Showing posts with label diet. Show all posts
Showing posts with label diet. Show all posts

Wednesday, January 27, 2016

Week Two Menu - Whole30/Paleo Diet


Almost halfway there!! Well this week certainly wasn't quite as crazy! Thank goodness! Things still feel really busy though between our normal schedule and trying to balance the extra cooking from scratch and constantly trying new recipes! Each week, sometimes multiple times per week, I've been making these tortillas, ranch, and taco meat. My family just loves these....ok mostly me since I am constantly eating tacos for snack! David has only been on the diet when at home and it seems to be going fine for him. Oliver is still on diet but did have some accidental consumption of graham crackers. See we try to give him some independence in the morning and he's been great about going to the pantry and grabbing the right Larabar to have to hold him over until breakfast...well...he must be pretty sick of this diet because this morning he ate a big pile of graham crackers!

 Day 8 - Thursday:
Day 9 - Friday:
Day 10 - Saturday:
  • Breakfast: Scrambled Eggs with Sausage Mixed In, Sausage Wraps, and Clementines
  • AM Snack: Nuts and Raisins
  • Lunch: T-Bone Steak, Baked Sweet Potatoes and Russet Potatoes, California Blend Vegetables, Blueberries, and Blackberries
  • PM Snack: On-the-Go - Natural Fruit Snacks, Larabar, Veggie Potato Chips, and Clementines
  • Dinner: Leftover Chicken Pizzas with Sausage and Mushrooms, California Blend Vegetables, Salad, Apples and Blueberries
Day 11 - Sunday:
  • Breakfast: Hash browns with Crumbled Sausage
  • AM Snack: Grapes, Mandarins, and Raisins
  • Lunch: Leftover BBQ Beef Sliders, Leftover Tacos, Chips, Pineapple, and Blueberries
  • PM Snack: Applesauce and Zucchini Cheese - Pretty bland and needs more flavor. Lola loved it though!
  • Dinner: Chicken Zoodle Soup (Zoodles were ok but overall we were not fans.), Salad and Pineapple

 Day 12 - Monday:
  • Breakfast: Leftover Frozen Plantain Pancakes and Clementines
  • AM Snack: Busy morning running errands so lots of snacks! Larabar, Chick-Fil-A Waffle Fries (contains small amount of dextrose), Natural Fruit Leather Strip, and Raisins
  • Late Lunch: Leftover T-Bone Steak, Salad, and Clementines - Kids had clementines, Applegate uncured beef hot dogs, and fries.
  • PM Snack: Apples and Raisins
  • Dinner: Portobello Mushroom Philly Cheese Steak with Heidi Ho Smoky Chia Cheeze, Salad, and Grapes
Day 13 - Tuesday:
Day 14 - Wednesday:
  • Breakfast: Banana and Apple Cashew Butter Pizzas/Tortillas
  • AM Snack: Raisins, Clementines, and Root Chips
  • Lunch: Tacos on Tortillas, Green Beans, and Mixed Berries
  • PM Snack: Unsweetened Applesauce and Flat bread
  • Dinner:  Sausage, Mushroom, Moxarella Pizzas on Flat bread

Recipes To Save and Use Again:
Taco Seasoning
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Wednesday, January 20, 2016

Week One Menu - Whole30/Paleo Diet


To say this first week on the diet was stressful would be an understatement. Don't get me wrong. The food hasn't been too bad and the cravings haven't really been too bad either. We started last Wednesday at dinner. Thursday afternoon Lola had a fever and was pretty crabby. On Friday, Oliver had the flu all day long! Saturday Lola tripped and chipped her front teeth a little bit. Nothing too bad but of course enough to make this pregnant momma cry. Finally, on Monday I decided to get some tooth pain checked out that I'd been having. Turns out I had a cracked filling that must have been around too long because I ended up with an emergency root canal and lots of pain. Phew! So with that said, next week can only be better and if we can manage this diet despite all those crazy things, then you can too!

We've tried quite a few recipes this week. Some good and some bad. That's been the biggest con of this diet. I'm familiar with having to cook a lot from scratch and the time commitment there but at least I've had my food allergies long enough to know which recipes are great and which ones just don't work. With this diet, I've been learning all over again. My husband, David, hasn't been too fond of the diet. He's a good sport though. I asked him to try it for one week and he's decided to go off of the diet starting tomorrow. My only request is that he only go off diet when at work or when the kids aren't watching. Oliver has also been having some withdrawal from his normal favorites. In fact at our first meal he saw the tacos on the table and asked for tortillas. He even took it as far as needing to search the pantry himself for some...luckily he didn't find any! So far I've learned that some of the recipes we've tried my family actually likes and it's easy to hide vegetables in some dishes. While I think we may implement this menu into our normal diet once or twice a week after this, it's not something I see us doing full time.

Here's what we've been eating this week!

Wednesday Night:


Day 1:

  • Breakfast: fried egg and sausage in a naan wrap for David, fried egg, clementines and Paleo berry crumble
  • AM Snack: clementines
  • Lunch: Leftover Tacos
  • PM Snack: Apple slices with cashew butter (Oliver wanted chocolate cashew butter so we put a little cocoa powder in it!)
  • Dinner: Ranch sliced chicken breast in a pita, fries, spinach salad, pears and strawberries

Day 2:

  • Breakfast: scrambled eggs and leftover Paleo berry crumble
  • AM Snack: apple slices
  • Lunch: uncured Applegate beef hot dog, unsweetened applesauce, spaghetti squash "cheese" noodles (I tried to make a version of my kids' favorite food since Oliver was sick. Oliver hated it but Lola liked it. Personally the noodles were fine but I didn't care for the "cheese.")
  • PM Snack: Larabar and Terra root chips
  • Dinner: Tacos with tortillas, leftover pico de gallo, ranch, and honeydew

Day 3:

  • Breakfast: Kids had a Larabar, sliced apples and almond butter to hold them over. Plantain waffles - Didn't work in waffle maker but made into pancakes.
  • AM Snack: Round 2 breakfast got late so we didn't do AM snack
  • Lunch: Leftover ranch chicken, leftover tacos, potato wedges, and honeydew
  • PM Snack: Kale chips - we failed, Pita chips - too crunchy, Terra root chips and honeydew
  • Dinner: Guacamole burger, green beans and apple slices - I don't like avocado or guacamole but loved the homemade stuff on this burger!
Day 4:

  • Breakfast: Larabar for the kids to hold them over. Hard boiled eggs and leftover Paleo berry crunch
  • AM Snack: applesauce pouches and Larabar
  • Lunch: Leftover tacos and burgers, fries, sliced avocado and pineapple
  • PM Snack: Tried to revise the plantain waffles (fail), bananas & raw coconut butter to dip pancakes
  • Dinner: Italian soup, salad, and pineapple
Day 5:

  • Breakfast: Larabar to hold kids over. Hash browns, sausage, ranch and pineapple
  • AM Snack: nuts and sliced apples
  • Lunch: Popcorn chicken, salad and fruit
  • PM Snack: fruit smoothie
  • Dinner: Leftover Italian soup, salad and apples
Day 6:

  • Breakfast: Scrambled eggs, sausage, and blackberries. Sausage wrap for no egg option.
  • AM Snack: nuts and raisins
  • Lunch: Italian soup, salad, and clementines
  • PM Snack: fruit puree Popsicle
  • Dinner: Crock pot spinach and artichoke stuffed chicken breast (Family liked but I didn't.), green beans, and sliced apples
Day 7:

  • Breakfast: Leftover plantain waffles dipped in almond butter and egg and sausage wraps
  • AM Snack: On the go! Raisins and natural fruit snacks
  • Lunch: Leftover spinach and artichoke chicken and blueberries
  • PM Snack: blueberries and applesauce
  • Dinner: Barbacoa bowl with cauliflower rice (not a fan), pico de gallo, tortillas, blueberries, and grapes

Our keep recipes from this week that we would eat when off diet:
Excited for new recipes next week!
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Monday, January 11, 2016

5 Week Meal Plan - A Mix of Paleo and Whole30 Recipes


2015 was B-U-S-Y! Two sister's weddings, two bridal showers, hosting birthday parties for two kids, and so much more! Oh and not to mention that we are expecting #3 now too so pregnancy symptoms have been in full swing since the end of October! I've been neglecting the blog as a result, so I apologize! 2016 and especially this next month, I should be much more involved. See, my daughter's doctor suggested we try a new diet. We recently changed pediatricians in hopes of finding someone who was more in line with our beliefs, a mix of western medicine and natural care. Her new doctor suggested we try the Whole30 diet to help her digestive issues. Her current diet of simply avoiding allergens is working, but it would be nice to start introducing allergens to her and to have her be allergy free. We are willing to try it. After researching the Whole30 diet, we've agreed to most of the terms but in the end we are going to create a menu that is a mix of Paleo and Whole30 diets. We will respect the food rules of Whole30, with the exception of our soy free vegan butter that contains pea protein and since I have a dairy allergy and can't do Ghee or clarified butter. The one thing Whole30 requires that we will be breaking though is the no recreating "junk" foods or making Paleo pancake type products. Correct me if I'm wrong but this seems to be a rule made for psychological reasons to break bad habits. We aren't on the diet for weight loss or bad habits and to be honest I'm not sure my 2 year old can survive a month without pancakes. I know that's a lot of excuses but in order for a diet to be successful, it needs to be realistic and with our entire family trying this diet....that's what's realistic for us. Cooking every meal also isn't realistic for our family so we eat leftovers for lunch almost every day and cook many meals in the crock pot to avoid crabby toddlers during dinner prep time. So with that being said, here is our menu for the next month that is a mix of Paleo and Whole30. There are links posted to the original recipe I found when applicable but some of these recipes need to be altered to fit the diet and our personal family preferences. Some items on the menu are simply ideas so maybe there will be a post later once I come up with a recipe! No repeated dinner recipes here either. Breakfast on the other hand will probably repeat a bit. We may change the menu and repeat something if we find a dish we love. The boys in our family will be eating eggs so you may see that on the menu, however, I have an egg allergy so you won't see me going near them! I hope to post as we go on this journey!

Week 1:
  • Day 1:
    • Breakfast - Apple Slices in Almond Butter
    • Lunch - Tuna Salad Lettuce Wraps, Fresh Fruit, and Cooked Carrots
    • Dinner - Taco Salad with Pico de Gallo, Fresh Fruit, and California Blend Vegetables
  • Day 2:
    • Breakfast - Scrambled Eggs and Sausage Patties (using apple cider vinegar)
    • Lunch - Leftovers
    • Dinner - Grilled Chicken Paninis, Broccoli, and Fresh Fruit
  • Day 3:
    • Breakfast - Paleo Berry Crumble
    • Lunch - Leftovers
    • Dinner - Crock Pot Chili/Italian Soup (sausage, beef, celery, onions, mushrooms, tomato base, and Italian seasoning), Spinach Salad, and Fresh Fruit
  • Day 4:
    • Breakfast - Banana Muffins without vanilla
    • Lunch - Leftovers
    • Dinner -Popcorn Chicken (using almond and coconut flour), Green Beans, and Fresh Fruit
  • Day 5:
  • Day 6:
  • Day 7:
    • Breakfast - Plantain Waffles - without vanilla
    • Lunch - Leftovers
    • Dinner - Spinach and Artichoke Stuffed Chicken Breast, Cooked Carrots, and Fresh Fruit
Week 2:
Week 3:
Week 4:
  • Day 1:
    • Breakfast - Breakfast Pizzas with Scrambled Eggs and Bacon to Top Sausage Crust
    • Lunch - Leftovers
    • Dinner - Steak, Peppers, and Onion Fajita Wraps or Salad and Fresh Fruit
  • Day 2:
    • Breakfast - Coconut and Almond Porridge
    • Lunch - Leftovers
    • Dinner - Crock Pot French Onion, Mushroom, and Beef Soup, Salad, and Fresh Fruit
  • Day 3:
  • Day 4: 
  • Day 5:
  • Day 6:
    • Breakfast - Bananas with Almond Butter
    • Lunch - Leftovers
    • Dinner - Beef Roast (leave out red cooking wine), Cooked Carrots, Potatoes, and Fresh Fruit
  • Day 7:
    • Breakfast - Breakfast Stacks
    • Lunch - Leftovers
    • Dinner - Marinated (Flavor TBD) Chicken, Green Beans, and Fresh Fruit 
Week 5
Other Meals Considered:
Snacks:
Regular Recipes I Will or May Need:

Disclaimer: Remember that my family is mixing the Paleo and Whole30 diets to create a diet that will work for our family. If you are strictly following a Paleo or Whole30 diet, you should double check that each recipe meets your diet requirements and make modifications if needed.
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