Crockpot Spaghetti Sauce

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This was dinner.  So delicious.  I ate it over Zoodles (zucchini noodles) and the kids ate it with whole wheat spaghetti.  Maria thought it was great that I put her vegetables right in the sauce!  I was just happy that the kids ate it.  The first time I think they’ve eaten homemade sauce without complaints… plus there was no added sugar.  I figured the carrots and the fire-roasted tomatoes would add enough sweetness. PLUS this was totally Whole 30 compliant!

Just a couple minor tweaks from the original that I found at  Wellness Witness
Crockpot Spaghetti Sauce #whole30

Crockpot Spaghetti Sauce

2 onions, chopped
3 tsp minced garlic
3/4 cup chopped carrots
2 lbs ground beef
3- 28oz cans crushed FIRE-ROASTED tomatoes
1 can tomato paste
2 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp salt
2 tsp oregano
2 tsp. basil (dried)
1 tsp. onion powder
12 oz frozen spinach*

In large skillet, heat up the Extra Virgin Olive Oil on Medium-High heat. Add
the carrots, onion and garlic and sauté until translucent. Add ground beef and cook until no longer pink.  Once done, drain fat and then add to a large slow cooker.

Add all other ingredients and stir. Cook for 8-9 hours on low.

This makes LOTS!  It is probably 3-4 meals total.  I love having a stocked up freezer!

*I found a bag of frozen spinach at Trader Joe’s.. it wasn’t as mushy as the traditional frozen box, you typically find…

 

Whole 30 – Day #20

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20 days!!  2/3rds done… if I stop at 30 days.
Feeling great, even though I was up late last night finishing Making of a Murderer.    Chad had a dentist appt this morning so I couldn’t hit the gym first thing.  So I did some yoga and then went after he got home.
Breakfast:
  • Sweet potatoes, turkey sausage, Apple and spinach in coconut oil
Lunch:
  • Leftover Porketta with Homemade BBQ Sauce
  • Sautéed Broccoli Slaw & Cherry Tomatoes
  • Romaine with OG-ish dressing – It is too yummy!  You should try it!
Dinner:
WINS:
Exercise:

Whole 30 – Day #19

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Still feeling good.  Maybe a little bored with my food options.  This is where I know it gets tricky…   Yoga this morning was a nice meditative stretching session…  felt calm and refreshed.  Dinner – we were invited to a pizza party.  Hmmm… I offered to bring the salad.  Found a super yummy compliant dressing recipe, and then ate some chicken before we went.  It was a rotisserie chicken from the Target deli… of course it had sugar in it.. but I didn’t eat the skin and figured it was better than pizza or starving myself…  could have been worse.

Breakfast:

  • Turkey Sausage
  • Blueberries, Walnuts, Shredded Coconut in Coconut milk – need to research if there is an Almond Milk that is compliant…
Lunch:
  • Sweet Potato Chili (from the freezer)
  • Clementine Oranges
Dinner:
  • Chicken
  • Salad (lettuce, spinach, avocado, black olives, yellow bell pepper, red onion) with OG-ish dressing (I omitted the water and next time will only make a half batch.)
WINS:
Exercise:

Whole 30 – Day #18

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Well it was not a terribly exciting day – at least not food wise.  But again, Feeling really good. I ran in the morning and I think that always helps my moods too.
Breakfast:

  • Sweet potatoes, turkey sausage, Apple and spinach in coconut oil
  • Decaf coffee
Lunch:
  • Leftover Porketta with Homemade BBQ Sauce
  • Sautéed Broccoli Slaw & Spinach
  • 1/2 of an avocado
Dinner:
  • Leftover Porketta with Homemade BBQ Sauce
  • Sautéed Broccoli Slaw & Spinach
  • Baked Sweet Potato Sticks
  • 1/2 of an avocado
WINS:
  • Leftovers for lunch and dinner… still some in the fridge!
Exercise:

Whole 30 – Day #17

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Hard to believe I’m over halfway through.  At this point I don’t think I’m going to stop at 30… I might go 45.  Not sure, I need to read the “Re-Introduction” section of It Starts With Food.   But I’m really loving how I’m feeling…  Dinner we winged it a bit.  I had plans to make a new chicken chili recipe, but Chad got sucked into a Happy Hour, and I knew that the kids would not appreciate it.  In hind sight, I maybe should have done it.  But now we’ll have it Friday.
Breakfast:
  • Sweet potatoes, turkey sausage, Apple and spinach in coconut oil
  • Decaf coffee

Breakfast - Roasted sweet potatoes, apples, turkey sausage and spinach (cooked in coconut oil) #whole30

Lunch:
Dinner:
  • 2 egg omelet with peppers/onions/spinach and avocado
WINS:
  • adding Avocado to my lunch was yummy!  Love when my avocado is perfectly ripened!

Whole 30 – Day #16

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Yesterday was a good day.  I was back in the office after a week of traveling and working from home.  I think being in the office helps me from the mindless munching of pistachios!  I pulled lunch from the freezer before I went to work and then dinner was ready in the crockpot when I came home.
Breakfast:
  • Turkey Sausage
  • Blueberries, Banana, Walnuts, Shredded Coconut in Coconut milk
Lunch:
  • Sweet Potato Chili (from the freezer)
  • Clementine Oranges
  • OPPORTUNITY: add my healthy fat – maybe a handful of walnuts or raw almonds ?
Dinner:
  • Porketta with Homemade BBQ Sauce
  • Sautéed Broccoli Slaw
  • Baked Sweet Potato Sticks –  (OK, fries… technically against the rules, but all ingredients were compliant)
  • OPPORTUNITY:  fat – an avocado would have been great here!
Snack:
  • Pistachios
WINS:
  • The several times I stopped myself from grabbing a potato chip from the open bag during dinner!
  • I didn’t make all the Sweet Potato Fries – because I knew I would have eaten them until they were gone…

Porketta with Homemade BBQ Sauce

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This has been a favorite recipe for a while.  And definitely makes the rotation regularly.  Also great for birthday parties.

My recipe is based on a conglomeration of other Porketta recipes, I found, plus my love of the crockpot.   And since I’m doing it with the Whole30, I paired it with my variation of this homemade BBQ sauce.  So good.  Pictured below with broccoli slaw (sauteed in olive oil) and homemade baked sweet potato fries.  Technically this is not following all the Whole 30 Rules (because fries…) but all the ingredients are compliant, and I needed this yumminess tonight (Day 16!)

Also good with a bottled BBQ sauce and buns.  My kids like it with ketchup. 

NOTE:  add a sliced avocado for yumminess, and the good fat!

Porketta with homemade BBQ sauce #whole30

Crockpot Porketta

1 boneless pork shoulder roast (2 1/2-3 pounds)
1 teaspoon fennel seed
1 teaspoon dried celery seed
1 teaspoon basil
1 teaspoon parsley flakes
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon rosemary, crushed
1 teaspoon garlic salt
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1-3 tablespoons olive oil

  1. Cut about five deep slits across top of roast. Rub olive oil on roast.
  2. Combine seasonings; stuff some into the slits. and rub into roast.
  3. Cook in crockpot for 10-12 hours on Low.

Homemade BBQ Sauce

1 can tomato paste (6oz)
1/4 cup tomato sauce
1/2 cup unsweetened 100% apple sauce
1 tbsp coconut aminos
1 1/2 tsp chili powder
1 1/2 tsp paprika
1 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp ground allspice
1/4 tsp cayenne powder
a few dashes hot sauce to taste (I like Trader Joe’s hot pepper sauce)

Instructions

  1. Whisk all ingredients together and store in a mason jar in the fridge. It should stay good to use for about one month.

NOTE: Original recipe called for Chipotle Powder (I did not have this) and Balsamic Vinegar, which I inadvertently left out!  Oops – but it was still good.

Whole 30 – Day #15

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Halfway there!  It was a blah kind of day.  I stayed on track even with plenty of distractions.  And when I say “on track”, I mean I didn’t eat anything that wasn’t compliant.  But I also didn’t eat great.  I smacked on a lot of macadamia nuts and pistachios.  But I also did not eat any of the cookies or frozen pizza that we made yesterday!  I did not even lick my fingers! 

Breakfast:

  • Sweet potatoes, turkey sausage, Apple and spinach in coconut oil
  • Decaf coffee

Lunch: 

  • Leftover chicken zoodle soup

Dinner:

  • Leftover chicken zoodle soup

Snacks:

  • Pistachios
  • Macadamia nuts 
  • Repeat. 

Wins:

  • Having leftover soup kept me compliant (or at least saved me a trip to Chipotle)
  • Nuts probably saved me from sweet potato chips that were staring at me from the pantry. 

Whole 30 – Day #14

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The day started off good – cold, but good.  Ate a small breakfast, and we went out for breakfast following Charlie’s hockey practice.  I napped in the afternoon, because I felt really tired, and when I woke up I realized I have a cold.   So my dinner plan of Chicken Zoodle Soup was perfect!
Breakfast:
  • Turkey Sausage
  • Blueberries, Walnuts, Shredded Coconut in Coconut milk – need to research if there is an Almond Milk that is compliant…
Lunch:
  • Omelet with avocado & green peppers (Not sure of the oil used for cooking… i just did the best I could)
  • Fruit
  • Decaf Coffee
Dinner:
WINS:
  • Napped, instead of Diet Coke or Sugar when I got tired
  • Zoodles!  Who knew!  Love my new Spiralizer!

Whole 30 – Day #13

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I had the dream where I ate a bunch of really bad food and was devastated to have to start over.  The guilt.   I even woke up with it.  I kind of laughed when I read about this happening to others.  But it happened to me, and I am one to hardly remember dreams, so it must have been traumatizing!
Got up and got a run in before our Saturday of running around starts.   Lunch was between Maria’s Basketball game and Charlie’s Hockey practice.  Maria wanted to stop at Subway and I wanted to get some things from the Natural Food store (ghee & coconut aminos)  But I also found some compliant lunch there too.
Breakfast:
  • homemade turkey sausage, sweet potatoes, apple, spinach
  • decaf coffee
Lunch:
  • Chicken Vegetable Soup
  • Beef Stick
  • Cashews
Dinner:
  • Leftover Taco Meat on lettuce
  • With Sautéed Peppers & Onions
  • Guacamole
WINS:
  • Hot Soup at the Natural Food store – enjoyed at Subway with Maria  (don’t even get me started on ingredients in Subways “ingredients”
  • Leftover Dinner Success for the whole family.  They had their taco meat with beans, chips, cheese also
  • Exercise on a busy day
  • Stayed warm.  Nothing to do with the Whole30, but that was a success yesterday!