Cobb Salad Skewers

I love vegetables in all shapes, sizes, and forms, but apart from a raw veggie platter, they’re usually pretty sparse at events. Not to mention, who has an extra hand to use a utensil for something like a salad at a party?

Enter: Cobb Salad Skewers

Flavorful, dynamic, loaded with veggies, and easy to manage with one hand, they’re a perfect item to bring to your next gathering. Feel free to get creative, but here’s what I used:

• romaine lettuce, cut across and then into chunks

• cherry tomatoes, sliced in half

• cooked bacon, folded (I used Naked Bacon)

• deli meat, rolled and sliced, or chunks of chicken (I used True Story)

• boiled eggs, cut in half or quarters

• cucumber, cut into cubes

• dressing of choice, to drizzle or dip (I used Tessemae’s)

• everything but the bagel seasoning blend
  
  

Just chop up all of your ingredients and start assembling! As pictured, these are 21DSD and Whole30 compliant, though I wouldn’t say no to a hunk of cheese or a GF crouton on there either :)

Enjoy!!

-Tracey

All About the Sauce

Hi friends, it's been a couple of weeks!

Things picked up at work, which meant that blog work had to take a back seat for a weekend, but I'm back. This week I felt like mixing things up a little bit. My meal plans are usually just batch cooked proteins with roasted veggies and a no-cook plate for lunch, but this week I had a couple of sauces on my mind, so I built my meal plan around those!

Here's this week's meal plan:

Breakfast: Chicken and Veggie Bowl with Tahini Sauce // The star of the show here is really the sauce, and I built the rest of the bowl around that! The base of the bowl is simply steamed carrots, yellow squash, bok choy, and chicken. I wanted to keep the flavors simple (and easy to digest), which is why I steamed rather than roasted. Here's what you need to know for the sauce: I started with about 1/2 cup tahini (lately I've been obsessed with the Soom brand, but I used a combo of Soom + Artisana to thicken it up a bit), added 2 tbsp coconut aminos, and 1/2 tbsp Red Boat Fish Sauce. Sometimes I add a little bit of water to thin it out, or adjust the flavor with a little more coconut aminos or some lemon or lime juice. It's pretty versatile and forgiving, and I use it on everything from veggies to sweet potatoes to seafood! Don't forget a hearty handful of cilantro on top.

Lunch: No Cook with Homemade Bitchin' Sauce // You have probably seen Bitchin' Sauce on my page pretty regularly. I love it! They have lots of flavors, but most have Braggs Aminos in them, which is soy. I usually avoid soy, but experimented a bit with a little bit of this sauce here and there, and unfortunately I did notice that it didn't make me feel my best, so I stick to their soy free flavors. However, the ingredient list is simple, and I figured it would be easy enough to re-create! I opted for cashews instead of almonds for a smoother texture and added in coconut aminos and lemon. It's not perfect yet, but it's not bad! I'll be sure to share the recipe when I get it down. For protein, I'm having a DNX bar (another Whole30 compliant option on the market!) and a soft-boiled egg.

Dinner: Spinach Asparagus Soup with Venison Meatballs // This was another "on the fly" recipe: 1 bunch of asparagus, 1 bunch of green onions (about 2 cups chopped), 1/4 cup olive oil, 5 oz bag baby spinach, 1 tsp salt, and 4 cups bone broth. I chopped the asparagus and onion and sautéed with the oil until tender, then added everything else and simmered until the spinach was wilted. I blended it up with my immersion blender (I get SO MUCH USE out of this thing!!) until smooth, then added some venison meatballs (used my basic meatball recipe) after I portioned it out!

Short and sweet this week. Have a good one!

-Tracey

My Top Tip for Simple Whole30 Meal Prep

This week's meal plan is pretty much as simple as it gets. I knew we were going to be out of town all day on Sunday, which meant that I needed to get all of my weekend chores done on Saturday, so I planned my meal prep accordingly! 

A lot of people have asked me how my husband eats through the week. I usually fix two meals for him also, which he eats for lunches and dinners, along with either a smoothie or a no-cook breakfast. This week I fixed him a chicken crockpot meal and a GF pasta bake. 

My best tip for keeping meal prep simple: choose one protein and two veggies per meal and steam or roast everything! I'm also a huge fan of all-in-one meals like soups and casseroles. 

This week I chose two proteins and four veggies to cook (chicken sausage, beef meatballs, zucchini, yellow squash, spaghetti squash, haricot vert) along with my usual no-cook spread. 

Here's this week's meal plan:

Breakfast: Chicken Sausage with Spaghetti Squash and Zucchini // Fortunately these days there are plenty of Whole30 compliant sausages on the market, and I almost always keep some on hand in my freezer for a quick and easy protein! (Trader Joes and Aidels both have one.) Sausage tends to be a little lighter in protein, so I'll make sure to keep a little extra food around in case I need something else to tide me over. For my sides, I steamed up a spaghetti squash in my Instant Pot for 7 minutes (quick release) and roasted some zucchini in the oven with olive oil and salt at 350 for about 25 minutes!

Lunch: No Cook Plate // This week I'm using turkey as my protein (the brands I use are this Trader Joe's organic one and True Story Foods brand, both are Whole30 compliant!) and as usual, a Zupa for veggies ("wholedailylife" for 15% off). I also have some fruit for my carb. This meal is a little light in fat, so I'll add some nuts or almond butter for satiety!

Dinner: Basic Meatballs with Yellow Squash and Haricot Vert // My basic meatball recipe is here, and this week I'm using my favorite beef and liver blend from Da-Le Ranch. (This is the easiest way to get organ meat into my diet!) For the veggies, I simply steamed the haricot vert and roasted the yellow squash with olive oil and salt at 350 for about 25 minutes!

Have a great week!

-Tracey

How To Get Out Of A Meal Planning Rut + Weekly Meal Plan

It might look like I'm a meal planning pro, but I still get stuck in a rut sometimes!! Last week was one of those weeks. Nothing was really sounding good, I felt like I had been eating the same thing on repeat for weeks, and I wasn't feeling inspired to come up with anything creative. When this happens, there are a few things that I do to spark my creativity and get the ball rolling!

How to get out of a meal planning rut:

-look at past meal plans (#wholedailylifemealplans is a great resource for this!)

-pull out some cookbooks (I love the original 21 Day Sugar Detox book, Nourish (AIP), and The Autoimmune Paleo Cookbook)

-search on Pinterest for terms like #whole30, #onepot, etc.

-look in the fridge/freezer/pantry to see what is already on hand and try to make meals out of that

-go for something simple, like a no-cook plate or a pot of soup!

-let good enough be good enough; meals don't have to be elaborate or fancy, they just need to be nourishing!

Here's this week's meal plan:

Breakfast: Creamy Lemon Chicken and Kale Stew // You can find the recipe by AIP Lifestyle here. I have been making this for years and it never disappoints! I especially love starting my day with this because it is so easy on the digestion.

Lunch: Tuna Cakes with Haricots Verts // I didn't used to be able to eat green beans, but I've been doing just fine with these! I steam them well (about 10 minutes) so they're super soft and that's it. For the tuna cakes, I used this recipe as inspiration, but modified it pretty heavily because that's just how I roll when it comes to cooking! They are packed with flavor from the smoked paprika (which I tripled). I also wanted to mention that the ONLY tuna I use is Safe Catch, because each fish is lab tested to be well below the acceptable limit for mercury content. I have a double MTHFR gene mutation, which hinders my body's ability to detox, so mercury isn't something I'm willing to mess around with!

Dinner: Curried Beef with Sautéed Red Cabbage // The curried beef recipe is in my ebook, Weeknight Paleo. It's one of those "chop it all up and toss it in a pan" kind of meals, and there is tons of flavor from the curry! Red cabbage is another food that I didn't used to tolerate at all, but since I have healed my gut, I've been doing well with it. All I did here was add about 2 tbsp coconut oil and 1 cup of water in a large pot with 1 head of thinly sliced cabbage and let it cook for about 40 minutes until very tender. I didn't Add any seasoning to this other than a bit of salt since the curried beef has so much flavor!

Snack: I'm bringing a little Zupa veggie shot to work each day, and will probably pair this with some jerky or nuts. I do my best to eat intuitively, which means that if I'm hungry, I'll have more food, and if I'm not, I might not need it. (wholedailylife for 15% off your Zupa order!)

This entire meal plan is both Whole30 and 21 Day Sugar Detox compliant!

Have a wonderful week!

-Tracey