Day 17

Actually, I am going to start with dinner from Day 16 (Monday). My friend Megan suggested a recipe with sauteed chicken, zucchini, onions, garlic, and coconut oil. We tried it on Monday and I loved it! Interestingly enough, one of the few recipes I have tried with coconut stuff in it that I thought was actually good. Not just edible, but good. Jason didn't like it as much, but still said he thought it was okay.

Yesterday was day 17, and I started off with my usual, eggs and fruit (grapes).

For lunch I decided to be adventurous and try pancakes again. Eden had a waffle for breakfast and I had really been craving some! If I had to name my recipe I think I would call it "everything but the kitchen sink pancakes." I was determined to make these taste good, so I just kept putting things in that I thought would help. The base recipe I used was from paleospirit.com. The core ingredient was coconut flour, which my dear friend Jennie had given me a week or so ago!

From there, I added applesauce (natural, with no added sugar or preservatives) and mashed up bananas. I also added tons of cinnamon and some coconut milk. Of course it called for the normal baking soda, salt, eggs, etc. And here is how they turned out:

That's right folks, they actually looked like regular pancakes! Which is more than I can say for my first attempt. Although these were definitely edible, I still didn't particularly like them. They were extremely dense (I think because of the applesauce, but I was trying to find something to help with the flavor!). And I'm afraid I need to just admit that I do not like anything with coconut. Kinda stinks since so much of what is in the paleo lifestyle includes that little ingredient. I did like the chicken (as mentioned above, made with coconut oil), but I think that was because it reminded me of sweet and sour chicken. The flavor from the coconut flour I used for these pancakes unfortunately reminded me of the "mud pancakes" I made last week and therefore made these a little hard to swallow...bad memories, haha. I managed to eat one for lunch, which tided me over til dinner.

In the afternoon, I decided to do some painting...got a little into it though and did the entire master bedroom edging and paid for it last night. I was so sore! I guess it counted as a workout though. Yesterday was also my first attempt at using the power drill by myself - VERY COOL! I liked it, made me feel like I could really do something, haha. I actually only used it to remove some nails (from the towel bars hanging in our bathroom), but still, it was on and I was holding it (as Jason instructed through the phone). :)

Dinner last night was wonderful: steak, roasted sweet potatoes, and sauteed zucchini and onions. For whatever reason, it just hit the spot.

So far today I have had leftover coconut chicken with sweet potatoes for breakfast. Not feeling super hungry because the children shared their colds. Hopefully we will all be better in the next few days.

17 down, 13 to go!

Day 15 - Day 16

Yucky. That is how most of us in the Caranci crew have been feeling the last couple of days. The kids have colds and I think they have passed them on to Jas and me. We are both feeling it coming on. Didn't keep them from having a good time playing with Dad yesterday, though!

The food from yesterday was as follows: breakfast was eggs and a banana, lunch was a bit of leftover meatloaf and roasted butternut squash, and dinner was a nice big salad of greens, chicken, olives, and mustard dressing. I don't think I had any snacks yesterday, but I did taste a new sweet potato chip from Aldi (love Aldi!) that is allowed in whole30 that was good!

Today, I had eggs again for breakfast but this time with a couple of turkey meatballs. Didn't have lunch, because I wasn't hungry, but after a quick nap I ate a snack of grapes and walnuts.

Dinner will be sauteed chicken in coconut oil with zucchini, onions and garlic. And maybe a salad too.

It is a bit strange, but I just have simply not been hungry the last few days. I feel hungry when I first wake up in the morning, but that's about it. I can tell I need to eat when I feel a little dizzy or weak, but I'm not having actual hunger pains. Guess that is a good thing?

Over the halfway mark, 16 days down, 14 to go!

Day 14

Just to catch up on yesterday before today's food, my good friend Megan brought me some goodies! First up, this little jar of coconut oil:

I have been wanting to get some since I started my whole30 and just never gotten around to it. This way I can try it before buying (it is kinda expensive). Have I mentioned that Megan is super thoughtful? :)

She also brought me curtains for Harry's room - I have had them for a while but needed a few alterations done - she is much more talented than I am and delivered splendidly! So excited for him to have curtains, it makes his room look so much more cozy! I would have taken a before shot, but I was too excited to get them hung up and forgot.

(Eden was climbing the step ladder while I was taking pictures - she is a natural monkey)

Then last night we were off to Leblon - it was SO good! We had such a good time with our friends, Jennie and Dustin. There were lots of laughs and we enjoyed the time and food immensely!

(does anyone else notice how blaringly white all of us are, except for Dustin?)

Today has been kinda boring, but I had eggs for breakfast with a couple of turkey meatballs. I wasn't hungry at lunch, but had a couple of pieces of turkey with mustard and some pineapple at about 3pm. Dinner was my guac mash (guacamole with grilled chicken added in), which I invented last Saturday when the pancakes were a flop and have had several times since then because it was so good! I finally remembered to snap a picture:

Still feeling the same, but excited about the next week. I have heard that week 3 is when you start to feel awesome! :) 14 days down, 16 to go!

Day 13

Today has been kinda ho-hum: eggs with a banana for breakfast. Lunch hasn't happened yet, but I am planning to have some tomato, avocado, and onions mixed together. Sounds weird, but it's basically like eating guacamole. I don't want to eat too much, because tonight is gonna be stellar - we are eating at LEBLON! Jason works at a Brazilian churrascaria called Leblon, and they serve 10 different kinds of rotisserie meats, including beef, chicken, lamb, pork and sausage. It is one of my favorite places to eat. I have been looking forward to it for weeks! We are going with Jennie (my paleo pal) and her husband Dustin (a friend I have known since high school age). Can't wait for the food and fellowship!

Day 12

This is what I now have to look forward to today:

I went on a cooking rampage this morning, and left my sink full of dirty dishes to tackle...later. :)

The first on my cooking list was a new recipe, paleo bread. This is what it looked like after baking it:

Still looks uncooked, right? I thought so too. But trust me, it is baked through! Overall I think this was a good recipe - super easy, and the bread is certainly edible, unlike the pancakes I made the other day. It has a nice, super-dense texture, but I think a little bit of coconut oil on top would make the difference - GOTTA get some of that stuff!

Next up was turkey meatballs - same ones I made last time, but I switched the seasonings up a bit. I thought they were better this time - not as dry (I didn't cook them quite as long) and the flavor was better since I just dumped in a bunch of stuff instead of following the recipe so closely.

(oh, and I'm not sure why they leak like that when they are baked, but that gooey stuff underneath them stays on the pan when you take the meatballs off)

Last was some roasted butternut squash - I have made mashed before, but never tried roasting it. The verdict? YUM! Really like it this way - although I wish I could get it to be a little crispier on the edges. Maybe not so much oil and longer cook time?

Here is my supply of goodies, all ready to go!

So my lunch was a meatball, small piece of bread, and some of the yummy squash. I am still not feeling very hungry, so this was plenty.

Tonight I will probably just munch on things I have ready, or maybe make another salad like I had last night: greens, avocado, olives, grilled chicken, onions, and mustard/balsamic dressing (it was delicious!). Jason is working late, so I can fend for myself. :)

Still feeling good, not as hungry and certainly more comfortable overall with the plan. I am enjoying the cooking, not so much the dishes. But here's to 12 days down, 18 to go!

Haircuts and Bathtime

It's happened: Harry's first haircut! The poor guy was getting so scruffy I hardly recognized him. So as we were hanging out at Grammy's yesterday, she offered to buzz it and I was thrilled. Here is our clean-cut cutie:

Super cute, isn't he? :) He did awesome with the clippers - I thought for sure he would freak out, but he handled it like a champ.

We also gave the kids their first bath together, and they had a blast. They both love the water, so put them in there together and it's a really good time. Here is a picture of them after the scrub-down:

(and no, we did not place the "x" there, it just happened to be censoring where we needed it to!)

Day 10 - Day 11

So...nothing very interesting to report. Yesterday I had the roast for dinner with carrots and onions, but wasn't anything spectacular. Today I haven't really been hungry so I had some apples for breakfast and a little bit of leftover roast for lunch. Dinner will be leftovers as well, since our fridge is ready to burst!

Honestly I feel like I have been eating too much in an effort to keep myself from getting hungry. After our big dinner of meatloaf a couple nights ago, I have just felt stuffed. Not that it is a bad thing because I need to lose a ton of weight and not eating will certainly help, haha! But I figure I will be doing good to eat only when I am truly hungry. Maybe that was part of my problem in the past, is that I was allowed to eat any kind of food I wanted to so I did just because it was there. Now I know there are only certain things I can eat, so if I'm not hungry I don't necessarily want to eat a carrot. If I had a brownie laying around you better bet I would convince myself I was hungry! Does that make sense? It does in my head, so I hope you all can follow it. :)

So there you have it - I feel very settled into this paleo thing now so it is just a matter of time to wait for the great benefits (outside of simply knowing I am eating WAY better choices for my health)!