Whole30, days 16-19: Salmon two ways, and Paleo Minestrone

We're in the Whole30 groove now. (Tiger blood? Yeah, that!) Very few cravings, though it would be nice to have a beer on Saturday afternoons. We're eating great stuff, sleeping well, and have good energy. After stopping almonds a week ago, my acne is slowly clearing up. We'll continue that experiment. I managed to put together a consistent week of running, though due to the stupid cold weather, it was disproportionately indoors. Still, good long trail runs last weekend and tomorrow should keep me on track for Zumbro and Superior.

This week, we did a couple of our standard, every week-or-two dishes, roasted salmon and minestrone. They're both awesome, come together quickly, and our kids love the salmon. (They're very dubious of soup, but maybe we'll get there someday).

Monday (day 15) continued:
Dinner: Salmon roasted in coconut oil, sauteed cauliflower, roasted parsnips, carrots and golden beets with cumin and cinnamon. 1/3 c blueberries with coconut milk.

Salmon, coming out of the oven

The root veggies were still cooking...

Golden beets, heading in to roast

Roasted root veggies. Wow, these were pretty great.

This is one of our two go-to salmon recipes, and it's dead simple and delicious. Like many of our favorite recipes, it's adapted from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything. His version uses butter, which is even better, and ghee is good too.

As long as you've got a hot oven, you might as well roast some vegetables before or afterward -- we like to finish baked sweet potatoes this way (and white potatoes when not Whole30-ing) for a browned, blistery, crispy skin. Oven roasted broccoli, cauliflower, sliced winter squash, or root veggies are other logical choices.

Oven Roasted Salmon (serves 3-4):

3 Tbsp coconut oil, ghee, or butter
1 lb salmon fillets, preferably with skin (it gets deliciously crisp)
salt and pepper

Heat oven to 450. Make sure it's fully preheated before you use it. In a large ovenproof pan, melt the cooking fat over medium-high heat until it's quite hot but not smoking. (If you're using butter, heat it till it foams and then stops foaming).

Sprinkle the fish with generous salt and pepper and place skin side down in the pan. Immediately place the pan, uncovered, in the oven, and roast for 5 minutes. Flip the fish over and roast another 5 minutes, or until the center flesh is opaque.

What's that? You want the other go-to salmon recipe too? Oh, all right. This salmon poached in salsa verde is my kids' absolute favorite. They would eat it 3 times a week if we let them. It's a simplified version of a recipe in Rick Bayless's Mexican Everyday. It goes together pretty fast; you can even use frozen salmon straight out of the freezer if it's been that kind of a day. Lately, we have been omitting the tahini/nut butter, since we are suspicious one of the boys is sensitive to nuts. The sauce is fine without it, but richer with it. When doing Whole30, we substitute green beans, broccoli, or cauliflower for the peas it calls for.

Bayless calls this recipe "Salmon in Luxurious Green Sesame Pipian." We call our version "Fish and Peas."

Fish and Peas (serves 3-4):

1 12-ounce jar tomatillo salsa (we use Trader Joe's Salsa Verde)
1/2 c water or chicken stock
[optional] 2 Tbsp almond butter, other nut butter, or sesame tahini
1-1.2 lb salmon fillets, thawed or frozen
1 lb frozen peas, or green beans, broccoli or cauliflower florets

Pour the salsa into a medium-sized saucepan and heat it over medium heat until it's simmering. Simmer for about 15 min, or until it has thickened to the consistency of tomato paste. (You can do this up to an hour in advance.)

Add the water/stock and nut butter, if using, and bring back to a simmer. Add in the salmon and cover with the sauce (it may not totally cover the fish; that's okay). Simmer uncovered over low-medium heat for about 15 minutes, or 25-30 if previously frozen, turning the fish once or twice and stirring occasionally, until the flesh is opaque. Meanwhile, cook the peas or other vegetable.

To serve, place fish and vegetables on the plate and spoon sauce over them.

Tuesday (day 16):
Breakfast: Baked egg, sausage, and chard. Pumpkin. Black coffee.
Post-run: Seward Co-op salad bar: Chicken, olives, arichokes, marinated cucumbers, and sunflower seeds, with a little olive oil and vinegar. And a sweet potato. Black coffee. Awesome snack.
Lunch: Tuna salad with green beans and roasted yellow pepper. Salad with lettuce, 1/2 avocado, roasted yellow pepper, sprouts, olive oil, and balsamic vinegar. A few sunflower seeds.
Late afternoon: Half a sweet potato, pistachio nuts, a piece of dried pineapple.
Dinner: Roasted chicken, sweet potatoes with pan juices, broccoli. Should have gotten a picture, but the broccoli came out after everything else, and by then it was too late -- my plate looked like it had been attacked. (Which it had.)

Wednesday (day 17):
Breakfast: Baked egg, sausage, and chard. Pumpkin. Black coffee.

Midmorning: Apple, a few pistachios. Black coffee.

Lunch: Tuna salad with green beans and roasted yellow pepper. Salad with lettuce, 1/2 avocado, roasted yellow pepper, sprouts, roasted golden beets, olive oil, and balsamic vinegar. A few sunflower seeds.

Late afternoon: Half a sweet potato, sunflower seeds.
Dinner: Minestrone soup with a baked sweet potato.

Paleo Minestrone (serves 4):

1 lb Italian or Polish sausage
1 large onion, chopped
2-4 carrots, chopped
2 stalks of celery, chopped
3 large cloves of garlic, minced
1 28-ounce can of diced tomatoes, with juice
(optional) up to 2c chicken stock, if you have it on hand
3-6 cups of additional vegetables:
- broccoli or cauliflower florets (frozen = OK)
- green beans (frozen = OK)
- parsnip, rutabaga, golden beets, celery root
- sweet potatoes, or white potatoes if you're not doing Whole30
- winter squash or pumpkin
- zucchini or summer squash
- kale, spinach, or chard (frozen = OK)
1 tsp dried basil
2 tsp dried oregano
lots of black pepper
salt to taste

Cut up the sausage or remove the casings. In a large pot, saute the sausage over medium heat till it's in bite sized pieces and cooked all the way through. Add the onion, carrots, and celery and continue cooking till the onion is translucent, about 10 min. Add the garlic and cook another minute.

Add the tomatoes, chicken stock if you're using it, the additional vegetables EXCEPT for greens like kale/chard/spinach, and then enough water to just cover everything. Add the seasonings. Bring to a boil, then simmer for at least 30 min and up to 90 minutes. Taste and adjust the seasonings. Add more water if it's looking too thick.

10 min before serving, add the greens, if you're using them.

Thursday (day 18):
Breakfast: Baked egg, sausage, and chard. Pumpkin. Black coffee.

Post-run: Seward Cafe! 2 egg omelet with kalamata olives, mushrooms, and broccoli, with tahini and jalapeno salsa. Grilled carrots. Sprouts. Black coffee.

Lunch: Tuna salad with green beans and roasted yellow pepper. Salad with spinach, 1/2 avocado, roasted yellow pepper, radish sprouts, olive oil, and balsamic vinegar.
Dinner: Leftover minestrone with a fried egg and 1/2 a sweet potato. A few dried apricots. A bite of coconut butter I made while cleaning up the kitchen.

There's soup under there. Really.

Friday (day 19):
Breakfast: Back to the usual! 3 egg omelet with kale and jalapenos, cooked in ghee. The last of the pumpkin. Black coffee.
Post-workout: 1/2 a sweet potato, a little roasted chicken, 2 big olives, sprouts with a little olive oil and vinegar. Black coffee.
Lunch: Tuna salad with green beans and roasted yellow pepper. Salad with spinach, 1/2 avocado, roasted yellow pepper, roasted golden beets, radish sprouts, olive oil, and balsamic vinegar.

Whole30: Days 12-15. Halfway there, with 4 recipes!

It's Whole30 day 15 -- half way through! Whole30 is continuing to work well for me. I have good energy while running and lifting, no GI problems while running, and the urge for between-meal snacks is dwindling as I figure out how much to eat at meals (pro tip: you can put olive oil on top of almost anything!).

I have had some acne around the edges of my jaw/neck for the last 6 months (since the last Whole30, in fact), and am now wondering whether it could be related to my increased almond consumption. Reading the Whole30 boards, most people's skin conditions improve on the diet, but for those who develop problems, almonds seem to be a common offender. I'm going to try cutting way back on them to see if that makes a differences. The other possibility is eggs. But honestly, I'd rather have a little acne than figure out how to give up eating eggs!

One visible benefit of Whole30: I'm looking different after two weeks of it. I noticed in the gym the other day that between regular core workouts and this, I now have abs! I think for the first time ever. It's pretty cool.

Pretty sure I once swore never to take a gym selfie. Oh well.

Whole30 food log, continued:

Thursday (day 11) continued:
Dinner: Polish sausage, peppers and onions sauteed in lard, oven-roasted cumin carrots and parsnips (recipe adapted from Well Fed -- this was way good and I will try again with other root veggies like golden beets).

I ate everything else before I could photograph it, but a few carrots and parsnips survived long enough for a picture.

I was still hungry after this, so after putting kids to bed I made a sort of random but delicious fried eggplant-and-egg creation.

The eggplant got very silky and creamy after some cooking.  Weird but pretty good.

Friday (day 12):
Breakfast: Omelet with 3 eggs, kale, and jalapeno peppers, cooked in ghee. Leftover carrots and parsnips. Black coffee.
Post-workout: Seward Coop salad bar raid! A little bowl with cooked chicken, sunflower seeds, two kinds of olives, marinated cucumber, artichoke heart, and shredded beets, with a little olive oil and vinegar. Delicious! Then black coffee and a small sweet potato.
Lunch: Tuna salad with green beans and roasted yellow pepper. Salad with lettuce, roasted red pepper, 1/2 avocado, a blood orange, olive oil, balsamic vinegar. (No almonds!)
Afternoon snack: A few pieces of dried pineapple.
Dinner: Braised pork shanks with tomato and olives, over a sweet potato and broccoli. Oh MY was this good. 1/3 c frozen blueberries with coconut milk.

Originally cooked 4 shanks, but, well, HUNGRY.

Recipe is adapted from Mark Bittman's How To Cook Everything.

Braised pork shanks with tomatoes and olives (serves 4 hungry people):

4 pork shanks (beef, veal or lamb would also work), about 2-3 lb total
1 Tbsp coconut oil
salt and pepper
2 c sliced onion (about 2 medium onions)
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1 14-oz can diced tomatoes (or 1 c diced tomato)
1 1/2 c good olives (we used Kalamata)

Preheat the oven to 350F (if oven braising -- you can also do it on the stovetop). In a large heavy ovenproof pan or Dutch oven, heat the coconut oil over medium high heat. Add the shanks and brown on all sides, seasoning with salt and pepper.

Remove the shanks and saute the onion till soft and golden, about 10 minutes. Add the garlic and thyme and stir for a minute, then add the shanks and tomatoes. Bring to a boil then either cover and put it in the oven, or cover and simmer on low heat for 30 min.

Remove the lid, turn the shanks over, and add the olives. Add 1/2 c water or stock if it looks dry. Cover it again and cook at least 1 more hour, until the meat is very tender and falling off the bone.

Serve with a starchy and/or green vegetable. SO GOOD.

Saturday (day 13):
Breakfast: Omelet with 3 eggs, kale, and jalapeno peppers, cooked in ghee. Pumpkin (a friend had roasted, pureed, and frozen it and gave it to me. Thanks! It was delicious). Black coffee.
During the 2.5 hour run: About 8 dates.
Post-run: Seward Cafe! 3 egg omelet with kale, tomato, and mushroon, with tahini and jalapeno salsa on top. Side of grilled carrots. Black coffee.
Lunch: Leftover pork shanks, on a sweet potato. Yum.
Dinner: Farmer's sausage with purple cabbage. Also from Bittman's How To Cook Everything. This was tender and rich and delicious. The two of us ate it ALL. Also, a banana and a few pistachio nuts.

It did kind of turn the sausage purple, but what the heck.

Braised cabbage with sausage (serves 2-3 hungry people):

0.75-1 lb sausage, cut into bite sized pieces (he calls for kielbasa, we used farmer's sausage... pork, salt, pepper)
1 medium-sized head of cabbage, cut into thin slices (we used purple)
3/4 c chicken stock (he calls for a bottle of beer, which woudl also be good).

In a large heavy pan or Dutch oven, brown the sausage, then add cabbage and chicken broth and stir. Cover and simmer over low heat for 30 min. Season with salt and pepper.

Sunday (day 14):
Breakfast: Omelet with 3 eggs, kale, and jalapeno peppers, cooked in ghee. Pumpkin. Black coffee.

Post-run: Sweet potato hash (one baked sweet potato, 1/2 an onion, sauteed in coconut oil) with one fried egg on top. Coffee with 1/2 c coconut milk and a Tbsp of cocoa.

Lunch: 2 carrots, dipped in homemade mayo, and this:

Chicken curry in a hurry (serves 2 hungry people): 

1/2-3/4 lb boneless chicken, cut into bite sized pieces (we used Trader Joe's frozen chicken breast tenders, but thighs would be even better)
2 Tbsp coconut oil
1/2 a large head of cauliflower, cut into florets (or 1 lb frozen cauliflower would work)
1/2 a large onion, sliced
1 Tbsp Thai green curry paste (we used Thai Kitchen)
1/2-3/4 c coconut milk

In a large heavy skillet, heat coconut oil over medium high heat and sautee chicken till it's beginning to brown. Add the cauliflower and onion and cook, stirring, over medium heat till cauliflower is browned and tender. Stir in the Thai green curry paste, then add enough coconut milk to make it a little saucy.

Dinner: Taco salad! This was pretty amazing (but I failed to get a picture before we devoured it). A variation of it is one of our quick go-to meals.

Paleo taco salad (serves 2 hungry people):

2 large bowls full of salad greens
Optional: Other fresh vegetables (I added bean sprouts to mine, since I had some on hand)

Taco meat:
1/2-3/4 lb ground meat (we've used ground beef and ground pork with good results)
1/2 large onion, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped (green is good too)
1 small can fire-roasted New Mexico chili peppers (optional)
salt and generous amounts of black pepper
1 tsp ground chipotle powder
1 tsp ground cumin
a few shakes of crushed red pepper flakes
a pinch of cinnamon

Optional: Whole30-friendly salad dressing, or olive oil + balsamic vinegar

Guacamole:
2 small or 1-1.5 large ripe avocados
juice of 1 lime
1/2-1 jalapeno pepper, minced

Cook the taco meat: Saute the meat with onion and bell pepper till the moisture is mostly cooked off and the meat starts to brown. Add the canned chilis and the spices, stir, and taste to adjust the seasoning.

Make the guacamole: Combine the ingredients in a bowl and mash and mix vigorously with a fork.

Assemble the salads: Place greens and other veggies, if using, in salad bowls (we use mixing bowls). Put meat on top, then dressing if desired, then guac. Enjoy!

Variation: You could do this as lettuce wraps instead of a salad. Just serve the extra veggies, meat, and guac separately alongside big lettuce leaves for wrapping.

Monday (day 15):
Breakfast: Egg and sausage breakfast bites with chard (from . Pumpkin. Black coffee.
Post-workout: Seward Cafe! 2 egg omelet with kale, carrot, and mushroon, with tahini and jalapeno salsa on top. Black coffee.
Lunch: Lunch: Tuna salad with green beans and roasted yellow pepper. Salad with lettuce, roasted yellow pepper, 1/2 avocado, bean sprouts, olive oil, balsamic vinegar. 1/2 a baked sweet potato.

Whole30: My morning drill

On day 3 of Whole30, all is going well. Monday was a reminder to always make about 50% more food than you think you'll need -- I was starving when I got home, and we ran out of sweet potatoes at dinner. Cardinal sin! Despite the -15 degree temperatures, I made an emergency grocery store run for more of, well, everything.

Now we're stocked, and all is well for a few days. I'm eating well, feeling good, and having fun. Here's the recap so far:

Monday:
Breakfast: Omelet with 3 eggs, kale, and pickled jalapenos, cooked in ghee. Roasted pumpkin. Black coffee.
Post-workout: Half a large baked sweet potato, roasted almonds, black coffee.
Lunch: Big salad (spinach, 1/2 roasted yellow pepper, roasted eggplant, clover sprouts, olive oil and balsamic vinegar), tuna salad (tuna in olive oil, celery, apple, sliced almonds, paleo mayo)
Snack: Almonds, rest of the sweet potato. Later, dried fruit and a few pistachio nuts.
Dinner: Polish sausage with tomatoes and cauliflower. I was going to eat another sweet potato but my 7 year old stole it.
After dinner: Jicama slices dipped in paleo mayo. Yum.

Here's my morning breakfast-making and lunch-assembling drill:
1. Start making coffee.
2. Start assembling lunch. For the salad, I start by filling a 5.5 cup container with lettuce or spinach (this is an OXO Good Grips -- I recommend the rectangular one, but not the square one, as the lid tends to pop off).

Pardon the blurry pictures; I'm still mastering this whole food-photography thing.

My general formula for salad is greens + 2-4 other things + olive oil + balsamic vinegar. The "other things" can include roasted peppers, roasted eggplant, avocado, leftover veggies, green beans, sprouts, or almonds. Today, I did roasted peppers, eggplant, spouts, and clementines. Therefore, my next step was
3. Roast anything that needs roasting. I do this directly on the burner of my gas stove, on the lowest flame setting. It takes 5 min or so. Watch closely so you don't set things on fire.

Pepper before...

... and after.

Eggplant before...

... and after!

 4. Assemble salad.

With oranges and eggplant...

... plus sprouts and peppers. Then I pour about 2-3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil and about 1 Tbsp balsamic over it, and it's ready to go!

 5. Meanwhile, microwave a couple of sweet potatoes.

The top one is a white sweet potato. Firmer texture (almost a little crumbly), and not quite as sweet. Both are good.

6. Pack tuna salad. I make a batch that lasts 3 days, using the following recipe:

Tuna salad (3 meals' worth)

Mix in a bowl:
2 cans tuna packed in olive oil, lightly drained
3-4 Tbsp paleo mayonnaise
2 stalks celery, chopped
Optional items (add one or many):
1/2 apple, diced
2 Tbsp sliced almonds or other nuts
1 green onion, sliced
1 tsp curry powder
1/2 jalapeno pepper, minced
1 Tbsp capers
8 kalamata olives, halved
Anything else that looks good

I often fill the rest of the 2.5 cup container with other veggies. Today, I tried frozen green beans (haricots verts from Trader Joe's) and some extra roasted pepper. It was pretty awesome!

Blurry but delicious

7. Coffee's done. Start breakfast! Melt ghee in the pan, and add a bunch of kale.

 Crack the eggs in...

 ... and break the yolks up with a spatula.

Add jalapenos. Cook till the edges are set and the greens are browning, then flip and cook a couple more minutes.

 8. Warm up some previously roasted pumpkin. I dusted it with smoked paprika and salt this morning, which was nice.
9. Breakfast!

Love it!

Tuesday:
Breakfast: Omelet with 3 eggs, kale, and pickled jalapenos, cooked in ghee. Roasted pumpkin. Black coffee.
Post-workout: Baked sweet potato, almonds, black coffee.
Lunch: Big salad (lettuce, a clementine orange, 1/2 roasted yellow pepper, roasted eggplant, clover sprouts, olive oil and balsamic vinegar), tuna salad (tuna in olive oil, celery, apple, sliced almonds, paleo mayo) with green beans and some roasted peppers on top. Almonds.
Snack: Dried fruit, almonds.
Dinner: Taco salad: Big bowl of lettuce and spinach topped with 1/2 avocado and about 1/4 lb ground beef cooked with onion, green pepper, cumin, and chili powder. Olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

Taco meat!

Salad!

Wednesday:
Breakfast: Omelet with 3 eggs, kale, and pickled jalapenos, cooked in ghee. Roasted pumpkin. Black coffee.
Post-workout: Baked sweet potato, almonds, black coffee.
Lunch (planned): Big salad (lettuce, a clementine orange, 1/2 roasted yellow pepper, roasted eggplant, clover sprouts, olive oil and balsamic vinegar), tuna salad (tuna in olive oil, celery, apple, sliced almonds, paleo mayo) with green beans and some roasted peppers on top. Almonds.
Dinner: We're eating out! Probably at Brasa (aka paleo comfort food heaven).

Whole30, the January edition!

We're jumping onto the January Whole 30 bandwagon today, about six days late. (Holiday travel and family visits didn't seem like a good way to start out). When we did our first Whole 30 in June, I felt pretty awesome a couple weeks in: strong, and lean, and snacking less, and eating piles of vegetables. It was a great kick-start to changing my diet.

A lot of the benefits have persisted: I changed my standard breakfast from oatmeal with dried fruit to a three-egg omelet with vegetables... and now I'm not starving at 9:30 am (except during peak training weeks). Eliminating dairy products and late night popcorn has taken care of most of my (infrequent) GI problems during long runs. I've cracked the lunch code: a big salad and tuna in olive oil carries me through the afternoon. And we're still eating boatloads of vegetables.

This morning's breakfast! 3 egg omelet with kale and pickled jalapenos (cooked in ghee), roasted pumpkin, black coffee.

Since June, I've added back in rice (a little in my omelet and some with my lunch tuna) and occasional white potatoes, which I am okay with, though I'll cut them back out for Whole 30. Occasional black beans, corn tortillas and a beer every once in a while I can live without for a month. My big goal this time, though, is cutting back on the sugar that's crept back into my diet, mainly in the form of dark chocolate and my Sunday post-run fancy coffee drink. I've never had much of a sweet tooth, but it'll be nice to re-set my palate and my eating habits.

Oh, and finally, we got two great paleo cookbooks for Christmas: Melissa Joulwan's Well Fed and Michelle Tam and Henry Fong's Nom Nom Paleo. A great excuse to try out some new recipes!

So, last night I did a bunch of prep:

• I made paleo mayonnaise with my immersion blender (wow! this was stupid easy! you should try it)
• Made a batch of ghee starting with a pound of local grassfed butter
• Chopped a couple onions
• Washed and tore up a head of lettuce for salad
• Roasted a pumpkin
• Dismembered and partially cooked a head of cauliflower (wow, that makes me sounds like a serial killer or something). 

The fridge is full of veggies, five dozen eggs, Whole 30-friendly sausage, and a couple of meals' worth of Whole 30-friendly leftovers from the weekend (chicken soup and braised oxtails, yum).

Aaaaand, this morning, we're off! Breakfast is a 3-egg omelet with kale and pickled jalapenos, cooked in ghee, and roasted pumpkin. And black coffee.

What's that? Want a recipe? Okay, here goes:

Quick Veggie-ful Omelet (serves 1-2)

1 Tbsp ghee, coconut oil, or lard
1-2 cups thin-sliced vegetables (I usually use sturdy greens of some sort -- kale is good, as are beet and turnip greens, chard, peppers, onions, summer squash)
2-4 eggs
Optional: Something salty or spicy like pickled jalapeno slices, olives, or capers

Melt cooking fat in a heavy skillet (I use cast iron) over medium heat. Add vegetables. If there's peppers or squash, let them cook a couple minutes. Greens don't need this. Crack eggs directly on top of veggies and break the yolks up with a spatula. Add optional salty/spicy goodies. DO NOT STIR. (The veggies are browning and stirring will make things stick). Cook over medium heat till it's set around the edges (5 min or so), then flip it over, hopefully in one piece. Cook a couple more minutes. Eat!

Okay, off to the gym -- with a windchill of -45F (seriously!), it's not an outside running kind of day :-)