Day 23!

Slowly, but surely I'm getting through Whole30. My list of most-eaten foods so far is as follows: -AVOCADO (there's usually at least one of these bad boys a day) -sweet potatoes -coconut (milk, cream, water, shreds) -onion -grilled chicken -ground beef -zucchini -bibb lettuce -sweet peppers -strawberries -bananas (I never knew how awesome frozen bananas were) -almonds (dry roasted, almond butter) So yeah, my diet has consisted of most of these every day, for just about every meal. Like I mentioned above, I have fallen head over heels for avocados, bananas, and coconuts. Frozen banana slices might just be the best thing EVER. Seriously. Just slice them up thinly, stick them in the freezer like an hour or two, then eat them as if they're ice cubes: let them melt in your mouth just a little, then bite through the freezy goodness. I've recently discovered my adoration of the coconut. I enjoy shredded coconut, even the unsweetened I used to scoff at. Coconut cream is fantastic, and when mixed with banana and chilled, it makes a delicious treat akin to banana pudding. I think when I'm off Whole30 I'm going to try to make it with nilla wafers as a crust, it would be killer with that mix. Now, avocado I liked a lot before I started doing paleo, but the love has increased 10-fold. I've got to the point where somedays I just feel like slicing one in half, tossing the seed, scoring the flesh, salt & pepper, then just tackle each half with a spoon (or some hot sauce if I'm feeling crazy =P). Anyway, only 1 more week to go til I'm free again. It's perfect timing because my sister's birthday is the 25th, so I can actually eat whatever she wants for her birthday without having to worry about what I'm eating or looking like a picky snob in front of her friends. Plus, I think Mom's making her famous "birthday soup" for Jacki that Saturday, so I'll finally be able to eat some of that. I'm still planning on eating strict paleo about 80-90% of the time, but I want to be able to enjoy myself on special occasions. Until later!

Day 13 & 14

It's been a crazy 4 days off this go-round.  I did want to show off some of my fave food.  The green, leafy goodness is paleo tacos, made with bibb lettuce, a nice chunk of Kalua pork from the slow cooker (nomnompaleo's recipe), yellow pepper, onion, avocado, and some good mexican hot sauce.   The other dessert-y looking picture is coconut cream with strawberries and sliced almonds.  It was killer.  I did another similar dish to that yesterday, but forgot to take a picture.  Yesterday, I was beating the chilled coconut cream with a mixer and thought, "hey, banana would be awesome in this!"  (It was soooo awesome!)  I mixed in a ripe banana diced up, and threw in some unsweetened shredded coconut, and topped it with almond slices.  Crazy good.   More updates later.

Day 11

So yeah, I swear I didn't forget about this blog, I've just been crazy busy at times when I remembered it. =P Today is Day 11 of my Whole30, and I'm feeling pretty good about how things are going. Cooking/easy is super easy as long as I have meat and veggies on stand-by. I've actually eaten at restaurants during my last 4 days off and didn't stray either! My first day off I went to Logan's Roadhouse with Jer, Tasha, and Brandon. The menu was a bit difficult, but I did ok with a plain 8 oz steak w/ sweet potato fries (no sugar on them please!), and steamed veggies. I think what I had was better than everyone elses' b/c when we left, I was the only one not groaning or saying they were tired. The other outing I met up w/ my friend, Victoria, at Poblano's. This was great, not only b/c the food was great AND Whole30 compliant--it also was 30% off since it was Tuesday. Score! I got ceviche and some grilled chicken and veggies. Delicious. The other days I just fixed random meals, basically whatever protein I could get my hands on and two fist-fulls of veggies (also, usually an apple or frozen banana when I could get away with it). I also finally got some compliant almond butter: Harris Teeter brand almond butter. Believe it or not, it was the only one in the whole store that didn't have sugar in it. By the way, if you have never tried almond butter on a freshly sliced pink lady apple, you need to. It is the absolute best! I started a new pork roast in the slow cooker yesterday so Jer and I would have some more of that amazing Kalua Pork from NomNomPaleo's recipe. I've already got one of those living lettuce things of bibb lettuce, along with some onion and peppers. It is going to be amazing after my work out. Anyway, I'm going to try to write again on my days off this week, but you know how it goes. =)