dairy free

Whole30: Days 10-12 Recap

February 15, 2015

I am documenting my Whole 30 journey to help me see how far I’ve come and to keep me inspired through the whole process. I’m looking forward to the transformation in how I approach food, cook with it, and enjoy it. Read why taking on this challenging dietary adventure is so important to me HERE.

{Day 10}

Wednesday, February 11th

Ah, back to work! It was hard to get out of the house today on time since the last 4 days had been at a slower pace. But that is why lunch was kinda lame and half assed with some sausage & squash. It wasn’t really enough so I ate a fruit bar with it and that at least made it feel more complete. I looked forward to the rest of the day after that since I had soup planned, and thankfully it lived up to what I had imagined!

Breakfast

Quiche with pepper, onion, broccoli, and shredded chicken. Two slices of roasted acorn squash with salt and pepper.

Lunch

Spicy chicken sausage with roasted acorn squash, and a Trader Joe’s Apple and Coconut Fruit Bar.

This was thrown together right before we left, and it shows!

Not much going on so I had to add the fruit bar to fill up. It was the first time I had one so it was a nice surprise that is was good and not just blah and chewy.

Dinner

Asian inspired soup with shrimp and bok choy over zoodles.

This was the last Blue Apron meal I had to modify to finish up the box. This was the one that needed the most work as it was a soap with Asian flavors, like soy sauce and miso. I ended up using vegetable broth as the base and added ginger, seaweed, and coconut aminos to flavor it. I added the bok choy and the shrimp I sauteed. I poured all of that on top of the zoodles I had in our bowls. A tiny drizzle of toasted sesame oil (use it sparingly!), some sesame seeds, and green onions. Yum!!

This was sooo freaking good. I need to make this again, and again!

{Day 11}

Thursday, February 12th

The day started off rough with a rushed breakfast but ended picking up from there with a great salad and filling quick dinner. Glad to be a third of the way done!! Woo hoo!!

Breakfast

2 slices of quiche (repeat from Day 10), with some sliced strawberries

I really do hate how breakfast is so rushed some days… like today! Basically ~~ate~~ inhaled this while standing at the counter. Oh well 🙁

At least it was super yummy with some salsa verde.

Lunch

Salad made from arugula, pear, grapes, blueberries, and prosciutto. Dressed with oil and vinegar, salt and pepper.

I need to eat salads like this more often. I’m so used to savory salads but the bitter greens with the sweet fruit is a big win. Plus prosciutto is the best! It just went so well with the fruit. It was a big salad but most of it was greens.

Dinner

Sauteed Pork Cutlets with Roasted Veggies

It was so nice to eat a big mix of roasted veggies that was reminiscent to the mixes that I create in the summer. We needed something summery to bring us out of the winter blues. I used a mix of 1 big onion, 1 fennel bulb, 3 bell peppers, and 2 heads of broccoli.

{Day 12}

Friday, February 13th

Oh man I slept horribly last night. It took me forever- or what felt like forever- to fall asleep. Then I dreamt a lot. I even dreamt that I was eating skittles. I looked down and I was eating them and I freaked out that I messed things up in my dream, and then woke up freaked up too. Fun…

Breakfast

Scrambled eggs with prosciutto, grape tomatoes, guac, and picked jalapenos

I beat together 5 eggs that I cooked in any of the leftover Ghee that remained in the pan after I cooked grape tomatoes in there. We eat it with spicy guac, pickled jalapenos, and prosciutto.

Lunch

Thank god I had a frozen pack of a roast beef that I picked up from Costco since I didn’t have time to make anything. I defrosted the meat and Price divided it up. We eat it with leftover roasted veggies. I brought Koop’s Organic Stoneground Mustard with me from home as well.

I didn’t eat everything for lunch. But I did eat a banana later on around 2.30

Dinner

Spaghetti Squash with Meat Sauce

This might have been my favorite Whole30 meal so far. Prior to W30 we didn’t eat that much pasta but I was craving it, mainly I was craving a hearty meat sauce. And this worked out perfectly. I feel like I could eat this every day.

____________________

Autumn ate Goldfish right in front of me and I held back from having them. So very difficult!! And I made a cake for daycare for Valentine’s Day and resisted as well!

I am counting down to having a cookie.

Whole30: Days 7-9 Recap

February 14, 2015

{Day 7}

Sunday, February 8th

Price had to go into work today to make up time time he had missed from taking Autumn to the Dr on Friday so it was mainly just Autumn and I hanging around. I prepped food for Price but I got to do whatever for my meals. So I basically did whatever, and whenever. Like lunch at 2.30, very unlike me. But sometimes things are just ‘meh’ when it comes to the day and food.

Breakfast

Spaghetti squash with steak and veggies.

I got ta late start to breakfast so I just morphed it into lunch food. I used up the spaghetti squash, TJ’s Cruciferous Crunch mix, mushrooms, and some steak. I didn’t like that I make it into stir fry since once I was done with it it just felt weird to eat it for breakfast so I picked at it and ate the steak and some of the rest.

Lunch

Waffled Hashbrowns with a fried egg and salsa

This made up for my lack luster breakfast. I’m loving my Waffle Wednesday posts so I was excited to make this. I need to make more and more and more of these hashbrowns.

Dinner

Beef Burger Patty with grilled pineapple, guac & cilantro. Side of sweet potato fries.

I was struggling to think of what to make for dinner and ended whipping this up. It worked but I miss buns and ketchup. I think I only use ketchup for burgers and fries which is a vast improvement from when I used to eat it with everything. So I miss it with meals like this. But it was still really, really good.

{Day 8}

Monday, February 9th

We were getting pummeled with snow and daycare was closed so I stayed home with Autumn. It felt great that is was a

Breakast

Potato and veggie hash with 2 fried eggs

Lunch

Shrimp scampi with zoodles and an apple with crunchy almond butter

This lunch felt like a treat but I felt like I needed a treat as I was home yet again with Autumn because of the snow. Shrimp for lunch is such a treat! And it was a very good lunch. I make it scampi style with some oil, garlic, crushed red pepper, and some ghee.

And an apple with almond butter never hurts anyone. So good.

Dinner

Chicken breasts with a kumquat relish on a bed of chard and mashed potatoes (Modified Blue Apron Meal)

This was a winner! We loved it. It was so flavorful and hearty.

I forgot to cancel Blue Apron this week so I just ended up modifying the ingredients to make it Whole30 compliant. I skipped the sugar in the relish recipe and I swapped out the freekah for the mashed potatoes made with vegetable broth. And I made a pan sauce with the drippings in the pan after I cooked the chicken, some veggie broth, and almond flour. I have to make this one again.

{Day 9}

Tuesday, February 10th

Yet another snow day. The MBTA was closed down so I had to work from home (unless I drove in), but daycare was closed so I had Autumn at home, so no real working, besides a conference call. Price had to get in so he drove in. So just me and Autumn again! 🙂

Anyway, I feel that the biggest progress in this process

Breakast

Scrambled eggs with veggies, salsa mixed an an avocado, and pineapple

Price was still home when I made this so I enjoyed the company. Autumn ended up eating quite a bit

Lunch

Chicken with swiss chard mashed potatoes and asparagus

I’m always so glad when I make a lot of food when cooking something as it makes the next meals come together quickly. As in this one as I got to enjoy leftover chicken and mashed potatoes from the night before. I just quickly made some asparagus in a skillet and ta-da, all done!

Dinner

Pork Cutlets with a Beet, Heirloom Carrot, and Hazelnut Salad (Modified Blue Apron Meal)

There was not much to modify about this recipe to make it Whole30 compliant, just ditch the butter and use ghee. Simple! And we ended up with a delicious, filling dinner. Plus, it just meant that I only needed to dirty a pot and a skillet. Next time, if I use prepared beets I’ll only need to dirty a skillet- such a win!!

____________________

I’m glad that I have stuck with Whole30 so far at this point without any slip ups. The strict restrictions have really helped me stay in check with what I was eating while at home, which is when I will most often snack on stuff like Ritz crackers or Goldfish crackers. It’s not about not even having them at home, since I have other similarly tempted things (chocolate pudding, cheese, etc), but more about controlling cravings. yay!

We had some great dinners so the repetitive nature of some of the foods so far is. I’m glad that I forgot to cancel the Blue Apron package as those dinners were fantastic!

Waffled Hashbrowns

February 11, 2015

Here I am 10 days into Whole30.

It’s awesome. It sucks. I feel inspired to jazz up our meals. I hate cooking.

Basically, I just want to bake some damn chocolate chip cookies.

I started to question doing Whole30 when I realized I couldn’t have waffles. What? Huh? Jk! But really, the foods I miss the most are breakfast foods. Sure, eggs are breakfast foods, but so are pancakes, bagels, and waffles. But it’s only a month.

Besides, I can figure out other fun ways to use the waffle iron to bust out some delightfully delicious food.

In this case, I used the waffle iron to make hashbrowns because hashbrowns are great but Waffled Hashbrowns are even better. It makes them extra crunchier.

And it’s super simple too! I used fresh potatoes that I just tossed in my food processor (fine shred), but post Whole30 if I’m feeling chill I will just grab a big bag of frozen shredded potatoes and have at it.

And of course #putaneggonit.

Waffled Hashbrowns

Make 4 Hashbrowns

Ingredients

4 Large Potatoes/ 4 Cups frozen shredded potatoes
1 teaspoon seasoned salt
vegetable oil/olive oil (I used a Misto sprayer, but cooking spray works well too)

Process

If using fresh whole potatoes, shred the potatoes in a food processor or on a box grater.
Season the potatoes with the season salt and black pepper, mix to evenly distribute.
Preheat the waffle iron according to your manufacturer’s directions.
Once preheated, generiously spray it the bottom piece with oil. Add 1/4 of the potatoes to the waffle iron, spray the potatoes and top of the waffle iron with oil, and close. Cook until there is no more steam coming from the waffle iron and it is golden brown and crunchy. Repeat until you have made 4 hashbrowns.

Whole30: Days 4-6 Recap

February 10, 2015

{Day 4}

Thursday February 5th

Ugh, such a rough day. On Wednesday night, I was at work until 1.30 making up time from Monday’s snow day. It sucked. I loved chugging along working but it just make the week crazy, especially since I had to travel to Miami for work today.

Breakfast

Eggs with diced avocado

It’s so weird to me to eat before work. I don’t mind but it makes me super hungry by lunch time as 5 hours have past by then. I enjoy having it done and accomplished, but it’s still weird to me. Plus, it’s weird to me to eat so many eggs. I miss bagels and oatmeal.

Lunch

Salad with Steak (leftovers). Salad was made from romaine, sprouts, radishes, celery, mango, grape tomatoes. I used up the dressing I had made earlier in the week.

So good! I love getting to cook once and use the leftovers for lunch again. Plus, it was just so dang good.

Dinner

Fruit Cup (no picture)

I was traveling and not feeling great so I kept it pretty simple with a fruit cup that I picked up from Starbucks. On the flight I actually threw this, and lunch, up. Ugh. I wasn’t sure if it was a W30 issue, a food issue, or just a stomach bug. I ultimately found out on Friday morning that Autumn threw up a few times throughout the night. Poor Chicken! Poor Price! Poor me! Such a bummer not to feel well.

{Day 5}

Friday February 6th

I was traveling for work so the normal routine was thrown out the window. Plus, I wasn’t feeling well. I could have killed someone for some Saltines. But I just stuck with W30 and got through it. Thankfully I started to feel better as the day went on.

Breakfast

Fruit Cup & Green Tea

We met downstairs at our hotel to get breakfast prior to going to the job site. I grabbed an overpriced fruit cup and a large green tea. Although I wasn’t feeling great I was still jealous of Juli and Alexa for getting slices of spinach and feta quiche. I WANT CHEESE.

Lunch

Veggies (Carrots, broccoli, celery), salted pistachios, pear

I made traveling work the best that I could by a box of veggies and ranch dip and a bag of pistachios at the airport. I ditched the ranch dip immediately to avoid any temptation. I hadn’t had pistachios in a long time so I really enjoyed these, although they did cost me $8! I had brought the pear with me from work on Thursday to eat that night but I didn’t feel well enough to. I certainly enjoyed it for lunch.

Dinner

Sauteed fish with spinach and roasted fennel and tomatoes.

Man, it was good to be back home!!

Price had a crazy day taking Autumn to multiple Dr’s appointments so he didn’t get to eat on a normal schedule but I’m proud he stuck with W30 and didn’t cheat. I think that already seeing a different in how clothes wear on him helps.

Anyway, dinner was really good but I used a bit too much seasoning on the fish.

{Day 6}

Saturday, February 7th

We survived our first weekend day doing Whole30.

Breakfast

Potato hash, Adiell’s chicken & apple sausage with eggs, hot sauce.

Normally we do something like a bagel, waffles, or a cheese veggie omelet so this was sorta a change up. I miss cheese on eggs.

Lunch

Taco Salad- ground beef (85/15), romaine, radishes, mango, salsa, sprouts, fresh cilantro, avocado, TJ’s pico de galo

We managed to make it through food shopping at Trader Joe’s without diving head first into the display of cupcakes and fresh baked bread. ugh. Plus, fed Autumn 3 samples of portobello mushroom lasagna. So we were really hungry when we got home and chowed down on this yummy salad.

Dinner

Shrimp ‘pad thai’ made with Well Fed’s Sunshine Sauce, zoodles, 2 eggs, and TJ’s Cruciferous Crunch (bag mix)

This was so good. I hadn’t had Sunbutter (sunflower seed butter) before so it was fun to try. Plus, I made the Sunshine Sauce from Well Fed’s book, which was really good. Price suggested that I make it spicier next time.

My stomach felt a little funny afterwards but I don’t know if it was just something lingering from Thursday night.

____________________

Aside from being sick Thursday I have been feeling great. But I might kill someone for a cookie.

I asked Price how he was feeling and he felt great too. He was saying that his mood was better, less adjutated. He had joint pain in the beginning, but it has been lessening day by day. He has not been craving food like I still have been, but he misses that ‘full’ feeling that he has been used to.

On to Day 7 and so forth…

Whole 30: Days 1-3 Recap

February 7, 2015

{Day 1}

Monday, February 2nd:

Well, I worked at home today because of the stupid snow storm Linus. I had some extra flexibility as I was able to cook part of my lunch at lunch time, and not just reheat it then. I felt full throughout the day as I ate well and drank a lot of decaffeinated Lady Grey tea with lemon. I wanted a cookie at the end of the day.

Breakfast

A crustless quiche made with sauteed mushrooms and caramelized onions. I added Franks Red Hot on top. And a few strawberries.

I prepped this Sunday night by cooking the mushrooms and onions, separately. I then beat 16 eggs in the morning and mixed the chilled mushrooms and onions into that. I put all of that in a pie plate that I generously coated with olive oil. Baked for 65 minutes at 350 degrees, cut 6 slices.

Lunch

A big salad with sauteed pork seasoned with Adobo. I used 1/2 a romaine heart, sprouts, about 2″ of English cucumber that I chopped up, little bit of broccoli, 1/2 of a tomato, and a few radishes I sliced very thinly.

I made the dressing with the juice from half a lemon, 1 heaping tablespoon of organic stone ground mustard, a generous pinch of cumin, champagne vinegar, and extra virgin olive oil. I made made enough for 3 salads.

Dinner

Thai pork burgers with roasted portobello mushrooms ‘buns’ with roasted broccoli.

I added some green curry paste to the 1lb of pork, and made 3 patties. I used 2 for our dinner and saved the other for Day 2 breakfast. I sprayed a bit of olive oil (using my Misto Olive Oil Sprayer) on the mushrooms and placed them under the broiler with the broccoli, which I also sprayed. I chopped up some cilantro and mixed it into 1/2 an avocado and put that on the cooked burgers. I sprinkled some Toasted Sesame Ginger spice blend and then squeezed some lemon over the broccoli.

The flavors were good but I don’t like to actually eat burgers portobelo buns… too messy!

{Day 2 }

Tuesday, February 3rd:

The day was a piece of cake. Honestly. I didn’t have any real cravings so yay! I felt great. Making breakfast is a pain as we juggle so much in the morning but worth it as it done with by when we leave for work.

Breakfast

Roasted butternut squash with fried eggs and bit of leftover ‘sausage’.

I just used the rest of the pork that we didn’t use at dinner as our meat for breakfast. I hope to make my own breakfast sausage one day.

Lunch

I had a big salad with leftover mushroom and caramelized onion quiche and a kiwi.

I love eating salads but I always stay so hungry afterwards, unless it is a monster salad like this one. I was hungry for a while afterwards but then it settled down for a bit.

Snack

Organic Spouted Mixed nuts.

My day started to get crazy and I was running around so I needed a little something. I ran down to the continence store in our office building and found they had a lot of Whole 30 compliant snacks. Woohoo!! These were really good, I could have had the whole bag easily but I had half.

Dinner

Turkey tenderloin with peppers and roasted red potatoes. Served with mustard.

I cooked 2 turkey tenderloins on a bed of peppers and on a separate baking sheet I cooked the potatoes. I seasoned everything with some olive oil, Goya Adobo, chili powder, and pepper. I saved half of the potatoes and a tenderloin for lunch the next day.

{Day 3}

Wednesday, February 4th:

Breakfast

The last bit of the mushroom and caramelized onion quiche with a ton of roasted butternut squash.

ugh I literally shoveled this into my mouth. I was rushing to get to the dentist and has about .2 seconds to eat before leaving the house at 6.30am to get to the dentist for 7am. Def not the ideal way to eat.

Morning Snackish

Fruit- pineapple, blueberries, strawberries, honeydew melon

We had a breakfast presentation at work so I grabbed some fruit. It helped me not reach for muffins and pastries. Plus it already had been 3 hours since I had eaten and I figured a bit of fruit would help carry me over to get to lunch, still 2.5 hours away.

Lunch

Leftover turkey tenderloin with roasted red potatoes with roasted broccoli and portobello mushrooms.

We had the Patriot’s parade go by my office so I stood at the window eating my lunch while I watched. Not ideal (duh!) , but at least it wasn’t while sitting at my desk scrolling through pinterest. #progress?

Dinner

Steak with steam carrots, organic spinach (Trader Joe’s), and some mango.

We hadn’t had steak in a while so it was so good to have some. It’s usually a summertime thing for us so it was nice to feel a bit of summer in the dead of a New England winter.

____________________

So far so good. I’ve completed 3 days out of 30 and it feels good to be (slowly) accomplishing something. I feel the same so I’m glad that I don’t feel that sugar withdrawal that I read could happen. Maybe it will hit soon, but ultimately, I think this process will be worth it in the end.

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