RECIPE: Chicken Pesto Pasta Salad {Whole30, Paleo, Low Carb}

On our third day of following Whole30, I decided to make a salad, but didn't want your run of the mill salad. I found one in a magazine and got so excited about it. 

The original recipe had a few extra ingredients, and called for the zucchini to be spiralized. Naturally, I couldn't find my spiralizer, so I pulled out my veggie peeler and made ribbons instead,.  

 

It was the best meal we had all week! It will make regular rotation for us, during the Whole30 and beyond. It was refreshing and oh so flavorful, not to mention easy to throw together. Randall already told me that the next time I make it I need to double the recipe.

 

I figured what better day to share a lovely green dish than on St. Patrick's Day? The pics aren't the greatest - I took them with my phone just seconds before the entire bowl disappeared. I promise you you'll love it!!

Chicken Pesto Pasta Salad {Whole 30, Paleo, Low Carb}

Ingredients:

1-2 large zucchini, cut into thin ribbons or spiralized

2 c. cooked chicken, cubed / shredded into chunks

1 bunch fresh basil

1 bunch fresh parsley

2 cloves garlic

3 tbsp olive oil

2 tsp lemon juice

1 c grape tomatoes, cur in half

salt & pepper to taste

Instructions:

Place chicken and zucchini in a bowl

Add Basil, Parsley, lemon juice, garlic, salt and pepper to a food processor

Pulse until you achieve a pourable consistency, adding a few tablespoons of water if needed

Pour over chicken and zucchini and toss until coated

add tomatoes and fold in carefully

adjust seasonings and serve immediately or chill first

adapted from Paleo Magazine

 

Whole30: Day Three

Another awesome day in the books with more progress both felt and observed.

First...both Randall and I weighed...we are both down five pounds! I also took my fasting blood sugar again...it went from 157 to 131 to....118!! I'm absolutely thrilled. I also had much less joint pain yesterday.... Virtually none in the morning and only mild pain in the evening. I can't believe the difference in just three days!

But I digress...on to the food...

Breakfast: two over easy eggs on top of minimally processed turkey lunchmeat with grape tomatoes on the side.

 

Lunch: Egg salad with celery, canola may, Dijon mustard...with a side of black olives.

 

Dinner: Chicken pesto pasta salad. The pasta was ribbons of zucchini. This was amazing....I'll share the recipe soon!

 

Snacks were a banana, a few slices of uncured salami, one handful of plantain chips and some pickled okra.

Looking forward to tomorrow!!

Whole30: day 2

Day 2 was good for me, not as good for Randall.

We both did well on our food intake, but Randall was very fatigued, had a headache, and even got cold.      

We figured it was because of the sugar withdrawal. He's missing coffee too much. So, I gave him an out. I told him to go ahead and have his coffee with cream and sugar in the morning. 

He works so hard during the day then I know he'll burn that little bit off in no time. He seemed to be in a much better mood this morning after the return of his beloved Java.

I took my blood sugar again.

As I'm sure you remember, Monday it was 157. Tuesday, it was 131. Amazing. 

Now, time for food!

Breakfast: scrambled eggs with salsa and chopped up avocado.

 

Lunch,: leftover chili.

 

Dinner: salmon loaf with sweet peppers, olives, onion powder, parsley, and egg, and broccoli on the side. 

 

Snacks: some Applegate Farms uncured salami , and then some pickled okra.

Looking forward to more progress!!!

Whole30: day one

Day 1 is in the books!

It started out fine, and stay that way all day. I felt like I was eating constantly, which was a little unnerving. Here goes a list of what I had:

Breakfast: two eggs scrambled with fresh onion, sweet peppers, and mushrooms. I had a side of baby heirloom tomatoes cut into wedges.

 

Lunch: I had egg salad made from 2 hard boiled eggs, some canola oil Mayo, Dijon mustard, and kalamata olives on a bed of red curly lettuce.

 

Dinner: chili that I made in the slow cooker. It had ground beef, two cans of diced tomatoes, & 1 can of tomato sauce,  along with onions, green chilies, sweet peppers, celery Plus spices chili powder, cumin, onion powder, garlic powder, oregano, black pepper and salt.

 

Snacks: had five strawberries, one banana, and about a half a cup of cashews spread out throughout the day.

Whole 30 : A New Beginning and Menu Plan

I decided to jump on the bandwagon. Join the Whole 30 revolution. Monday's the day. Randall and my best friend Tammy have vowed to take the plunge with me, which thrills me and makes me all that more excited to start.

We'll be taking measurements and weighing at the start so we can see our progress.

We went grocery shopping yesterday, and finished up at Aldi today - our first trip ever to it but it will not be our last! Its new to our area and I had no idea it was so cheap!

 

I got our dinner menu for the week done and it includes....

Moroccan Chicken with Olives and Lemons, with a side of steamed Kale
Pizza Frittata
Salmon Loaf with mixed veggies
Grilled chicken with faux potato salad
Chili
Cobb Salad
And
Tomatillo chicken with tossed salad

Lunches will be a variety of salads and hopefully some chicken veggie soup one day. Eggs for most breakfasts, with a variety of different sauteed veggies to mix it up a bit.

Looking forward to reporting our progress!

By the way, if you want to learn more about the Whole 30 program, click here.