Week 3 Wrap-Up

Well, our 3rd weekend of our first Whole30 went pretty well.  We ate at Red Lobster Friday night and both really enjoyed our meals.  So much so that we were still talking about it Saturday afternoon.  He had NY Strip and Lobster with broccoli.  I had a ribeye with crab legs.  We both had salads with no cheese or croutons and we both skipped the butter with our seafood.  

On Saturday we had a house guest from Wisconsin!  For dinner we enjoyed grilled ribeyes, sauteed-shrimp (mine didn't look anything like that picture!), sweet potato fries, sauteed onions & peppers, tomato/cucumber salad and creamed cucumbers.  Our steaks were a little charred so we smothered them in delicious homemade mayo, which our house guest raved about!  Husband did give in and drink 2 beers on Saturday and he felt like crap after it and the next day (no surprise).

Left: w/blueberries
Right: without blueberries 

Before our guest arrived on Saturday, Husband and I had a little bit of banana ice cream with some blueberries added.  I put the rest in the freezer to see if it would be good after being frozen.  We all had a little of it on Sunday.  It was good, but was frozen too solid, we had to defrost in in the micro for just a few seconds and then it was perfect!  We also had Turkey Pizza Burgers:

1lb of lean ground turkey mixed with:

chopped green bell pepper, chopped onion, 

garlic powder, Italian seasoning, marinara sauce.  

Grilled and then topped with more

 marinara sauce.  Yum!

On Sunday, keeping true to the tradition of the past few weeks, we cooked and cooked and now have a fridge full of meals to eat for the week including:

Pork Roast (with saurkraut)
Beef Stew (Husband made it up as he went, so I have no recipe)
Buffalo Chicken Salad (I really love this stuff!)
Chicken Salad (chicken breasts, mayo, grapes, s&p)

After Week 1, we  just make a list of the meals we want for the next week, buy the ingredients and then cook or pre-cook everything on Sunday.  It's worked out really well!  I only end up cooking one or two nights a week now and there are always healthy meals in the fridge for either of us to grab at any time!

Whole30 Days 15 - 18

THIS WILL BE MY LAST FOOD JOURNAL.  IT'S STRESSING ME OUT A LITTLE.  I JUST WANT TO FINISH MY WHOLE30 WITHOUT HAVING TO THINK ABOUT KEEPING TRACK.  I WILL STILL POST PHOTOS AND RECIPES WHEN WE TRY NEW STUFF THOUGH.
Day 15 ~ Monday, July 23
Up at 5:00am.
8:00 - leftover sweet potato fritter, 2 HB eggs, Tazo Black Tea
11:30 - raw veggies w/ranch dip
1:30 - pork loin cooked w/apples, larabar
6:30 - Cabbage roll (beef), pistachios



Day 16 ~ Tuesday, July 24
Laid in bed until almost 6:00!  Did a 10 min. ab workout.

7:00 - Egg/Sausage Scramble, Sweet Potato Fritter, Zucchini & Squash sauteed in coconut oil
This was probably the best breakfast I've had on Whole30, both in terms of taste/pleasure and in terms of being what a Whole30 breakfast should be.
10:00 - pistachios
12:00 - Pulled pork w/horsetooth sauce, lettuce, tomato, ranch
3:00 - pistachios
5:00 - apple
7:00 - stuffed peppers



Day 17 ~ Wednesday, July 25
Up at 5:30.  7 minute pilates/strength workout.

7:00 - Egg/Sausage Scramble,  Zucchini & Squash sauteed in coconut oil, 1/2C apple juice
11:00 - fresh figs from the farmer's market!
12:30 - pork loin cooked w/apples, sweet potato, raw veggies w/ranch
5:00 - hand full of almonds
6:30 - chicken soup and chicken thigh



Day 18 ~ Thursday, July 26
Up at 5:30.  300 Ab workout.
7:00 - spinach cooked in ghee, 2 eggs cooked in coconut oil
9:00 - iced coffee w/coconut milk
12:00 - Cabbage roll, veggies w/ranch
6:30 - Chicken soup, homemade sweet potato chips (these gave me a terrible stomach ache!  That's what I get for making a healthy junk food, I guess)

First Time Eating Out on Whole30

I've been craving crab legs ever since Nikki started talking about them earlier this week.  We even cruised around the Red Lobster website until we were drooling.  Then I found this nifty
coupon for $10 off of two entrees!  So... I've convinced Husband to go there for dinner tonight.  I think it will be awesome to test our abilities to stay on track while at a resturaunt like this.  He wants steak and I want crablegs.  We'll order water and salads and be go to go!

It Starts With Food!

If you haven't read this book yet, WHY NOT?!  If I haven't convinced you to read it yet, perhaps this short, well written book review will! 

Stuffed Peppers!

I made stuffed peppers!  First I made the marinara sauce in the The Paleo Recipe Book.  Then I fried 1lb of grassfed ground beef with about 1/2lb of grass fed pork sausage.  I mixed just enough of the marinara sauce into the meat to make it stick together.  I actually made the sauce on Sunday, the meat mix on Monday and then the peppers on Tuesday night.  I cut the tops off of the peppers and took the seeds out.  Then I boiled them for about 10 minutes.  I took them out of the boiling water and then stuffed them with the meat mix and poured more marinara sauce over the top.  Then I baked them for about 45 minutes at 350.  They were delicious!  I still have marinara sauce left, so come back later in the week to see how my turkey "pizza" burgers turn out!

Before baking

Perfect Paleo Ranch Dressing/Dip (and Mayo!)

First you must start with a delicious paleo mayo! There are several recipes out there, but this is by far my favorite. I have used 2 methods for making mayo. One is using an immersion blender (or stick blender) similar to the one pictured below. The other is by using a food processor. My immersion blender seemed to work just fine for a while, until it just didn't anymore. It seems great for making single batches (but if it's not a quality blender, it seems like it doesn't have enough power after a while and your mayo may start coming out runny). Here's a recipe for a double batch.  You can split the batch and make a small batch of ranch or keep it doubled for a larger batch of mayo or ranch.

image courtesy of theexcellentwife.com

What you need:
2 eggs
2 tsp of fresh lemon juice
2 tsp of yellow mustard
1 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp white pepper
2 cups light tasting olive oil (don't use extra virgin!)

Everything needs to be room temperature before you mix, so either set the egg, lemon & mustard out on the counter for 30 minutes, or just put everything except the oil in the food processor and walk away for 30 minutes.

STICK BLENDER METHOD:

Put all of the ingredients (including the oil) in a tall container. Stick the blender in and just start pulsing it until it starts to turn creamy and white, once the majority of it is mixed, go ahead and let the blender run for a few seconds while moving it around to mix the last bit of oil in and thicken the mixture.

FOOD PROCESSOR METHOD:
After the eggs, lemon juice & mustard have come to room temp in the processor (about 30 minutes) add the sea salt & white pepper (I actually put it all in at the same time because I've been known to forget the S&P otherwise!). Now measure out 2 cups of oil in a measuring cup that you can pour neatly from.  Pour about 1/4 cup of the oil into the processor and then put the lid on and take the food pusher out. Turn the processor on and begin pouring the oil in VERY SLOWLY!  It should take you 2-3 minutes to finish, so be patient! The mayo will start to thicken and will barely be moving when you finish.  Now you have a choice. Put that amazing stuff in the fridge and let the flavor come together OR... make ranch dressing with it!

RANCH DRESSING:

Put the following ingredients in a bowl:

2C of the that amazing mayo you just made (there won't be much left, if any)

1/2 to1C of canned full-fat coconut milk (less for thicker "dip", more for a thinner "dressing")

2t apple cider vinegar

Whisk the ingredients together and then add:

2-3 cloves of garlic (you can add more or less per your preference)

1 or 2 shakes of paprika

2T fresh (or dried) Dill

2tsp fresh (or dried) Chives

S&P to taste

Now enjoy!  I put it on my salads or use it to dip my raw veggies.

Halfway!!!

It's Day 15!  And today was BLT day at work.  There was over 70lbs of bacon on the premises and I couldn't eat one. single. piece.  Between that today and Saturday night's wine tasting fundraiser event that I volunteered for, I've had a pretty tempting few days over here!  I made through both events without cheating though.  I think it will be all downhill from here!

I asked Husband yesterday if he was feeling hungry and/or deprived at all.  His response "No, not at all.  In fact, I don't even think about food like I used to.  But, I do miss my beer".  I told him that if he had such an emotional attachment to his beer, these 30 days might do him some good in that department :)  Everyone keeps asking is if it's hard, and we both agree that it's not hard.

Here's what I've been eating:


Day 12 ~ Friday, July 20
Up at 5:00, 30 minutes of kickboxing
SKIPPED COFFEE (again)!!!
6:00 - Smoothie: 1C. fresh spinach, 1/2 frozen banana, hand full of frozen blueberries, 1/2 can of coconut milk, splash of vanilla, 1 raw egg
8:00 - Tazo Awake Black Tea
11:30 - Salad w/oil&vinegar, melons, shrimp & scallops on hibachi grill
We were running errands for work and my co-worker wanted to eat at the hibachi grill.  I couldn't get the man at the grill to tell me what is in the garlic sauce and I needed my protein, so I just went with it.  Sure hope there wasn't anything nasty in there!  I didn't eat much... 
2:00 - pistachios
7:30 - Chicken Salad
8:30 - Almonds (We went to see the Dark Knight Rises)



Day 13 ~ Saturday, July 21
Up at 6:00
Coffee w/ coconut Milk
8:30 - 2 eggs fried in coconut oil w/ Wholly Salsa
2:30 - Chicken & Veggies
4:00 - Banana Ice Cream w/Blueberries added!
8:30 - 2 mini burger patties, grapes, melons (This was the only thing served at the wine tasting that I could eat!)



Day 14 ~ Sunday, July 22

Up at 7:30 (long night Saturday night!)
9:30 - Sweet Potato Fritters with 2 fried eggs, grapes, sausage
11:30 - Veggies & Ranch, Baked Chicken Thigh
5:45 - Pistachios, 1/2 apple pie larabar
7:30 - Pork Loin Slowcooked w/ apples, veggies & dip