The Best Whole30 Recipes
remember when my husband and i challenged ourselves to the whole30 a few months back? if not, here’s my recap of all the good, bad and super weird things that i discovered over those 30 days of eating no dairy/grains/booze/sugar/gluten/legumes.
what i liked most about the whole 30, is that it forces you to come up with many new recipes because it’s very tricky to eat out at a restaurant. my husband is the one that cooks primarily in our family (but i can make a mean bowl of cereal from time to time) so this actually got me in the kitchen a bit more. i am pleased to say i only set the fire alarm off twice.
here are the best whole30 recipes (which also count as paleo) that we liked the most and still make even though i can now eat all the glorious peanut butter i want.
from left to right, top to bottom we have supremely delicious whole 30 and paleo recipes of:
sweet potato and beef skillet hash // civilized caveman cooking (omit the cheese garnish and add whatever veggies you like better)
mocha rub pot roast // stupid easy paleo (i tackled this one, a bit labor intensive for the rub but totally worth it. yes mom, i really touched the meat and it was still traumatic)
whole 30 nachos // paleo grubs (add whatever other garnish or veggies your heart desires)
pizza spaghetti pie // paleo omg (it’s not very pretty to look at but it was one of our very favorite recipes. the top gets crispy and you think it’s cheese!)
other recipes we really liked included:
taking this approved salsa from trader joe’s, spreading it on top of chicken and cooking it in the crockpot. delicious and highly recommended!
we also did a lot of chicken sausage, turkey burgers and egg dishes through the rest of the whole 30 process.
for “desserts” (usually when i was PMSing and i wanted to claw the walls because i needed chocolate so bad) we ate baked cinnamon apples and chia seed pudding! oh and larabars!
chia seed pudding is super simple. 1 cup of full fat coconut milk and add 3 tablespoons of chia seeds and refrigerate for 1-60 minutes (depending on the severity of your cravings). the chia seeds plump up and when you throw some strawberries on there, everything almost seems okay and worth it during the whole30.
there you have it! even if you aren’t eating paleo or on the whole30, those recipes above would be a great addition to mixing up what you’re eating. it’s just an added bonus that they are super healthy too!
questions:
1) have you ever done any food challenges like the whole 30 or eating paleo for a while?
2) i am my husband is always looking for new recipes so if you have a favorite, drop a link!
3) do you cook? when and from who did you learn how?
Audrey
May 20, 2015 at 8:07 am
I’m the chef in the family, but I’m not very crafty and it’s only healthy 25% of the time. It’s something I need to work on…
Those recipes sound DELICIOUS, though, so maybe I will start branching out and cooking more exotic/challenging dishes! Yum! My hubby makes a mean chilly with potatoes and no beans (’cause I don’t like them) and sugar in it. SO GOOD!
Audrey recently posted…Change of Palate
chelsea
May 21, 2015 at 8:14 am
ahhh you don’t like beans either audrey!?! wow. twinning AGAIN! i hate them. ew. it was actually a great challenge for us to find recipes that were ‘allowed’ and now we have some new delicious recipes that are super healthy!
Amanda
May 20, 2015 at 8:42 am
Mmm, that chia seed pudding looks really yummy. I made my own Larabars one time – they were misshaped but really good!
Amanda recently posted…Regional Foods: Tell Me About Your Town
chelsea
May 21, 2015 at 8:17 am
ohhh you made your own larabars once?? i will have to try that! misshaped or not…it’s the taste that counts! i was really surprised by the chia seed pudding! if you’ve never had chia seeds before (i hadn’t) they are sort of a strange consistency at first but then sort of turn into fun in your mouth. weird? maybe.
Diana
May 20, 2015 at 12:54 pm
Some of these recipes look really good even if I’m NOT doing the whole 30.
Diana recently posted…Kick Ass Shows that Pass the Bechdel Test
chelsea
May 21, 2015 at 8:18 am
they totally are! even though we aren’t on the whole30, we still fall back on these because they are so delicious AND have the added benefit of being healthy for you!
Rachel G
May 20, 2015 at 4:18 pm
The sweet potato hash sounds yummy! I would have a hard time doing no grains. Rice is the bread of life over here! i have a purple sweet potato in my fridge that I need to do something with…but it’s just so purple. Purple foods have frightened me ever since Angel bought a purple cabbage instead of a white one for our fried rice…and the fried rice turned purple.
I’ve been cooking since I was 10, mama thought it was a life skill all of her kids needed to know!
Rachel G recently posted…Jealousy? Not in My Marriage.
chelsea
May 21, 2015 at 8:20 am
yeah grains was tricky for me too and i’m sure rice is crazy abundant for you! purple foods totally freak me out too! they just seem so foreign and like they should be used to paint with instead of ingest.
glad your mama taught you how to cook, it is indeed a good skill to have (and to keep you alive) 🙂
carissajade
May 21, 2015 at 3:56 am
These all look great. I finally broke down and bought the whole 30 book this week, so I’m finally going to see what it’s all about. I don’t want to diet, but i definitely need to get into better eating habits. Thanks for these!
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chelsea
May 21, 2015 at 8:25 am
ohh i’ll be curious as to what you think of the book, carissa jade! i haven’t read the book just poured over the website. i agree, i don’t want to diet either but getting my tastebuds to appreciate whole foods and chill out on the sugar really helped!