Whole 30 Week 3 Recap

Happy Monday everyone! We've made it through week 3 of our Whole 30 journey and man I can't believe we've made it this far. Lots of temptations and lots of vivid dreams about food. I think I dreamed about pancakes and french toast most of last night...

So, let's get into it! I've tried to link up compliant brands and recipes where applicable.

Day 15
Breakfast: Scrambled eggs and Whole 30 Latte
Snack: Pumpkin Apple Bake
Lunch: Leftover meatballs and tomato sauce
Dinner: Buffalo Chicken Casserole

Buffalo Chicken Casserole

Day 16
Breakfast: Scrambled eggs, chicken sausage, avocado, coffee with almond milk and cinnamon
Lunch: Leftover buffalo chicken casserole
Dinner: Lemon roasted shrimp, roasted asparagus and rosemary red potatoes
Snack: Pumpkin apple bake

Day 17
Breakfast: Scrambled eggs, bacon, Whole 30 latte
Lunch: Chicken sausage and sauteed spinach
Snack: Larabar
Dinner: Meatloaf - actually really good!

Meatloaf 

Day 18
Breakfast: Scrambled eggs and bacon, coffee with almond milk
Lunch: Loaded sweet potatoes - my newest obsession!!
Dinner: Pan seared pork chops, green beans with cashews and stewed cinnamon apples

Day 19
Breakfast: Hard boiled eggs, avocado and bacon, coffee with almond milk and cinnamon
Lunch: Leftover loaded sweet potatoes fries plus pecans
Dinner: Burgers and leftover sweet potatoes

Day 20
Breakfast: Scrambled eggs and avocado, Whole 30 latte
Snack: Smoothie
Lunch: BLTA (used lettuce as wrap)
Dinner: Grilled chicken wings

Day 21
Breakfast: Scrambled eggs and chicken sausage, coffee with almond milk
Lunch: Loaded sweet potatoes - yes for the 4th time this week!
Dinner: Chicken kebabs and collard greens

Chicken kebabs

Final Thoughts!
-Lifesavers... ghee, Tessemae's ranch dressing, Primal Kitchen mayo
-We have produced sooo many dishes since doing Whole 30. Our dishwasher has been on nonstop!
-Still feeling great from the elimination of junk and the sugar that is actually in almost everything. I do think we've probably had too much fruit over the last 21 days, so we've committed to limiting that this week
-I do want to note that everything we've done so far has been to the best of our knowledge. I've checked every ingredient and asked questions if we've been out (which hasn't been much). I even took straight black coffee home from my favorite coffee shop to use our own almond milk.
-Last, one of the strictest rules of Whole 30 is to avoid the scale for the entire 30 days which is fine because ours is away in a linen closest never to be seen again... but I can definitely see a change in both myself and Mr. B. I will uncover the scale at the end and weigh ourselves because I think we both have a round about idea of where we were to begin with. 
-So, cheers to entering the last and final week of our Whole 30 challenge journey! :)

Happy Friday!

We've made it another week, so here's another installment of Five on Friday!

one | Blog Love - Wedding Edition
Mr. B and I got a sweet surprise last week when our photographer, Five Copper Creative, posted a blog about our wedding. It was so fun to relive, and I love to see which pictures they chose to put up on their site. Especially since we're in the middle of creating our wedding album, I like to see what the professionals saw as their best work. Well, the surprises didn't stop there! Five Copper Creative notified us this week that our wedding will be featured on Tidewater and Tulle! It's a blog focused on Southeastern VA and the Outer Banks. So excited! 

two | Hello, Pizza
I have to give you a follow up to my last blog about morphing meals. I said we'd be making a pizza with Mr. B's leftover BBQ, and let me tell you! This did not disappoint at all. A definite repeat item! It consisted of: Sweet Baby Ray's Sweet and Spicy BBQ Sauce, pepper jack cheese, caramelized jalapenos and onions, Mr. B's BBQ and to top it off Mr. B's eastern style BBQ sauce and cilantro. Hello, amazing!

three | Adult Life

I could talk about so many things here, but what I'm specifically referring to is the fact that we finally have a second nightstand. I know, I know. Mr. B was a package deal, and he only had one nightstand when we met. Little did he know I'd be the lucky one who would be using it all this time. Well, last night he finally got to fall asleep next to a real deal adult nightstand, and not his makeshift one that will go unnamed. So, cheers to that!

four | 3-0 WHAAT?!

2 weeks from turning thirty. That age clearly deserves the full word. THIRTY. Can we talk about that for a minute? This deserves its very own post. It's really crazy to actually think about. I'm married and turning thirty within a month of each, and to be honest I wouldn't have changed that timeline for anything in the world. 

five | The Fun Stuff

Let's get to what really keeps us up at night...

• Mr. B and I recently saw The Intern - a must see! Finally a feel good movie out there to enjoy. Plus, you can't beat a date night dinner of movie popcorn!
• Finished Winter Street by Elin Hilderbrand in record time. Great and easy read for the holidays! Now onto Winter Stroll, as mentioned here. 
• Two songs I can't get enough of right now: Meghan Trainor/John Legend - Like I'm Gonna Lose You and Cam - Burning House
• I'm wayyy late to the party, but I just started watching Scandal. Tell me why I haven't started this sooner?!
• I've totally been into cozy winter sweaters, and I recently bought this, this and this from Loft. Clearly, now I need them in every color!

Enjoy your Friday!

If you want in on the fun, join Christina, April, Darci and Natasha every Friday!

Morphing

Well, it's official and surreal - I have a new name! After 1.5 hours at the social security office, my number was called and it took 2 minutes to make the official change. Nothing ceremonious about it. It felt like a "no soup for you" kinda transaction (Seinfeld... get it...?). I'm sure it will continue to feel even crazier once I start seeing it in print! I'm mostly excited about potentially getting a new driver's license picture - new name, new picture right?!

This past weekend Mr. B spent some time getting used to his new toy - The Big Green Egg. I know I've mentioned before that he loves to grill, and making eastern NC style BBQ is his favorite! He goes all the way making his own secret rub and sauce. If you try realllly hard he may just give up his recipes, but we'll see. His BBQ never disappoints, and on a perfect fall day the smell is quite intoxicating.

It's always easier to cook more BBQ than we need, and I'm usually stuck trying to morph it into something else wonderful. Over the years, we have most definitely succeeded at doing this. We always make it a competition at who can come up with the best moprh. Last night's was basically southern comfort food. I call this my cornbread, BBQ, extra sauce hash-y type thing. It's a very official name. And it's A-mazing!

We also love putting his leftover BBQ into a taco with a quick crunchy slaw and avocado. A household favorite! This would probably be awesome with an egg on it too. Later this week we're getting crazy and putting BBQ on pizza (probably with an egg, duh!). 

We're approaching the world's biggest morph meal holiday. Do you have any great go-to morph meals?