Day 8 - Monday January 12

This week has been a little rushed, so it's not terribly exciting. But, Here's what today looked like....

Breakfast - yucky shake
Second Breakfast - apples and peanut butter
Lunch - Salad from the salad bar at work.  Of special note here, I resisted any salad dressings and went with oil, balsamic vinegar, and salt and pepper
Snack - clementines
Dinner - left over sweet potato with spicy black bean salsa
Water - some, unmeasured

Day 7 - Sunday January 11

Well, here it is, my first big cheat day.  I was invited to a small family gathering, and in order not to be rude and make a scene I was forced to eat cake.  And Orzo!  It was delicious.  Although, I will say that my tummy was a little bubbly later that night.

Day 6 - Saturday January 10

So, the amazing part of today was not in a new recipe I tried, it was in making it through Chipotle as best I could.  It was a test I wasn't ready for, but I think I passed!


Here's what today looked like....
Breakfast - yucky shake
Lunch - left over zoodles
Snack - clementines, a banana
Dinner - Chipotle Salad with black beans, tofu, pico, and guacamole
Water - some, unmeasured
Other - I had popcorn.  And didn't even think about it at first.  I was a compromise to ice cream, but as I was eating it I realized I don't know if this is allowed.  I did some reading, and it seems that popped corn is slightly "better"** than unpopped, and since we didn't use prepackaged microwaved popcorn with fake toppings, I say it's ok!


**Some of the things I've read that talk about the problem with corn is that it has high phytic acid, which can chelate (fancy chemistry term that essentially means, adds a metallic ion to a compound) many minerals and prevent their absorption.  So while corn itself doesn't provide much along the way of nutrients, it can prevent others from being used! However, heating it for popcorn reduces the phytic acid by over 50%, making it "not as bad"! Hooray for popcorn!

Day 5 - Friday January 9

The 24-hour flu turned into a few extra days of being sleepy and stuffy, which sort of derailed my posting, but I'd like to catch up.  Please just accept the incomplete holes in my details.  I stayed home from work on Friday, which afforded me the chance to take a 3 hour morning nap, and make these "date balls" I had been wanting to try.  Turns out, they were easy and delicious, and gone within 2 days!  I had a leftover collard green wrap for lunch, and made zoodles with tofu and veggies and pesto.  My boyfriend called as I was mid-zoodle maing, so when it was all cooked I packed it up and the date balls and brought dinner to his house.  He's a meat-eater, but has seconds of the zoodles every time!

Key Lime Coconut Date Balls
I followed this recipe, and it couldn't have been easier - thanks in large part to my Ninja food processor.  The hardest part was removing the pits from the Medjool dates - which I bought at Trader Joe's.  My method was to slice it in half, and pull out the pit.  Very technical. Once I had pitted a cup and a half of dates I was ready to begin.

Put half a cup of cashews and half a cup of almonds in the food processor and finely chop, but stop before they become a paste.  Add the cup and a half of dates, and then 5 tsp of key lime juice.  The recipe calls for fresh key lime juice and zest, but I used bottled key lime juice and added it until it tasted limey.  Mix this up in the food processor a little, and viola, you're almost done.  Roll the mixture into small balls, and then roll in unsweetened coconut to coat the outside.  They were so easy, and so tasty.  I've already bought more dates to make batch two!

Here's what today looked like....
Breakfast - yucky shake
Lunch - one mashed chickpea and avocado salad collard green wrap from yesterday
Snack - clementines
Dinner - zoodles with pesto veggies
Water - some, unmeasured

Day 4 - Thursday January 8

I was really excited to share some new recipes with this post, but this particular day was a little derailed by a 24-hour flu complete with fever high of 103!  I did manage to make something new though, I used collard green leaves as the wraps for...well...wraps!  I filled my wraps with a chickpea and avocado smash.

Smashed Chickpea and Avocado Salad
This couldn't be easier.

Combine one can of chickpeas, rinsed, with one sliced avocado and smash with a potato masher. Add chopped green onions, and cilantro (I used parsley, because that's what I had), and lime juice, and some salt and pepper.

I put this on the collard green leaves, topped with some tomato and yellow pepper, and wrapped them up.  I was able to eat one for dinner and it was mighty tasty.  The collard leaves were huge, and good for rolling, and tasted refreshing and light - not at all heavy or bitter as I feared.  I will definitely be using collard leaves more!

Here's what today looked like....
Breakfast - yucky shake
Second Breakfast - apples and peanut butter, eaten slowly between the hours of 11 and 4pm
Snack - clementine and a banana
Dinner - one smashed chickpea and avocado salad wrap

Water - some, unmeasured
Other Notes - the day was overcome with mostly sleeping and taking my temperature, eating was a distant secondary chore.

Day 3 - Wednesday January 7

I think I've got this breakfast thing figured out a little better.

I tried a new recipe for dinner, a baked sweet potato with black bean salsa and avocado.  It was really simple, and pretty tasty.  It turns out though, while I love sweet potato wedges (which are simply cut up sweet potatoes baked until a bit crispy) I don't love baked sweet potato.  I think I need it more crunchy and less mushy.  I may cook the potato differently the next time I try this.

Sweet Potato with Black Bean Salsa
I used this recipe for the inspiration, although I left out the lime cream in favor of the "dairy-free" aspect of my whole30.

Heat oven to 400, poke a lot of holes into the sweet potato and bake for 55 minutes or so - mine was a big potato, so it required a few more minutes to be cooked through.

Combine canned black beans, rinsed, and store bought pico de gallo (because, why chop tomatoes, onions, peppers, cilantro, etc when someone else can do it for you) in a pan on the stove top.  I added cajun seasoning, 2 tsp of lime juice, and some other spices, and heated it until it was warm and combined.

Slice the baked potato, top with black bean salsa and a sliced avocado.  Garnish with cilantro or parsley as desired.  A healthy delicious dinner!

Here's what today looked like....

Breakfast - Yucky shake
Second Breakfast - apple, banana and peanut butter
Lunch - Leftover risotto and asparagus
Snack - clementine, extra yucky shake
Dinner - Baked Sweet Potato with black bean salsa and avocado
Water - 70 oz

Day 2 - Tuesday January 6

Today was much better than yesterday.  I wasn't starving right off the bat, maybe it was the snow or the fact that I packed several more substantial snacks for myself today.  Yesterday I told someone that I was doing this grain-free, dairy-free, sugar-free, meat-free thing and they kind of looked at me and said, "What's left?" and I agreed that it sounded terrible.  But, when I explained that I had grilled up some asparagus, cauliflower, and tofu and thrown it in with some of the left over lentil marinara sauce for dinner we both decided that sounded delicious!  It was.

I tried a new recipe, it was a hit.  I based it off of this Cauliflower risotto recipe, but changed it up a bit (mostly to get rid of the mushrooms).  The recipe get talking about getting all the liquid to boil off early on, but I didn't have that much liquid.  Here's what I did.

Butternut Squash Cauliflower "Risotto"
In a food processor chop up the florets from a whole head of cauliflower until they are small like rice, and set aside.  In a blender combine a can of white beans, some chunks of butternut squash and a cup of vegetable broth, blend until smooth, and set aside.  Chop half an onion and sauté in a frying pan with a small amount of oil on medium heat.  Once they are translucent and fragrant add garlic, salt, pepper and 2 tbsp of lemon juice.  While stirring, increase the heat to get rid of some liquid.  Then add the bean/butternut squash puree and bring to a simmer.  Decrease the heat, add the cauliflower "risotto" and cook for abot 10-15 minutes, until the rice is a desired tenderness.

It was a really good and easy dish.  I put some parsley on top but think it could have used more flavor, perhaps more pepper or some other spice addition.  With some grilled asparaus on the side this was a totally tasty clean dinner!





Here's what my day looked like....

Breakfast - “Yucky shake” before and after workout (Todays was kale, avocado, banana, blueberries, raspberries and pineapple)

Second Breakfast - sweet potato wedges, banana and almond butter

Lunch - left over grilled cauliflower, tofu and asparagus with the last of the lentil sauce

Snack - apple, apricot

Dinner - Butternut Squash Cauliflower "Risotto"

Water - 70 oz.  

Missteps - yep, soda.

Other Notes: I was so much less hungry this morning, so much better! On the soda front, what I had yesterday was like 1/3 of what a normal day would have been. And today was slightly more than half of yesterday. So, I'm consuming much less than normal, by far. Just not none. Yet.

Day 1 - Monday January 5th.

It’s coincidental that this is my 1-year Crossfit anniversary, although fitting.  I’m documenting this as part motivation to keep me going, but part to share some recipes that I’ve found (will find) along the way.  I mean, that is what we do here.

So for today, the recipes I used were….

Green Smoothie

In August I did a 10-day Green Smoothie Cleanse and it was actually really great.  I’ve kept up my morning green smoothies since then.  My boyfriend has been having these for breakfast for years, and calls them “yucky shakes” so that his kids won’t drink them on him.  They are, actually, quite delicious.  My recipe is simple, flexible and dependent on what I have in the fridge.  Now that I have a Ninja blender, they are also a lot easier.  Basically it starts with greens, one or two handfuls, my favorites are kale spinach and spring mix. Then some water, like a cup, maybe more. Then a banana.  Or an apple.  Or both.  Then some protein powder - my last protein powder was hemp protein in an attempt to be animal friendly and cut down on soy overload.  I think my current protein powder might be whey (gasp!).  And then whatever frozen fruits I have.  Blueberries, Raspberries, Strawberries, Peaches, Pineapples, Mangos, any and everything.  Blend it up!  Couldn’t be easier!

Zoodles with Lentil Marinara Sauce

Don’t know what Zoodles are?!  They are delicious and you need to make them immediately.  Essentially, they are noodles made out of zucchini.  As an avid noodle lover, and I mean LOVE-ER, I cringe a little when these are called “noodles”.  They don’t taste like pasta at all.  I mean, it’s zucchini.  But, like pasta, on it’s own there is very little flavor, and so the trick is in the sauces and toppings you can put on.  I use the Veggetti spiral slicer and slice up the zucchini (I don’t peel it first, although you could).  Then you simply sauté the zoodles in a pan with oil under your desired tenderness.  Easy peasy.

My friend Katie sent me this recipe for lentil marinara sauce, and it was great and easy on top of the zoodles.  I chopped and sautéed an onion and garlic.  Then I added some canned tomatoes and tomato sauce.  I made sure that there was nothing extra added in my cans of tomatoes, deeming them “clean”, and added oregano and salt and pepper.  Towards the end I added in some Trader Joe's precooked lentils, and when it was all warm, I dumped it on top of the zoodles.  It’s definitely a keeper!

Here’s what my day looked like…..

Breakfast - “Yucky shake” before and after workout (Todays was kale, banana, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries and pineapple)

Snack - apple, apricot, mini cucumber

Lunch - left over Zoodles with Lentil Marinara Sauce

Snack - mini cucumbers, kiwi

Dinner - grilled cauliflower, tofu and asparagus with the last of the lentil sauce

Water - 80 oz.  (By far the most water I’ve ever consumed on a non-pre race day in years!)

Missteps - I did have soda.  It was necessary. MUCH less than normal. Oh, and did you see how much water I had!  I’ll try again tomorrow.

Other Notes: OH. MY. GOD. I was starving after my workout. So hungry.  Normally I eat a PB&J sandwich.  Today I had an apple.  Not the same.  It made the morning excruciating and I sat plotting all the ways I could quit.  I talked myself down from the ledge, allowed myself a soda, and re-committed to the cause. Tomorrow, you'll see something better in there.

New Year, New Blog!

Can we just pretend 2014 never happened, blog-wise?  I mean, it appears it hasn’t.  So, moving on to 2015!  I am terrible with New Years Resolutions, mostly because I think that these things take time and consideration and somehow I’m never quite ready as the clock ticks over to jump right in.  And, then I’m already behind.  Heck, it was four days into the year before I even ran a mile...so it’s clear I’m not doing any kind of “run a mile a day” challenge.  What I am going to do is 12 (hopefully) month long resolutions/challenges, because that seems attainable.  I had a fun time making a list of resolutions, which include things like "add $1000 extra to savings" and "teach Turtle [my dog] two new tricks" and "make 10 new recipes". At the end of each month I will select the challenge/resolution to do for the following month.  This month I selected a Whole30 challenge to start off with.  Nothing like jumping in head first!

I’d like to preempt this by saying, I am going to make this my own adaptation of a Whole30 challenge. I’m still not going to eat any meat.  And this isn’t some weird paleo, culty, crossfit thing.  Because of this, I’m going to add back in beans and tofu and lentils and various things that will give me protein (because I still think eggs taste gross).  Since I’m bringing in the beans, peanut butter can stay, too (who doesn’t love legumes).  Also, I’m well aware that there are going to be missteps, “cheats”, and things that just don’t work.  But, I think that’s what this month is about. In all honesty, my diet isn’t all that “unclean”.  I cook most of my own dinners, my lunches when bought are mostly salads (although there is the delicious yoga-mat infused Subway quite often as well!), and there’s tons of fruits and veggies.  What I think this month is about for me - and I will remind myself of this often - is figuring out how to tackle some of the places where my eating habits aren’t top notch.  This is about fighting off the mid-afternoon cookie, or the chocolate bar I (apparently) always buy myself at Trader Joe’s.  It’s for the poptarts I used to eat for breakfast because they were easy.  It’s about finding a way to make some new habits so that making a better choice doesn't seem so overwhelming.  I’m not going to be bread-free for life, and dear god I already want to get some cheese back in me.  But, if at the end of this I have a better diet, great.  If I’ve lost a few pounds as I head in to marathon training season, well that’s fantastic.  Because I hear it’s way easier to run a few pounds lighter.

We can consider that I’m starting today.  But, I’ve barely figured out what that means - and I haven’t gone grocery shopping at all yet.  So maybe this is day 0, where I will try and figure it out.