WHOLE 30: DAY 18

It's day 18 of the WHOLE30 guys! YES!! Unlike yesterday, when Lexie and I both thought of giving up, today I have completely changed my mind. The main part of staying on this diet is remembering to cook food for yourself.. and not just any food. GOOD FOOD! Chances are that the food you used to eat tasted pretty darn good. Mine always did. However, the creators of the WHOLE 30 discourage trying to recreate meals of your yesteryears. While they have a very good point here, this is something I only partially agree with. Now do yourself a favor and break this rule. Personally, I think it is important to make similar meals so you won't feel deprived. Just don't go expecting it to taste exactly the same. The underlying moral is simply this: You won't be able to create a whole 30 approved bag of dove chocolates or your favorite pasta dish. It just won't happen. Plus, neither of those things are what you should eat. The entire point is to give your body all the nutrients it needs without all the crap. Think hunting and gathering. So sit down and think of an old recipe and then modify it. Please remember, it won't taste exactly the same, it's modified! Now allow me to show you the meal I recreated today. Anyone for Cajun Fried Tilapia with mango peach salsa and avocado? Modified for my lunch. It's so much more colorful and it was extremely good. I licked my plate! No peaches since they're out of season (but maybe next summer I'll try it again)
This was a huge success and I highly recommend trying it. In addition to our little tilapia cooking adventure, we made sweet potato fries with the leftovers from our chuck roast we're eating for dinner tonight. Here's a photo of them cooking. I don't have a great photo of the after product because we devoured them, but they were the simplest recreation ever.
This is another must try and I included the seasoning directions on the photo! Now everybody go get to cooking and being healthier!                                                 xo, Brooke

P.S. I didn't forget dessert. Check out some of our WHOLE 30 desserts  and look forward to more. BTW, the not whole 30 version of our homemade chocolates can be found here. For Whole 30, omit agave nectar and the cranberries and replace with just sliced dried dates. :) Oh, and I'll get these recipes up ASAP!