This week Bob had an idea to try making a tuna salad but use avocado instead of mayonnaise.  I thought it was a fantastic idea.  It was quick, easy, and satisfied that craving.  My mother-in-law suggested using endive leaves as wraps and that is just what we did.  Yum!

Ingredients:
1 large avocado, pitted
salt to taste
1 Tbls lemon juice
1 bunch celery, chopped
1/4 C chopped red onion
1 1/2 C sugar snap peas (de-veined and cut in half)
1 large can of tuna, drained
Endive leaves for serving (optional)

Directions:
1.  Mash the avocado and mix it with the lemon juice and salt to create your "mayonnaise."
2.  Put the celery, onion, peas and tuna in a bowl and mix them together with the avocado "mayonnaise".  
3.  Chill for at least 30 minutes before serving.
4.  Enjoy!

Ideas for Eating:
Eat it as a side dish, on a sandwich, or like we did, by scooping it into endive leaves and eating it as a tuna wrap!  

BONUS!  Movie Recommendation!
Check out "Chasing Mavericks"

Chasing Mavericks is the true (dramatized, of course) story of Jay Moriarity, the famous surfer from California who died tragically young but inspired a generation.  Gerard Butler does a great job as Jay's coach, Frosty, in the movie.  It's an inspiring, family-fun flick, packed full of great motivational quotes.  

…after almost getting attacked by sharks...
Frosty:  (angry) What happened out there?!
Jay:  What do you mean, what happened?!  I saw a 15 foot shark swimming above me!
Frosty:  Yeah.  Ok.  But why did you panic?
Jay:  Um, because I was scared! (duh)
Frosty: Fear and panic are not the same thing.  Fear is healthy, panic is deadly.

Last week I shared a taco meat recipe for the crock-pot and promised to share the tabouli recipe I paired it with.  Here it is!  I prefer my tabouli to be heavy on the cucumbers, light on the parsley, and without grains.  

Ingredients:
-1 bunch of parsley (chopped)
-1 bunch of cilantro (chopped)
-4 peeled, deseeded cucumbers* (chopped)
-4 small (not cherry), deseeded tomatoes* (chopped)
-1 bell pepper (chopped)
-ratio of 4 Tbls lemon juice to 2 Tbls light olive oil… as much as you prefer.
-salt to taste

*if you take the seeds out the cucumbers and tomatoes it helps the salad stay fresh.  For the cucumbers, just cut them in half, take a spoon and carefully run the spoon down the seed side, scooping them out as you go.  

Directions:
1. Chop all the veggies up and put them in the container you want the salad to be served or stored in.
2.  Mix together the lemon juice and olive oil and pour it over the salad.  Mix to coat it all evenly.
*I prefer to put the veggies in the storage container, pour the juice over it, and shake it to mix.
​3.  Top with a little salt, stir it up, and add more as needed for your preference.

Ideas for Eating:
Eat it on it's own as a side dish to some grilled salmon.  
Put it in gyros.  
Have it with falafel.  
Top a bed of greens with it in place of a dressing.  
Options are endless for this fresh, delicious salad!

BONUS!  Book Recommendation!
Check out "The List" by Siobhan Vivian

Have you seen the movie, The Duff?  It's a quirky, fun, movie based on one of Siobhan Vivian's books.  I loved the movie and was excited when I saw that it was based on a book.  I learned that she has written many books for teens and thought this one seemed interesting.  It's the story of 8 girls' intertwining lives that are all affected in different ways after the annual "list" comes out with the names of the prettiest and ugliest girl in each grade.  It's light, yet thought-provoking and full of little twists that really made me think about how we judge people and how we never can truly understand each person's full story and perspective.  

Enjoy! 

The crock-pot is an amazing appliance that I have been (gratefully, and self-imposed) forced into relying on these past 6 weeks.  I'm happy to say that I haven't burned out on creativity (yet) and am excited to share this easy and delicious crock-pot taco salad with homemade salsa.  
I was actually inspired by a recipe on Pillsbury.com, a blog I don't frequent much.  I made the ground beef in the crock-pot over night and ate it once on a bed of greens with avocado and another time in a tortilla with some tabouli (I'll share that one soon!)  

Ingredients:
-3 lbs ground beef
-olive oil to grease the crock pot
-1 medium onion, diced
-1 cup of corn (cooked and cut off the husk, or frozen) *optional
​-about 2 cups homemade salsa

Salsa:
-3-4 medium tomatoes
-1 small bell pepper
-1 jalapeño pepper
-2 Tbls guac or taco seasoning
-1 Tbls lime juice

Directions:
1. Start with the salsa.  Roughly chop the tomatoes and peppers.
2. Pulse the tomatoes, peppers and lime juice in a food processor until it's the texture you prefer.  I ran mine until it was nice and smooth.  It took about 15 seconds.  
3. Add the seasoning and pulse a couple more times to mix it all together.
4. Grease the crockpot bottom and sides with olive oil.  
5.  Press the ground beef like a crust onto the bottom and up the sides of the crock pot so it's about 1 inch thick everywhere.  
6.  Add the onions and corn overtop the beef "crust."
7.  Pour your homemade salsa overtop everything.
8.  Cook for about 8 hours on low.  Scoop out the meat and place it in a fine mesh strainer to drain the juices.
9.  It's ready to eat however you want to!

Ideas for Eating:
Serve it in the traditional taco salad fashion.  Over a bed of greens, with any toppings you want!  I went with a bed of spinach and herbs, and a quick little mix of avocado, cilantro, bell pepper and fresh tomatoes.  
You could also throw it in a wrap with similar ingredients.  I paired with with tabouli (pictured above) and it was delicious that way as well.  Although, I have to say, I think I prefer just the traditional taco salad ingredients.  Enjoy!

Ketchup is one of those great universal meat sauces.  I just wish it didn't have so much sugar!  I tried making my own using a recipe I found on Holistically Engineered.  This was a few weeks ago.  I made a mason jar of it and it kept just fine in the fridge until we ran out 2 days ago after I used it in a pot roast.  

Other things we've tried it on include homemade sweet potato fries, hash browns, and chicken fingers.  Yum! 

Ingredients:
ROAST*
-2 pork loin steaks (enough for 4 people as part of the whole roast)
-2 large carrots, cut in 1/2 slices
-3 medium sweet potatoes, cut in 1/2 slices
-6 cloves of garlic, whole or cut in half
-2 celery stocks cut in 1/2 slices
-1/2 onion, chopped
-2 generous TBLS dijon mustard
-salt and pepper to taste
-1/2 Cup homemade ketchup
*the roast measurements are estimations… I usually just throw things in as I go and don't measure things out too well...

KETCHUP (makes 1 cup)
-17 oz jar of tomato paste
-2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar (ACV)
-1 tsp onion powder
-1/2 tsp garlic powder
-1/4 tsp black pepper
-1 tsp salt
-7 Tbsp pure water

Directions:
1. Make the ketchup by putting all ingredients into a food processor and processing until smooth.  Set aside a half-cup and store the rest in a glass container in the fridge for (as far as i've experienced) up to three weeks! 
2.  Layer the potatoes and carrots on the bottom of a crock pot.  Add the garlic, celery and onion.  Place the meat on the top of the vegetables.
3.  Mix together the dijon mustard and ketchup and spread it over the meat. 
4.  Top everything with a little salt and pepper to taste.
5.  Cook for about 8 hours on low.  Stir it up gently to break up the meat and mix all the juices together.  Enjoy!

Ideas for Eating:
You can cook with the ketchup like I did in roasts or as part of a homemade BBQ sauce on the grill.  Or, use it as a dipping sauce with fries or meat.  My personal favorite way to enjoy it is to pan-fry sweet potato fries in coconut oil (about 20 minutes on medium, flipping every 5), top them with salt and finish with a dip in the ketchup.  Y.U.M.M.Y.

BONUS!  Book Recommendation!
Check out "See Me" by Nicholas Sparks

I have always been a fan of Nicholas Sparks.  Lately though, I have felt that his stories have become a bit predictable.  Not so with his latest novel.  "See Me" is a thriller and it thrills me (see what I did there, haha) to recommend this quick read.  A thoughtful, exciting page turner!
I actually listened to the book on tape and Christopher Ryan Grant does a fantastic job capturing the characters in the way he reads.
Enjoy! 

This week, I was inspired by my sister to have wraps for breakfast.  She always has good fillings and meat on hand to throw in a wrap for a quick meal.  Now, wraps are not Whole30, but you can certainly have the meal without the wrap instead!  I went with a quick and easy red-pepper hummus, mixed crock-pot-roasted veggies, and roasted chicken.  

With the veggies, chicken, and hummus on hand, a delicious weeknight meal is only ever five minutes away!

Ingredients:
VEGGIES
-1 head broccoli
-1 head cauliflower
-2 zucchinis, sliced about 1/2 inch thick
-2 bell peppers sliced into thin strips about 1/4 inch by 2 inches… doesn't matter too much!
-cumin and chili powder to taste (or Guac seasoning is also delicious!)

HUMMUS
-1 can chickpeas (drained and rinsed)
-2 cloves garlic
-1/3 cup lemon juice
-1/4 cup of the roasted bell peppers
-1/3 cup tahini (optional, does affect the taste, but it's good either way)
-1/4 tsp cumin
-1/4 tsp chili powder
-1/4 cup light olive oil (optional, helps smooth out the texture.  I use light because I don't care for the olive oil flavor.  If you like that flavor, go with extra virgin olive oil)
-water (optional)

Directions:
1.  For the veggies, roast them as you want.  I only have a slow-cooker.  So I greased the pot, tossed the veggies in coconut oil and spices, and roasted them for 8 hours while I slept.  They came out a little overdone but delicious.  
2.  Set aside 1/4 cup of the bell peppers to use in the hummus.
3.  Make the hummus by first processing the chickpeas, roasted bell peppers, and the optional light olive oil until grainy, then add all the rest of the ingredients and processes again until smooth.  
4.  Add water, a little at a time, to the hummus and process again if you would like a thinner texture.  
5.  Store the hummus in the fridge for up to a couple weeks.
6.  When you're ready to eat, just spread a couple tablespoons of the hummus on a wrap, top with veggies and roasted chicken, then roll it up and enjoy!  (If you don't want the wrap, simply fix it as a "chipotle" salad and throw the veggies and chicken on a plate and top with the hummus.)

Ideas for Eating:
Heat it up, or eat it cold.  I tried hot, cold, and wrap-less and all ways were delicious!  Also, it's just as good without the chicken for a vegetarian option, or as a light breakfast.
You could also cut up fresh veggies and dip them in the hummus.