Simple Whole30 Chili

I just realized that I had this shared on my other blog and NOT here, which is geared for WHOLE30 and PALEO stuff ... doh! So, here you go! Enjoy!

Yes, I do have a Whole30 Compliant chili recipe but Hubby isn't a HUGE fan of the chocolate in it ... as minimal as it is ... so when I saw this recipe, I thought, sure, why not, lets give it a whirl.

I'm glad I did!

AND ... it's perfect for the Sunday Soup theme!

Here's how I did it!

2 pounds ground beef (score, I even have marked down grassfed stuff in the freezer!)

1 onion, chopped fine (hubby hates chunky onions)

4 tbs tomato paste (you know to freeze your leftovers in a Ziploc bag and just break off what you need, right?)

3 tbs chili powder

1 tbs garlic powder

2 tbs cumin

1 carton of beef broth

2 14 oz cans of roasted fire roasted tomatoes or just plain diced tomatoes. The fire roasted ones are really worth looking for though, trust me!
generous dash of salt & pepper

In large pot, cook your ground beef and onions til no longer pink.

Drain the excess fat from the pan.

Add the rest of your ingredients and stir well to combine all.

Allow to simmer 45 minutes or so, giving a stir occasionally. Taste and adjust seasonings if necessary.

NOW.

I had this as just a simple bowl of chili. Topped it with some sliced green onions and a little chopped cilantro.

THEN.

I had this over a bowl of spiralized zucchini ... topped with some diced onions and a squeeze of lime ... oh yeah ...

AND THEN ...

I cooked up some spiralized WHITE sweet potatoes aka HANNAH (them things are HARD to find, by the way!) in some ghee on the stove, laid the taters out on a plate, added the chili and topped with some guacamole and a little salsa ... O M G! That was the BEST!

I need to make these again soon so I can get better pics and share the process!

SWOODLES ... to die for!

See, this Whole30 thing ain't so bad after all, is it?

Looking forward to sharing with some of these GREAT Parties ... go check them out!

*This post may contain affiliate links ... click here to read my disclosure :-)

Whole30 Island Shrimp

This recipe comes from a book I got a while ago, Primal Blueprint Quick & Easy Meals. which prompted me to get back in to the actual cookbook mode ... even though I have tons of them, I need more that are on track with this new way of eating!

By the way, in case you didn't know, 450 Swagbucks will  give you $5 in Amazon cash ... and that's how I've been buying the cookbooks ...

Another side note ... I do NOT like to have them on my Kindle. I mean, yeah, it's sort of cool to just open up the Kindle BUT I don't like the layout/format whatever. It's not the same as looking at the 2 pages, side by side ... so I've decided no more cookbooks on the Kindle.

Anyways ... 

And ... even better? It's Whole30 Compliant! Sweet!

I renamed the recipe to Island Shrimp with Avocado, then, just Island Shrimp ... more appealing to ME than Tropical Avocado & Shrimp. And yes, there were a few modifications along the way ... if you want the real deal, buy the book and flip to page 57 ...

You can easily double, triple or even quadruple this recipe, as I was only feeding myself for a late lunch and early dinner, I made it in the quantities listed below ... Ready? Ready ...

1/4 cup mango, cut into chunks

1 jalapeno, seeds removed

Juice of 1 lime

dash of salt

3 tbs olive oil

1/2 lb raw shrimp, peeled and deveined (personal note, I always take the freakin tail off, it annoys me)

1/2 tsp cumin

1 avocado, cut into chunks

3 radishes, sliced

1/4 red onion, sliced

chopped cilantro (optional but recommended)

Get out the big gun food processor ... add mango, jalapeno, lime juice, olive oil and salt.

Let it rip and make a sauce. 

Put sauce in fridge to chill a little. Trust me. I wasn't crazy when I tasted to adjust the seasoning, but after it chilled for a bit, it was a whole different flavor!

Sprinkle the shrimp with the cumin and saute in a bit of olive oil til cooked (not overcooked!)

In large bowl, combine the shrimp, avocado, radish, onion and cilantro. Toss with the sauce and serve OR you can pour the sauce over prior to serving. Either way, recommend making this ahead of time and letting chill in the fridge for 45 minutes or so ...

Good? Yes it was ... the radishes really tasted good with the mango sauce. I think I was in love for a minute there.

Note: I have made this with cooked shrimp ... in that case I just added the cumin to the food processor when making the sauce ... I'm all about making do, you know?

Looking forward to sharing with some of these GREAT Parties ... go check them out!

*This post contains affiliate links ... click here to read my disclosure :-)

Whole30 Ranch Dressing

Hey. It's Sunday ... go ahead and make yourself a batch of this for the week ahead! You can thank me later!

I have made this recipe at 7:45 in the morning right before heading out to work ... 

Yes, by 8:00am, I was out the door ... and it was the BEST batch I've made yet (must have been from the free pouring of the herbs and spices?)

This a super yummy Ranch Dressing ... 

And easy easy EASY to make!!

This recipe is totally from Whole Sisters and I give them FULL credit ... this is just me saying I made it, I loved it and I want to share it with the world!! Give the girls a drive by and check out their site, it's chock-full of good stuff!

Here's how I made it

egg, room temperature
1 tbs lemon juice, room temperature
1 cup olive oil
2 tbs red wine vinegar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
3/4 tsp onion powder
3/4 tsp garlic powder
1/2 cup canned coconut milk
handful of parsley, leaves pulled off and stems discarded
dash of dried dill

Grab yourself a tall jar and make sure your immersion blender fits in the top ;-) I speak from experience! Place everything in jar, insert your immersion blender and let it rip. Make sure you go up and down to pull the parsley in to the blades. Once everything is combined and creamy, give a taste, say "yummm, real ranch" and cap that bad boy and place in the fridge. 

I just poured some in a small jar to take to work with me for that salad that salad I made earlier ... I am looking forward to using it to dip my chicken in this evening at dinner time as well ... 

Go ahead, make it and you will NOT be disappointed! 

Looking forward to sharing with some of these GREAT Parties ... go check them out!

*This post contains affiliate links ... click here to read my disclosure :-)

Whole30 BLT Inspired Chicken Salad

This is a super easy and yummy recipe to toss together ... AND it's Whole30 Approved! Sweet!

It's easy, and really, REALLY tasty!

And surprisingly, I had everything on hand, even the fresh basil (I suppose you could use dried if you had to) ...

1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1 tsp Dijon mustard
2 tbs (give or take) fresh basil chopped
Boneless, skinless chicken breast (I used almost 2 lbs, 4 fat pieces)
Additional basil for topping salad

Mix together everything and let the chicken mix and mingle for a bit in the fridge. AND if you remember, set aside 2 tbs of marinade and set aside for later ... I forgot. I had to make a small batch after the fact.

Grab some lettuce and chop it up. Add this to a large platter.

Slice or dice a tomato or two. Leave these on the cutting board. I like mine diced.

Cook up 2 slices of bacon for each chicken breast you have (I cheat, I always have the ready cooked bacon strips on hand so it's NOT a big deal for me). Chop the bacon. Set bacon next to the tomato.

Cook chicken by preferred method. For me, it's the grill. Of course. Allow to cool a little, and then cut up into bite size pieces.

Add chicken to the lettuce.

Add tomatoes to the chicken.

Top chicken with the bacon.

Drizzle the 2 tbs of reserve marinade over all. sprinkle with a little bit of extra basil.

Serve it up.

Personally, I don't think 2 tbs is going to be enough so I would probably stick with my defective plan and make a small batch up after the fact.

The chicken was GOOD and flavorful. I wouldn't recommend letting it marinade more than an hour ... somehow I think it would just overtake the tenderness of the meat.

This was REAL good and Hubby wants me to make it again. Did I already say that? It really is! I had the leftover chicken served with some more salad stuff ... yummmmm.

Looking forward to sharing with some of these GREAT Parties ... go check them out!

*This post may contain affiliate links ... click here to read my disclosure :-)

Whole30 Sweet Potato Fries

On DAY 3 of Whole30 (well, the 2nd time around) we had burgers and dogs on the grill ... and man, I was sweating it on so many levels. Yeah, it was hot and humid too but I was more worried about:

B E E R

See, when we grill, we sit outside, where it's like a sauna and NOT in a good way ... between swatting at the skeeters and dabbing at the back of your neck with a paper towel, it's almost a given that you Get Yourself a Coozie and have a chilled beer (bonus point for the first person who can Name That Song!) ... but that's not very Whole30'ish like. Actually, it's everything the Whole30 isn't ...

But don't you worry ... I improvised on so many levels and was so proud of myself ...

I did indeed grab a coozie and then a can of LaCroix Sparkling Water Lime ... and you know what? That satisfied that habit/need/desire/whatever to roll the edge of the coozie around the table in a circular fashion, sip from the can and give it a little shakey shakey and set it back down ... run my finger around the rim, play with the tab and so on. Yeah, I am a little fidgity.

So anyways ... I bought that big bag of sweet potatoes from Costco and still had the small bag from Aldis so I wanted to use those up first. Yes, they were starting to show their age a little ...

Turn on your oven to 425 degrees.

Grab yourself some sweet potatoes, wash them and peel them up. Lob off the ends of each one (actually, if you cut  off the pointy end BEFORE you peel you will avoid that annoying stop with the peeler when it hits the tough spot).

Cut them bad boys in half long ways and then cut in to fry size pieces. Uhm, I just sliced, cut and sliced the thicker ones again.

Toss them in a bowl and drizzle with some avocado oil and spinkle with some oregano, salt and pepper. Ok, you can use olive oil if you want but I was so excited about the avocado oil ;-)  Make sure you salt them well. I totally under-salted mine!

Grab a large baking tray and toss a sheet of parchment paper over the top ...

Lay out the fries in a single layer, leaving a little room between so they don't "steam" ...

*Sorry, not sure why these look washed out*

Throw the pan in the oven and let them cook for about 15 minutes. Pull out and turn over, the best you can, trying to keep them in a single layer and a spaced apart the best you can.

Allow to cook for another 10 minutes or so, checking for desired doneness.

Yup, they tasted just as good as they look!  I don't think I'll be buying the frozen bags anymore as they really didn't take any longer to prepare than the frozen ones! 

Go ahead and give them a try!

Looking forward to sharing with some of these Great Parties ... go check them out!

And ... if you want to see more pics of what I'm eating while on Whole30 ... follow me on Instagram ... 

Whole30 Balsamic Chicken Breast

Here's to another round of Whole30 ... June 2017!

Juicy Chicken Breast.

Guaranteed!

Yup.

Really. I did type that up.

Really, I made that the title.

That's how certain I am that this is GUARANTEED to give you juicy chicken breast~

Would you like to come over and see Hubby roll his eyes when I tell him we are having chicken breast for dinner?

He's tired of chicken breast. Even more so, tired of the dried out pieces of fowl because Hubby likes ALL his meat well done.

Ahem. Might as well drag that chicken breast down the road and back up a few times and do a couple of burnouts over it.

I love chicken breast. But Hubby, he has this odd notion that flavors need to be concentrated, and the only way you can get that is when you cook something on low heat for a looooong time. 

Can I just tell you, concentrated meat is not all that, in my opinion.

So, slowly, not Super Bee or Scat Cat style, I'm changing his way of thinking. It's taking a LONG time, but we are getting there. I try not to be judgmental or condescending (a filet mignon WELL DONE? WTF??) ... and like all things, repeat, repeat, repeat and eventually, it just falls in place.

So this recipe? It's simply the basis for my BLT Inspired Chicken Salad meat. I've had this on the menu numerous times, and a few times (more than I want to admit publicly) we ended up just having the chicken by itself with some veggies (or rice, for "those" people) and called it a meal.

Time and time again, I have been told how freakin' juicy the chicken is. Even by that man, Hubby.

It's simple.

And does not require any funky ingredients or long @ss marinading and procedure. That alone is a BIG hit in my mind!

Here's what you need:

3 pounds or so of boneless, skinless chicken breast

1/4 cup of olive oil

1/4 cup of balsamic vinegar

fresh basil chopped

black pepper to taste

Measure your oil and vinegar in a measuring glass. Add the basil and then grab a fork or whisk and whisk til combined. Don't worry, you aren't emulsifying it, just blending it. Toss in the basil and give it one final stir.

Toss your chicken breast in a ziploc (or shoebox) and pour the oil and vinegar mixture over the top. Flip (shake) the chicken around to coat all the pieces.

Let marinate UP TO one hour. Any longer than that and I think your chicken will get funky, and no one likes Funky Chicken!

When ready to cook, fire up your grill and take the chicken out of the marinade, putting it on a platter to drain a little.  Oil the grates of the grill and then put the chicken on, cooking over medium heat til cooked through, flipping half way through.

TIP: If you want the pretty grill marks, the grates gotta be HOT when you first put the chicken on. IF you oil the grates, you will be able to turn each piece 1/4 counterclockwise without sticking or tearing the meat.

Serve up with a side of green beans or roasted broccoli and ENJOY!

Looking forward to sharing at some of these AWESOME PARTIES! Go check them out!

Chicken and Broccoli

I think I am finally convincing Hubby that it really does matter what you eat ... 

Yeah. slowly, but surely, he's following along ...

I've been craving Japanese/Chinese ... and I know, they are NOT the same, but you know what I mean ... so I've had this recipe on hold for quite a while ... and kept telling Hubby this past week to NOT touch the fresh broccoli or chicken thighs as I was making dinner one night. Took me 3 nights to get to it but the wait was totally worth it.

Seriously. THIS IS WHOLE30 APPROVED!

2 pounds of chicken thighs, cut in to bite size pieces
1 large head of broccoli, cut in to bite size pieces
3 tbs sesame oil
2 tbs ginger ... I'm not a fan but I used this stuff
1 tsp salt
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp red pepper flakes
2/3 c coconut aminos
1 tbs arrowroot powder  to thicken
Riced cauliflower (Trader Joes!) or zucchini noodles, if desired

See, not a whole lot of stuff ;-)  AND ... it only took 30 minutes of cooking time so get chopping in the morning before you head out to work!

Heat up a large skillet over medium heat and add the oil, ginger, coconut aminos, salt, garlic powder and them pepper flakes.  Add the chicken in and give a quick shake to coat a bit. Cook til chicken is about half cooked through.*

Add the broccoli, shake the pan a bit, turn up the heat and put a lid on the pan. I used a lid that sat just inside the pan as I didn't want it 100% covered.  Lift lid and give a stir every few minutes to get the broccoli coated a bit.

Once the broccoli has started to get soft, if desired, add a sprinkle of arrowroot powder over the mixture and stir with a large spoon. This will help it thicken a little.

Serve over zucchini noodles OR riced cauliflower.

Me? I ate mine just as is in a bowl. I may have had more than one serving as well ... and went ahead and packaged up my lunch for tomorrow as well. It's a good thing, Hubby loved it and said it was a keeper. Huh. Did he know it's Whole30/Paleo Approved? Well ... he knew that I used the coconut aminos instead of soy sauce ... so that should have led him to believe ... but then again, he's been using the coconut aminos instead of soy sauce ever since I told him soy sauce isn't good for women ;-) I guess that means he loves me? I love him too! Any how ....

This was pretty damn good and it will so be happening again!

Enjoy!

Looking forward to sharing with some of these GREAT Parties ... go check them out!

*This post may contain affiliate links ... click here to read my disclosure :-)

*So for the record: I followed the original recipe from the start and was sorry as soon as I added the chicken in. The chicken NEEDS to cook first other wise you will have raw chicken on top of quickly dying broccoli. I ended up scooping the sad broccoli out in to a bowl while the chicken cooked, adding it back at the end with more raw broccoli so I wouldn't have sad broccoli throughout.

The Perfect Veggie Dish

A little while ago, I was really, really in to fresh veggies: cucumbers, red peppers, green peppers, red onions, tomatoes, all tossed together with a light dressing.

I would eat that stuff daily.

DAILY

And then, I guess I just got over veggied out. It happens, you know?

But ... it's summertime and the peppers, the cucumbers, the tomatoes, everything looks so dang appealing in the produce stores that I just have to scoop them up ... to hell with the Freezer / Pantry / No Spend Challenge!

I could justify the purchases, honestly.

It is, afterall, Summertime! And that's the time when the full fledge BBQ/Pool/Outdoor parties are kicking in ... and psst ... it's also Whole30/Paleo approved but don't tell no one THAT!

Sunday morning rolled around and Princess and the Boyfriend texted us to say they wanted to maybe come over later in the day to hang out.  Not quite lunch time, not quite dinner time ... 

and because Princess is currently in AA (long story, but for her, alcohol does NOT improve her personal being) I (me, myself AND I) try to eliminate the alcohol factor when she's around, and really stay focused on healthy, happy foods. Well, just because, that's what a mom does to encourage their child, adult or not, to stay focused and on track (right?) ... 

Hence, Veggies.

Good, ripe, in season vegetables.

Lets get to it, shall we?

2 cucumbers (mine were seedless and picked up from ALDI for $1.29 each)

1 red pepper (picked up from Trader Joes, 79 cents a piece)

1/2 red onion (ALDI, 99 cents for 2 pounds)

3 roma tomatoes (picked up from ALDI, like 8 per bag for 99 cents)

3 tbs olive oil (Trader Joes)

2 tbs red wine vinegar (ALDI)

a generous sprinkling of oregano (Costco)

dash of salt and black pepper

Peel them cucumbers, slice in half and half again so you have 4 long spears. Chop up into bite size pieces.  If you have seeds in them and they are really seedy (not in THAT way), scrap the seeds out before cutting up. Toss in a large bowl (which I always, always pick too small of a bowl!)

Cut the red pepper in to bite size pieces and toss in the bowl.

Grab your tomatoes and cut in to 4 wedges. If really juicy, pull out the seeds and juicy stuff and then cut in to bite size pieces.

Dice the red onion in to small pieces. Not, like, tiny pieces, but certainly smaller than bite size ;-) Toss those in the bowl, as well.

Grab a small little bowl and mix up the oil, vinegar, oregano and salt and pepper and then pour that over them fresh veggies. Give it a quick stir to distribute the dressing, put a lid on it, and ideally, let it chill in the fridge for an hour or so. Not necessary, but it does taste even better chilled.

Me? I didn't have time. I was close to lobbing off a finger or two from those secret snatches of the fresh chopped veggies.

Go ahead, give it a try! Those BBQ/Pool/Outdoor parties are coming and you MUST be prepared!

Looking forward to sharing with some of these GREAT Parties ... go check them out!

*This post may contain affiliate links ... click here to read my disclosure :-)

Whole30 / Paleo Ranch Dressing

I woke up this morning and realized that I was out of my favorite Tessemae's Lemon Garlic dressing ... it was 7:45am and I needed to get to work fast!

So, instead of stopping at Whole Foods and spending $5.49 for a bottle of dressing, I made this instead, in minutes.  

Yes, by 8:00am, I was out the door ... 

It's Whole30 approved. Dairy Free. Grain Free. Obviously, Gluten Free!

And easy easy EASY to make!!

This recipe is totally from Whole Sisters and I give them FULL credit ... this is just me saying I made it, I loved it and I want to share it with the world!! Give the girls a drive by and check out their site, it's chock-full of good stuff!

Here's how I made it

egg, room temperature
1 tbs lemon juice, room temperature
1 cup olive oil
2 tbs red wine vinegar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
3/4 tsp onion powder
3/4 tsp garlic powder
1/2 cup canned coconut milk
handful of parsley, leaves pulled off and stems discarded
dash of dried dill

Grab yourself a tall jar and make sure your immersion blender fits in the top ;-) I speak from experience! Place everything in jar, insert your immersion blender and let it rip. Make sure you go up and down to pull the parsley in to the blades. Once everything is combined and creamy, give a taste, say "yummm, real ranch" and cap that bad boy and place in the fridge. 

I just poured some in a small jar to take to work with me for that salad that salad I made earlier ... I am looking forward to using it to dip my chicken in this evening at dinner time as well ... 

Go ahead, make it and you will NOT be disappointed! 

Looking forward to sharing with some of these GREAT Parties ... go check them out!

*This post contains affiliate links ... click here to read my disclosure :-)

Lemon Basil Riced Cauliflower

Have you had the pure joy of seeing one of these bags at Trader Joe's yet??

That there bag is pure heaven for a mere $1.99 each ... and when you see them, you better be snatching up more than just one or two as they go F A S T when they have them in stock!

Luckily, I just nabbed another 5 bags this past week ... I could have been "that person" and took all 12 that were in the box but I know how frustrated I've been when I keep missing the re-stocking so I figured I'd play nice and leave some for the next person!

Now, I'll admit, I had 1 bag left in the freezer and I was holding out ... I broke down and bought a whole head of cauliflower and "riced" it myself by running the florets in the food processor for a few minutes til the texture is right ... it just was not the same, not to mention, tiny pieces of cauliflower were found all over the kitchen and it was just plain annoying!

So ... I grabbed a bag the other morning for breakfast and made this awesome recipe!

1 bag of riced cauliflower
zest of 1 lemon
juice of a half of a lemon
fresh basil, sliced in to ribbons (tip: use scissors to cut the leaves quickly)

Toss the bag of riced cauliflower in a non-stick skillet (I use a green pan and it works great) on medium heat.

Once the rice is heated (no longer frozen) and liquid (if any) is gone, add the zest to the rice and give a quick fluff. Squeeze the juice over the rice and dish up!  Garnish with the basil strips.

This makes 4 servings for me and I just store in the fridge and reheat in the skillet with whatever protein I'm having at that meal!

Enjoy!

Looking forward to sharing with some of these GREAT Parties ... go check them out!

*This post may contain affiliate links ... click here to read my disclosure :-)