Wednesday, March 2, 2016

Whole 30: What I Ate For Dinner, Week Four

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Monday: burgers on portabella "buns", sweet potato wedges, cole slaw. I had prosciutto and avocado on my burger, A+J had cheese and regular buns

Tuesday: NNP's mocha rubbed beef in the Instant Pot, sauteed kale and cauliflower rice (regular rice for A+J). Not cute, no photo!

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Wednesday: Melissa Clark's shrimp and broccoli, sweet potatoes with ghee

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Thursday: scrambled eggs with salsa and avocado before yoga, banana with almond butter after yoga

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Friday: big pile of greens with tuna salad

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Saturday: salmon veracruz, whole roasted cauliflower

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Sunday: sopa de pollo with avocado - so delicious!


Whole 30: What I Ate For Dinner, Week Three


Monday: I turned leftover Zuni chicken into chicken and veg soup. It was not attractive so no picture!

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Tuesday: Moroccan spiced shepherd's pie two ways - beans for Josie and Adam, lamb for me

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Wednesday: lamb chops, sweet potatoes, sauteed spinach

Thursday: scrambled eggs before yoga, banana and almond butter after yoga

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Friday: egg drop soup, zoodles sauteed in ghee with crispy prosciutto, a few slices of deli turkey, a grapefruit

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Saturday: salmon broiled with taco seasoning, delicious salad of romaine, quick lime juice pickled
red onion, avocado, mango and cucumber

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Sunday: NNP's cracklin' chicken again, cauliflower salad

Breakfasts were mostly eggs, leftover things from dinner (lamb chops!) avocados, costco chicken sausages. One very enjoyable brunch at a friend's where everything was W30 compliant!

Tuesday, March 1, 2016

Whole 30: What I Ate For Dinner, Week Two

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Monday: Thai green curry with fish and zoodles

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Tuesday: tomatoey lamb pot roast from the instant pot, sauteed kale, baked potato with ghee

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Wednesday: the weird little piece of beef I had that I cooked with the lamb, roasted potatoes/black radish/cauliflower, olives for fat

Thursday: scrounged up leftovers after yoga class

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Friday: Nom Nom Paleo spicy tuna cakes, steamed green beans, sunshine sauce

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Saturday: broiled salmon with mayo/caper sauce, cucumber and avocado salad, roasted turnip soup

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Sunday: Valentine's day! Zuni Cafe roasted chicken, sauteed greens with tomatoes, boiled potatoes for dipping in the chicken fat

Breakfasts were mostly the baked egg thingy I threw together early in the week full of leftover veggies. I also had leftover salmon, and soup with sausage pieces and a poached egg. It was a week of dinner-for-breakfast! Snacks were excellent, including a really good nicoise-ish salad that was actually too much food.

Whole 30: What I Ate For Dinner, Week One

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Monday: Nom Nom Paleo's "Cracklin' Chicken Thighs," roasted beet salad with pistachios, sauteed swiss chard

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Tuesday: Pot roast from my Instant Pot, roasted cabbage wedges with roasted red pepper/almond/mayo sauce, cauliflower rice with parsley

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Wednesday: Tex-mex sweet potatoes with ground beef, salsa, guacamole

Thursday: scrambled eggs for dinner before yoga class, apple with almond butter after yoga

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Friday: pork chops! and sauteed spinach with carrot, onion, and coconut milk

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Saturday: roasted chicken, steamed broccoli, roasted sweet potato, spinach salad with beets and walnuts. Not enough fat in the meal so I was hungry a couple hours later and had a snack of prosciutto rolls stuffed with arugula, dressed with lemon, evoo and pepper.

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Sunday: Super Bowl Sunday! prosciutto wrapped dates, sausage stuffed mushrooms, kombucha

Breakfasts were mostly eggs, chicken sausage from Costco, sweet potato with added fat (coconut cream or ghee), sauteed greens, leftover dinner bits incorporated into the meal. Snacks I did a lot of tuna salad and egg salad with bell pepper strips for dipping/scooping.

Salmon Veracruz and Whole Roasted Cauliflower

Whole 30 has been an interesting challenge for me - how to fill my plate up with veggies instead of starch. Normally I'd have made pasta or rice or gotten good bread to go with this fish stew, but instead I roasted a whole head of cauliflower. It was delicious! And I really liked having a plate full of vegetables. I made Salmon Veracruz because we only had two salmon filets in the freezer and it's easier to make that last in chunks than if we were to just eat the filets!
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For the salmon, I satueed one large onion, diced, and a sliced clove of garlic in olive oil. I added one bell pepper, sliced, and two large zucchini cut into batons. I added 28 oz of diced tomatoes and let it simmer for a while, then shut it off and let it sit while I went to a toddler birthday party. When we got home I turned the stove back on, added a bunch of green olives and about 12 oz of salmon cut into chunks. Put on the lid and simmer till the fish is cooked. I should have added capers and raisins, but I mostly forgot and was hungry. It was great without them!

The cauliflower I cut off the bottom and took off the leaves, rubbed the whole thing with olive oil and salt, and stuck it in a cast iron skillet. Covered it with foil in a 375 oven for 45 mins, then took the foil off and bumped it to 400. It was browned 45 mins later, approximately, but I think I should have taken the foil of sooner as the inside was a liiiiiittle bit mushy. I look forward to trying it again.

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Whole 30 day 30

Oh man, I had a whole post written two days ago but had to restart my computer and lost it. Anyway, let's recap meals: 

Saturday – day 27
B: rrp omelet, turkey sausage, avocado, home fries w mustard
S: cashew lara bar at the indoor playground with fam
L: tuna salad on greens, sweet potato chips, deviled eggs at a toddler bday party
D: whole roasted cauliflower and salmon veracruzana - so delicious! I mostly made up the recipe – one bell pepper, two zucchini, one onion, satueed, two small cans diced tomatoes, all stewed together. I left this on the (turned off!) stove while we went to the toddler party and when we got home, I heated it back up, added a bunch of green olives, and the last 2 costco salmon filets that I had defrosted, cut into chunks. It was really delicious! Somehow I ended up just feeding myself so we had the leftovers for lunch the next day – kiddo tried the salmon but fished all the olives out and asked for “mow aw-bips!”

Sunday – day 28
B: scrambled eggs, sautéed spinach, avocado
S: banana at the playground
L: salmon veracruzana
D: sopa de pollo with avocado – best soup I’ve made all month!

Monday – day 29 – I still like eggs!
B: 2 turkey sausage links, 2 eggs, sautéed spinach, avocado
S: banana, almonds, red pepper with guacamole
L: the end of the salmon veracruzana
D: stir fry of cube steak (it was the only beef in the house!), shiitakes, bell pepper, cauliflower, green beans, sauce thickened with arrowroot – my first time cooking with arrowroot! I made up the sauce using coconut aminos, fish sauce, sesame oil, chili flakes, rice vinegar… mostly just splashed things in that seemed appropriate. Not sure I could recreate it, but it sure was tasty!

Today – day 30 (!!!)
B: 2 fried eggs, 2 pieces crispy chicken skin, the last turkey sausage link, sautéed spinach, olives, avocado
S: half a bell pepper, guac, blackberries, cashews, 3 slices applegate roast beef
L: will be more sopa de pollo with avocado
D: will be NNP tuna cakes with salad


I really can’t believe today is day 30. I feel like this week I’ve just hit my stride! I don’t know if I wanna call it tiger blood, but I do feel really good. Tomorrow I start reintroduction, which I guess I’m looking forward to? I’ll start with dairy – a little bit of cheese in my eggs, a latte on the way to work, maybe some yogurt with lunch but definitely yogurt (raita!) with dinner. A couple days later I’ll either do beans or non-gluten grains, then the other, and gluten will be last, I think. We’ll see how it goes, but I’m hopeful I can still be an “everything in moderation” kinda gal. These last 30 days have certainly taught me to be creative, and I hope the habit of filling my plate with vegetables sticks. I’m looking forward to vegetarian meals, though, so I’m anxious to get back to beans and tofu.

Friday, February 26, 2016

Whole 30 day 26

Day 26 HOLLAAAAA! Holy shit only four days left!

Starting to think about reintroduction, which feels crazy. 

Day 25 meals: 
1: three eggs with prosciutto and mushroom, half a sweet potato, 1/4 of an avocado
2: 3 slices turkey, cherry tomatoes, guacamole mini
3: leftover shrimp and broccoli, sweet potato, olive oil for fat
4a (pre yoga class): scrambled eggs, salsa, 1/4 avocado
4b (post-yoga class): 2 hard boiled eggs, guacamole mini, small bell pepper cut in strips

Day 26 so far: 
1. three eggs, prosciutto and mushrooms, most of an apple with almond butter (shared with toddler!)
2: two hard boiled eggs, 2 guac minis, cup of cherry tomatoes, cup of cut up mango
3: leftover shrimp and broccoli, sweet potato, olive oil for fat!
4: gonna be kind of crazy, actually... we have some canned tuna and I have a little mayo left, and we have some veg, so I'm thinking... salad and tuna/veg patties, maybe? Blargh, I wish I had a better plan. Must get to the grocery store this weekend! 

As far as re-intro goes.... I'm thinking dairy first. A little yogurt and fruit in the morning, cheese with my snack, more cheese (feta, how i've missed you!) on my lunch salad, and some sort of pulled chicken dish so I can make raita to go with dinner!

Wednesday, February 24, 2016

Whole 30 day 24

Wow, I've neglected this log for almost a whole week. That's crazy. No way will I remember everything I ate during that week, but let's recap a few highlights. 

This past weekend was GLORIOUS weather. It was 60 degrees on Saturday! Saturday morning we went to a W30 friend's house for brunch in the morning - she has two young kids so we brought miss J and they had a great time playing. I made a tortilla espanola and some lemon/caper/parsley mayonnaise, the hosts made homemade turkey sausage patties and chia coconut pudding parfaits with banana and strawberry, there was a sweet potato apple bacon hash and smoked salmon with cucumbers and another homemade mayo sauce. It was all so delicious! And so nice to socialize without worrying about compliance. Saturday afternoon we spent at a playground with spring coats on!!! Dinner was salmon rubbed with taco seasoning mix and broiled, and a salad of romaine, avocado, red onion pickled in lime juice and salt, and mango. Mango! So good and I never remember it. Pre Whole30 I would have defaulted to rice with the salmon, but the salad was excellent. 

Sunday we spent the morning at a playground and then on the walk home decided to try lunch out at the pub near our house. I had the burger and a salad, but no dressing because they couldn't do olive oil and vinegar, and no bacon, no cheese, no bun (no fun!). I had guacamole for my burger but they brought me a commercial vinaigrette for the salad so I had to use the guac as both burger topping and salad dressing. Honestly it was pretty sad. I hate feeling like "that person" at a restaurant and I could tell the waitress was annoyed. I guess it's good that we haven't eaten out much this month. 

Now that I'm in the home stretch (less than a week left!) I'm feeling pretty good. My NSVs are where I hoped they'd be - better sleep, clearer skin, better attitude. I think I've lost some weight but won't get on the scale till next Tuesday - my face looks thinner and my tummy is smaller... and I just feel lighter. That said, this is not a sustainable diet option for me long term. I miss beans and tofu and inexpensive protein! I've managed to mostly stick to our grocery budget but only because I got a grocery gift card for my birthday (my family knows me so well!). I think the sugar cut was the most helpful, and I hope I'm able to stick with saying no to things that aren't worth it once W30 is over. I like the idea of filling the plate with veg rather than starch, but I do miss the ease of rice bowls for dinner. I'm hoping rice isn't a problem for me! I can see myself doing a re-set w5 or w7 in the future if I need to, but I cannot see myself doing another w30 again. And I've been researching reintroduction protocols. I'm thinking dairy (cheese with breakfast, yogurt with lunch, sour cream with dinner), then beans (soy sauce with breakfast, black beans or chickpeas with lunch, tofu with dinner), then non gluten grains (oatmeal with breakfast, quinoa with lunch, rice with dinner) and gluten on the last day (toast, maybe farro with lunch, bread - or beer! - with dinner). At some point I'll reintroduce alcohol, will probably start with wine and save beer for the gluten day. We leave for a trip to New Orleans 9 days after I finish so I'm hoping reintroduction goes smoothly and I make good choices while we're traveling!  

Anyway, still a week to go! 
Day 24 meals: 
Breakfast: 3 scrambled eggs with prosciutto, half an avocado, half a sweet potato. No greens left from last night, alas!
Snack: 3 slices compliant turkey, a bunch of cherry tomatoes and a wholly guacamole mini cup, banana and a few tbsp almond butter
Lunch (will be): leftover mocha rubbed beef, cauli rice and kale
Dinner (will be): baked sweet potato, melissa clark's roasted shrimp and broccoli

Thursday, February 18, 2016

Whole 30 day 18

Catch up post! 

Day 16:
Back to basics for breakfast with a chicken sausage, two eggs, half an avocado and half a sweet potato for breakfast. Snack was my favorite smoky spicy egg salad with red pepper strips and a banana with almond butter. Lunch was leftover chicken soup (not enough fat!). Dinner was Moroccan spiced shepherd's pie with sweet potato. 

Day 17: 
Same breakfast as the day before, but with a chicken apple sausage instead of the roasted red pepper and spinach ones. I really vastly prefer the spinach/RRP ones, the apple ones are kind of grossly sweet. Snack of Dietz & Watson mesquite smoked turkey slices wrapped around pepper strips with the end of my homemade mayo and some mustard. Also a clementine that was disgustingly sweet. Lunch of leftover shepherd's pie (way too sweet) and cherry tomatoes (too sweet!) in guacamole. WTF is happening to my tongue? Dinner of lamb chops, roasted butternut squash and satueed greens. The giant bag of "power greens" from Costco is awesome - cooks fast because it's baby greens and lasts us two meals instead of barely one meal, which is what we get out of the grocery store bags! 

Day 18: 
Breakfast of leftover lamb chop, a few butternut wedges and #putaneggonit. I always forget to cover sunny side up eggs so it was a little runnier than I'd have preferred, but edible. Snack of the last small portion of chicken soup (never enough fat), apple and almond butter. Lunch will be leftover shepherd's pie, more guacamole with some pepper strips. 

I realized this morning that I'm definitely sleeping better. The crazy intense dreams of the first ten days have worn off and mostly gone away and I was able to go back to sleep for half an hour after husband's verrry early alarm went off. My sugar cravings have abated some but aren't completely gone. It's been really easy to say no to off-plan food the last few days and I'm hoping that continues. 

Tuesday, February 16, 2016

Whole 30 day 16

Good morning day 16! 

Day 16. Over the hump! On the down hill slope! MORE THAN HALF WAY DONE.

Let's catch up on meals: 

Day 13 (Saturday)
Breakfast: Baked eggs over mushrooms and swiss chard, turkey bacon, black coffee
Lunch: Leftover NNP spicy tuna cakes, roasted broccoli and black radish, green beans, sunshine sauce
Dinner: Broiled salmon, sauce of mayo/capers/parsley/lemon, cucumber/avocado/scallion salad, roasted turnip soup

Day 14 (Valentine's day)
Breakfast: Hubs and kiddo had oatmeal, I had the last bits of salmon and green beans plus two fried eggs.
Lunch: A couple slices of turkey rolled around the last few bites of the cuke/avo salad, half a lara bar, and like an hour later a hard boiled egg
Dinner: Our favorite Zuni Cafe roasted chicken, sauteed power greens and burst cherry tomatoes, boiled fingerling potatoes for scooping up the chicken fat and juices from the roasting pan (by far the best part of the meal, yum).

Day 15 (President's Day holiday)
Breakfast: The end of the sauteed greens and cherry tomatoes, two poached eggs, one chicken sausage
Lunch: We went to a friend's house about 40 mins away for brunch; I brought smoked salmon (Costco hollaaaah) and a spanish tortilla and more mayo with capers and parsley. With the exception of a couple pieces of prosciutto and some grapes it was the only thing I could eat! So I ate rather a lot of it. When we got home at 2:30 I finished the turnip soup and the other half of that Lara bar from the day before.
Dinner: Chicken soup with onion, carrot and celery, leftover potatoes for starch and all the meat I could pull off the chicken.

I made the stock for the soup using the carcass of the roasted chicken from Sunday, and I did it in the instant pot. I wasn't sure how it would turn out, but it was.... fine? A little flat tasting but I saved the carrots for the actual soup and just chucked in the small mixed bag of veg scraps I had in the freezer (mostly celery and parsley and mushroom stems). I should have put an onion in there, too, but.... I didn't. It was quick compared to other stock making methods, at least, though it wasn't like lightning. I put in the bones, the veg scraps, and filled the pot 2/3 with water. Perhaps I should have added some fish sauce or cider vinegar? Anyway I put it on high pressure for an hour, but it took about 30 mins to come up to pressure, and then once it was done I let it release naturally for another hour, but by then I was ready to use it in the soup so I had to manually release it. The soup was fattier than mine usually is because I didn't chill the stock and scrape off the fat layer, but I guess that's ok for my purposes this month? I think I'll continue experimenting with pressure cooker stock, though. 

Friday, February 12, 2016

Whole 30 day 12

I've been logging my Whole 30 on the whole30.com forums, but I thought I should move it over here since this is where I usually write. I'm at the half way point now, and I'll keep posting in both places, I think. I'm back dating the previous posts so they make a little more sense. –ACB 2/16/16

Hey there day 12!

Breakfast: three scrambled eggs and a small handful of swiss chard, all cooked in ghee. Not enough food but it was a weird morning and I couldn't think of anything else! Of course, once the kiddo was starting to wake up and need attention I noticed the two on-the-brink avocados on the counter, oops! 

Snack: the end of the chicken salad with cashews and dried apricots, plus a few bell pepper strips and about a cup of mixed berries. Still not enough fat!

Lunch: Oh man lunch was so awesome. And it was just a bunch of random stuff I grabbed out of the fridge this morning! Thank goodness I've been doing so much prep. Two boiled eggs, a chicken sausage (one of the Costco ones that comes fully cooked, I heated it up but probably didnt' have to), half a baked potato cut into chunks, some roasted broccoli and cauliflower, and some blanched green beans, plus about 1/4 cup of homemade mayo and a handful of olives. I put it all on a plate instead of eating it out of the giant tupperware, so it felt like a real treat, even if my office mate was totally giving me the side eye about how much food there was ON said plate :-p 

Dinner tonight will be the NNP spicy tuna cakes - I think perhaps I didn't use enough sweet potato in the mix but we'll see how they hold up to reheating. 

Feeling a little lethargic this afternoon, and my shoulders and wrists hurt a lot, but I think that's from a really back and shoulders intensive yoga class last night. 

ENormous image of my lunch because I cannot figure out how to post photos! 

Thursday, February 11, 2016

Whole 30 Day 11

I've been logging my Whole 30 on the whole30.com forums, but I thought I should move it over here since this is where I usually write. I'm at the half way point now, and I'll keep posting in both places, I think. I'm back dating the previous posts so they make a little more sense. –ACB 2/16/16

Good morning day 11! 

Last night's dinner was some random piece of beef I cooked with the lamb we had the night before, so basically the exact same meal. Not very inspired and therefore not very good. Kiddo liked it, so that's cool, but I was bored. I did a ton of cooking after baby bedtime though: 

NNP's spicy tuna cakes (will eat for dinner tonight!) 
blanched 2lbs green beans
roasted the broccoli we got in our CSA (about a sheet pan worth)
roasted the 3 small beets we got in or CSA and peeled them
made my first batch of sunshine sauce - holy cannoli it is sooooo gooood
improvised a soup - sauteed an onion and a carrot in ghee, added about 3 cups of roasted turnips because i had a ton of roasted turnips, added a big scoop of the ginger paste i get at the asian market, and a quart of chicken broth. Simmer simmer simmer, buzzed it with the immersion blender and added coconut milk, lime juice and salt. It's delicious! 

So far today I've had breakfast and first lunch. Breakfast was some of that soup with a chicken sausage and an egg cooked and added on top. Super yum and I'm glad to have had some variety. Husband was like "you're having soup.... for breakfast?" YES. And it's good.  :P

My first lunch coincided with staff coffee/snack hour at work, as it does every Thursday. I brought in my plate of food and was glad for it - my snack was better than theirs! I had a scoop of chicken salad (homemade mayo, dried apricots, cashews, cilantro), half an orange pepper, almond butter and a berry medley I bought at whole foods on the way to work this morning. Totally overpriced ($5, oy) but a worth-it indulgence because it was delicious.

I really am eating more fruit and vegetables than ever before this month!

Wednesday, February 10, 2016

Whole 30 day 10

I've been logging my Whole 30 on the whole30.com forums, but I thought I should move it over here since this is where I usually write. I'm at the half way point now, and I'll keep posting in both places, I think. I'm back dating the previous posts so they make a little more sense. –ACB 2/16/16

That green curry with halibut was DELICIOUS. I'm looking forward to leftovers for lunch today! Worth the painstaking effort to hand cut each julienne of zucchini. Not sure I loved it enough to buy a spiralizer, but enjoyed the veggies cut in strips rather than chunks! 

Day 9 (yesterday) was hard. I wanted cookies all afternoon. There were easily 50 sandwiches left over after a poorly attended meeting and I had to move them (plus sodas and cookies and a mountain of cheese) out of the conference room they were in. So hard not to stuff a bunch of cheese cubes into my face! Meals were: 

Breakfast: the end of the egg bake, the other half of the avocado. 
Mid-morning-mini-meal: 5 leftover sausage stuffed mushrooms, an apple and some almond butter
Lunch: salad of arugula, celery and strawberries, topped with a big scoop of chicken salad (cashew, dried apricot, mayo)
Dinner: pot roasted leg of lamb (cooked in the instant pot on Sunday!) in tomato sauce, baked potato with ghee (I only ate half, it was a huge potato), sauteed garlicky kale. AFter dinner I ate the last four prosciutto wrapped dates and I'm glad they're gone now because that is definitely candy and I couldn't control myself around them. 

Day 10 is today! Day 10! I'm 1/3 of the way through! So far today breakfast was a 2 egg scramble of chopped roasted cauliflower with some leftover sliced scallions and jalapeno from garnishing the curry the other night, a little scoop of chicken salad, plus the last two slices of prosciutto which I crisped in the pan. It wasn't enough food, which is obvious when I see it written down. Needs more fat! Going to start adding a few olives to my plate in the morning, I think. 

I was hungry for my mini-meal pretty early but work interfered so I ate it at my regular 10:30 snack time. The last of the stuffed mushrooms (5), half an orange pepper dipped in almond butter. It's shocking how sweet bell peppers taste to me now! About to have my lunch of the green curry with halibut, which I'm looking forward to! Hoping it held up ok. 

So today and tomorrow are supposed to be my hardest days, according to the timeline. Yesterday was REALLY HARD so I hope I'm just a little ahead of the timeline, as I seem to have been for most of my whole30 - no hangover, KATT on days 3-5, exhaustion started day 6 as expected but my pants haven't felt tighter yet, thank goodness! The dreams though. Oh my god the dreams. I've been having intense and vivid dreams since day 2. It's really unsettling, even though they're not directly terrifying they're just so weird, and I don't ever remember the whole thing. I do wake up feeling like I didn't get much sleep despite my fit bit not showing an uptick in restlessness. My poor brain is working so hard at saying no to sugar I feel like it's throwing tantrums every night. Get it together, brain! I already deal with one toddler every day, I don't need shit fits from you, too!
 
Anyway, hopefully that calms down in the next few days? It's a long weekend and there are several family outings on the docket, one of which is a brunch at someone's house. I'll definitely eat in advance and bring something compliant to share, but I'm nervous about it. 

Monday, February 8, 2016

Whole 30 day 8

I've been logging my Whole 30 on the whole30.com forums, but I thought I should move it over here since this is where I usually write. I'm at the half way point now, and I'll keep posting in both places, I think. I'm back dating the previous posts so they make a little more sense. –ACB 2/16/16

Day 8! Starting week 2! Unbelievable. 

My snack on day 6 after dinner was three slices of prosciutto, each wrapped around a little bundle of arugula, and I dressed the plate with evoo and lemon juice and black pepper. It was AWESOME and just what I needed. 

Day 7 breakfast was a broccoli and prosciutto omelet and 3/4 of an avocado. My crazy kiddo ate a big part of my omelet! So I was hungry a few hours later, but we had eaten breakfast so much later than usual, that meant it was already lunch time! I knew I would be cooking a lot of the afternoon so lunch was four lettuce leaves filled with leftover taco meat. Definitely not enough for a regular day, but I was prepping for the week and making snacks for watching the Super Bowl, and I noshed on bits and pieces as I cooked. 

Dinner was the super bowl viewing party downstairs at my sister's place (we live in the same house but in two different apartments). I had buffalo wings (I gave her ghee so she could toss the wings with that and Frank's and keep 'em compliant), guacamole with raw veggies for dipping, sausage and spinach stuffed mushrooms, and prosciutto wrapped almond stuffed dates. I made the mushrooms and the dates, and I could not stop eating the dates! I think they were the first sweet thing I've had in a week - I've been eating fruit but these were reeeeally sweet - and it was hard to stop. I eventually switched seats with my husband because I needed the distance from the plate! 

This morning, day 8, I ate some of the food from yesterday: I made an egg back with the end of the taco meat, some leftover sweet potato cubes, a roasted red pepper, basil, and the stems of the mushrooms I stuffed which I chopped and sauteed in ghee, filled with 10 eggs. So I had about 2.5 eggs + meat and veggies and also ate half an avocado. I didn't want my morning snack till 11:15, at which point I decided to just wait until lunch at noon! I can hardly believe it. Lunch was the last pork chop from Friday night with the coconut collards and carrots side, plus a banana and some almond butter. I'm feeling shy on veggies for the day, but dinner is thai green curry with halibut, zucchini and yellow pepper. I hope it's good because I don't have a spiralizer but I did julienne five zucchinis! 

Saturday, February 6, 2016

Whole 30 Day 6

I've been logging my Whole 30 on the whole30.com forums, but I thought I should move it over here since this is where I usually write. I'm at the half way point now, and I'll keep posting in both places, I think. I'm back dating the previous posts so they make a little more sense. –ACB 2/16/16

Day six! Hubs doesn't eat pork but he was out last night so kiddo and I had pork chops with cilantro pistachio pesto, and a veggie medley of carrot, onion, ginger, garlic, and collard greens with coconut cream and cumin and coriander. It was delicious! I forget how much I like pork chops! Must remember that for when he's off playing games with his friends next time. 

Weekends are hard. During the week it's easy to stay on plan because I only have to worry about myself during the day. Husband makes breakfast on the weekends, and he made me three eggs, but I was still hungry a couple hours later. Had a spoon full of almond butter and some raisins an hour before lunch, so much for no snacking. My parents are visiting this weekend so we ordered lunch today from the sub shop around the corner - I had to order the burger with no bun, couldn't eat the fries, had to eat leftover veggies from last night. Should have ordered two burgers, as I was soooo hungry three hours later! I went to the farmers market and grocery store with my mom while kiddo slept, and I picked up some emergency Lara bars (and my mom bought my groceries! happy birthday to me!)... and then had to eat one at like 4 to get me through dinner prep. And now, having eaten a bunch of chicken, sweet potatoes, broccoli and spinach salad... I'm still hungry. I think I didn't have enough fat at dinner! Might have to go snack on some prosciutto, or it's possible I'm just a little bored and everybody else is sitting here on the couch sipping whiskey while we watch a movie. I did not find it challengng to avoid late night snacking during the week, and even though tomorrow is my birthday and the superbowl and it's gonna be fun and all... I'm kinda looking forward to Monday being easy again. 

Weekends, man. They're hard. 

Friday, February 5, 2016

Whole 30 Day 5

I've been logging my Whole 30 on the whole30.com forums, but I thought I should move it over here since this is where I usually write. I'm at the half way point now, and I'll keep posting in both places, I think. I'm back dating the previous posts so they make a little more sense. –ACB 2/16/16

Ok, Day 5, hello there! Not so grumpy today but that is likely because my darling daughter only screamed at me for like one minute this morning instead of the hour and a half that we have together. Thanks, kid! 

Breakfast was, again, two eggs, a chicken apple sausage, some spinach and half a sweet potato. I'm getting pretty bored of the sausage (it's too sweet!) but I still like eggs. Going to have to buy some squash and other root veggies this weekend so I can stop eating sweet potatoes at every meal! Blargh, just remembered I have another one packed for lunch today. Oh, I did change it up and put some coconut cream on the SP today, that was DELICIOUS. I think I might make a lamb curry type dealy-do this weekend and do a coconut creamed spinach to go with it. Maybe with raisins? Mmmm.

I am enjoying the challenge of thinking up interesting dinners within the parameters of W30, so at least there's that. I am getting a little bit meat fatigued, though. I miss beans and tofu and vegetarian food. I think I need to start incorporating more fish into my rotation. 

My mini meal today is my favorite egg salad with frank's hot sauce, hot smoked paprika, and mayo. I prefer it with poppy seeds too but just before I started w30 I mixed the poppy seeds into a batch of the grain blend I use when I make bread! I'll probably have to make some soon for hubs and daughter but will wait till I'm strong enough to resist the delicious aroma  :blink:

Thursday, February 4, 2016

Whole 30 Day 4

I've been logging my Whole 30 on the whole30.com forums, but I thought I should move it over here since this is where I usually write. I'm at the half way point now, and I'll keep posting in both places, I think. I'm back dating the previous posts so they make a little more sense. –ACB 2/16/16

Day four: I skipped the hangover but definitely feel Kill All The Things. 

M1: leftover taco meat scrambled with 2 eggs and spinach, side of avocado, topped with salsa. Also a clementine.
M1.5: chicken thigh, 6-7 olives, a little RRP dip and the other half of yesterday's cucumber
M2: (didn't eat this till almost 2:30, I think my mini-meal was too big today!) leftover smorgasbord of pot roast, a roasted cabbage wedge, some herbed cauli-rice and a little serving of the beet salad from a few days ago. I put more RRP dip on top as a sauce. It's 3 now and I'm pretty full. 

I'm going to a yoga class tonight which I hope will clear my head a little. Struggling a bit to figure out how/what to eat before and after, but Thursdays hubs and daughter usually eat whatever and I eat after yoga, so they'll figure it out for themselves (I heard talk of grilled cheese. Sigh.). I'll have leftover taco meat in lettuce cups, but we're out of avocado at home so.... i guess i'll put mayo on it for fat?

I had a terrible wrestling match of a morning with my toddler (refusing to get dressed, eventually peeing on the floor, still not wanting to wear a damn diaper, argh), there's weather forecast tomorrow that is changing my parents' plan to come visit, meaning I'm now on the hook for daycare pickup when I had made plans (solo plans, but still) to take an alternate route home tomorrow, and it's effing up my planned errand-running schedule for the weekend. I had meant to get to Costco to get supplies to bring compliant stuffed mushrooms or bacon wrapped dates to the Super Bowl party we're attending, but now that will mean leaving my parents alone. Which I'll probably just do, but doesn't seem very friendly. That, or leaving my husband with them but 

My KATT is manifesting as sadness and increased irritability. I was like psssh sugar dragon whatever, but it is a real thing. I'm a little sad and annoyed by today's confluence of events and so eyeing the fruit on my desk and wanting to eat it. I'm not hungry, though, so I know it's a sugar thing.



Whole 30 Day 4

I've been logging my Whole 30 on the whole30.com forums, but I thought I should move it over here since this is where I usually write. I'm at the half way point now, and I'll keep posting in both places, I think. I'm back dating the previous posts so they make a little more sense. –ACB 2/16/16

Day 3 meals were: 

spinach, sweet potato + ghee, chicken sausage, scrambled eggs
chicken thigh, 1/2 a cucumber, red pepper dip (mayo, RRP, red wine vinegar, salt, almonds)
lunch out with a friend! salad, huge piece of salmon on top (cooked in evoo, s+p)
dinner was one of our faves - tex mex sweet potatoes. Basically sweet potatoes with a bunch of taco fixings on top

I missed the cheese last night. Oddly not so much the sour cream, which is a surprise, and I had beef instead of beans (hubs and daughter and neighbor/guests mixed both). It was hard not to stuff the last few shreds of pepper jack into my mouth while i was cleaning up. 

Tuesday, February 2, 2016

Whole 30 day 2

I've been logging my Whole 30 on the whole30.com forums, but I thought I should move it over here since this is where I usually write. I'm at the half way point now, and I'll keep posting in both places, I think. I'm back dating the previous posts so they make a little more sense. –ACB 2/16/16

Last night's dinner was pretty good. NNP's cracklin' chicken is delicious but really messy to make! not sure I'll use that much ghee next time as the chicken gives off a lot of fat. Also an underseasoned beet salad with pistachios and cilantro and coconut aminos and lime juice, and overseasoned sauteed bok choy with garlic and ginger and fish sauce. Leftovers for lunch today, hopefully the bok choy and beets will continue to even each other out! 

Breakfast this morning was 3 eggs, a chicken apple sausage and a big handful of spinach. It seemed like a huge amount of food and I planned to share with my toddler. She definitely ate a bunch of the eggs and sausage, so I think I probably had 2.5 eggs and 3/4 of a sausage, and all the spinach because homegirl does not do green food (argh). I feel like that should still be enough , but I feel somewhat hungrier today. Fewer carbs on the plate than yesterday because I skipped the sweet potato, maybe? It's almost 10:30 and that's when I'll have my mini meal. 

So I was expecting a terrible headache and hangover feeling this morning but it hasn't hit me yet. I did have sort of a weird walk to work this morning (about 3 miles, takes me just over an hour because I have to stop and drop kiddo at daycare along the way). I pass by so many places where I used to stop 1-2 times a week for coffee or a treat, and I kept thinking "oh i'll just grab one of those croissants for when I get to work" or "mmm, a soy latte sounds good" and then remembering that those were out for the month. It wasn't like an active craving, just a passing thought. Yesterday afternoon when a coworker offered me a cupcake it was shockingly easy to say no, but when I walked by a bowl of hershey kisses on someone's desk I had to stop myself from grabbing a few. Makes me think I've been really casual and cavalier about food choices lately and I'm looking forward to continued mindfullness this month!

Monday, February 1, 2016

Whole 30 day 1

I've been logging my Whole 30 on the whole30.com forums, but I thought I should move it over here since this is where I usually write. I'm at the half way point now, and I'll keep posting in both places, I think. I'm back dating the previous posts so they make a little more sense. –ACB 2/16/16

I'm a little bummed to have missed Whole30 January, but I hadn't decided to do W30 till mid January, and then I needed some time to prepare mentally before jumping in - and to convince some friends to join me! I have a good little support group going with some of my friends, thank goodness. 

This is my first Whole30 and I'm in it for the NSVs! I don't have much weight to lose, save the few pounds of inevitable creep that come with an office job. There is almost always extra food after meetings, and I work at a university, so... there are a lot of meetings.I'd like to stop feeling like I have to take a sandwich just because there are sandwiches! Also, frankly, the catering companies around here mostly buy their desserts from freaking Restaurant Depot or whatever, and they are NEVER AS GOOD AS I WANT THEM TO BE. But hey, if there's a brownie in front of me, I'mma eat it, even if it is fake tasting and too sweet. Speaking of chocolate, I'd like to stop looking around my desk every couple hours hoping to find some.

I didn't used to have a sweet tooth, really, but when I was first pregnant the only thing I wanted to eat was plain beige foods like bagels and mashed potatoes and crackers. Then while breastfeeding it was like a giant free for all - eat whatever you want to keep your milk supply up! And I wanted a lot of pastries and M&Ms. Nowadays I don't think of myself as particularly hooked on sugar, but I do anticipate some difficulty/headaches the next couple of days. I was trying to ease off gently and had been really good for a few weeks but lots of work events last week and a trip to my grandparents' house this weekend means I've been right back in my bad habits for a while now. Last night, even though I KNOW I wasn't suppposed to, I had an ice cream cookie-wich and a manhattan. Oops? Anyway, it was a glorious send off of booze and sugar (and dairy and gluten!). 

Other things I did last night: made a batch of mayo (yum!), pressure cooked a pot roast, roasted the three sweet potatoes we had in the house, plus roasted a cabbage (cut into wedges) drizzled with ghee, and a HUGE beet that took like two hours. I really should have cut it in half first but the oven was already on for the cabbage and SPs, so not the end of the world. I also prepped 4lbs of chicken thighs for Nom Nom Paleo's cracklin' chicken, which I'll make for dinner tonight if I get home on the early side (we'll have the pot roast if not). 

Anyway, since this is a food log, too, here's what I've eaten so far today - will update tonight once I actually know what dinner is!

M1: 6:15am, one aidell's chicken apple sausage, two eggs over medium, half a sweet potato, frank's hot sauce, black (decaf) coffee
M1.5: 10:30am, two hard boiled eggs, one apple, handful of almonds
M2: 1:30pm, curried tuna salad (1 large can tuna, 1 grated carrot, 1 grated apple, handful of raisins, curry powder, salt and homemade mayo), one red pepper and half a cucumber for scooping.

Wish me luck with the next 30 days!

Whole 30, week one meal plan

Ahoy, February! Let's set sail on the good ship Whole30, shall we?

This week's meal plan:

Sunday: arrive home from NJ exhausted with cranky toddler. Throw together whatever's in the fridge. Turned out to be butternut squash soup I made for book club last week, plus some of Nonna's macaroni that she made us take home, a few meatballs from the freezer for toddler, and salads for Adam and me.

Monday: pot roast that I made last night in the Instant Pot! Plus roasted sweet potatoes and probably sauteed bok choy? Might make some millet or something for A+J.

Tuesday: Nom Nom Paleo's cracklin' chicken thighs. I cleaned the thighs last night and salted them, so if I get home on the early side I might make them Monday (tonight) instead. If I save them for tomorrow, we'll have them with salad.

Wednesday: tex mex sweet potatoes with seasoned ground beef and guacomole for me, beans and sour cream and cheese for A+J.

Thursday: lamb burgers or meatballs, CSA veggies - whatever get in the box on Wednesday

Friday: Mom and Dad are coming down and bringing chicken and vegetables; I'll add something else tasty TBD.

For lunches I plan to take mostly leftovers, though today I have curried tuna salad, which I made with a grated whole carrot and apple, some raisins, curry powder, and homemade mayonnaise. I stopped for a bell pepper and cucumber to use as dippers/scoops and for crunch factor. Hopefully we'll have enough leftovers, but if not, I can do tuna or egg salad easily. I hard boiled some eggs last night too, thinking Josie might like them for breakfast, but she was being a butt head this morning, so I just sent one in to school with her. Maybe she'll even eat it?

Monday, January 25, 2016

Meal plan, pre-Whole 30 edition

This is my last week of "normal" eating before I start the whole 30 on Monday! Eek/yay? I don't know how I feel. For Adam's sake I'm rotating in a few of our bean-based favorites since I'm not planning to make them super often in the next month (no beans or legumes allowed!). Here's my meal plan, with notes on how I would adapt to fit W30 rules.

Tonight: bean and cheese burritos. I cooked pinto beans in the Instant Pot yesterday, and there's rice in there now on a timer to be ready when we get home. We'll also add roasted veg since I roasted up a bunch over the weekend. Both rice and beans (and flour tortillas and cheese and sour cream) are out for the whole 30, so if Adam and Josie are having a meal like this I would eat the roasted veg, some sort of cooked ground meat with taco-ish seasonings, and I'd have the whole thing on a pile of greens instead of wrapped in a tortilla. 

Tuesday: green veggie pancakes (frozen from last week), black bean chili from the freezer. I can't have either of those things (pancakes are a no even if made with compliant ingredients) so I'd be eating something entirely different. I plan to make and freeze some pulled chicken and beef burger patties and have sausages available for situations like this. We can all share a side salad or other vegetable.

Wednesday: five spice cabbage and tofu. Adam and Josie would eat the tofu, I'd eat meat instead.

Thursday: lamb chops from the freezer, mystery veg from our CSA, which we get on Wednesday. Totally compliant meal!

Friday: Book club pot luck! My book club group is coming over on Friday night. I'm making a big pot of soup (minestrone? butternut squash? I'm not sure yet) and people are bringing salad, bread, cheese, wine, and some sort of dessert. If I had to guess, none of it will be Whole30 compliant (maybe the salad? and maybe my soup?) but if I were on W30 on Friday I'd make sure my soup was compliant and I'd make deviled eggs, too. 

This has been an interesting exercise, honestly. I might go back to some of my previous meal plans and do the same thing.

Friday, January 22, 2016

Meal plan, or what we ate this past week.

SundayI made short ribs braised in red wine and tomatoes (plus onion, bay leaf and lemon peel), and Mark Bittman's ricotta gnocchi. My parents were supposed to come down to visit and it was their wedding anniversary, hence the luxurious meal, but my mom woke up with a cold so we toasted them in their absence instead!

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Monday: I made those swiss chard pancakes, plus carrot salad and yogurt sauce and fried eggs. Tasty!
Tuesday: tuna melts! Thanks, Adam.
Wednesday: that Melissa Clark roasted shrimp and broccoli situation, but a huge batch of it. I have the last leftovers for lunch today.
Thursday: Bolognese out of the freezer over cauliflower "rice" and garlicky sauteed greens.
Friday: takeout. Either Tasty Burger or Tasty Momo; Adam has coworkers coming over to play D&D and it'll depend what the group is in the mood for.

This coming week will be my last "regular" week for a while. I'm starting a Whole 30 on Monday, February 1st. It's definitely going to be an adjustment, but I'm excited to try it. Essentially I'll be eating nothing but meat and vegetables, with occasional fruit, nuts, and seeds.... for 30 days. No dairy, alcohol, grains of any kind, beans or legumes, no MSG, no sugar (not even natural sugars), no carageenan as filler, no soy (so no tofu, no soy sauce no miso). It's going to be an interesting month. The point of the challenge is to change your relationship with food; it's a strict elimination diet to see if you are more sensitive than you think to certain food groups. After 30 days you reintroduce things a little at a time to see how they make you feel. I don't know what to expect, but I am hoping to break my pregnancy/breastfeeding induced sugar habit, and I'd like to curb some of the insomnia I've been dealing with lately. I've seen a little weight creep since  starting my new (100% desk) job, too, even though I'm walking 3 miles to get there in the morning.

Wednesday, January 20, 2016

Here are some things we ate recently

Mark Bittman's Salmon Burgers with roasted cauliflower. Tasty, and not too pricey because you're grinding it up anyway so you can buy cheap pieces of salmon instead of nice filets.

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Cranberry curd tart! So amazing! The crust is made of hazelnuts!



My mom made this ham, swiss and pear strata for Christmas Day. It was EXCELLENT despite not being particularly pretty.



Christmas Eve was manicotti. I think Josie liked them.



She also apparently likes hot sauce on her faux-gogi.



Roasted tofu and vegetable (delicata squash and eggplant) banh mi sandwiches, plus avocado and cucumber salad, pickled carrot and daikon radish, cilantro.



A couple of quiches (mushroom, artichoke, goat cheese and tomato, broccoli, cheddar) plus two chocolate babkas for our New Year's Day brunch.



Dave Lieberman's Moroccan Spiced Chickpea Soup, a perennial favorite here. Josie learned to dip bread in soup!



Chicken with celery seed and salt from Zahav, roasted fennel and shallot, sweet potato. Not a pretty picture, but good. Tahini sauce to go with.



Leftover chicken from above reheated in its cooking juices, plus cukes and rice and various pickles, made into lettuce wraps. Romaine isn't the best choice but it is what we had that day.

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Moules frites and champagne, because it was the only white wine we had in the house, so I had to open it to cook the mussels anyway. Herbed mayo for dipping the fries.



Oatmeal. Josie is learning how to use a "puun! puun! puun!"



And just a day or two ago, swiss chard pancakes, carrot salad and #putaneggonit.




Here are some things that happened recently.

First, Josie helped me make muffins! She likes stirring, does not like me helping her stir.

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We learned that Josie enjoys putting things on her head.

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And making other people put things on their own heads.

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Like, rather a lot.

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It was Christmas! I stayed up till 10:30 finishing a giant stuffed sea monster for Josie.

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She was underwhelmed.

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Though as of this morning, Nessie is popular.

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Also popular: the megabloks Josie was given by the women at Grampy's office. Thanks, Community Pharmacies!

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On our tiny Christmas tree, Josie likes pointing out "baby!", an ornament with a baby picture of our nephew Eliot, who is now five!

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New Year's Day brunch involved rather a lot of kids this year, including Darth Veda.

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Josie got her first hair cut, sob.

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And learned to bowl. Thanks to our neighbor Nick for teaching her how to use the kiddie ramp thingy.

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Over this weekend, we learned that Josie still doesn't like snow. Better get used to it, though, kid, there's more coming in a couple of days!

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