hmm

I've been pretty terrible at updating this blog lately! I promise to get back to it soon!

I made it through 10 days of Whole30 before I made the decision that I wasn't feeling it and it was making me a little too crazy about food. It's much easier to just eat a piece of 90% dark chocolate after dinner and move on instead of obsessing about why I can't or shouldn't eat the dark chocolate and I don't like that feeling. I am still eating pretty clean and mostly whole30 style meals, but I am eating a bit of dairy and chocolate again, and I might have even had some steel cut oats this week. hmm! I might try a Whole30 again in the future, I'm definitely not ruling it out, I'm just not ready right now.

Whole30 - Days 3 & 4

Whole 30 – Day 3

I felt pretty good today, although my headache did unfortunately make a comeback around lunch time, but it didn’t last long. I think it helps that I slept very well last night.  I’m hoping that Whole30 helps clear up my skin some; my face has been super blotchy and dry recently.  Also if I could ditch these under eye circles I’ve had my entire life that would be awesome. However, they have been looking much better since I went gluten-free and I don’t think it’s a coincidence.

28 Weeks Pregnant! I can’t believe how fast this has been going. I’m really feeling kind of huge now, and if I have to hear one more person who can’t believe my due date is in March, I may punch someone.  I’m sorry; this is just how my body looks when I’m pregnant and there’ s not much I can do about it.

hello, work bathroom

TMI alert: my pelvis is so uncomfortable! I definitely have the pregnant lady waddle going on.  Baby boy is moving all over the place and I’m getting pummeled and kicked constantly. I’m trying to stay active with walking outside almost everyday, but unfortunately I’m not doing much more than that. 

What I ate:

Breakfast – eggs, Sweet Potato Hash, bacon and asparagus (my toddler stole one of my eggs…)

Early Lunch – a little bit of leftover chicken, broccoli and cauliflower and 3 unsweetened dried cherries

Snack – dry roasted almonds, an orange

Dinner – the rest of my leftover chicken and broccoli, sweet potato hash, liver meat balls, an orange

Obviously, leftovers were very helpful today! I almost always work 12-9 on Thursdays and I need to be out of the house by 11:15am so I don’t have a lot of time to cook.

Whole30 - Day 4

Woke up pretty cranky this morning, but I think that had more to do with my toddler deciding to sleep in our bed last night and I definitely did not get enough sleep. Otherwise I felt pretty decent, cravings weren’t too off the wall today, although I am missing yogurt and dark chocolate.  It would be nice if there weren’t always “treats” in the staff room at work too. . 

Breakfast – 2 eggs, asparagus, ¼ avocado, 2 strips of bacon, and a couple liver meatballs (why yes, I am getting kind of tired of these), coffee with coconut milk

Snack – orange, dry roasted almonds

Lunch – leftover ground beef and veggie stirfry, an orange

Dinner – Citrus chicken thighs + asparagus, frozen blueberries with coconut milk and a couple pieces of bacon because I was desperately craving after dinner sugar 

I'm not sure if I'm going to keep posting about every single day or not, it's getting a little tedious remembering to write down everything I eat, but we will see!

Whole30 - Day 2

Day # 2 complete!

How do I feel? Much better! I actually feel great today and my dark chocolate cravings were much less despite waking up to a car with a dead battery. My meals were a little bit discombobulated because I was waiting for car repairs during my normal lunchtime. I also got more sleep last night, which is always nice.


What I ate:
Breakfast - leftover pork butternut squash stew topped with 2 eggs fried over-easy in ghee

Snack - Liver Meatballs, a large apple, dry roasted almonds and macadamias

Very late lunch - baked chicken thighs with sauteed broccoli and cauliflower, and an orange

Snack - ate a couple more liver meatballs on the drive home from work

Dinner - "Asian" ground beef and veggie stirfry with onions, celery, carrots, green bell pepper, cashews and slivered almonds.

I love my food! Sorry for the lack of gross looking pictures, tomorrow I'll try to photograph all of my meals.

Whole30 - Day 1

I made it through Day 1 of Whole 30! Well, technically I have another 5 hours during which I could go nuts, but I am pretty sure I am good for the day.

How do I feel? Honestly, my head is pounding and some dark chocolate sounds pretty good right now, but I feel motivated and positive about doing this. I did have 15 minutes or so this afternoon when I was the most irritable grump ever, which I'm attributing to a lower carb/sugar intake and not eating my usual morning snack.

What I ate:
Breakfast - leftover pork butternut squash stew topped with 2 eggs fried over-easy in ghee and a handful of blueberries

Lunch - a little bit of smoked salmon, baby carrots and guacamole and more leftover stew.

Snack - (pregnant ladies need to snack) Sweet Potato Chicken Liver Meatballs

Dinner - All from Well Fed - Baked Chicken Thighs, Cumin Roasted Carrots and Parsnips, Greek Style broccoli and cauliflower

I really enjoyed dinner tonight, Melissa is a genius! My husband wasn't a fan of the roasted carrots and parsnips,which I had no problem with - more for me. Toddler loved the chicken and broccoli.

Whole30

Starts tomorrow Jan 1st, 2013!

I'm going to post my progress here... not expecting any weight loss of course, just trying to maintain a healthy pregnancy and get a grip on my sweet tooth. 

Recent Meals

Wow, I've been pretty bad about remembering to photograph our meals! But here is one from a few nights ago. We had one of our favorite Everyday Paleo Recipes: No Bean Chili. It's pretty fool-proof and the ingredients are easy to keep on hand.

Because this picture definitely isn't gross looking.

 This morning I threw the ingredients for Everyday Paleo's Pork Loin and Butternut Squash Stew. I love the crock pot for easy weekend meals, especially since my work hours are usually too long for most crock pot meals.

Do I ever make anything not from Everyday Paleo?

That doesn't look pre-digested at all

It was very good, and even my husband liked it. (That is saying a lot)

Today I also made Paleo Breakfast Casserole. I based it on this recipe from Technically Paleo, with a few changes. I doubled the amount of eggs, added two packs of chicken breakfast sausages and swapped out the jalapenos for a green bell pepper.

Food stylist material?

I was skeptical about adding turnips since I don't think I've ever eaten them before, but I must say I really liked this a lot. I am not hard to please.

That's a great blurry picture.

Oxtail Stew and Burgers and Fries

Tonight for Dinner, I made Oxtail Stew in my crockpot.

 I was really excited to see oxtail in my health food store's meat case, so I snatched up all three packages. I love oxtail! It's super fatty and gets really tender when cooked for long periods of time, making it a perfect slow cooker dinner. I had sweet potato fries on the side.
 

Winter lighting is not my friend.

 
My husband, Jim is not an adventurous eater and doesn't like fatty cuts of meat, so I made him burgers and baked french fries... 

Who needs vegetables?

 

Oxtail Stew  

(based on this recipe by Bi-Polar Paleo)

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 1 T coconut oil
• 4 oxtail pieces
• 2 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
• 1 large onion, roughly chopped
• 3-5 carrots, peeled and sliced
• 2-3 parsnips, peeled and roughly chopped
• 3 stalks celery, chopped
• 1 1/2 cups broth
• salt, pepper
  
  Directions:

1. Heat the coconut oil over medium-high heat.
2. Brown the oxtails on all sides. Place them in the slow cooker.
3. Season the oxtails with salt and pepper
4. Fry the garlic until fragrant.
5. Add vegetables to the pan and fry for 3-5 minutes until they begin to brown.
6. Add just enough broth so you can easily scrape up any bits from the bottom of the pan.
7. Pour broth into the slow cooker.
8. Add vegetable mixture to the slow cooker. Do not stir.
9. Secure the lid and cook for 4-5 hours on High.

   

   Happy Holidays!