Tag Archives: whole30

the week in food: old school italian meat sauce

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We had a weekend of nothing. Alfred went to see the vet and I went to see the hairdresser, but besides those two appointments we had no where we had to be at any point. It was amazing. And I had lots of fun in the kitchen.

I stayed true to my Whole30 and as of now (Sunday night) am just closing in on day 7. Because we had no socializing this weekend it was really easy. Though after a long day on Friday I really could have gone for a glass of wine. So far I’m sleeping like a rock and while I haven’t noticed any changes in how my clothes fit I do feel like my stomach is a little less bloated. On to week two!

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Here’s what we ate this weekend and what we’re going to eat this week. Everything we’ve had so far has been new to us and really good. I recommend it all.

Saturday: scrambled eggs with leftover asparagus (breakfast), tuna salads with homemade mayo (lunch), chicken thighs + greens + broccoli soup (dinner, which I will post about later since it was all delicious)

The soup was my first new soup recipe out of five on my fall bucket list. Suggestions for others I need to try?

Sunday: Chipotle (we skipped breakfast and after a family hike headed straight to Chipotle for lunch to stop the hangry-induced bickering), old school italian meat sauce over spaghetti squash (dinner)

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The recipe is a little time intensive but so good and makes at least 3 or 4 meals for two, or will serve several guests. You can find the recipe by downloading the preview of Well Fed 2 which comes out later this month. Well Fed is my favorite cookbook so I can’t wait until 2 arrives.

And this week:

Breakfast: southwestern frittata + half avocado + baked apple cinnamon tazo herbal tea or decaf coffee with coconut milk (i’m trying to only have coffee a few days a week)

Lunch: leftover meat sauce + veggies with tessemea’s dressing; leftover taco salad

Dinner: chicken apple sausages + roasted delicata squash; thai food with friends; steak + broccolini; taco salad; fish + whatever veggies show up in the CSA box on Friday morning

the week in food: kicking off a whole30

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This week’s menu is super simple. And totally Whole30 compliant.

On Thursday or Friday, as I ate my umpteenth mini Hersey’s bar (free and always stocked in all the break rooms at work) I texted Lauren saying I was going to start a real Whole30 on Monday.

When I got home that night I dug up my old day planner, ripped out the October monthly spread, added days 1 – 30, and taped it above my desk. It’s not beautiful, but it’s definitely serving its purpose of accountable. IMG_6931_edited-1

Here’s what I’m eating Monday – Friday this week.

Breakfast: chorizo casserole + half avocado + baked apple cinnamon tazo herbal tea

Lunch: rotisserie chicken from whole foods + lettuce, cucumber, tomato, red bell pepper + tessemae’s lemon chesapeake salad dressing

Dinner: ropa vieja (not an online recipe, from a paleo crockpot cookbook I have) + sauteed spinach + cauliflower mash + asparagus + delicate squash (not all those veggies at once, two per night). Friday night is salmon marinaded in a new tessemae’s marinade.

Simple, easy, and the vast majority of it is already done and waiting for me in the fridge.

New Recipe Monday: Beer Butt Chicken & Brussels Sprout Salad

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Still obsessed with our new BBQ.IMG_2322

On Friday night we made a quick dinner of pork chops with peppers and mushrooms. It took less than twenty minutes from the time we thought about dinner to the time we were eating. I can’t remember the last time we didn’t go out to dinner on a Friday night out of exhaustion (laziness?), so it’s going to pay for itself in Friday night meals alone pretty quickly.

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I got a little more adventurous on Sunday evening and made a ‘beer butt’ chicken. My MIL gave me a device on which to cook the chicken for Christmas, but you really don’t need one. Just a can of cheap (or pricey, I suppose, if you want to make fancy butt chicken) beer. I followed the instructions in the linked recipe but there are approximately twelve million out there to choose from, and many for the oven rather than the BBQ.

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To go with the chicken, I made a salad I saw on Pinterest last week. Clearly I was way into it as the ratio of pinned projects to projects that ever get done is pretty low so the ratio of pinned projects to projects that get done within a week of said pinning has got to be near zero.

I made this really easy on myself: Trader Joe’s sells shredded Brussels sprouts (I used two bags for the recipe) and sliced almonds. Don’t get your food processor and mandolin dirty.  Also, make it all in one bowl. I find it very annoying when recipes have you use multiple dishes when it clearly is not necessary. We went cheese-less, but I’m sure it would be tasty.

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Make the chicken and salad, preferably together, and eat it outside while your dog runs around like a crazy madman barking at the neighbor kids. Drink a beer or two and savor the gluten as you’re about to give it up (for real) for eight weeks in a quest to get some G-D sleep.

More on that later.

Happy Monday.

Confessions of a Whole 30 Failure

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So you’re probably thinking I’m here to confess that I ended up having a glass of bubbly on my birthday and checked out VooDoo donuts. You’re wrong. My last sip of booze was New Year’s Eve and I had no desserts to celebrate making it to 32.

On Friday afternoon I was trying to finish up work to get out of town before traffic hit. I was snacking on a single serving sunbutter packet with carrot sticks. I thought to myself this tastes better than I remember. After I finished the small packet I turned it over and there it was: evaporated cane sugar. I carefully checked the Amazon listing to make sure this was the no sugar added version of sunbutter before buying the single servings. I guess I didn’t noticed the legal disclaimer until now. I decided it wasn’t that big enough of a deal to freak out over and went on my way. But that’s not my confession. That was an accident, I didn’t pack any for our trip, and as the Whole 9 folks say, when something like this happens you have to decide for yourself if it ruins your Whole30 or if you take it in stride and move forward.

So my real confession is Saturday night. We went out for steak for my birthday in Portland (recap of that coming soon!) and I ordered an tuna tartar appetizer that listed only compliant ingredients but when I got it I was sure there was some soy in it, I could just taste it. That’s still not my confession. I can’t believe of all the things I could have done on my birthday I have to confess Brussels sprouts in molasses butter. None of the side dishes were compliant and at this point I was feeling a little annoyed, I’d been being super careful while on the road on my birthday and I just didn’t want to ask for something else. So I didn’t and I ate them. There were all right.

I guess to me the difference between the sunbutter and the Brussels sprouts is that I deliberately chose to eat something not compliant, so it’s not really fair (in my head, where most everything is black and white) to continue saying I’m doing the Whole30. I’m definitely jumping back on board today and moving forward, but I supposed technically I’m doing a Whole11 and a Whole18. This probably sounds silly to most people but I’m a little annoyed with myself. Frankly, I should have just either had a glass of bubbly if I was going to go off plan, or I should have just gotten over the frustration of trying to eat this clean while traveling and asked for some steamed veggies.

The rest of Portland was mostly lovely. We had a nice, relaxing time, but Alfred will not be joining us on any future trips. That story once I clean up the disaster I just made cooking a week’s worth of food.

Week One is Done!

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Okay, not quite, I’m finishing up day six. But I always count weeks as Monday to Sunday, so I’m considering today the end of week one. I made the decision not to log my food this time. I’ve done it in the past but it’s just one more thing to get done everyday and I really don’t find any benefit in doing it. I did though take pictures of my dinners each night. For breakfast and lunch I usually eat the same things all week (southwest frittata and chocolate chili this week), so I didn’t bother to snap those photos. It takes some planning, but it’s not terribly hard to get compliant dinners on the table every night. We did go out Saturday night to fight stir-crazy and I had an underwhelming steak salad.

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Tenderloin with roasted green beans and sautéed broccoli and onions // Pork chops with spinach sautéed in clarified butter and a side salad (20 minute meal) // Coconut Curry Roast with  cauliflower rice (crockpot meal) // Paleo chicken pad thai // Individual shepherd’s pies with salad (easy to make ahead)

Here’s what we’re eating next week. And yes, I print this out every week. Laugh all you want, but it works. I know what days I need to defrost meat, what days I need to prep food to have a quick dinner ready the next night, and what’s already been done. Really, it’s genius, so when you stop laughing at my dorkiness I’d be happy to send you the Word document.

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Now I’m going to plan out in detail our dining destinations for next weekend’s birthday trip to Portland. I’m sort of regretting this whole jumping on the Whole30 bandwagon over my birthday, but I’m sure after making a list of tasty restaurants I will be happy with my options and I know for sure I’ll be happy come day 30 when I’m feeling great. I will just toast myself with a glass of bubbly in February.

Hello, January!

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I might have finally moved away from new year’s resolutions, but I can’t go a full year without setting some goals. I decided on monthly goals, loosely organized around home, finances, fitness, food, and photography. These are totally subject to change, but right now they make sense to me. So here’s what’s on my plate for January:

Home – we are mostly unpacked (there are a few boxes from my old San Francisco apartment in the garage left), but my closets and dresser are a mess. I’d like to conquer my clothes closet and my dresser, and an added bonus would be to organize the hall closet, the coat closet, and my pantry.

Finances – I just want to stay within my self-imposed budget. To help me do so, I came up with a list of items I actually need (or want) and I’m thinking this might keep me away from impulse buys. It’s hanging out inside my wallet – we’ll see how this goes!

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Fitness – simple goal: find a routine that works for me.

Food – complete the Whole30!

Photography – figure out how to use Photoshop Elements and get started on my 2013 project life. I’m excited I found a way to work on my photography skills and document our life but not be tied to daily photo taking.

Happy New Year (and some before pics)

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Happy 2013, blog friends! It’s been a fun few days for us. We started the new year celebrating on Saturday night with the ninth annual New Year’s Eve Eve party – it was my third year in attendance.  That really seems crazy, I know we’re married and all now, but it doesn’t feel like we’ve been together long enough for me to have been to three of these. Is that a good or a bad thing? I’m going with good?

As we finished setting up, I mentioned to Greg that the only thing on the table we owned prior to our wedding was a cutting board, the beer and wine bottle openers, and the spoons. Is it okay to admit that wedding gifts are totally fun? I’m obsessed with my centerpiece bowl, but I only had decorations for Christmas and NYEE so I’m not sure what to put in it now.
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There was even a picture of me, which is rare these days since I’m usually behind the camera.

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If you need a fun party drink, try this Lemon Drop Champagne Punch from Martha Stewart. I might be partial since my favorite hard A drink is a lemon drop and I pretty much exclusively drink champagne these days, but it got rave reviews from everyone who tried it. (To any fellow Whole30s who might be reading this, I apologize for dangling a delicious idea in front of you on day 1!)

Last night we stayed in. We’ve never done that before and it was awesome. We watched a great documentary on Netflix, ordered Chinese food (I found homemade chow mein noodles on Day 0 of the Whole30, probably a good thing), and drank one last bottle of champagne before going dry. That’s actually a lie – I know it’s time to detox when we couldn’t even finish a bottle of one of my favorites.IMG_4853

We woke up this morning and I had a bounce in my step. I love new beginnings. Usually I spend the first day of the year in a tizzy over all the resolutions I’ve set. Since I didn’t do any this year, I spent the morning with my little family, taking a walk around the neighborhood. Greg and I decided on a word for 2013: Relax. Not to be confused with lazy, but we are going to focus on a relaxing, calm year, enjoying each other, Alfred, family and friends, and our new house. A walk with coffee and some playing in the park with the dog seemed the perfect way to kick off our year. Plus the sun is shining and when that happens in Seattle in January, you get yourself outside.

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And now I’m going to make a meal plan and grocery list to kick off Whole30 week one. I’m sort of winging it today, but we have plenty of compliant food to pull it off. I can’t believe I’m doing this, but that damn Holly issued a challenge I couldn’t refuse, so here are my before pics. Let’s hope things are looking a little better on 1/30! It’s a sad day when even lulu can’t help.

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I hope you all have an amazing start to 2013, however you are spending it!

Current State

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A few days ago, Holly blogged about the January Whole30 that the pretty people at Whole9 are putting on next month. I had been ignoring it for a wide variety of reasons, some of which include: It’s my birthday month, we’re going to Portland, my parents are coming to visit, etc. But when Holly wrote about it I finally decided to ignore my excuses instead and go for it. Today she noted that 100 people who read her blog are jumping in, too. So I’m not alone in feeling like a holiday failure I suppose. I’m actually kinda sorta looking forward to doing it with all these ladies (who I don’t know and am totally assuming are ladies).

Along with throwing out a little support for those of us who will be joining her, she wrote about her current state of health. I could mostly just steal hers, but she is right that level setting with yourself just why are you taking on this challenge is a smart thing to do. It’s not easy, I’ve done it before. It’s saying no to a lot of yummy food. It’s ordering really strangely at work lunches (or skipping out on them). It’s spending a lot of time in the kitchen. It’s coming up with weird excuses to not meet up with people for a drink. And great, I just thought of this: We’re newlyweds. How many annoying, coy winks am I going to get from people who think I’m pregnant? For the record, I’M NOT PREGNANT, MOM.

Anyway, here’s my current state of health and why I’m going to go to Portland for my birthday and not consuming Voodoo donuts or delicious Pinot Noir tastings:

  • Photophobia: What happens when I hit that certain fat stage and am terrified of all pictures taken of me. 
  • Fat Face: The main cause of photophobia.
  • Muffin Top: Umm, so today I found myself pulling my jeans above my muffin top while sitting at my desk.
  • Shitty Sleep: It’s terrible and I’m not nice when I’m tired. I’m so tired lately.
  • Laaaaaaazy: Side effect of shitty sleep. I’m not getting any exercise, which also makes me very short tempered.
  • Spotty arms: Weird red bumps on my arms that go away when I eat better.
  • Tummy Issues: Me and dairy are not a match made in heaven, but I’ve mentioned more than once my eggnog latte obsession this year. Seriously, right now I’m thinking about how amazing one will taste in the morning.

There’s probably more, but that’s enough to get me motivated to make some changes. I’m not starting the Whole30 early (please! I have our NYEE party and a good friends birthday to eat and drink my way through), but I am turning things around a bit. I joined Talia at her hot yoga studio tonight for a yoga sculpt class, I signed up for a January On-Ramp class at a new CrossFit box by our new house, and I made chili for dinner. It’s been a long time since I’ve cooked on a weeknight. And, I’m about to hit publish, go to bed, and try to get some decent sleep. Anyone else feeling like a giant, unmotivated blimp after December? There is hope!

Our First Thanksgiving

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Since Greg and I will both be traveling outside of Seattle for Thanksgiving this year (me to Plam Springs and him to Wenatchee), we decided to have his mom and brother over for a pre Turkey Day dinner on Saturday night. Roberta’s birthday also happens to be the Saturday after Thanksgiving, so we celebrated that as well.

I had a menu of a bunch of new vegetable dishes planned, but then I picked up my CSA box for November late last week. Holy cow. Now that we’re in winter, the farm provides one large box per month. And large it is. Check out the crazy amount of food I got for $65. There’s no way I could have bought this much food at the store or Farmers Market for this price. Even better, since it’s winter, it’s mostly root vegetables and we should be able to get through most of it before it goes bad. I’m not sure the pictures really shows just how much produce came out of the box.

November CSA Share

Instead of going out to get groceries for different veggie dishes, I chopped up a very colorful mix of beets, turnips, purple carrots, orange carrots, Brussels sprouts, and onions for a veggie roast. We had that along with a roast chicken, mashed cauliflower, and spiced apples. Before dinner we snacked on an appetizer of delicious almond-stuffed, bacon-wrapped dates. Dinner turned out really yummy and I was impressed with my planning/timing on the dishes. I managed to chit chat for all but about 10 minutes will I sautéed the apples. If I do say so myself, I might be turning into a decent cook.

The Menu

I forgot to take any real pictures during our dinner. But, as you can see on the above menu, we also had a signature drink. (It was later renamed the “Bertini”, which rolls off the tongue a little easier, but I had already taken the picture I guess.) Roberta loves pears, so Greg made a French pear martini as her birthday drink. None of the four of us are big dessert eaters, so we thought we’d go with a birthday drink over cake. I’m sure they tasted delicious, but since it was day 27 of my Whole30 I did not partake in even a sip.

Place Setting, or "What to do with the decorative gourds from the CSA"

My future husband is becoming quite the entertainer with me. He is in charge of the signature drink (last week when we had friends over for a taco bar it was a jalapeño margarita – and no, I did not have a sip of that either) and the music. And he does all the dishes the next morning. I’ve got myself a winner I think. For this particular party, he was also in charge of “carving” the chicken. Neither of us knew how to carve it, so he literally quartered the chicken. It was hilarious, I wish I had taken a picture of the four (very even) chunks of chicken we ended up with. Here he is hard at work. We definitely made a forever memory laughing trying to cut this chicken and our guests didn’t seem to mind their funny pieces of meat, so it all worked out.

Future Hubs Carving the Bird

I need to get better at taking pictures of people, but this is proof that I have made a Thanksgiving dinner and have successfully cooked for my future MIL, who used to own her own catering business. Oh, and did I mention that the entire meal besides the drink was Whole30 compliant and Mike and Roberta enjoyed it? Paleo is possible for entertaining. Roberta was even spotted drooling over some of the recipes in my Paleo Comfort Foods cookbook. Guess what someone’s getting for Christmas…

Whole30 Half Way Point

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Yesterday was the 15th day of my Whole30.

It’s going by really quickly and I can’t say that I’ve felt restricted by it. There have been a few times where I have not been prepared enough and have either gone hungry or had to resort to nuts. I’ve gone to a work event, a charity event, a few social events, and have had friends over. It would have been nice to have a glass of wine in a few of these situations, but I just shrugged it off and went on with my business.

The hardest things I passed up  over the last 15 days were the delicious gourmet cupcakes our friends KII and Becca brought over on Sunday night when they dropped by for a visit. I made Greg take the leftovers to work on Monday. I am hoping that is a good sign – I don’t have a problem with sweets at all, so I’m hoping by that being my biggest obstacle maybe I’ve lessened my addiction to cheesy, salty things. I have not had a strong craving for either of these since I started.

Being prepared and planning ahead have kept me on the straight and narrow. I spend A LOT of time in the kitchen right now, but I’m trying to do most of it on the weekends and in the crock pot. For example, I was able to throw my dinner together tonight in under 15 minutes. I sliced the spaghetti squash in half and put one half in the microwave for ten minutes. I dumped defrosted meat sauce that I made last week in a sauce pan on low while I stir-fried a bag of spinach in clarified butter. I added a little cranberry apple sauce (trial recipe for a Thanksgiving dinner party) that I made last night, and I had a delicious and Whole30 compliant meal ready.

I have 14 days to go, but I’m actually not even really counting. I had to check my calendar over the weekend to see what day I was on. I’m looking forward to a glass of red wine and maybe a slice of pumpkin pie or an egg nog latte sometime in the holiday season. But as of right now, I don’t plan to go out and have either of these the second the clock turns day 31. I’m hoping this 30 days will help me get from 75% healthy eating to more like 90 – 95% going forward.

Over the next two weeks we have friends coming for dinner and we’re hosting Greg’s family for a pre-Thanksgiving dinner. I’m excited to put together two Whole30 compliant meals that non-Paleo peeps find delicious too!