Trout recipes

Ebon has been doing quite a bit of fishing this year. He catches a fair amount of trout, so we have been experimenting with different ways to prepare it.
I've made a pan-fried Honey Pecan Trout .

Olive oil roasted tomatoes and fennel with white beans

I had fennel to use up and decided on roasting it with tomatoes to make this dish. I thought it was good, but the rest of my family didn't agree.

Peanut Sauce 2?

Martha Stewart's peanut sauce was ok, but probably could use some spice that we didn't add because of Leela.

Ethiopian Lentil stew with Chard

I made it on the stovetop, because I have yet to give into the Instant Pot purchase yet.  Though, it sounds like it could save me some time... I made this Ethiopian Lentil stew that was going around my  dinner facebook group. I thought it turned out ok, not sure if I would make it again.

Salsa Verde

I got tomatillos in the CSA share a couple weeks ago, so I thought I would try to make some salsa verde. There are lots of recipes online, but I went with Cookie & Kate's Salsa Verde.
I followed it pretty much to the letter, I may have omitted the jalepenos, but I can't remember now.
We had it with some quesadillas and I thought it was very good. Ebon didn't like it, but Leela readily dipped her chips in it.
I had some leftover, so I froze it. I think I'll try to make some Enchilada Verde sometime in the near future. Or maybe I'll make some breakfast burritos and put it on. The possibilities are many!

Eggplant and Tomato Pie

I am still working through our CSA veggies. I decided to make the New York Times Eggplant and Tomato Pie. It worked out pretty well because I had frozen pie dough and marinara, in addition to the CSA eggplant and plethora of tomatoes from the garden.
It went together easily enough. I roasted the eggplant ahead of time, while I was working from home. Then at dinner time, I put everything together and baked it all up.


I thought it looked pretty and tasted good, but it wasn't as well received by the rest of the family. Though Leela said she liked the eggplant and took a few bites of it, which I was pleasantly surprised by. In the end, I'm not sure if the pie dough was the right choice. I also had frozen pizza dough, so that or the dough from the recipe may have been a better choice.

Cheddar Broccoli and Rice Muffins

In an attempt to start working through CSA veggies that I did a poor job of using during the week. I made Cheddar Broccoli and Rice Muffin cups. I was inspired by a recipe I saw on Once a Month Meals - which I will be perusing further for other recipe ideas.

I took ~ 2 cups of raw broccoli chopped very small ~1/4"-1/2" dice
Whatever leftover rice was in our rice cooker - probably about 1.5 cups
about 1 cup vegetable broth
Salt
Pepper
Thyme
Dried minced onion
garlic powder
2 eggs, beaten
about 2-3 cups of shredded cheddar cheese

I didn't really measure anything, but I mixed all of this up and split it up between 12 muffin cups. I baked at 400 degrees for about 20 min, then I upped it to 425 for about 10-15 more minutes, as it was getting late and they weren't quite done yet. They may have taken a shorter amount to bake if I had pre-steamed the broccoli.

I thought they were pretty good - quite cheesy! Leela ate half of a muffin and Ebon ate two, so I call it a win and something I'll make again! I think I'll try to send these, or something similar, to school with her in her lunch

Massaged Kale Salad

I feel like this was a "thing" last year. I tried making one last year, but didn't succeed. Yesterday was a half success. I was kinda going on memory and only looked up a recipe after I was halfway in. Aarti's recipe from Food Network is the general framework which I followed, though my method and ingredients varied a bit.

I started with a bit less than a pound of kale from the garden. I stripped the leaves from the stems and ripped up the large pieces into a bowl.
I poured about 3 swirls of olive oil and probably 1/2 teaspoon of salt - both of which was too much. I'd probably do one swirl, a couple pinches of salt, and probably the lemon juice that the recipe called for.
Then I massaged the heck out of it until it was softer, wilty, and bright green!
This was the point in which I thought I should find a recipe. So based on the one above and what I had already put in, I just added the juice of one lemon, some freshly ground pepper, diced up about 5 or 6 dried figs to try to offset the saltiness, and a handful of sunflower seeds.
I mixed everything thoroughly and served it up.
I thought it was pretty good, a little salty, but good - the kale wasn't tough and I liked the sweetness of the figs.

Birthday bash: Yogurt Veggie Dip, Cupcakes and Sangria.

I was preparing for Leela's birthday the day before and wanted to have some kind of dip for vegetables and crackers. I had plain yogurt on hand so my internet searching came up with a Garlic-Chive Greek Yogurt Dip. I had Icelandic-style skyr, which is close enough to Greek for me. It was super easy, I used chives from our backyard garden and making it the night before allowed the flavors to develop. I thought it was very tasty and many other people seemed to like it too! To go along with the dip, I cut up cauliflower, red pepper, celery, and had a package of baby carrots, along with some party crackers.

For dessert, we had strawberries, watermelon and cupcakes! Leela wanted chocolate cupcakes with vanilla frosting. I used the chocolate cake recipe from Ebon's Birthday in cupcake form. I made two batches. The first batch I over-filled a bit and had some spill over, it didn't matter in the end because I was using the silicone cups and a paper liner inside. The excess came off pretty cleanly. I baked them for about 20 min or so. The second batch I did a better job of filling, but I forgot about them and over baked them. They weren't burned, but were definitely much drier than the first. I got 24+ cupcakes from the batter.
Further sleuthing on the same blog I found her vanilla frosting recipe. I tripled the recipe which ended up being way too much because I used a spatula to frost instead of a piping bag which probably would have used more frosting.

Sangria I used 2L Chablis (from a box wine) 1 cup of Grand Marnier, 2 cups of blueberries, a peach, and a nectarine. It wasn't very sweet and I wasn't able to pour out the nectarines, but I thought it was pretty good. Maybe could have been a little sweeter with some kind of bubbly ginger ale or something like that.

Quick pickling

I have been doing a much better job of making sure all the veggies from our CSA are being used. Part of that is because I've been making quick pickles to use up some cabbage and cucumbers.
I really like the cucumber pickles, the spice is just right and they stay crunchy for quite a while.

IN RECIPES
Quickles: Refrigerator Pickles
Posted by: The Farm on Feb 23, 2016

1 lb. pickling cucumbers
1 cup white vinegar
2 cups cold water
1 T sugar
2 T kosher salt
1 t. mustard seed
1 t. whole peppercorns
1⁄2 t. red pepper flakes
1 cup fresh dill
5 cloves garlic, peeled

Evenly divide the garlic, dill and cucumbers among four wide-mouthed pint jars. You can cut up the pickling cukes however you want, from slices to halves, etc. (smaller slices soak up the flavor faster). You can pack as many cukes into the jars as possible, even more than the recipe calls for if there’s space.

In a bowl, mix together vinegar, water, red pepper flakes, salt, mustard seed and dill seed to make a flavored brine. Use a funnel to fill each jar with brining liquid. If the cukes aren’t mostly covered, you can add a little more cold water and shake it up. Cap tightly and refrigerate at least one week before eating (or eat some right away and every day after, to see what they’re like:).

The red cabbage I pickled has been used less, as in I'm the only one in the family eating them, but they turned out pretty good and is pretty tasty.

Balsamic Vinaigrette

I made a salad dressing out of balsamic vinegar the other day. I was so proud of how it turned out. Now i'm realizing I didn't write down what my measurements were. I think I followed a recipe online, but I think it was:

1/4 cup olive oil
1/8 cup balsalmic vinegar
2 teaspoons of dijon mustard

not sure about these:
sugar
salt
pepper

I will revise once I try again.

In any case, mixing all the ingredients together, everything emulsified and didn't separate, even after several days in the fridge! It was tasty too.

Herb Butter sauce for Trout

Ebon made an Herb Butter sauce for a trout he caught at Walden pond. He prepared the fish with lemon juice and slices, olive oil, salt, pepper, and a little rosemary then baked that in the oven at 400degF for about 20 min. While that was in the oven, he made the sauce from Julisa's Album. I thought the sauce, while a bit thin, was very good. Maybe spending a little more time reducing the sauce would make everything even tastier!

Basic Potato Salad

We grilled out yesterday with frozen veggie burgers and sausages, but I wanted to actually make something, so I picked Potato Salad!

I wanted something simple and quick, so I cubed up some potatoes  - probably about 2-3 lbs,I had two large potatoes and one small one.  I didn't bother skinning them, then I covered them in water and boiled/simmered on high for about 20 min or so until they were tender. I drained these and put in a large bowl. Ideally I think you'd put them in the fridge, or let them cool down, but it was dinner time, so I just went with it - warm potatoes and all.
To this I added 2 green onions and one pearl onion - ball and stem - that were chopped small, and about 2 tablespoons of dill finely chopped.

The dressing was pretty basic - to taste
about 1/4 cup olive oil
a little more than 1/8 cup red wine vinegar (homemade!)
about 2 teaspoons of dijon mustard
a sprinkle of sugar, probably about 1/2 teaspoon
salt and pepper to taste

Pour over the potato mix and stir to coat.

I originally had way too little salt and pepper, so I added more, probably about a couple teaspoons (or more) of salt in total.

Overall I thought it was pretty good, once I got the seasoning right. Ebon ate it too!

Garlic Scape Hummus

Friday came and it was hot. I didn't feel like cooking my planned roasted vegetables, so I cut up a bunch of veggies and made a garlic scape hummus and had crackers and cheese for dinner. It was so nice outside and we just received our new beach tent in the mail, so we sat outside and had a wonderful picnic on the porch.


Hummus:
large handful (6-7?) of roughly chopped garlic scapes.
1 cup of cooked chickpeas
Salt to taste
olive oil - probably around 1/4 cup - enough to make the blender start moving.

Put everything in the blender and let it go to work. It took a while to get all (most) of the scapes ground up.

Lemony Pasta with Collard Greens

I still have some salad to eat this week, but so far I've done a pretty good job of using up all the veggies. I had some collard greens I needed to use up from the CSA share, so I looked around for different recipes besides typical "southern" collard greens. I found a Martha Stewart recipe for Spaghetti with Lemon and Collard Greens. I followed the recipe fairly closely, but used penne and feta in place of the spaghetti and Romano. I thought it turned out great. I love the lemony flavor with pasta and greens!
I would definitely make this again to use up collards or another green. I might even throw in some white beans next time too!

Chickpea Stew

I made a chickpea dish - a Moroccan tagine-sytle stew - yesterday. I was inspired by a recipe I saw in the New York Times cooking section. I'll say I was inspired, because I followed the recipe, but used cooked chickpeas. This sped up cooking time, but lessened the flavor absorption. I didn't have the spinach, and I intended to use some collard greens instead, but I ended up forgetting that and the mint.

I enjoyed this as it was, but I am missing the things that I left out. I ate with couscous and Ebon had it with rice. Leela ate some of Ebon's with rice, but spit out the couscous when she tried it.

I would like to try this dish again following the instructions from the beginning. It would definitely be a long-term/weekend meal or maybe I could figure out how to adapt for the slow cooker.

Stir fry CSA style

I used the excess dressing (and there was a lot) from the Asian slaw as a tofu marinade. I had frozen some tofu previously, so after it thawed, I poured in the marinade. It sat in the container for a few days. Then when I was ready to cook, I sliced it up.

Along with Strawberries, I picked snow peas and snap peas, so I mixed a handful of each along with a few carrots and stir fried them in sesame oil. I started the tofu in the oven, but finished them in the frying pan to give them a bit of a sear.
I thought it tasted pretty good. Not as well received by the other two...womp womp.

Strawberry Shortcake, version 2/NYT

We went strawberry picking last weekend, so I made some strawberry shortcake. I asked Ebon if we should make the same one I made two years ago or go with something new. He wanted to try the recipe I found at the New York Times Food website. I opted to not cut the cakes with a biscuit cutter and just form some ball/circle shapes. They turned out fine shape-wise, and taste wise, they were very good too. Light, flaky, and absorbed the whipped cream and strawberry juice great.
These are winners too, and a bit easier to make than the Food and Wine ones I made two years ago. I would definitely make these again!

Pinto bean and veggie enchiladas

I was inspired by this recipe using sauce I had frozen from my last foray into enchiladas.
I added some carrots, a small zucchini, some cilantro I had on hand, and garlic scapes, and Cheese of course! It would have been eaten even less if it didn't have cheese.
I thought it turned out pretty well, but, as is the norm, I was the only one who enjoyed them.
I made them the night before, which was helpful since I had an interview and all I had to do was turn on the oven, grate some cheese and put it all in. I think the downfall though, was that the bottom of the tortillas which contacted the sauce got a bit soggy. It wasn't an issue for me, but if I was to make this for guests, I think I'd skip the sauce on the bottom if preparing ahead of time.
The sauce was a little spicy, but Leela didn't even try it, so I'm not sure if she'd eat it or not.

CSA Week 1

I made a yogurt dill sauce/dip last week. I ended up putting it on some fish Ebon caught, but I mostly dipped cucumbers in it!

We had napa cabbage and kohlrabi, so I shredded and cut and made an asian-style slaw. I thought it was just ok. Something was not quite right about the dressing, not sure what, though. I still ate it, but I was the only one who did.

Zucchini and Mushroom Pasta

This recipe from The Healthy Foodie was my inspiration for dinner last night. I saute'd the mushrooms in butter, then used olive oil for the zucchini and green onions. I combined everything then added salt, pepper, basil, and oregano. I had some pasta and added Parmesan cheese on top/mixed in.
I thought it turned out great. I would definitely make this again.

Spaghetti Pie

While making the pasta for the Zucchini and Mushroom Saute, I accidentally poured the entire one pound box into the cooking water. I ended up with A. LOT. of pasta!
The first thing that popped into my head to use it up was a spaghetti pie. One of my friends from college made a really good pasta pie with ricotta and spinach. Since a couple people over here are averse to green food, I've decided to opt for a more traditional (if spaghetti pie is traditional Italian) cheese and red sauce spaghetti pie. I couldn't find an existing recipe that fit everything I wanted - cheesy, tomato-saucy, and without meat, so I guess I'll say I was inspired by the SK/Food and Wine recipe and added some red sauce to it.
A little less than one pound of pasta (whatever was leftover from the previous night) that I had added some olive oil to so it wouldn't all stick together in the fridge overnight.
Three eggs
A little less than one cup of milk
Salt and Pepper eyeballed to be as close to the recipe amounts as possible
about a cup each of shredded cheddar and Parmesan
about a half cup of red sauce
All the above ingredients were mixed together and poured in my 10" spring form pan. Then I spread another 1-1.5 cups of red sauce on top.

I prepared everything the night before and baked it the next day after sprinkling on more Parmesan cheese at 425degF for about 40 min and broiling the cheese on low for about 3-5 min for a nice crust.

I was hopeful for the leftover rescue dish, but it didn't turn out as planned. It was very watery, maybe from the sauce? It didn't really stick together either. It was less pie and more spaghetti in a pie plate. In terms of flavors, it was OK. It didn't seem like there was enough salt or pepper and the cheese didn't get mixed well into the noodles either. This is a no go for the future, but maybe I'll try a smaller version with a lot less liquid.

Zucchini "Fritters"

I am trying to go through my fridge and eat/make things with veggies I need to use up before they go bad. I got a bunch of zucchini on price reduction, so that has been on the top of my list! I shredded a little extra while I was making muffins so I could try my hand at fritters again. I decided that I wanted to bake them. I don't think they are any healthier, because I dumped a bunch of oil in them, but the clean up was easier, and since I wasn't using eggs, I knew they would fall apart in the frying pan.

~1 cup shredded zucchini
~1 cup finely chopped spinach (also going bad and needed to use up!)
~1/4 cup finely chopped cilantro (also going bad and needed to use up!)
1 or 2 green onions, chopped
salt and pepper
enough olive oil to keep a patty together

bread crumbs

I started trying to make a patty and dipping it in breadcrumbs in a bowl, but the patty was just falling apart in the bowl, so I ended up keeping the patty in my hand, putting breadcrumbs on top then flipping it onto the cookie sheet, bread crumbs down, and putting the remaining breadcrumbs on the other side.

These were baked at 425degF for about 20 mintues, flipping about half way through.

I thought they were pretty good, maybe a little salty, but good flavors. Ebon, every fearful of green things, took a bite and said, not bad, so that is progress and I'll take whatever little complements I can get!

Baked French Toast

We had some challa that needed to be used up, so I made some baked french toast for Ebon and Leela while I went to a five-mile race. I based the recipe off of Ree Drummond's, but I omitted the "topping" and just put cinnamon into the egg mixture.
Ebon said it was pretty good and between him and Leela, they ate about half the pan (I made a half recipe). I wasn't there for the last part of the baking, but based on the oven, stuff spilled over while it was baking and it turned out a bit more like bread pudding that I would have liked, so a bit less liquid next time. The flavors were good, and it was just sweet enough when I ate it with apple sauce though, I would probably tone down the sugar to eat it with syrup. In the end, I think I'll go back to my first attempt at baked french toast the next time I make it.
I didn't want to eat it initially, because of my self-imposed egg hiatus, but since last week, nuts and I were on better terms, maybe I would be OK with eggs. My stomach was a little upset about an hour after eating it, but it seemed to go away faster and was not as bad as before- progress, maybe. We'll see how I do with the spaghetti pie - also with eggs.

More Muffins and egg cups

I made some more muffins and egg cups for a friend who just had a baby. This time I opted for the Smitten Kitchen Zucchini bread recipe in muffin form. I halved the recipe for just 12 muffins, but there was a little batter leftover, so I put it in a pan and ate it. I liked it, I would make that again! I might try using coconut oil next time.
For the egg cups, I did spinach, Parmesan cheese, and a tomato on top. I might have baked them a little long, I hope they don't come out too chewy. Hard to know when making these for someone else...

Pot pie with a biscuit top

I threw together a pot pie for dinner yesterday.
I had about 1-1.5 cups mushroom gravy in the freezer that I warmed up in a sauce pan.
I diced up leftovers of two half onions (one yellow, one red), three cloves of garlic, 2 carrots, one stalk of celery, two potatoes, and about 5 or 6 baby portabella mushrooms. I saute'd those all in olive oil until soft.
Then I whipped up a recipe of baking powder biscuits from the Betty Crocker cookbook and put that on top. I had a little extra which I cooked on a sheet with dinner.
I put everything in a casserole dish (gravy and cooked veggies together and biscuit on top) and baked it for about 20-25 min at 450degF.
I thought it turned out pretty good, but it was a little under seasoned - could have used some salt and pepper. Green beans or peas would also have been a good addition.

Posto, post W30

We ate at Posto last night and I felt good after eating all the things!
Lemon arancini, beet salad with goat cheese, bruchetta with goat cheese and some pizza.
I'm going to have to try to re-create the arancini sometime soon.

Side Salads

I'm normally pretty bad at preparing side dishes for dinner. Saturday's weather was perfect for grilling and Ebon caught another fish, so I decided to make some salads for our dinner.
I wanted potato salad, but didn't want to use mayo, as I'm trying to avoid eggs. So I found this recipe from Food and Wine for Potato Salad with Balsamic, Chive & Greek Yogurt Dressing. I definitely didn't use baby potatoes, and it's possible I didn't use the three pounds it called for. It tasted pretty good, but I thought there was way too much dressing. Also, it could have used a bit more yogurt to make it creamier.

The other salad I made was a simple tomato-cucumber salad made with about 1 clove garlic, 1/4 small onion, two tomatoes and about four inches of a regular cucumber all diced up. I dressed it with a swirl of olive oil, salt, dried dill, and enough vinegar to drench the veggies - probably about 1/4 cup.

W30 Reintro, week 2

Things have been going mostly the same.

Peanuts - not agreeing with me at the moment.
I didn't have any trouble with a Morningstar black bean burger last night, so that was good to know.

I had some trouble with refried beans, or on further reflection, it could have been the corn tortilla that I ate it on too. They tasted good going down, but I had some pretty severe stomach discomfort a few hours later. I also had a bad migraine which I think was more from my cycle than from food.

Domino's pizza also doesn't agree with me. Not sure if it's the crust or the cheese, but my stomach is
in knots after eating it.

The corn tortilla chips gave me a bit of trouble on Sunday. I thought they were ok based on previous, meals but after eating my salad, having chips and salsa was the only thing that made my stomach a bit pained. At dinner, I had bread, batard from Wegmans, and a muffin from my failed muffin attempt, and after both, I felt just fine. This is both dangerous and good news!

Whole30 Reintroduction

Because I'm not eating eggs, I don't think I can do a "normal" Whole30 reintroduction plan, so I'll try to document how I feel after what I eat for the next week or so.

• After dinner (pizza) Monday night, I felt a little bloated and some stomach discomfort, but mostly OK.

Tuesday

• I had oatmeal with banana and chia for breakfast - it tasted good and I felt pretty good after eating it. Unfortunately, I don't think that was enough for me (I had split it with Leela and she gobbled hers up) and I was hungry a little later.
• There was different leftover pizza that I ate around 10, that gave me some serious stomach aches, so I decided a salad for lunch might help, and it did for the most part (mesculin and spinach, cucumber, carrots, broccoli, grilled zucchini, sunflower seeds, and kalamata olives with balsalmic vinegar and olive oil dressing).
• I had potato soup (no milk/cream), corn chips, cheddar cheese (lactose free), and a spoonful of ice cream. I didn't have any issues until I got to the ice cream.

Wednesday

• I had oatmeal (a whole serving this time) with walnuts, banana, and chia for breakfast - it tasted OK and I had some stomach discomfort pretty soon after eating. Nuts are on my banned for a while list at the moment. I hope I can tolerate them again, because I love nuts so!
• My stomach discomfort subsided when I ate my lunch spinach salad before yoga. It had spinach, 5 olives, half a cucumber, and I ate it with some guacamole. After yoga I had some leftover canned potato soup that Ebon had prepared a few days ago, so I'm not sure what was in it but likely some sort of dairy. Finally a baked sweet potato that I ate with the last of the guac.
• We had Dave's Fresh Pasta for dinner, regular ricotta cheese for Ebon and Leela and Mushroom, lemon and Parsley for me (with a little cheese). We all had some green beans. My stomach felt pretty good after eating, for once!

Thursday

• I tried my luck with eggs one more time to see if they really give me trouble and they do. I had a hard boiled egg, potato, half an avocado, and a spinach salad. Luck was not on my side and I think I'll have to avoid eggs for a long while. My stomach started feeling unsettled about 30 minutes after eating the egg.
• Lunch was leftover spaghetti squash with pesto, zucchini, and sundried tomatoes. I didn't have any issues with this - yay!
• I had a hard time deciding what to have for dinner and opted for rice with kim and broccoli then baked beans. I ate them about 30-40 min apart to see what kind of effect they had on my stomach. Both went down fine initially, but about four hours later, my stomach was in knots. I had gone to sleep and the pain woke me up. I'm guessing rice and beans together is no good at this point. I think I'll try lentils tomorrow - all by themselves (lentil stew) to see how it goes.

Friday

• With last night's leftover rice, I made rice pudding, but instead of dairy milk, I used coconut milk. I added cinnamon, a little nutmeg, raisins, and a spoonful of honey because it was just a little too bland without it. No stomach trouble this morning!
• Lunch was grapes, kale and beet greens, and leftover cheese raviolis. So far, no major stomach issues, woo hoo!
• For dinner, I made spinach and mushroom risotto. I didn't have too much issue with this or the cheese.

Saturday

• I made a really good smoothie, 1.5 bananas, big handful of blueberries, big handful of strawberries, two big handfuls of baby spinach, a few tablespoons of flax seeds and enough orange juice to get it going in the blender. All the fruit was frozen, so it came out cold and slushy! It was surprisingly filling too. I made it to lunch time ~11:45.
• Leela and I were out and about all morning, so we had the lunch buffet at Dosa & Curry. Everything tasted so good, but my stomach was a little unsettled after all the beans - chickpeas, lentils, and so much more. I had lots of different things and probably had some gluten too, depending on what the breading was made of in the pakora or the manchurian.
• Ebon caught more fish so dinner was brook trout and rainbow trout with fiddleheads in garlic and butter, braised potatoes, and rice. I had my first glass of wine post W30, and it made me so tired. I was out when Leela went to bed at around 8pm!

Sunday

• I had rice pudding with coconut milk and leftover smoothie for breakfast.
• Lunch was cheese and crackers at a shopping event followed by the last of the greens
• For dinner, I made a brown lentil stew with lots of veggies and chard and followed that with a banana with almond butter. I felt pretty gross after that, but not sure if it was the almond butter or the lentils. I should have held off on the nut butter just to isolate the lentils. Update - Leftovers gave me some mild stomach discomfort about 2-3 hours after eating.

Monday

• I had my first yogurt -Fage 2%- and put some defrosted strawberries on it. Yum, and no issues. I'll be off to buy more yogurt. Now I'll have to try the kefir.

It's been about a week of introductions. I still haven't tried gluten full force - as in bread or baked good- or drank a glass of milk, but all the other stuff I've tried. I think I'm ok where I am. I'll report back occasionally if I find something that works or is horrible.

Whole30 Post Mortem

I went into this with enthusiasm and hope of losing some weight. I also had/have a serious sweet tooth that I wanted to get under control. I do very well when I have rules and limits, so that part of W30 was very appealing for me. As a vegetarian, I wasn't drawn to all the meat that is recommended. After reading some of the W30 forum posts and finding someone who sustained herself on a vegetarian Paleo diet for about two months, I decided "I can do this!" I got myself as prepared as I could- got to meal planning, having the right food in the house, etc.

The Good
I never felt like I wanted to kill all the things and up until the last week, I was feeling great! I'm not sure I ever felt the "tiger blood" but had lots of energy and was sleeping great.
I did have lots of cravings, but now I have kicked my sugar habit, and I'm not craving sweets at all. I had a spoonful of ice cream, but it didn't taste that good and because of the lactose/dairy, didn't make me feel very good either.
I lost weight - 9lbs, about 5% of BW, and am now at my pre-baby weight which was my biggest hope for this experiment.
I ate lots of vegetables and I tried lots of new recipes - including things I probably wouldn't have tried otherwise - like spaghetti squash. So I'll work on Ebon to try to incorporate some things into a more regular rotation.

The Bad and Ugly
At about day 24 or 25 I started feeling sick after every meal. On day 28, 29, and 30, bowel distress was the routine.
I feel like I'm not enjoying food anymore because of the seemingly constant stomach discomfort I have and as a result I think I'm less fun to be around in general. It's only been a few days since I've been totally off W30, so I need to be patient.
I realize I didn't to W30 "right" as a vegetarian, but I didn't think it would be a big deal. I developed an intolerance for both nuts and eggs. I don't know if the way I was eating caused it or if it was something that would have happened eventually and because of the way I was eating, it happened faster. Who knows? This makes me sad because I really love both. Sometimes I wonder if I would have done better, just eliminating sugar and wheat/gluten from my diet.

Overall, I feel like I achieved the things I most wanted to get out of the W30 experiment, but I also had some bad experiences which I hope will change - I need to have some patience.
I won't do a W30 again, but more power to those who do this multiple times.

Whole30 Day Thirty!

• I was trying to avoid eggs and ghee this morning, so I didn't have fried eggs per usual. Instead, I had the last of the roasted veggies, half a sweet potato, a potato, some grape tomatoes, half an avocado, and I slipped up on the egg thing by using some may to dip my roasted veggies. I clearly wasn't thinking well.
• I wasn't hungry for lunch, and the stomach was still a bit unsettled, so I had a handful of almonds and some fruit (strawberries and orange).
• Dinner was pizza from Flatbreads. I decided I need to get back to "normal" eating as much as possible to get myself back on track.

I still feel yucky and food doesn't taste very good. This is not how I wanted to end up at the end of this experiment.

On the weight-loss side of things, I did manage to lose 9 lbs (post weigh in was 148.0 lbs). My clothes fit better, which I'm very happy about. I had to get a smaller bra - though most of that was due to being done with nursing and the girls finally coming to a "resting" state.

Whole30 Day Twenty-eight and Twenty-nine

Saturday:

• Breakfast was three ghee-fried eggs, half sweet potato, half avocado, 
• I skipped Lunch because my stomach hurt and I felt nauseous.
• Ebon caught a fish, so Dinner was pan-fried trout, and roasted veggies with homemade mayo. I felt a bit better.

Sunday:

• Breakfast was three ghee-fried eggs, half sweet potato, half avocado. I suspected the ghee to be the cause of my issues, so I skipped the kale I cooked up in ghee.
• Lunch was scrambled eggs, olives, and leftover roasted veggies.
• Dinner was mint tea because my stomach was so unsettled again.

Even with only one day left, I'm going to bow out because I don't think I can take another day feeling the way I do. It sucks so bad, and that I'm doing it on my own accord, just seems silly.

Unless I can figure out a ghee-less, egg-less breakfast, I'm ending this experiment at day 29.

Whole30 Day Twenty-seven

I'm hoping for a better day today food and health-wise. I woke up feeling pretty good, but had a bit of an unsettled stomach by mid-morning. I had more tea and water to attempt to help that.

• Breakfast was three ghee-fried eggs, half an avocado and a quarter of the "bulb" of a butternut squash. I'm missing a green veggie, but we'll see how that goes/how and when I'll get hungry.
• I skipped working out today because I didn't have lunch prepared. I opted for the salad bar at Stop & Shop. I had a great big salad with as many veggies as I could fit - spinach, frise' mix, grape tomatoes, olives, broccoli, carrots, cucumbers, a little bit of a kale mix, and some pepitas.  I dressed it with olive oil and red wine vinegar. I threw on two hard boiled eggs and dipped some of the veggies in guacamole that I bought. I initially looked for a ripe avocado, but they were all hard. Strawberries were on sale, so I had a few of those too. This was a good green lunch! I think I've been missing that in my meals lately, and that may have contributed to my episode yesterday.
• Dinner was very similar to what I had for breakfast. Two fried eggs, sweet potato and steamed broccoli.

Whole30 Day Twenty-six

• Breakfast was three ghee-fried eggs, half an avocado, a quarter of the "bulb" of a butternut squash, and the last of the pan-wilted arugula.
• PreWO - 11 almonds, but I was tired and hungry, so I decided not to work out.
• Lunch was two hard boiled eggs and spaghetti squash with red sauce from last night.

I'm having cravings and feelings like I want to quit, but at this point, but I don't really want to. I'm almost done - only 4 days left! - after all! I think I'm getting tired of eating All. The. Eggs, or maybe it's a side effect of accidentally having cheese or the raisins (on purpose) before bed last night.

• I kept snacking  - handful of almonds, then several handfuls of cashews before I picked up Leela, and about halfway home, my stomach was feeling awful. I didn't eat any dinner, I just tried to drink water to make my stomach pains go away.

Overall not a very good day.

Whole30 Day Twenty-five

• Breakfast was a mish mash of things in the fridge because I didn't get my rear in gear to prep things last night. Three scrambled eggs (in ghee), one carrot, half a zucchini, half an avocado, and some pan-wilted arugula from the garden. I was going to make some arugula pesto, but I didn't take very good care of it and it already started to wilt in the fridge, and there were some large stems, so cooking it up seemed like the best alternative to just throwing it out - which I'm trying to be better about this growing season.
• PreWO was ten almonds. I was a little sluggish during my run, and not sure if it was the timing or I'm just tired.
• Lunch was last nights stir fry, the last of the avocado ceviche, some leftover sad-looking grapes, a banana, a hard boiled egg, and one of Leela's scrambled eggs from the morning.
• I had a handful of walnuts while getting dinner ready. I made green beans, pasta and red sauce for Ebon and Leela and I had pesto spaghetti squash with zucchini and sundried tomatoes and the green beans. It was tasty, but I made the pesto last summer and froze, so I couldn't remember if I had put the cheese in it already or not. My stomach wasn't feeling very good after dinner, so I'm guessing I did put the cheese in it after all,boo. I also had a banana with almond butter, and that made my stomach feel a little better. I also had a few handfuls of raisins before I went to bed, which was not good. I was full and didn't really need them, but something made me put them in my mouth. The tasted kind of funky too, so I'm not happy that I ate them.

Whole30 Day Twenty-four

• Breakfast was three ghee-fried eggs, half sweet potato, half avocado, and some cauliflower salad from last night.
• Lunch was a reboot of last night's dinner: avocado ceviche, (a lot of) cauliflower salad, hard boiled egg, and three mini bananas.
• Dinner was stir fry with carrots, broccoli, green beans, and bean sprouts in sesame oil, coconut aminos, garlic and ginger. Also had two hard boiled eggs and a banana with almond butter.

Blueberry muffins and egg cups

I made some muffins, both sweet and savory for a friend who just had a baby.

I tried my hand at Alton Brown's blueberry muffins and failed pretty badly. Of course I altered the recipe slightly, so I can't be that disappointed. I used coconut oil that wasn't completely melted/liquid, then the batter was pretty dry, so I added some milk. I was also using some new silicone muffin cups, so they got a little too full and majorly overflowed while baking. I think it's worth trying these again to get it right.

My second round was from Betty Crocker, I made the sweet muffins, based on a less than successful previous try. I was told they tasted good!

For the savory muffins, I went with egg cups with spinach, tomato and feta cheese. My inspiration was from many sites, but basically I broke 12 eggs into a large mixing bowl,chopped up a large handful of spinach, threw in some salt, pepper, and thyme, and added all that to the eggs. I poured everything into 12 muffin cups and added a grape tomato sliced lengthwise and some crumbled feta on top. This was baked for 15-20 minutes at 350 deg F.

Whole30 Day Twenty-three

A little more than one week to go! I'm feeling pretty good, but I seem to have caught a cold over the weekend, so that has run me down. I feel like I'm in a rut food-wise, so I really need to get to meal planning!

• Breakfast was three ghee-fried eggs, half sweet potato, half avocado, and the last of the alfalfa sprouts.
• PreWO was 11 almonds. My workout went by pretty fast today. Instead of going outside to run in the beautiful weather, I stayed indoors and watched the end of both the women's and men's Boston Marathon races. It was great. I ran about 25 minutes without even noticing. The last five mintes were a little hard though.
• Lunch was butternut squash soup from last week, two hard-boiled eggs with homemade mayo, a small head of broccoli, half a clementine (lefotver from Leela's lunch yesterday). Though I was full before the citrus fruits, so I probably should have stopped at the broccoli.
• Leela wanted a snack on the way home, so I opened the grapefruit I didn't eat at lunch. I ended up eating it instead.
• Dinner was avocado ceviche (without the cauliflower) and sundried tomato and cauliflower salad with two hard boiled eggs. This was a lot of chopping, but turned into a good dinner.

I didn't really follow the recipe for the cauliflower salad very well-mostly because I was being lazy. Raw cauliflower and no food processor use for me means less steps and dishes to clean. I still thought it tasted great. Sweet from the tomato and salty from the mayo. I might add some sunflower seeds or another kind of nut if I make it again. 

1/4 cup sundried tomatoes chopped

2 tbsp green olives chopped 

1/4 cup mayonnaise 

1 clove garlic chopped

salt & pepper to taste 

All above should have gone into a food processor and combined.

1/4 cup red onion diced

Small head of cauliflower, chopped into bite sized pieces and steamed or boiled until just tender 

Combine the tomato mayo mix with the cauliflower 

Whole30 Day Twenty-one and Twenty-two

• Saturday:
  • Breakfast was three ghee-fried eggs, half sweet potato, half avocado, spinach, and a small handful of grape tomatoes.
  • Lunch/Breakfast two was scrambled eggs with the fam, leftover roasted veggies, half an avocado, and some chia pudding.
  • Dinner was egg salad in kale wraps with grape tomatoes and some alfalfa sprouts.
  
  
  Sunday:
  • Breakfast was three ghee-fried eggs, half sweet potato, half avocado, leftover roasted veggies.
  • Lunch was the last of the egg salad over arugula from the garden (yay for being a lazy gardener) with grape tomatoes and alfalfa sprouts.
  • I was hungry a little later and had a handful of walnuts.
  • Dinner was a bit spread out, as we were out at Walden Pond and tried to picnic. First I had an apple and some strawberries, then a hard boiled egg. Then it was time for the park to close and I finished off the chia pudding (chia and full-fat coconut milk) and the roasted veggies.

Whole30 Day Twenty

Ten days to go!

• Breakfast was three ghee-fried eggs, half a sweet potato, half an avocado, and a pile of alfalfa sprouts.
• PreWO was a handful of almonds.
• Lunch was butternut squash soup with two hard boiled eggs and about five or six olives (yay for Wegman's olive bar!).
• I had two dried figs for snack around 4:30. I've been definitely missing green veggies today and it shows in how full (or not) I have been today.
• Dinner was roasted veggies ( broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, red pepper, carrots), two hard boiled eggs and I feel like I'm missing something, bu not sure what it was.

Whole30 Day Nineteen

• Breakfast was a little later than I wanted today because I totally slept in. At work, I ate the last of the frittata, kale, and half an avocado.
• PreWO was one dried fig.
• Lunch was leftover curried spaghetti squash from last night, two hard boiled eggs, half a cucumber, and three mini bananas.
• Dinner was coconut butternut squash soup with two hard boiled eggs and a raw sukju namul muchim (aka mung bean sprout) salad, based on the recipe from mykoreankitchen.com.

Whole30 Day Eighteen

• Breakfast was three ghee-fried eggs, half an avocado, kale, and half a sweet potato.
• PreWO snack was 9 almonds
• Lunch was leftover fajita veggies and lettuce, frittata, three mini bananas, and a handful of pepitas.
• I attempted to make curried spaghetti squash for dinner, but last night I roasted the squash a bit too long, so everything pretty much turned to mush. I used this recipe as inspiration, but added half an onion and a small head of broccoli and chopped up a date for sweetness in place of the honey. I really liked the flavors and want to try this again once I improve my spaghetti squash roasting technique. I had two hard boiled eggs for protein and threw in a handful of coconut for fat.
• After dinner, I had a banana with almond butter, and then kept eating almond butter - need to stop that!

No/few cravings today, so that was good. Sugar and nuts are definitely triggers for me to binge, something I will have to be vigilant about on the other side of this exercise.

Whole30 Day Seventeen

• Breakfast was three ghee-fried eggs, half an avocado, kale, and some of the leftover roasted veggies from a few days ago.
• PreWO - small handful of almonds.
• Lunch - Leftover melange - last of the roasted veggies, asparagus and frittata from yesterday, some grapes, and half an avocado.
• Dinner was fajita lettuce wraps. I made carrots, zucchini, portobello, half an onion, beet, and red pepper. I ate with two hard boiled eggs and a handful of pepitas.

I got through a morning and afternoon cravings for sweets by drinking some tea.

Whole30 Day Sixteen

• Breakfast was three ghee-fried eggs, half an avocado, kale, and some of the leftover acorn squash.
• I had a handful of almonds in anticipation of working out, but puttered around too long before it was too late to do so before my 2pm presentation.
• Lunch was green beans, zucchini fritters, broccoli, two hard boiled eggs with the last of the homemade mayo, and some grapes.
• I started to binge on the dried figs and had about 5 or 6.
• Dinner was a sweet potato, red onion, and spinach frittata with thyme and broiled asparagus. I liked it quite a bit! I had a handful of pistachios and a handful of coconut afterwards because I was worried I didn't have enough fat.
• Before going to bed I had about three handfuls of raisins. Dried fruit is my new candy. I need to figure out why I'm eating it when I'm not hungry!

Overall, I felt pretty good today, but I don't think I had a good day in terms of emotional eating. The figs and raisins, while not entirely bad for me, have replaced my sweets addiction. I don't think I'm helping myself eating all of those things.

Whole30 Day Fourteen

• Breakfast was three ghee-fried eggs, kale and roasted veggies (I think, I can't remember anymore).
• Lunch was just two hard boiled eggs because I was busy and running around everywhere.
• Dinner was egg salad lettuce wraps, tomatoes, and steamed broccoli.

Whole30 Day Thirteen

• Breakfast - three ghee-fried eggs, last of asparagus from a couple days ago, half a sweet potato, half an avocado.
• PreWO - small handful of almonds.
• PostWO/Lunch - hard boiled egg white, 3 FBLT roll ups with may, another (whole) hard-boiled egg with mayo, 3 dried figs, 1/4 acorn squash from last night.
• I was going to make zucchini fritters for dinner, but opted for easier BFD(breakfast for dinner).  We had scrambled eggs, I had kale and some warmed up roasted veggies. Potato patties and veggie sausage for Leela and Ebon.  I'll make the fritters this weekend sometime.

I was a bit tired/sore from yesterday's great work out, and I'm attributing it to not enough protein yesterday. Otherwise I feel pretty good today. I still am craving sweets a bit, which means I probably need to kick my dried fruit habit/snacks!

Whole30 Day Fifteen

• Breakfast was three ghee-fried eggs, half an avocado, kale, and some of the leftover acorn squash.
• Lunch was egg salad lettuce wraps with alfalfa sprouts and sunflower seeds.
• Snacks were fruit in the am at a kid's birthday party. I was good, because they had donuts and bagels and really wanted a donut, but I abstained. After dinner I had a banana with almond butter and then a handful of almonds.
• Dinner was green beans, two poached eggs, and zucchini fritters with a side of homemade mayo. I based my fritters off the recipe from epicurious, though I used tapioca flour instead to be compliant.

I have a problem with fritters, and these were no exception. I can't seem to get them cooked all the way through or to get them crispy, grrrr.

Whole30 Day Twelve

• Breakfast - three ghee-fried eggs plus a couple bites from Leela's egg, garlicky greens, half a sweet potato, half an avocado.
• PreWO was a small hanful of almonds.
• Lunch was last of the stuffed peppers and mung bean stir-fry with half an avocado, some pineapple, and grapes.
• I had two dried figs before leaving work as a snack to tide me over for dinner.
• Dinner was finally trying out the F(ake)BLT lettuce wraps from this recipe. I also had some acorn squash that I tried to emulate a Martha Stewart Recipe Roasted Acorn Squash, Shallots, and Rosemary, but my method was a bit different and I forgot the rosemary. I didn't like the end result all that well, so that was a bit of a bust/fail. I was the only one that ate this, even though Ebon picked at the "bacon" and ate a few bites of that and the tomatoes. I liked the FBLT roll ups and also slathered some of the mayo on the lettuce leaf before rolling up. I probably should have had a hard boiled egg or two, but I ended up being pretty full after three wraps. Getting this ready, it was a huge help that I had cooked everything before-hand - crisping up the shitakes and roasting the squash. It only took about 20-25 min for everything to be heated up. Advanced preparation - whoda thunk it?! If only I got Friday's dinner prepped before...

Today was a much better day for me mentally. My workout went really well and I wasn't "dreaming" of sweets.

Whole30 Day Eleven

• Breakfast was enjoyed in silence while Leela still slept! Three ghee-fried eggs, the tops from last night's 3 peppers chopped up, garlicky greens, and half an avocado.

I'm having some major cravings, so I stopped at the store to pick up more eggs (on sale still!), veggies, and some dried figs, of which I ate two.

• PreWO handful of almonds and two more dried figs at 10:45 and then two more figs at 11:50 before yoga.
• Lunch one of the stuffed peppers from last night, half an avocado, and half a sweet potato
• Dinner was roasted veggies with homemade mayo to dip and two hard boiled eggs. The veggies were sweet potato, potato, onion, beet, parsnip, and carrot. I had one date later on, even though I was full. Ebon and Leela had rice too.

I still had a bad day in terms of cravings, but I think I did a sort of OK job at it.

Whole30 Day Ten

• Breakfast - three ghee-fried eggs (overcooked because I was trying to appease Leela. I'm not sure why I try sometimes), garlicky greens, half a sweet potato, half an avocado.
• PreWO - snack handful (12) of almonds at 10:50.
• PostWO - hard boiled egg white
• Lunch - last of the carrot ginger soup with a handful of coconut flakes, hard boiled egg with hot sauce, and a large serving of steamed asparagus (7 stalks!).
• I couldn't decide what to have for dinner, I had the "bacon" all ready for BLTs, but Ebon wasn't going to be around, so I decided to make the stuffed peppers. They had eggs, mushrooms, and spinach. They would have been better with cheese, but they still tasted pretty good and were filling. Leela had leftover pizza. After putting Leela to bed, I finished most of the grapes that I had cut up a couple weeks ago.

I had a pretty bad headache, so I went to bed early, but I'm still craving cheese and sweets pretty bad. The timeline says these are the "hardest days: redefine your idea of reward. Think long and hard about the foods you’re grieving and ask yourself what need you’re expecting them to fulfill. Are you feeling anxious and looking for reassurance? Are you feeling sad, and looking for something to cheer you up? Are you worried you won’t successfully finish the program, and it’s easier to self-sabotage than fail? Remind yourself that food cannot fill that void for you—cannot make you feel truly accomplished, comforted, calm, happy, beautiful. Then, find another way to fill that need that does not involve those foods. Prepare yourselves for these days, knowing that all you have to do is see them through to the other side before things get much, much easier."

I probably need to delve into this more, but not right now.

Whole30 Day Nine

• Breakfast was the last of the ratatouille, garlicky kale, three fried eggs (fried in ghee!), and half an avocado. Leela had a very hard time at breakfast after I offered her three types of eggs, decided on yogurt and ate about half the container - sigh.
• Lunch was the carrot ginger soup with a handful of flaked coconut on top, one of Leela's rejected fried egg and a hard boiled egg, and two thirds of a banana. I'm missing a green veggie, we'll see how that pans out later on.
• Snacked on a handful of almonds shortly after lunch - whoops.
• Dinner tonight was stir fry with lots of mung sprouts! I added in a carrot, a yellow pepper, ginger, garlic, and green onions with sesame oil and coconut aminos. It tasted good! I added a big handful of olives from a jar, which weren't all that good. The olives form the olive bar are so much better. I need to get more of those, or I wish we lived closer to Watertown and Arax market with all their lovely olives!

To do tonight - roast sweet potatoes, so I have them for the rest of the week. Make the "bacon" shitakes, Maybe shred the zucchini for Thur?

I feel so crampy and crappy today, boo. All I wanted today was cookies and ice cream. All the chips and granola bars were staring me in the face. I didn't give in though.

Sarma

Ebon and I got out for a date night after long bouts of illness on both of our parts for several months. We went to Sarma in the eastern part of our fair city of Somerville - it's in the "lowlands" between Winter Hill and Spring Hill. We didn't have a reservation, but thought we might be able to get a spot at the bar, seeing as it was early (6:30pm) on on Sunday. Boy were we wrong! It was super busy with several groups of people waiting to sit at the bar. We put our name on the list with the hosts in case anyone canceled their reservation and started waiting in the bar for seats there. Ebon ordered drinks - beer for him and non-alcoholic drink for me (Buzz Aldrin, the menu said it had Orange, Cinnamon, and Sage). I thought mine was pretty good, not too sweet - hopefully no added sugar. Being newbies, we didn't know that the bar had a separate list for seats there too, so we put our names on that list! Luckily, someone else had cancelled a reservation so we got to eat in the dining room!

I ordered the beets without the goat cheese and the asparagus. Ebon ordered the fava bean pate, potato wedges, and the vegetable frito misto - all of which were not W30 compliant, so I didn't have any of his. My dinner was 90-95% compliant though, the asparagus had an egg that was wrapped? in some phylo spikes, so that was probably not compliant, but I'm pretty sure everything else was. The beets were very good and the "salsa" that was on it was fragrant and spicy, but not hot spicy. The asparagus was OK, the flavors were very interesting but I didn't really taste the black truffles and thought the asparagus was a little too burnt - though it wasn't overcooked. I was pretty full after eating everything though!

Ebon ordered a dessert- frozen yogurt with a chocolate/peanut topping- but didn't like it because the yogurt was too tart and the chocolate was dark/bitter. I had mint tea that was lovely.

Ebon seemed to like his meal, but said it was kind of "fancy" for his taste.
I'm glad we got to go, but not sure we'll go back together. I'd probably go back, but not with the W30 restrictions.

Whole30 Day Eight

I've completed a week of this and have not shriveled up to die!

• Breakfast was three eggs, half an avocado, half a sweet potato, and garlicky greens. I cooked up a big batch of kale and beet greens for the coming days! The eggs were a little overcooked, if nothing else, I will hopefully have learned how to cook eggs better.
• Some green grapes for snack.
• Lunch was broccoli and some leftover ratatouille with walnuts and hemp hearts sprinkled on top. I fried up two eggs with runny yokes, much better than breakfast.
• Ebon and I finally went out on a date for dinner at Sarma. The food was pretty good, and I had a few options to choose from. I'll put more detail here!

I finally made ghee in the crockpot. I have a pretty old-school crockpot and I don't think I had enough butter in there to reach the main part of the heating element. I tried to follow the method outlined in this tutorial, but after about 6 hours or so on high, the milk solids never really got brown. I tried to transfer to a pot on the stove, but it kept bubbling up and splattering everywhere. I had pretty good luck filtering out the top stuff using an old napkin. However, once I got down to the milk solids on the bottom, those were flowing though the filter too. Only a little bit got through, and I probably should have tried to re-filter, but by that point I was so done. I just said screw it. Hopefully that doesn't ruin it in the long run.

Also I felt like I had a lot of energy yesterday, so much so that I almost cleaned the whole house - vacuumed all the rugs-including the basement, swept, and most time and energy intensive - cleaned the bathroom and especially the tub. It was so disgusting, and now it's much cleaner. I always feel so much better when the house is clean!

Whole30 Day Seven

Trying to clear out the fridge today!

• Breakfast was three eggs fried, garlicky kale, 1/3 or half a sweet potato, and half an avocado.
• Leela and I did a lot of walking in the morning so I was ready for lunch a little early, but didn't have any snacks before. I ate egg salad lettuce wraps with leftover curried veggies and two cherry tomatoes.
• Snack was a handful of pistachios and some grapes.
• Dinner was two hard boiled eggs, leftover curried veggies, cucumber, olives, a side salad from Ebon's order from Mike's pizza, a (too?) large handful of cashews, I had some pineapple and half a mug of warm apple cider too.

I felt pretty good today. Good energy for walking, though I did take a nap when Leela did. I will make ghee tomorrow. I will make it my mission!

Whole30 Day Six

• Breakfast was three eggs fried, garlicky kale, half a red pepper this time, and half an avocado. I've also been eating the eggs with Tabasco sauce.
• Lunch was two hard boiled eggs with hot sauce, leftover spaghetti squash and sauce with the last two "meat" balls, a handful of olives, and green beans with red and yellow peppers from lunch provided at work (one of two things that were compliant, the other being a green salad).
• I had a handful of almonds as a preWO snack, not realizing I had a lunch meeting and wasn't actually able to go work out. I think I'll run tomorrow morning - to yoga in Inman Sq and back.
• Handful of cashews while cooking dinner (oops).
• Dinner was ginger carrot soup from here. I used coconut oil as the cooking fat and used veg broth and water for the liquid. I thought I might like it a bit more ginger-y. I also had egg salad lettuce wraps with tomato using the mayo I made the other day. Good dinner! 

Tomorrow I think we need to clean out the fridge, though I was trying to do some meal planning. Sunday Ebon and I finally get a date night out! I picked a restaurant with a few compliant options, more on that later.

Whole30 Day Five

• Breakfast was three eggs fried, garlicky kale, half a sweet potato this time, and half an avocado. I also tried less greens, because yesterday I just couldn't finish all the food I put on my plate.
• PreWO was a small handful of almonds about 45 minutes before running. I was pretty sluggish during my 3.6mile run and got some cramps that I stopped to walk twice. Not sure if it's the "hangover" the almonds, or not getting enough protein in general.
• PostWO was a hard boiled egg white and a couple bites of spaghetti squash (from lunch).
• Lunch at about 1pm was leftover tomato sauce with "meat"balls over spaghetti squash with broiled asparagus and a grapefruit. I only ate about half the spaghetti in the container (big container) and I was full by the end of lunch, but around 4:30 I started getting hungry.
• Dinner was a curried stir fry in coconut milk with sugar snap peas, broccoli, bell pepper, green onions and tofu and rice for Ebon and Leela. I poached two eggs and added some olives for protein and fat, respectively.
• I had some chia pudding from the leftover coconut milk for "dessert." It was really good, even without sweetener. Probably the full-fat coconut milk doing that.

Overall, I felt kind of sluggish and tired today and hungry from about 4:30 until dinner.

Whole30 Day Four

• Breakfast was three eggs fried, garlicky spinach, half a sweet potato this time, and half an avocado. Also some fruit leftover from last night. Still pretty full, so maybe the half sweet potato is better for me.
• Lunch is leftover meatballs, mashed potatoes and gravy and some broccoli that I cooked in the microwave at work. Also a hard boiled egg.
• Dinner was tomato sauce with leftover "meat"balls over spaghetti squash  with broiled asparagus for me and garlic bread for Leela. Ebon got Lasagna at Mikes!

I think I need to eat less, because I just feel so full all the time. Maybe this is normal, and I'm glad I'm full vs starving, but I don't like the way full feels all the time either.

Whole30 Day Three

• Breakfast garlicky spinach, with three fried eggs, a sweet potato, and half an avocado. I used olive oil again, but the eggs turned out a little better.
• I didn't eat a PreWO snack because I was still so full from breakfast, but probably should have. I felt a little sluggish near the end of my 30 minute run on the treadmill.
• PostWO I had a few bites of beets from the fajitas and mostly the white from a hard boiled egg (some yolk wouldn't separate easily, so I just ate that.
• Lunch at 2pm was leftover fajita wraps, avocado, and hard boiled egg.
• Dinner is mushroom walnut "meat"balls with green beans, mashed potatoes and gravy. I made the "meat"balls the night before, and was glad I did because they are a bit time consuming. I got the recipe from here. When raw, they are pretty "walnutty" and still were after baking. I think if I make these again - they were very tasty- I'll have to change my process to fix the texture, as in I'll pulse the walnuts first to get more of a fine meal, versus the larger chunks that I had from mixing everything together in the food processor. The gravy I made from this recipe, didn't turn out very good either. I used olive oil for the fat and water instead of broth. I also added a mushroom and spun everything in the blender. The flavor was fine, but it was just to runny, even after adding more starch. I'll have to keep trying a different gravy, or add more mushrooms, and maybe some nutritional yeast too.
• Snacks was a bunch of fruit after dinner - I probably didn't need to eat it, but it was tasty.

I roasted the spaghetti squash for tomorrow's meal last night.

Whole30 Day Two

• Breakfast was 3 eggs, a small head of broccoli, and a (white) sweet potato all cooked or warmed up in olive oil and half an avocado. I'm not sure I like having a sweet potato in the morning, but I was so full after eating this, I didn't really want to eat lunch or PWO meal. I also don't really like eggs, etc cooked in olive oil. I like the way things cook in butter much better, so I really want to get on top of making ghee. Tonight hopefully!
• Post Work out was a hard boiled egg, and a pear. Though I learned that fruit isn't a good PWO food. Oh well... I wasn't very hungry, but ate it anyway.
• Lunch was leftover avocado ceviche and zucchini boats from yesterday. Ate this at almost 3 because I was so full.
• Dinner was fajita wraps for me and burrito/taco for Ebon and Leela. This was so good. It had one onion, one yellow pepper, one zucchini, two portobello caps, and two medium golden beets sliced thinly. Not sure if it was just the beets, but it was sweet - but not too much- and delicious! Ate with half an avocado, tomatoes, lettuce leaves, and a side of pepitas.
• I didn't have any snacks today because breakfast kept me so full! I wanted some while I was doing meal prep for Tuesday, but didn't.

Felt kind of bloated in the morning, hopefully that all goes away.

Tonight - I cleaned the kitchen and got all the pots and pans washed, but I didn't get to make crock pot ghee. I did however make some mayonnaise. It was a bit salty, but I'll still use it to make some egg salad.

Mayo!

I made Alton Brown's mayonnaise for the first time and it came out pretty good texture-wise, but was a bit salty. I added some dill, which helped a bit. I'll reduce salt next time and maybe try a different citrus and/or vinegar next time.

Whole30 Day One

I've decided to plunge full force into this Whole30 fad - because, yes it is a fad. I just want to try it out to see if the foods I'm eating are really making me feel bad. Usually after eating a bagel, I have so much gas, its not even funny, so completely eliminating grains, sugar, dairy, and legumes from my diet will help me figure out what. I'm not super excited about the legumes part, because as a vegetarian, that's where I get much of my protein. So this experiment will be a challenge, but one I'm willing to take. I'm also hoping I'll loose a little weight. Starting (naked) weight is 157, but I won't step on a scale for the rest of this period.

• For breakfast, I had 3 eggs, half an avocado, a large serving of kale and beet greens, 3 olives and half a clementine.
• Lunch was avocado ceviche that I found here. I omitted the cauliflower, jalapeño, and cilantro and added 1/3 cucumber. It turned out great! Very flavorful and filling. I also ate some applesauce and a handful of almonds.
• Dinner will be ratatouille zucchini boats, I saw a YouTube video for it, so I'll have to look up an official recipe. Cheese for Ebon and Leela, but not for me. It consisted of onion, garlic, eggplant, the zucchini that came from the "boat," a bell pepper, and tomatoes. This was all cooked in a frying pan with olive oil then spooned into the zucchini boat and cooked at 400 degF for about 15 min.  I thought it turned out great, but Ebon took one look at it and said there are too many "weird" things in it. He ate soup from can instead. Leela ate a few bites. - Sigh.
• Snacks were fruit in the park with friends in the morning and lots of cashews in the afternoon and while I was making dinner - this is what I need to stop doing. I also had a banana after dinner.

I was a little bit hungry as it got towards the end of the day, but I wonder if it was just in my head.

Brownies!

 I made these brownies . They turned out pretty well, but of course I made some substitutions. I had a lot of chocolate leftover from fondue, so I used that (chocolate and heavy cream) so I left out the cocoa powder and chocolate for the chocolate fondue. I think I used just a few tablespoons of butter instead of the entire stick. The rest of the ingredients were the same. They turned out pretty well, but not as fudgy as is pictured on the web post. I can't complain because I didn't follow the recipe to a "t."

I won't be making anything like this for a little while because after much consideration, I am planning to do a "Whole 30ish" "cleanse or reset or whatever you want to call it. I say "ish" because I'm planning to stick to a vegetarian diet as well. It will be challenging, (no beans! no dairy! no soy! no grains!) but I can say with a lot of confidence that I'm addicted to sugar and refined flour and need this kick in the pants to get off of it. I'm also hoping to lose a little weight. There, I said it for the whole internet to read, even though I don't think anyone reads my posts. I have to do it now, right?!

Hummus!

I made hummus again for the first time since getting rid of our old blender. I based it off of Alton Brown's recipe. The new blender is amazing, there were no lumps whatsoever.

Cheddar chive Yorkshire puddings

I hadn't really heard of Yorkshire Puddings, but a couple people posted on my dinner group for holiday meals and Ebon got the idea from some of the dads. It's kind of a creamy popover. Lots of eggs and butter! They are pretty easy but take about 45 min to bake. I halved this recipe.

I would definitely make these again!




INGREDIENTS
8 tablespoons melted roast beef fat reserved from rib roast pan drippings or 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted, divided
6 large eggs
2 cups whole milk
2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (packed) finely grated sharp cheddar cheese
1/3 cup (generous) chopped fresh chives

Directions
Position rack in center of oven; preheat to 450°F. Place large rimmed baking sheet in oven. Brush ten 3/4-cup glass baking dishes or ramekins with 2 tablespoons fat or butter.


Whisk eggs to blend in large bowl. Add milk and whisk until well blended. Whisk flour and salt in medium bowl to blend. Gradually whisk flour mixture and remaining 6 tablespoons fat or butter into egg mixture until well blended (some small lumps will remain). Whisk in cheese and chives; divide batter among baking dishes (about 1/2 cup batter for each).


Place baking dishes on hot baking sheet in oven. Bake until Yorkshire puddings are puffed and begin to brown, about 25 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350°F and bake until puddings are brown, puffed, and crisp around sides, about 20 minutes longer. Transfer Yorkshire puddings to plates. Serve immediately.

BUTTERNUT SQUASH, ROSEMARY, AND BLUE CHEESE RISOTTO

I made a new risotto based on some extra cheese I had laying around. My inspiration was this recipe; however, I modified it quite a bit. I halved the recipe, roasted the butternut ahead of time, used the "normal" risotto method, skipped the cream and parm and used probably about 4-5 oz blue cheese melted in. There was probably too much blue cheese (I was the only one who ate it, but I love blue cheese...)

Roasted cauliflower, chickpeas, and harissa

I had some cauliflower that I wanted to try roast. In my internet searching, I found this recipe for Roasted cauliflower, chickpeas, and harissa. I was super excited when I found this recipe, but it was just ok. It might have been because the cauliflower head was huge and didn't roast right. I think I'll keep trying to find "that" roasted cauliflower recipe.

Blueberry Muffins

I used good old Betty Crocker's regular muffin recipe, but I should have gone for the "sweet" muffin recipe. These are fine and I'll eat them, but need to find a better recipe for next time.

Christmas "Meat"balls

This post is only two months overdue! Ebon doesn't really like to make a big deal about holidays, but I want to try to have some sort of traditions. So I decided to make a substantial dinner for us on Christmas. I decided on making "Meat"balls, mashed potatoes, gravy, and green beans or peas, I can't remember now.

I made these lentil walnut balls. I really liked the meatballs and should make them again to freeze for a quick dinner. I skipped the kale and used breadcrumbs instead of the oatmeal.

I found out that Ebon doesn't really like my chunky mushroom gravy and would prefer a plain brown gravy. I'll be on the hunt for a new recipe shortly, or I'll have to figure out how to modify my current recipe (which I like).

Enchiladas

I made enchiladas using this sauce and a recipe I can't find anymore, but it definitely included spinach. I thought they turned out great. I probably used more cheese than the recipe called for. The sauce is a little spicy, so I put minimal amounts on Leela's. Leftover sauce is in the freezer for future use!

Breakfast for Dinner - "Sausage" Strata

In an effort to use up things we have on hand (and not let them go bad!). I tried my hand at a strata using Rachel Ray's Spinach and Sausage Strata as the guide - sort of. The things I used up - green pepper, cheese from fondue, stale bread cubes! I prepared everything in the morning as Leela ate breakfast - not ideal, but we were only a few minutes late dropping off at daycare. I meant to prepare everything the night before when Leela was in bed, but I got into a cleaning groove and got side tracked - good way to get side tracked in my opinion though.
On to my process...
I knew Ebon wouldn't like the spinach, and we didn't have any, so I skipped it. I sauteed the onions, garlic and green peppers and veggie sausage (Gimme Lean). Mixed up the eggs (I used 10 because I had a smaller dish and probably not quite enough bread, per the recipe), milk and S&P. Because I was going from memory (not very good most of the time), I forgot to add the mustard.
I assembled everything in 2 layers - bread, sausage mix, cheese (both leftover fondue cheese and parm), bread again, fondue cheese again, and sausage again. I left the last layer of Parmesan cheese off to be added just prior to baking. I wrapped it in foil and put in the fridge for about 10 hours while I toiled away at work :)
When I got home, I turned on the oven, took off the foil from the dish, added the Parmesan cheese and put it in the oven to warm up gradually (didn't have the 30 min to bring to room temp as the recipe states). I started the 1 hour cook time when the oven came up to temp.

Overall, I was happy with how it turned out, and the leftovers were pretty good too. I'd love to try this again to include the mustard to see what I'm missing. This seems like it could be a very versatile dish - mushrooms, herbs, different types of cheese, different sausages...many possible filling options and combinations, so I'll keep it in my wheelhouse when trying to figure out what to do with all the stale bread we have from time to time! Also good as a brunch option.

Things to change for next time - follow the recipe - ie use an oiled dish for baking, and don't forget the mustard. Try different fillings too!

Korean-sytle Mapo Tofu

This Korean-sytle Mapo Tofu was a bit of a miss, but the leftovers seemed to taste a bit better. If I were to make it again, I'd probably add more gochugaru and soy sauce or salt. It needed more spice and salt