Hey! I think it’s time I summarized our Whole30 experience. We are on Day 20, going strong. Here’s a summary of what we’ve been eating, with some random thoughts about how it’s going. I’ve tried to link to the recipes I found on the internet. I’m also using Well Fed 2, and I really like that cookbook. I have to say that between this book and NomNom Paleo we have indeed been well fed.
Back on Day 12 we were firmly established in the “hash for breakfast” routine, and that continues to be our breakfast routine. This was also a day to eat dinner out. My in-laws invited us over for my sweet father-in-law’s birthday. With some careful eating and not too many questions I was able to stay approximately on Whole30. My MIL had fixed pork roast with potatoes and carrots, along with a salad and some other vegetables. I made it work and didn’t police the kids too closely. Besides, under the new rules they were free to eat anything.
The next day we repeated the delicious Hamburger Soup from the Pioneer Woman. Bill had come home from 10 days in China and we all felt like a homey soup was a good choice for the day. It went over as well the second time as the first. It’s really just a basic, delicious soup.
Day 14 was a Wednesday, and I tried to get ahead of the game by cooking a bunch of chicken nuggets (four pounds’ worth) and a batch of tuna patties. I also roasted a huge amount of sweet and white potatoes for breakfast. We took some of the nuggets for the boys’ wrestling meet in Atlanta, and when we returned…the girls had eaten all the meat I had prepared. Every bit of the tuna cakes and the nuggets. So much for getting ahead of the game!
Day 15 found us traveling to North Carolina for the day. (My grandmother had passed away earlier and this was her funeral.) Breakfast was the filling of a sausage burrito from Chick-Fil-A. Don’t judge. We had to be on the road by 5:30 a.m. and the girls had eaten all the chicken nuggets! Lunch was a steak at Chili’s, but it was so tiny I was starving on the drive back home. Dinner was tough that night. Ordinarily we would have ordered a pizza and called it done. But on this day I made salmon patties and cauliflower soup, both from Well Fed 2, because it’s what I had on hand. They were both delicious but they didn’t exactly go together.
Day 16 was another wrestling day. I was absolutely not prepared, so I threw some trail mix and Lara Bars in the car for the very long drive to the meet. I ended up just having a Lara Bar for dinner. Not ideal!
The next day the girls stayed home while the boys left to wrestle. I had time that evening to prepare Pina Colada pork with one of the biggest surprised yet: cauliflower rice! (All of this from Well Fed 2, of course.) To make it, coarsely chop a head of cauliflower in a food processor. Saute some garlic and onions in a little coconut oil, add the “riced” cauliflower, and saute. It takes about ten minutes but the cauliflower tastes great. It was a huge hit with the delicious sauce from the pork.
Sunday was Day 18. It was a surprisingly busy day, between church, some school activities and a meeting at the farm. We decided that a repeat of bacon burgers, along with watermelon, roasted zucchini and mushrooms would be tasty.
Yesterday I roasted a couple of chickens, which we ate for dinner along with some broccoli and spaghetti squash fritters. The fritters were kind of a pain to make but so tasty. I could have eaten the whole stack!
Tonight we just sat down to a beautiful pot of Oven-braised Mexican Beef, cauli-rice, veggies and fruits. The recipe, from Nom Nom Paleo, is outstanding. We were talking about how we want to eat it in a couple of weeks! (Think tortillas and cheese, and a margarita for Mom.) This is worth making no matter what kind of diet you are on. The “rice” was perfect for catching all the delicious sauce that the meat was in. This is a home run.
I am so glad we are twenty days in. I feel in some ways like I can see the finish line. On the other hand, I hope we don’t go right back to eating junk. I don’t really think I will, at least not right away. I can tell that my tolerance for sweet flavors is down quite a bit, and that’s a good thing. I have some other thoughts about this, too, but I want to sit on them til we are done with the program.
I hope the recipes are helpful. I’d love to know if you have found other sources for great meal ideas or recipes!