What Day Is This...Day 18?

I'm behind! So, for a little catching up...
I'm not even going to try and re-create what happened between my last post and this one (approximately days 13 - 15).


I was in a foul mood and hadn't really planned ahead most of those days. Note to self; the combination of those two is NOT a formula for success when it comes to clean eating. While I DID stay completely TW30 compliant, it was not fun. My meals had fallen into a rut and I was not putting forth the effort. Add to that about three grueling days at work and we have the makings of a train wreck. Whew. Glad I dodged THAT bullet.






On Friday (Day 16) I tried the eMeals Thai Flank Steak that Mandy referenced a couple of days ago. In a word, um, searching, searching...yep, that's it...DELISH! Oh my goodness! Like Mandy, I didn't marinate overnight; marinated for close to eight hours. Larry grilled it for 4 minutes per side, a little underdone, so he put it back on for 5 minutes; perfection! Medium rare for me and the end pieces were medium for him. Not being familiar with flank steak, I didn't really take into consideration that it does not shrink. So...in summary, I will be eating leftover Thai Flank Steak for a couple of days. No problem here, I loved it! I'll have it tonight, probably with a quick sear in a skillet, and tomorrow, chilled, on top of a nice green salad. I have some awesome tangerine balsamic vinegar I'm going to use to make up this week's MPV and I think it will go perfect with the steak. With my flank steak on Friday I fixed some cauliflower rice; I started with sautéing onions and garlic in 2-3 Tbsp. combination of olive oil and butter (use ghee if you are avoiding butter during TW30), I then added some sliced almonds, about 3 Tbsp,  1 tsp curry, and salt and pepper to taste, I then added my cauliflower "rice" and stirred to combine and heat the cauliflower. YUM! I have some of that leftover as well.




Day 17 (BS 125) was an indulgent Scrapbooking Day with my gal pals. This is usually a very indulgent get-together with decadent food and wine. However, since one of my guests (a co-contributor here) is also doing TW30 and the other is an avid runner and all around healthy eater, this was not a problem. I served a wonderful "Ensalada Mixta," which, with just the tiniest tweak or two is completely Paleo Compliant. One of my guests brought a wonderful "pure" fruit salad and we were all in heaven. We even managed to get in a 2 mile walk AND lots of scrapbooking! For dinner, I fixed the prosciutto wrapped chicken (also a recipe that Mandy tried...I think from now on I'm just going to let her run the test kitchen and I'll take her recommendations!), "fan style roasted sweet potatoes" and Tiffany contributed a loaded green salad. All around, a great Paleo Day!


Day 18


BS 139


Subtitle of this post:

What a Difference A Good Playlist Makes

With some recommendations from Tiffany and Lorna, I began creating a new playlist to play during my "run" (I kind of laugh at myself when I call it a "run"... it's a walk/jog interval at this point, with lots of huffing and puffing at the slightest incline, but I'm doing it). Today I finally downloaded all of the songs I had been accumulating on my iTunes wish list and updated my "Run" playlist. What a difference! "California Gurlz" almost had me breaking into "Dance/Run" but I held back. I logged 1.89 miles ("walk" portion was 1.44 miles (15:16 mph) and my "run" portion was .45 miles (17:55 mph). Yay me! That's up from 1.84 total (1.26 miles (17:26 mph) during "walk" and .58 miles (13:42 mph) "run") last Sunday. I'm definitely feeling stronger than I did a week ago.

Make a-heads

As I was beginning to put together dinner, I decided to put to good use some of the leftover veggies and whatnot that had accumulated in the refrigerator. I pulled out the browned, ground sausage from the freezer and whipped up a dozen egg muffins. This time these little babies were loaded with baby greens (kale and spinach), diced mushrooms, diced onion, diced bell peppers and for good measure I diced up and threw in the leftovers from last night's roasted sweet potatoes. Add one dozen eggs, seasoned with garlic powder, cayenne pepper, nutmeg and sea salt and voila! Breakfast for about six days. These are in the freezer right now and when they are frozen, I'll toss them in a bag, throw them back in the freezer and breakfast is done.


I also tore a page out of Mandy's book (seem to be doing a lot of that lately) and chopped up a bunch of veggies for salads; tonight's, tomorrow lunch and extras for the week ahead.
I saw an interesting idea on FB or Pinterest, can't remember which; it was "salad in a jar." The concept is that you can layer your salad in a jar, dressing on the bottom, other ingredients layered with lettuce on top, refrigerate and, when ready to eat, give it a good shake. Supposedly you can make several of these days in advance and then just "grab and go." I'm not sure about that, but I did take a tip from here; layer my salad. Salad is just a little less appealing when it is "slimed" by the juicy tomatoes or other "wet" ingredients that have been sitting with the lettuce since the salad was made (usually, in the case of a workday lunch, leftovers from the night before). Putting the "juicy things" on the bottom should get rid of the slime factor; in tonight's case, marinated beets, pickled asparagus, red pepper stuffed olives (I sliced these...by the way, all three of these were ingredients left over from Saturday's salad), then the quartered Campari tomatoes, then the avocado then the lettuce. I'll put my MPV in a separate little container, thank you.


I also grabbed a pineapple from Costco the other day; we've been on an "orange" kick and I'm wanting to mix the fruit selection up a bit. I took the time this afternoon to clean and cut up the pineapple. Again, this is a great time saver for busy workday mornings; all cut and ready to grab to have alongside my breakfast muffins.

And today's meals...


Breakfast: Egg scramble w/spinach, bell peppers, green onions, mushrooms, crumbled bacon. Leftover fruit salad. Coffee w/almond milk


Lunch: Prosciutto wrapped chicken, leftover Ensalada Mixta


Dinner: Thai Flank Steak, curry cauliflower rice, green salad with MPV (made with Tangerine Balsamic vinegar...yum!)


I'm ready for the week ahead!

Day 17: Saturday, You are My Nemisis

So, it really doesn't matter how far along I get on this journey, on Saturday evenings I will always want to dive face-first into a goblet of wine. But, one more Saturday down and I did not dive in. Whoosh. 

We started off our day with an exciting new recipe - Pumpkin Pancakes! Now, I know that ISWF and the Whole 30 Forum would scream at me about Pumpkin Pancakes being SWYPO, but I disagree completely. First, Pumpkin Pancakes are about as close to regular pancakes as cauliflower mash is to mashed potatoes. And why is it that you can "fake" things like cauliflower mash, cauli-rice, sweet potato fries, but somehow pumpkin pancakes are off limits? I personally believe Melissa Harwig may have found herself face-first in one too many Grand-Slam breakfasts in her earlier life and so pancakes are HER danger food. So, I have made my own executive decision to try them out. They were definitely a success. Parker tends to believe that anything with syrup must be a good idea, so I don't think he noticed/cared about the switch up. I ate them with scrambled eggs and some bacon and they gave some interesting new textures/flavors to my breakfast. To me pancakes aren't pancakes without syrup of some sort, and since that is not an option I found them more to be an extra dimension to my breakfast. 

I also tried a new recipe from Pinterest for dinner. It was a smothered mustard/lime/cilantro chicken. It was OK, but not great. I don't think I would make it again. 

Breakfast: Pumpkin Pancakes from Practical Paleo. Scrambled eggs and bacon.

Recipe: Pumpkin Pancakes
4 eggs 
1/ 2 cup canned pumpkin 
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract 
2 tablespoons pure maple syrup (optional) 
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice 
1 teaspoon cinnamon 
1/ 4 teaspoon baking soda 
2 tablespoons butter or coconut oil (plus extra for pan frying) *I used ghee instead of butter

Whisk the eggs, canned pumpkin, pure vanilla extract, and pure maple syrup together. Sift the pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon, and baking soda into the wet ingredients.


Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Then, mix the butter into the batter. Grease the skillet and spoon the batter into the skillet to make pancakes of your desired size. When a few bubbles appear, flip the pancakes once to finish cooking. Serve with grass-fed butter and cinnamon or sliced bananas.

Lunch: Chipotle salad with no dressing - guacamole on top.

Dinner: Mustard Lime Chicken and green salad

Days 15 & 16: Halfway! Reflections, Great Finds, and Timesavers

Whoo Hoo! We made it halfway! Oh my! I am such a slave to mental benchmarks. When I am losing weight it is the next five pound increment, when I am running it is the next half mile. With a challenge like this it starts with days past, and now we can finally count down days left. Mental "games" like this make me really stay engaged and on track. It was rewarding to say "wow, we have made it 10 days, 11 days, etc." Now I am excited to says "we only have 14 days left, 13 days..."

Halfway through I am definitely starting to feel some changes in my body. I do have more energy throughout the day and I have noticed that my mood is not so, shall we say, volatile. I find I am calmer during the day dealing with the kids. I am contributing that mostly to increased/better sleep. I also have minimal/fleeting cravings. When I get a craving it is usually linked to whatever food I am making for the kids...just one bite of the PB&J crust...and of course Parker asked for Cinnamon Rolls for breakfast the other day - ouch, that one was tough! I also have a pair of pants I am calling my Whole30 pants. As I said before, I did not weigh myself before the challenge and I have found that SOOO helpful. Whenever I am tempted to get on the scale I think to myself - "what is the point, you don't know what you weighed to start with, so the scale can't tell you anything" how awesome is that? I really am loving that freedom! But I do have a pair of jeans that was getting pretty tight over the holidays. And they are truly the only pair I can use to judge because they are the only ones that don't have some form of stretch to them that makes them lose their shape as the day goes on...saggy butt jeans anyone? So, I decided to try them on yesterday, and low and behold they are looser! I could button them with no difficulty and there was noticeably less, shall we say, puff (I don't like the term "muffin top") over the top. So, I consider that a big win! 

Yesterday was my big weekly shopping trip. I had read an interesting blog a few days ago about how much more expensive it is to eat Paleo/Whole30 and I was trying to be much more aware of that "topic" while I was shopping. As you would expect I spend much more time in the outskirts of the store - far from all the boxed food. Of course, with Ben and the kids still eating some of that food, I spend some time in the aisles, but noticeably less. The result is that my grocery cart looks like this:

Note: The baby comes with the cart.

So, the entire top part of the cart is filled with fruits and veggies and the bottom stocked with our meats and "some" extras for my non-Whole30 eaters. Don't judge based on the aisle we are in - the left side is where my sparkling water is - no Fruit Loops today! It is a very gratifying feeling to know you are taking home so much good/wholesome food. But, the bank account pays for it. It definitely is more expensive to eat this way. Our weekly grocery trip is about $175, and this day was closer to $250. Granted, I had to stock up on a couple of household items, but not enough to account for an additional $75. So, moving forward post Whole30 I will have to do a bit more budgeting and trying to find some ways to cut the costs. The commissary is already much less expensive than traditional grocery stores, and as well all know, they don't make coupons for produce!

On to my FPF (Fabulous Paleo Finds) and tips. I have recently discovered "Simply Balanced" which is the health food brand of Target. They have some great teas that are compliant as well as the freeze dried fruit that I have become addicted to. They also even have some "fruit bites" that are compliant and yummy. The fruit bites lean a little bit towards SWYPO (Sex With Your Pants On), but as a treat I enjoy them and am willing to add them to my "moderation" supply. The Simply Balanced brand seems to have a pretty extensive line of products that are much less processed than other snacks/food. I am going to continue to check out their offerings. 

My recent time saving tip has been about my bell peppers. I bought bell peppers at Costco, but they were turning soft and I really didn't want to throw them away. So I quickly sliced them all up into small strips and threw them in a gallon ziploc and popped them in the freezer. I wasn't sure if they would hold up. I was very pleasantly surprised the next morning when I wanted some peppers for my breakfast and I found that they held up very well. I chopped some into smaller pieces while they were still frozen and I threw them in the pan for my breakfast. I will definitely be doing this in the future. It saves a bunch of time in the morning and if I do it when I first get the peppers it will help keep them fresh. Win!

My breakfasts and lunches have become pretty consistent - eggs and veggies for breakfast and salad or leftovers for lunch. So I am going to just post dinners from now on unless I eat something special/different for one of the other meals.

Day 15: Another score from eMeals. So far every meal I have tried from these recipes has been a success. We had Pork Ragu. I had mine over roasted spaghetti squash and made noodles for Ben and the kids. We had it with a green salad.

Recipe: Pork Ragu

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 large onion, thinly sliced

1 large carrot, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 lb ground pork

½ teaspoon kosher salt

½ teaspoon pepper

1 cup white wine (I substituted chicken stock)

1 bay leaf

2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

14.5 oz can diced tomatoes

1 cup shredded Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese (optional

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onion, carrot, and garlic. Cook 8 minutes or until lightly browned and tender. Add pork to skillet; sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cook 6 minutes or until browned. Deglaze with white wine, scraping skillet to loosen browned bits. Stir in bay leaf, parsley and tomatoes. Bring to a simmer over low heat. Cook 25 minutes or until liquid is almost evaporated. Discard bay leaf before serving. Sprinkle with cheese, if desired.

Day 16: Pan-Seared Halibut from eMeals. I served this with steamed veggies. It was delicious. The package of halibut I bought had three pieces. Ben and I both ate one and thought it was so good we split the third.

Recipe: Pan-Seared Halibut

3 tablespoons almond flour

½ teaspoon garlic salt

½ teaspoon lemon pepper

6 (6-oz) skinless halibut fillets (or substitute tilapia)

2 tablespoons coconut oil, divided

Combine almond flour, garlic salt and lemon pepper in a shallow dish. Dredge fish in flour mixture. Melt 1 tablespoon oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add 3 fillets to pan. Cook 8 minutes, turning once, or until fish flakes with a fork. Remove from pan; keep warm. Repeat procedure with remaining oil and fish.

Days 13 & 14: Routine Has Kicked In

Whoosh, hitting the middle of this Whole 30 challenge and I am finally feeling a routine kick in. The best benefit of this change is that my lunches are seeming less daunting than they were in the past. I am really not good at eating leftovers. Eating the same thing I ate for dinner a night or two before, in the same form, is just a mental block for me. I have been able to jump this hurdle by repurposing my leftovers and using them for something else. I am a big fan of skillets at lunch (I know that is a luxury of being home most days). I will throw some veggies in the pan with whatever meat I have from dinner that week and usually add some coconut aminos and cook it all together. It usually turns out pretty tasty and it is very easy. My other trick is to dice up some meat and put it on a salad. This works especially well when the chicken/beef/whatever does not have a flavor that would be very conducive to a skillet meal. 

Long ago - during those Weight Watchers days during Ben's second deployment I learned the fine art of chopping up many extras whenever I chop veggies. I try to always have all the fixings for salad already chopped and in my fridge so putting together a salad involves chopping up my protein and mixing up some dressing. I do the same with other veggies like bell peppers and onions. That way when I do make a skillet the prep is minimal. This is really the only way lunches will work for me, by the time I get around to eating lunch (usually about 2PM - when the kids have gone down for nap) I need something quick and easy. 

I have also become a big fan of sweet potato hash at breakfast. It makes my eggs seem more exciting. I go through phases with breakfast, but this is my favorite right now. I also have the sweet potato prepped for about 3 days worth of breakfast. Whenever I need some I peel and shred a whole sweet potato, and wrap the extra in a paper towel and put it in a ziploc to absorb extra moisture. When I need some I can just grab the prepped shreds. The great thing about sweet potatoes is they don't brown/gray when cut or shredded like regular potatoes. I know the browning of regular potatoes doesn't really change the flavor, but gray potatoes are always a little unappealing to me.

I continue to notice my runs are more difficult than they were pre-Whole 30. I have researched it a bit and I have found that this is to be expected in the first few weeks. As my body readjusts to using fat as a fuel source. I am hoping in the next week or so things will start to even out and I will not feel like I am struggling so much.

Day 13:
Breakfast & Lunch were repeats from previous days...

Dinner: Thai Flank Steak from eMeals and steamed broccoli - The steak was delicious - and I used the leftover for lunch the next day. I did not marinate over night, I only put it in the marinade in the morning because I forgot. I imagine it would be even better if it was marinading longer.

Recipe: Thai Flank Steak

2 lb flank steak, trimmed

Zest and juice of 2 large limes

2 tablespoons coconut aminos

¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon ground ginger

¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

1 teaspoon garlic salt

1 teaspoon pepper

Combine steak, lime zest, lime juice, coconut aminos, cilantro, cumin, ginger and red pepper flakes in a large zip-top plastic bag. Seal and refrigerate overnight. Preheat grill or grill pan to medium-high heat. Remove steak from marinade; sprinkle with garlic salt and pepper. Grill 5 to 7 minutes per side or to desired degree of doneness. Let stand 5 minutes before slicing thinly across the grain.

Day 14:

Breakfast: soft boiled eggs, canadian bacon, veggies, SP hash

Lunch: Skillet with leftover flank steak, snap peas, onions, coconut aminos

Dinner: Coconut Almond Chicken from eMeals with a side salad. I also made a pasta side dish for Ben and the kids. This chicken was awesome! I will definitely make it again. It was very flavorful and will be great for leftovers.

Recipe: Coconut Almond Chicken

2.25 oz package sliced almonds

6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

¼ teaspoon garlic salt

¼ teaspoon lemon pepper

3 tablespoons coconut oil

1½ cups coconut cream

2 tablespoons fresh orange juice

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

⅛ teaspoon cayenne pepper

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Place almonds on a small baking sheet; toast 5 minutes or until fragrant and lightly browned. Place each chicken breast between 2 sheets of plastic wrap, and flatten to ¼-inch thickness. Sprinkle with garlic salt and lemon pepper. Melt 1½ tablespoons oil in a large skillet over mediumhigh heat. Add half of chicken, and cook 2 minutes per side or until golden. Remove chicken from skillet. Repeat procedure with remaining oil and chicken. Reduce heat to medium; add cream, orange juice, mustard and pepper, stirring well. Add chicken; sprinkle with almonds, and cook 8 minutes or until sauce thickens.

I toasted the almonds in my toaster oven. I also used Chicken Tenderloins instead of breasts. I did not flatten them, they cooked a few extra minutes, but I like the portions that tenderloins create.

After my recent success with eMeals recipes I have decided to subscribe. They are currently doing a Groupon so I got a year for almost half price - it was $29 instead of $58. I really think this will help me to continue to eat paleo-ish post Whole 30. I always menu plan for the whole week, so just pre-planned Paleo meals from eMeals will help me to stay on track. 

Day 12: Hi Ho, Hi Ho, It's Back To School We Go!

Yay Monday! And Hooray for a school day where the weather was decent enough to run with the BOB on the way to school! We had also gone on a family run on Sunday to the park, so it has been nice to be back in the routine again. Some interesting thoughts about my run though, I am not sure if it is the Whole 30, the cold, or if my children have gained 20 lbs, but my runs have been noticeably difficult. Maybe I haven't yet hit the "sweet spot" of W30 where my athletic performance should improve, but it was a bit of a bummer. I found myself struggling much more than before, especially on hills. I will definitely keep tracking this and see if/how it improves in the coming weeks. 

Breakfast: Egg Muffins 

Lunch: Leftover chicken from Friday night, baby carrots and snap peas dipped in homemade "veggie dip"

Dinner: Nom Nom Paleo's Slow Cooker Cheater Pork Stew. I used the pork shoulder whole and cut it up after it cooked. After cutting it I added it back to the crockpot for about 30 minutes. I did not use any fish sauce. The Red Boat Fish Sauce she recommends is a little outrageously priced ($24 on Amazon for a 17oz bottle). I had read some comments on the recipe site and others seemed to be happy with the recipe without the fish sauce so I went with that. I used some of my Giada homemade marinara sauce. It was excellent. Parker and Ben both enjoyed it as well. I made some couscous for Ben and the kids. Served it all with a salad. I would make this recipe even if I wasn't doing W30.

Day #12 - A Day late, but other than that...

Apparently my feelings today were right on target...


So interesting that I ran across this early this a.m. while eating my paleo breakfast:
http://whole30.com/2014/01/do-you-really-want-to-quit/






And then...ran across THIS later in the evening
http://whole30fromeasttowest.blogspot.com/2014/01/day-10-11-fun-filled-weekend.html




And then reflecting back on the thought that was consuming me on the way home, after a very long and somewhat frustrating/stressful Monday; visions of tossing in the towel and throwing back a glass (or 4) of wine and forgoing my Paleo dinner of leftovers for a trip to our local Mexican restaurant so I could stick my face in a bowl of chips. Hmmm...there really MUST be something to this Day 10/11 thing (although, for me, it kicked in a day late).


If I only remember one thing from the "Do You Really Want To Quit" article, it's this...


...don’t let an emotional moment ruin the days of hard work you’ve already put in.






BS 126


B: egg scramble; eggs, mushrooms, green onions, bacon; served over zucchini spirals, topped with salsa and avocado. Banana.


L: loaded green salad; tender, baby salad mix, olives, crushed almonds, tomatoes, avocado, topped with leftover roast chicken, MPV (the basil version). Orange.


D: Leftovers; Mahi Mahi, sweet potato, broccoli

Better Late than Never...

Day 1....

Yes, you read right...Day 1. I decided to start my journey a little later than everyone else because I wasn't quite feeling it. This past month has been difficult emotionally, as I lost my sister Kim just before Christmas. I wanted to get past the depression and be able to embrace this process with my whole heart. Unfortunately, my heart wasn't into it on January 1, so my start date is January 12th.

This isn't my first round of TW30, as I completed it last year at the same time, starting on January 2nd. However, I began eating like a Paleoista the previous fall. I can honestly say, I have never felt better than I do when I eat this way, and today is no different.

My first go-round, the biggest difficulty was getting around the coffee with no cream. I survived and even came to somewhat enjoy black coffee. This time it's not as bad, probably since I knew I survived the last attempt.

Here are what my meals consisted of:

B: Eggs and bacon

L: Sweet potato hash (organic grd beef, with chopped potato, onion, celery, and carrots. Hash is a staple that I always have on hand for a quick bite)

D: Yummy Sautéed Turkey Marbella, a recipe from Emeals Paleo Family plan for January 1st through the 7th. I actually made it with chicken cutlets because I couldn't find turkey cutlets. I made the suggested zucchini recipe, too. My family loved the whole meal!

My daughter Adrianna and I did a 3 mile walk/jog, too.

I have to say, I don't feel deprived or that I'm missing out...hard to believe, but I am not even missing my glass of wine!

I felt very energetic and even began tackling the HUGE job of sorting years of photos and memorabilia.

Day 2, bring it!