My Favorite Whole30 Meals & Recipes

Kelsey asked me if I'd ever do another Whole30 again, I paused and thought... maybe once every couple of years or so? I'm not really sure at this point. I think our first mission is figuring out how to work as much whole food eating into our budget as we can. That's a real challenge for me to be "half in." But, we'll do the best we can with what we know, and keep looking to make changes to our eating habits.

That being said, after the first few days of cravings, I really didn't miss many junky foods I used to eat. And we found some really tasty new meals that we're adding to our home kitchen menu going forward.

One day during the Whoel30 we had steak for breakfast! That was a really fun treat. But, obviously we can't do that everyday.

Most days I ate eggs over-easy, sweet potato hash browns, and for about half the days, I made some sausage to go with that. It's so good!

Despite having it almost everyday, I absolutely love it! It's so filling and keeps me fueled throughout the morning all the way to lunch.

Let's get on with the recipes... three of them below for you to try.

Breakfast - One Skillet Eggs, Hash Browns & Sausage

Ingredients

2 or 3 organic eggs
Ground Italian sausage
1/4 sweet potato (Shredded hash browns
Diced green peppers
Diced red peppers
Diced sweet onion
Black Pepper
Salt
Basil
Coconut oil or Ghee (clarified butter)

Recipe

Cook the sausage: I do this in the microwave with our Pampered Chef microwave cooker. I cook it two minutes at a time, mashing and mixing it between intervals (about 6 minutes total).
Skillet hash browns: Turn the skillet on med-high and add a tablespoon of coconut oil or ghee and let it melt. Once melted, add a generous handful of sweet potato hash to the pan. Season with salt, pepper, and basil to your liking. Also, add green peppers, red peppers, and onions at this time.
After a minute or two (you just have to watch it), flip the hash to keep from burning. You do want it brown though... it's tastier. At this point add in the ground sausage (about 1/2 cup).
Once the hash is looking mostly browned and finished, I push it into a pile toward the back of the pan, reduce heat to medium and add a little bit more coconut oil to the pan and crack two or three eggs (depends on how hungry I am and how much sausage I added), season them with a little bit of salt, pepper, and basil, and let them cook for about two minutes per side seasoning again after flipping.

Tips

Once the eggs are done, it all goes on a plate, with a warm cup of coffee! Delicious, nutritious, and wholesome breakfast. This meal is a staple for me after our Whole30. I typically prepare the sweet potato hash once or twice a week, using either one or two sweet potatoes and a grater, and depending on their size, they can last 4 days to up to a week in the fridge.

Supper - Smash burgers & Sweet Potato Fries

Ingredients - Smash Burgers

Organic ground beef
Salt
Pepper
Basil
Minced Garlic
Ghee

I make a third pound patties so the amount of ground beef you have will determine the number of patties you will make. You could also probably make quarter pound patties, they would just be smaller. That might actually be better if you are putting them on a bun because the third pound patties get pretty large in diameter when you smash them.

Smash burger Recipe

This is me using a pan to "smash a burger" The orange headband was in celebration of Rooney's 3rd birthday

Preheat the griddle. I use our pancake griddle to make our smash burgers. I set the temperature as high as it will go (400 on ours).
Make your patties into a ball. They don't have to be perfect, but I just work them in my hands for a few seconds each so they stay together pretty well.
Cook the patties. I do this two at a time. Place a dollop of ghee and immediately set a ground meat ball on top. Then use a pot, or pan to smash the burger onto the griddle and press down firm for a good 15 seconds. Set a timer for 90 seconds.
Once smashed, season the burgers with your choice of seasoning. I use salt, pepper, basil, and minced garlic. I might use something like Cavenders when I'm not on the Whole30.
Flip the burgers. After the 90 seconds, flip the burgers, season the other side, and cook for another two to two and half minutes until done.

Tips

Since I'm only cooking two at a time, once I'm done with the first two I place them on a plate and cover them with another plate upside down to keep them warm and to keep the moisture in.

Use a good spatula to flip the burgers, you may need to get a good angle and scrape them carefully when you flip them.

See this video for the real deal

Ingredients - Sweet Potato Fries

1 Medium sized sweet potato
2 Tbsp coconut oil
Salt
Pepper
Basil
Oregeno

Sweet Potato Fries Recipe

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
Cut sweet potatoes lengthwise into about 1/8 inch strips. Longer is better here, but thinner is also better. Think "shoe string" fries without cutting your fingers off.
Melt 2 tablespoons of coconut oil in the microwave (30-45 seconds), then toss the fries in a bowl and pour about half of the coconut oil over the top then mix around until fully covered.
Season the fries in the bowl to your liking.
Spread the fries out on a baking rack inside a baking pan. This should help the fries from sticking to the solid surface.
Bake in the oven for 10 minutes, then flip the fries, brush the rest of the coconut oil over the top, and bake another 10 minutes.
Shut the oven off, but leave the fries in and crack the oven open for another five minutes, making sure the fries are not burning. If they are done, simply take them out.

Tips

I have yet to find a way to get the fries crispy. If you have any tips, I'm all ears! But, they are tasty and pretty easy to prepare and make. Just takes a lot of time to cook, and cleaning the baking racks is not my favorite thing either.

Supper - BBQ Chicken Drumsticks & Asparagus

Ingredients - BBQ Chicken Drumsticks

Organic Chicken drumsticks (we get ours from Costco. Comes in a three pack.
2 Tablespoons paprika
1 Teaspoon black pepper
½ Teaspoon cayenne pepper
½-1 Tablespoon salt
1 Tablespoon garlic powder
1 Tablespoon onion powder
½ Tablespoon garlic salt

BBQ Chicken Drumsticks Recipe

Preheat Grill. I have a gas grill and light all three burners and run them on high for about five minutes.
Prepare Rub. You can do this ahead of time, but just combine all the spices from the above list (recipe from Bravo for Paleo). It makes a generous portion and you should have plenty left over for a few more batches, or use it for other purposes.
Sprinkle rub over chicken drumsticks. I get a good light coat over the whole thing.
Grill the drumsticks. This will take 30 minutes. I turn my grill down to medium heat and place them in the center.
Flip the drumsticks after 10 minutes, then again after 20 minutes. Make sure they are not completely charred. This will likely vary depending on your grill.

Asparagus

Really nothing fancy here, I just microwave some frozen asparagus, but as I'm writing this, wondering why I didn't grill the asparagus with the chicken? I think I'll do that next time!

Let me know if you have any tips or tricks to make these recipes better. I'm open to suggestions. Give them a try and let me know what you think!