I won't give you a day by day of how things went, but I will check in every week with recipes and notes on the week.
So here is my post for 5 days in.
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| Starting to thin out the bad stuff, and pack it with veg and meat! |
I am so happy that I did a little prep work prior to starting. A week or so ahead, I backed off my usual groceries, and we finished up the ice cream, the yogurt, the milk and the bread. I pitched the last of the tortilla chips and Wheat Thins, and wrapped all my imported cheeses in foil and tossed them in the freezer. I moved the BBQ sauce and ketchup, the Ranch and the sweet pickle relish to the fridge in the laundry room. It made room for my new mayo, my new hot sauce, almond and coconut milks, lots and lots of veggies, and all those eggs. The worst part of the Whole30 is the eggs. And I love eggs. But I really do miss oatmeal and yogurt and toast for breakfast.
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| One of the funny memes I sent in the group text! |
My mornings have been a couple of eggs, fruit, maybe half a sweet potato and some days I have tossed some peppers and mushrooms with the eggs. On Pure Barre days, I have a little almond butter before I go. My coffee is no problem as I have been using the Califia almond creamer forever. No sugar, no carrageenan. I find myself checking the downloads I printed off on a regular basis, and tucked the one with the bad ingredients in my purse. Being a label reader is rather empowering. Who knew there were so many terrible additives? Now I know what all of them are for, and which ones are okay. I kept it simple the first few days and ate my Greek Turkey Burgers from the freezer (no Cavendar's, it has MSG!) and quick sauteed veggies, salad etc. I usually make my own dressing so no biggie there. By day 4 I was hankering for something a bit more interesting. Thankfully there are a lot of bloggers out there posting and pinning all kinds of ideas. I made the following recipes this week and froze portions to streamline my mornings and quick meals.
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| This stuff is great seasoning. I use it a lot! |
Some clarification on things. Whole30 has all the rules on foods, I am not going to rewrite the program, if you're here, you are likely looking to see someone else's journey. But if you are new to the ingredients, it can be confusing. Coconut milk is found in 2 forms. In the refrigerated section, in a carton is the drinkable, more liquid version. In the Asian cooking section is the canned milk. This is gold. Thick and rich and naturally sweet, but make sure it doesn't have carrageenan or sulfates. They are a no no. Itching for something sweet. Slice some berries and put a little of the canned, chilled coconut milk and some ground almond meal (Trader Joe's) and you have a Whole30 sundae. It's not really ideal, but I know that many people have trouble the first week battling the sugar dragon. This is not how they recommend killing it off, but it's better than a bowl of ice cream! It might be SWYPO but hey, we all take a different path on our journey. This is the kind of thing to deal with on week 2.
And finally the 5 day results. Weighing is a no no. However, one in my group has lost 6.8 pounds in 5 days. Another, 6 and another just at 5. The other three in our hilarious group have abided by the rules or don't own scales (smart!), but by day 5 all felt better. The headaches are real, the crappy get out of my face feelings are real, the longing for a cold beer, a piece of chocolate or one of those Chik-Fil-A biscuits that douche bag brought to your office are real. Very real. However, the energy level is real, the disappearing bloat is real and the sleep, my goodness that heavenly restful night, is also very real. I know what I am loving. Here is to the next 5 days!
Buffalo Chicken Egg Bake
I screenshot this recipe, and then I changed it. I can't find the original source, but when I Google it there are jillions of the same thing out there. The original I saw had spinach, some have sweet potatoes, there are as many variations as you could hope for. They are delicious, but I agree with my daughter, you can't eat these things every day. Change up those eggs, they are your friend!
8 eggs
1/2 cup coconut milk (the kind in a carton)
1/2 cup hot sauce (we love WingTime)
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
salt and pepper
3/4# chicken meat, cooked
4 scallions, sliced
1 1/2 red peppers diced
1/4 cup mushrooms
Mix all ingredients well. I used a 12 cup muffin tin with the reusable silicone cups, you can also just grease the wells with coconut oil. I also oiled a small 6x6 baker. Fill the wells and baker (or more muffins) I baked the muffins at 350º for 20 minutes (no jiggly eggs for me) and the baker stayed in for another 15 minutes beyond. Cool completely and freeze the portions. 2 is a good breakfast for me.
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| This plus 12 muffin cups. Good freezer to microwave breakfast! |
Pork Meatballs in Tomato Sauce with Zoodles
Mr. Preppy loves pasta with a hearty meat sauce. And lucky for him he married an Italian girl. It is super easy to make a great sauce that is compliant. This one is with meat balls, but you could do ground meat, approved sausage or all veggies. The key is in the simmering. Cook, cook, cook. It makes it sweet and hearty. I use a large spiralizer for my zoodles. I used to use a julienne peeler, but decided even though the spiralizer is big, clumsy and a pain, I like the end result better.
Makes about 22 good sized meatballs
1 pound ground turkey
1/4 onion diced
1 clove garlic minced
1/4 cup almond meal (Trader Joe's)
1 egg
Italian spices, salt and pepper (about 3 teaspoons)
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 onion minced
1/2 cup sliced mushrooms
coconut oil or olive oil for sauteing
1 can Fire Roasted Tomatoes
1 can tomato puree
2 T balsamic vinegar
1 T Italian seasoning (I use Penzey's Tuscan Sunset and Trader Joe's garlic salt grinder)
2 zucchini, scrubbed well and spiralized
oil of choice
salt and pepper
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| This is 2 zucchini spiralized. They shrink up pretty good when cooked! |
Mix meatball ingredients in a bowl and make into meatballs and place on parchment lined cookie sheet. Freeze what you won't be cooking right away. When the frozen meatballs are firm, toss in a freezer bag. Saute the meatballs you are eating (I ate 4, Scott ate 6) in coconut or olive oil until they are browned and cooked through. Then put them in your pasta sauce below.
To make the sauce, saute the onions, garlic and mushrooms in coconut or olive oil until soft and browned slightly. Add tomato sauce and vinegar and spices and simmer. The longer it cooks, the thicker it becomes. Mine cooked for nearly an hour and was thick, dark and hearty.
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| My thick sauce, cooked for about 2 hours. |
In a large skillet, heat oil. Drop in all of the spiralized or julienned zucchini. Season with salt and pepper and toss constantly to cook slightly, but not browned. It takes about 4-5 min at the most.
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| Cooked down zoodles! |
I find the best way to serve is to keep zoodles and sauce in different bowls and top the zoodles on your plate with sauce and meatballs. You won't miss the parmesan, the sugar or the pasta! I promise!
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| Deeeeelicious! |
Buffalo Chicken Drumsticks with Sweet Potato Fries
This is pretty straight forward, but after 17 years in the cooking store world, I know there are folks who need a blueprint for all recipes. The sweet potato fries are a standard here. Burgers, chicken, chops...and yes, you can use regular potato, they are Whole30 approved!
6 Drumsticks (buy good meat) you can use any cut of chicken
coconut and or olive oil
salt and pepper
1/2 cup Wing Time buffalo sauce or other Whole30 approved sauce
2 sweet potatoes
coconut oil or olive oil
salt and pepper
1/4 cup approved mayo
Tabasco Sauce
Put the oil on cookie sheet and roll the drumsticks around to coat them a bit. Salt and pepper them well and bake at 400º for about 45 minutes or until juices run clear. In a large bowl, mix the hot drumsticks with the buffalo sauce and cover completely.
After placing drumsticks in oven, peel and slice sweet potatoes into desired fry size. Place in a bowl and add oil and toss well to cover completely. Place on baking sheet and put in oven for last half hour. Serve fries with the mayo and Tabasco blended to desired hotness.
Oprah's Chicken Whole 30-ized
Way back in the early 90's, Oprah had a chef named Rosie Daley who published her recipes that Oprah ate. They are lowfat, which Whole30 rather debunks, as does my favorite Dr. Hyman. But one recipe in this book was a family favorite using yogurt and panko. I changed it about for Whole30 and it is delicious!
Desired chicken pieces, bone in (my preference) or bone out, whatever you''l eat and maybe tomorrow's lunch
1/2 Canned coconut milk
1/2 cup almond meal
Italian Seasoning (see recipe above)
Olive oil or Coconut oil
Place coconut milk in shallow dish.
Mix almond meal and seasonings in separate shallow bowl.
Dip or rub chicken pieces in coconut milk (it is rather firm when it's chilled)
then roll in seasoned almond meal. Place on greased sheet pan and bake at 350º for about 45 -60 minutes. Cooking time is dependent on bones, skin and size. They shouldn't be bloody.
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| Looks like KFC right? |
So, what are you waiting for? Whole30 yourself and get in there and cook!
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