First off, I can’t believe we’re already on Day 8 of the Whole30! I’m feeling great. My old bounce is coming back and even though I baked THIS chocolate cake for my 2nd oldest son’s 8th birthday the other day, for probably the first time in my life, I wasn’t salivating and whining in my head about how I couldn’t have any. Even though it’s mostly “Paleo,” it’s definitely not Whole30 approved!
P.S. Yes, that is powdered sugar on top. Corn starch-free powdered sugar, but sugar nonetheless. It’s gonna be OK. A little sugar on my sweet boy’s birthday is totally fine with me. And heck, it could have been much worse.
Secondly, I got something in the mail the other day:
As you can see, I was pretty darn excited to get this. Everything in the Well Fed cookbook by Melissa Joulwan is Whole30 compliant with the exception of one of the “dessert” recipes, I think. Boy, it was worth the money! Remember, all this week’s recipes are Whole30 compliant!
Monday: Meatza Pie with green beans and blackberries (Serves 7 +leftovers) (from the Well Fed cookbook)
I pretty much followed the recipe from the cookbook, but I didn’t have all the spices called for in the pizza sauce, so I just used regular Italian seasoning, and it was still great! I also tripled the ingredient amounts since we have so many mouths to feed. Tripling it allowed for a few pieces leftover for lunch the next day. The recipe requires a bit of leg work, but believe me, it’s totally worth it!
Recipe: Meatza Pie (from Well Fed)
For the crust:
3 pounds ground beef
6 tsp. Italian seasoning
Sauce:
3 tsp. olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 tsp. Italian seasoning
1.5 cans tomato paste
3/4 cup water
Toppings (totally optional, these are just the ones we used):
3/4 cup pan-friend broccoli (just put in a heated pan with a bit of olive oil and cook for 5-6 minutes, until browned) or you can just microwave for 4-5 minutes if you’re short on time
1 can black olives, sliced (I use the “Lindsey Naturals” brand that only has olives, water and salt)
2 onions, sliced and caramelized
If you have four 9-inch pie pans or pie plates, pull them out. If you don’t have that many, you can just prepare one at a time if need be. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Mix the ground beef and Italian seasonings until combined.
Divide the meat into four equal parts. Roll into a ball and press evenly into pie pans. Repeat for all the “crusts.” Bake in oven for 10-15 minutes, until meat is cooked through and is browned a bit. Leave oven on, remove from oven and allow to cool in pan while you make the sauce.
Heat a small saucepan over low heat, then add the olive oil, garlic, and Italian seasoning and stir until fragrant, about 20 seconds. Add the tomato paste and stir until combined. Add water, bring to a boil, then simmer for 5 minutes until thickened, and then set aside. *
*I had to add about another 1/2 to 3/4 cup of water to get it to the consistency that I wanted.
Cover a large baking sheet with aluminum foil and place meat crusts (removed from pie pans) onto baking sheet. Spread about 1/4 of the sauce on each meat crust, leaving about a 1/2 inch border around the edges. Arrange the vegetables on top, pressing gently into sauce. Pop pizza back into oven and cook for another 7-9 minutes, until hot and browned to your liking.
Tuesday: Crock Pot Pork Roast with garlic basil smashed sweet potatoes
Recipe: Crock Pot Pork Roast
3-4 pound pork butt roast
4-5 large carrots or the equivalent in baby carrots (which is what I had on hand)
4-5 celery stalks, sliced
4 cups of water or pork broth (I had 4 cups of pork broth leftover from the last time I made pork chops in the crock pot)
2-3 TBSP garlic salt
2 TBSP chili powder
2 tsp. onion powder
Place roast in crock pot. Cover with remaining ingredients. Close lid, set on low cook for as long as you need/want. I cooked mine for about 8 hours.
Recipe: Garlic basil smashed sweet potatoes
3-4 sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/3 cup unsweetened coconut milk
2 tsp. basil
2 TBSP ghee
1 tsp. garlic salt
salt and pepper to taste
Heat a large pot of water to boiling. Add potatoes and cook for about 20 minutes, until fork easily pierces the potato. Drain. Add remaining ingredients and mash with a potato masher or blend with hand mixer until desired smoothness.
Wednesday: Baked chili powder chicken with broiled zucchini and cantaloupe (I picked up 3 amazing cantaloupe at Costco this week for $5.50!)
Recipe: Baked chili powder chicken
3 pounds chicken thighs, skin on
2-3 TBSP olive oil
3 TBSP chili powder
2 TBSP garlic salt
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line a broiler pan with aluminum foil. Place chicken on pan and baste with olive oil. In a bowl, combine chili powder and garlic salt. Sprinkle generously over each piece of chicken. Bake in oven for about 30-35 minutes, check to see if juices run clear. If they do, you’re done! Remove and let sit for about 5 minutes before serving.
Recipe: Broiled zucchini
8-10 zucchini
1/4 cup olive oil
garlic salt and pepper to taste
Preheat broiler. Cut off ends of zucchini and slice lengthwise in half. Place on aluminum foil-lined baking sheet. Baste with olive oil, and sprinkle with garlic salt and pepper. Put in oven for 5 minutes, turn baking sheet around, and cook for another 5 minutes. Serve!
Thursday: Leftovers from previous days and baked acorn squash
Recipe: Baked acorn squash
1 squash
2-3 TBSP olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cut top off squash and then cut in half lengthwise. Remove seeds and baste inside of squash with olive oil, and season with salt and pepper. Turn upside-down on foil-covered baking sheet. Bake for 35-40 minutes. Test with fork (if the fork goes through easily, it’s done). Enjoy!
Friday: Stuffed peppers (from the archives) with broccoli and frozen blueberries
Recipe: Stuffed Peppers
2 lbs ground beef
6 bell peppers (whatever color you like–I picked red)
1 onion, diced
2-3 TBSP olive oil + some for basting
2 cloves garlic, minced
salt and pepper to taste
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add onion and cook for 5-7 minutes, until translucent. Add ground beef, garlic, salt and pepper and cook until meat is almost cooked through. While that is cooking, cut tops off of peppers. Cut out insides and remove. Baste outside of each pepper with olive oil. When meat is done, stuff each pepper with meat mixture. cover with top of pepper and cook for 20 minutes, until it starts to wrinkle a bit. Remove and let sit for a few minutes before serving.
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Leslie says
Thanks for all the great recipes Shanti! I can’t wait to try them all!!!