Whole 30 Eats, Week 3

This week, I felt like I kind of hit my stride and actually ate some truly delicious foods. If every week was like this week, I feel like I could eat this way all the time. 

Here was the plan: 

...and here's what actually ended up happening:

1. We did actually end up having the chicken tenders- it was basically my attempt to do something fun for the housemate, who was (prior to this month) a big fan of Tyson's frozen breaded chicken tenders. I decided to make the whole meal kind of a fun/kid theme, complete with grapes, veggie sticks w/cauliflower hummus, butternut squash fries, and an attempt at avocado fries (basically just slices of avocado in the same breading as the chicken and baked them together). It was indeed a pretty fun meal, but with the price of almond flour being as high as it is, it won't be a staple for me. 

2. The coconut chicken ended up being a HUGE win. We've been amazed at how many variations of coconut we've enjoyed this month, since a significant portion of our household don't appreciate the grainy, sugary "coconut" we've encountered in the past. But in this dish with the large, slightly toasted, unsweetened flakes that mix with the salt and pepper on the chicken...mmm mmm, good. I chopped up some mango and threw it in a spinach salad, piled the chicken on top, and that was the (oh so tasty) meal. 

3. Housemate cooked some delicious duck in the crockpot. Haven't had too much experience with duck, but it was tasty, and made a great broth, too. 

4. In an attempt to coax fall weather my direction, I made this chili. Now, I think chili might be a bit of a misnomer for this dish. While tasty, it reminded me more of something I would put on top of spaghetti (or as Housemate suggested, slices of eggplant). Nevertheless, it's a good, hearty stew-y recipe if that's your thing. Just try not to be disappointed by the lack of beans. Or pork. Or, whatever else normally makes chili awesome.

5. Stuffed sweet potatoes didn't end up happening, but what did end up happening was a repeat of this week's biggest winning recipe: Paleo Pad Thai.

Oh. My. Goodness. Yum. 

In my opinion, spaghetti squash can be a little bit disappointing...mostly if you're expecting it to behave and taste like actual spaghetti. But, in an Asian-influenced dish like this, the squash "noodles" could almost fool you as being the real deal. Only much healthier!

6.  Hatch chiles are currently kind of a big deal in these parts for some reason. Housemate threw some into a chicken-noodle-soup-minus-the-noodles and it was a perfect almost-fall dish (are we sensing a theme here?). Nice and homey. 

7. Not on this meal plan, but enjoyed this week: Lettuce leaf tacos with butternut squash, quacamole, and zucchini and squash, bunless beef burgers with zucchini fritters (family recipe), as well as the staple of eggs in various forms. 

One more week, and then it's on to the reintroduction phase! I'm guessing most of this coming week will be repeats of favorites from the previous weeks, but we'll see if I come up with anything new!

Any recommendations?

Whole30 Eats, Week 2

New look, y'all. I'm diggin' it so far. 

It's crazy how getting out of your routine for just a little bit can totally throw off your perception of time. For example, Husband and I spent all day Friday and Saturday taking care of our niece and nephew so their parents could attend the Empowered to Connect conference. I love those kids like they're my own, but I tell you what...those two days felt like 2 weeks. All that to say, I'm glad I was keeping notes on what I ate during the early part of last week, otherwise there's no way I'd be able to remember it now. 

Week 2:

Taco salad w/spinach, tomatoes, lettuce, ground beef, and homemade taco seasoning. I'm pretty sure I'm never going to buy taco seasoning from the store again- if I can make my own this easily, without all the extra junk, and have it come out to be just as tasty, why wouldn't I?

Slow cooker mango coconut chipotle chicken w/cauliflower curry rice. Pretty tasty, but next time I'm going to cook it on low instead of high. Everything was just a wee (maybe not so wee) bit overdone.

Brisket w/mashed sweet potatoes, asparagus, Brussels sprouts. This was a FEAST made by the husbands of the house, and it. Was. Delicious.

Salmon with asparagus and Brussels sprouts. Made by the female Housemate, and also delicious.

Spinach salad w/mushrooms, tomatoes, and carrots. I'm toeing the line with mushrooms lately. Never really liked them up to this point. 

Followed this procedure to cook two whole chickens (used two separate crock pots) for use in different applications throughout the week. Which led to the two following delicious meals: 

Stuffed Avocados- SO DELICIOUS. I don't recommend eating the cream sauce on it's own, but the flavor with the rest of the meal is ridiculous. I mean, c'mon, look at it: 

(Image from Fed and Fit's website.)

Stuffed Zucchini (minus the bacon because it has been impossible for me to find approved bacon. Anywhere.) I smothered these in the cilantro cream sauce as well, and it was a delicious way to eat a whole zucchini. 

Made some of these for grab and go meals- the sausage recipe is great and they were pretty tasty, but I think next time I'd either steam the broccoli a bit beforehand or use another vegetable like spinach instead. Obviously, I omitted the cheese, but I also didn't have any sun-dried tomatoes on hand (unfortunately). Also, I'm not sure why the recipe tells you to form patties out of the sausage just to break it apart after it's cooked. I just put it straight in the pan after I cooked it to make crumbles without taking that extra step. 

I had high hopes for this traditional butternut squash soup recipe- it looks so smooth and delicious in the pictures! Sadly, my version was lumpy and definitely...a color. Not really even sure what to call it, but it wasn't appetizing. The flavor's not too bad, just a bit bland (which I'm guessing is why all the other variations are there), but the presentation makes it a little hard for me to really want to eat it. What can I say, I'm picky like that. I'd try it again in some of the other variations, but probably not the same way again.

And again, a plethora of eggs cooked in various forms, as well as a variety of green salads with some type of meat (skirt steak, ground beef, etc...). 

Looking forward to trying some new recipes this week!

Whole30 Eats, Week 1

Well, one week down and so far, pretty good.

Ideally, I'd love to put this in the form of Meal 1, Meal 2, Meal 3, but...my life's not really like that right now. I'm working on getting into more structured routines, but for now I'll just post it as a list of things I ate this week (along with some commentary) in hopes that it'll give some of you ideas for your own Whole30 meal planning.

Week 1:

Lots of Cauliflower Hummus- So good! We even threw some roasted red peppers into one batch and it was even more delicious. I honestly don't know that I could tell the difference between this and regular hummus, so why not eat cauliflower instead of garbanzos? This is also great with some shredded chicken in a lettuce wrap. 

Avocado Chicken Salad- Pretty tasty and can be varied depending on what you like. Great in a lettuce wrap for when you want something sandwichy (is that a word?).

Chili-cilantro-lime crock pot chicken- Pretty good. I don't know that I'll go through the work of creating the rub and the marinade again, but it was decent. 

Fruit: Blueberries, bananas, apples, tangerines, grapes. 

Leftover barbecue chicken from my birthday celebration with my family- made in some kind of orange juice marinade and very tasty.

Burgers w/salt & pepper, fried egg, and a leaf of iceberg to wrap around like a bun. Pretty good idea, no?

Panera Fuji Apple Chicken Salad – No dressing or gorgonzola. To be honest, I'm not 100% sure this meal was 100% compliant, but it was one of the first days and I was somewhat unprepared for lunch with friends. Not an excuse, just full disclosure.

Housemates made a very light and fresh shrimp ceviche that I don't have a recipe for, but it was basically just shrimp, onion, avocado, lime juice, grape tomatoes, and fresh mint substituted for the cilantro.

Egg salad with homemade mayo. Is it just me, or is it really cool to be able to make these things yourself? 

This sweet potato hash is a pretty tasty standby. My cousin gave me the idea to use a food processor to shred a bunch of sweet potatoes and keep in the fridge for grabbing handfuls at your convenience all week.

This recipe for barbacoa was alright. I would scale back the amount of cloves it calls for and try it again sometime. 

Aaaand, I think that's mostly it besides the random scrambled eggs with coconut oil and the veggies dipped in the hummus. 

This week I'm really trying to focus on eating enough at mealtimes so that I don't feel the need to snack between meals, as well as getting up when my alarm goes off so my first meal isn't lunch. ;)

Stay tuned next Monday for this week's eats!

Whole30 Days Hath September

Back in March, Husband and I completed our first Whole30. I wrote about the experience after it was complete, and since September 1st marked the beginning of my second Whole30, I figured I'd share it here.

.....

So.

It's not all that often that I start something and actually complete it. But I was determined this time. Tim and I just finished up a Whole30. I'm not super into fad diets or extremism, but after hearing about the success and health results of a couple of family members and various others with this type of eating, I started considering making an exception. I finally decided to do it in March for a few reasons:

* The steady decline of my eating and exercise habits over the last few years.

* The fact that when I got home from work, all I had the mental, emotional, or physical energy to do was veg. All of the things that I actually enjoy doing, that fill me up or increase my health in some way were out of the question because of the effort it would take to do them. Leaving me wasting time on things that were not pouring in, but rather draining me.

* The recent realization that unless I make some diet/activity changes, I WILL end up with diabetes and/or thyroid problems in the next few decades. I don't even remember the situation, but one day recently I just had this clear as day epiphany that this would surely be my future if I don't change something. Having a family history of obesity and the aforementioned health issues (not to mention high blood pressure and heart disease), it is highly likely that this will happen to me when I reach middle age (or before) unless I get off my butt. 

Shockingly enough, Tim agreed to do the 30 days with me- he is even more of a skeptic than I, not to mention he hates the American obsessions with "diets" and being skinny, etc. But, he loves and supports me and knows that what he likes (sour cream and tortilla chips) isn't always what's best for him, so he was all in with me. Isn't he the greatest?

And we did it! Yesterday we celebrated our victory with an oh-so classy late-night progressive dinner (Taco Bell & Dunkin Donuts) with some good friends. It was a good night.

I've heard (read) about many people that have had more radical/amazing experiences and results than we did, but I can't say enough right now how glad I am that we did it. Some reasons why:

(I like bulleted lists today)

* It was empowering to have total knowledge and control of what I put in my body. Over the whole month, only on three occasions did I eat something that was not personally prepared by myself or Tim. Historically, I have not been very comfortable in the kitchen unless it's to bake, but I learned how to do some things decently well. I broiled for the first time, made my own sausage, sucessfully made my own mayo, and learned to enjoy sweet potatoes and fried eggs (together and individually!) for the first time in my life. 

* While the focus of this particular theory of eating isn't on weight loss, I did lose almost 10 pounds without exercising a single time this month (Tim lost around 15)! We'll take it.

* I've read about some people experiencing a total mellowing out of their moods over the month that they did it. I can't say that I was totally mood-swing-free this month, but for a good portion of it, it did seem much easier to be in a more positive mood. Like I was starting off from a more upbeat baseline rather than trying to force myself to be chipper. Not sure if that makes sense, but it's an improvement, so again I'll take it.

* I had anticipated that when the Whole30 ended, I would be reaching for everything in sight that I had been missing out on during March. Especially since I work in a food setting where I'm surrounded all day by grain/dairy/sugar and could easily access any of it, I figured today I would be stuffing my face with muffins and chips and lattes. But, surprisingly, today I didn't feel the need for it. I didn't feel the NEED for it. That emotional "need" that tells you that because you CAN have it, you SHOULD have it. So, while I did allow myself to enjoy a few things that I hadn't had for 30 days, for the first time in a long time I felt like I was the one in control of my appetite and cravings, rather than vice versa. One of my biggest hesitations with doing a Whole30 was that I would turn into one of "those people" who are obsessed with eating their certain way, unable to make exceptions or exercise balance in their lives. But I am shocked to find that my mind and body  are telling me that they want to keep being fed the way they've been over the last month for the most part, and make exceptions as appropriate. Not using "fun" food as an emotional crutch or a boredom reliever, but enjoying it in moderation as a gift from God and a way to experience community with others. 

* The spiritual connection. I intentionally planned to do this during the season of Lent. To be clear, I did not do this as a fast for spiritual reasons, but I realized it would easily lend itself to some overlap. And so, in this season of reflecting on Christ's gift, I was more motivated to pick up my Bible rather than my laptop on more occasions than has been true for the last few years. Maybe it's because of the aforementioned "lighter" mood, but again...I'll take it.

* I tried not to formulate expectations at the beginning of this about weight loss or good moods, but my main goal at the outset was just to "break the cycle" of going to work, dragging all day, coming home, sitting on my butt and filling my body and mind with things that weren't nourishing me. And I feel like I've actually done that somehow. I'm out of breath because I went running for the first time in...I don't even know how long. Granted, sunshine and warmer weather helps. But regardless, Couch-to-5k started for me today, and I'm considering actually running a 5k at the end of May. If I feel this accomplished and victorious after this month, I can only imagine I'll feel the same way if I actually do a 5k. And who knows what's next after that. 

Feelin' pretty positive. :-p

So. 

This is not to convince everybody that they should do this and then go Paleo and then do Cross-fit and then Juice Plus (I've done none of those things) and then and then... This is just to share my experience and invite you to celebrate with me. I will say that the main drawback to eating this way is that to fully do it "right," you have to have a lot more money than we do. We didn't bother with grass-fed/pastured whatnot, we just did what we could afford and still had pretty good results. But we did spend way more money on food last month and it felt like we ate more than usual (less filler ingredients in stuff, I guess?), so I'm interested in doing it again in the summertime when produce is on better sales and more readily available. 

Aaaaanyway. To celebrate and give myself an appropriate non-food reward, I spent the last of the Christmas money I'd been hoarding and bought myself this dress that I hadn't stopped thinking about since I tried it on several weeks ago: 

What's up with my new-found love of polka dots?

And that's all I have to say about that.
.....

Stay tuned for updates, meal plans/ideas, etc. as September continues!

Our Favorite Pancakes

Do any of you remember the first blog you started following faithfully that didn't belong to someone you knew personally? I do. I'm not even sure how I stumbled upon Smitten Kitchen, but several of her recipes have become favorites since then. Usually, if I want to try out something new, I check her site first to see if she has any relevant recipes. 

One of our family favorites has become her Blueberry Yogurt Multigrain Pancakes. We love brinner (breakfast for dinner) at our house, and these pancakes are always present in some form whenever we have it. I've modified it just a bit for our particular tastes, swapping apples and cinnamon for the blueberries and leaving out the lemon zest (see this post to find out why). 

Mmm...now I want brinner again. 

Smitten Kitchens's Multigrain Pancakes

2 large eggs

1 cup plain, full fat yogurt

2-4 tablespoons milk

3 tablespoons melted butter

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup (62 grams) whole wheat flour

1/2 cup (68 grams) all-purpose flour

1/4 cup (32 grams) rye flour

2 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 apple, cored and thinly sliced (or 1 cup blueberries, or a sliced banana, or or chocolate chips, or anything else you think would be good)

Generous sprinkle of cinnamon

Preheat oven to around 200 degrees with a baking sheet inside to put your already cooked pancakes on while the rest are cooking. This keeps them all warm until you're ready for them! 

First, melt the butter. SK recommends melting half the amount first, then stirring in the remainder to melt it without the result ending up too hot to stir into the rest of the ingredients (you want scrambled eggs with, not in your pancakes!)

Whisk the eggs and yogurt together and add between 2-4 tablespoons of milk, depending on what thickness of yogurt you use (Greek yogurt's a little thicker, so more milk, etc). Honestly, I've taken to just splashing enough milk to create a stirrable liquid-ish mixture. Add the melted butter to this, then the vanilla extract. 

Swirly vanilla.

For the next part, you have a choice. If you don't have a kitchen scale, you can use cup measures for the amounts of flour specified. If you do have a kitchen scale, I recommend using it- I haven't made these any other way, mostly because I figure if I have the luxury of a scale and the weights are given, I might as well use it. Anyway, whatever your measuring method, in a separate bowl, mix together the flours, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Add dry ingredients to wet, and stir only until ingredients are moistened- don't overmix!

At this point, I usually sprinkle some cinnamon on top of the bowl of batter. If I had to guess how much, I'd say about a teaspoon? Just eyeball it 'til it looks something like this:

 Using whatever skillet/pan you prefer (cast iron, non-stick, etc), melt a pat of butter over medium heat. Spoon batter into pan- SK recommends 1/4 cup at a time, I typically make mine a little larger. Again, this is a preference thing, so play with it until you're comfortable with your results. While the first side is cooking, gently press whatever fruit you've decided on into the top side, which will spread the pancake out to make it a little flatter:

Decided it needed a little more cinnamon. 

Once the edges of the pancake look dry and small bubbles have formed and burst leaving holes, it's time to flip! Example:

See those bubbles? Almost time to flip!

This is the part that always gets me- my pancakes typically stop looking pretty at this point. I'm not a great flipper, but it helps to use a large spatula. Continue to cook flipped side until the bottom is golden. Again, adjust temperature and time as needed to achieve your desired results. Continue with rest of the batch, sliding each one onto the preheated pan in the oven when done until the batter's gone. 

Then stuff 'em in your face!

I'm alive, plus Mom's Almond Poppy Seed Muffins

Whew. Moving across states is an adventure, folks. Everything went fairly well, but I'm just now feeling like I'm getting back in the swing of things. So, without further adieu, I shall feign a return to normalcy with Mom's Almond Poppy Seed Muffin recipe.

And by Mom, I mean Husband's mom. 

If you want my man to strongly dislike a food item, odds are good if you add lemon flavor to it. It's not that he doesn't like the flavor itself, he's just pretty well convinced that it doesn't belong in combination with most other flavors. Specifically, blueberry pie and poppy seed muffins/bread. Unfortunately for him, many baked items with poppy seeds added to them are of the lemon variety. Fortunately for him, his mom has a great recipe that is not.

In the process of packing up our kitchen to move, we discovered two full jars of poppy seeds that he bought before we got married to make his mom's poppy seed bread recipe. Once we found those he very subtly hinted that he might want to actually follow through on his intention to make eat some. So, being the thoughtful Wife that I am, I've since made several batches.

In the process of experimenting, I found that I prefer the way this recipe bakes in muffin form to the way it turns out in its original loaf form. The recipe is extremely simple, and while it makes no claims of being particularly healthy, it is indeed very tasty. Just enough almond flavor without being overpowering.

Great job, Mom!

Mom's Poppy Seed Muffins

3 cups all-purpose flour

1.5 tsp. baking powder

1.5 tsp. salt

1.5 tbsp. poppy seeds

2.25 cups sugar

1.5 tsp. almond extract

1.5 tsp. vanilla extract

1 cup vegetable oil

3 eggs

1.5 cups milk

Combine liquid ingredients and dry ingredients separately...

Almond and vanilla extracts- looks like something growing in a petri dish if you ask me.

...and then combine them together well, making sure to break up any clumps.

  

Bake at 350 for 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Let me know if any of you try it, and let me know what you think! 

Perfect Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

The summer between my junior and senior year of college, I spent the break with my best friend in her home state of Alaska. That summer was filled with fresh-caught salmon, white water rafting, hiking, trips to "town," new musical discoveries, and laughter with my friend and her family. 

It was a summer full of views like this: 

But I digress.

While we were there, we worked at a lodge (Alaskan for hotel rooms + restaurant), where I ended up becoming the baker. This was the start of my love for baking, as I hadn't done a ton of it up to that point. Thankfully, I had an awesome teacher and learned some great recipes. This is one of them.

Sheep Mountain Lodge Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

(Recipe was originally for a HUGE quantity, I cut it down to this, which makes about 18 cookies. Also, I'm pretty sure this recipe is from Better Homes and Gardens or something, but I can't remember...so I'm just naming them after the lodge.)

1 Stick butter

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1 egg

1/2 tsp. vanilla

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/8 tsp. cloves

pinch of salt

1 and 1/2 cups old-fashioned oats (NOT quick oats!)

1/2 cup raisins

Bake at 350 degrees for 12-14 minutes, flipping pan halfway through baking. 

.......

Cookies seem like a pretty straight-forward thing, right? Practically everyone's been making them since they were little. That being said, there are a few tricks I learned that can take cookies from good but nondescript, to great. 

Here are the steps:

1. Make sure your butter has sat out for a good long while and is soooooft. Add both types of sugar to bowl with butter and "beat the tar out of it." That's how it was taught to me, anyway.

You're not done until the mixture has lightened in color a bit and is a nice, whipped consistency. 

2. Next, put the vanilla and egg together in a small bowl and add the whole thing to the butter/sugar mixture, beating just until thoroughly combined. 

Now let's talk about flour. Maybe the proper way to scoop flour is common knowledge to everyone but my 2008 self, but on the off chance that someone else might benefit, I'll mention it here. The correct way is to scoop it into the measuring cup without packing it, til it makes a mound on top, then level it off (again, without packing it down too much). 

3. Then combine all of your powdery-type ingredients together before introducing to the wet mixture: flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and cloves, and salt. Side note, I am in love with cloves. You may hear me mention this one or two more times throughout the life of this blog.

Mixing those things together first ensures even distribution throughout the whole bowl.

4. Mix the oats and raisins together first, then add to dough. Mix until just combined. 

5. Use an ice cream scoop or some type of measuring device to portion out dough balls to a consistent size. Since my ice cream scoop made a rounded ball, I flattened them just slightly so they'd bake evenly and end up nicely shaped.

6. Bake at 350 degrees for 14 minutes, flipping pan at 7 minutes to ensure even baking.

I love these cookies, my husband loves these cookies, our neighbor loved these cookies, and I hope you will, too. If you try it, let me know how it turns out for you!

90% Perfect

...and shared with the world always changes more lives than 100% perfect and stuck in your head.

- Jon Acuff, Quitter 

How many 25-year-old college graduates do you know who have no idea what they're doing with their lives? Well, now you know one more.


Call this an experiment.

I'm calling it discipline.

Currently, I'm a little over a month away from a cross-country move, which naturally brings with it the opportunity for a lot of new. New job. New living situation. New community. But mostly, new chances to get better at some things I haven't been so great at. And one of those things for a long while has been discovering and doing things that I actually love. Things that fill me up, make me come alive, feel as though I'm living out an inescapable truth for my life.

So this is an exercise in recovering those loves.

One of them is writing. One of them is the culinary world. Another is artistic creativity and crafts. A relatively new one is self-care (i.e., primping).

So here is my opportunity to "do what [I] love with the life [I] already have" (another quote from Acuff- can you tell I'm digging this book?). Oh, and here's another one- "discipline begets discipline." So far this year, I've disciplined myself to complete a Whole30 as well as my first 5k, I feel like this is all part of Emily's Health Snowball of 2013.

Post one. So far, so good. I'm a champion.