My Whole 30: The Good, The Bad, The Cravings

I did a lot of research, read the book, joined a couple of FaceBook groups and finally started my Whole 30 on July 5, 2016. Here's my month in review:

Day 1: This isn't so bad. In fact, it's kind of fun! 

The UseUpAllTheVeggies Breakfast Bowl

Day 2: These Whole 30 people are elitist. They're kind of rude and snobby to newbs. "You. Ate. A DATE?! That is so not compliant." "Cancer is hard. Drinking black coffee is NOT hard." Well, no shit cancer is hard and drinking black coffee isn't even in the same ball park. As someone who has personally seen and experienced cancer, I'm slightly offended when these words are thrown at me. Why would you even... ANYWAY. Moving on. I removed myself from the FB groups and turned to Pinterest. Pinterest is my friend.

Chicken Waldorf Salad

Day 3: Okay, I'm gonna do this my way. Screw your black coffee. I'm drinking mine with coconut milk, 1/8 of a fig (which I later omitted because the chunky texture was weird), homemade vanilla and cinnamon. Mmmm, delicious!

Bonus: I no longer want to slaughter everyone who talks to me.

Scrambled Eggs w/ Guac & Salsa Verde

Day 7: I am so tired. And hazy. Did someone slip something in my water, or is this detox?

Lightened Up Chicken Parm

Day 10: I feel slightly less drugged. Maybe a bit thinner and less bloated. Meals do take some time to prep and cook, but as someone who has been making most meals from scratch for almost 2 years, this is normal.

Roasted Beets & Brussels

Day 16: EAT ALL THE VEGGIES! Throw in a slab of steak and 1/2 an avocado, please. I'm feeling great, and maybe a little like a cave woman as I tear into each meal.

Cauliflower Tabbouleh. Burger on the Side. 

Day 21: The only things I really miss are cheese and wine. Especially on days when I'm with my children all day.

Did I mention I'm a stay at home mom??

Chicken BLT w/ Crispy Potatoes

Day 30: Down 10lbs. Not too shabby. Tried my old coffee creamer, BLEH. That stuff is nasty. 

Fried Eggs w/ Sauteed Spinach & Tomatoes

Day 32: I ate some cheese, had some wine. Maybe a gluten-filled chicken nugget? The euphoria (and wine) have clouded my memories.

Day 33: I feel kind of gross. I'm gonna stick to mostly Whole 30 eating, but there will be wine. In moderation... Well, let's be honest, the moderation part is iffy.

Today: Down 11lbs total and I feel good. This Whole 30 with grace thing is working for me, and I see no reason to change it up.

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The Good:

You aren't stuck eating bland boiled veggies and baked meat. In fact, there is a lot of leeway for creative cooking and I really enjoyed that aspect of Whole 30. (If you're on Instagram, follow me for more food pics and recipes!) I also enjoyed being able to take the easy route and throw burgers on the grill once in a while.

While I did loose weight, I didn't really experience the increase energy, clearer skin, etc. that many people claim when doing Whole 30. That may, in part, be due to the fact that I was already eating largely gluten and dairy free and I'm not a soda or juice drinker. I'll keep this under "Good" though, because a lot of people do experience these benefits.

The Bad:

The extreme strictness was off putting to me. If you managed to get a grain of sugar in your green beans on day 29, you're supposed to re-start. (Bahaha! Man, they're funny.) The Whole 30 trolls on FB and Instagram were another downer. That just doesn't work for me. While I strictly stuck to foods technically allowed on the diet, I did have a few little "cheats" which included my daily coconut milk coffee and the occasional Larabar or Go Raw Choco Crunch Sprouted Cookies. Let's be clear, though, when I say occasional, I mean OCCASIONAL. This was a good balance for me, that allowed me to stay happy and still stick to the general principles of Whole 30. If I had not allowed myself these little concessions, I highly doubt I would have made it the full 30 days.

The Conclusion: 

All in all, I think Whole 30 is a great program. My entire family ate more veggies and less empty calories had I not done the diet and I was never, ever left hungry. Whole 30 helped teach me to eat intentionally and that's a big deal in my book.

Fall Inspired Sheperds Pie (Dairy and Gluten Free!)

Fall Inspired Sheperds Pie

serves 4-6

Ingredients:

1 Tbs olive oil
1/2 medium onion, diced
l lb ground turkey
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp ground pepper
1/2 tsp ground sage
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp smoked paprika
2 Tbs butter or coconut oil
3 Tbs white rice flour
2c chicken broth
1/2c pumpkin puree
1c frozen corn
1c frozen peas & carrots
1 recipe Sweet Potato Pumpkin Mash * (see below)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Saute onions in olive oil over medium high heat for one minute, then add in ground turkey. Season with ground sage, nutmeg, smoked paprika, salt and pepper. Cook until brown then drain fat. Return the meat to the pan.

Add butter (or coconut oil) and frozen vegetables to the browned turkey. Sprinkle with rice flour and stir to disperse the flour through the mixture.

Add broth and allow to simmer on medium low for 5-10 minutes. Stir in pumpkin puree. Allow to reduce and thicken before adjusting seasoning to your taste preference.

Grease up your baking pan, pour in the vegetable, meat and gravy mixture and spoon on (or pipe if you're feeling fancy) the sweet potato pumpkin mash. Top with shredded parmesan cheese if desired

Bake for 20 minutes and enjoy!

* Sweet Potato Pumpkin Mash

• 2 Large sweet potatoes
• 1/2c Pumpkin puree
• 1 tsp Cinnamon
• 2 Tbs coconut oil
• 2 Tbs coconut or almond milk

Boil sweet potatoes until fork tender. Drain.

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mash until desired consistency.

Quick & Delicious Sweet Potato Apple Hash

It may not feel much like Fall outside (72 degrees outside on the last day of September... in upstate New York?! Seriously.) but gosh darnit my kitchen is going to smell and taste like Fall! I started this morning by rounding up sweet potatoes, apples and cinnamon to make one of my favorites - potato hash.

Potato hash is one of those simple dishes that took me forever to perfect. If you just fry the potatoes in oil, they seem to get too crispy (*cough* burnt *cough*) on the outside before they're finally cooked through. Plus, that method seems to take forever. Seeing as I'm not exactly nice or patient when I'm hungry, that's a problem for me. I've also seen recipes where you add liquid to steam the potatoes but then they seem ... mushy. I'm not in to mushy. After a lot of trial and error, I figured out that if you fry the potatoes until crisp on the outside then simply place a lid on the pan and lower the cooking temperature for a few minutes the insides steam perfectly without loosing that delicious crispy outer shell.

I used the fry and steam method this morning and the result was pretty dang delicious. Of course, between my two thieving children, I ended up with more of a taste than a true breakfast. My kids are seriously lucky I love them so much.

Anyway, here's the recipe for my sweet potato hash. It takes around 15 minutes to prepare and makes 2 servings.

Sweet Potato Apple Hash

Ingredients:

1 large sweet potato
1 large tart apple
1 tbs coconut oil
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
pepper to taste

Directions:

Wash, peel and chop the sweet potato and apple into bite sized pieces. Try to keep all of the bites about the same size so they cook evenly.

Place a skillet over medium high heat and add coconut oil.

Once the pan is heated and the coconut oil is melted, place the sweet potato into the skillet. Sprinkle the cinnamon, salt and pepper over the potatoes and saute for 7 minutes or until the potatoes start to become crispy.

Add the apple chunks to the sweet potatoes, reduce the heat to medium low and place a lid over the pan.

3 minutes later your hash is ready to eat!

At my house, we like a mound of this hash by itself, topped with a fried egg or two for breakfast, as a side to pork chops for dinner or served on a bed of spinach and topped with walnuts for an easy vegan lunch. Hope you enjoy it as much as we do! :)

Crockpot Applesauce

My husband loves homemade applesauce. His mom always made it for him growing up and forever ruined him for the store bought version. Being such a good wife, I try to make the foods he loves every so often but after a few times of making applesauce on the stove top and with a food mill, I basically threw my hands in the air and gave up. Then, about a year ago, someone mentioned trying to make applesauce in a crockpot. Now that sounded like my kind of applesauce making - no mashing, no slaving and minimal clean up?! Yes, please. So, I looked up recipes and have spent the last year trying a bunch and creating the version that's perfect for my family. This one is our favorite. It's not too sweet, is slightly thick but not chunky and has just enough cinnamon mellowed with smooth tones of vanilla. Mmmmm, yum!

Ingredients:

• 10-12 apples (I used gala apples)
• 1 1/2 tsp fresh lemon juice
• 3 tbs sugar
• 1/3c water
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 vanilla bean, split and scraped
• Non-stick spray

Directions:

Spray crockpot with non-stick spray. Peel, core and cut the apples into chunks before putting into the crockpot. Add the remaining ingredients and stir. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours, stirring occasionally. No mashing is necessary as the apples break down on their own. Serve warm or refrigerate for up to 1 week.

All Natural 2 Ingredient Teething Cream

Let's talk about teething. It kinda sucks, right? Yeah, it totally does.

When my daughter was a baby and teething I remember giving her Tylenol every few hours around the clock for days. I don't even want to contemplate how many bottles of Infant Tylenol we went through before her first birthday. Then, when she was about 1, I started to see information on studies about a possible link between Acetaminophen and childhood asthma. All you have to do is hop on Google or Bing to do a search and in an instant you will find a bunch of articles like this one outlining the possible risks of this "safe" OTC drug.

It's scary to me to think of the possible risks and side effects of meds pediatricians recommend we give our children on a sometimes daily basis. I understand that all medicine, natural or otherwise, may pose a risk and must be taken appropriately and wisely. And make no mistake, if my child needed an OTC or prescription medicine I would certainly give it to them. Personally though, I've decided I'm not okay constantly dumping chemicals in my kid's bodies when there is a natural remedy that works just as well, or in some cases, even better. 

That's why, when my son started teething at 4 months*, I got busy experimenting and came up with my own recipe for all natural, homemade teething cream.

With just 2 ingredients this recipe is ridiculously easy and only takes a few minutes to make:

• In a small container combine 2 tsp softened Organic Unrefined Coconut Oil and 4 drops Thieves Essential Oil. Mix well.
• Store in refrigerator and apply as needed to gums for teething pain.

Added bonus, going all natural and chemical free is actually cheaper in this case. As for the cost break down, Thieves oil is $33.75 (wholesale cost) for a 15ml bottle that contains approximately 250 drops, so 4 drops is about $0.54. The cost of coconut oil will vary depending on where you buy and what brand, but on average a tsp will cost around $0.10. With those prices, the recipes only costs $0.74 and lasts me 2 months on average. I call that winning! :)

*Please note that Young Living does not recommend using Essential Oils on children under 6 months. Using them earlier was a personal decision. 

Olive Garden Healthy Copycat of Zuppa Toscana

Once upon a time I worked at Olive Garden and unsurprisingly their Zuppa Toscana is a pretty popular item. There is just something about a creamy bowl of steaming potato, kale and sausage that invites people to sit down and enjoy. I wanted that taste, that feeling, but without all the heaviness, which is how this recipe was born. Made in the crockpot so you can throw it together before work and enjoy at dinner time, here is my take on a healthier (and dairy free) Zuppa Toscana.

 Ingredients:

• 1 lb Turkey Italian sausage (mild or hot, it's up to you)
• 1 Tbs olive oil
• 3 medium russet potatoes, skin on and cut into rounds then like a pie so you end up with triangles
• 3 gloves garlic, minced
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 4 carrots, diced (optional - carrots are not in the original soup, but I like the color so I add them)
• 3 cups fresh kale, veins removed and cut into ribbons
• 32 oz organic chicken broth
• 2c water
• 1 can Coconut milk 

Directions:

1. Heat a pan with the olive oil on the stove top. Remove casings from sausage and brown.
2. To your crockpot add browned sausage, onions, garlic, carrots, potatoes, chicken broth and water.
3. Turn crock pot to low and allow to cook for 6-8 hours.
4. 20 minutes before serving stir in coconut milk and kale. 

Homemade Elderberry Syrup Recipe

Monday the kids and I made the trek to my husband's grandparent's house to celebrate Grandpa B's 85th birthday. We had a great time celebrating a wonderful man, eating way too much and hanging out with family in the back yard.

Towards the end of the party some of the cousins and Aunt Ruth started to raid Grandpa's elderberry bush. Aunt Ruth and I got to talking about the immune boosting powers of the elderberry and my recipe for homemade elderberry syrup and the next thing I know I'm heading home with all of the berries - not that I'm complaining! ;)

Aren't these babies gorgeous?!

Elderberries are packed full of good stuff, but most notably the elderberry contains flavanoids, which are thought to reduce swelling and inflammation, as well as vitamins A, B and C. Given these immune boosting components elderberries are often made into a syrup or tonic that is taken as a preventative to illness as well as to reduce and ease the symptoms of a cold or the flu.

Most health food stores carry elderberry syrup and you can certainly buy it ready made for around $16 per 7.5 oz bottle. Orrrrrr, you can use my super easy recipe to make your own 8 oz bottle of elderberry syrup for around $5. Yeah, that's right, you can make your own elderberry syrup for about a third of the cost of store bought brands. If you're lucky and manage to snag fresh elderberries for free the cost comes down even lower to about $2.50 per bottle. Aside from cost savings, making your own elderberry syrup allows you to use local honey for added health benefits as well as avoid any nasty sweeteners and additives that may be in ready made syrups.

No brainer, right? Right. So, let's get started!

DIY Elderberry Syrup

What You Will Need:

• 1c fresh or 2/3c dried elderberries (like these)
• 3c water
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 3 whole cloves
• 3/4c honey - raw and local if possible
• 1 8 or 9 oz container for storage
• potato masher
• saucepan
• fine sieve, coffee filter or cheese cloth

 Combine elderberries, water, cinnamon stick and cloves in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring just to a boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer until liquid reduces by half - approximately 1 hour.

Remove pan from heat and use a potato masher to mash the berries to release the berry juice.

Strain the mixture through a fine sieve into a bowl, discard the pulp. Allow liquid to cool until barely warm to the touch before stirring in the honey. The syrup will still be fairly liquidy, but don't worry, it will thicken some as it cools. 

Pour the syrup into an air tight container and refrigerate. Keeps for 2-3 months and can be taken once daily as an immune booster or up to 4x a day at the first sign of cold or flu. The general suggested dosage is 1/2-1 tsp for children and 1/2-1 tbs for adults.