Living La Lupe

Kraft and I have been talking quite a bit about what we are going to do post-Whole30. The whole point of doing a Whole30 is to wipe the slate clean so that you can reintroduce all the food you took out one at a time. That way you can see that maybe gluten is what makes you feel like crap but dairy is fine. If on Day 31 you eat pizza, drink a beer, and eat ice cream, well, your tastebuds might be happy but all that work you did for 30 days is down the drain.

They have two ways to reintroduce foods. The slow way and the fast way. They also give you the option of continuing for longer if you think it’s needed. Like if you feel better but you think it you could feel even better. They encourage a Whole45 or longer if this is you.

We’re traveling soon so I kinda want to eat Whole30 until we get back home. I definitely don’t want to introduce dairy while traveling. That just wouldn’t be good for anyone. I don’t know. We still haven’t made a decision but we’re leaning toward the slow way.

If you’ve done a Whole30 or are doing it, what are your thoughts? Which way worked best for you? What did you find you reacted badly to? Inquiring minds want to know 🙂

Breakfast:

• Turkey and Salsa Skillet – This was pretty good and really fast. Apparently this blogger makes a lot of breakfast skillets. I’d be interested in trying more of them.
• Spinach and Baby Kale Mix
• Happy Digestion Smoothie – My kids luuuuuuv this smoothie. My kids hate everything. Everything. But they ask for the smoothie with the ginger in it. My weird kids. But they’re right, this smoothie is really good.

Lunch: (Kraft’s lunch since I was at a Baby Shower)

• Leftover Coconut Curry Meatballs and Sauce – Boo. Kraft wins. He got these leftovers. Big jerk. I guess it is Father’s Day weekend.
• Leftover Broccoli Slaw
• Leftover Salty and Sweet Broccoli Salad
• 2 Egg Muffins

Dinner:

• Slow Cooker Stuffed Cabbage Casserole – This recipe is pretty easy to throw together. Especially if you buy your cauliflower already riced. I did not and just chopped it up on the cutting board really small. I probably shouldn’t have made this recipe because I kind of hate stuffed cabbage rolls. I was not a big fan of this but if you like stuffed cabbage, you’d probably like it.
• Fruit – We had a ton of fruit that needed to be eaten because it was starting to go bad. This is also how we bribed the girls to eat their casserole first.

How We Felt:

Today I went to my first Zumba Master Class. Basically it’s 2 hours of lots of different instructors doing their hardest songs as intensely as they can do them. I think if I wasn’t doing the Whole30 right now I’d be in a lot more pain. It was a fun time, but it was intense. My feet and knees are feeling it a bit but not bad at all.

 

Zoodles. When these first came on the scene, I thought they were ridiculous. Spiralized zucchini, give me a break. Just eat the freakin’ pasta, weirdos. Why do we need to make simple things so complicated. If you don’t want the carbs, just don’t eat pasta.

But then my mom bought me a spiralizer last year for Mother’s Day. I am kinda obsessed with kitchen gadgets and since this was the latest fad, she thought I’d appreciate it.

It sat in a bottom cabinet tucked way back for a solid 6 months. But then I felt bad for not using it so I pulled it out and gave it a spin.

First, the assembly of the thing was not the easiest and I had to study the manual pretty thoroughly before we got a result that somewhat resembled pasta. But once I got the hang of it, I spiralized 4 zucchinis in a jiffy and served it with marinara sauce. The kids loved it and I enjoyed it just about as much as I enjoy regular pasta.

I’ll have to be honest, I don’t love pasta much to begin with. It’s more a vehicle through which to eat yummy sauce. So zoodles acted in the same way and were equally as good as regular noodles. AND you’re eating lots of veggies without it really tasting like veggies. #doublewin

If you’re interested in trying out zoodles, this is the machine we have but I’ve also seen these or these that look less complicated. This blog is really great for all things spiralized. The most helpful thing I’ve read from her is how to store spiralized veggies and how long they last. You can even freeze some kinds. And because some noodles last up to 5 days in fridge, you can just make a bunch at the beginning of the week and not have to mess with the stupid machine for the rest of the week. Yay.

I’ll also say that I think spiralized veggies taste closer to real pasta and are a 100 times better than riced cauliflower. I still eat the caulirice but it is nothing at all like rice. Not even close.

Breakfast:

• Egg Muffins – still going strong
• Peach
• Spinach and Baby Kale Mix
• 1/2 an Avocado

Lunch:

• Leftover Stuffed Pepper Stuffing – Thank God this is the last of it.
• Sweet Potato with Pecans – I know usually sweet potatoes are baked in a casserole with marshmallows and pecans on top. Baked marshmallows always weirded me out, but I think you will find it surprising how good sweet potatoes are with just pecans.
• Spinach and Baby Kale Mix
• 2 Peaches

Dinner:

• Zoodles with Jarred Marinara Sauce + 1 lb of Ground Beef – easy peasy
• 1/2 an Apple with Almond Butter

How We Felt:

Tired but I’m pretty sure it’s from staying up late to paint.

Week 4 Meal Roundup:

Day 22:

• Breakfast: Breakfast Pizza Quiche, Handful of the Trader Joe’s Cruciferous Mix, 1/2 and Avocado, 1/2 an Apple
• Lunch: Leftover Tuna Salad, Bacon, Celery Sticks with Ranch Dressing, 1/2 an Apple with Almond Butter, 2 Hard-Boiled Eggs
• Dinner: Hamburger Patty, Potato and Green Bean Salad, All-Day Breakfast Salad, Grapes, Strawberries, and Pineapple

Day 23:

• Breakfast: Sweet Potato Hash Browns , Trader Joe’s Garlic Herb Chicken Sausage, 2 Fried Eggs, Fruit
• Lunch: Spinach with Cherry Tomatoes and Balsamic Vinaigrette, Hard-boiled Egg, 1/2 an Apple with Almond Butter
• Dinner: Applegate Hot Dog, 1/2 a Hamburger Patty, Grapes, 1/2 an Avocado, Spinach, Hard-Boiled Egg, Leftover Potato and Green Bean Salad

Day 24:

• Breakfast: 2 Fried Eggs, Spinach, 1/2 an Avocado, Handful of Pecans, 1/2 and Apple with Almond Butter
• Lunch: Turkey Roll-Ups, 1/2 an Apple with Almond Butter, Applegate Hot Dog with Mustard, 1/2 an Avocado
• Dinner: Turkey and Riced Cauliflower Stuffed Peppers , Bacon and Veggies

Day 25:

• Breakfast: 2 Fried Eggs, 1/2 an Apple, Spinach, Avocado, 2 Slices of Deli Turkey
• Lunch: Leftover Stuffed Peppers Stuffing, Spinach, 1/2 an Avocado, 1/2 an Apple with Almond Butter, Trader Joe’s Salsa Verde
• Dinner: Crockpot Mexican Chicken , Broccoli Slaw , Spinach, 1/2 an Avocado, Trader Joe’s Salsa Verde

Day 26:

• Breakfast: Egg Muffins , 1/2 an Avocado, Handful of Pecans, 1/2 an Apple with Almond Butter
• Lunch: Leftover Stuffed Pepper Stuffing, Leftover Bacon Veggies, 1/2 an Apple
• Dinner: Round Steak with Leftover Chimichurri Sauce, Leftover Broccoli Slaw, Sweet and Salty Broccoli Salad

Day 27:

• Breakfast: 2 Egg Muffins, Cherries, Spinach and Kale Mix, 1/2 an Avocado, Handful of Pecans
• Lunch: Leftovers. I had crockpot Mexican Chicken and Bacon Veggies with a sweet potato and pecans. Kraft had Broccoli Salad with Stuffed Pepper Stuffing and Bacon Veggies with a sweet potato.
• Dinner: Thai Coconut Curry Meatballs, Zoodles

Day 28:

• Breakfast: Egg Muffins , Peach, Spinach and Baby Kale Mix, 1/2 an Avocado
• Lunch: Leftover Stuffed Pepper Stuffing, Sweet Potato with Pecans, Spinach and Baby Kale Mix, 2 Peaches
• Dinner: Zoodles with Jarred Marinara Sauce + 1 lb of Ground Beef, 1/2 an Apple with Almond Butter

While I was driving home from the gym, I passed a Torchy’s Tacos. I stared longingly, wanting some chips and queso so bad. And then I tried to remember the last time we ate out. It was within the first week or so of our Whole 30. I’m not sure if we’ve ever gone this long without eating out (minus Lent).  I don’t even really miss it since we can’t eat anything I want anyway.

I only really like to eat out if it’s something I can’t make. We could eat at Torchy’s but I don’t want to eat their fajita chicken on a bed of iceberg lettuce. I want chips and queso. Or at Phil’s, I want the whole burger with mushrooms and swiss cheese and the bun. Oh, the magical bun. And I def want to eat their fries. I could just make a hamburger patty at home, I don’t need to go there and torture myself for that. Even brunch on Sunday isn’t that fun. I like my fried eggs the best, so I don’t like ordering them at a restaurant. And I can’t eat their ham or bacon because I don’t know what’s in it. Breakfast really is my favorite meal so I’d rather just make it at home.

For Father’s Day, it was hard to come up with a place that would be worth it to go eat out. But then we though of a Brazilian steakhouse. More steak? Yes, please.

Breakfast:

• 2 Egg Muffins – I feel like I made my feelings about these muffins pretty clear yesterday.
• Cherries
• Spinach and Kale Mix
• 1/2 an Avocado
• Handful of Pecans

Lunch: [not pictured]

• Leftovers. We have lots of leftovers. They don’t even really do well together. I think I had crockpot Mexican Chicken and Bacon Veggies with a sweet potato and pecans. Kraft had Broccoli Salad with Stuffed Pepper Stuffing and Bacon Veggies with a sweet potato.

Dinner:

• Thai Coconut Curry Meatballs – This was not the fastest thing in the world to make but it was worth it. These were delicious. Really delicious. Only if you like that coconut curry taste, though, because it is pretty strong. There is only about one serving leftover. I think Kraft and I might have to rock, paper, scissor it to see who’s going to get to eat it for lunch.
• Zoodles

How We Felt:

I know I’ve already mentioned this before, but it is really becoming a thing. I am sweating so much! During workouts. I start sweating earlier in the workout and I sweat so much more. Like I’m dripping on the floor and have to occasionally get a paper towel to wipe it up. I know that at the beginning of the Whole30 you’re body is detoxing so it’s normal to sweat but we’re on Day 27. And it seems the longer we do this, the more I sweat. I don’t sweat excessively unless I’m working out but I’ve noticed that I do sweat more than I remember if I’m doing a lot of physical chores around the house or if we’re outside in the heat. It’s so weird. Is it because I’m more hydrated? Is my body working better? Am I doing something wrong? Do tell.

When you do a Whole30 the rest of your life kinda gets put on hold. At least as much as it can be put on hold. We have all these projects around the house that really need doing, but we decided that our health needed to be given priority at the moment so we are focusing on that. Today I got restless, as I so often do, about all these projects just sitting around stagnate. So I picked one and jumped in.

We bought some great handmade bunkbeds from a friend about 6 months ago. They’ve have been sitting in our garage in bunkbed limbo. We weren’t sure the girls were ready, and then they were. We couldn’t decided between staining them or painting them, and then we did decide. We couldn’t decide what color to paint them, and then we chose white. And then they sat, and sat, and sat. Today the babies went to sleep and I basically ran to Home Depot so I wouldn’t lose my nerve, interrogated the very nice gentleman in the paint department about the best way to do this, and came home with a gallon of paint, a roller, and a brush.

I’m hoping to have these done by Sunday. Cross your fingers. Maybe this will distract me through the next 4 days. Kraft also decided to mail order a hops plant. Hops, like what you use to brew beer. So while I was in the garage painting, Kraft was in the yard digging and planting. I think we may have acquired ADD in our older age.

Breakfast:

• Egg Muffins – These take a decent amount of time to make, but they make 20 muffins. 20 muffins! And you can freeze some as it says in the directions. They were very tasty.
• 1/2 an Avocado
• Handful of Pecans
• 1/2 an Apple with Almond Butter

Have you watched Trevor Noah’s 2013 Comedy Special “African American“? You should, it’s on Netflix. In it he pokes fun at Oprah when she is giving things away and is like, “You get a Lexus, you get a Lexus, everyone gets a Lexus!” Well, that’s how I feel about these egg muffins. Everyone gets a muffin! I will only have to assemble breakfast for the next couple days and not make it. #awesomesauce

Lunch:

• Leftover Stuffed Pepper Stuffing
• Leftover Bacon Veggies
• 1/2 an Apple (I know, we’re obsessed with apples)

Dinner: (Not pictured, first I forgot to take a picture before I started eating so I asked Kraft to do it, but he forgot, too.)

• Round Steak with Leftover Chimichurri Sauce – I just cooked the steak in a pan and topped with the sauce. So good
• Leftover Broccoli Slaw
• Sweet and Salty Broccoli Salad

How We Felt:

Tired from the painting. But fine from the Whole30.

If I were to say that on Day 25 I realize the necessity of prepping food for the week, your response would be, “Duh.” I know it’s so obvious but it is so hard to make yourself do it. You need a solid 2-3 hours to get a good head start on the week. And you know how much prep I did for this week? Zero. Nada. Not a darn thing. Now it’s biting me in the butt. Or in the belly, I guess, because I’m so hungry and I have to make everything at every meal, everyday. It is no good. Do not be like me. Prep on the weekend. Or on a weekday. Or something. Nike was right, just do it.

As I was meal planning for the week I came across this recipe: Massaged Kale Salad with Pistachios, Cherries, and Grilled Flank Steak. Just read the name of that recipe one more time. Have you ever wanted to be kale so much in your life?

There are some days when making a salad like this sounds great. Ooolala, so fancy and I also have 5 zillion extra hours, let’s make this salad! I would love to eat this salad. The picture of it is mouth-watering. But this is the absolute last thing I want to make in my last week of the Whole30. For this salad you have to de-pit the cherries, shell the pistachios, make the dressing (Am I the only one that hates making dressings? Weird, I know.), then massage (literally) the dressing into the kale, then prep the grill, then prep the meat, then grill the meat, then slice the meat, then slice an avocado, then assemble it just so. Too much. This would have been a good recipe for Week 1. By Week 4 your just eating cold hotdogs and taking bites out of a whole zucchini.

Hopefully this week you’ll see some good and EASY recipes from me that don’t drive me back into the arms of donuts because I just don’t want to cook anymore.

Breakfast: (The usual)

• 2 Fried Eggs
• 1/2 an Apple
• Spinach
• Avocado
• 2 Slices of Deli Turkey

Lunch:

• Leftover Stuffed Peppers Stuffing
• Spinach
• 1/2 an Avocado
• 1/2 an Apple with Almond Butter
• Trader Joe’s Salsa Verde

Dinner:

• Crockpot Mexican Chicken – OMG, this is the first time I’ve put chicken in the crockpot. Where has this been all my life? It’s so fast. I forgot that I had a slow cooker recipe today until after lunch and I still had time to throw it together. I thought this recipe was ok. But my three year old loved it and asked that I make it for her birthday dinner.
• Broccoli Slaw – This was ok, too. But it was super fast to throw together. I think I just got a prepackaged broccoli slaw mix that wasn’t the best. I kept ending up with really fibrous bits while chewing. I think next time I’ll wait to make this with the mix from Trader Joe’s that people rave about so much.
• Spinach
• 1/2 an Avocado
• Trader Joe’s Salsa Verde – This actually doesn’t have much flavor at all, but our salsa options are pretty limited.

How We Felt:

We’re feeling pretty good. We might have hit TIGER BLOOD for us. I’ve been feeling really great during workouts and have been recovering great. I’m not achy. I don’t really sleep much but when I do sleep, I fall asleep super fast which isn’t how I used to be. My energy is great. I have all 5 kiddos home with me (because, you know, summer) and I’m amazed at how I don’t faceplant fall asleep in my bed with the clothes that I wore all day. Hmm, maybe there’s something to this Whole30.

 

My biggest fear of starting Whole30 was diet = hunger. There have definitely been some days that I’ve felt hungry. 20 minutes after lunch today, visions of ham and cheese sandwiches or bowls of cereal danced around me before I shook them out of my head.

Today I think I finally figured out why I’ve been hungry sometimes. According to the Whole30 rules you should eat a pre- and post-workout mini-meal. Your pre-workout meal should be a protein and a fat (I usually do a hard-boiled egg and 1/2 and avocado) 15-75 minutes before working out. Post-workout you should be eating a protein and a starch (I’ve made a couple of recipes that are egg and potato casseroles) 15-30 minutes after you finish your work out.

I’m always running late when I leave for the Y. I don’t get a chance to plan/make/eat these pre and post workout meals. I’m lucky if I remember to grab my gym card. But on the off-chance that I did have a chance to eat these mini-meals, I don’t get hungry. At all. All day. It really does make a big difference. When I don’t eat these mini-meals I can guarantee that I’ll be hungry half an hour after I eat my next meal. I really just need to make workout mini-meals a priority to prep each week.

Breakfast:

• 2 Fried Eggs
• Spinach
• 1/2 an Avocado
• Handful of Pecans
• 1/2 and Apple with Almond Butter

Lunch:

• Turkey Roll-Ups
• 1/2 an Apple with Almond Butter
• Applegate Hot Dog with Mustard
• 1/2 an Avocado

Dinner:

• Turkey and Riced Cauliflower Stuffed Peppers – This was not super delicious. But the best thing I learned from this recipe is how to rice (verb) cauliflower and how to roast it. This is the best way so far that we’ve had cauliflower rice. The roasting keeps it from tasting, well, like cauliflower.
• Bacon and Veggies – This dish is brilliant and perfect. So easy. A friend brought it to us after we had the twins. You throw whatever veggies you have on hand (I used brussel sprouts, green beans, onion, carrots, potato, zucchini). Dice ’em or slice ’em. Toss in olive oil and salt and pepper. Put in a casserole dish. Lay a whole package of bacon over the top of veggies (don’t overlap the bacon or it won’t get all crispy). Cook in oven. I’m still not sure what temp and how long, but I usually just throw it in with whatever is in the oven already. So today I cooked it at 350° for about 45 minutes.

How We Felt:

We’re feeling great. But I am getting really tired of cooking. Throwing together a sandwich is just so quick and easy and doesn’t require more dirty pots or pans. I wish there was an equivalent in Whole30-land.