Whole30 Day 17 Eating Out Part 2

As I get older I find that get togethers with friends are more food centered and relaxed than the old party hard. Usually this means potluck and sometimes we do themed meals or sometimes one person cooks all the meals. This eating out is a little different than going to a restaurant and being able to ask for substitutions or to create your own meal. Working in hospitality, we make substitutions all the time no matter how irritating- it’s our job.

Eating at other people’s house is not like eating at a restaurant or at least for me anyway. I don’t like going to someone’s house and seeing a magnificent meal they have prepared and then asking for my own separate meal made because I can’t or don’t eat certain things. My friends’ places are not a restaurant! This doesn’t mean that you can’t enjoy your time out with your close friends and still eat delicious food.

Over this past Christmas, my family and I had several pot lucks appetizer style and my parents cooked dinner most every night and are not paleo. The pot lucks are great because there are so many options and it’s of course not mandatory for you to eat everything. There is always tons of yummy foods that I want to eat but know that I shouldn’t and that’s where your self control comes in. With all of the appetizer options that we had (30 people cooking and bringing in goodies=so many options). I ate my fill of vegetables with dips and hummus, lamb meatballs, cured meats, fruit and tastes of a few appetizers with bread but all in moderation.

With my parents cooking it was a little difficult since I did not want a separate meal made for me and some of the food was made with flour and I of course could not pass up my grandma’s potato dinner rolls. This just meant everything in moderation! I would share a roll with my brother or take smaller portions. I knew when I felt full and did not over indulge but taking another helping just because and it was actually a satisfying feeling knowing that my self control had increased. Instead of feeling overly full and sleepy, I felt satisfied and energized- energized enough to do the dishes and play endless games of Bananagrams. 

Eating out doesn’t have to be a hard thing and there are always options. Even though I do not ask for separate meals, I still stick pretty close to my meal needs and do come prepared with some medicine to help my insides digest some of the foods that are tough on my body.

Tip of the Day: Don’t over indulge. Get recipes so that you can modify snacks and meals to fit your meals or just take a taste of something. Potluck and appetizer parties are supposed to be just that, a taste of everything!

Whole30 Day 16 Cheating

Despite having someone there to remind me when I was going to eat something on my “You Don’t Want That List”, I managed to detour my Whole30. In comparison to the past Whole30s I have attempted, I am still trying to not give up and get back on track because after my 30 days is over, I’m going to continue. 

Even though I am not finished yet there are foods that I found that I honestly did not want or crave. I used to stay after my serving job and have a few drinks and Hess and I would stock up on red wine and local ciders. This time around I have only had 2 glasses of cider and the tastes of daily drink specials and I find that I don’t really want to drink even with a meal.

After reading the updated It Starts With Food gives an okay for some potatoes in moderation and salt, I still wanted to try and keep it low in my diet. There was definitely no cheating with French fries (huge self high five, they are one my weaknesses) but I did have some roasted potatoes with a meal that someone else prepared and on my first visit to Sweet Tomato I ate a baked potato. And my one huge downfall were chips while at work. A busy past few weeks led to a lot of snacking and I can only eat so many almonds and cashews. Along with the chips from work was the smoky blue cheese dip- not paleo or Whole30 and I usually had a 1 ounce ramekin full. For the last week of my Whole30 no more!

Since Hess is doing primal he eats beans and small amounts of cheese. As I mentioned before, if someone is nice enough to cook the meals, I don’t ask for anything special so I tried my best to eat around the beans and scrape the cheese. This time around I didn’t feel so pressured to eat certain foods or drink so it was much easier to go out with friends and not be jealous of Hess trying a bunch of new wines and ciders.

The hotel had a busy week and it seemed like most of the leadership teams all pulled together to get their staff yummy goodies to share. I brought my team pizzas (and ate a slice of gluten free) and my co-worker brought her team candy and not just any candy- SOUR PATCH KIDS. Sour dummies and gummy bears another down fall. Since I spent a great deal of time in their department one day, those little sour shapes were just calling my name and I resisted! Until I started to get stressed and then I stress ate 1/4 of the bag… 

Though I still haven’t reached my goal of completing a full Whole30 to a T, I am still determined and still feel the benefits of eating more vegetables and grass-fed, free-range proteins and less processed foods. Setting the same goal as last year- a completed Whole30 by the end of June!

Tip of the Day: Accountability. I could definitely not tell anyone that I missed a day of PiYo or that I cheated on my Whole30 but then I would be telling myself it was okay and that it was no big deal. If you want to achieve your goals the best way is to hold yourself accountable. That is why I always post my challenges and my successes and failures with each one. I mean how else will you grow and show improvement?

Whole30 Day 15 Progress

Technically I am 22 days into my Whole30 and my PiYo Challenge. With a busy schedule and switching over to a new computer I am really behind on my Ridiculous posts; however, I am spot on for my BeachBody Challenge.

As I mentioned before, Coach has put together an awesome motivational group where we can support each other, share our challenges and our successes. Since this is the second attempt at the complete PiYo program I really wanted to stay true to the schedule, finish and actually see my results. And today I saw just that.

Each workout focuses on a different part of your body and works at low impact. One of the hardest ones thus far, that everyone in the group seems to be struggling with and I struggled with when I first started, is Sweat. A ton of core exercises and a full 3:30 minutes worth of power legs with burpees- my favorite, not. There is a Sweat workout once a week and I have yet to do the workout with no modifications such as using a chair to balance or doing the modified burpees which are still a workout- until today.

36 minutes of a solid workout, no modifications and I have never felt so accomplished while working out! I completed the 3:30 minutes of burpees and all tricep push ups without complaint at Chalene and with a mind set that 'I will finish strong!' I was a hot, sweaty mess but it gave me a sense of progress and my cheerleader, Hess even said he could see a difference and how much I improved. With my consistent PiYo workouts, increased water consumption and healthy eating with paleo and Shakeology and determination to appreciate my body more, the results are slowly but surely appearing! I am actually really excited to take my 30 Day pictures.

Tip of the Day: Fellow PiYo Challengers- DON'T GIVE UP! Well everyone actually :) Set your mind on your goals and you will reach them. Even if you don't see a change or result right away, sometimes it just takes a little longer for YOU to notice.

Whole30 Day 14 Meatless Mondays

Yes, I am behind.

There are so many articles and media sources that knock red meat and how they cause cancers and diseases and it is terrible for the environment. Well yes, if you don't consume in moderation and pay attention to what went into feeding and processing the animal and yes like most everything else mankind has done, it does take its' toll on the Earth. After watching documentaries like Food Inc. I definitely stopped eating certain proteins for a long time; however, after doing a little research and looking at the benefits of grass fed, meat and I are friends again.

Nom Nom Paleo reposted a link to several articles and blog posts from Chris Kresser that discuss the health benefits and debunk some of the myths of red meat. Chris Kresser is leader in paleo nutrition and researcher for ancestral health. Since discovering him on Nom Nom, I've found that there are several interesting posts that he has for health and nutrition and I learn something new each time I read through.

Don't get me wrong, Hess and I are meat eaters and our freezer is packed with grass-fed meats and wild fish. However, processing red meat does take its' toll on the environment- tons of water and land usage for grazing. In comparison to pork or chicken, beef does take several times more feed, water and area to raise and process. Even with free range beef, the land does change from the cattle roaming and grazing. Consumed in moderation, red meat has plenty of flavor and nutritional value. So like with everything there are pros and cons and you just have to be aware of what you are putting into your body.

About a week ago, we were reading several articles and watching another food documentary and Hess came up with the idea for us to do Meatless Mondays (since I always talk about how one of my jobs does Teriyaki Thursdays and Taco Cart Fridays). We spend quite a bit on ground beef, pork or chicken thighs and sometimes our vegetables go bad before we can finish them. Even though it is only one day a week, we can do our own little part to help the environment and to focus on making some vegetable centered dishes that are just as delicious. There are so many times I go to make our side dishes and realize we've had the same sautéed or roasted vegetables and want to come up with another creative and yummy way to prepare vegetables. I have tried mashed sweet potatoes and parsnip purees which are awesome but with summer around the corner, I need new ideas!

Now with Meatless Mondays I spend Saturday prepping and finding new recipes that are filling for Monday. Thus far my go to and one of our favorites has been squash and zucchini noodles with any type of sauce. I try to make fresh salsa and guacamole that we can have with eggs for breakfast to make it more filling since it is a no bacon day.

At work one of our vegetarian options are fat Portobello mushroom sandwiches and last week I tried to take a leaf out of that book. Since these mushrooms are so big and meaty I thought they may be like a 'steak' substitute. They were delicious but they did cook down more than I thought they would and so were much smaller and not as filling. Next time we are going with two 'steaks' each. See the Tip for the Day for the recipe!

Now that we are getting back into the swing of things, it is also much easier to prep and the week. Having a day that I know are mostly vegetables and a small amount of beans after I am finished with Whole30, makes shopping a little easier. I know that come Monday I am most likely going to cook up all our vegetables so I know they won't go bad.

Before we would sometimes snack on charcuterie and those delicious meats with vegetables (and cheese for Hess). Now I snack on almonds, pistachios and cut up celery and carrots sticks to much on with almond butter (or peanut butter or hummus for Hess). I have to say, I love a good ol' T-Bone steak on the grill but all the different meals we have been making for MMs, I don't miss that protein as much as I thought I would!

Tip for the Day: Marinated Portobello Mushroom Steaks
5 large Portobello Mushrooms, cleaned and gills scraped out
Olive oil
Balsamic vinegar
Salt
Pepper
4 cloves chopped garlic
2 tbsp ghee or butter

Take the caps and place in plastic bag or baking dish with a lid. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle salt and pepper and toss with garlic and balsamic. I let mine marinate overnight. Pop them in the oven at 375 for 15-20 minutes cap side down in the butter. Enjoy with some zucchini noodles or parsnip puree!

Whole30 Day 13 Double Dinner Dates

My dad has been asking me to start putting up more restaurant reviews since most of my pictures are of food and the places I venture to in Ptown (yes, I'm that person but I never let my food get cold). Recently Hess and I have been wrangling our friends into eating with us. So this is a later post of our food adventure and review of Ox that we went with my fellow foodie co worker and his fiance.

Argentinean inspired, deliciousness and so paleo friendly! We started with a taste of butternut squash soup, a creamy, warm sip of flavors.

My buddy drank his way through Ox's unique cocktail menu while Hess and I shared a bottle of wine. Our appetizer was something that I had my eye on since I had seen their menu months prior. Smoked Beef Tongue en Vinagreta with horseradish, ensalada Rusa with sweetbread croutons. This was the one unique dish we all agreed on trying and it was amazing. Ewww tongue you say? It was like eating beef tar tar, a perfect salad and the sweetbreads were so crispy. I typically eat horseradish with my beef but this charcuterie did not even need it.

The way that Ox is set up is a bit like a Morton's or any other typical steak house where the entrees and the sides are separate. Our friends ended up getting the Asado Agrentino for 2 (I tried for a while to get Hess and I to split this). This was a perfect intro for what Ox has to offer, a little bit of everything with the sides included. grilled short rib, house chorizo and Morcilla sausages, skirt steak, sweetbreads, fried potatoes and green salad. Literally a smorsgaboard of protein with so much flavor and aromas that it was a little overwhelming even to look at. For the price of this meal the asado Agrentino was a great deal.

Hess and I opted for just a small or what we thought would be small portions of each to share. I went with the small portion of beef shirt steak and Hess debated between the house chorizo and the house morcilla (blood sausage) finally settling on the chorizo. All of the proteins are served with bread (that smelled delicious) and chimichurri, we went through multiple bowls of this delicious sauce!

We also chose the roasted broccolini, charred poblano romesco, toasted pecans and pickled red onions and the caramelized cauliflower, spicy golden raisin vinaigrette with mint and roasted peanuts. It was so much food but then our server brought out the dessert menu...

We had no choice. So we all decided to get a dessert hoping that we would all get something different to share and taste and we ended up getting the same- 2 orders of the Custard: cream cheese panna cotta, caramelized apple with chantilly cream and milk glazed apple fritters (not paleo but totally worth the slight tummy ache later) and 2 orders of the Chocolate: bittersweet chocolate-olive oil cake, fudge sauce, peppermint ice cream and molasses anglaise (again not paleo but totally worth it).

The service was great, water glasses were always full, they cleared dishes promptly and even came by to clear crumbs. 3 hours of great company, amazing food and a place checked off my list.

Tip of the Day: Most cities have the top 50 places or top however many places or things to do. Ptown just released their top 35 places to eat and this year I am trying to get to all of them. Find out the most popular or top places to check out for some new foods and places! Make it a date night, girls night out or a family outing!

Whole30 Day12 Kombucha? Kombu-cha!

One of the things that I miss while eating paleo, besides chips, bread and cheese (which I admit, I have been admitting and paying for it dearly), I miss ginger ale. I grew up in Michigan in a small city outside of Detroit, spending weekends at the park or driving down with my family to Cedar Point to ride my favorite roller coaster the Screwdriver or eating a hani with coleslaw and a side of chili cheese fries. Never had a hani?..oh dear me- it definitely is not paleo but check out the National Coney Island site to gaze upon it's greatness. Getting side tracked...

Ginger Ale. For me I expect a very specific taste- a carmel, vanilla flavor, highly carbonated and very gold in color. Vernors. It's a Michigan thing that turned into a Midwest thing that is very rarely found in the PNW.  Vernors is the oldest surviving brand of ginger ale in the United States according to my internet searches. It's a one of a kind taste that is impossible to match. 

It may be the carbonation or maybe the intense ginger flavor that I miss Vernors. I have tried to just drink the Canadian Dry Ginger Ale, or even the organic "authentic" ginger ale from stores like Whole Foods or New Seasons- just not the same. 

One of the drinks that I have found that help curb my carbonated craving is kombucha. It has taken several tries and particular flavors for me to really enjoy kombucha. Kombucha? What is that?! It is black or green tea that is fermented with a symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast, also known as as a SCOBY. GT's makes several different flavors and is one of my favorites but really expensive if you drink it every day, between $2.50-$4 a bottle. So we decided to brew our own.

Super simple and a great learning tool as you can watch your SCOBY grow! After your brew is done fermenting you can add fruit juices, fruit pieces and my favorite is fresh grated ginger.  With the ginger, I get closer and closer to that Vernors taste. My next attempt is trying for that creamy carbonated taste which I am not really sure how to achieve but the subtle ginger and gold color are there and do curb my ginger ale cravings...for now.

Tip for the Day: Kombucha isn't always Whole30 approved since it does have sugar or fruit juice. However, a nice substitute besides the flavored water I've talked about before or soda water! You get that carbonation and can add fresh lemons or limes and is much less expensive than a bottle of Pellegrino.

Whole30 Day 11 Breakfast Time

If you have been reading my posts you know just how much I love breakfast. It is the one meal that I wouldn't mind eating for lunch and dinner as well. It is one of the meals that I can incorporate vegetables and fruit and limited protein, besides eggs. So here are some of the breakfasts that I've been cooking up at home with recipes!

 These aren't Whole30 approved since they are baked goods but this is my favorite banana bread recipe and it can be modified however you want!
4 very ripe, mashed bananas
1/3 cup melted coconut oil or butter
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup coconut flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
Preheat to 350 and mix all the ingredients together in a bowl. Pour into a lightly greased loaf pan (we like grab and go so we use muffin and mini muffin tins). Bake for 45-60 minutes (depending on altitude and oven). You can also add dark chocolate, walnuts. It is really important that the bananas are ripe so that they are a little more sweet but you can always modify and add some maple syrup to add that sweetness. These are always the first ones I bake after I get done with Whole30.


You can never go wrong with your simple bacon, eggs and potatoes. We love eggs from the coup if we can get them, uncured bacon and I like to keep with the no white potatoes so we make sweetpotato hash browns. They take just minutes to make- cheese grater, squeeze the moisture out and fry them up with a little ghee!
Sauces are sometimes a nice compliment to breakfast, my brother used to love ketchup with his eggs, my dad is a huge Tapitio fan, Hess likes anything spicy especially Sirache and I like Portland Ketchup or Chalula. It also depends on what you're eating. With the ever so delicious banana or pumpkin pancakes, real maple syrup and sausage links.

Breakfast is so versatile and you can add anything you want. My breakfast the past few mornings I have been trying to use as many vegetables I can. On the left fresh fruit (kiwis are so yummy and not too sweet and the clementines are from my parents orchard), eggs however you'd like and leftover roast with kale, garlic, onions and tomatoes. This morning I made the scramble on the right- Trader Joe's broccoli, kale, Brussels sprout mix, tomatoes and grass fed ground beef. These meals are so quick and easy. 

Tip for the Day: If you're bored with the ho hum of eggs and bacon or stir frys with no rice, try something new! It's the reason I do PiYo and other BeachBody workouts, they're all different and keep me interested. Food is the same, don't get bored with what gives you nutrients and energy!