Whole30 – Day 10

Woo hoo! We’re into double digits!  One thing I’ve noticed recently is, I no longer fantasize about food.  Before I started Whole30, food would be on my brain all day long in some capacity.  A lot of times, I would eat out of boredom and not because I was truly hungry.  I would start thinking about something that I wanted and I would literally obsess about it until I eventually gave in.  So, only 10 days into this program and I’m already feeling like I have a better relationship with food.

Our daily e-mail shared some kitchen tips and tricks:

• From frozen to feasting. When I just can’t bear to pack one more work lunch (and I’m feeling really lazy), I don’t even bother to cook my food. Just put two big servings of frozen vegetables in a microwaveable container then drizzle them with olive oil and a good shake of garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Add a microwaveable protein (grilled chicken, frozen cooked shrimp), cram on the lid, and shove the container in your bag. At lunchtime, microwave the whole shebang for three minutes, and voila! Instant lunch with no real cooking time. (From Melissa Joulwan, The Clothes Make the Girl.)

• Speedy spinach. Here’s an effortless way to include more leafy greens in your meals. Step 1. Get some baby spinach. Step 2. Put a handful of spinach in the bottom of a bowl or plate. Step 3. Spoon delicious, hot food containing meat and vegetables over the top. Step 4. Allow the residual heat to lightly wilt the spinach leaves. Step 5. Nom nom nom. This works great with stir-frys, sautés, chili, stews, and soups.

• Ready veggies. Having trouble keeping enough veggies on hand? Melissa Joulwan from The Clothes Make The Girl serves up tips for keeping your fridge stocked with ready-to-go veggies for Whole30 success.

• Choppity chop. Anytime you’re chopping veggies, chop extra. So, if you have the cutting board out and you’re chopping onions, peppers, broccoli, etc., chop up extra, and store the extra in the fridge for future use. That way, when you want to create a quick dish, you already have things chopped and ready to go. (From Julie and Charles Mayfield, of Paleo Comfort Foods.)

• Ripen your avocados with magic! OK, it’s not really magic… it’s the ethylene that naturally occurs in certain types of ripe fruits. Just place a banana or apple in a closed brown paper bag with an under-ripe avocado, and 24 hours later, your avocado will be guacamole-ready.

• Learn to chop an onion. The Whole30 can mean spending a fair amount of time in the kitchen, and most savory dishes worth their salt start with aromatics like onions and garlic sautéed in luscious fat. This video on how to chop an onion will make you the fastest chopper in your household (and, of course, be sure you know how to use your chef’s knifefirst).

• Freeze now, use later. Boost veggies, stews, and stir-frys by adding some homemade bone broth. Pressed for time? Fill a few ice cube trays with chicken or beef broth. Dump the frozen cubes into a freezer bag. Then grab a few cubes to add to your piping-hot dish before serving. The same works for leftover lemons or limes. Squeeze them and freeze the juice in an ice-cube tray. Once they’re frozen, store the cubes in zippered plastic bags and use them for recipes that call for fresh lemon or lime juice. (One cube equals about one tablespoon of juice.)

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Breakfast

2 eggs, sausage, butternut squash, mushroom and red pepper hash along with some berries.

Lunch

Chicken salad with chicken, red peppers, cucumbers, apples, blueberries, green onions, cashews and homemade paleo mayo.  This was awesome! Love all of the different colors and flavors.

I also had half of this plum.

Dinner

I came home from the gym to find this:

Pork roast and sauerkraut.  I roasted up a few carrots and had a delicious dinner.

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I stayed up a little later than normal to watch the Season Premier of Duck Dynasty.

Do you watch this show?  I heard about it for so long and finally decided to check it out a  couple of months ago.  As silly and crazy as it is, it makes me laugh.  It’s like a train wreck.  Once you start watching, you can’t stop.  :)

So, there you have it. Day 10 down – 20 to go!  You can find all of my Whole30 posts here.

Related posts:

Whole30 – Day 2 Whole30 – Day 6 Whole30 – Day 5 Whole30 – Day 4