Chicken Asparagus Almond Salad

There is a small market up the street that is the land of a farmer, so Farmer's Market?  I THINK SO!  This place has been open a few years now and today was their first day open for this season.  They will stay open until late summer and into the beautiful falls days of the orange foliage.  My children and I bought these items for less than $20 and we immediately sliced the cucumbers up and squeezed lemons for a salad dressing. 

From the above image, I have already made a My Grandmother's Greek Dressing and it was delicious!  Mine was a little tangy because I love lemon and I added in some dill weed.  This dressing should cover a salad for 4 people.

It was lunch time when I drove home from the market.  I wanted to use the lemon's for the dressing recipe (shown above) and the asparagus in a salad I saw a recipe earlier that day.  At least once a week, I cook about 10lbs of chicken breast so it's all done.  I prepare the chicken many different ways then eat it during the week whenever I am short on time, which is always.  The chicken is cooked, it is seasoned (not too much) and it is portioned for breakfast lunch or dinner.

For my Chicken Asparagus Almond Salad, I found this Whole 30 approved recipe.    

The What's:

1 bunch of trimmed and sliced asparagus
1 large chicken breast, pre-cooked, cubed
8 cherry tomatoes, halved
1 Tbsp. Silvered Almonds
Cubed cucumber, as many as you desire 

Bring a large saucepan of water to the boil over high heat. Add asparagus. Boil for 2 minutes or until just tender. Drain. Rinse under cold water. Combine asparagus, chicken, tomatoes, cucumbers and almonds in a bowl. Spoon dressing into salad mix and toss.  Serve cold.  Remove to an airtight container.

Whole 30 Program completed! (Still pushing...)

Yesterday I completed my first round of the Whole 30 Program.  This has been a great opportunity to reset what I eat within strict boundaries.  I find that I am an all or nothing girl and this program works well for me.  Before I slap you with my results, I want to share some of my tallest hurdles, how I am working through them, and how I feel after I have jumped over them and landed on both feet.  I also want to share with you something called NSV (Non-scale victories); these are victories that are complete unique to each person and there are emerge throughout the process. 


First things first: Whole 30 details can be found here.  I bought the book It starts with food and read it through.  I also joined a few Facebook support groups for first-timers which really helped when figuring what we can eat.  I weaned myself off of sugar by peeling myself off of the ceiling about two weeks before I started the program.  I knew that was going to be hard. 


Hurdles: The two largest hurdles for me were not drinking alcohol and not having sugar, in that order!   Not drinking wasn't difficult at first.  It was half way through or towards the end that I thought about drinking wine with dinner more than normal. I even went to a painting party and an essential oil class, both being places I would indulge in wine, and my sparkling water helped me stay on point.  Bravo to me on the drinking.  The sugar part was a relationship that you can imagine was hard to break.  Sugar is in just about everything so I learned to read labels, learned what the different names of sugar are and how to create some sugar-free options of dressings and condiments.  Trust me, everything has sugar but being without sugar is an awesome accomplishment.  You too can do this for 30 days, or longer is you so choose. 


Now, the grand finale:  STAT's! 


Ladies...I measured a total of seven areas of my body and, I am proud to share my results with you in measurements:


Arm: 1.25
Thigh: 2
Natural Waist: 3  (where I wear my pants) 
Hips: 3.25
Belly Button:  3.75
Bust: 4
Ribs: 1.5


...for a grand measurement of 18 or so inches! 


Here is a collage of my before and after photos.  I am proudly taking every inch that I have earned and I consider the last 30 days a successful investment in myself.  I am beginning another Whole30 the 1st of April so I can end just in time for my birthday.  If you have an interest at all, please give it a try.  I already have THREE friends wanting to start in April and it's not too late for you to join us too.  Friday April 3rd, I am co hosting a clean eating meal class where we can talk about the program, our experiences and help you create a clean eating meal for yourself and another.  $45 buys your appetizer, full meal with enough to share and wine.  Reservations and a small deposit will be required to join. 

Twice Baked Sweet Potato and Egg Breakfast

This recipe comes from Plaid and Paleo.  I shall say that this meal was awesome, even on the second day it was delicious.  What a simple meal to have.

The What's:

• 1 medium sweet potatoes
• 2 slices bacon
• sea salt and black pepper
• 2 small eggs
• Handful of spinach or greens 
• 2 slices of Roma Tomato

The How's:

1. Heat oven to 400 degrees. Poke sweet potatoes with a knife a couple times then place directly onto oven rack. Cook for 40-45 minutes until soft. Remove and let cool.  (Or you can poke holes in the potato and microwave for 8 minutes)
2. In a large skillet, fry bacon until crispy. 
3. Once sweet potatoes are cool, cut lengthwise then scoop out the middle of the sweet potato. I used a knife to cut about 1/4 inch away from the skin all the way around then I cut the middle into three pieces. This makes it easier to remove the middle without breaking the skin.
4. Whip the soft sweet potato until soft and creamy.  
5. Scoop mash into potato shells then create a large divot for the egg. You will want to make sure the divot is big enough to fit the egg.
6. Spread spinach, or whatever green you have into the divot.  
7. Break one egg, or two as I did in this picture, into each divot then sprinkle with remaining bacon bits and tomato slices. Cook for 20 minutes or until yoke is set.  
8. 
   

Enjoy, I did!