Whole30 bacon

Whole30 #2: Days 10-12 Recap

April 16, 2015

I am documenting my second Whole 30 journey to help me see how far I’ve come from my first Whole30 (Feb 2015) to this one (April 2015). Plus, I don’t want to fall into any food ruts. Hopefully this will 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. Check out all my Whole30 related posts HERE from why I did my first Whole30, why I am doing this one, and food diaries.

{Day 10}

Friday, April 10th 2015

I went to the gym in the morning. It felt good to go. I signed up for the abs class but got a more in depth training session with the trainer as I was the only one who showed up. Yay me! It felt good getting a lesson on arms and abs. And then I was sore.

Breakfast

2 over-easy eggs with homemade bacon and guac (store-bought), then a clementine & some berries at work

Friday’s are tough as it’s Pod Breakfast Day at work and it’s typically a sea of bagels, muffins, and donuts. Thankfully, I made breakfast at home and found some fruit to snack on once I got at work.

Lunch

Watercress and Fig Salad from Cocobeet, Kale Chips from Cocobeet

I love Cocobeet!! They are $$$ but the quality of their juices and food is so damn good. I miss going for their breakfast bowls when I wanted to treat myself to a healthy, hearty breakfast. (I miss you quinoa!!) And their Chia Pudding is the best. THE BEST.

But I found a few things that are whole30 complaint. I grabbed one of their salads and boxes of kale chips. It was my first time trying kale chips & nutritional yeast- so good!

Dinner

Aidell’s Chicken and Apple Sausage with roasted broccoli, served with mustard

I was tempted to make a meat and mushroom sauce over butternut squash noodles but I was burned out. So it was a simple dinner kind of night. I cut up 2 crowns of broccoli and tossed them with some olive oil, garlic, and salt & pepper on a baking sheet. I tossed it under the broiler. After a few minutes I added the sausage links that I sliced up on a diagonal. A few minutes later it was all done. Divide up and drizzle with mustard. Done!

{Day 11}

Saturday, April 11th 2015

I spent a good chunk of the day at work catching up on things there while Price and Autumn ran lots of errands. They even planted flowers. So cute. It was a good day, not much to say…

Breakfast

Eggs with potatoes and bacon

When I was growing up my dad would make ‘potatoes and eggs’ on the weekends. I loved it. I like my do my potatoes the same way but slicing them on a mandoline and putting them in a skillet to ‘fry’ up. I only used about a tablespoon of oil on the whole batch of potatoes- not too bad! It just another way of making home fries.

‘Lunch ‘

Kale Chips & some pistachios

I finished off the kale chips while I was at work for the afternoon. I wasn’t really hungry from the big breakfast.

Dinner

Meaty mushroom sauce on butternut squash noodles

Our butternut squash was a dud! It was soft in the middle (like seeds in the long part, weird) so we had to chop it up to spiralize it. It made our noodles tiny and annoying, but dinner was good overall.

Dessert

Cocoa packed chia pudding (chia, compliant coconut milk, cocoa powder)

I wanted to try something new so I made this chia pudding quickly on Friday night. It was a big dud as the cocoa made it pretty bitter and thickened it up too much. Blah. Live and learn.

{Day 12}

Sunday, April 12th 2015

The weekends are so hard for me to stick to Whole30. I just want to make waffles to enjoy and to get food while out running errands. Or get take out. I’m starting to feel less committed to this Whole30, as compared to the first one, and Price feels the same way. We will stick it out to accomplish it but my heart isn’t into it like the first one. Hoping that feeling changes soon.

Breakfast

Eggs with potatoes and bacon

I’m getting tired of eggs.

Lunch

Cashew Cookie Lara Bar (1pm) & salad (3pm) made with mixed greens, romaine, sprouts, tomatoes, cucumber, and almonds with a homemade ranch dressing

I grabbed the Lara Bar while I was shopping at Trader Joe’s. I was so hungry after our busy morning together shopping so I inhaled it in the car. It tasted like it was was best food on earth. ha!!

Once we got back home and I got Autumn down for a nap I made Price and I salad that we enjoyed sitting on the back porch. I can’t wait to get our patio table up to use!

Dinner

Chicken (Organic, free range) with roasted tiny potatoes and broccolini (8.30pm)

Dinner was awesome. I loved the tiny potatos and broccolini. I’m already thinking about my next Trader Joe’s trip and when I can get more.

I’ve been having a FB msging convo with Rachel about quality of chicken. While we would love to buy organic free range chicken (and other meats) for our families we’re running into a budget problem. It’s so easy to grab store brand chicken at $2.49 a pound compared to $6.99 a pound (like what I bought a trader joe’s). So we have been talking quality in terms of taste and processing. I did notice that I really enjoyed some air chilled chicken that I recently bought. I need to remember the brand and where I got it (Market Basket?) to get it again, and check and see if it was organic or not and how much it was a pound.

Dessert

Chia pudding (complaint coconut milk, cocoa powder) with a sprinkling of unsweetened shredded coconut

I was so excited about the unsweetened shredded coconut that I picked up from Trader Joe’s. The chia pudding was still blah, but the coconut was a nice add to it to jazz it up.

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What are your favorite Whole30 recipes? Please share!

Are you considering doing Whole30? Give it a try!

Whole30 #2: Day 1-3 Recap

April 4, 2015

{Day 1}

Wednesday, April 1^st, 2015

Here we go again!!

Like last time, the first day didn’t seem like it was such a hardship and I still felt normal. I’m awaiting my slump coming up in a few days. But the first day went perfectly. It felt great to start again.

Breakfast

Spinach and Mushroom Crustless Quiche and Homemade Bacon

I couldn’t resist making bacon to kick off this Whole30. And damn, was it good!! It was filling after I ate it and kept me satisfied for a long time. Of course,

Lunch

Simple salad with a sauteed pork cutlet. A Fruit bar

The greens for the salad were from a bag from Trader Joe’s, but it had butter lettuce in there that was really nice. I threw the salad together quickly so I forgot to put cucumber in, Bummer! But I took the time to make pork cutlets. We shared 1 large chop for our salads.

I then had the apple and strawberry Fruit Bar. yum!

Dinner

Beef with roasted fennel, onion, and tomatoes

I had to go back to work to get some stuff done so I focused on making a quick dinner. I did the roasted veggies as they are pretty easy to prep and taste really good. The beef was just reheated from a bag I got from Costco when I went shopping on Sunday. I love that as it’s a quick complaint option for busy lunches or dinners.

Late Night Snack

Since I was awake and (mentally) active later that normal I had some nuts as a snack. I had about 20. I love pistachios!

{Day 2}

Thursday, April 2^nd, 2015

Today felt good. It felt good that I was already 1 day into Whole30. I like mentally crossing them off the calendar. Getting through each day is a great accomplishment.

Breakfast

Spinach and Mushroom Crustless Quiche with Roasted Veggies

I ate this at work and it worked out well. I really like to eat breakfast there. Anyway, more quiche with leftover veggies from the dinner before. Really good!

Lunch

Salad with a hard boiled egg, roast beef, & guacamole

It was a big salad. I think all salads should be big salads. It was nice and filling from the volume of it and protein in it. I used up the leftover beef from the prior dinner. I heated it up since cold meat on a salad gives me the willies. I love fresh avocado on a salad but I didn’t have any at home so I used a 100-calorie cup of Wholly Guacamole. So good! I don’t like the yolk in a hard boiled eggs so I only eat the white park.

Dinner

Sauteed fish (seasoned with Adobo) with garlicky asparagus and tomatoes

The fish was from a Trader Joe’s. I don’t remember the kind, but it’s from a blue bag. It’s light in texture, and thin, allowing it to cook quickly, which is great for our busy schedule. I peeled the asparagus and then put it in with the fish so it was a 1 pan dinner! I added the tomatoes just a few minutes before the fish was done to heat up enough to just burst.

{Day 3}

Friday, April 3^rd, 2015

Today was the toughest so far, and it honestly wasn’t that bad. I wasn’t really craving anything but I was hungry. Very hungry.

Breakfast

Spinach and Mushroom Crustless Quiche with slices of Homemade Bacon, Smothered in Frank’s Red Hot

We finished up our quiche by having a slice each. And I made the rest of the bacon too (divided up between breakfast and lunch). The morning was rushed so I basically ate my bacon while showering- no joke. ha!

I honestly think I couldn’t survive Whole30 (or life!) without Frank’s Red Hot. I buy it in bulk from Costcos!

Lunch

Salad with homemade bacon and hard boiled egg white, a clementine, and mini Cashew Cookie Laura Bar (not pictured)

This was a damn good salad. Good flavors and textures. I loved the crunch from the bacon (leftover from what I made in the morning) and the softness from the egg white. Dressing was quickly thrown together with a complaint herb seasoning packet. It was pretty good! And I had a 100 calorie Cashew Cookie Laura bar. It got me over the hump that I was feeling about 45 minutes after eating lunch.

I focused on staying hydrated at work so I had a black coffee, water, and iced tea. Staying hydrated just helps me feel good, but helps with hunger too!

Dinner

Thick cut pork chops (cutlets?) with roasted veggies, served with whole grain mustard

I don’t know the difference from pork chops and cutlets. I should look into that. Anyway, these were really thick – about an inch! – boneless chops/cutlets. I seasoned the pork with Adobo and used the leftover bacon fat from the bacon I made in the morning to cook these bad boys. They were super thick so they took awhile, but I multi-tasked well and talked to my dad (feel better from your eye surgery!)The flavor from the bacon fat was so good!!

For the veggies I cut up fennel, onion, and kale sprouts. I got the Kale Sprouts from Trader Joe’s. It was the first time I had them so it was fun to try something new. Rounded out a really good dinner.

Late Night Snack

I was busy working on my laptop from having to leave early to get Autumn and I was crashing around 9.30pm (2 hours after eating dinner) so I had a heaping spoonful of crunchy almond butter. I started to feel better about 10 minutes later and go through my work stuff!

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What are your favorite Whole30 recipes? Please share!

Are you considering doing Whole30? Give it a try!

Homemade Paleo Bacon (Whole30 approved!!)

February 24, 2015

During the first 2 weeks of our Whole30 adventure Price kept lamenting that the missed bacon. I wanted chocolate chip cookies. But that’s another story.

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