Meal Prepping with Condiments

This weekend, I slow roasted a pork shoulder- I made a Sweet n' Savory BBQ sauce to make a Whole30 version of Pulled Pork. It turned out SO good!

For lunches this week, I decided to mix it up and make two different meals. For the first: I added ground turkey, with spinach to my left over spaghetti squash (roasted with olive oil, garlic, and parsley)

For the second meal this week, I pulled out my Well Fed cookbook. I made Mayo for the first time!! It turned out beautifully! While I was at it, I decided to make some ranch to keep in the fridge too.

I was extremely proud of the results and used the mayo to make a Waldorf chicken salad.

I buy my veggies in bulk from Costco so for breakfasts and dinners this week I chopped up and froze my veggies so they wont go bad!

My Favorite Winter Stew

I've been making this yummy stew as soon as the canned pumpkin arrives at Costco for the last few years. It's so easy--just throw a few things in the crock-pot and let it go, come back later and stir a few more things in, done!--and I love the beautiful colors. I bring it to all my friends who have babies in the cold weather--it's so rich in iron and nourishing! It's also one of the recipes my guests request the most often.

RECIPE HERE

Some notes:

I sub the acorn squash with that precut butternut squash from Costco. And since I'm on a Whole30 and since fresh cranberries are in season and also available at Costco right now, I threw those in instead of the dried. I was a little scared about what would happen because the sweet hit is kind of nice in the original recipe, but the hit of sour wasn't bad either!

Paleo Pumpkin Beef Stew with Acorn Squash and Cranberries

Meal Prepping

Today is my last day of vacation before I return to work full-time. The only way I have been able to stick to eating healthy is to prepare, and I've learned along the way some useful tricks for me personally to stay on course. I always meal prep on Sunday afternoons, and bake mass amounts- I find this the easiest- and the easiest way ensures consistency for me.

My dogs have learned to run to the kitchen when I pull out the cutting board.... I am a bit of a messy cook.

I know it's not for everyone but I make the same meal for lunch throughout the week. It's still a treat for me as I use foods that my husband doesn't like to eat, and I don't include them in my other meals. For lunches this week I prepped a mix of sweet potatoes, red potatoes, Aidells chicken and apple sausage, onions, bell peppers, and cauliflower. I like to cut up my potatoes- add a bit of oil and seasoning in a gallon bag and shake it up to make sure they are all evenly coated.

I stick it in the oven at 400 for 15 minutes, pull them out to mix it up, add the veggies and sausage, and place back in the oven for another 15 minutes. I have successfully burned potatoes enough to remember to mix it up in between... Also, when cutting my veggies I started cutting up extra to keep in the fridge for breakfasts throughout the week. I have never been a big breakfast person, and on Whole30 eating within the first hour of waking up is extremely difficult for me while getting ready for work- so precut veggies is a big help for my eggs in the morning!

This is a quick, simple, and easy clean up meal... YOU SHOULD SMELL MY KITCHEN...

I let cool and divide evenly into 5 portions. TA DA!!!!

Now in the mornings I grab and go!

Know Thyself

Yesterday on Instagram I posted one of my favorite quotes (over a picture of my breakfast)(because I can).

When I was in college, I developed what I called the "Squirrel vs. Golden Retriever" theory. I'd heard Goldens will eat everything you put in front of them, so you have to monitor their food more carefully than you would with, say, a cat. Meanwhile, I had a roommate who I was convinced was part squirrel. She didn't eat junk food very often, but she hid it all over the apartment. Just knowing that it was there in case she had an emergency Kit Kat need was enough for her. When she left for the weekend, I (a Golden Retriever if there ever was one) would sniff out all of her treats and devour them. I'm not a total jerk--I'd replace all of them before she got back. And then I'd do it all again the next weekend.

Years and years later I came across Gretchen Rubin's description of Abstainers vs. Moderators, which is a lot more eloquent than my squirrels and dogs labels. If you've ever been successfully avoiding less healthy foods only to be told by a skinny friend that it is not healthy to deprive yourself--and then your treats turn into "it's Wednesday night, so I must need a treat because I went to work and came home, right?"--you might be an abstainer. And you might want to read the article I linked to above because it's super helpful in understanding how you operate vs. your friend who's never struggled with weight.

And if you're an abstainer who has figured out how to "offroad" successfully CALL ME. That's probably my biggest challenge at this point.

Thanks for Stopping By!

We're going to be 'Grammin it up as Whole100sisters on IG, but this will be our spot for more in-depth discussions about challenges, learnings, our goals, and any tips we stumble upon.