Week Two of Whole 30 January Complete!
I feel like the first few weeks of Whole 30 January make it seem like there could be 75 days in the month. Getting through the sugar detox, possibly weird sleep, and constantly feeling up and down makes the days seem very long. But today, today is day fourteen and that mentally seems to make all the difference.
Now, going forward we are in the final countdown! Success seems to be clearly on the horizon. Tomorrow, on the fifteenth, we are half way through. I think the ONLY two thing I am missing during this round is the glass of wine at the end of the day and my morning oatmeal. This is especially true on the weekend when the entire family is home. My goodness a nice glass of wine once the kids are in bed is a great nightcap on this cold winter nights. Am I right or is it just me?! I also love a quick bowl of hot oats in the morning when its cold. I make them on the stove and add things like cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, fresh fruit, nuts, and maybe a swirl of honey or maple syrup. Damn that sugar dragon! The one who is always lurking in my head and tries to get me to consume sugar!
Last Monday morning when I was driving home from my Barre class all I could think about was a hamburger! So, I popped in to my favorite local butcher shop and bough a half dozen fresh burgers for dinner. My family is obsessed with the burgers from this place. The meats are all sourced from local farms who don’t use additives in their feed and best of all its a local small business. Their meats are like no other. T.J. grilled them on the grill that night and I made from scratch sweet potatoes fries. Totally satisfying meal with a side salad topped with my favorite Primal Kitchen dressing.
Craving can be brutal on Whole 30, but you can get around them if you are clever is finding ways to recreate the thing you are craving most. I wanted a nice chopped salad for lunch one day so I got creative and used some Applegate compliant deli turkey, a hard boiled egg, some avocado and olives. Was totally delicious and was so filling I could barely finish it.
The pork tenderloin I had cooked in the slow cooker most of the day. I just plopped it into the Crock Pot with a ton of herbs and the tiniest bit of compliant vegetable stock. Pork gets super tender in the slow cooker so much so that you can shred it up. I made some mashed potatoes as my side and flavored them with more stock, garlic, salt and pepper. They tasted great even without the cheese and butter and cream I usually mix into them. And, I grew up eating applesauce with my pork, probably because my mom had overcooked the meat so I added that to my plate too. Was a delicious and filling meal that you would crave in the cold winter!
If you have a Stop & Shop market then you should grab their free monthly magazine at the checkout. I found this delicious recipe for a chicken burger filled with zucchini of all things. I LOVE zucchini! The original recipe calls for turkey but we aren’t fans of that meat. It was a bit spicy with the addition of chili powder into the meat, but it was SO GOOD topped with a fresh sliced tomato and guacamole. Again I made oven french fries. I don’t think I’ll EVER buy another bag of frozen fries. I love how easy and quick these cook at 450 degrees and you can season them however you like!
Last week I was pretty sick of eggs so I made my favorite Apple Pumpkin Breakfast bake, It still has eggs in it, but I can eat it cold or warm it up and its already made. So much of Whole 30 is constantly prepping and cooking food for each meal. It is nice to have something ready to go. A lot of this is eating leftovers too, so if that isn’t your thing, it will be after this! You are spending so much time with the prep and cooking that you want to make enough for your meal to stretch.
My favorite lunch last week was spaghetti squash with homemade marina sauce, spinach and chicken. I had roasted the squash on the weekend and it made a ton. I need to grab some nutritional yeast this week from Trader Joe’s because I keep reading how it is a good substitute for cheese. I’ll report back!
My favorite bacon was on sale at my local Big Y Supermarket so I bought a ton! I mean, organic paleo bacon for $3! YES! I just love bacon but don’t cook it too often because the kind we like is normally almost $10! Right now we are in bacon heaven! In fact, I’m going tomorrow to buy even more to freeze!
How is your Whole 30 January going?
