Whole 30 - Day 29

Breakfast - Vegetable omelette

This one had onion, mushrooms and courgettes, a great way of using up the odd bits left in the fridge.

Lunch - Smoked salmon salad, 2 clementines

Look very carefully to check the ingredients as many brands include sugar - the smaller size of this from Aldi does now contain sugar, but this size doesn't (they only seem to sell this size at Christmas)

Dinner - Chicken stir fry with rice

Microwave rice is quick with stir fry and ideal now there is only two of us.

Menu planning 30 January - 5 February

Monday - Chicken stir fry

Tuesday - Nacho pot pies from Beauty and the Foodie

A new recipe to try - it had to be using what is in the house as I hadn't planned before the Tesco delivery!

Wednesday - Pork chops

Thursday - Slow cooked roast chicken

Friday - a Toby Carvery or Hungry Horse mixed grill on the way to Sheffield

Saturday - Pineapple chili from Civilised Caveman

Sunday - ? not sure if we will eat on the way back from Sheffield

Sharing this menu plan with the linky on Hijacked by Twins

Spicy Pineapple Chili 

Whole 30 - Day 28

Breakfast - Bacon, poached egg and mushrooms

Lunch - Chicken salad, 2 clementines

Snack - raw blackcurrant bar

Aldi sell a variety of flavours either individually or in a box of 5

Dinner - Spiced kheema from Nom Nom Paleo

This has the advantage that you can add extra vegetables in the mixture - I used up some cabbage and courgette

Spiced kheema

Whole 30 - Day 27

Breakfast - Bacon, poached egg and mushrooms

Lunch - Tomato soup with mini meatballs, Nakd gingerbread bar

A packed lunch while out and about - tomato soup stains the flask!

Dinner - Gammon steak topped with pineapple, carrots and broccoli

Supper - Blueberries

flask of tomato soup

Whole 30 - Day 26

Breakfast - Breakfast meatloaf, poached egg and mushrooms

Lunch - Pulled pork salad, 2 clementines, 3 dates

Dinner - Fish pie with carrots and Brussels sprouts

Supper - blueberries & 6 almonds

Fish pie

Whole 30 - Day 25

Breakfast - Breakfast sausage, poached egg and mushrooms

Lunch - Pulled pork salad, 2 clementines

Dinner - Beef & prune bake (without the cheese topping), carrots and cauliflower

Breakfast sausage, poached egg & mushrooms

Whole 30 - Day 24

Breakfast - Breakfast sausage, poached egg and mushrooms

I make the sausage in a tray with 500g turkey mince and half of a shredded butternut squash

Lunch - Butternut squash soup with a little chopped chicken, 2 clementines

I freeze individual portions of soup ready for when it's needed

Snack - raw blackcurrant bar

Dinner - Coconut curried pork (left from Sunday) boiled potatoes, carrots and broccoli

Supper - Stewed plums

Whole 30 - Day 23

Breakfast - Blueberry omelette based on a recipe from Stupid Easy Paleo

I halved the quantities, so only 2 eggs

Pre-swim snack - Chopped apple with almond butter

Lunch - Pulled pork salad, 2 clementines

Dinner - Coconut chicken curry, microwave rice, carrots and broccoli; roasted butternut seeds

Supper - Blueberries with a little coconut milk

Blueberry omelette

Whole 30 - Day 22

Breakfast - Omelette with vegetables - courgette, red pepper, onion, mushrooms

A great way of using up bits of veggies; I allow 150-180g of chopped veg to 2 eggs

Lunch - Pulled pork salad, 2 clementines

Dinner - Baked tuna, carrots and cauliflower.

Asda sell bags of tuna fillets, but a bag of 360g of fillets is not going to fed 4 people!

Supper - Blueberries

Vegetable omelette

Menu planning 23 - 29 January

Monday - Baked tuna

Tuesday - Coconut chicken curry

Wednesday - Coconut curried pork part 2

Thursday - Beef & prune bake

Friday - Fish pie

Saturday - Gammon steaks

Sunday - ??

Coconut curried pork

Whole 30 - Day 21

Breakfast - Bacon, poached egg and mushrooms

Lunch - Salmon salad, 2 clementines

Dinner - Slow cooked Coconut curried pork, carrots and cauliflower

The piece of pork was big enough to do 4 dinner portions with the curry sauce, and 4 lunch portions without sauce that will go with salad

Supper - stewed plums

Bacon, poached egg & mushrooms

Whole 30 - Day 20

Breakfast - bacon, poached egg and mushrooms

Lunch - Chicken salad, 2 clementines

Dinner - Turkey drumstick reheated in chicken stock, potatoes, carrots and Brussel sprouts

I got a turkey drumstick from the discount shelf and roasted it earlier in the week, it probably would have been better to eat it straight away instead of reheating it, but it was alright.

Supper - stewed plums

Whole 30 - Day 19

Breakfast - bacon, poached egg and mushrooms

Lunch - Chicken salad, 2 clementines

Dinner - Toby carvery as a belated birthday dinner - Pork and turkey, carrots, red cabbage, green beans, cauliflower and mashed swede (no gravy or sauces)

Supper- stewed plums

Whole 30 - Day 18

Breakfast - Breakfast sausage, poached egg and mushrooms

Lunch - Salmon salad, 2 clementines

Dinner - Pineapple chilli, followed by a sliced nakd bar

Supper - sliced apple

Whole 30 - Day 17

Breakfast - Breakfast sausage, poached egg and mushrooms

Lunch - Courgette soup with added chicken, 2 clementines

I have an exercise class straight after lunch, so soup is quick. I tend to chop a little meat into it, for added protein.

Dinner - Pork burgers topped with mushrooms, carrots and broccoli

Supper - 1 chopped apple

Whole 30 - Day 16

Breakfast - Breakfast sausage, poached egg and mushroom

Lunch - Salmon salad, 2 clementines

Dinner - Chicken with mushroom sauce, carrots and broccoli

This has the advantage in that you cook the chicken without the sauce, so I could cook a whole packet, so there is some left for lunches

Supper - 1 apple

Whole 30 - Day 15

Breakfast - Breakfast sausage, poached egg and mushrooms

Pre-swim snack - blackcurrant fruit bar and a few nuts

Lunch - Chicken salad, 2 clementines

Dinner - Spicy salmon on zoodles (spiralised courgettes) with carrots and broccoli

Supper - Cup of butternut soup

Butternut squash soup is good for the family, as it is quite sweet and good to freeze into individual portions

Menu planning 16 - 22 January

A quieter week this time, unless a disaster happens!

Monday - Spicy salmon

Tuesday - Chicken with mushroom sauce from Paleo Leap

Wednesday - Pork burgers

Thursday - Pineapple Chili from Civilized Caveman

Friday - Fish stew

Saturday - Pulled pork (probably with a curried coconut sauce)

Sunday - Spiced kheema from Nom Nom Paleo

Pork burgers topped with mushrooms

Sharing on the blog hop hosted by Hijacked by Twins

Whole 30 - Day 14

Breakfast - bacon, poached egg and mushrooms

We tend to cook a tray of bacon in the oven in advance, which speeds up the morning

Lunch - a challenging day as we were at a 'bring and share' lunch, so I had prepared back up food - a box of salad and a bottle of salad dressing. But I had the soup and meatballs we had taken, with a salad and half a jacket potato, followed by a satsuma and a few grapes.

Afternoon tea - (everyone else had cake) Grapes and a few nuts

Dinner - Shredded chicken on butternut squash noodles with a side salad

Supper - cup of butternut soup

Whole 30 - Day 13

Breakfast - breakfast sausage, poached egg and mushrooms

Lunch - Salad topped with diced pork loin chop left from Wednesday, 2 clementines

Dinner - Chicken stir fry with butternut spaghetti

Another blogger had suggested the butternut spaghetti from Aldi, the only issue I have with it, is it has very long strings, but they do seem to break up when stir fried.

Supper - cup of butternut squash

Whole 30 - Day 12

Breakfast - breakfast sausage, poached egg and mushrooms

Lunch - chicken salad, 2 clementines

Dinner - Curried fish chowder with croutains (plantain croutons)

There are not a lot of vegetables in the original recipe, so we add about half of a shredded cabbage, which makes it a filling meal.

Supper - 1 apple

Someone asked what I am drinking during the programme - mainly tea! We normally make Darjeeling tea in a teapot, so that carries on. I tend to carry fruit tea bags when I go out, as it's hard to get tea weak enough how we like it. Bottled water is useful when going out.
The main challenge of dairy-free is not having coffee, which is the easy option when out and about.

Whole 30 - Day 11

Breakfast - Breakfast sausage, poached egg and mushrooms

We cook the sausage like a meatloaf in a square tin and cut it into 12 pieces.

Lunch - Chicken salad, 2 clementines

After we had eaten our slow cooked chicken on Tuesday, I stripped all the meat from the carcass, and then put the carcass back into the slow cooker with 2 litres of water to make stock. The cold meat is great for salads.

Dinner - Asian meatballs, carrots and broccoli

The rest of the tray of meatballs will be going to the bring and share lunch on Sunday

Supper - bowl of mixed berries

Whole 30 - Day 10

Breakfast - bacon, poached egg and mushrooms

I'm not sure we've quite got the timing right to get the egg and the bacon on the plate at the same time!

Lunch - courgette soup, sliced apple with almond butter, 3 dates

Quick lunch needed before my exercise class

Dinner - Grilled pork chops topped with apple sauce, carrots, broccoli and Brussel sprouts

Supper - Stewed plums topped with flaked almonds

Whole 30 - Day 9

Breakfast - bacon, poached egg and mushroom

The ultimate skill of getting the timing right so they all finish at the same time - failed!

I started back at swimming today, possibly for the first time in 5 years. Having lined up a swim buddy, I was commited to go - and did 32 lengths which is 800 metres.

Lunch - salmon salad, 2 clementines, 3 dates

Dinner - slow roasted chicken, carrots and broccoli followed by a raw fruit bar (blackcurrent)

Supper - stewed plums

Whole 30 - Day 8

Breakfast - Omelette with onions, courgettes , mushrooms and red pepper

We tend to have omelettes as part of our 'getting back to work' on Mondays, and they are a good way of using up bits of vegetables.

Lunch - Salmon salad, half a mango, 3 dates.

I bought a mango in Aldi as they were part of the Super 6, and it was getting soft.

Dinner - Poached salmon, boiled potatoes, caarrots and cauliflower

The potatoes were the last from the bag we bought for Christmas, just enough a couple each

Supper - half a mango

Menu planning 9 - 15 January

A catching up week to get back in the routine of work, admin and other activities

Monday - Poached salmon

Tuesday - slow cooked chicken - trying out the slow cooker to see if it really works!

Wednesday - Grilled pork chops topped with apple sauce

Thursday - Asian meatballs from Nom Nom Paleo

Friday - Curried fish chowder

Saturday - Slow cooked pulled pork, probably in a coconut curry sauce

Sunday - a bring and share lunch where we will be taking soup and the rest of the meatballs from Thursday!

Sharing on the Linky hosted by Hijacked By Twins

Whole 30 - Day 7

A slightly challenging day, we had to go and visit my father who had been rushed into hospital.

Breakfast - breakfast sausage, poached egg and mushrooms

Dinner - Sunday roast at the Hungry Horse - chicken, 1 roast potato, carrots, cauliflower and green beans. We tend to do a bit of 'vegetable swapping' so that different people get the vegetables they will eat!

a cup of black tea on the way home at 7pm

Tea (about 8.30pm) - salmon salad

Supper - cup of courgette soup

Whole 30 - Day 6

Breakfast - Breakfast sausage, poached egg and mushrooms

We would normally have bacon for breakfast on a weekend, but those student children have eaten it all!

Lunch - smoked salmon salad, 2 clementines

Dinner - chicken curry, zoodles (spiralised courgette), carrots and cauliflower

I freeze extra portions of dinner, so I can pull out a quick dinner if necessary

Supper - stewed plums with flaked almonds

Whole 30 - Day 5

Breakfast - breakfast sauage, poached egg and mushrooms

Lunch - pulled pork salad, 2 clementines, 3  dates

Dinner - almond crusted fish with boiled potatoes, carrots and cauliflower

Kids went back to uni today, so back to just cooking for two!

Supper - cup of courgette soup

Whole 30 - Day 4

Breakfast - breakfast sausage, poached egg and mushrooms

We fry our mushrooms in ghee which is made of clarified butter

Lunch - pulled pork salad, 2 clementines, 3 dates

Dinner - Citrus pork chops, courgettes and cauliflower

I made the marinade up without the honey to make it Whole 30 compliant

Supper - 1 persimmon

Whole 30 - Day 3

Breakfast - Breakfast sausage, poached eggs and mushrooms

We make the breakfast sausage like a meatloaf and cut it into 12 pieces, so it does us for 6 days

Lunch - Courgette soup with a little pulled pork, 2 clementines

I have a fitness class straight after lunch on Wednesday, so this is a quick meal

Snack - apple with almond butter

Dinner - 'Pasta sauce' made with  minced beef, mushrooms, red pepper, onion, tomatoes, courgettes; the family had pasta and I had zoodles (spiralized courgette)

A simple spiralizer means you can add extra vegetables really easily

Supper - 1 persimmon

Whole 30 - Day 2

Breakfast - Butternut squash breakfast sausage with poached eggs and mushrooms fried in ghee

Amazingly we did remember how to cook the eggs so they came out just right!

Lunch - Pulled pork salad using some of the meat left from Monday, 2 clementines

We always try and buy a big enough piece to have a few lunches as well as a main meal

Dinner - Chicken in white sauce with carrots and broccoli, 1 persimmon

Supper - cup of courgette soup

Whole 30 - Day 1

The first day, always challenging when there are still a selection of goodies in the house!

Breakfast - onion and mushroom omelette

Normally I would add a pepper, or maybe a bit of chicken, but there wasn't any in the fridge!

Lunch - smoked salmon salad with white wine vinaigrette  (bistro salad, grated carrot, spring onion, radish, cucumber, sultanas, pumpkin & sunflower seeds) 1 clementine

I have found that it is quite hard to find smoked salmon that doesn't have sugar in it - I'd been buying it from Aldi for a couple of years, and recently that have changed their recipe so it now has added sugar. However for Christmas, they had big packets of smoked salmon - that didn't have sugar! so I've bought several that have been frozen to be brought out once a week and cut into 4 portions

Dinner - Slow cooked pork shoulder with apples, with carrots, broccoli and Brussell sprouts

We have recently replaced our slow cooker, and this one is definitely cooler, so the joint took longer to cook, however it will provide a few days worth of cold meat for salad

Supper - a cup of Spicy Courgette soup from Mel Joulwan

Easy to make a pot full of soup each week, and then freeze into individual portions

Menu Planning 2 - 8 January

An interesting week, as we start the week with both the children home from uni, but finish the week without them - slightly challenging finding things that they are happy to eat that are acceptable for me.

Monday - Slow cooked pork with apples from Pip and Ebby

Tuesday - Chicken not pie (chicken in white sauce) from Mrs Paleo

Wednesday - Pasta sauce (I'll have zoodles instead)

Thursday - Citrus pork chops made without honey to keep them acceptable

Friday - Almond crusted fish from A Blossoming Life

Saturday - Freezer diving, as the children will be back at uni, and my husband's out for dinner

Sunday - Spiced kheema from Nom Nom Paleo

Whole 30 - year 3

I have decided again to start the year on a Whole 30 programme.
In 2016, I did this in full, and then as Easter was early I continued without sugar throughout Lent, so about three months. I know that sugar is my biggest problem, although I also know that although I am not allergic to grains, my body is not particularly happy with them.

The main purpose of the Whole 30 programme is to reset your body, particularly if you have food related allergies.

The plan is that you eat real food - meat, fish, vegetables and fruit, natural fats, nuts and seeds - basically food with few ingredients. You avoid sugar, alcohol, grains, legumes and dairy as well as MSG and sulfites. As well as this you don't have any baked goods, as these are often the items that have caused the problems.

The main plan is to focus on making good food choices. You need 30 days to create the healing cycle from inflammatory foods.

I intend to use this blog to record how the month goes (and get back into regular menu planning), probably not with photos, but as a diary of meals.