What's for Dinner {47} - Lazy Salsa

I was first introduced to this incredibly easy salsa back in October 2017 when I did my first Whole30. I was looking for simple recipes that I could make that month and this one was an instant hit. It was fast to make and only included three ingredients plus s&p. Can't beat that!

I used it mainly for my breakfast during Whole30 but now I use it for tacos, breakfast burritos, and a blended salsa if I'm feeling fancy.

Lazy Salsa

• Tomato
• Cilantro
• Habanero pepper
• s&p, to taste

Instructions

1. Chop everything up to the size you want; I like to make everything pretty small. I also only use the seeds of the habanero. Be careful to use gloves or not touch the inside of the habanero. If you do, anything you touch with burn like crazy!
   
2. Combine in a small bowl
   
3. ENJOY!

I sometimes couldn't find habaneros in any grocery store in Decorah. It was really annoying because I wanted this salsa on so many occasions. Sadly, no other pepper measured up so I often went without my beloved lazy salsa. That's where this next ingredient came to save the day. I simply just pour a teeny tiny amount of the Pickle Creek Prairie Fire Infused Olive Oil into the mixture and it's another show stopper!

What's For Dinner {45} - Detox Immune-Boosting Chicken Soup

Well hey there! It's certainly been more than a hot second since I last posted but this recipe brought me out of the rut! Along with how easy this was to make, it's going to be on my mind quite a bit with the cold weather that is coming our way.

I've been talking with Gspice for some time now about how I wanted to try my hand at soups. I know you know that I don't make soups very often at all and now after making this one and now the one I'll be sharing today, I'm not really sure why. I made it a commitment to try out some new recipes, all broth-based. For some reason, broth-based soups sound e.x.t.r.e.m.e.l.y. appealing to me plus they are most certainly healthier for you! This soup would be a great addition to your fall/winter meal plans to beat the cold/flu season that is coming upon us. I also really liked the warmth/heat this soup brings to the palate so hopefully you'll like that too!


I made this recipe with a few tweaks which I will note in the ingredients/steps below and there are certainly things you could do with this that even I didn't. I made this to be Whole30 compliant but you could add in a small shaped pasta too which the original recipe doesn't call for. Without further adieu - here is the recipe!

Detox Immune-Boosting Chicken Soup adapted from Eat Yourself Skinny

• 2 T extra virgin olive oil
• 1 yellow onion, chopped
• 3 large celery stalks, chopped (I used 2)
• 2 large carrots, peeled and chopped (I used 3, I think you can tell which one I like better!)
• 10 cloves garlic, minced
• 8 cups chicken stock
• 2 bay leaves
• ½ tsp. turmeric
• ½ tsp. crushed red pepper
• 1½ tsp. sea salt
• 3 cups shredded rotisserie chicken
• 2 cups baby kale leaves
• I also added black pepper which I read aids absorption

**This original recipe calls for 1 cup mushrooms and 1-15oz can of chickpeas but I did not include those products in the soup I made.


In a large pot or dutch oven, heat oil over medium-high heat and sauté onion, celery and carrots, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes. Add garlic, cooking another 3 minutes.

Seriously, look at this garlic!!! I LOVE that this recipe used so much!

Stir in the chicken stock, bay leaves, turmeric, crushed red pepper, salt and pepper; bringing to a boil. Mix in shredded chicken, cover and turn down heat to a simmer for 15 to 20 minutes.

Add kale, cover and simmer an additional 5 minutes. Discard bay leaves, serve and enjoy!

I prepped these for my lunches for the week and paired it with a small lettuce salad with cucumbers and green olives. I topped that with a bit of Tessemae's Habanero Ranch. If you are a fan of a little spice (or a lot like me), you HAVE to try this. Not only is it Whole30 approved, which means that it is dairy free, gluten free, soy free and sugar free....it tastes amazing! They have a ton of other products on their website too so if you are looking for healthier alternatives for dressings, marinades or salad kits, CHECK THEM OUT!

I saved the rest of the soup and put it in the freezer. When I decide to pull it out, I'll let you know how it is to see if it's a suitable freezer meal!

Also, I used these glass containers if you are interested. I did have some seepage into my salad if I didn't hold my bag perfectly flat while walking to work so maybe wouldn't recommend them for carrying soup but this could be really good if you like to separate out your food!

Whole30 {Weeks Three & Four - Recap}

Now that we're nearly a month out already, I'm happy to announce that Gspice and I completed the Whole30!

We officially completed Whole30 on October 31. The month went by pretty fast which is no different than the rest of 2017. Seriously, I.can.not.believe.it's.nearly.the.end.of.November!

I want to start off by saying that I am so ridiculously proud of us. We often commit to things but don't always follow through. However, I feel like we both followed the program fairly well and tested our will power for 30 straight days. If you can believe it, I went without pasta for over 30 days and Gspice gave up pop!

The last two weeks of the Whole30 program were not as great at weeks 1 & 2 but we probably followed the "rules" about about 70-80% of the time. I say that number because I did follow breakfast/lunch fairly well and slacked a little bit on dinner and I also ate some chocolate just about every day that week. That is what being lazy did to me. I also had a couple drinks and a slice of pizza. And a few handfuls of peanut butter M&Ms. You can see where this is going!

With that said, I'm still really happy with the fact that we set our sights on a pretty big goal and I feel that we accomplished what we set out to do. Pasta was the biggest thing for me by far and I stayed away for a whole month. Seriously, that blows my mind.

Looking back on the experience, I can definitely say that Whole30 has taught me a lot about my eating habits. I don't necessarily crave anything but I do tend to emotionally eat which is a hard habit for me to break. Throughout the 30 days, though, I feel that I did a pretty good job of not doing that.  Overall, I felt more energized, slept more soundly at night and had better mental clarity. One takeaway from this is that I do really like to go to bed early and I'm totally better off for it!

What I Missed the Most:

Dairy - though it was relatively easy to cut this out for 30 days, it was surprisingly difficult for us to keep this out of our diet 100%. Gary definitely struggled with this more than I, but to go from eating cheese, milk and other forms of dairy on a daily basis to nothing at all was a stretch. A sprinkle of cheese on my eggs or a taco salad would have been nice but we made do.

What Surprisingly Didn't Phase Me:

Everything! - I expected to go through some sort of detox whether that be from sugar, no pasta or alcohol. However, I felt good from the very beginning. I did have a couple random days with a headache but they were in weeks 2 & 3. I do think Gary went through some detox but I was very surprised and grateful that I did not.

Vices - I am still so very shocked that we lasted the whole program without consuming our vices. Mine is most definitely pasta and Gspice's is pop. I literally had no issue whatsoever giving up pasta which tells me that I don't have an addition problem. Thus, my bad habits should be easy to break, right?

What Helped Me the Most:

Preparation - I would not have been successful doing Whole30 without planning the meals in advance, creating the grocery list, going grocery shopping and meal prepping. I never did these steps all in the same day because that would be impossible for me to keep up with. I typically planned on Thursdays/Fridays, went shopping on Saturdays, and prepped on Sundays. Do what works for you and break it down any which way you like, but DO NOT ATTEMPT to do any sort of elimination diet or even just trying to eat better without preparation. It will do wonders and I promise you that!

Tomatoes & the Co-op - I know this is a little silly, but I feel like I was pretty lucky that there were still some good tomatoes left in October. If I got a little hungry in the afternoons, I went for sliced tomatoes with a little salt and pepper. You aren't supposed to snack but this was smart snacking if you ask me. I also would eat an Applegate pepperoni or two because meat was one of the only things I craved all month and it helped to tide me over until dinner. Thankfully, I was able to purchase some of the specialty items like Applegate products, at Oneota Co-op. It was so nice to know I could get Whole30 approved items there that aren't carried by Fareway or Walmart.

Before & After:

I wish I could tell you how many inches I lost or even took photos of the progress, but I didn't go that far with this program. I did hope to lose some weight but I also wanted to focus on changing habits. Now that I'm almost a month out, I can say that though I still struggle with some of the same habits, I do think I'm doing some things differently than before. I drink more water, I'm doing my best to get to bed earlier, I'm not eating pasta for every meal, etc. I'd call that a success :)

I did track, however, the amount of weight I lost. I believe that most of the weight came off in weeks 1 & 2 but a few more pounds did come off in weeks 3 & 4. I'm not surprised by that at all because of my commitment level during those weeks. With that said, I lost a total of 14 pounds!!!

Wrapping It Up:

I was very encourage by doing the Whole30. I surprised myself with my perseverance and will definitely try this again very soon. I didn't do a lot of exercise during this round besides walking to work so the next time I do Whole30, I will definitely make this a part of my routine.

Whole30 {Week Two - Recap}

I've been a little quiet on the Whole30 front but don't worry, I'm still plugging along. I'm back with my Week Two update!

I've always had an issue with persistence so I was really happy that I got through Week Two with a nearly perfect record in terms of following all of the rules of the program. I did so well up until the last day of week two, Sunday, October 15. The boys were being especially difficult that day and I seemed to have a mental breakdown after a really awful Walmart check-out experience with the boys. I came home and was very upset and anxious and after I had time to calm down and get back to normal, I opted to have two little chocolate chips. Just two :) I had planned to make the boys some cookies so I suppose that is better than eating all of their cookies, right? I just didn't make them because frankly, I wasn't about to reward them for their bad behavior!

*Meals
This is still a big part of the reason why I was so successful this week. I was able to plan for and prep all of the things I planned to eat this week and didn't stray outside of that too much. There were definitely days I didn't want to eat more broccoli but you know what, I did it anyway or instead ate a tomato.

Breakfast
-Same as Week One: Two scrambled eggs with spicy sausage (SO GOOD!)

Lunch
-Compliant pesto (no cheese! I used cashews instead) with chicken, green beans and tomatoes. I cooked the tomatoes down a bit more than I have before with this meal and definitely made too much pesto but it sure was delicious!

Dinner
-I didn't do too well with dinner this week. I opted for burgers again with veggies and then got super lazy and made goulash to have on some of the nights. I definitely need to figure out better dinner options that I like.


*Drink more water
I averaged closer to 60oz of water this week but I think part of that was because I sometimes forget to log the amount of water I drank so that could be a little higher. I didn't quite reach 75/80 most days so I just need to keep reminding myself to drink water! It's definitely not hard!


*Have better sleeping habits
 I definitely improved in this department which is awesome! I love to sleep and never prioritize it. I averaged between 5.5-6.5 most nights before doing the Whole30 but I averaged 7.25 hours this week! It's been amazing to feel a little more rested (though I'm always tired) and have more clarity.


*Work out more regularly
I walked to work everyday, does that count? I didn't do much for workouts but you know what, I got my two 2016 family photo books completed :) I've had the weights I want to buy in my Amazon cart but I just haven't completed the order! That's called lazy.


Weight Loss
Still seem to be losing some weight which is so exciting! I have a long way to go but this is a step in the right direction. I wasn't too kind to my body the last few months so have got some work to do!


Temptations
I don't recall off of the top of my head if we had any specific temptations this week but I did pretty well with not eating any peanut butter M&Ms that a coworker leaves out. Of course, I should count those two chocolate chips I had. Damn.

OH, I did successfully avoid a Pinter's cupcake on our annual trip! That was a big deal!

Whole30 {Week One - Recap}

I heard of Whole30 through a friend and a few bloggers I follow. I looked in to it a bit and thought initially that it would be really difficult to complete. During the 30-day elimination program, you are to cut out all grains, alcohol, legumes, dairy and sugar. Then, during the reintroduction phase, you slowly add these items back in to your diet to see how your body is affected. My vices are pasta, chocolate and alcohol so I wasn't convinced I could last 30 days. However, I was pretty intrigued.

I've attempted to give up pasta before and lasted a measly three days. I gave up because I was replacing pasta with other types of carbs - bread and tortillas. It wasn't worth it to me to switch carb for carb and so I simply gave up. I told myself then that it was all about portion sizes. Well, I often fail at that too so it was becoming more and more obvious that I needed to consider a serious change in order to rewire my brain. 

With that, I decided that I would begin my own Whole30 journey on October 2!

My expectations going in were that it was going to be a struggle for a couple of weeks while I cooled my gets on my addictions and my body removed all the toxins and crap. In reality, it hasn't been nearly that bad and I'm actually doing just fine. I've felt good for the entire first week and stuck to our meal plan  with no cravings for my vices whatsoever. Crazy isn't it? I'm truly surprised and encouraged. I've toyed with the idea of making this a Whole60 or even longer because I thought I needed more time to rewire my brain. It may not be as difficult as I thought!

Gspice is doing this with me and he is doing okay but still working on figuring out all the requirements. He's legit asked me if he could have croutons or cheese. No, Gsipce, we cannot. Really though, I'm very proud of him for doing this with me. He doesn't struggle with food the same way I do but Gary does drink a lot of pop (SUGAR) so that's a habit I'd love to see him break.

Action Items

Here are the items on my action plan to make the most of this Whole30. I hope that by the end of the 30 days, I will have developed a whole slew of good habits. We are well on our way!

*Meal plan, Grocery shop, Meal prep

This is probably the most vital part of the program, at least for me. If I don't do all of these steps, it leads to an inevitable failure.  This also helps me make sure we aren't consuming anything we aren't able to have on Whole30. The only struggle is that Gary and I like different things for breakfast and lunch so it does mean for extra planning/prepping. I try to prep his breakfast and he needs to prep his lunch. As for how we plan, I don't mind repetition at all as long as I like what I'm eating. The first week looked like this for me:

Breakfast

-Two scrambled eggs with spicy sausage and lazy salsa

Lunch
Romaine salad with carrots, green olives and shredded chicken with a homemade spicy latin vinaigrette

Dinner
-Burger (no bun of course) with roasted broccoli
 -Hidden veggie meatballs with a compliant marinara sauce and homemade fries (I did NOT like the meatballs I made but the fries were delicious! Gspice thought they were fantastic and thankfully the boys liked them too)
 -Beef tenderloin with herbed clarified butter, compliant shrimp scampi (hello, no white wine!) and sauteed asparagus

*Drink more water

I've made it a goal to drink at least 75-80oz of water every day. I have a number of water bottles but I never seem to drink enough water. However, I started using the bottle I got for Gspice and it was a game changer, at least at home. This particular bottle has a straw. So, I decided that I needed a new water bottle at work that had a straw. And with that change, I've been successfully drinking more than 80oz of water every day since October 2! Of course, it means I also need to go to the bathroom a lot but hey, more steps.

*Have better sleeping habits

I haven't been prioritizing sleep the way I should lately and I was reaping the benefits of that. I wasn't able to think clearly or process things the best because my sleep was seriously lacking. Sleep is crucial for so many functions, including losing weight so hello! Let's get on this one, Vanessa! Luckily, it seems that I get tired a little earlier now so I naturally want to fall asleep between 9:30-10:30. I've been getting a solid 7-7.5 hours every night which is up from my usual 5-6 hours. 

*Work out more regularly
I've started doing a few of the 21 Day Fix workouts again and I'm trying to do at least 3 days a week. I would like to start working out during my break periods at work so I plan to buy some weights to have in my office so I can do my 12-minute arm workout and my 12-minute leg workout at my desk! That, along with my walk to work every day is a great way to get my workouts in!

Weight Loss

Ideally, all of these other goals will help me achieve some weight loss. So far so good in this department! I'll report at the end of 30 days how much I lose. 

Temptations

There have been a few temptations over the last week that I have successfully avoided. I'm pretty happy about that because some of these sounded so good!

*a free cookie from Marty's for getting my flu shot at Luther (I will save my coupon until November!)

*a free walking taco during the Progressive Walking Supper (we let the boys have one of course and skipped the dessert course)

*a free meal at the Touch a Truck event including a hot dog and chips (again, the boys got to have it)