Day 16

Breakfast: Scotch Egg and Kale

Lunch: Leftover Lemon Artichoke Chicken

Supper: Bacon and Apple Smothered Pork Chops 

A few people have asked about the Scotch Eggs the recipe is here

The Egg Yolk slightly fell out

Scotch Eggs are delicious, if you have never tried one please do!  Generally a Scotch egg is a hard-boiled egg wrapped in sausage meat, coated in bread crumbs and baked or sometimes deep-fried.  There are claims of the Scotch Egg being invented in the mid 1700’s and appeared in printed recipes around the early 1800’s.  The name is believed to come from ‘scotched’ meaning processed which refers to the meat wrapping around the egg and coated in breadcrumbs. 

In the UK they are readily available in supermarkets, convenience shops and fuel stations and are a common picnic food.  While in America you can probably find scotch eggs on British Style pub menus… with Ranch sauce, not very British!

There are tons of recipes out there from Paleo to Jamie Oliver (who prefers his yolks runny).

I’ve never tried any other than Melissa Joulwan from The Clothes Makes the Girl and author of my two favorite cookbooks: Well Fed and Well Fed:2

Mrs. Joulwan’s recipe obviously does not incorporate breadcrumbs but instead uses fried pork rinds which I also haven’t tried.  I’m a huge fan of it the way I’ve been eating it for the last 4-5 months; why change something you already love?

Day 8&9.2 MEAT BOX!

Friday

Breakfast: Exploded boiled egg (microwaved too long) and sausage patty

Snack: Cherries

Lunch: Left over porkchops and cauliflower rice

Supper: grape tomatoes, cucumber slices and cherries

Post Work snack: 2 boiled eggs and Mayo

Yesterday was crazy in so many ways, but it wasn’t enough to get me into some bad food habits!  Firstly when I got to work I was only prepared to do an 8 hour day, but after a few minutes of change of shift chaos reality came crashing down and I realized I was scheduled for a 12 hours shift!  Oh the calamity!  I only had enough food for lunch, and I hadn’t prepared anything at home for supper for my family!  Plus the assignment board looked like it was going to be a balls to the wall kind of day (and it was)!

Saturday

Breakfast: boiled egg and mayo with Kale

Lunch: Tuna Waldorf Salad sans walnuts

Snack: Cashew Larabar

Supper: Chicken Brocoli Cauliflower Hot Plate

Snack: Peppermint Tea

Today I finally got a meat box from the butcher shop.  There was so much meat in there!  I couldn’t believe it!  When I got home I wrote down everything that we got and started making a meal plan for the… month?  I have over 20 Whole30 Meals written down, assuming we’ll be having some leftovers we should be good for the month in the meat department!

I used Practical Paleo, Nom Nom Paleo, Well Fed 1 + 2 and got some recipes on Pinterest (You can check out my Clean Eating Board Here

 

The crossed out recipes will the ones I’m making this week.  I have them up on a board in my kitchen (I’ve posted it in an earlier post).  The rest of the groceries were a breeze, a tour of the produce, some bread for my lovelies, and a quick trip down the aisles out in 20 minutes!

This is going to be a great Whole30, I can tell!

 

Day 6.2

 

Breakfast: Scrambled Eggs and Kale with Macadamia and Raisins

Post Workout Meal: 2 Salmon Cakes

Lunch: Left over chicken with Carrots and Green Beans

Supper: Ground Pork ‘Hot Plate’

I wore a sleeveless shirt to the gym today.  To celebrate Girls month Crossfit Moncton had some sweet ‘Lift Like a Girl’ Pink tank tops ordered.  I couldn’t wait to get it, but it wasn’t until the month was over that they arrived.  Regardless- I. Wore. It. In. Public.  Well to the gym which I suppose is still in public.  One of my biggest insecurities is of my arms, so to wear it on a day where we were doing Overhead Squats is really a huge step for me.  I’m sure no one cares or gave it a second thought, but let me tell you I was extremely self concious for the entire hour I was there.  But I lived and my day was fine and no one made fun of me (publicly), so there! Take that insecurities!

So the gym- I got a PR, I did the hardest workout I’ve ever done, it was good.

Supper is a ‘Hot Plate’ combination inspired from Well Fed.  I love the idea behind Hot Plates which is basically just a protein with veggies and add some spices.  The book has 10 Ethnic varieties with a few different combinations each.  I based mine on a Chinese hot plate by using ‘Best Stir Fry Sauce Ever’ recipe with ground pork, broccoli and a sweet Orange Pepper.  It was a little too spicy for my dear husband but I thought it was perfect!  These are a really great way to use up your left over vegetable and frozen meat!  I will definitely be using these more in the future!

Also on an exciting note, I discovered The Clothes Make The Girl has a Facebook page and I went on gushing about how much I love her cookbooks and read on:

I love Melissa Joulwan!  Can’t wait for 2016!!

Day 4.2

Breakfast: 2 eggs, 2 (questionable) slices of bacon, Kale with Macadamia nuts and raisins
Snack: Porkitos and Cherries

Lunch: Left Over Fiesta Pork Chops and Sweet Potato Coins

Dinner: Saumon à l’Afrique du Nord, Brussels Sprouts and mashed Cauliflower

Bedtime Snack: Peppermint tea

Probably not the best food arrangement on a plate… but delicious!

Did you know that 100g of raisins has 79g of Carbohydrates?  25% of your Daily Intake?  Its pretty scary how much sugars are found in dried fruits which is one of the reason they’re not super recommended on the Whole30.  During my Crossfit’s Lifestyle Challenge we were told to avoid them completely. 

Although you could probably sit and eat a ton of grapes you probably wouldn’t be able to eat 5-6 apricots and feel good about it.  So why is it okay to eat 5-6 (or more) dried apricots?  Same idea applies with ‘healthy’ shakes.  Sure you’re getting all your fruit and veggies but could you really eat 1 cup of greens, 1 cup of milk, 5 strawberries 1 bananas and an egg in a short period of time it would take you to drink your smoothie?  The calories and glycemic index go up very quickly when you add a variety of things to you morning smoothie!  Don’t get me wrong they’re delicious, but if you’re wondering where all the calories are coming from – look no further!  My mom and a friend of mine are always reminding me not to drink all my calories when I talk about Iced Capps and McDonald’s Vanilla Chai Frappe, I have a particularly sweet spot for frozen drinks!

—

As I was waiting to pay for my groceries the other day, the lady behind me asked what I did with Sweet Potatoes as all she knew what to do was to use them in stews.  She caught me off guard and my response was somewhat unenthusiastic which is very much unlike me.  I had to think about what I used and nothing came to mind other than the roasted coins I make.  I told her to toss it in Olive Oil sprinkle with salt and pepper and bake it.  I mentioned how lovely they were roasted but not even once did I think of saying “Try adding cumin and cinnamon to them!  Maybe even some Chilli powder or cayenne if you like it spicy!” What about the whole concept of Fish cakes?  Where was my brain for that one?  The whole way home I couldn’t stop thinking about all the things I could have told her about sweet potatoes and feeling guilty that she may never venture from her stews.  I wish I had asked for her e-mail that way I could have bombarded her with tried and tested Sweet Potato recipes!  I’ve been thinking about her for the last 3 days now and I’m so disappointed!

Day 2.2

Breakfast: 2 Fried Eggs and 2 slices bacon

Snack: Cherries + Coconut Cream Larabar

Lunch: Roast Beef and french style green beans

Supper: Fiesta Pork Chops (Well Fed 2) and sweet potato coins

Bedtime Snack: Peppermint Tea

Crispy Mushroom Chips and Porkitos

I walked into the staff room today and mindlessly grabbed the Chips Ahoy! package sitting on the table.  It wasn’t until I had struggled with getting the tray out of the bag and almost touch the cookie that I snapped out of my mindless eating and scolded myself.  But really what the devil? It was like 9 in the morning!  I felt a lot of hunger today, but I think a lot of it had to do with boredom, it wasn’t a particularly busy day!

My coworker has been talking about prosciutto for the last 2 weeks and I kept telling her to try Porkitos.  I started craving it so in anticipation of tomorrow’s potential road trip I made some Porkitos and Crispy Mushroom chips from Nom Nom Paleo you can find the recipe here!  Unfortunately I burnt the last batch of Porkitos and over salted the Mushroom chips, but I’ll eat it anyways!  I walked into the living room eating a Mushroom chip and gave it to my husband (who dislikes Mushrooms with a passion) he ate it unquestioningly and enjoyed it until I told him it was mushroom.  Little by little I may be convincing him to try a Whole30!

A few weeks ago I ruined half a dozen batches of Mayo in three consecutive days as hard as I tried to fix them, nothing helped so I decided I would NEVER make it again, my hubby said he was not sad to see the homemade mayo go as it caused me so much grief.  Mayo is so fickle!  I missed my morning Mayo and Scotch Egg so I caved and bought a jar of Hellman’s.  Bleurk!  It was really awful!  I tried a different recipe and instead of using the blender, I used my Kitchen Aid mixer.  Eureka!!! That seemed to help and took a lot less time than usual!  I was thrilled!  Now that potatoes are ‘legal’ on the Whole30, I’ll be having some potato salad to commemorate the summer!

 

Start of Week Check In

I love talking about food.  I love to impress people with food.  “Yeah, I make my own Mayo!”  “I made this from Scratch” “I made this awesome juicy as hell burger the other day ON THE BBQ!!!”

Those are all things I’m overheard saying at any given time in a day.  I don’t think a day goes by that I don’t think about food passionately.  I’m glad to report that my daughter is on the same track as I am.  When I find something she loves I feel like the best parent in the world!  “My Daughter just inhaled those okras”  “Yeah, Z LOOOOVES Salmon”.  She can be pretty picky though.  Recently she’s thrown any spicy food on the floor for the dogs to eat (not sure that’s a great things as my dogs have the runs as soon as they eat something very different).  As my husband says my dogs have the most culturally diverse diet of any dogs in Moncton I’m sure!

The weather has finally started to improve so I’m finding myself craving anything on the grill.  My skills with the Barbecue are very limited and my husband does zero cooking so its all on me!  Generally we’d have sausages on the BBQ, but finding whole ingredient sausages is proving to be quite difficult so we haven’t had them in a while.  Personally I’d eat Burgers every day but I’m not sure that Big O Bacon Burgers from Nom Nom Paleo cookbook would do my body so much good EVERY DAY.  As I’ve mentioned before I’m not a huge fish fan but I decided to take the ‘plunge’ and try out  Salmon à l’Afrique du Nord from Well Fed and I fell in love!  There is no fishy taste to this salmon but a close similarity to chicken!  I’ve made it twice – once with fresh salmon, once with frozen salmon and both times the fish was delicious!  I accidentally added 1/2 tsp of cayenne pepper instead of 1/4 tsp last night so it’s a little spicy, but generally its mild and reheat worthy.  I’m always hesitant to make salmon, so I usually wait until the end of the week to make it, and by that time, my husband has drunk all of the Orange Juice I need for the marinade, luckily there’s a convenience store in our backyard, literally.

I cooked up some baby carrots and fried some okras in bacon to accompany it, and I thought Z was going to blow up she was stuffing the food in her mouth like we were preparing for a fast!

 

I’m starting off the month with a 3x/week membership at crossfit and I’ve booked myself for the next two weeks.  Looking forward to seeing some changes in my body soon!

Wow! It’s been a week and a half since I started the Lifestyle Challenge and I rarely find myself thinking about it. It’s so much easier the second time around!

I haven’t tried a whole lot of new recipes lately, I’ve been sticking to the favourites and occasionally venturing into new ones.   One that I have to mention though is Scotch Eggs. My husband bought me a copy of Well Fed (the original) after I finished the Whole30 Challenge as a congratulatory present.   The recipe for Scotch Eggs seemed very enticing and promised lots of variety as you can make them regular, Tex Mex, Chinese, Moroccan etc. I was hooked from the first Warm Egg that came out of the oven and I’ve had one every morning since! My husband said that if he liked eggs he would be super impressed by how awesome it looks!

I’ve also recently discovered Sauerkraut. Although delicious on a burger, it’s extremely good as a side to my Scotch Egg too. In fact it’s good with any kind of meat, I had it with Meat Loaf for Lunch today!

I’m trying to get on track with Crossfit too. I’ve been going about once a week which is unacceptable! I’ve discovered 8:30am classes and I’ve been brining little Z who up until today, had been spectacularly good. I don’t know if she didn’t get enough ‘Z’ time this morning or she was just feeling like crud, but she cried for a good 20 minutes of the class. I know they say that parents are the only one that hear their children but I’m sure everyone else did as much as I did. I was a little scared of what they were thinking of me/Z  I guess, but I did everything I could I even gave her my battery less cell phone to play with. Something I swore I would never do – and then I gave her my keys. Yes, my keys, how effing disgusting is that? The keys did the trick though and she was happy as a clam for the actual WOD.

I’m gonna go on a parenting tangent here so feel free to skip to the next paragraph:
Having a kid has changed me in so many ways I never thought possible. I used to live a life of luxury and I didn’t even know it. How did I not ‘Have Time’ to go to the gym before Z? She has changed my whole view on life. I used to be a perfect parent before I had kids. My kids were going to be superior, but now I live by the “Whatever it takes to make us all Happy” Motto. Which includes giving keys and phones to play with. Urgh! It’s also thanks to Z that I’m making the big changes in my life. Over the last 3 months, I’ve changed my philosophy on food and cooking, joined crossfit (I can’t do that, I can’t even do a pushup) and lost 20 lbs. I’ve embraced Naps with open arms and met some really and I mean REALLY nice people. This morning, a couple grabbed Z’s playpen and toys and brought them out to my car saying they remember being in that stage and every little bit helps! Then the coach told me not to worry about ‘the kid’ crying, it happens he says. I really felt they meant it! Alright end of tangent!

So, the Challenge is going so-so, I haven’t been doing as great as I’d like to be doing on the challenge, I’ve had many 4-5 point days which means I’m either not doing the exercise or not having a perfect Paleo day. Yesterday for example I had a few nibbles of Z’s grilled Cheese (to make sure it wasn’t too hot). Last Saturday I had a sausage at the market for breakfast etc.   Little things like that make it harder to attain the goal.

I’m trying hard though!  For the last two weeks I’ve been having Cookup WODs where I make as many meals as possible (so far my PR is 3) and that has made things so much easier.  Especially if I have to work late supper is ready for my husband, and kidlet, I have leftovers at work it’s been going really great until… my Microwave blew up!  Scariest things I’ve ever witnessed in the kitchen by far!  So we’ve had to skip the leftovers or heat them up an hour a head in the oven. 😦

I’ve changed my Crossfit membership to 3x/week and plan on going at 8:30 in the morning M-W-F, and at 6:45pm if I’m working days. Ideally I’d be going straight after work, but we’re down to 1 car now that hubby’s changed jobs, so I have to try to work around that.

I’m getting closer and closer to 8 hour/night sleep as Z’s slept through the last 2 nights. Water intake has been no issue, especially when I’m working.

Life is great!

 

Ta for now!

x

Maybe there’s a little more energy there…

I got to sleep in until 8 this morning which is great because I fell asleep as soon as my head hit my pillow last night.  I was exhausted!  Baby girl didn’t wake up either, but her room was like a furnace!

I had a little present waiting for me on when I got in the kitchen this morning.  My husband bought me ‘Well Fed’ as a congratulatory present for completing my 30 days.  The best part was that he made a little card saying he was aware that he’s not the most supportive but that he was extremely proud of my achievements over the last month.  It made me a little teary!  I was so happy!  I ‘devoured’ the content and perused through the recipes.  I can’t wait to try them!

I made myself a onion and olive omelette for breakfast and by mid morning I was fully in cleaning mode!  My kitchen is almost all done for spring cleaning.  I just have windows and ceiling fan left… maybe tomorrow, we will see!

For lunch I reheated Fiesta Pork Chops with green beans.

 

Supper consisted of delicious Salmon Cake from Well Fed 2.  I love that this recipe has a few different ways of being done.  Tonight I chose to use the Jerk Seasoning cause it was the only variating I had all the ingredients for.  They turned out really great.  I could have just ate half a dozen, but thankfully I reminded myself that I had crossift and would be able to have some after the workout!  What a great reward!

For Crossfit tonight we did the same WOD as everyone else for the first time.  The mobility was much more brutal than the actual workout, but I survived both and had Salmon Cake!  That’s all that matters.

 

Day 17

If you think I’m going to say I had hard boiled eggs this morning, you’d be wrong!  I made an omelette with the left over pork and some tomatoes.  I also had half an avocado on the side.  I started to eat it before I remembered to take a photo, so sorry!  It was quite delicious.  I still can’t believe how good that pork was!  Z was more interested in the avocado than the omelette, but so long as she’s eating something I’m ok with it!

I was feeling particularly productive today, I went up in the attic and sorted through all the baby clothes that I have been given.  I put them in the appropriate containers by age and bagged everything I wasn’t going to use so I can bring it to Value Village.  I also made a list of things Z had enough of so when someone asks me what she needs for bday/christmas I’ll have my answer ready.  Z played patiently in her crib while I did all this.

Meal 2

I had left over Pork and Green Collards from yesterday

Z went down for a nap and the productivity continued, I pinned the hem of my pants (which I’ve been meaning to do for the last 2 years) pinned some wet bags for Z’s babysitter, and pinned a cushion cover I want to make from an old T-Shirt I just can’t throw out.  I also finally figured out how to use my Snap plier to install snaps on Z’s Velcro diapers.  So easy!  Goodbye velcro!

Meal 3

The Spinach is kind of taking over the plate!

I made No Fuss Salmon Cakes from ‘It Starts With Food‘ with some Mashed Cauliflower Puree from ‘Well Fed 2‘, and a simple spinach salad with cashews and raisins (I know I’m kind of into raisins this week aren’t I?)  I was really surprised at how good the Salmon cakes were! I would eat this every week, and they may just be the perfect post workout snack too!  As the book says it could be called Protein-Carb-Fat cakes.  Its perfect!  The Cauliflower was good too, but a little too runny.  I think next time I’ll put half of the coconut milk required.

After supper, Z and I went for a quick 20 minute walk, and she went down for the night!  Hubs and I will try to cram in a couple episodes of Supernatural before we head off to bed!

That’s all for day 17!

Day 12

Meal 1

I typically have a breakfast rut.  I can go days eating the same thing, but then all of a sudden I need a change.  When I was pregnant, I would make Peanut Butter Oatmeal with blueberries for weeks on end.  Then one morning I’d wake up and need a change.  I could not go one more morning eating oatmeal.  This morning I actually googled recipes for breakfast.  I ended up with the usual boiled eggs and kale, but I had a side of mayo with my eggs.  It was a delicious change.  I think I might need to plan my breakfasts like I do my suppers.  Or I might skip breakfast altogether.

I found a recipe for Scotch eggs that I really want to try.  What else can I eat?  It is a little worrying that i’ve gone through 2 dozen eggs already this week… mind you 9 of those eggs were for the Quiche.

I finally got enough motivation to start spring cleaning.  I did half of my cupboards this morning, and planned on doing the other half in the afternoon, but other things, like property taxes, and calling the bank took all of my time.  So maybe it was just a little gust as opposed to a full blown cleaning whirlwind, but hey, it’s a start.

Meal 2

I obviously had the left over Quiche from last night with the Classic Pantry Vinaigrette.

I have a HUGE need for a exhaust fan in my kitchen.  This afternoon the whole house was smoky, I had to open up the windows in the kitchen, the front and back door, and the ceiling fans in the playroom and kitchen.  Nothing was burnt, it was just terribly smoky!

Meal 3

Tonight we’re having West African Chicken Stew and Cauliflower Coconut ‘Rice’  from Well Fed 2 – I am LOVING that recipe book!  The Stew was delicious, but it reminded me more of a curry.  My husband actually said “I’m growing fond of your Cauliflower Rice stuff, that stuff is good!”  I was a little worried though, because the only comments I get on my cooking are “It’s alright” or “I’m sorry”.  (He says he’s sorry, not me).

I think my cooking is awesome, maybe my audience just has a bland palate or can’t stray too far out of his comfort zone.  Mind you I am very passionate about food.  I asked my husband once what flavor sausages he would like, he simply responded that they were all the same to him.  I went on a loud 10 minute rant about how different each flavor sausage are in the middle of the meat section at the grocery store.  I don’t get it!  But then again, I like olives, mushrooms, and onion, so I might be the odd ball!

12 days down!  Feeling great!