New Recipe to Try!

I can fill in my blank dinner for Sunday, July 15 (Day 7 of my Whole30) with this Buffalo Chicken Chopped Salad!  Doesn't it just sound yummy?  I think I will use romaine lettuce instead of ice burg though.  Also, I am going to try a few ranch dressing recipes between now and then... I'll let ya'll know how it turns out.

The link will lead you to several great summer recipes, so read up!

Ouch

My in-laws are here.  I have been cooking some wonderful Paleo dinners, but we've been chasing them with homemade rhubarb cake they brought along and ice cream.  I'm paying for my Paleo sins.  My gut is a mess.  Whole30 cannot come soon enough...

Here's my menu for Week 1of Whole30 (July 9-15).  Sunday is still undetermined because that's the day I plan to try a new recipe and I haven't decided which one yet.

Here is Nikki's Week 1 Menu (makes mine look lame):

(more) Whole30 Preperation

I re-made my Creamed Cucumber Recipe using my first attempt at homemade mayo.  I left out the sweetener (in preparation for the Whole30).  So, I peeled and sliced 2 large cucumbers, salted them and put them in the fridge for a few minutes.  Then I drained the juice off them, added 2-4 TBS of my homemade mayo and a tiny splash (1tsp?) of white wine vinegar (I never measure, just wing it!).  Mix it all up and add salt & pepper to taste!  It was really good!  In fact, it didn't really taste different from the original recipe.  I'm pleased to be able to add this to my Whole30 menu.

Here is what Nikki & I are reading today:
The Whole30 Timeline
Today's Letter: My Whole30 Journey

Yesterday it was:
http://whole9life.com/book/ISWF-Quick-Start-Guide.pdf
http://whole9life.com/book/ISWF-Shopping-List.pdf

I got my copy of It Starts With Food this weekend and I can't say enough good things about this book!  I'm about halfway through it and honestly, after the first few pages, I wanted to run over to Amazon and order it for several people in my life.  The book is seriously life-changing, so I can only imagine what the program will do!

Look at Me!

I made homemade Mayo!!!! 

I used this recipe from The Clothes Make the Girl.  I spent a lot of time reading comments on the Whole9 forum and essentially learned from everyone else's mistakes! I also watched a video about using a stick (immersion) blender to make mayo.  I'm sorry, but I don't remember where the video is on the web!  The main thing I took from the video was to pulse the blender on & off.  And even though some people of the forum said that the eggs don't have to be room temp when using a stick blender, I let everything get to room temp before I attempted to blend it.

So... the texture is spot on!  The taste is... so-so.  It's a little bitter (probably from the lemon juice).  I found another recipe on Everyday Paleo that uses some different ingredients.  I am thinking about using the cider vinegar from Everyday Paleo's recipe in place of the lemon juice in the recipe from The Clothes Make the Girl.  I also want to try the Everyday Paleo recipe as it is.  

I'm going to try using this mayo to make my creamed cucumbers recipe tonight and might even experiment with making dill or ranch dip with it!

Here's another recipe that I want to try which leads to this ranch dressing recipe, both from Paleo Table.

Tune-up Progress

I didn't post last week because both my partner and I had GAINED!  I was too embarrassed to post about it.  But this week, I am down 3.8 lbs from last week (I honestly can't remember what my starting weight was, so, I'm not sure where I am at overall).  I gave up on the tone-up challenge.  Honestly, I have the attention span of a flea and can't stand to do the same thing day after day after day.  I need some variety!  I found this little gem of a workout from Prevention on Pinterest and I am doing it with a friend at work.  We walk at home in the morning before work and then get together at lunch and do the quick strength portion of the workout.  We top it off by sprinting around the block!  This is a 14 day thing, so I think my attention span will hold that long ;)  I have thought about picking the tone-up challenge back up a couple of days a week, but so far the Prevention 14-day workout is keeping me sore enough.

My partner and I had taken our measurements 6 weeks ago and finally re-measured last night.  In 6 weeks I lost 1-3/4" around my hips and 1" around my waist.  My thighs are unchanged and I lost 1/2" around each arm.  I'm thrilled with these results!  I can't wait to see what happens in 6 more weeks (I'll be nearing the end of my Whole30).  I'm hoping for some results at my thighs next time :)

12 Weeks!!!!

Monday was 12 weeks since I started this blog and got serious about Paleo.  I'd like to take a look back and see what good has come of this.  What progress have I made?

Since starting this blog I have:

• Lost over 5% of my body weight (   I know that the scale isn't the best indicator of health, but I am a lover of hard data and numbers!)
• Had to put several items of clothing away because they are too big (people commented on them being too baggy, so I quit wearing them!)
• Have had very few episodes of the crippling GI problems that I was dealing with since November 2011.  The episodes I have had were much less painful and didn't last as long
• Planned my meals for the entire week for the last 7 weeks and now have a LOT less stress about what to make for dinner and I make smarter choices!
• Convinced my husband that Paleo is the way to go (he loves it!)
• Learned that I like some things I had never tried (guacamole, zucchini, cabbage, coconut milk...etc.)
• Discovered and decided to start the Whole30 program with my husband in July
• Learned all sorts of things about how food & exercise affects your body (scientifically)

Whole 30 Plans (finally)!

We (me & Hubs) have finally set a date for doing the Whole30!  I think I am going to get his input on a weekly or daily basis for the blog.  We will be starting July 9th (Monday after July 4th camping trip) and wrap up on August 8th (3 days before we leave for our trip back to our home state of Wisconsin).  The timing couldn't be any more perfect!  There are a few items I need to find before we start:

• Tuna without soy (I did find some at Kroger called Sustainable something or another).  Does anyone have any suggestions for this?
• I need to try out making my own mayo/ranch (looking forward to this one!!!)
• Ghee or clarified butter (if I can't find it, I guess I can clarify my own butter or just use coconut oil for EVERYTHING!)
• It Starts With Food book from Whole9 (it's already on my Amazon Wish List!)

I started to compile a list of our paleo dinners & sides that I have made and that we liked a few weeks ago.  I need to pull that list out and add any new items to it and then decide which ones are Whole30 approved (or can be modified).  When I have that list complete, I'll share it on here and then plug it into our Whole30 calendar.  I want to have our entire 30 days meals planned out and also want to start stocking up on food in the next few weeks leading up to it.  

What I hope to get out of this:

• Better quality sleep
• "feeling better" (meaning no more aches & pains, headaches, stomach/GI trouble)
• I'm pretty happy with my weight and size, but I wan't to lose a little jiggle  
• making permanent changes to our lifestyle

If anyone wants to join us, comment below!  Or if you have tried this in the past, we'd love to hear from you too!