Day 1!

Day 1…

I have to admit. Day one wasn’t so bad.  It started off peacefully with a cup of black coffee and devotions.  We’ve recently moved a Keurig to a little sitting area in our room and because we weren’t having creamer, I didn’t even have to come down to the kitchen for anything. Tomorrow I’ll put a little coconut oil in it, to add a little flavor, but all in all, I like black coffee, straight up. Who knew?

Breakfast was mostly a hit!  The kids actually liked it, and even commented on all of the flavors. (What!?!?!) All of the binge watching Jr. Chef shows is really helping my case for creative cooking. I knew TV had it’s rightful place in our life.  I wanted to like it, I really did… the flavor was amazing! However, I will need to get used to the texture.  There was a moment that I concealed a gag. 

I felt hungry most of the morning.  This surprised me.  I skip breakfast all the time, and it doesn’t bother me. I think eating so early actually got my appetite going. I forgot to take approved dressing for my salad, so I ended up squeezing half a lemon over it and adding salt and pepper.  It was legitimately good. For real.  I’ll probably do that on purpose next time.  

Sometime around lunch I remembered that I forgot to take the meatloaf out of the freezer last night.  Whoops.  So much for planning.  A super wise colleague said in my staff meeting today: “The key is finding the tension between the working the plan and being flexible.”  So true, Alicia… So so true. And just like that, meatloaf moved to Tuesday and Chicken Chili was up for dinner!

I was pretty tired around 3:00.  The kids and I had after school snacks, veggies, fruit, and I blended a cup of coffee with some coconut oil and ghee.  Again, maybe by this time I’m deliriously desperate, but I actually liked it.  Thank God for small blessings, it tasted like a creamy frothy coconut latte.  Yum.

Chicken Chili was great! Even though it was sweet potato based, which usually I’m not a big fan of.  It made a ton and I bet we have a left over night later this week.  Glory!

Brian’s report was that he missed sugar like a lot… and also that he needs to bring more snacks tomorrow.  The kids really liked the “desert” smoothies, and were perfectly motivated to finish their chili in order to have some. (Despite the one gagging issue we had over the avocado topping.  Turns out textures are a big deal in our house!)

Instead of drinking wine tonight, I’m drinking La Croix grapefruit.  Where was this when I was pregnant?  I’m almost, almost psyched out.

We’re ready for tomorrow.  Lunches are packed, meatloaf is thawing, kids are sleeping and I’m going to pass out tonight.  It was a big, full, great day!

You can find the recipes from today here: http://somedaiz.blogspot.com/2016/01/whole-30-recipes-day-1.html

Whole 30 Recipes: Day 1

You should know at the very beginning. I stink at following recipes.  It's why I cook and don't bake.  I love to add a little of this alot of that (which is usually salt.) This is probably because I have a low appreciation for details and my "C" rating on the DISC assessment is basically non-existent.  Therefore, if you, friend are looking for a super precise, down to the 1/4 a teaspoon sort of recipe, you should take my ideas to pinterest and find a more detailed blogger! If you are a creative little of this, little of that, read on, this is for you!

Breakfast Bake

1 Lb. Bacon or Sausage

1 Red Pepper

1 Yellow Pepper

1 Purple Onion

Handful of button mushrooms

Salt

Pepper

Garlic powder

Baby Spinach

Kale

12 eggs

 Cook meat, drain grease.  (Save that bacon grease! Then you don’t have to buy it for $10.00 at Whole foods!) Grease 9x13 pan with bacon fat.  Dice peppers, onion, and mushrooms. Using bacon fat sauté diced veggies with salt, pepper and garlic powder.  Ribbon cut spinach and kale.  Place spinach and kale on the bottom of pan.  Add a layer of crumbled bacon or sausage.  Add peppers, onions and mushrooms.  Wisk 12 eggs and pour over 9/13 pan saturating veggies and meat.  Add a layer of crumbled bacon and sausage on top.   Bake for 30-45 min at 350 until eggs are cooked through.

                                                                           Lunches

Grown ups:

Mixed green salad with grilled chicken breast, cucumbers, tomatoes, carrots, peppers.  Squeeze of lemon juice, salt and pepper.  Hardboiled egg and mixed fruit on the side.

The kids had the same thing, minus the greens and the egg…

                                                                Sweet Potato Chicken Chili 

 2 Lbs. Shredded cooked chicken

 3 Sweet potatoes

 2 Bell peppers

2 Large onions

(3) 32 ounce containers of chicken broth,

½ t onion powder

1/2 t crushed cayenne pepper

salt

pepper

Avocado

1/2 Bunch cilantro

Cook and shred two lbs. of chicken. I boiled two pounds of chicken tenderloins. Dice bell peppers and onions, Lightly sauté chicken with onions, peppers and spices in olive oil.  Add chicken broth and simmer for 30 minutes.  While chicken is simmering, peel and cube sweet potatoes.  Add sweet potatoes to chili and simmer for another 30 minutes.  Top with avocado and cilantro.

                                                                  Desert Smoothies 

 

 (These are compliant, though not recommend on the Whole 30 but let's face it, I have Larson Littles. There's no way we'd succeed without this.)

Mixed Berry

Frozen Mixed Berries

½ Frozen Banana to make it a little sweeter

Handful of Frozen Kale and Spinach

½ t of coconut oil

4 oz of Orange Strawberry Banana Juice

Strawberry Banana

Frozen Strawberries

1 Frozen Banana

Handful of Frozen Kale and Spinach

½ t of coconut oil

4 oz of Orange Strawberry Banana Juice

Snacks:

Grapefruit, Cashews, Almonds 

Apple/Applesauce for the kids

Sliced banana with almond butter (we tried sun butter too, but that was not a hit!)

Coffee blended with coconut oil and ghee (This was surprisingly amazing, tomorrow I’m adding cinnamon. )

Right now, I'm taming my nightly wine fix with a La Croix Grapefruit, with a 1/4 grapefruit juice squeezed in it..

Whole 30 Day >1

Day Before the Big Day!

I finished removing the remaining non Whole 30 foods from our house refrigerator and pantry.  We made the kids cinnamon rolls for breakfast. Today’s snacks have included:  Oatmeal Cream Pie, Chips, Candy, Pure Leaf Tea, and I’m trying to drink all the beer left in the refrigerator. We're totally ordering Olive Garden take out for dinner.

Food prep is complete.  Food prep included:

·      Premixing meat loaf to freeze

·      Making meat loaf sauce

·      Making two breakfast casseroles 9x13

·      Cooking 4 1lbs bacon

·      Cooking 4 lbs. breakfast sausage

·      Making six lunches for Monday

·      Cooking and shredding 2 lbs of chicken breast

·      Pot Roast Crock Pot Freezer prep

·      Beef Stew Crock Pot Freezer prep

·      25 individual smoothie freezer bags

·      Fruit salad

·      Snack baggies:

o   Cashews

o   Pistachios

o   Almonds

o   Tomatoes

o   Strawberries

o   Blueberries

o   Grapes

o   Carrots

o   Cucumber

·      Cutting veggies for 6 breakfasts

o   Peppers

o   Onions

o   Tomatoes

o   Kale

o   Spinach

o   Mushrooms

·      Cutting veggies for Steak Kabobs

o   Peppers

o   Onions

·      Cutting, seasoning and freezing Steak for Kabobs

This week’s meal plan is as follows:

·      Monday:

o   Breakfast Quiche

o   Grilled Chicken with Salad, Veggies and Fruit

o   Paleo Meatloaf, Mashed Cauliflower, Green Beans

o   Smoothies For Desert

·      Tuesday:

o   Bacon Breakfast Bake

o   Turkey Avocado Lettuce Wraps

o   White Chicken Chilli

o   Fruit Salad

·      Wednesday:

o   Breakfast Quiche

o   Chicken Salad with Veggies

o   Cilantro Lime Shrimp and Chicken over Zucchini Noodles

o   Smoothies

·      Thursday

o   Bacon Breakfast Bake

o   Bacon Chicken Avocado Lettuce Wrap

o   Pot Roast, Mashed Potatoes

o   Fruit Salad

·      Friday

o   Breakfast Mash Ups

o   Turkey Bacon Lettuce Wraps

o   Thai Curry Ground Beef

o   Smoothies

·      Saturday

o   Omelettes

o   Salads with Cilantro lime shrimp and chicken

o   Garam Chicken Masala over Cauliflower Rice

o   Fruit Salad

·      Sunday

o   Sweet Potato Hash

o   Slow cooker beef stew

o   Steak Kabobs with Baked Potato

o   Smoothies

Recipes to follow!

Why I tried the Whole 30, with 4 four kids, a full time job, and a ten hour road trip....

Because, sometimes you just need a hard reset. Sometimes you just need to stop the madness, get off the crazy train and take a moment to figure out where you've been and where you are going.  Sometimes you need a pause.  The Whole 30 for me, gives my family a chance to do this nutritionally.  To strip our diets of so many of the "offending" type foods, starve our sugar addictions, and reprogram our brain and our relationship with food.

Members of our family have been dealing with the following health issues:
Fatigue
Lethargy
Difficulty focusing
Anxiety
Restlessness
Sinus/Allergy issues
Digestive Issues
Inflammation
Night Waking

We're going to take an inventory.  I'm going to chronicle our results... Pay attention to each family member, their particular issue(s) and how they respond to clean eating.  Then I'll pay attention to how we all respond to re-introducing foods strategically into our diet.

I've been researching the Whole 30 since August.  I wanted to do it then, but realized that in that particular season I didn't have the time/focus available to actually pull it off. So, we waited until we did.  We are driving to TN for a wedding this month.  We're super duper stoked about it. And, I'm a little terrified of keeping this up. But, in 5 months there hasn't been a convenient time. So, here goes.

Couple of things that seem notable:

We are all on board. Brian and I are united in our effort to hard reset.  Our kids get it to the degree that they are able.  We are currently binging on potato chips, pop tarts and wine (only some of us) in preparation.  We've each voted on our last meals, and our menu is a compilation of all of our favorite guilty pleasures.

I'm not taking milk away from my toddler.  My 15 month old will still enjoy her bottles.  (Take off your judgy face, she's the 4th, the last, and she still nurses a couple of times a day. Once she's done nursing I'll put her milk in a cup.) She'll eat what we eat when I cook.  If her Grandma's want to make her oat meal, I'm okay with that.  She's a baby.  It's alright.

I went to three stores to find pork products that didn't have added sugar.  Way to go Costco and Kirkland brand bacon for making the cut.  I gave up on finding ham and salami that were Whole 30 approved.  I think I cheated on the breakfast sausage from Whole Foods that had honey powder (what the what?) in it.  Whatevs.

I didn't realize that January was like a super trendy time to do this, but I'm really glad for all the other people crazy enough to do it at the same time!

I bought too much produce.  As a result, I've learned you can freeze a TON of fruits and veggies.

The prep session required going to three stores (Costco, Trader Joes and Whole Foods) and 5 hours of prepping.  (I'm not quite done, I have a few things left to do.) In total it was an 11 hour day.  Glory.

Whole 30, ready or not, here we come!