Day 6

Breakfast today was a hard boiled "smooshed" egg (that's what we called them growing up) with ghee, salt, and pepper, prosciutto, half a grapefruit, and spiked monkey salad.  I actually didn't eat the prosciutto. I took one bite and spit it out.  I don't think I can do the not raw but raw meat thing.  So I came home and baked them up in the oven like bacon and BAM! It now tastes like bacon! Much better texture.  I am excited to use them in breakfast tomorrow.

Lunch was leftover grilled zucchini boats and an apple with almond butter, and a few baked prosciutto chips to try them out of course. :)

Portland's water is no bueno right now (it is contaminated with E.Coli) and it really affected me today. I drink a LOT of water so to not be able to drink most of the morning at work, and then limited amount at home, I felt super dehydrated and therefore cranky.  With my lunch I had an Izze sparkling juice.  (see below for that side story)  I also ordered some Crio Bru (100% cocoa beans roasted that you brew) and they came today! Which is great as you use boiled water to brew them and that's how water works this weekend.  It definitely tastes like 100% cocoa with no added sugar.  Adding coconut milk helped a little, but this might be an acquired taste that I will have to keep working on to add some variety into my [healthy] beverage selection.

 

 

Dinner was balsamic, garlic, and basil chicken with cauliflower "mashed potatoes".  It was all really good! Then a coconut cream Larabar for dessert with our cousin sleepover going on tonight.  I willingly gave up Magnum ice cream bars to my cousins.  Man, that's love!

 

 

 I felt a little sick again, today, but now I know that there's an easy explanation due to the contaminated water.  I also got cranky while fixing dinner, but I really think it's from the dehydration.  I hope they figure this out soon and give the all clear tomorrow morning! In the mean time we have bottled water which is good cuz the stores all look like this:

 

Here are my feelings on the Izze: While it's technically compliant with Whole30 (all the ingredients check out), they don't really prefer drinking juice, but to use it more for adding a little sweetness and such.  While I first thought it was a "swypo" for me (in essence, a normal food that you paleo-fy to make it Whole30 compliant.  It's not as good as the real deal and can bring cravings you are trying to overcome), I don't really think it is--- Because I think it's just as good as the real deal (soda) and I won't be taking my pants off for soda when I can have this compliant version.  I'll still just use it as a "treat" or when I need something other than water because, let's say, it's contaminated.  Maybe I'm kidding myself and it really is a SWYPO... But I think that doing those 2 ingredient banana pancakes would be more SWYPO for me because I don't really care for them and it would be easier cave to the real deal.  Does that make sense?
I'm excited with the meal planning I did for next week.  Shopping day is tomorrow and I have some good stuff planned.  The timeline gives next week as the hardest week so I hope my meal planning pays off!

Meal Plan Week 2

Meal plan for week 2.  If anyone has recipes they want to share for coming weeks, I'd love your ideas!  From this first week, I've realized that you gotta go with the flow in your meals.  Even though I have things planned out, they are open to change as things come up and being flexible is key!
Here's how the next week is looking:

1.       SU

a.       B: omelet and grapefruit

b.      L: Philly steak sandwiches

c.       D: pork chops and applesauce; prosciutto wrapped asparagus

2.       M

a.       B:poached eggs and asparagus, melon and prosciutto

b.      L:open to options for Memorial Day

c.       D: burgers with avocado and zucchini fries

3.       T

a.       B: eggs with SP browns

b.      L: burger leftovers

c.       D: buffalo wings and tots

4.       W

a.       B: eggs with SP browns

b.      L: buffalo wings/lunch out with Dustin

c.       D:Italian Sausage and veggie kabobs

5.       H

a.       B:eggs with SP browns

b.      L:Italian Sausage and veggies

c.       D: coconut chicken tenders

6.       F

a.       B: eggs with SP browns

b.      L: coconut chicken tenders (salad maybe?)

c.       D: loco moco with cauliflower rice

7.       S

a.       B:Egg “McMuffins”

b.      L: leftovers from the week

c.       D: artichoke chicken thighs

Day 5

Breakfast was half a grapefruit and scrambled eggs with salsa over a sweet potato hash of sweet potatoes, onions, green pepper, and chicken apple sausages.  I thought it sounded good when I made it, but I had a hard time finishing it this morning.  I didn't really care for the hash (now I know and don't have to make it again), and found that I really just wanted to eat the grapefruit.

 

 After breakfast I felt a little sick and was not in the mood for zucchini boat leftovers (that tend to be a little squishier in texture the next day).  Dustin suggested we do lunch together since we didn't get to on our normal Wednesday, but I wasn't sure I'd be able to eat anything.  I had my spiked monkey salad to test the waters and felt better after that.  We went to Chipotle for lunch.  I've read that a lot of people like Chipotle on Whole30 and we knew just what to get to make it compliant- a carnitas salad with pico, medium salsa, and guacamole. It tasted good, but I got full halfway through.

I forgot to take a picture until I was halfway through but you've seen this salad 4 times already so nothing new here. :)

This afternoon I felt sick again and didn't know if I could stomach dinner, especially not ground beef of any sort.  I decided I would make dinner for our company and just have a Larabar as that sounded ok and would be at least SOMETHING.  Our company ended up calling us to say they would be much later and to not worry about dinner, so we revised once I got home from work and ended up making lemon pepper chicken, roasted rosemary and garlic carrots, and sliced strawberries.  The chicken was nothing fancy and it would have been better if it had been marinated, but hey, I made a real whole food meal and didn't end up with the Larabar! Success!

Dustin had a headache again today, but I felt great.  A little tired, but we stayed up til 1 AM last night so that's on us, ha.  I'm so happy that my fridge is stocked with good whole foods so that when something planned doesn't sound good, there is something else ready and waiting to substitute in.  I promise that we really don't eat out every other day, but we do eat out at least one dinner and one lunch.  Lunch together once a week is important to me because it's a time we can connect together during the hectic week when we feel like we never get a chance to see each other.  Maybe as time goes on we'll cut out one of those eating out meals, but I think that as long as we're making good choices and being careful to find compliant places, I'm fine with it.
Now I have chicken marinating in basil balsamic goodness for tomorrow night and am getting excited to meal plan tomorrow for week 2.

Day 4

Breakfast was something new and different! No eggs! A chicken and apple sausage, half a GIANT grapefruit that was super juicy and sweet, and spiked monkey salad.  Some sweet potato hash would have been good too, but I was satisfied with this.

 

 Lunch was avocado egg salad lettuce cups, pickle spears, and an apple with almond butter. I was so full by the time I got to my apple so I only had half of it.  It was a monochrome meal but it was delicious!

Dinner was Grilled Stuffed Zucchini Boats with 1/4 an avocado.  We had some extra sausages that we grilled up and ended having those too.  Then we finished my apple with almond butter so it wouldn't go to waste.

Today I felt pretty great! A little sleepy this morning but that was only while I was listening to a webinar about AP automation so... there's my answer. :)  Day 4-5 is the "Kill ALL the things!" day on the timeline.  And it was true.  It was a crazy and busy and long day at work and when things would get a little hectic, I got a little crazy.  And anxious.  And stressed.  I got a little snappy at a coworker and had to apologize before she left. I know I can't blame my actions on Whole30, but I do think it played a part in my emotions.  Good thing I can recognize my wrongs and make amends. 
Company comes tomorrow and I can't decide what to make for dinner.  The official plan was taco salads as that's a normal meal that's easily Whole30 compliant, but it doesn't sound good right now... and moving the meal plan out a day from last night puts chicken and cauliflower mash tomorrow night.  Any suggestions for serving company dinner?

Day 3

Breakfast was SP hashbrowns and 2 fried eggs (again, prepped from Sunday) and a strawberry/pistachio/coconut concoction I thought might be good.  The pistachios were SO salty and it was overpowering all the strawberry goodness.  I brought some coconut milk for my chili at lunch so I poured a little of that on the concoction and it made it much better.

 

 Lunch was leftovers from last night- Chocolate Chili and baked sweet potato with spinach.  I had a meeting scheduled during my regular lunch hour so I had to eat a little earlier and wasn't super hungry.  I had my sweet potato and spinach but only a little of the chili.

 

Dinner was  a lettuce wrapped burger with avocado at Wow Burger. 

There were no headaches today which I was very happy about! I wasn't super hungry either. I  had a banana and apple and almond butter packed for snacks today but didn't need them at all as I couldn't even finish my chili at lunch.  But by the late afternoon as I was leaving work, I was SO exhausted. (Maybe I've skipped to the "I just want a nap stage ha".) I did not want to cook dinner once I got home and just wanted to go to sleep! But we had errands to run and Costco/Target shopping to do, so we decided that Wow Burger would be a good safe option for dinner. 

They have all natural, hormone free meat and they are pretty tasty.  They also have sweet potato tots that we almost got, but then I made a smart choice and asked to see the ingredients in them... 2nd ingredient was sugar! Yikes! So glad we didn't get them.
After dinner I felt great! A lot more energized and ready for our shopping. 
Now I'm off to prep that sausage so it's all ready for grilled zucchini boats tomorrow night and I will have no excuses... this also means my menu planning is all moved out one day :)

Day 2

Breakfast was sweet potato hashbrowns with 2 fried eggs and raspberry spiked monkey salad.  I cooked the SP hashbrowns in TJ's coconut oil and it was so good!  I read today that TJ's is unrefined so it keeps that coconutty flavor.  I've seen some posts where people can't stand it but I loved it.  Sunday night I cooked enough hashbrowns for a few days so they will probably be a regular feature for breakfast. This set of bananas were getting a little past their prime of when I can stand to eat them, but sliced into the monkey salad they were perfect!

 

Lunch was leftover Spinach Turkey Meatballs and Spaghetti Squash.  This was a filling lunch but I definitely got hungry in the afternoon!

Dinner was Chocolate Chili.  Confession time.  I have never in our married life made chili.  Also, I may have never even made chili in my LIFE. I have never liked chili because I don't like beans.  Legumes are off the menu during Whole30 so when I found this chili recipe that is Whole30 compliant, I thought it sounded interesting, so we gave it a go.  It was delicious! I followed the crockpot directions and then kept it in the fridge overnight and let it stew in the crockpot all day.  We added a light drizzle of canned coconut milk, half an avocado, and fresh cilantro.  I also made a baked sweet potato and topped it with ghee, salt and pepper, and fresh chopped spinach.  Monday night means dessert, right? I finished the meal with two big strawberries, diced them, and added coconut milk.  It was a real sweet tooth fix that I will have to save for special occasions because it could easily get addicting!

 

 

 

 I woke up this morning with a little headache that got a little worse as the morning went on.  I've heard that this is completely normal as your body is getting rid of all those processed junk food/sugar high toxins. In fact, I looked up the Whole30 timeline and know what to look forward to the next few days as my body detoxes.  Day 2-3 are known as "the hangover". The headache went away around 11:00 after my morning walk break, but then came back around 4 ish and has been off an on ever since.  Time to drink more water! Though pretty sure I have been drinking an awful lot of water all day long. 
I also felt kinda weak this afternoon, like I wasn't eating enough.  They don't recommend snacking during the day as that is a bad habit, so I will have to make sure my meals are nice and filling, and then have Larabars stashed at my desk for emergencies.
It was nice to have most everything for today cooked from yesterday.  One rule I'm going to have to keep is to do dishes after every meal because they can quickly pile up! Good thing I have a dishwasher named Dustin to help out. :)
The weather was supposed to be rainy and 60's today but ended up being a beautiful blue sky in the upper 70's.  Good thing we're grilling the rest of this week!

Day 1

Breakfast was an egg omelet with mushrooms, onion, and zucchini topped with fresh salsa and avocado, accompanied with a bowl of raspberry spiked "monkey salad" (banana slices, cashews, coconut flakes).

Lunch was an avocado egg salad served on lettuce leaves with apple slices and almond butter.

Dinner was Spinach Turkey Meatballs with roasted spaghetti squash and marinara sauce with a side of steamed asparagus seasoned with ghee and freshly ground garlic salt.

Definitely a delicious day! Dustin and I both agreed we could eat that omelet every Sunday for the next month.  The monkey salad was a nice treat and I loved the raspberries in it. 
Avocado egg salad was an easy mix of hardboiled egg, avocado, chopped spinach, dijon mustard, freshly ground lemon pepper, and sea salt. I'd love to try it in a grilled zucchini boat!
Ghee is an amazing thing.  Even though it's not butter, it still has a great taste.
Now it's time to prep breakfasts for the rest of the week...