Tag: chicken

How to Do Fancy Dinners on Whole30

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Whole30 is a fantastic program. Until there is something to celebrate.

Holidays. Birthdays. Weddings. Babies. Good days.

In my world, celebrating anything is about the food. What are we going to eat?

September had three things we had to combat: Labor Day and Brad’s mom’s birthday and our anniversary.

Since Ladonna’s birthday fell during the middle of the week, I promised her a big fancy family dinner.

So I spent the week preparing the menu and getting everything together so I could make her a birthday celebration.

What was on the menu?

Herb Roasted Chicken from the Farm at Barefoot Bend

Balsamic Dijon Roasted Root Vegetables

Sautéed Zephyr Squash

Paleo Apple Crumble

It was a dinner of firsts.

First time to roast a whole chicken. First time to make a Paleo dessert that was Whole30 approved. First time to make homemade chicken stock.

But the best part was we are well. We celebrated a special lady’s birthday. We were 100 percent Whole30 compliant, even if some of the items were considered a Paleo treat (or as the Whole30 creator calls it sex with your pants on foods).

We ranted and raved about how good a truly free range farm chicken tastes. It was a delightful experience I was happy to create and center around good food.

What are your favorite ways to celebrate something when you are trying to maintain a healthy, balanced lifestyle?

Italian Sheet Pan Dinner

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Whole30 is in full swing. And we are over the halfway mark.

This sheet pan dinner is inspired by Italian flavors, and it is super easy to make.

What you need:

  • Sheer Pan lined with aluminum foil
  • 2 chicken breasts, diced
  • 7-8 small baby red potatoes, diced
  • 2 cups fresh green beans
  • Handful of cherry tomatoes
  • Salt, pepper, dried garlic and Italian seasoning, to taste
  • Drizzle of avocado oil
  • Drizzle of balsamic vinegar

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Put diced chicken into a bowl with avocado oil, salt, pepper, garlic and Italian seasoning. Let sit while you prep veggies.

Dice the potatoes, and cut the green beans into similar size pieces. Add whole cherry tomatoes. Season with salt, pepper, Italian seasoning and garlic. Drizzle with avocado oil.

Add chicken on top of veggies. Drizzle everything with balsamic vinegar.

Back for 35-40 minutes until potatoes are tender and chicken is fully cooked.

The end result will look something like this.

Very delicious.

What are your favorite sheet pan dinners?

Whole30 Eggless Breakfast Hash

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This could be my favorite breakfast creation ever. Eggs or no eggs. It’s delicious.

So much of Whole30 breakfasts are centered around eggs. And after ten days of nothing but eggs for breakfast, I just couldn’t do it. Not another egg. (I’ll go back to eggs tomorrow.)
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The beauty of this dish is the variety of veggies. It is truly a rainbow.

What you need:

  • 2 apple chicken sausages, cut into half-moons
  • 1 small yellow squash, cut into half-moons
  • 1/2 onion, diced
  • 1/2 red bell pepper, diced
  • 3 cloves of garlic, minced
  • 1 large handful of spinach
  • 1 sweet potato, mashed
  • salt, pepper and red pepper flakes, to taste

Directions:

Bake your potato the night before and put in fridge.

Heat a medium skillet with avocado oil to medium-high heat. Add in the onion, squash and bell pepper. Season with a little salt and pepper. Cook until the onions are translucent, about 5 minutes.

Add in the garlic, red pepper flakes and sausage. Stir well to combine. Make sure the mixture evenly covers the pan. Cook on medium-high heat without stirring for about 5-6 minutes. This will give your meat and veggies a nice crust on the one side. Stir in spinach until it starts to wilt. Remove from heat and set aside.

Take your sweet potato from the fridge. Remove skin. Mash with a fork, and heat in the microwave for 30 seconds. Top with breakfast hash.

Enjoy.

 

Roasted Apple Chicken Sausage and Broccoli over Cauliflower Rice

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I love a sheet pan dinner. Throwing everything on one pan and roasting it all in the oven is the ideal (lazy) way to create a delicious meal when you would rather be doing something else.

This sheet pan dinner was originally suppose to be served with a baked sweet potato. But one of my pre-baked potatoes was kind of yucky looking on the inside so I had to improvise as dinner was coming to a close. Thankfully, I had some cauliflower rice in the freezer.
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With the broccoli and apple chicken sausage ready to do, I didn’t have to wait long for the cauliflower rice to heat up in the microwave.

I seasoned the cauliflower rice with avocado oil, salt, pepper and garlic powder. The roasted broccoli and sausage was seasoned with salt, pepper, garlic powder and red pepper flakes.

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I topped my sausage and veggies with a little Cholula Hot Sauce and Primal Kitchen Ranch Dressing. Both are Whole30 approved. And I can’t live without Cholula. It’s the absolute best.

What are your go-to weeknight dinners?

Easy Summer Supper

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This supper is so easy you won’t believe it. It’s what I like to make whenever I want dinner made in a hurry. 

It takes no time to prep, and the addition of the tomatoes and cottage cheese was a lovely touch. 

Easy Summer Supper

What you need:

  • A pack of Apple Chicken Sausage 
  • One bunch of asparagus, cut into pieces
  • 3 zephyr squash, sliced in half moons 
  • A drizzle of oil
  • Fennel and Fire’s Steak Rub

Slice up all ingredients. Place it on baking sheet, and bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes. 

And that’s it. 

It really is that simple.