Whole30, day 17 (w/a couple recipe links) in Whole 30/post w30 eating

I decided against making the egg muffins. I don’t really have a good reason other than feeling cheap in the grocery store (why are bell peppers so freaking expensive here?! When I can even find them....they were cheaper in Fairbanks which is saying something. Anyway…). I have been looking for little ways to not get tired of eggs, though. Although, to be honest, usually just switching it up between scrambled and dippy does it for me. (I can never remember what the real world calls dippy eggs, though at least I DO finally remember that “dippy” is an extreme regionalism. Over easy, maybe?) This morning I breathed some life back into my scrambled, though, with one simple addition:

The eggs are sitting on top of a bunch of sauteed bell pepper with a side of guac and topped with blueberries (hint: the blueberries are the addition). I was looking through the fridge trying to decide what fruit I wanted to have, and I noticed the leftover blueberries from yesterday’s turkey recipe and though it would be a tasty addition. It was, though in hindsight I wish I would’ve given them a quick saute.

I think being on this program might be giving me more of an appreciation of the way foods taste together because I even liked the guac with the blueberries (although maybe that isn’t too much of a revelation? I do like avocado and strawberries together.) They also toned down the peppers a bit. It was a good breakfast. I’m finding that not too much planning for breakfast is working for me as long as I have eggs and some sort of veggie that’s a quick cook. Pre-chopped fresh zucchini and frozen veggies have been working really well for me in that regard.

I was shoveling food in my mouth before I thought to take a picture of lunch. Oops. I had a leftover turkey/blueberry burger topped with guac and a cup of this week’s soup: Silky Gingered Zucchini Soup. It’s SO good. So much better than I was expecting—I think I even like it more than the sweet potato soup from week 1. Seriously.

My tweaks: I didn’t use pepper. I used veggie broth instead of chicken because it’s easier to find compliant veggie broth in my grocery store (I’m using Pacific Organics). I also added a pound of carrots (the 1lb bag of organic carrots was on sale for 1$ at my grocery store!) to the recipe to add another veggie element and not feel like I have to put another veggie on my plate when I’m eating the soup. I really like it with the carrots. I think it adds a hint of sweetness. I used about a full teaspoon of ginger and didn’t feel like it was enough; I would definitely use more next time. I’m not sure if it’s because I added the carrots.

Looking at the recipe, I’m also loving that this soup doesn’t have any coconut milk in it. I’m adjusting to cooking with it, but I’m not crazy about the added fat because I usually forget it’s there. But she’s right, this soup is silky smooth without it. I hope one of you makes this so we can love on it together. :p

MAKE THE SOUP!!!!!

Lots of pictures for dinner. I followed the basic plan of this Italian Chicken Casserole. I didn’t saute any of the veggies because I like them a little crispy. I also used Ras el Hanout instead of the Italian Seasoning because I wanted it to taste more like a curry given what the sauce is made of. For my veggies I used broccoli, bell peppers and onion. Oh, and I roasted some garlic cloves with the sweet potato instead of using minced garlic anywhere.

Before the sauce:

Ready to go in the oven:

Out of the oven and stirred:

I wish I had used a bigger sweet potato because I was missing some of that sweet potato flavor. Although I definitely had more veggies (1 onion, 4 small bell peppers, one small head broccoli) than the original recipe called for, so what I probably should’ve done was use another half a potato and a little more coconut milk. It’s pretty good....we’ll see how it reheats tomorrow.

This recipe is for an autoimmune protocol diet, so no tomato, but I’d really like to replicate this sauce with some tomatoes next time.....keep playing with the veggie content a bit to see if I can make it taste more like a restaurant cream sauce. I’d love to get close to this pesto rosa sauce our local joint makes.

Great food day, but man am I tired of cutting things up. I hate when recipes call for cubed chicken. :p And those potatoes are a bitch to cut up.