Whole 30 Day 1

I started the year off by doing a whole 30 for the month of January. I dropped 15 pounds, my sinuses cleared up noticeably,  and it really wasn't that difficult.  Well, if you're into cooking, meal planning, and food prep, it wasn't difficult! That's about the only con to this "cleanse", "diet" whatever you want to call it. You have to get creative unless you like eating salads and chicken everyday. Anyway, I didn't document the first go around mostly because I wasn't sure I was going to last the 30 days. I started another one because I felt I needed a spring cleaning, so to speak.
            In preparation for my work week I went ahead and made some "emergency" meals. Something I could grab when I was short on time, or didn't have anything planned. I had slow roasted a mojo seasoned pork shoulder in the crockpot earlier in the week, so I mixed that with some roasted sweet potatoes and onions and froze individual portions. The pork shoulder I found at my local Publix already pre seasoned. Now, I'm sure it's probably not totally whole 30 approved, but that's all I had on hand and I wanted to start the following day regardless. So here is my complete Whole30 meal plan, day by day.


                                 Day 1
Breakfast- banana, black coffee

Snack- roasted cauliflower "hummus" with carrots

Lunch- roasted sweet potatoes and pork

Dinner- spicy sausage "pasta"(recipe following), salad



Spicy Sausage Pasta

Ingredients:

Aidells chicken and apple sausage (2 links)
2 medium zucchini
1/4 c coconut milk, full fat. ( just the creamy part)
1 can of tomatoes
1 can of green chiles, chopped
Salt and pepper, to taste
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1 tsp garlic powder
sliced green onions (optional, for garnish)
2 small tomatoes, chopped (optional, for garnish)


1) Preheat your skillet to medium heat, add a good swirl of extra virgin olive oil. Add your sausage and sauté until nicely browned, about 5 minutes.

Nothing wrong with this..

 2) Slice zucchini into thin slices. I like to use my vegetable peeler for this, perfect zucchini strips.

No fancy equipment needed!

3) Add the cans of tomatoes and green chiles to the skillet with the sausage. Give it a good stir.

The making of yumminess..

4) Go ahead and add the zucchini strips in. Stir and saute' for a few minutes until the zucchini softens slightly.

Nice color

5) Stir in the coconut milk. I used closer to a 1/2 cup just because I wanted it really creamy :) Go ahead and add any spices you are using.

Coconut milk really makes this

6) Cover and reduce heat to low. Simmer for about 10 minutes to let flavors meld and sauce reduce.

Cover it up!

7) Add whatever optional garnishes you prefer and serve! I highly recommend the chopped tomatoes though. It really added some brightness.

You won't even miss the cheese!

Oh my yum this was good. Super satisfying. Really didn't feel like I was eating "diet" food. I was inspired by this dish from this awesome recipe I was making the hubs for dinner. Now I want you to know I resisted this cheesy goodness and strictly ate my version. Pretty proud moment for me considering cheese is one of my biggest weaknesses...

Seriously. Try this recipe.

And that wraps up day one for me! Stay tuned for day two recipes.