Whole 30: Day 5

Breakfast:  Frittata.  I made half only on the stove, and half in the oven.  Finishing the frittata in the oven really does give it a lighter, fluffier texture.  Everyone liked it but Lincoln, who isn't fond of mixed foods. (He would prefer the sausage, egg and broccoli be served individually on his plate.)

Lunch:  Sweet potato and kale chicken patties.  Again, everyone ate them but Lincoln.  I ate mine with Dijon mustard and lettuce, and Tyler ate his with BBQ sauce.

Dinner: Salmon and roasted brussel sprouts.  Simple and delicious.  My mother-in-law roasts them with balsamic vinegar; really you can't go wrong with balsamic vinegar!  I can't believe I avoided it for most of my life.

Thoughts:  Next week I am going to be pickier about the recipes I choose.  It's disappointing spending a lot of time and only getting mediocre results.  I know that's what happens sometimes, just like with anything you do, and that it will get easier once I find our favorites.

Hazel has been a real pill at meals, screeching and yelling "no" at everything.  She brightens up immediately if I get her out of the high chair and eat with her on my lap.  Wondering whether she wanted to sit with me, or just at the table with all of us, I had her sit on Lincoln's booster and she was just as cheery.  So, it may be time to transition her to the table!

Sometimes, at snack or in this case dessert, I just put a plate of something somewhere and tell them to go at it.  It's the quietest 3 seconds of the day!

Whole 30: Day 4

Breakfast: Apple Cinnamon Omelette.  Ezra and I loved this!  Nobody else had a chance to try it.  (Can you tell we're the big eaters in the family?)  It was too big for me to flip, so it ended up pretty scrambled.  Next time I'll make two separate ones, because I think it would be fun to eat if the apples were stuck into the egg better.  I realized that I hadn't had any vegetables with this meal, so ate some carrot sticks and sliced red bell pepper.

Lunch:  Zucchini noodles with marinara sauce.  I didn't have time to cook meat, so ate a hard boiled egg afterward.  Note to self: this combo doesn't work.  Makes my stomach uncomfortable.  I have to make that meal with some meatballs!

Dinner: Stuffed red bell peppers.  I was really excited about these; I've wanted to make stuffed peppers for a long time.  As the innards were sizzling on the stove, Lincoln helped me chop and prepare the pepper "bowls."  He asked if he could have the yellow one.  I only had three, and I would have a lot of extra stuffing if I only used two, but how could I refuse my preschooler when he's asking to eat pepper?  (once he'd nibbled the whole top, it was eventually discarded, and I stuffed it anyway!)  Unfortunately, this recipe was quite bland.  I really like the concept of this dish, but I am going to search for a tastier version.  

Evening Drink: Kombucha.  It's an acceptable beverage for The Whole 30 Challenge.  Yum!

Thoughts:  Thank you to Ami for giving me her Ninja Food Processor!  It makes it so easy to "rice" cauliflower and ground chicken and all that jazz!  

Today in all honestly, I started to feel really lightheaded and tired midmorning.  I may be experiencing some detox symptoms, which is normal, or maybe breakfast didn't have the right sustenance combo.  At any rate, I just wanted to eat a Larabar or some yummy snack!  However, while I was running errands in the afternoon, I realized I was excitedly looking forward to cooking and eating dinner!  That has never happened.  I am infinitely more likely to get giddy over a trip to the bakery.  Then, tonight after the kids were in bed, as I was preparing all the produce and meat for tomorrow, I listened to some Dean Martin, drank some Kombucha, and gave myself another pat on the back for choosing to do this.  I think I am actually on my way to enjoying cooking!

One more thing: You might be wondering where Tyler figures into all this.  My husband has a few culinary likes, a few dislikes (frustratingly opposite to mine), but in general is not much of a foodie.  His dispassionate approach to food exasperates me sometimes when I'm just looking for a "Hey, this is awesome, babe!" but it also really comes in handy when I try a drastic change like the Whole 30.  He's not following the plan like I am, especially while at school or lunch meetings and interviews, but he has no beef with eating what I make for meals.  So, no marital discord on this plate.  :-)

Whole 30: Day 3

Breakfast:  Something I learned from my mom: shredded potato and egg.  I used julienne sweet potatoes and added chopped nuts and grated carrots.  Made little "pancakes" on the griddle.  Topped them with almond butter.  (See, I'm getting my "sweet" breakfast after all!)

Lunch: Mediterranean Zucchini Noodles.  Delicious!  I only had canned tuna in water, but it came out perfectly.  I was able to share some with my friend Ami today during our play date.  Five kids under five= awesome!

Snack: chia seeds "jelly" (soaked in water) with chopped apple

Dinner:  Sausage with sauteed mushrooms, peppers, onions and garlic.  Over lots of green leaf lettuce.  Sounds better than it tasted.  But, they can't all be winners.


Thoughts:  The twins sabotaged my breakfast.  I've made these before and they didn't like them, but today, on my plate, I guess there was an appeal.  I didn't eat enough lunch to fill me up until dinner, so had a snack.  Tyler was gone at school again this evening, and it was one of those evenings where all three kids were yelling about something or other, as I frantically got stuff for us to eat in the kitchen.  Such is life!  I am excited about meals tomorrow.  So far, my relationship with food is definitely changing for the better!

Whole 30: Day 2

Breakfast:  scrambled egg, sauteed crimini mushrooms, bacon, and grated carrot over green leaf lettuce, with blueberries

Lunch: two nori wraps with: avocado, lemon and cauliflower rice, carrot sticks

Dinner: leftover sweet potato dish, green leaf lettuce salad with balsamic vinegar, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, and sunflower seeds

Thoughts:  I knew it would be difficult to eat a plate of protein and veggies for breakfast, and it is.  I am more of a cereal or muffin girl at breakfast time.  So the past two days I haven't really enjoyed my morning meal, but I definitely love the way I feel after eating it.  I can focus on so many other things when I'm energized and satiated until lunch!

I made enough eggs for everyone this morning, but Ezra and I ate them all before Tyler even got out of bed.  Hazel and Lincoln aren't big fans of eggs but both took bites.  Lincoln likes when I make him "face plates" so I bought a few more plain colored circle plates for the kids today.  His dinner face had salad hair, wheat noodle eyebrows and nose, blueberry eyes, and cubed chicken teeth.  Ate the whole thing!  Cheer!

Whole 30: Day 1

Breakfast: Grated carrots, chopped almonds and cashews with balsamic vinegar.  Two hard boiled eggs.  Chopped mango.  Spinach leaves.

Lunch:  Ground beef, sweet potatoes and apples over chopped rainbow chard.

Dinner:  Lemon and Almond Cauliflower rice with salmon and carrots, in a nori wrap.  Meaning: I just made my first sushi roll!


Thoughts:  It definitely was a hustle to prepare all of this.  But I now have leftovers for the two nights a week Tyler is gone during bedtime.  It was all delicious!  I made sure to eat enough to suffice me to the next meal, and was successful.  Lincoln ate a couple bites of rainbow chard, and Hazel loved the sweet potato dish.  Ezra ate chia seed pudding for an afternoon snack.  Expanding taste buds!  Day one, done!

Whole 30

I have decided to challenge myself to eat whole foods for 30 days.  Details can be found here, but basically I will eat three meals a day, comprised of a palmful of protein and a ton of veggies.  Fruits, nuts and seeds here and there too.  No grains, legumes, dairy or sugar.

Why so extreme?  Well, I hope to give my digestive system a break, increase nutrient absorption, and figure out what foods my body respons well to.

Also, I hope to get better at:

1.  Menu planning.  This is something that I don't do.  I find it intimidating.  But if you eat mainly produce, you kind of need a plan for when/how you're going to eat it, otherwise it will just sit and rot in your fridge.  I sat down yesterday and made a list of meals and a corresponding grocery list.  It took a long time, especially since the recipes were all new and I was picking them blindly.  It was fun to go shopping, though, and know exactly how many zucchinis and tomatoes I would need for the week.

2.  Cooking.  Obviously, since I don't menu plan, we have a few staples and we grocery shop for those.  I would like to consume more than cereal, pizza, mac and cheese, spaghetti, salad and quesadillas. And my children will benefit from a broadening of their tastes; I want them to experience more crunch, zing and zest of the culinary rainbow.

3. Relationship with food:  I find that as a stay at home mom, I snack throughout the day on whatever is easiest, because cooking and sitting down to eat are "selfish" in the eyes of my toddlers, who only see this as mom not attending to them.  I also personally don't like to spend a lot of time thinking about food, which is why I like to throw things together and get dinner on the table as quickly as possible.  I have been reading a lot about nutrition lately, and I do think it's worth it to change this habit.  I owe it to myself and my family to focus more on what is sustaining us.  We are already somewhat healthy: don't drink soda or juices that aren't %100, avoid high fructose corn syrup, buy whole wheat products, etc.  However, I would like to learn more about what we should be eating, and focus less on what we shouldn't.

4.  Weight:  This is not a necessity for these next 30 days, but I would sure be happy if I lost a few pounds.  I'm not technically overweight, but my body feels puffy and most of my pre-twin wardrobe is still uncomfortably tight around my waist.  I would like to feel better in my movements, and that sweet spot is typically about 10 pounds away from here.

So, here we go!  Wish me luck.  That's mainly why I'm blogging about this, so that people I know and love can help to keep me motivated.

Dance!

Last night Tyler and I went to his school's Fall Formal.  I wore my fancy dress with high heels, and he wore his suit; we felt pretty sharp.  Our beloved, trusted neighbor came over after we put the kids to bed, to keep an eye on things.  Then we high-tailed it into the city to dance the night away at the Seaport World Trade Center.  I got to meet all the people that Tyler talks about, and connect faces to names.  But once the lights were dimmed and the music turned up, there wasn't much talking going on. Let me just say that, even though I'm a quiet person with no sense of rhythm,  I have a LOT of fun on the dance floor!  Thank you Babson for a wild night!