Whole30 #3 -- FINISHED!

so we finished our 3rd whole30 last thursday.  to celebrate, we went out to dinner! still ate paleo, though.  steak, salad, steamed veggies.  it was good, and was such a relief to both my husband and i that we didn't have to cook!  as good as the whole30 is, and as good as we feel, by the end of the month, we both are just plain tired of cooking!  we had good results this time. we both had gained an insane amount of weight in december. my daughter is a pastry chef (all traditionally prepared), and she was doing cookie boxes for sale.  i ate my share of "oops" cookies, and i made some of my traditional Christmas goodies as well, but  i didn't realize how much i had pigged out until i got on the scale on day one of the whole30 and found that i had gained a total of 9 pounds. in only ONE month.  my husband had gained 7 pounds.  i really wasn't feeling that great, and i couldn't button some of the jeans i had worn just a month before. my stomach was really bloated and i was having digestion issues again.  BOO! but totally my own doing.  so no more wheat, no dairy, etc.  the first 10 days or so, i had a few headaches, was really tired and kind of depressed feeling.  as i finished the second week and headed into the third, i was feeling a lot better, my bloating was pretty much gone, and so were the digestion problems.  i did cheat a bit in the form of weighing myself occasionally during the month.  you are not supposed to weigh yourself during a whole30 because the focus is supposed to be on getting healthy, not losing weight, but this time i WAS focused on losing weight and i wanted to see if it was happening.  every time i weighed myself, i was down a pound or two, and on january 31 when i weighed myself, i found i had lost ALL of the holiday weight!! i was down a total of 9 pounds!! i was very happy about that.  all my jeans fit again, and i am very pleased with the results. my husband also lost all of his holiday weight.

with the superbowl coming up, we both gave ourselves permission to indulge a little.  i was very careful though to not have any wheat, and i made a batch of paleo brownies and a paleo/vegan broccoli salad.
i will post the brownie recipe in a future post, but here is the recipe for the broccoli salad.  i was surprised at how good it is when i had it for the first time.  it looks like it has a mayonnaise based dressing, and i don't really like mayo that much. when i took my first bite, i was shocked that it didn't taste like mayo at all.  it was rather sweet, and when i asked the person who made it what was in it, she said the dressing was made from soaked and pureed cashews!  i will give the ingredients as they are written in the recipe, and then i will add notes about how i have changed it a bit.

                                           photo credit:
                                    http://www.eatingbirdfood.com

                           Broccoli Raisin Sunflower Seed Salad

       Dressing:

• 1 cup raw, unsalted cashews, soaked in water for at least 2 hours, up to overnight
• juice from 1 1/2 lemons
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 shallot (2 tablespoons chopped)
• 1 clove garlic
• 2 tablespoons agave nectar
• 1/2 teaspoon mustard powder
• pinch sea salt

      Drain cashews, discard liquid. Combine all ingredients in blender or food processor.  Mix until very
      smooth.

      Salad:

• 6 cups raw, chopped broccoli
• 1/2 red onion, finely chopped
• 1 cup raisins
• 1 cup sunflower seeds 

       Mix together chopped broccoli, chopped onion, raisins and sunflower seeds.  Top with dressing and
       combine until all ingredients are well coated.  Serve cold or at room temperature.

      My notes:

1.  i used the juice of only 1 lemon.  my preference.
2. instead of water, i substituted  pineapple juice  it gives a bit more sweetness and goes really well with the flavors of the salad.
3. i did not use chopped shallots or garlic. again, my personal preference.  the chopped red onion in the salad itself is enough onion flavor for my family and i. 
4. i don't use agave. i use either coconut nectar or honey. if you use honey, this salad will not be vegan.
5. i use dried, unsweetened cranberries instead of raisins.  really, really good!
6. i substituted raw, unsalted pepitas (pumpkin seeds) for the sunflower seeds. again, i just like it that way!
7. you can chop the broccoli and the red onion in the food processor to make it easier.  i buy trader joe's raw, organic broccoli florets.  don't use broccoli that has been frozen and thawed.
8. i chop my broccoli quite a bit smaller than shown in the photo above; i just didn't have another picture to show.  her recipe is very similar to this one, however.

if there doesn't seem to be enough dressing to coat all the ingredients, just add a bit more water or pineapple juice until everything is well coated.

 enjoy!!!

 

    

Day 1, whole30 round 3

most people started their january whole30 yesterday -- we chose to wait one more day and started ours today.  my husband got up and did his exercises and walk.  i did not.  he said he even tried to wake me up by shaking my foot, but i felt nothing!! i must have been really tired.  when i did finally get up, i just felt off, and have felt like that all day.  i am not really sure why.  i did ok with my eating, but i just feel very uncomfortable.  thankfully my husband fixed most of the dinner, so all i had to do was make a salad and cut up some veggies and fruit.  we are doing something a bit different this time -- in our past whole30 months, we made some extra non paleo side dishes for our kids. this time, we will not be doing that so much, as we want to see if our 13 year old son will benefit from further changes to his diet.  he has been a good sport about things as we have changed our diet over the past 2 years, but he has stubbornly resisted some facets of paleo eating.  for this round, he has agreed to give up sweets and grains, which is huge for him.  his sweet tooth is worse than mine. i have let him keep his daily glass of chocolate milk and since he doesn't like eggs he will also get to eat waffles for breakfast, but i make them from my own grain free recipe. thankfully he likes meat and chicken and fruits and veggies, so my main challenge will be keeping him full.  at 13, he is growing and eating like crazy!

so, for my eating today, i had an aidell's chicken apple sausage (whole30 compliant with no sugar and no preservatives added) and a banana for breakfast.  for lunch i had a couple of hard boiled eggs and an orange.  for my afternoon snack i ate a little more than an ounce of dry roasted almonds and some dried cranberries (no sugar added).  for dinner i ate 2 roasted chicken thighs (roasted with the skin on but i took the skin off before i ate them), some roasted vegetables, salad and an apple.  my total calories came to 1490, with 44% of calories from fat, 22% from protein and 35% from carbs.  i also exceeded my daily fiber goal -- daily goal is 25 grams of fiber, and today i took in 28.6 grams.  my only exercise came from grocery shopping and climbing stairs.  tomorrow will be different -- i hope!!

HERE is nom nom paleo's post of the day -- today she shows us how to make homemade mayonnaise.  i have not tried it yet, but i need to because my husband likes salad dressing, and most commercially made dressings have non-compliant ingredients in them.

it is time for bed now -- i hope i feel better tomorrow!!

Happy As A Clam!

last weekend we went to the coast, where we have a small house just north of long beach, washington. long beach is on a 22 mile long peninsula in southwest washington.  the peninsula is surrounded by the pacific ocean on one side and  willapa bay on the other side.  we always have a fun, relaxing time when we go.  here is the link to the long beach peninsula website.  it is full of information on all the activities you can enjoy if you go.  one of our favorite activities to do there is clamming.  when there is a minus tide (meaning an extremely low tide) we drive about 45 minutes around to the mainland side of willapa bay to our favorite clamming spot, and we get out our rakes and bags and start digging for steamer clams. 

if we pick the right spot, every draw of the rake across the sand can yield at least one clam, sometimes more.  shellfish licenses are required, and each person can keep up to 40 clams.  on this day, my husband, my son and i limited out in less than 30 minutes! here are the results of our labor:

i couldn't wait to make our favorite clam recipe for dinner.  it is chef mario batali's recipe for manila clams with pancetta, red chiles and linguine:

1 lb linguine *
1/2 medium red onion, finely minced
1/4 lb pancetta, cut into 1/8th inch dice(our local trader joe's sells packaged diced pancetta that is perfect)**
4 cloves garlic, peeled and finely diced (i use about 2 cloves of garlic -- 4 is too much for me)
6 tblsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp crushed red chile pepper
1 lb manila clams, scrubbed and rinsed
2 cups white wine ***
4 tblsp unsalted butter
1 bunch italian parsley, finely chopped (yield 1/4 cup) (i use dried if fresh isn't available)

bring 6 quarts of water to a boil and add 2 tblsp salt.

in a large saute pan, saute red onion, pancetta and garlic over medium heat until onion is very soft and pancetta is translucent, about 10 minutes.  Add hot chiles clams, white wine and butter and bring to a boil.  cook until all clams have opened, and then set aside.

boil linguine according to package instructions. while softened but still firm, drain in colander over sink and toss into pan with clams and stir gently to mix.  this should still be a little broth-like.  add chopped parsley, pour into warm serving bowls and serve.

* as we are still mostly wheat and grain free, my husband and i had our clams served over zucchini "noodles" -- zucchini that had been cut julienne style and sauteed until it was just starting to soften. 

** i didn't have pancetta available at the time, so i used a pound of bacon that had been diced and sauteed it with the onion.

*** instead of 2 cups of white wine, i used 1 cup of white wine, 1 cup of bottled clam juice and about a 1/2 cup of chicken stock.  that is just how we like it.  i have made it with only the white wine as well, and it is still delicious!

here are the clams as they are cooking:

  and the finished product . . .

i served the clams with a big bowl of roasted mixed veggies for my husband and i, and with noodles sprinkled with parmesan cheese for my son (he is not totally grain free . . . yet!)..  we all scarfed it down in no time.  it was delicious!!!

i hope you are able to try the recipe sometime.  thanks for reading!