper flake, paprika, S&P

Breakfast:
Scrambled eggs with green peppers and sweet potato hash
Strawberries
Green Tea

Lunch:
Leftover chicken broth soup (a tiny bit)
Tuna salad with Tomato Slices

Snack:
Coconut Chocolate Rx Bar

Dinner:
Leftover Meatball Veggie Soup

Day 14

It's football day! In addition to meal planning and food prep day, its also the AFC Championship game between the Broncos and the Patriots. J and I are headed over to his parents to want the game so we're doing a trial run of some compliant football food so we will have a plan for the Superbowl party in a few weeks. We ended up making some wings, baked in the over and then covered in Tessemae's Buffalo sauce and some Frank's hot sauce. They were really damn good. You don't need to butter at all that most place add to the buffalo sauce. Then we made some "fachos" with plantain chips (my new obsession!) and some of the leftover mexican layered casserole from last week. We separated out the ground beef from the casserole and warmed that up to put over the plantain chips. Then topped it with the lettuce, tomato, black olive mixture and added some salsa and it made some pretty darn good faux nachos! It was not a normal Whole30 eating day in that we didn't really have 3 distinct meals. We much all afternoon/early evening on plantain chips and salsa, veggies and some cantelope. But all in all, it was a pretty healthy day considering what football-watching food normally consists of.

Needless to say we weren't really hungry for dinner so we just had a few light items to tide us over until morning. I made some lemon coconut energy bits from a recipe I saw on pinterest. They turned out pretty good but the lemon flavor wasn't as strong as I hoped. They tasted just like a larabar and are made with dates, cashews, almonds, chia seeds, coconut and lemons!

We did some meal prep tonight to make the week a little easier. In addition to my lemon balls, I also made the applesauce for our pork chops, J made a week's worth of breakfasts and I made 3 breakfasts. I also made some tuna salad to have for a few lunches this week.

Breakfast:

Scrambled eggs with green peppers

Bacon

Green juice (banana, coconut milk, spinach, flax seed)

Lunch:

Wings with buffalo sauce

Plantain chip nachos

Veggies (celery, cucumber, carrots)

Cantaloupe

LaCroix Lime sparkling water

Dinner:

2 slices of prosciutto
Cantelope
1 lemon coconut ball

Day 13

Met up with some girlfriends today to get our nails done and go to lunch. We went to a sort-of new place called The Hot Pot which has paleo and other alternative options. J and I have been wanting to try this place for awhile so I was excited to go out to eat somewhere while on Whole30. I ended up getting a bowl make with zuchini noodles, a bunch of other veggies and with a poblano pesto sauce. It was just okay. The "sauce" was very liquid like a broth, not what I was expecting. And all the veggies seemed overcooked. Next time I think I'll get more of an asian inspired bowl with udon noodles and a soy sauce based source. Post Whole30 of course.

This evening we went to The Fox with some friends of ours to see Newsies. I hadn't seen it before and ended up loving it! The friend we went with has a lot of food allergies so eating out is nearly impossible for her so we all just ate dinner at our respective houses and met up at the theater.

Breakfast:

Scrambled eggs

Apple chicken sausage

Cantaloupe

Lunch:

Zoodle shrimp & veggie bowl at Hot Pot

Fresh juice (Apple, pineapple, ginger)

Snack:

Sweet potato chips

Dinner:

Leftover chicken with asparagus and tomatoes

Theater snack: Cashews and coffee (not pictured)

Day 12

Well the upset stomach and GI has finally settled this morning and I'm feeling a lot more normal. Still want to take it easy today and not eat too much food that's got a lot of spice or crazy flavors.

Since I have Friday afternoon's off from work, J decided to take this afternoon off as well so we could hang out and go to an early evening movie, which we haven't done for awhile. We love going to the movies but we are spoiled with the eat-in theaters and love getting dinner and/or a drink while we're there. It will be hard to resist the popcorn smell but we'll probably eat before we go and maybe bring some almonds and coconut flakes in a baggie as a movie snack. :/

Breakfast:
3 small banana pancakes (banana, eggs, cinnamon)
Raspberries
Green Tea

Lunch:
Egg Salad (hard-boiled eggs, Tessemae's mayo, dijon mustard, diced pickle and celery, paprika, S&P)

Snack:

Plantain chips & salsa

Cutie

Dinner:
Veggie & Meatball Soup