Happy Monday! I'm starting day 10 of the Whole Life Challenge today and am already seeing great results. Can't wait to see what life is like at day 55... and to see how it helps my running performance for the Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon!
If you’re trying to cut the crap out of your diet, this post is for you. Sometimes transitioning from an “average” diet to a clean diet can be difficult because we crave the things we’ve always loved. For me its things like ice cream, chicken and dumplings, shrimp parmesan, ribs, and french fries (sounds soooooooooo good! haha).
So, this weekend I tried some fabulous recipes that are compliant with my new nutritional lifestyle. These recipes were great choices because they were healthier versions of things I love - ribs and fries. AND - BONUS! - they are food I can eat on this challenge. While doing the Whole Life Challenge (WLC), my diet has become pretty restrictive - at least, from what I am used to. I’ve had to get pretty creative and have been scouring the interwebs for good eats that are WLC compliant. (If you're wondering why the heck I am doing this crazy challenge, click HERE).
Nom Nom Paleo has been one of my favorite blogs for a while, though I’ll admit I haven’t actually tried much from it (until this week!! HA!). The WLC isn’t 100% paleo (zero sugar, peanuts are OK, etc), so I’ve had to be cautious about the recipes I’ve tried.
Which brings me to Part One: Slow Cooker Korean Short Ribs. 100% delicious.
Click here to check out the Nom Nom Paleo recipe that I followed for the ribs. We took a trip to Whole Foods and got some grass-fed short ribs they had. And let me tell you... they were SO yummy. (For anyone doing WLC and following this recipe, be careful about sugar in chicken broth - check your labels).
I love this recipe because it was super easy (a few random things in the food processor, drop it in the cooker and 10 hours later you have an epic meal time). It also made me stock my kitchen with a few things I had never bought before - Asian pears, coconut aminos (a great soy sauce substitute!), coconut vinegar, etc. These babies were some of the tastiest ribs I have ever had. Definitely something we’ll make again. (Sorry about the lack of photos... after smelling them cook for 10 hours we were really anxious to eat them).
But every good hunk of protein needs a great side...
So, I present, Part Two: the best, easiest home-made ‘french fries’ ever.
Danielle’s Yam Fries (adapted from a bazillion recipes I found online)
You need:
1-2 yams/sweet potatoes
EVOO (extra virgin olive oil)
Sea Salt
Fresh Ground Pepper
Oven (duh)
Baking sheet
Instructions:
- Pre-heat the oven to 450. Yes, that is friggin’ hot.
- Peel the yams/sweet potatoes with a peeler
- Cut them into “steak fry” shapes. Pro Tip: try to make sure they are as equally sized as possible. With the oven so hot, tinier pieces will blacken a lot faster than larger ones. So make them as similarly sized as possible.
- Pile the pieces onto the baking sheet
- Drizzle juuuuuust a bit of EVOO over the fries and move them around with your *clean* hands to get them all covered. We’re not talking drenched, here. Just slightly oiled.
- Spread them out so they are in one layer, not stacked.
- Salt and pepper as much as you’d like!
- Pop them in the oven for 12 minutes
- Take out the baking sheet. Flip em’ and salt/pepper ‘em.
- Bake for another 12 minutes.
TA-DA. The best/easiest side-dish I have discovered, especially as a side for a recovery meal after a tough workout.
Enjoy! Hope you have fun cooking. And let me know if you try these recipes or know of something I should try!!
XOXODanielle / @BonjourDanielle
