Whole 30 Day 1 (January edition)

After a fun, food-filled, alcohol-filled, and company-filled holiday season I'm feeling pretty yucky! AND we went to New Orleans to celebrate my brother in-law's big 4-0. We ate and drank, and ate and drank. AND I gained 2 lbs from that trip even despite all of the walking we did for 2.5 days.
Since Russell and I didn't make it past day 5 back in January, we both agreed that we would start again after our trip to NOLA. SO here we are again, day 1.

Breakfast for day 1 was beef and veggie (cabbage, carrots, celery, calabasa squash, potatoes, and zuchinni) soup that my sweet mother in law made us on Saturday. I can't seem to get enough of this soup over the past few days.

Lunch- more soup and sliced carrots with some of the premade HEB guacamole, and some sliced strawberries.

Dinner- Thai Basil Beef with Zoodles. (Russell's favorite.) 

Today I also made one of my favorite snacks, Beef Jerky. Here's how I did it. But feel free to add any spices you make like.
Grass Fed Paleo Beef Jerkey 

2lbs Lean Sliced Beef cut into strips
1/4 cup Coconut Aminos
2 dashes Red Boat Fish Sauce 
1 tsp Black pepper
1 tbsp garlic powder  (optional)
1 tsp onion powder (optional)
**Red Pepper flakes if you like some spice!

Combine all of the above ingredients in a mixing bowl. Cut the beef slices into small strips and add to the sauce you just made. Let the beef strips marinate for at least 2 hours. (24 hours is best but I rarely have that kind of patience when I'm making this.) 

Once you are done marinating, put your beef on the dehydrator trays. Make sure to allow some space between the pieces of beef. Turn your dehydrator on high and let cook for 5 hours.  Make sure to not over cook in the dehydrator.  You will get crispy beef instead of a chewier texture.
If you do not have a dehydrator you can do this in the oven. Cook the beef at 200 for at least 4 hours.