{recipe} whole 30 sriracha!

 When Eugene and I first started thinking about doing Whole30, we knew that Sriracha would be one of the harder things to give up. We eat Sriracha with everything -- rice, noodles, eggs, pizza, pasta, etc. We love Sriracha so much.  When there were rumors of the Sriracha factory closing down, I responded apocolypse-style and purchased 4-5 large bottles of Sriracha to store at home. It was cray. 

Sriracha, as expected, has a few ingredients that make it non-compliant with the Whole30 program.

Thank goodness for the internet and for these amazing hardcore paleo people who have gone before me -- I found the best Sriracha recipe from nomnompaleo and had my red jalopeno peppers purchased and ready to go from last week. 

After burning my hands/eyes/throat and massive dry-cough sessions, I produced two jars of Sriracha. Hip hip hooray!

I mixed red jalopenos and red Thai peppers to add some extra spice. I wore gloves while cutting and seeding this but it still burned!

You chop all your peppers, crush your garlic, pit your dates and add all your sauces and tomato paste and smooth it all out in a food processor. 

The end result is quite beautiful. 

Throw it in a pot and let it heat up for 10-12 minutes and mix it up every now and then. This really helps deepen the flavor and smooth the potent spices a bit. 

 

Eat it with your favorite dishes. Or just be like me and eat it with everything. :)

Whole30/Paleo Sriracha Recipe

Recipe slightly adapted from NomnomPaleo

Ingredients

• 1.5 lbs of red jalopeno, roughly chopped and seeded
• 6-8 red thai peppers, roughly chopped and seeded
• 10 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
• 2 large pitted medjool dates
• 1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
• 3 tablespoons of tomato paste
• 2 tablespoons of compliant fish sauce (I used Red Boat)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt

Instructions
1. Roughly chop and seed red jalopenos and peppers. Crush garlic. Pit dates. 

2. Pour everything in a food processor including fish sauce, salt, tomato paste and apple cider vinegar. 

3. Crush/blend until smooth. 

4. Pour sauce into a big pot over medium heat for 10-12 minutes. Stir occasionally. 

5. Pour into jars, and allow to cool with lid of. 

6. Refrigerate and enjoy for up to one week! 

whole 30 | day 1 + major prep day

Just finished up our first day of Whole30.

Thankfully, I didn't have work today so I literally had the entire day to prep and plan for our first week of Whole30. The prep, of course, started last night when I prepared breakfast + lunch for today. Eugene usually leaves for school around 5:30am - and because it took me until 1:00am to prep, I wasn't too sure if I would be able to wake up to send him off with all his food. 

For the first day,  I prepped breakfast (in a plate, per his request), lunch (packed to-go!) and iced tea. I froze lime wedges and made some of the iced tea into ice cubes so he could have a nice, cold iced tea in the morning. This was our first day without our usually sugared up, milky coffee drink so we had to be ultra prepared! 

As expected, I didn't wake up in time to send him to school -- but thankfully he follows directions very well and was able to set everything up before he left.

BREAKFAST

Aidell's Chicken-Apple Sausage, Spinach, Bell Pepper, Eggs // Guacamole // Kiwi

LUNCH

Grilled Chicken seasoned with Trader Joe's Everyday Seasoning, Guacamole, Sprouts, Tomatoes + Beets

on a bed of Organic Spinach

Later that day, I finished up my grocery shopping at our local Fresh & Easy. I never shopped here before moving to Downey but this has been our main go-to for groceries. It's relatively cheap and has really fresh + great quality products. Here I am with my Whole30 shopping list and my first (possibly ever) Starbucks black iced coffee (*cue dramatic music*)

Then I came home and purged my pantry once more. This time, I ended up just taking anything that was not Whole30 compliant out and separated it out in a bag. Sometimes, when I prepare food, it is straight up Top Chef style -- not because it's done with amazing skill but because I try to cook as fast as I can and often will set a timer for myself! I was afraid that I would accidentally use something that I wasn't supposed to, so I decided to just put it all away for this month. 

Here is our Whole30-compliant pantry! 

As you can see, we have a lifetime supply of tea (which we are growing to love so much!), lots of condiments to help make our food tasty and lots of little snacks to keep us going throughout the day. 

DINNER 

Chicken Pho with Zoodles // 

I followed my recipe for chicken pho and added extra greens (bok choy, lots of cilantro and mint leaves), gave it some squirts of fresh lime and topped it with a lots and lots of bean sprout.  I cooked two cornish hens in filtered water for almost 8 hours with a pack of spices for the original pho flavor. 

P.S. Do you see that Sriracha?! 

I made it!

Yes, that's right. 

Today, I made my beloved Sriracha sauce from scratch. 

It is whole30 compliant and made with fresh red jalopenos. Nothing processed! The most amazing thing is, it is a worrrrrthy substitute. It (almost!!!) tastes the same as the real sriracha. 

YAY!!!!!

I asked Eugene if I could eat Chicken Pho yesterday for dinner as my "last supper" before Whole30 but he said that I couldn't feed the beast and just indulge in all my cravings. Cold turkey is his style, boo.

The chicken pho with zoodles and homemade Sriracha sauce actually hit the spot and fulfilled my craving. The sauce tasted almost exactly the same as the real thing in the pho broth and provided the perfect amount of spice kick to my dinner. The zoodles were also a very satisfying substitution to noodles and the best part is, I ate an entire (large) zucchini in the process - veggies are the best.

I love making broth because you always have some to save for a rainy day - literally! These babies will definitely save me when I'm having that random craving for pho (which is usually like every other day!) 

It's only been one day but the experience so far has been awesome. The months of planning definitely helped gear our minds and bodies for this change. I am excited to see how this will help us make lifelong changes to our eating habits. I'll be posting quite a bit about different things I learn and different recipes I try. Stay tuned -- tomorrow I'll share my Sriracha Recipe! Hooraaay! :o) 

 See ya tomorrow, friends! I'm pooped!

- - - -

btw -- Eugene just had a random spurt of hunger + cravings for something, so I heated up one of my pre-baked sweet potato with a small spoonful of ghee (clarified butter) and a sprinkle of cinnamon. 

CRISIS DIVERTED.

 Goodnight!

Xoxo

whole 30 | get ready!

For the month of April, Eugene and I have committed to doing the whole30 program.

Apparently, April is the month I am most motivated to pursue healthy living. Last year, I did #30daysofsalad in April. It was fun but a lot harder than I thought. I learned a lot of valuable lessons during that month (i.e. you can make almost anything into a salad!) and I feel that it really changed my perspective on food.  I'm excited to see how our perspective will change after this month! 

 I heard about "Whole30" last year through instagram. I've been wanting to try it for over a year now, and finally coughed up enough courage to plan for it. Whole30 is a program that challenges you to only eat "real food"/whole foods for 30 days. Nothing processed. No grains, sugar, dairy, legumes, soy, corn, etc. It is practically a paleo diet on steroids with a little bit of fun! 

According to my husband, I have a really bad track record when it comes to these things. Last year, we also attempted a 3-day juice cleanse. I bought over 10 pounds of fruits and vegetables and juiced away for hours to prepare for the week. I actually quit/cheated after breakfast on Day 1. DAY 1, people. Pretty pathetic, if I do so myself. My amazing husband was able to complete the entire 3-day cleanse without me. The good thing is I acknowledge this about myself - I quit way too easily and when the going gets tough, I'm usually the first to excuse myself from the game. That's why I hesitated for so long. I knew that if we were to commit to it, than we need be wholehearted about it. 

"He who fails to plan is planning to fail. " 

{Winston Churchill}

We've been thinking about this for a long time now. To complete a one-month cycle has been one of my new year's resolutions. For the last two months, we have been purging our fridge and pantry of non-compliant things to rid ourselves of any temptation to cheat. We've been trying our very best to only purchase whole30 compliant things such as sauces, spices, canned goods, etc. I've been reading labels on almost everything I buy and find myself consicously thinking, "what whole30-compliant ingredient can I substitute this for?" It's been crazy, y'all, and to be honest I'm actually getting really excited for this month. 

There is a book that the makers of the Whole30 program encourages you to read. 

I'm currently 25% into it and it's been a huge help. It's been helping me to understand why the program limits certain foods and does a great job explaining how the food we eat affects our psychological response, hormonal balance, the health of our gut (aka intestinal permeability)  and support our immune function by minimizing inflammation! It's made me think twice about certain foods that I eat and it's been helping us get pumped! 

Another thing I had to do is revamp our pantry. 

Whole30 does not allow you to consume anything that is processed or anything that contains sugar, AKA everything in my pantry. In order to help us to succeed, I have been researching and ordering a bunch of compliant pantry items. We found a worthy substitute for soy sauce (coconout aminos!) and I thought I found a good sriracha replacement at Fresh & Easy but I later saw that it contains sugar (BOO!). But don't fret - I found a recipe for Whole30-compliant Sriracha and I bought the red jalopenos so I'm ready to go! 

We've also been doing practice runs (usually breakfast) to get ourselves used to whole30 meals. Eugene is actually really loving it so far! 

Pursuing Whole30 is definitely going to take a lot of planning, prepping and thought. However, we're excited to see how this month will change our perspective on food and what kind of health benefits we will experience as a result of thinking more intentionally about what kind of things we eat.

We only have a few more days to prepare... 

and to be honest, I'm already missing my caramel macchiatos (*sob) 

LET'S DO THIS!

zoodles | recipe round up!

hello friends!

it's been a while. can't believe I didn't post one thing for the entire month of february. yipes! february was busy trying to prepare for india, traveling to and from india and then recovering from jet-lag and mental/emotional/physical exhaustion (it took 10 days to recover!) I actually hesitated a lot trying to figure out how to come back to this blog after being a way for some time. it was like trying to figure out what to talk about at a lunch date with an old friend i haven't seen in 15 years: awkward and a little nerve-wrecking (not sure why!) but here I am and i'm happy to be back. :) 

eugene and I got a zoodle-maker/veggie-spiralizer today! 

we ordered it from amazon! as you may or may not know - eugene and I have been trying to learn how to make healthier choices and eat "better" at home. we've actually grown to love oatmeal (which is new for me) and superfoods have become a normal part of our day-to-day regimen. for the month of april, we are hoping to try Whole30. we've been spending the month of march preparing ourselves - trying whole30-compliant recipes, cleaning out our fridge/pantry, figuring out tips + tricks. i've been meddling through different websites trying to find good recipes that will help keep our meal plans fun and exciting! 

zoodles are apparently our answer. 

ZOODLES are noodles made out of zucchini and used in place of noodles. eugene and I love, love, love noodles. grain and wheat products are NOT going to be allowed during our month of whole30 so I had to figure out a way to make up for it. spagetti squash is one of the noodle-substitutes we are excited to use and we are hoping that zoodles will also be able to join the party! 

here is a compliation of yummy zoodle recipes i found on the web. i'm excited to try these dishes next month (of course opting out of some of the ingredients that are not whole30 compliant!)

zoodle pad thai // white on rice couple

zucchini marinara with lentils // lemons and basil

zoodle cabonara // inspiralized 

zoodles with pesto // two peas and their pod

ginger zoodle egg drop soup // snixy kitchen

chicken pho with zoodles // iamafoodblog

hehe, of course i had to find a pho recipe!

avo-basil zoodles with chile-lime shrimp + corn // inspiralized

chicken zoodle soup // sugar-free mom

can't wait to try our zoodle-maker! 

will tell you all about it!

xoxo