Whole 30 Meal Plan – Week Two (Plus Homework!)

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Greetings from the weekend! Where Buster just keeps saying “Please Please PLEASE can we do something else besides watch Homeland?” Sorry doggie, it’s not in the cards.

How did your meals go the first week? Hopefully you did some planning and things went pretty smoothly. If not, maybe this coming week you can think through what you’ve got on your agenda and tailor your dishes to that. That is the “ADVANCED” part of meal planning I think. It’s awesome to come up with a delicious menu, but if you are planning to make Beef Wellington on the same night you have to stay late at work and pick your kids up from soccer — well, that probably won’t set you up for success. So definitely look at your week and give yourself permission to make some lazy meals!
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My personal favorite lazy meal? Breakfast for dinner!

Here’s a rough idea of what’s cooking in our neck of the woods. And I say rough idea because if you’ve been following me on Instagram you can see that sometimes I completely stick to my plan, or sometimes I off road and turn the ingredients that my meal plan required me to have on hand into something completely different. It’s my inner spoiled child saying NOBODY IS THE BOSS OF ME! Not even a meal plan. I DO WHAT I WANT! 😉

Whole 30 Week Two Meal Plan

Sunday

Breakfast: Poached Eggs and Butternut Squash Hash
Lunch: Chicken Salads
Dinner: Asian Ahi Tuna Burgers (A paleo riff on this recipe) over spicy slaw with Roasted Broccoli and Sauteed Snap Peas

Monday

Breakfast: will be the same all week. I’m experimenting with a casserole inspired by Mel’s Spinach and Meat Muffins. I’ll probably add some mushrooms. This will last 4 days for both of us. On Friday we’ll probably mob some leftovers for breakfast.
Lunch: Damn Good Chili
Dinner: Lemon Garlic Herb Pork Chops with Basil + Ghee tossed Spaghetti Squash and Sauteed Zucchini

Tuesday

Lunch: Damn Good Chili
Dinner: Crock Pot Stuffed Peppers + Spicy Baked Cauliflower and Sweet Potatoes (one meal: two heads of cauliflower. WILD!)

Wednesday

Lunch: Taco Salad. Because I’m nothing if not predictable.
Dinner: Cilantro Lime Ono + Cauliflower Rice + Salted Avocado Can you tell I have a lot of cauliflower on hand right now? USE IT OR LOSE IT.

Thursday

Lunch: Leftovers. Because we will certainly have some.
Dinner: Garlic Chorizo Shrimp (a riff on this recipe) + Roasted Brussels Sprouts

Friday

Lunch: Spicy Broiled Salmon over salads with dilly cucumbers
Dinner: Crock Pot Beef Stew I need to make something easy on this night because we are meeting with our team to start planning The Relay. Have I talked about The Relay much here? I AM SO NUTS FOR SIGNING UP. More to come on this soon. Including how the hell I’m going to train for this, and what I was smoking when I said “Yes, sounds great to be on a team that runs 200 miles in 24 hours.” WHAT?

Saturday

Garrett is going to be gone most of Saturday so I will be doing the single gal thing. Not quite sure what that will look like yet, but I’m sure it will be creative. Or completely weird. That’s how I roll when I eat alone.

Sunday

I’ll post a new menu on Sunday!

So Hey — Let’s Talk About Homework

This week the homework is 3-fold (oooh, advanced!) but it is still super easy:

1. Find some new #whole30 peeps to follow on Twitter & Instagram and make sure to say hello

2. Continue to add your photos to the mix and using the hashtag #hwisc

3. Leave a comment here about the best Whole 30 meal you at last week. Extra credit if it includes a link!

Have a great Week Two everyone! I’m off to grocery shop!
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25 Responses to Whole 30 Meal Plan – Week Two (Plus Homework!)

  1. Jennifer says:

    Thanks for the great ideas for meals! I have been obsessed with Melissa’s Scotch Eggs and Shepherd’s Pie this first week, but next week I want to branch out. Those tuna burgers sound delicious! Do you eat any fruit?

    • Holly says:

      Hi Jennifer! I tend to eat fruit only if I’m home sing for something sweet. I had an apple as a snack one day last week and then last night I fried up a banana in ghee, added some cinnamon and put some coconut flakes on it for a weekend post dinner treat. But mostly I stick to protein/veg/fat.

      • Jennifer says:

        That banana concoction sounds yummy! I’ll give that a go too! I’ve been having an apple a day but I feel like i’m cheating so maybe I will try and cut that out.

        • Holly says:

          You know, I wouldn’t necessarily try to cut back on fruit because per the program as it is written eating fruit isn’t cheating. I think because the Whole 30 *is* challenging we sometimes are tempted to make it harder than it is (I know I do that, for sure!) For me, the first time around, fruit was a savior. I was having some crazy sugar cravings and I did enjoy more fruit than usual. This time around I’m just not feeling like I need it so I’m not eating so much, but it’s not bad AT ALL to be eating (and enjoying) fruit. No one ever became diabetic from eating too much fruit. 🙂 It sounds like you are doing awesome and an apple a day or a banana after dinner isn’t going to hurt your progress. Do what feels right and don’t deprive yourself just because something tastes good. That’s the point of the Whole 30 — to realize that Real Food tastes REALLY good…when you don’t clutter it up with a bunch of unnatural sugar and crap that affects your hormones!

  2. Linda Sand says:

    “sometimes I off road and turn the ingredients that my meal plan required me to have on hand into something completely different”

    My brother used to win awards as an Army cook by doing that. For instance, he’d look at the ingredients sent to him for the week then instead of serving cold cereal and milk for breakfast then marshmallow topped sweet potato casserole for dinner he’d make Rice Krispie Squares for breakfast then creamy mashed sweet potatoes for dinner. Not Paleo, I know, but the idea of using the ingredients to make something totally different is something we can all consider doing.

    • Holly says:

      Yep. That’s exactly how my brain works. Sometimes I just want to be creative in the kitchen, despite meal planning to ensure (if nothing else) that I can get nutritious food on the table.

  3. Sara says:

    Looks good. Thanks for the inspiration.

  4. brie says:

    Just got instagram! Now how do I hash tag?

    • Holly says:

      In the section where you can type text just insert the pound sign followed by hwisc and it will do the linking for you.

  5. Emily says:

    Ok, I think my favorite meal last week was your Paleo Minestrone Soup. Why? Because it was my first time making it, it took me A-WHILE (I’m a slow prepper), AND it was unexpectedly awesome! My daughter calls it Pizza Soup 🙂

    A close second was Sarah’s Southwestern Frittata (which you linked to). I could eat that for daaays… Oh, wait – I have been 😛

    http://everydaypaleo.com/southwestern-frittata/

    • Holly says:

      So glad you liked the soup! And that is EXACTLY HOW I FEEL ABOUT THE FRITATTA. Soooo obsessed.

  6. Casey says:

    Sounds weird but so yummy– http://www.thefoodieandthefamily.com/2012/07/01/apple-bumpkin-breakfast-bake/
    Kind of like a custard. Definitely didn’t require the maple syrup, plenty sweet w/o! My husband even requested it as ‘dessert’ after dinner tonight 🙂

    Love reading your weekly meal plans!

  7. Beth says:

    Best meal: Friday night paleo pad thai, of course it’s this one: http://www.theclothesmakethegirl.com/2011/05/08/paleo-pad-thai/

    Least favorite: a super underwhelming steak salad while out to dinner on Saturday.

    New recipe: I tried the Shepherd’s pie you listed in an early post – I’m a sucker for anything I can make in individual dishes. It just makes dinner more fun.

  8. Pingback: Clean January « A Little Coffee with my Cream and Sugar

  9. Casey P says:

    Hey Holly! I’m sure I could ask this on the Whole 30 forums, but I wanted to start here. Have you (or anyone else) “cheated” during a Whole 30? And if so, do you start over or just move on? I know one of the biggest things is not to even lick your finger if there is syrup on it (my 4 year old, ahem)…but one day last week I was in a total pinch. Granted, I should’ve been more prepared but I was stuck at work and STARVING. From my limited choices (all fast food), I opted for chicken salad and a fruit cup at chick-fil-a. Because the chicken salad had mayo in it, is that a cheat? (I guess it is) – but is it reason to start over? Or just keep plugging? Advice / thoughts from anyone is welcome! 🙂

    • Holly says:

      I will just give you my opinion and it is this: The Whole 30 is HARD. It is meant to be. 30 days with no cheats is how the program is written and I haven’t ever cheated (but keep in mind I’ve only done it once.) BUT BUT BUT BUT — if it were me, I’d just keep chugging along and count it towards your 30 days. To me, it is more important to do your absolute best for 30 days than it is to find yourself in a pickle early on, quit because you might have “cheated” and then try again another time for perfection. You’re aiming for progress, not perfection right? For me, starting over bc of potentially non-compliant mayo would be demoralizing! So I say keep up the good work, don’t sweat the chicken salad, keep doing your best and see how you feel at the end. Then if you ever try it again, your goal can be to get through it without any little slip ups. YOU ARE DOING GREAT WORK (whether it is *exactly* Whole 30 standards or not) don’t let anyone discourage you with technicalities. 🙂

      • Andrea says:

        Just wanted to chime in that I agree with this. I did my first Whole30 this summer and I had a couple of small incidents like this. One day I had to ride my bike to get somewhere, about 8km, and it was over 100 degrees out. I started to feel like I was going to pass out, so we stopped at a drug store to get some water. I was feeling so sick and couldn’t handle the lines so I sat on the sidewalk outside, and when my husband came back with the water, he’d accidentally bought the flavoured / artificially sweetened kind. I was so desperate though, that I drank about a third of the bottle. I didn’t count it as a cheat, even though by the letter of the Whole30 protocol, I clearly shouldn’t have had artificial sweetener. But I don’t feel like it compromised my experience at all and I ended up LOVING my Whole30.

        In the end, I think it depends why you’re doing it. If you suspect that you have a really serious allergy to say, gluten, and your ‘cheat’ is to eat a piece of bread, then yes, you should probably start over. (Only because you really do need to give your body time to clear the gluten out of your system, and 30 days seems to be a good amount of time for that.) But otherwise I think for many people, it’s just about reframing your relationship with food, and the types of food you eat, and one small slip like that isn’t going to do any harm.

        • Casey P says:

          Thanks for the encouragement! We mostly eat Paleo – or Paleo-ish when we go out to eat(like meat and veggies when out for dinner, but not worrying too much about grass fed or what types of oils are used for cooking…but doing the WHOLE 30 is really hard because you DO have to worry about grass fed/lean meats and what types of oils. It’s tough, yo. I feel better that I didn’t cheat with bread or sugar, but man that mayo had me stressin 😉

      • Casey P says:

        Whew! Thank you! And thanks for saying that it’s HARD – because it really is. While we mostly eat Paleo anyway, I never worry too much about grass fed or types of oils while we eat out (but pretty by the book at home). Doing the Whole 30 even makes this impossible! It seems everything is SUPER by the book and SUPER clean that it’s been hard to be super perfect. I’m just going to keep rocking on – especially since I’ve hopefully gotten through the headache phase 😉 Thanks for taking the time to respond!

  10. Kristabella says:

    I’m so glad there are so many people online doing this in Jan so I’m not alone!

    Here are two awesome things I made this week:

    I made this soup – http://paleomg.com/roasted-red-pepper-and-avocado-soup-with-sausages/

    I used meatballs instead of sausage. But I think next time I’d go with chicken.

    For dinner I made this chicken – http://everydaypaleo.com/budget-friendly-balsamic-mustard-chicken-and-oven-roasted-bacon-veggies-by-erika/

    It was so moist and tasty!

  11. Jacki says:

    Our best meal was a strange combo of spicy Italian sausage, sauteed parsnips, sweet potatoes, kale, and spinach all served on a big mound of buttercup squash. Serious carb-loading, keeping this recipe for the nights before a long race.

  12. I cooked my first recipe out of Practical Paleo on Saturday! I made ground pork, spinach, and onion stuffed portabellos. I cooked a big paleo feast for all my friends, and *gasp* they liked it 🙂

    Starting my whole30… errr 21 today! Going to write my kick off post this evening!

  13. Andrea says:

    Holly-
    Love your blog! I really appreicate your focus on recipes this year so far. I totally geek out over new ones.

    I made a killer whole30 pot roast this week from here: http://blog.stuffimakemyhusband.com/2012/11/mega-veggie-freezer-beef-stew.html
    This lady is amazing, BTW! She has a whole month make ahead meal plan for the whole30. Check it!