Okay, so my favorite food in the world is Asian food.

Clearly…my last recipe post was sushi!

So while being on Whole30, the cravings for asian food has been REAL. And I am so thankful to say that I found a recipe for sesame chicken that is Whole30 approved.

This chicken is subtly sweet with a pop of spice to wake your taste buds up and leave you craving more!

My husband and I are doing a little bit of modified Whole30 by incorporating brown rice occasionally, so we paired the sesame chicken with roasted veggies and brown “fried rice” (aka…sautéed cooked rice in olive oil with scrambled egg).

Whole30 staples you’ll need for this recipe are:

• Coconut Aminos
• Tapioca Flour or Arrowroot Flour
• Ghee

Whole30 Sesame Chicken

Directions:

1. Whisk all the sauce ingredients (except the tapioca starch) together in a large frying pan over medium/high heat and bring to a boil.
2. Once boiling, whisk the tapioca starch and 2 tsp of the hot sauce together in a separate small bowl until smooth. While constantly whisking, pour back into the frying pan until smooth.  Boil, stirring constantly, until the sauce thickens and is glossy, about 2-3 minutes. Turn down the heat to medium low and cook and additional  30 seconds-1 minute. Transfer to a large bowl, season with a pinch of salt, and cover to keep warm.
3. Place the tapioca starch and a pinch of salt in a large zip-loc bag. Add in the chicken and toss until coated.
4. Heat 1 Tbsp of the oil up in a large frying pan over medium high heat. add in half the chicken and cook until golden brown, about 2-3 minutes. Flip and repeat on the other side. Once cooked, transfer to a paper towel lined plate and blot off any excess oil. Repeat with remaining oil and chicken.
5. Transfer chicken to the bowl with the sauce, along with the sesame seeds. Stir until well coated.

Thanks to Food, Faith, Fitness for the recipe, this was a HIT in our house! Enjoy!

Okay, so Zach and I have never been ones to jump on fad-diets (or diets at all for that matter).

But since being on quarantine, we both feel as though our bodies are starving for better health, nutrition, and care. Not that we have eaten too terribly or been total couch potatoes the entire time, but we have noticed that we snack more and those snacks aren’t always the best choices.

The thing about doing a diet or lifestyle change is that when you do it alone, it has a tendency to be more difficult and easier to not follow through with the entire plan. So in order for both of us to change our bad habits and to begin to live a healthier lifestyle, we BOTH had to be on board and willing to go all-in.

Some friends of ours had done Whole30 and told us how much better they felt at the end of the 30 days. I went to work and did my research and made sure this would be something we could accomplish, both realistically and financially.

Whole30 is one of the better “diets” (if you want to call it that) for someone like me who would need a good bit of calories and protein incorporated in a diet. With my cystic fibrosis, I have to be careful with “dieting” because dieting the correct way is usually associated with a good bit of weight loss. For me, I’m already a good weight for my height and body type, so I am not looking to lose weight. I am looking to change bad habits and adapt to a healthier life-style.

I have a SERIOUS sugar addiction. Like, eat an entire bag of gummy bears in one sitting and load my Dunkin’ coffee drink of choice with cream and caramel syrup. So Whole30 is good for me in regards to the fact that there is no sugar intake (in any form) and no dairy intake.

However, that also means that my body will essentially be burning it’s own fat instead of the sugar and milk fat it’s used to burning–thus, ensuing the inevitable weight loss.

Hubs and I are currently on Day 8 of our Whole30 journey and I can already tell a difference in the way my body feels…

• I’m less bloated
• More “regular”
• Less inflammation (which is a HUGE win for my cystic fibrosis and asthma)
• Less wheezing
• More motivated

While Whole30 is a great plan, I am modifying it to help my own personal health issues. Where it tells you to not snack, I’m totally breaking that rule. BUT I am snacking on much healthier options:

• Mixed nuts
• Dried fruits
• Whole fruits
• Fruit juice
• Homemade beef jerky

So my body is getting the calories and healthy fats it needs to sustain my weight (with a little flexibility) but also not getting the bad “junk” it’s so used to living off of.

So wish us luck and be on the lookout for Whole30 recipes coming soon!!

Okay, so one of my BFF’s has created an IG page for her food creations (YAY!!!) and I’m totally inspired by her.

She always has had the best ideas for food creations and takes the prettiest pictures of her creations.

Oh, and she’s vegetarian for those of you who need veg inspirations (and a lot of her food is Whole30 approved…so yay for me right now).

Recently she posted about making sushi at home and made it look so tasty and easy that I decided to try some myself and it was a TOTAL win for our house.

However, we are doing Whole30 right now and this is not Whole30 approved (because, rice…). But if you aren’t doing Whole30 and LOVEEEEE sushi like I do, I highly recommend trying this.

Let me preface this by saying that you can do SO many variations of sushi, but my husband has a shellfish allergy, so I decided to do spicy salmon rolls to accommodate him. The best way to make this roll is to try and find sushi-grade salmon (yes, it’s a thing) at your local meat market or grocery store, I was not so lucky. So I had to cure it myself to reach sushi-grade.

What I’ve learned about sushi is yes, most of what you eat is raw, but it is cured in salt and/or sugar, which makes it safe for you to consume. The curing process takes about an hour and a half, so if you have to cure it yourself at home but are SERIOUSLY craving it, plan accordingly. 🙂

So without further ado, here’s my at-home spicy salmon sushi roll.

Spicy Salmon Rolls

Curing your salmon for sushi-grade:

Use a 3:1 mixture of salt and sugar with the zest of 1 lemon mixed in and sprinkle over your salmon filet on both sides.

Let it cure for 1.5 hours.

Your salmon will turn red and liquid will form around it, so don’t be alarmed! That’s supposed to happen. 🙂

Once the time is up, rinse your salmon with cool water and pat it dry.

Slice it up and turn it into sushi!

“I’m not racist.”

“I don’t see color.”

“I love all people.”

Stop.

None of these comments are helping.

Now before you continue reading, let me just say that I will probably say something to offend someone. I do not have it all the way right and I won’t pretend to. But what I’m asking is that our hearts begin to turn and that we start to learn from our brothers and sisters of different colors together.