Planning for Whole30 #2

Today is day four of family Christmases and I'm feeling homesick for my well-stocked Paleo kitchen and what has become my mostly Paleo lifestyle. I went a little off the rails over the last few days, that's for sure. 

I'm still working on figuring out being Paleo while traveling and during major holidays. I definitely failed this year, but I'm not beating myself up about it. My body is beating me up without my brain even trying! Those sugar cookies and cakes were delicious, but now my joints hurt and my gut is rotting. 

Since my first Whole30 in September, I've stuck to mostly Paleo eating, although I did welcome gluten back into my life, so it will be a little bit of a struggle when I part with it for thirty days to start my second Whole30 in January. I'm looking forward to starting on January first, this time with other people! My sister is doing it again as well as a few of my good friends. I love having accountability partners. 

The key to a successful Whole30 for me is planning. I'm someone who delights in putting plans together-- when someone says we have to have a planning meeting, a feel a wave of excitement come over me... yeah, I'm one of those. I spent the morning on my favorite blogs planning out my January. I've detailed my plans below. 

Pantry and Fridge Prep: Bye, bye beer. I have to check my fridge and pantry and make sure I have everything! I've been sticking to mostly Paleo cooking and eating since my first Whole30, so this time around it isn't going to be as expensive to stock the fridge and pantry. I stock up on Thrive Market, at Costco, or our co-op. I bought a membership to Thrive Market on Cyber Monday because I've found that I reorder from them every three-four months. 

These are my staples:

Tessemae's Dressing

Ghee

Coconut Oil

Coconut Aminos (I have this leftover from the last Whole30-- I only used it once. I will see if I can use it up this time around!)

Cherry Pie Larabars

Tuna

Eggs- From the co-op. I usually buy two cartons a week.

Fish Sauce

Coconut Milk

Dates- I get giant containers from Costco

Cocoa Nibs

Coconut Butter (for those times when I want to eat a candy bar, coconut butter in a date suffices)

Almond Butter

LaCroix (I have a love affair with LaCroix-- Curate are life)

Recipe Prep: Like many Whole30er's, I "discovered" Mel Joulwan's Well Fed and Michelle Tam's NomNomPaleo recipes on my first Whole30. I will be sticking to them for this second round. 

From Well Fed:

I love Mel Joulwan's recipes and her idea of a weekly cookup, where you spend 2-3 hours prepping most of your food for the week. I'm not a fan of getting home and making a whole meal. Below are the recipes I'm making again or trying for the first time during this round of Whole30. 

Making for the freezer:

Cauliflower Rice

Moroccan Meatballs

Condiments:

Ranch Dressing (first time)

Mayo

Sunshine Sauce

Options for cook-ups:

Roasted Chicken Thighs

Spaghetti Squash (round two, I am not a fan but I will try it again)

Cincinnati Chili and Zoodles

Beef Stew (I make this so much, but I love it when it's cold outside)

Golden Cauliflower Soup

Mulligatawny Stew

Sweet Potato Soup

Cook on the spot for dinner:

Reykjavik Salmon Salad

Meatza

Paleo Pad Thai

From Nom Nom Paleo:

The Nom Nom Paleo podcast is one of my favorites. I've learned so many great Paleo tips from listening to Michelle's and Henry's family. 

Condiments:

Magic Mushroom Powder

Options for cook-ups:

Slow Cooker Lemongrass and Coconut Milk Drumsticks

Slow Cooker Thai Yellow Curry with Grass Fed Beef Brisket

Cook on the spot for dinner:

Egg Foo Young-ish

Spicy Tuna Cakes

Cracklin' Chicken

Garbage Stir Frys

Let me know if you have any favorite Whole30 recipes and I will put them on my list! 

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?

Whole30: Week Three Round-Up

When my friends ask me what's been happening in my life, all I can ever start with is, "I've been really busy." One of my best friends even posted this on my Facebook wall the other day:

She gets me.

My busy-ness was my excuse for not cooking much over the last three years of crazy career transitions. This Whole30 has forced me to see that you can't use being busy as an excuse for going out to eat 4-5 times per week. That's how I've ended up with an extra fifteen pounds on my bod. 

The trick to staying on top of Whole30 and being busy is putting in the time to prepare my food every week. I'll just cook like a fiend for 2-4 hours, depending on how fancy I want to be. I like doing this on Sundays, but if I'm busy on Sunday, I'll do it on Saturday. If the weekend was spent traveling, I'll spread it out-- I'll roast my chicken on Monday morning and make some kind of stew(s) on Monday night. It is worth the time, gives me lots of choices, and saves my gut from the chicken tenders dipped in ranch that I would order if we were going out to eat. 

Right? No?

Week three was weird because of my sickness, so I spread my cooking over two days. In total, I spent about two hours in the kitchen (not counting making my breakfast every day). 

On Monday, I made coconut shrimp soup, roasted garlic mashed potatoes, and roasted sweet potatoes. On Tuesday, I made roast chicken thighs and homemade mayo. On Wednesday, I mixed things up by making this quick creamy dill salmon and eggplant fries for dinner.

Below is what I ate for the week, just to give you an idea of how I split the food from my weekly cook-up and faced PMS while on Whole30.

Tuesday-Saturday: I ate a variation of the same thing every day.
I don't mind eating similar meals almost every day for a week. I will eat leftovers every day as long as I don't have to cook during the week. And it's not like I have to choke these meals down, like when my mom got too many corndogs at Sam's Club back in the day and we had to eat corndogs every day for dinner for weeks after while holding our noses because we couldn't take it. The food I'm making is delicious, so I look forward to eating it and I'm a little sad when it's gone.

• I've always been a morning person and I find comfort in making my breakfast every day-- this wasn't something new that came with Whole30 (THANK GOODNESS). Breakfast is always some kind of green (right now I'm really into collard greens) sautéed in coconut oil, two-three eggs scrambled in OR over medium on top of the greens depending on my mood, and an avocado. If I've done a morning workout, I will throw the greens and eggs on top of some roasted sweet potatoes. I've always loved this combination and eat it every day until it gets cold outside. Then, I switch to crockpot oatmeal until my bones thaw in the spring (in my non-Whole30 life). Oatmeal is one of the first things I'm reintroducing when this is over! Please GOD, I hope it doesn't upset my gut! 

  

  Valentina hot sauce, ohhhhhh yeahhhhh. My apologies that I didn't make it look like art-- I just poured it on there.

• Lunch is cut up chicken thighs, half an apple, and sugar snap peas with a heaping tablespoon of homemade mayo. I put this chicken salad on top of spring greens and top with chopped almonds. This salad makes me so happy! I haven't gotten sick of it yet. This week I'm going to try chicken, celery, carrots, and half and apple. I don't think it matters as long as I have my mayo. 

  

  Homemade mayo is the sunshine of my life.

• Dinner this week was coconut shrimp soup over mashed potatoes, salmon and mashed potatoes with eggplant fries, or coconut shrimp soup and leftover salmon on the mashed potatoes. I didn't get sick of this soup all week either. The heat from the jalapenos felt awesome on my healing sore throat. I have no pictures of the soup because I kept eating it before I could take one. 

  

  I usually hate eggplant, but I LOVED these fries. 

• I haven't been snacking throughout my Whole30 because I'm trying to be really mindful about my eating, but between PMS cravings and a day or two where the time between lunch and dinner was insane because of meetings, I had some cashews and a few slices of dried pear. When things got really bad with the PMS, I ate a handful of frozen cherries and a Cashew Cookie Larabar. This is a huge improvement from my usual PMS Reeses and Oreo flurry.

Alrighty, now for the Whole30 predictions for my feelings this week.

Days 16-27: Tiger Blood!

Follow up to last week's question: What does Tiger blood in Jen World look like? Here are your answers, as well as other Whole30 victories:

Tiger Blood

-I woke up after two days of being sick and felt like:

-I sleep through the night, every night. 

-I feel really happy. Maybe it's the Tiger Blood, maybe not. I just feel really, really happy.

-I'm even more perky than usual in the morning.

-I look better in my clothes.

Other Victories
-I didn't give up when I was sick.

-I made it through another TWO lunch meetings at my favorite sandwich place and favorite local eatery.

-We had a celebration for a group I've been in for the past year that included food (bread, cheese, AKA my favs) and beer (Arcadia Jawjacker and New Holland Poet, WHYYYY), I didn't deter, and it wasn't too bad.
-I was on a college tour with students and we got to eat lunch in the all-you-can-eat cafeteria and the food looked delicious. I ate a lunch I brought from home.

(Interlude) Day 21: I'm so over this.

Whole30 says that during this interlude, you get so sick of Whole30 food that some people can't even eat. This isn't the case for me because I'm still having so much fun cooking. I am, however, SO OVER not being able to eat Greek yogurt, oatmeal, legumes, honey, and bread. I'm over not being able to be social because I can't really eat or drink anything offered to me.

 I'm not going to go hog wild when this is over, but everything in moderation, ya dig? I could quit now, just because I feel really good and I want to see how my body reacts to Greek yogurt, oatmeal, legumes, honey, and bread, but I've gone so far that I might as well finish it out!

Only one more week before I start reintroducing foods and I'm looking forward to it. 

Update

I've come back to blog because I want to keep better track of my weight loss (30 lbs as of today), recipes and my life. It's all going to pretty random. Today's entry is going to be a long one. N is playing at Bell's tonight and I am not feeling well enough to go to Bell's and have a Winter White (maybe my last of the season) and not sleepy enough for bed. Also I am miraculously getting free wireless right now. Heh heh. Bear with me!

Life, in retrospect today:
First, Vegas was interesting. We had a good time with N's grandparents despite a few drawbacks, walked around without spending money, saw a funk/soul band, I lost the 100 bucks I put aside to lose on blackjack, I found out that I freaking love blackjack and I basked in the sunshine. I missed the dogs terribly, but saw the mountains for the first time. I spent a lot of quality time with my partner for life. I also had a Carl's Jr. burger and milkshake (oh my, so delicious). That goes to say that I ate at too many buffets and was off of weight watchers for a few days. However, I was on vacation and I ate in moderation... well sometimes! Some pics:

Old downtown: My favorite part of Vegas.

This pic made me want to sing that song, "Every day in a winnnnding roooad."

"I get a little bit closer."

All the places we walked through, but couldn't afford. Posh.

The first casino we went to, The Orleans, where Papa "works"

Goodbye for a few weeks, short sleeves. Boo hoo.

Food today:
All right, here is my menu post for the day:
B- Oatmeal with cinnamon and sliced banana
L- Chicken noodle soup (getting tired of this)
S- Cottage cheese with mandarin oranges
D- Chili with a slice of pumpernickel bread.
Yeah, the menu is a little light today. I was sick for the last three days and this is first day I could stomach something other than chicken noodle soup.

However, the chili turned out great and it was easy! We'll be eating for the next few days... maybe on a baked potato? It is one of my favorite recipes and the first one I will post here:
1 package of lean ground turkey (or beef or soy)
1 red pepper, chopped
1 yellow (or green, or orange) pepper, chopped
2 cups carrots, chopped
1/2 large sweet onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
2 T olive oil
2 16 ounce cans black beans, rinsed
3 cups chicken or veggie broth
1 small can (unsure of ounces) tomato paste
1 16 ounce can diced tomatoes with green chilis
1/2 package frozen corn
1 16 ounce container fresh salsa (or in a jar, whatever you've got)
2 T chili powder
3 t cumin
All right, in a large pot, heat olive oil and then saute pepper, garlic, carrots, and onion over medium high heat until slightly browned.
Add chili and cumin, toss with veggies until spices are fragrent.
Add ground turkey, break up with a wooden spoon
After turkey is browned, add black beans, broth, corn, diced tomatoes, corn and salsa.
Stir! Then, simmer at medium high and then cover and turn heat to low. Keep it there for 35 min or until chili thickens.

Pics of my spicy dinner (I added fat free sour cream and cheddar and had a slice of wonderful, homemade Sarkozy's pumpernickel bread):

YUM! Spicy. And crusty.

That's it for now! I am on a mission to find a new haircut. Something chin length, perhaps?
Let me leave you with some advice I learned on the strip...

Goodnight, sleep tight. Don't let the flu bug bite... that cheeky bastard.