3,2,1, WHOLE30!

Hey Everyone!

Well, today marks the first day of our gym's Whole30 Nutrition Challenge. We've both been photographed, measured, and taken through a baseline workout. All of those things will be repeated on day 30. In addition to recording our starting conditions, we're all systems go with the food choices. Meat, vegetables, healthy fats, some fruit, nuts and seeds. And we've eliminated the grains, legumes, sugar, alcohol, and dairy. Basically, what you see below is what we're working with for the next 30 days.



So for those of you taking part in a Whole30 nutrition challenge now, feel free to lean-on us for some tasty Whole30 approved feasting ideas :)

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We hope you all had wonderful 4th of Julys! We don't know about you, but for us, it was kind of an odd 4th. First of all, it was over 100 F outside, and second of all - it was in the middle of the week! That being said, we took down a monstrous WoD (Workout Of the Day) at The Foundry in the morning and hit the town for lunch. Post sweat fest and lunch we decided, since it was so hot out and we had a day off, to lay low in the AC. We spent the whole afternoon watching House Hunters International and napping (our guilty pleasure). It was pretty awesome, not going to lie ;)

After napping and chilling out, we got off our mellowed-out butts and got things going in the kitchen! And with that, we'd like to present you with our newest creation, The South African Smoke Jalapeno Burger!

The South African Smoke part of the name comes from the name of the Trader Joe's spice that really put the defining flavor into this burger. If you live by a Trader Joe's it is DEFINITELY worth buying the South African Smoke spice grinder! Here's the description according to TJ's: "South African Smoke begins with African-grown paprika that is slow-smoked for 48 hours over a sustainable African hardwood called Acacia Saligna, commonly used as barbecue coals. This process enriches the paprika with a smoky, roasted flavor that evokes the South African braai, or barbecue. The smoked paprika is blended with sea salt, garlic and basil and packaged in a grinder, giving you fresh-ground flavor in every twist."

It seriously MAKES this burger!

South African Smoke Jalapeno Burger
Servings: 4 larger burgers or 6-8 smaller ones
Ingredients:

• 1 lb Grassfed Ground Beef
• 1/2 Yellow Onion
• 4 Baby Zucchinis or 1 small/medium Zucchini
• 2 Jalapeno Peppers
• Handful of Fresh Cilantro
• 2 Eggs
• Heavy Sprinkle of South African Smoke spice from Trader Joe's
• Salt to taste -- we used a sprinkle of the Pink Himalayan Salt from Trader Joe's

Directions:

1) Dice up your onion, zucchini, jalapenos, and cilantro

2) In a bowl, combine the chopped veggies and the ground beef until fully mixed

3) While mixing, crack both eggs and work into the mixture -- the eggs help hold the burgers together

4) Season mixture with South African Smoke and salt and mix again to distribute evenly

5) After mixing all the ingredients, go ahead and shape the mixture into patties. The size is up to you, we like our burgers a little larger

6) Go ahead and cook them up! Since it was so hot outside, we opted to cook them up in a skillet with clarified butter, but OBVIOUSLY, these bad boys are born for grilling! 

7) The duration of cooking is totally up to you, it depends on how you like your meat. We like ours nice and red in the middle, so we let the burgers sit on one side for about 3-5 minutes and then only a couple of minutes on the second side

8) Plate it up and enjoy the spicy, smokey, meaty flavors!

We just ate our burgers with avocado, cucumber slices and carrots. You can also make a "bun" out of iceberg lettuce, or plop it on a bunch of mixed greens. Regardless, we think the combo of a hot burger with cold crispy vegetables is super delicious!!

Enjoy this recipe and let us know what you thought of it!!

For those of you starting your Whole30 challenges today, we are so excited for you! Stay focused on your goal to improve your health, and have fun with all the AMAZING Whole30 friendly Paleo recipes out there!

~Scott & Lina