Whole 30 Days 8-9

MONDAY: Day 8

Breakfast - handful of almonds, banana, coffee with almond milk

Lunch - leftover chicken curry (mmmmmmmm....)

Dinner - M made stuffed peppers with grass-fed beef, sweet potato shavings, red pepper, pecans, egg, and love. Huge delicious dinner bomb!

 TUESDAY: Day 9 and HOME INSPECTION DAY!
(cue trying not to stress snack!!!)

Breakfast - Few almonds before the gym. Met up with my friend Cindy for breakfast and asked them to create something (instead of breakfast sandwich) so had two eggs, slice sausage, tomatoes and sliced avocado. Awesome and hearty. Coffee with almond milk and a cup of tea.

Lunch - heading to home inspection - few more almonds. Around 2:30pm when we finally finished headed to a local bar and had a chicken cobb salad with no dairy and oil and vinegar dressing.

Afternoon - ADMISSION - I was totally NOT hungry at all. I just ate because I wanted a treat and 'deserved' one after being so good and making it through the home inspection. Found these and thought it would be a nice change (also while at grocery store talked myself out of buying medjool dates to have at the house as that would lead to snacking whereas this was one little treat).

 Lunch - feeling something lighter. Oven roasted salmon cooked over two pieces of bacon I had left just for a little flavor (didn't really add anything). Zucchini 'pasta' with garlic, onion, lemon, spinach and grape tomatoes. Topped with an invented tapenade (M's idea) - chopped up olives, garlic, onion, dijon mustard, S & P. Not a bad outcome!

Still chugging along. Still a little miserable, but getting much better and snacking urges are going away. Coffee with coconut milk is tasting better. Still none of the euphoric happy-happy-joy-joy 'I feel so amazing' that others online seem to report, but again the clothes fitting better is keeping me focused and in the game. It's possible too that #Whole30 combined with purchasing a condo isn't the best combo, because I'm stressed already. Although, on second thought, having rules about what I can and can't have is probably saving me a zillion calories in lo-carb but calorie bomb snacks and martinis galore. Hmmm...maybe I'm on to something here....

#alittlebitbetter

Whole 30 Days 4-6

THURSDAY Day 4:

Tired. Grumpy. Hungry.

BREAKFAST: egg 'muffins' and a banana

LUNCH: 'no bun no fries' from our restaurant at work

DINNER:

Pork loin, roasted sweet potatoes, rainbow swiss chard with onions

FRIDAY DAY 5:

Woke up feeling HUNGOVER today. M did too. Terrible headache, exhausted, both slept through the alarm for the gym. Not nice. So odd. We both spent 15 minutes googling possibilities of a sweet potato hangover or half-joking that the cat fed us drinks while we were sleeping. What the $%^& good is not enjoying a cocktail for 30 days if we are going to wake up feeling like we got schmammered the night before? Almost all of the negatives without the fun. Great. Needless to say we were pretty pissed this morning and really missing some greasy food and sugar-bombed coffee. Yes. I get that this is missing the point. We didn't do it alright?! I'm just saying...

Breakfast: plum, mix of cashews and pecans with some salt

Lunch: salad from the restaurant Chicken Cobb without cheese with oil and vinegar

Dinner: bunless burger from FOUR BURGERS with fried egg on top and a side salad with oil and vinegar and dijon mustard. 

DYING for a treat, so at the movies instead of popcorn and a diet soda (my usual treat) I brought mixed nuts (no peanuts) with a vita-coco

SATURDAY DAY 6:

Breakfast: bowl of cashews, coconut shreds and a few strawberries mixed together

Lunch: green salad with shredded chicken, olives, cauliflower and shredded carrots, oil and vinegar

Dinner: Pot roast with bacon (slow-cooked), celery, carrots, onions. With a side of asparagus and artichoke hearts.

I have been struggling with beverages, missing the different flavors. I didn't realize how much I would miss that. I've been crushing as many different flavors of club soda as I can find. We have also been really craving foods that we normally wouldn't eat. Example, Saturday night we nearly caved when we both suddenly wanted chocolate chip cookie dough ice-cream (mint chocolate for M) AND ruffles chips with french onion dip. We were literally both GIDDY talking about it and I think both waiting for the other to just say 'screw it' and sprint to the corner store. This is crazy.

I am getting a little sick of all of the cooking. M is getting sick of doing so many dishes. We are spending all weekend in so we're avoiding temptation. Damn this Whole30.

I know it's good for us, enjoying some of the new recipes but tired. Tired of cooking. Tired of reading labels. Tired of no sauces on anything. Tired of being one of those obnoxious 'oooooh we don't eat that we are paleo, mmmmmmk?' people. I actually watched Ted talks yesterday debunking paleo as not being authentic to the cavemen at all. So mentally we are not doing well with this.  All this complaining and we're not quitting yet? Why you ask? I have no idea. Just that we said that we would do 30 days so #$%^& it we are going to do it. $%^&*^%$!!!! 

Arrrrrrrgh #alittlebitbetter

Pesto and portobello stuffed/bacon wrapped chicken

Kudos to PaleoMomRx for this recipe. 

While we will probably never subscribe to the full hype that is crossfit or paleo - recipes like these are something to make you stop and appreciate it. 

Borrowed and modified from her blog, here's our version...

Served stuffed with portobello mushrooms, pesto, wrapped in nitrate-free bacon (thanks trader joe's). No instructions provided because it is EXACTLY as easy as it looks. 

350 til the juices run clear. Our oven (not convinced it gets to temp) took 50 min. A decent oven I would think 35-40. USDA says 165 deg internal temp. I cooked til 155 and it looked perfect (white all the way thru but still moist). Serve as you see fit. 

We choose to mandolin some yellow zucchini (so delicious and cheap this time of year) and salt. Served under as a little side dish. 

Bon appétit!

 http://www.paleomomrx.com/2012/08/08/pesto-stuffed-chicken/. For this

Stuffed Salmon & Zucchini Pasta

Stuffed salmon with artichoke hearts, feta and spinach (as inspired by this Whole Foods recipe: www.wholefoodsmar...) 

and easy zucchini "pasta" 
with pesto, mushrooms and tomatoes. So easy. So lo-carb. So gluten free. Soooooo delicious. We were pretty impressed with ourselves.

Our Zucchini Lasagna

Our Zucchini Lasagna 
#gluten-free #lo-carb 

1. Thinly slice zucchini length-wise. Paper towel & salt to pull out water. Let sit for @ least 10 mins. 

2. Sautée meat - Add onions & garlic. Add tomato sauce & balsamic. Simmer 30 mins+ 

3. Chop veggies. We chose kale, spinach, portobello mushrooms, green peppers & sun-dried tomatoes. 

4. Separately mix cottage cheese, 1 egg, shredded cheese. 

5. Layer it up. 

6. Cover w foil. Bake at 375/45 mins. Remove foil for next 15. Rest for 10. 

7. Bon appétit