Well, it’s day 22 and I’ve had some ups downs during my 75 Hard Challenge. The workouts have been good and I love getting outside every day! I’m seeing and feeling my muscles getting stronger. But with all these calories I’m burning, I’m even hungrier than usual! I eat a healthy meal but then I just want to snack! Snacking is definitely not helping me lose weight! Even with “healthy” snacks! This is a new challenge for me because I’m used to my metabolism kicking in and taking care of those extra calories.
Ugh. Getting older sucks.
Anyway, I’ve managed to create some awesome meals thanks to some favorite sites like Paleorunningmomma.com and my eMeals app. My personal favorite so far was these mini turkey burger sliders that I adapted.
After making this delicious recipe from PaleoRunningMomma.com I made a few changes the second time.
- Smaller patties. Whatever meat you choose (I chose ground turkey this time), you can get about 10 small patties per 1 lb of meat. With these smaller patties, they will fit better on your smaller sweet potato rounds.
- Smaller sweet potato rounds mean it’s easier to make these into bite size sandwiches. Our larger sweet potato rounds were not easy to pick up. More pictures below show all of this.
- Sliced avocado instead of guacamole just to save time!
- Sliced tomatoes make it easier as well.
- I also omitted the bacon on top.
Here is a picture of what we originally created using the PaleoRunningMomma recipe:
Another recipe that I modified from the same blog was for these berry coconut granola bars.
I chose to modify her recipe for Cherry Berry Grain Free Granola Bars because I’m not strictly eating Paleo right now. I just wanted them to be gluten free. I also didn’t find any dried cherries so I made these with dried blue berries and raspberries. They turned out rather well! Definitely not too sweet. I actually sprinkled date sugar on top to give them a little extra sweetness.
While I’ve been getting better at my grilling skills, I decided to try grilling steak again. These thick cut sirloins turned out very well! I also learned that you can put a whole artichoke in a pressure cooker for about 10-15 minutes and it turns out so delicious! It had been years since I enjoyed artichoke like this!
I made the best batch of Soft Paleo Flour Tortillas ever! And I managed to get 17 tortillas out of the dough! I’ve mentioned these tortillas many times, but they really are the best recipe I’ve tried yet. They are worth the money and the trouble. I use them a lot for breakfast tacos and I recently made steak tacos with the leftover steak I grilled.
Fat free sugar free greek yogurt has been another breakfast staple lately. I’ve been mashing berries in a bowl and then mixing in the yogurt. It’s so nice to enjoy yogurt after having issues with dairy for most of my life.
Last night, I made almond crusted pork medallions with mixed southern greens. I don’t eat pork very often but there have been a lot of pork recipes on eMeals lately. So I decided to try one with a few modifications.
I prepped everything earlier in the day because we were going kayaking around 3:00 and I didn’t want to do a whole lot when I returned. So I went ahead and cut up the tenderloin, dredged the medallions in egg and almond flour, and sautéed the greens. Everything went into the fridge while we were gone.
But while I was kayaking, I got to thinking that these were probably going to need a good sauce to go with them. I just had a feeling that the medallions would need some extra flavor.
I found another Whole30 recipe that suggested cooking the pork in mustard and balsamic. And I got an idea: mix the last of my Whole30 barbecue sauce with a lot of brown mustard and more balsamic. And it turned out excellent! The recipe is on this post.
If you are doing your own 75 Hard challenge, best of luck! Hope you are feeling better than ever! I am definitely feeling more positive and grateful that I can use all of this extra time to accomplish something great for my mind, body, and soul!
Not. My. Fibro. 