Whole30: Week Four Round-Up AKA I DID IT, SAY WHAT?!?!?!

Yesssssssssssss. I finished Whole30.

I can't believe I made it a whole month of completely clean eating. And YES. I finally finished #16 on my 30b430 list: Eat clean for one month. Only two years late, but CHECK! Sweet victory.

Anywayyyyyy...

Week Four had me bored and feeling DONE with the Whole30, so I got really into my food. I decided to take more food pictures this week too, just to get myself through.

I made delicious paleo beef stew twice:

As you'll see throughout this post, I am in love with Mel Joulwan's Well Fed recipes

 I decided to try making pork belly with this delicious crispy cumin roasted pork belly: 

You've got to eat it fresh out of the oven or it gets weird. But it's so good fresh out of the oven.

I made Well Fed's chocolate chili again and ate nachos all week because I had so much Costco guac left.  

I am so glad I didn't buy Trader Joe's plantain chips until week four. 

I turned this pickle soup recipe into a Whole30 compliant recipe by using coconut milk, coconut flour, and ghee instead of milk, flour, and butter. 

Weird flavors, but so delicious. Plus, it's Polish American Heritage Month. I'm not Polish, I'm just sayin'.

Cooking break! I went out to eat at Green Street Smoked Meats in Chicago and oh. my. smoked. brisket. And the watermelon salad? Who knew that watermelon, fresh lime, jicama, and tajin would be one of the freshest and most amazing things I've eaten this month?

You've got to check out Paleo Porn... they tell you all of the awesome paleo restaurants in several cities.

 Back to cooking. I made a whole chicken in the crockpot and restocked my freezer chicken stock supply with this crazy-easy crockpot stock:

STOOPID easy. I love it. 

 I went a little crazy on the coconut butter this week, specifically, coconut butter stuffed dates:

Coconut butter, where have you been all my life?! I had to ground myself from dates and coconut butter for a few days.

 The Whole30 Timeline says that on Day 28 this week, I'd feel like Day 28 is as good as Day 30 and I'd think about quitting. It's not that I thought Day 28 was just as good as Day 30. I was tired of having no social life because so much of my social life revolves around going out to eat and drink. Then I had to take a step back and think about why so much of my social life revolves around going out to eat and drink. There has to be other things to do, amiright?

I just have to find those things. 

I saved a ton of money and stomach aches this month by not going out to eat or drink. I would like to continue that in some way, shape, or form. 

Another prediction on the Whole30 timeline is that I would worry about life after Whole30 when I got closer to the end. I'm a little worried, since the Hubs and I are taking a mini-vacation this weekend and I don't know what is going to happen to my gut if I go crazy with vacation food. I guess I'm going to have to be cautious, but still let loose a little. After all, the last prediction on the timeline is that a bowl of ice cream might be okay. 

More on reintroducing foods and what I got out of Whole30 next week. I wonder what life will be like without having to be the person who is always armed with their soft-sided lunch box at every single meal that has to be eaten out of the house?