Whole30 Eats, Week 2

New look, y'all. I'm diggin' it so far. 

It's crazy how getting out of your routine for just a little bit can totally throw off your perception of time. For example, Husband and I spent all day Friday and Saturday taking care of our niece and nephew so their parents could attend the Empowered to Connect conference. I love those kids like they're my own, but I tell you what...those two days felt like 2 weeks. All that to say, I'm glad I was keeping notes on what I ate during the early part of last week, otherwise there's no way I'd be able to remember it now. 

Week 2:

Taco salad w/spinach, tomatoes, lettuce, ground beef, and homemade taco seasoning. I'm pretty sure I'm never going to buy taco seasoning from the store again- if I can make my own this easily, without all the extra junk, and have it come out to be just as tasty, why wouldn't I?

Slow cooker mango coconut chipotle chicken w/cauliflower curry rice. Pretty tasty, but next time I'm going to cook it on low instead of high. Everything was just a wee (maybe not so wee) bit overdone.

Brisket w/mashed sweet potatoes, asparagus, Brussels sprouts. This was a FEAST made by the husbands of the house, and it. Was. Delicious.

Salmon with asparagus and Brussels sprouts. Made by the female Housemate, and also delicious.

Spinach salad w/mushrooms, tomatoes, and carrots. I'm toeing the line with mushrooms lately. Never really liked them up to this point. 

Followed this procedure to cook two whole chickens (used two separate crock pots) for use in different applications throughout the week. Which led to the two following delicious meals: 

Stuffed Avocados- SO DELICIOUS. I don't recommend eating the cream sauce on it's own, but the flavor with the rest of the meal is ridiculous. I mean, c'mon, look at it: 

(Image from Fed and Fit's website.)

Stuffed Zucchini (minus the bacon because it has been impossible for me to find approved bacon. Anywhere.) I smothered these in the cilantro cream sauce as well, and it was a delicious way to eat a whole zucchini. 

Made some of these for grab and go meals- the sausage recipe is great and they were pretty tasty, but I think next time I'd either steam the broccoli a bit beforehand or use another vegetable like spinach instead. Obviously, I omitted the cheese, but I also didn't have any sun-dried tomatoes on hand (unfortunately). Also, I'm not sure why the recipe tells you to form patties out of the sausage just to break it apart after it's cooked. I just put it straight in the pan after I cooked it to make crumbles without taking that extra step. 

I had high hopes for this traditional butternut squash soup recipe- it looks so smooth and delicious in the pictures! Sadly, my version was lumpy and definitely...a color. Not really even sure what to call it, but it wasn't appetizing. The flavor's not too bad, just a bit bland (which I'm guessing is why all the other variations are there), but the presentation makes it a little hard for me to really want to eat it. What can I say, I'm picky like that. I'd try it again in some of the other variations, but probably not the same way again.

And again, a plethora of eggs cooked in various forms, as well as a variety of green salads with some type of meat (skirt steak, ground beef, etc...). 

Looking forward to trying some new recipes this week!