Day 18 {Whole30}

As I look back over the last 18 days of food we’ve eaten, it’s so pretty. And I seriously just run over to some non-cluttered flat surface – which is hard to find around here – and snap a picture so I can rush back to the table and eat. Obviously I’m not going to win any food photography contests, but eating Whole30 food makes food look so good and colorful.

Here are some ways that I’ve found to quickly make lunch (which is the toughest meal for me) that not only looks good, but is also satiating and delicious.

1. I plan one main entree for each day’s lunch, usually whatever is going to be the protein. And if I can, I make enough to eat for a couple days.
2. I prep/have on hand several different snack-y things for the week that will fill up the rest of the plate:
   1.  Carrot sticks
   2. Celery Sticks
   3. Avocados
   4. Apples/Bananas
   5. Blueberries (they are so cheap right now)
   6. Almond Butter
   7. Bagged Spinach
   8. Bagged Other-Kinds-of Lettuce
   9. Plantain Chips
   10. Various Nuts
   11. Olives
   12. Roasted Sweet Potatoes
   13. Zoodles
   14. Turkey Deli Meat
   15. Hard-Boiled Eggs
3. And really when you look at this list, only a handful of them take chopping/cooking prep. Most just need to be bought during the weekly grocery trip.
4. Then when I plate the entree I see what colors are missing and what I feel like eating and just grab from this list and fill up my plate.
5. I do almost always have some lettuce/green on the plate. Usually dry. I haven’t found a delicious dressing that I love so I don’t feel like making one usually.

Breakfast is tough because I never wake up early enough to make any of the really delicious looking recipes I’ve found, but I’m pretty happy with fried eggs, avocado, spinach, and some kind of fruit. I’m honestly not even close to burning out on this. Dinner, even when not Whole30, is the most time-intensive meal so I don’t get frustrated with how much time and prep dinner takes. But lunch. Lunch. I don’t want to spend forever on it. I just made breakfast and finished up morning errands. And I need to start making dinner in like 3-4 hours. I don’t waaaaant to make lunch. (Channeling my inner threenager :)) So I either look for things I can make quickly the night before or that will not take me longer that 30 minutes to throw together. And, if something in our schedule really goes awry, I have that list of foods at the ready and we all just get to eat a snack plate for lunch. Or dinner, really, if necessary.

Was that helpful? Maybe that was just a stream of consciousness. Well, that’s how I do it 🙂

Breakfast:

• Last of the Pot Roast
• Spinach
• Handful of Pecans
• 2 Fried Eggs
• Banana and Almond Butter

Lunch:

• Last of the Waldorf Salad
• Carrot Sticks
• 1/2 an Avocado
• Handful of Pecans (I had the box sitting on my kitchen counter which is why I think I was craving them all day)

Dinner:

• Fish Taco Bowls – I had some Cabbage Slaw Mix leftover so Fish Tacos seemed the best fit. I used Halibut. This was an pretty good recipe. Except that their serving size for the dressing is way off. I made the whole recipe for the dressing and it was barely enough for me and Kraft. Make double of it.
• Spinach
• Cabbage Slaw Mix
• Trader Joe’s Salsa Verde
• 1/2 an Avocado

How We Felt:

Kraft finally likes black coffee. Yay! A few days ago I wrote how my joints were still feeling achy and that’s one of the reasons I wanted to try this crazy Whole30 thing. Well, apparently the patron saint of Whole30 heard, because the next day the joint pain was gone. Hmm.