InstaPot Deal!!! For Amazon Prime Day!!!

Since I started Whole30 I keep reading about the Instapot. It is a one stop shop for cooking healthy meals in minutes. It is a pressure cooker, slow cooker, saute' cooker (so you can only have to use one pan), rice cooker, yogurt maker etc. There are whole facebook groups devoted to how many things you can do with it. 

I have really been wanting one but for $130 I couldn't bite the bullet. Today on Amazon Prime day it is $69!!! For the Duo (the newer module with high and low pressure). I got the 6 quart. 

This is also a good deal if you are wanting a bigger size. All three sizes are onsale on the link below. 



InstaPot Deal

You do have to be an Amazon Prime member to access the deal, but if you aren't here is the link for the free trail: Prime Free Trial.  Trust me once you go prime you won't be able to go back. 

If you already have an InstaPot let me know what your favorite recipes are. I can't wait to try it out!!!

Whole 30 Part 2

I am now on day 25 and the end is in site. 

Some General Thoughts:

- I still miss cheese but not as much
- I feel amazing
- I have slept through the night twice since I started this and haven't done that in years. And just in general I feel more well rested. 
- I have only had a few headaches and NO migraines
- I feel like I have a little more energy but not "tigerblood"
- I miss Chinese food.
- I have only had one stomach issue this whole time and I think it might have been food poisoning because the entire family was ill


Overall that is a lot of positives. Looking ahead to next week I have made a reintroduction plan that may or may not be edited. I haven't finalized but I liked laying it out so I know. 

I ate out once so far during this and it was at Chipotle with all approved ingredients. We are currently selling our house and had to leave last night at dinner time to let the house get shown and we seriously debated about going to the local Mexican place. Well I am glad that I did some research because the manager let me know they cook everything in some kind of soybean oil. I would have been so mad if I messed up this close to the finish line. My other inquiries have determined that you can eat at Chuy's (grilled chicken salad with salsa dressing) and Pita Pit (Philly steak salad no dressing) but I haven't tried those. 

My eyes have been opened to the amount of preservatives, fillers and crap that is in our food. I am seriously considering making a lifestyle change for my family and doing Paleo after I wrap this up. 

This has been a lot of work (especially while trying to sell a house) but it has definitely been something I would recommend. 

Here are some of my favorite eats from the past two weeks:

A play off of bang bang shrimp from Skinnytaste.com. I used Franks red hot mixed with a little dump ranch. 

Sweet potatoes taste sweeter now. This is with clarified butter that I made.

Leftover roasted chicken with compliant salsa from Whole Foods and Guac. 

Steak! Grilled potatoes and green beans. 

Banger sausage patties that I made from Whole30 book over spinach, onion and a fried egg on top. 

Crispy skin grilled chicken. 

Roasted potatoes, Premade turkey burgers from Costco and green salad with dump ranch. 

This was a game changer. Bananas with a drizzle of Almond butter and some cinnamon. It was like a real dessert after all this time with no sugar. (I ate this with and without green apples)

Crockpot Chuckroast, with carrots and potatoes and green beans. 

Fresh Blackend Red fish we caught over a green salad with dump ranch. 

Grilled Chicken salad with dump ranch and Tessamae's Zesty ranch. I added boiled egg and some leftover compliant bacon. 

My two favorite dressings. I added paprika to the dump ranch. Yum! Also, I was not a fan of the Tessamae's Ceasar. It tasted like straight up horseradish. I was pissed that I wasted $6. 

Scrambled veggie eggs with my favorite banana mix. 

Who knew butternut squash with cinnamon was so good. Everyone in the house approved. 

Same salad as above this time with grilled shrimp. 

Bone broth turned out to be super easy and I used it in everything from gravy to mashed potatoes. 

Whole30

So as of June 14th I am officially on Whole30. It has been super helpful and motivating for me to read about other people's experiences with it so I figured I would post about mine.

I will tell you so far it has been hard but as of today (10 days in) I feel like I have turned a corner. I think the first week was so brutal because I am a Diet Dr. Pepper junkie, I was eating WAY more sugar and junk than usual (part of the reason I decided to do this), and most importantly I did not properly plan.

Sure I read the book and even went to Costco and loaded up on meat and fresh veggies, but I am a dip person. I didn't realize that every sauce and condiment in my stash weren't Whole30 friendly. No soy sauce, ketchup, bbq, mustard sauce, salad dressing etc. This was a problem.

I will also tell you that I have never been a huge grilled chicken fan and that mixed with the soda withdraw and overall tiredness were enough to almost do me in.

But fast forward a week and I am great! I seriously haven't had the digestive issues that I normally do (I see a specialist), no headaches and I swear I think that I am thinking more clearly. I buckled down somewhere in the week and decided to plan better and get busy. It seriously made a huge difference.

One of the most helpful things I did was to make a pot of Slow Cooker Paleo Jalepeno Chili from SkinnyTaste.com (I just love her). I am a soup girl and this one was seriously good and I had lunch ready for the next two days and had one to put into the freezer. I will probably double this next time. She also has a ton of recipes for paleo (very similar to Whole30) just check the ingredients for complacency.


I also roasted a chicken in the oven. This recipe was delicious. You can throw in some carrots, potatoes or whatever with it and dinner is done. But wait there's more! The leftover chicken can be used in some soup, or Mexican taco salads the next night (I found some compliant salsa and Whole Foods aka Whole Pay Check). Then I took the whole carcass and threw it in the crock pot with some water, celery and carrots to make bone broth (so I didn't have to buy and organic non-gluten stuff).

So I will continue to update about my progress as I work through the 30 days. I can't wait for the Tigerblood phase if I feel this good already.

Cravings:

CHEESE!!!

Diary of How I felt:

Day 1: Fine. Hungry.

Day 2: Headache. Might die. Realized I should have prepped more. Came home and made dressing.

Day 3: Dying. Headache for days. Found the joy of guacamole and felt better. More prep cutting up stuff and making stuff. Sigh.

Day 4: Woke up feeling pretty good. Lasted all day until about 3 p.m. Then a proverbial bus hit me. Lack of caffeine was serious today. Found the joy of NutPods (I'm sorry I can't drink coffee black. I am not that strong). They give you the creaminess back. Still not sweet but not bad. Realized I hadn't had a bm since day one.

Day 5: Woke up make coffee. Sat on couch. Felt like a truck hit me. "Might Kill All The Things." Also this is TMI so don't read the next line if you are squeamish, I had the biggest bm I have ever seen. (Gut healing???)

Day 6-7: Extremely tired. Didn't want to come home and cook. Just wanted cheese. Damnit I am a grown woman I can have cheese (I didn't). Soooo tired of meat. No headaches. BM at every meal (WHAT? Totally not like me.)

Day 8: Pretty good mood. Good energy. Still tired of meat. Still regular.

Day 9-10: Felt great. No headaches. No tummy trouble. Hubs cooked for me (all compliant ingredients).

Cinco De Mayo Healthy Mexican Food!

Cinco de Mayo falls on a Thursday this year, but hey any excuse to eat tacos right!

I also found these if you are celebrating at home because why not: 

 

My all time favorite Mexican meal to make is probably White Enchiladas (see recipe here) and they aren't too difficult but we are talking about a Tuesday night people, so let's talk easy, and quick!

A regular occurrence at our house are tacos, but if you are on a constant diet like I am then you will need some healthy options for Tacos. I mean bikini season is upon us people. There are a few modification that you can make so that you can still enjoy the delicious taco flavor without all the calories and bloat. Also these are super easy. We seriously probably make this for dinner once a week at minimum. 

First you are going to switch out ground chicken or turkey for the ground beef. (If you can't do this try doing half and half to get used to it. I also suggest the half and half method for getting husbands/picky kids to eat whole wheat options). 

Cook the meat just like you would ground beef, and drain. Add your favorite taco seasoning pack (or you can make your own) and about a cup of water. Simmer and stir frequently. Next in the last 3-4 minutes of cooking I add a can of Fat Free Re-fried beans. This adds some fiber and to be honest just makes it taste better, in my opinion. 

Brown Turkey

Cut up the veggies of your choice and your meal is done. You do have the option here of forgoing the taco shells. 

We do this pretty frequently and just eat it as taco salads (less carbs and calories). I will just top with a little salsa for dressing. YUM-O!! Feels like your are eating bad and you really aren't!

I added raw corn to mine. Sooooo good!

Other Mexican Recipe Links of Interest: 
Iowa Girl Eats (she is one of my favorites)
Pillsbury Recipes - Cinco De Mayo
Hungry Girl
Skinny Taste Cinco De Mayo
The Girl Who Ate Everything
Yummly