Stir Fry and Pears...but not together

A couple of good meals today! Yay!!!

Let's call this "Italian/Asian Fusion Stir Fry".  I had 3 Italian Chicken sausages that needed using up...and a bag of stir fry veggies...and a bag of coleslaw mix.  Sliced up the sausages and sauteed them, then dumped about half a bag of the stir fry veggies (mostly broccoli and snow peas), then an entire bag of coleslaw mix.  I added a tiny bit of salt and a few shakes (quite a few) of  sweet ginger garlic seasoning (something I picked up at Costco a while back - I don't have the original container, so I have no idea what's in it (I'm guessing ginger and garlic are two of the ingredients)), and about a 1/4 cup of water - put the lid on the pan and let it cook for about 7 minutes (stirring occasionally).  It was AWESOME. I think it would be better with pork, so I think I'll give it another spin soon (I still have 1/2 a bag of stir fry veggies!).

Pear slices. With a dash of cinnamon. This was breakfast...along with a couple of slices of bacon. Because, bacon.

Italian Soup and Fried Sweet Potatoes

Let me be frank.

No, I'll just be Debbie.

This was not the meal I wanted to be having just before starting a fast.

Well, the soup was okay.  Just okay.  Definitely under seasoned, but on the whole, it was edible.
The recipe can be found here. I added some spinach and mushrooms like the gal suggested...but I'm thinking it needed a bit of garlic salt on the chicken breasts, and maybe some olives added in. 

Fried Sweet Potatoes.
I give up. Sweet potatoes just taste like sweet potatoes to me.  They're fine, if that's what you want, but I will never expect them to be a substitute for regular white potatoes again.
Ever.

On the surface this looks like a nice healthy dinner.

Tomato Soup

Well, it didn't turn out like my favorite tomato soup (plain old Campbell's), but it is an interesting jumping off point...

(ignore the salad - it's just trying to upstage the soup)
recipe found here

...and we all know what "interesting" means.  Yeah, I didn't lovelovelove it.  We're not even going steady.  However, much like the weird looking guy in the back of the class who wears a pocket protector and knows all the answers, it grew on me.

I think the basic idea is fine, it just needs more oomph.  I think I'll try simmering some fresh basil leaves in with the tomatoes next time.  Maybe add a dash of Italian seasoning.  A little more salt & pepper...try some fresh avocado slices on top...

That weird looking guy is going to get a makeover.

Naked Burger

   

A

 

Maybe I should call this a hot burger salad....

Here's the rundown
:

A Hot Burger Salad?

In a medium frying pan, I fryed up two pieces of bacon. Because, bacon. I then added about a third of a sweet onion, diced, half of a green pepper, ditto, and several baby portobello mushrooms, also diced. Oh, and a dollop of minced garlic. I fried it all up until the onions were translucent, then dumped them in a bowl so that I could use the pan to saute some spinach.  A largish handful.

The rest is as you see it.

Sauteed spinach, hamburger patty, sliced tomatoes, and then "the works".

Not bad. Not bad at all. Steve ate the same burger, sans spinach, plus bun. Danny had two burgers...hamburgers, cheese and buns.

Chicken Soup for the Whole30 Soul

Well, the picture's not much...but the soup is fantastic.

I used:

one (32 ounce) carton of chicken broth.  Pour it in a biggish pot, turn the heat to medium-ish.

a couple of large handfuls of sliced carrots.  Throw them in the pot too.

about a quarter of a sweet onion, diced.  Ditto.

baby portobello mushrooms...sliced.  Another couple of handfuls into the pot.

a couple of handfuls of celery (not quite as much as the carrots).  Toss them in too.

the meaty remains of a rotisserie chicken (Simple Truth brand, from Fred Meyer).  Throw the whole carcase in (mine had at least half of the meat still there).

Simmer for a while.  I think it was about 20 or 30 minutes. Turn down heat to low. 

Take chicken carcase out, debone, cut up the bigger bits, throw the meat back in the pot.

Add one large handful of chopped spinach.  Cook for a few more minutes.  

Done!

Whole(ish)30 - Two Weeks In.

This past week has been super crazy - helping Nathan and Rebekah move, painting, moving furniture and cleaning here, and then a four day trip to Idaho for Joe's funeral.  I haven't had a lot of time for posting.

I am happy to report that even though Steve and I went on a 4 day road trip, I was still able to stick with healthy eating.  Here's a few pictures from this past week:

Mexican salad.
So yummy.
I put cooked some chicken tenders in a frying pan, covered with Jack's Salsa, then put them on a bed of mixed greens, and added a dollop of guacamole.
So good.

Road trip food.
Sliced cucumbers, celery sticks in almond butter, olives, jicama sticks, guacamole, macadamia nuts and raw almonds, fresh peach slices and mixed heirloom tomatoes.
I admit, we ate too many macadamia nuts, but overall, it was a pretty good selection.  There are a couple of cans of tuna pictured, but we didn't end up using them.

I got half a box of peaches this week.  

Breakfast hash: Jimmy Dean Natural Sausage, sweet potatoes, jicama, onions, green peppers and baby portobello mushrooms.
It was excellent.

Ribs.
Ribs.
Ribs.
Oh, and some sauteed peas and mushrooms.
I made a new whole30 compliant rub - it was awesome.  I thought I would miss the brown sugar, but nope, not really.
(it was based on this recipe - but without the Old Bay Seasoning and with more onion and thyme)

Roadside Salmon Salad.
Picked up some mixed greens and some cold salmon fillets at Safeway in Pendleton, then added some of the road trip food I already had.
Delicious! (And very very pretty)

W30 - Day 5

Five days without sugar! (or gluten or dairy)...

I won't lie, today I had a little temptation.  I made a batch of brownies this morning, then frosted them with MINT FROSTING.  Lucky for me, Alex was around to lick the brownie bowl, and Steve was around to take care of the frosting overspill. Whew!

I was out of the house for quite a while today, so this time I thought ahead and threw a small handful of almonds and cashews in a baggie, along with a clementine.  That helped. Especially when I hit the Taco Bell drive thru for Alex.  I think I may have to figure out some Mexican food soon.

Very soon.

As pretty as this looks, breakfast was kind of a disaster.
I thought I would try some sweet potato hash browns.
Um. No. Not this time.
I added some shredded onion and garlic in a vain attempt to make these savory. My plan backfired - they tasted moderately gross.  I'll try again another time.
Maybe next year.

As promised, mashed sweet potatoes with toasted (okay, slightly scorched) pecans and toasted (barely - I didn't want to scorch again) coconut.  The unsweetened coconut was only so-so, but I loved the scorched pecans with it.  I may have to make that a thing.
Scorching things, I mean.