Whole30, Day 2

Not much to report. I had no-oat oatmeal for breakfast and vegetable soup for lunch.  Anne came over to work out with us, we did kettle bell swings and goblet squats.  After working out, I made Tom Ka soup, one of our favourites.  I went to a noon meeting at work today.  They had brownies from Crave-they are always fantastic.  I took one and took a bite of it.  As I was chewing, I thought of Melissa Hartwig saying that you are making a conscious decision to sabotage your diet when you eat something like that.  I felt more and more guilty and finally spat it out into the napkin and threw all of it away!!!!

Whole30, Day 1

Well, I did fine, if you take out the coffee I made for Sam and I after work!!  I had my no-oat oatmeal for breakfast, vegetable soup for lunch and tacos for dinner.  I made everything for the tacos, then the kids ate them with their regular chips/tortillas, and Sam and I ate them with the plantain pancakes that Anne made

Sunday dinner

I made some sweet potato hummus last night, so Ben and I went to Global Market and got some taro root to make chips.  Still the best......

Sam grilled hamburgers for dinner.  I cooked some bacon and cut up an avocado.  We had them with okra coated with coconut flour and cooking in avocado oil

Stuffed sweet potatoes

• 8 sweet potatoes;
• 1 lb. large raw shrimp, deveined and tails removed, cut into thirds;
• 6 slices of bacon, cooked and crumbled;
• 4 garlic cloves, minced;
• 4 green onions, thinly sliced; (keep some of the green for garnishing)
• 1 tbsp. paprika;
• 2 tbsp. chili powder;
• 1 tbsp. dried oregano;
• ½ tsp. cayenne pepper;
• 6 tbsp. ghee (clarified butter);
• Paleo cooking fat;
• olive oil, to coat the potatoes;
• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste;

Preparation

1. Preheat your oven to 450 F.
2. Rub the potatoes with the olive oil, place them on a baking sheet and bake for about 40 to 45 minutes or until soft.
3. While the potatoes are baking; over a medium high fire, melt some cooking fat and add the garlic and the green onions. Cook for about 2 minutes.
4. Add the shrimp to the green onions and garlic, cook for 2 to 3 minutes then add the paprika, chili powder, dried oregano and cayenne pepper. Stir and cook until shrimp are done, about another 2 to 3 minutes.
5. When the potatoes are done, let them cool down and leave the oven on.
6. Slice the potatoes in half horizontally and carefully scoop out the flesh into a big bowl, making sure to keep the skins.
7. Mash the sweet potatoes until smooth then add the crumble bacon, the shrimp mixture, the ghee, season to taste and combine everything well.
8. Stuff the potato skins with the filling, return to the oven and cook for another 15 minutes.
9. When done remove from the oven and sprinkle with the remaining green onions.

Mini cooking spree

Anne and I had a mini cooking session last night.  I made these chicken, sweet potato and kale patties and Anne made plantain pancakes.  These are marvelous but very labour-intensive.  I could eat every one of them at a sitting!!!  I made an enormous batch of no-oat too, 30 eggs!!!!

Plantain Pancakes
2 ripe plantains
1/4 cup melted coconut oil
salt

Coat parchment paper with coconut oil.  Spread plantain mixture thinly into pancake shapes.  Bake in oven at 425 for 30 mins turning halfway through.  Cool on a wire sheet.

Balsamic & fig roast chicken

2 T Coconut Oil
2 Chicken Breasts
6 Figs, sliced
Salt & Pepper
Balsamic Vinegar

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Heat coconut oil in a large cast iron pan, or other oven safe pan, over medium-high heat.
Salt & pepper the chicken, then place in the pan. Let sear for about 2-3 minutes, then flip them and sear for another 2-3 minutes. When both sides are a golden brown color, turn off the heat. Toss in the sliced figs, making sure to get plenty of them on the chicken. Then pour 2 tablespoons- 1/4 cup of vinegar all over everything. Place in the oven and bake for 40 minutes, flipping half way through. Make sure when you flip them to place some of the figs back on the chicken.

Meatballs with mango-citrus sauce

1 lb Ground Pork
1 Egg
1 bunch Green Onions (about 5-6 stalks), sliced, all of white part and half the green (save the rest to sprinkle on top at the end)
1” piece of Ginger, minced
2 Garlic cloves, minced
¼ c Shredded and Unsweetened Coconut
1 t Salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix thoroughly. Form 1 ½” balls and place on a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Bake for 35-45 minutes, or until cooked all the way through.
To give it a little bit of crispy brown, turn the broiler on for a few minutes at the end.

Mango Citrus Sauce
1 Mango, peeled, seeded & diced
Zest & juice of 1 Lime
Juice of 1 Orange
1/8 – ¼ t Crushed Red Pepper

Put all the ingredients into a small sauce pan. Bring to a boil, then bring the heat down and simmer for 10-15 minutes.

Whole30, starting again.....

We had this cumin/coffee beef for dinner last night.  It was done in the crockpot, so it was incredibly tender and easy to make.  I made some sweet potato biscuits to go with it and fried up some vegetables-onions, mushrooms and broccolini.

 

I decided to start the Whole30 countdown again because Sam and I had Starbucks coffee on Friday morning.  Even though I have made lattes at home with our little machine, I don't really count them.  I know they are off the Whole30 program, but they are my Achilles heel and at least I'm not spending a bunch of money on them at the drive through.  Sam is against the Whole30 anyway because he thinks you should achieve a level you are comfortable with rather than doing something for 30 days that you can't sustain.  Dairy does not seem to bother me like the grains do, so as long as I just make a small latte at home, I don't consider it an epic fail.

 

I'll just start again.....

Whole30, Day 11

Oh no, succumbed to Starbucks today and then made a latte at home as well!!!!  Sam and  I had time to spare while we were waiting for my citizenship ceremony, so we walked down to Starbucks and got coffee.  I have felt tired all day, so made a latte at home this afternoon.  VERY BAD!!!!  On the plus side,  I made pizza for Sam but I ate leftovers instead.  Maggie ate dinner with her friends across the street, so Sam had the pizza to himself!!!!

Whole30, Day 10

Nothing new to report. Had no-oat for breakfast and Anne's Thai chicken chowder for lunch and dinner!!!!  Had a busy evening with doctor appointments and school stuff, so not much time to cook anything.  Sam took the kids to Cici's....

Whole30, Day 9

I made this chicken salad for lunch today. It's an old recipe from a pasta cookbook and I made it without the pasta. It's basically chicken, shrimp, melon and celery with a dressing made from natural yogurt and sour cream-the dairy makes this paleo with not Whole30.

Anne came over to work out with me, she brought some food with her.  This was a recipe she found on Pinterst, she wanted to make shrimp ceviche.  It was really good.  I'm glad I have her to cook with because we can make dishes and share with each other so we have more variety

She made these plantain pancakes to go with the shrimp.  She said they were super easy



2 yellow plantains
1/4 cup coconut oil, melted, plus more for baking tostadas
1 teaspoon salt

Chop the plantains into 2 inch pieces and toss them in the food processor with the melted coconut oil and salt. Puree. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and grease with additional coconut oil. Divide the plantain mixture into 6 blobs on the baking sheet and flatten them out into pancakes as best you can. (Oiled hands help). Bake at 425 for 30 minutes or so, flipping half way.

The top 10 things you should always have in your kitchen

On the first day back to school, Ben opened the fridge door and exclaimed "wow, the fridge has NEVER been this full before".  I think it was mostly because the lunch boxes were there!!!  Of course, on other occassions, either Ben or Maggie will open the fridge door and exclaim "there's nothing to eat".  Ben eats more fruit than Maggie does, so he will say this a little less often she does, but still.....

Our fridge does look like it's full most of the time and the food in there is mostly healthy and fairly paleo-good words to use as caveats!!  The fridge is mostly filled with fruit (we have peaches, apples, strawberries, grapes, blueberries and raspberries).  We also have a lot of leftovers.  Of course, there is still the pizza sauce in the top left hand corner......

After Ben had made his comment, and the success of the sweet potato hummus, Anne and I were talking about the things that you should absolutely always have in the kitchen, so that you can always whip up a paleo meal.  This is what I came up with

1.  Bacon

2.  Eggs

3.  Avocado

4.  Limes

5.  Cilantro

6.  Coconut milk

7.  Thai red curry paste

8.  Almond meal

9.  Chicken

10.  Red onion

I've got all of them!!!!!



Whole30, Day 7 & 8

Oh, no,  I missed a day.  So now, I have to do days 7 and 8.  I haven't taken too many pictures because I've been eating pretty much the same every day.  I ate no-oat oatmeal for breakfast both days and chili for lunch on both days.  Anne came over to work out on Monday evening.  Sam worked with us, it was great.  Anne and I ate vegetables and sweet potato hummus after working out on Monday evening.  Last night, I made sausage with cabbage noodles and cinnamon apples.  It's Ben's favourite dinner, but Maggie won't eat it at all.  She had some of her chicken clafouti heated up-not a bad substitute.  So far, I am doing OK with the Whole30 this time.  The only thing that I have sneaked in is making a latte at home every now and again, just can't resist 



Whole30, Day 6

Day 6-Sunday. My usual major cooking today. We had run out of no-oat oatmeal in the morning, so I made a new batch-30 eggs, the most I have ever made. I made a huge bowl for Sam and then aliquoted some for me to take to work

I made a batch of sweet potato hummus, this stuff is amazing. I made taro chips to eat with it. It's pretty much what I ate for dinner

Sam was going to grill burgers for dinner, but we had so much food already that I told him it wasn't really necessary. He said he would rather have meatballs anyway, so I made a batch for him. They are not my favourite, but I had made plenty of other things that I could eat instead

I made this chili for me to eat for lunch this week. Sam doesn't like it, I think it's because it has hot sauce in it

Maggie had asked me to make her a chicken clafouti. It's a mach better thing for her to eat for breakfast than chocolate cereal

Whole30, Day 5

Saturday morning....had no-oat oatmeal for breakfast. Ben has gymnastics at 9 am on Saturday morning, soon after finishing at 8 pm on Friday nights. I knew this would be the stickler practice because he has always hated going on Saturdays. So my usual bribe is to get him kolache for breakfast. This Saturday, he was up at 7 am (before me!) and so I went and got him breakfast when I woke up. I resisted them for myself (easy, actually) and then ate my usual with blueberries-because I couldn't be bothered to cut up strawberries-it is my lazy morning after all!!

Anne came over to work out with me and then we made an enormous batch of mango curry and some taro root chips.  So, essentially I had taro root chips for lunch.
I made this cherry clafouti for dinner

Anne had brought some of her Thai chicken chowder for me, so I ate that for dinner before the clafouti.  This is wonderful stuff, but Sam won't eat it because it has red bell pepper in it

Sam and I went to Global Market yesterday.  It is a lot of fun to walk around and look at new things to eat.  Since starting on paleo, we have shopped more and more at less-traveled stores and less at the regular grocery stores.  The challenge of getting variety in your diet while eating right makes it so much more fun when shopping.  I found some imported red curry paste-can't wait to try it, I bet it's much hotter than what I have used before!!

Sweet potato hummus

Ingredients
1 Large Sweet Potato
Juice of 1 Lemon
1/4 c Tahini
2 Cloves Garlic
Salt and Pepper to taste

Instructions
Bake and peel your sweet potato in foil at 425 for 90 minutes.
Once it’s done baking, allow to cool slightly and the skin should slide right off.
Toss in a food processor with the remaining ingredients.
Pulse until very smooth.

Whole30, Day 4

I had no-oat oatmeal for breakfast this morning and peach cobbler for lunch-both whole30, but there's no meat or vegetables anywhere in there!!!

Sam was craving pizza for dinner, so I made pepperoni pizza for him and Maggie

Then, I made mango chicken curry for me

Whole30, Day 3

I'm waking up very hungry in the morning these days, maybe not eating enough at night. No pictures today. I had my no-oat oatmeal for breakfast and the last of the chicken salad for lunch-John and I were able to sit outside again since it was another perfect day in St Louis. Anne and I did a killer crossfit workout in the basement and I tried Sam's Progenex recovery protein mix after. He said it really helps with recover and soreness after a hard workout. Afterwards I thought there was bound to be non-Whole30 ingredients in it and sure enough, it had whey protein, fructose and sucralose in it, not to mention milk and soy by-products. Still, it was an honest mistake rather than me choosing to go off the prescribed ingredients....

Whole30, Day 2

I had no-oat oatmeal for breakfast as usual. I eat my first half out of the bowl that Ben made at pottery class years ago. It's a perfect bowl for comfort food, it's rounded at the bottom and fits perfectly in your hand. If I had a choice, I'd eat everything out of it!!

It was such a beautiful day, John and I went outside to eat lunch. John got a salad and bread from Fresh Gatherings, I ate my chicken salad, tasted even better being outside!!

I made Marie's salmon recipe for dinner tonight. I was going to make the cucumber, avocado and mango salad, but the avocados were all terrible so I added tomatoes instead and then added a little lime juice and some fresh basil. It was very good

I'm also trying to keep a track of the things that I have resisted throughout the day too. I was close to getting a latte from Fresh Gatherings because they have almond milk, but I skipped it because I suspect the almond milk is sweetened. Ben also got Penn Station after gymnastics and I didn't eat any of his fries, even though the smell was very tempting!!

Whole30, Day 1

First day of Whole30 and I did pretty well. I had my usual no-oat oatmeal for breakfast. I usually eat it in two batches and I ate it with strawberries

I had this chicken salad for lunch. Cut up chicken breast from Sam's Club, celery, walnuts, grapes and mayonnaise made with lime and avocado oil

I ate left-over Canoa de Madoro for dinner. I had made it with cheese on top. Since it was Day 1 and I'm determined to make it through this time, I took the cheese off before I ate it

We walked round to Xavier's to get Ben and then stopped at Baskin Robbins for ice cream. Maggie had vanilla ice cream and Ben had the rainbow sherbet. I resisted even tasting one of them!!!

I didn't do any Crossfit, but I did walk over 20,000 steps. Walked with Amy at lunchtime and then walked with Sam at night

Breakfast in the slow cooker....

1 medium to large sweet potato (sliced thinly)
1/2 cup coconut milk
3 (pre-cooked) chicken sausages
1 chopped large red bell pepper
3/4 cup chopped sweet onion
6 large eggs
Pepper to taste

Slice and chop up sweet potato, chicken sausages, red bell pepper and sweet onion.
Scramble the eggs in a bowl.
Coat the edges of the slow-cooker with coconut oil or coconut oil spray.
Place sweet potato slices on the bottom and layer chicken sausage slices atop.
Pour 1/2 cup coconut milk over the sweet potato and chicken sausage mixture.
Then, layer with the chopped red bell pepper and sweet onion.
Drizzle the scrambled egg mixture on top.
Season with pepper and/or whatever other seasoning you like.
Set the slow-cooker to high, and cook for three hours.

First day of school, first day of Whole30

Yes, I have been saying it over and over, but I'm starting Whole30 again today.

I thought I would start on the day that the kids start school, I do much better when I am in a routine and we certainly haven't been in a routine all Summer.....

I'm doing it with a couple of other people, so maybe this will keep me focused. Anne is doing it with me again, she has been doing crossfit with me at home for a while and she is gluten-intolerant. Amy is also doing it, I work with her and we walked together on the Walk to Madrid team. Amy has celiac disease and so she should be pretty much paleo anyway. We will see how we will do just with the three of us. Amy hasn't done this before and I lent her It Starts With Food to read. She is really eager to get going and should keep us on track.

To try to keep me focused, I'm going to take photos of each meal I eat. Maybe that will remind me that I am supposed to be eating the right things for 30 days!!!!

HotPot Smoothie lemon mango curry recipe

1 large fresh mango, cubed to yield 8 ounces flesh
¼ fresh lemon juice
1 cup water
1 14-ounce can coconut milk
1 tablespoon sea salt
1 tablespoon granulated garlic
¾ teaspoon granulated onion
¼ teaspoon white pepper
¼ teaspoon cumin
1/8 teaspoon allspice
1/8 teaspoon turmeric
1. In a blender, blend all ingredients on high until smooth. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Best made the day before, allowing flavors to meld.
2. To serve HotPot-style, fill a bowl part way with cooked Asian noodles, rice or sweet potatoes. Stir-fry chicken, beef, pork, shrimp or a meatless protein with vegetables, stir in 6 to 8 tablespoons sauce and serve hot.

Recent food-related stuff

Sam made these steak kebabs with the cherry sauce last weekend, they turned out to be really good

We ate therm with cucumber, mango and avocado salad

Ben had made pita when he was in Culinary Camp and made some more when he was home.  They were really good and surprisingly easy to make

Ben has been coming to work with me quite a lot this Summer.  He's a big fan of Fresh Gatherings and gets lunch there, it is all locally grown food and I'm glad he likes it.  He had this huge sandwich one day

and these tacos another day

We went to First Watch for breakfast yesterday, last weekend of Summer vacation....

Crockpot brisket with coffee/cumin

4 lbs (approx.) 100% grass-fed beef brisket (or other roast of your choice)
1/4 cup ground coffee
2 tablespoons ground cumin
2 tablespoons sea salt
1-2 teaspoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tablespoon coconut oil
1 can coconut milk

Pour coconut milk into crockpot
Mix all the rub ingredients in a bowl, that's the coffee, salt, cumin and cocoa.
Take the solid coconut oil and rub it all over the brisket, then apply the rub.
Cook for ten hours in the coconut milk that is already in the crockpot, a bit longer if it is not easily shredded at the ten-hour mark.

Mashed Sweet Potatoes
4 large sweet potatoes
6 T coconut cream
2 T cinnamon
2 tsp nutmeg
½ C chopped pecans

Cut potatoes into small cubes and boil or microwave until soft.
Drain and mash until almost smooth. Add coconut cream and spices. Stir well.
Toss in pecans and stir.
Makes about 6 cups.

Gearing up for 30 days

Although the Hatwig's 30 days started on August 1, Anne and I are starting tomorrow. I find it much easier to start on Monday when I'm in a routine and Anne knew she wouldn't do well because Megan was in town this weekend.  One of the things that they say NOT to do is to substitute foods-don't make regular foods with substituted paleo ingredients in them.  So, this means that yummy things like these zucchini muffins

and this paleo peach cobbler 

are off limits because even though they have paleo ingredients, they are fooling you into thinking you are eating regular food and that's OK.  Unfortunately, a lot of paleo proponents do exactly this and it's part of what helps me get through this diet.  I had made both of the above this week, guess I won't be making them for a while....
On the plus side, this fish and banana curry IS whole30 approved and one of the best paleo recipes I have made

Steak and cherry sauce for BBQ

2 teaspoons ghee or fat of choice
½ cup minced shallot
1 garlic clove, minced
1 (1-inch) ginger root, peeled and finely grated
1 tablespoon tomato paste
¼ cup coconut aminos
¼ cup balsamic vinegar
¼ cup apple juice
10 ounces frozen cherries, roughly chopped
Kosher salt, to taste
Freshly ground pepper, to taste

For the Smashed Steak Skewers:
1½-pound flank steak Kosher salt, to taste
Freshly ground pepper, to taste
2 tablespoons melted ghee
¼ cup scallions, thinly sliced

First, melt the ghee over medium heat in a small saucepan.
Add the shallots and a pinch of salt and sauté until translucent (around 5 minutes).
Stir in the garlic, ginger and tomato paste and sauté for 30 second until fragrant.
Add the coconut aminos, vinegar, juice and cherries and bring to a boil.
While the sauce is simmering, stir occasionally and smush the cherries against the side of the pot.

Cut the steak in half lengthwise (along the grain).
Next, slice the steak in half across the grain.
Put meat on skewers and smash to 1/2inch thick.
Season with salt and pepper and brush with melted ghee. Cook on grill and brush with BBQ sauce