My Whole 30 Journey - Sinfully Good Bacon Meatballs

I am usually not a fan of meatballs. Its kind of like meatloaf, too much bread and egg to be good. It ends up being a weird texture and doesn't really taste like meat. I think that anything that claims to be meat should taste like meat.

These meatballs are unlike any meatball I have ever eaten. Ever. They not only taste like meat, but are full of bacon and ground beef flavor, resulting in essentially a bacon burger ball. You can't get much better than that! If you are not on the Whole 30 add some cheese and you are rockin the burger ball!

The great thing about the bacon in these meatball is it add some wonderful fat and juiciness to the meatballs. It also adds that much loved smoky bacon flavor.

I served these over spaghetti squash with some sauteed tomatoes and zucchini. They would be wonderful with regular spaghetti noodles, on a meatball sub, or on toothpicks at a party!

Sinfully Good Bacon Meatballs
(adapted from Evil Shenanigans)

• 1 lb. lean ground beef or turkey
• 5 strips bacon (make sure there is not added sugar)
• 1/8-1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (depending on how spices you like your meatballs)
• 1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1/4 teaspoon dry oregano
• 1/8 teaspoon fennel seeds
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Drizzle of olive oil

Preheat oven to 400 F.

Chopped the bacon into small pieces. Mix the bacon and beef and crushed red pepper flakes together  in a bowl, this works best of you use your hands. Form into small balls.

Heat a skillet over medium-high heat. Add a small drizzle of olive oil just enough to lightly coat the bottom of the pan. Don't use too much oil because the meat with produce fats of its own. once the pan is hot, add the meatballs. Space them a little apart so they have room to cook. Brown each ball so that it's nice and crispy all around.

Transfer the meatballs to a cookie sheet and bake until cooked thoroughly.

Roasted Spaghetti Squash

• 1 spaghetti squash

Preheat oven to 375 F. Cut the squash in half, they are really hard to cut, but just get a big knife and hack your way through it. Scoop out the seeds. Place in a glass baking dish with about an inch of water. Place the dish in the oven on the center rack. Bake for 30-40 minutes until the flesh is tender. You can cover the squash with tin foil to avoid excess browning. Use a fork to scrape out the strands.

Garden Veggie Pasta Sauce

• 1 zucchini, cut into bite size pieces
• 3 small tomatoes, quartered
• 2 cloves of garlic, chopped
• about 6-10 fresh basil leaves, chopped
• drizzle of good extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning
• 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• salt and pepper

Heat olive oil in the bottom of a skillet, add chopped garlic and saute for about a minute. Do not over cook the garlic or it will be bitter. Add the zucchini, tomatoes, herbs and spices (except the basil), saute for a few minutes until the zucchini is tender. Remove from heat and top with fresh basil.

My Whole 30 Journey - Guacamole Chicken Salad Recipe

Guacamole is one of those things that, up until recently, I was convinced I hated. I had never had any guacamole that I liked and I thought I hated it so much that I was sure I hated avocados in general. Oh how wrong I was! 

As it turns out I LOVE avocados and guacamole. It was the onions in guacamole that I hated. I don't like onions, like super don't like them. I pick around them in pretty much anything that contains them. I won't eat anything that has too much of an onion flavor, especially a raw onion flavor. 

Sometimes I get sad if I go to dig into something that I usually really like and I get a huge mouth full of onion flavor. If I'm really hungry and PMSing I have been known to cry over this culinary catastrophe. I just really don't like onions.

Guacamole Chicken Salad

All that said, take the onions out of guacamole and you have one of my favorite dishes of all time! Toss in some fresh cilantro and tomatoes and you've got a flavor explosion!  Add the fact that avocados are packed with healthy fats and I'm totally on board!

My brother makes the best guacamole. He is the one who converted me. His secret? Fresh squeezed orange juice. 

I took his recipe for awesome guac and added some grilled chicken and orange bell peppers and served it over a bed of lettuce and BAM! an awesome Whole 30 approved meal that is packed with good for you foods. Trust me, your body and your taste buds will be thanking you!

One of the things I like to do at the beginning of the week, is grill or boil some chicken that I then chop or shred it and leave it in the fridge for salads or other quick meal options. If you have the chicken already cooked you can toss this meal together in 10 minutes. You can even use store bought guacamole if you want an even easier fix. Whole Foods has fresh guacamole made every day in the produce section.

Guacamole Chicken  Salad

• 2 breasts of chicken, cooked and cut into bite-size pieces or shredded
• 2 ripe avocados
• 1 sweet bell pepper, cut into bite-size pieces
• 1 tomato, cut into bite-size pieces
• 1/2 cup packed fresh cilantro, chopped
• 1-2 clove(s) garlic, chopped
• 1 lime, juiced
• 1/2 lemon, juiced
• 1/4 orange, juiced
• salt and pepper to taste
• optional: chopped onion, chopped jalapeno

Scoop the avocados into a large bowl and add the lime, lemon and orange juices. Smash up the avocado with a potato masher or a fork until smooth. Stir in garlic, salt, pepper and cilantro. Add the rest of the ingredients and stir until the everything in well coated with avocado. Serve over a bed of lettuce.

That's it ladies and gentlemen! 

Super simple, quick, delicious, and healthy meal. 

Enjoy this!

Let me know what you think of the recipe.

XOXO,

Coco

P.S. Lucky you! You have stumbled upon two recipes in one! Just leave out the chicken and you have the best guacamole recipe on the face of the planet! You're welcome :)

My Whole 30 Journey - Week 1

I grew up in a very healthy household. My mom is a little on the hippy side of life when it comes to food. The closer to the farm you can get the better. Grow it, cook it, eat it.

I grew up on whole grains and raw milk. I am very grateful that my mom didn't give into my pleas for Wonder Bread and Fruity Pebbles. (I am also grateful that I had a dad who did!) I am glad that I learned to eat and love good food.

I consider myself to be a pretty health eater. I have a brownie or a bag of chips here and there but other than that its mostly home cooked, pretty well balanced meals. I really enjoy cooking, baking and experimenting with flavors.

When I heard about the Whole 30 for the first time it was from my granola (aka, hippy) mom who is always telling me about the newest healthy food lifestyle. I love hearing about these diets and lifestyle changes, but I rarely take them all with full force.

Then my cousin did the Whole 30 and had AMAZING results! She had all kinds of medical issues (pretty much on the verge of surgery) before and now they have almost all disappeared. She has also lost about 30 pounds in 6 months, feels great and looks like she did in high school. I'm telling you, its incredible.

Since hearing about my cousin's results and after my sister started her own Whole 30 Journey, I decided to jump on the band wagon! Why not? Its only 30 days! I can do anything for 30 days. It would be great to feed my body really good food for my on postpartum recovery as well as the heath of my little newborn. Plus, I have some baby weight to get rid of.

If you haven't heard of the Whole 30, here is a little info. Basically its a cleanse. You are cleansing your body for 30 days of all the "bad stuff" and then at the end of the 30 days you are able to slowly add back in what you have been avoiding to see what your body has aversions to. You are also cleansing your eating habits and food lifestyle. You want to stop depending on food for emotional support, boredom relief, etc...

The basic rules are cut out any and all added sweeteners, alcohol, grains, legumes, dairy, soy, while potatoes, carrageenan, MSG and sulfites for 30 days. No biggy! Check out The Whole 9 Life or get the book, It Starts With Food for more information.

Here is a little of my experience and favorite meals from the first week.

Things I've learned so far:

1. EVOO and balsamic vinegar makes the best salad dressing (okay already knew this, but thought I should share), add some salt, pepper and garlic powder. Done and done!
2. Make a menu plan, seriously. It makes a huge difference in your weeks meals.
3. Make cold brewed iced coffee and freeze some coffee into ice cubes. Unless its winter.
4. Coconut milk is awesome in coffee. A.W.E.S.O.M.E.
5. Deli meat with fresh veggies makes a quick and yummy lunch.
6. Cut up a bunch of carrots and celery sticks at the start of the week and you will be more likely to grab that instead of the box of crackers in your pantry.
7. If its not in the house, you won't eat it. Or your kids won't eat it. I have gotten my almost 2 year old to eat way more veggies and fruit and way less crackers this week because we just don't have any crackers for him to eat. 
8. Clearly outline the rules, and write them down so you can seem them all the time. That way you won't forget them.
9. Eat fresh and yummy food. Try new flavors. Go to the farmers market and just get what they have and figure out how to cook it, usually they will give you suggestions.
10. Spaghetti squash is better than regular spaghetti.

I wrote the rules on a white board in my kitchen, and added little sticky notes labeled 1-30 that I can pull off at the end of the day as a little reward for checking on more day off.

I have been snapping pictures of the great food that we have been eating this week and I will post some recipes and photos pretty soon. Stay tuned!

Have you tried the Whole30? 

What tips do you have? 

What was your favorite thing to eat?

Welcome Home!

Well its been a little while since I've posted anything. There has been just a few things happening in my world.

First, I had a baby! A beautiful little girl. We didn't find out the gender of either of our children before they were born, and I had so convinced myself that we were having another boy that when the doctor told me it was a girl I was shocked. I mean totally socked. My husband and sister-in-law said the look on my face was priceless.

Since she was born I have so enjoyed the snuggles that can only come from a newborn, and seeing my J interact with her. I was a little worried about his reaction to having a new baby around, but he has been a gem! He loves her and takes every opportunity to kiss her, even when we don't really want him to.

Its so wonderful to watch him loving on her and trying to play with her. He tries to share his toys, his books and his food. The best is when she is laying on the floor and he goes and lays next to her and talks to her in his gibberish.

Second, we moved. About a week after A was born, we moved to a new apartment. Its a beautiful old Victorian house on the street where I grew up. We now live a few houses down from my aunt and uncle and a few more from my parents. Its really wonderful. There is so much more character in this house than in our old apartment. Beautiful molding and trim, and a sweet built in.

I will post more about decorating and organizing our new place, but right now we are still working out of boxes.

Happy Thursday Everyone!
Xoxo,
Coco