Whole 30 Eats, Week 3

This week, I felt like I kind of hit my stride and actually ate some truly delicious foods. If every week was like this week, I feel like I could eat this way all the time. 

Here was the plan: 

...and here's what actually ended up happening:

1. We did actually end up having the chicken tenders- it was basically my attempt to do something fun for the housemate, who was (prior to this month) a big fan of Tyson's frozen breaded chicken tenders. I decided to make the whole meal kind of a fun/kid theme, complete with grapes, veggie sticks w/cauliflower hummus, butternut squash fries, and an attempt at avocado fries (basically just slices of avocado in the same breading as the chicken and baked them together). It was indeed a pretty fun meal, but with the price of almond flour being as high as it is, it won't be a staple for me. 

2. The coconut chicken ended up being a HUGE win. We've been amazed at how many variations of coconut we've enjoyed this month, since a significant portion of our household don't appreciate the grainy, sugary "coconut" we've encountered in the past. But in this dish with the large, slightly toasted, unsweetened flakes that mix with the salt and pepper on the chicken...mmm mmm, good. I chopped up some mango and threw it in a spinach salad, piled the chicken on top, and that was the (oh so tasty) meal. 

3. Housemate cooked some delicious duck in the crockpot. Haven't had too much experience with duck, but it was tasty, and made a great broth, too. 

4. In an attempt to coax fall weather my direction, I made this chili. Now, I think chili might be a bit of a misnomer for this dish. While tasty, it reminded me more of something I would put on top of spaghetti (or as Housemate suggested, slices of eggplant). Nevertheless, it's a good, hearty stew-y recipe if that's your thing. Just try not to be disappointed by the lack of beans. Or pork. Or, whatever else normally makes chili awesome.

5. Stuffed sweet potatoes didn't end up happening, but what did end up happening was a repeat of this week's biggest winning recipe: Paleo Pad Thai.

Oh. My. Goodness. Yum. 

In my opinion, spaghetti squash can be a little bit disappointing...mostly if you're expecting it to behave and taste like actual spaghetti. But, in an Asian-influenced dish like this, the squash "noodles" could almost fool you as being the real deal. Only much healthier!

6.  Hatch chiles are currently kind of a big deal in these parts for some reason. Housemate threw some into a chicken-noodle-soup-minus-the-noodles and it was a perfect almost-fall dish (are we sensing a theme here?). Nice and homey. 

7. Not on this meal plan, but enjoyed this week: Lettuce leaf tacos with butternut squash, quacamole, and zucchini and squash, bunless beef burgers with zucchini fritters (family recipe), as well as the staple of eggs in various forms. 

One more week, and then it's on to the reintroduction phase! I'm guessing most of this coming week will be repeats of favorites from the previous weeks, but we'll see if I come up with anything new!

Any recommendations?