Days 5 and 6: Tuna WARNING and New Recipe Experiment

BabyLove likes variety but, after yesterday, he says he is going to be more careful about what he wishes for!  Breakfast was eggs and lomi salmon, which he loves.  The lunch experiment was SB&J burgers with mango instead of strawberry.  He was VERY skeptical, so I made mine and let him try it before putting anything on his burger.  He was surprised to like my homemade sunbutter.  It was so simple to make!  I roasted a cookie sheet full of sunflower seeds, then put them in the food processor and added salt.  After about 10 minutes (on and off, or it will overheat), I added just under a tablespoon of avocado oil.  I could have added a little more oil to make it creamier but it was pretty darn good like that and I was afraid of adding too much oil.  I think what made it so good was that I roasted the seeds right before I made it, rather than buying pre-roasted seeds.  What BabyLove didn't care for was the flavor of mango (his favorite fruit) with the burger.  So I enjoyed my SB&J and he enjoyed his SB burger with lettuce and a side of brussels sprouts for lunch.  Dinner was one of our favorites: spaghetti squash with hamburger and homemade pasta sauce on top.

Today is a work day, so back to packing meals.  M1 was Aidell Chicken and Apple sausages and roasted red bell peppers and zucchini.  For lunch/dinner, I packed pork and carrots I had done in the crockpot, frozen normandy veggies, raw baby carrots, a pear, boiled eggs and nuts.  He has a training today, so hopefully he'll be home early!  If so, we'll have a real dinner instead of him snacking on eggs, carrots and nuts.

And now for the tuna warning: did you know that tuna in water may not be packed in just water?  It is packed in vegetable broth and has soy!  I did find SOME albacore tuna that really is packed in water and Kirkland Skipjack Tuna in water is also really packed in water. But every can of "regular" tuna I checked had soy! Just another lesson in reading labels!

Whole30 Day Four: Eating Out

As we were wrapping up my pet sitting job, I was trying to use up the foods we had in the fridge.  So M1 was chicken stir fry, using the garlic coconut amino acids.  We decided to reward all of our hard work with lunch at one of my favorite places in Kapolei: Kua'aina Sandwich Shop.  They have a pretty simple menu of burgers and salads, using local produce.  Everything is amazing!  But best of all, their salads are Whole30 compliant!  Crisp lettuce, shredded carrots, diced tomatoes, super thin slices of red onion, a pile of alfalfa sprouts and topped with your choice of meat or fish.  BabyLove LOVES the mahi, so I confirmed that it didn't have any sugars in the marinade/spice blend.  We also happened to be there for Halfsy Hour, so they were buy one, get one half off.  Of course, I bought an extra grilled chicken topped salad for home, so we had an even number of orders (our couch surfer was with us.)  Unfortunately, rush hour had started and we simply don't bother trying to get home between the hours of 3 and 7 pm, so we had to kill some time in town.  We got a lot of errands done and then hit Jamba Juice to hold us over.  Most of their stuff is NOT compliant but they do have some smoothies that are just fruit and veggie blends.  We sat around playing Phase 10 and drinking our smoothies until it was safe to hit the road.  After we got home, we shared the extra Kua'aina salad and called it a day. Gotta love it when I only have to cook once and yet he was able to eat yummy, Whole30 foods all day!

Day 10 is another day we'll be eating out, so I'm emailing the restaurant right now to check out a few specific menu items I think should be safe.  While eating out is definitely a challenge on Whole30, it CAN be done!  Here is what I wrote to them: (note - yes, there is a LOT more than sugar, wheat and soy that we are avoiding on Whole30, but those are the ones that are usually HIDDEN.  Anything else I can pretty much tell from the menu.)

"Aloha!  I'm looking for a place to take some friends this Saturday and am looking at coming to your Kaneohe location.  But we have some dietary issues, so I want to see what is available before we arrive (I don't want to hold up other people while we ask a ton of questions!)  The main things we have to avoid are sugar, wheat and soy.  Unfortunately, they are often hiding in spice mixes and marinades.  I'm specifically wanting to check out the sauteed garlic shrimp, seared ahi salad, Furikake Salmon and the beef stew.  If you could check the seasonings/sauces/etc and let me know by Thursday, that would be awesome!  Mahalo!!!"

Whole30 Day 3

We unexpected ended up pet sitting for an extra day, so I had to run to the store and get food last night for BabyLove's meals today.  The last couple of days have been super rough at work, so I decided to get him a steak.  I also LOVE squash but Costco hasn't had any for ages.  Since I was at a "normal" store, I went ahead and got both an acorn squash and a spaghetti squash.  I was working hard to get some variety into the my BabyLove's diet, so M1 was Baked Egg in Avocado and salsa.   It was super easy but I had to cook it longer than the 15 minutes.  And even though he got the whole avocado and 2 eggs, it wasn't filling enough so I quickly fried up 2 more eggs in the steak drippings.  It was a rushed morning, so I'll have to get a review of the recipe for  you when he gets home tonight.  Lunch/dinner was the steak, cut into strips and pan grilled, acorn squash, baby carrots, brussels sprouts, orange wedges, boiled eggs and nuts.  I think it is so funny that a day I'm totally "winging it" turns out to be one of his better food days!  But it was a frantic morning for me pulling it all together, and the kitchen is a disaster right now, so I think I'll go back to my meal plan as soon as possible!

Whole 30, Days 1 and 2

I don't expect to post daily (since I sucked at that plan last time) but we'll just see how things develop this time.

Yesterday's Meal One (M1) was eggs, green beans and a small amount of hash browned potatoes. The potatoes were Alexia Yukon Select with onion, garlic and white pepper that we got at Foodland.  Unfortunately, MOST hash browned potatoes have extra stuff added, so be sure to check the label!  Like I said yesterday, he won't have potatoes super often, even though they are allowed.  But I knew Day One would be a big transition, so I wanted to make sure he was full and ready to face the day.  For lunch/dinner at work, I packed him chicken seasoned with Montreal spices (be sure to check your spice blends for hidden sugars!), baby carrots, red pepper strips, frozen broccoli to heat up, mixed nuts (no peanuts!!), boiled eggs and a banana.  He was a little hungry when he got home, so he had some of the chai tea with almond milk from yesterday's recipe.  It wasn't the greatest, to be honest.  I'll probably play around with the spice blend and see if I can do better for him.  But part of the problem was that it was almond milk instead of dairy, so he'll just have to adjust to that.  He also had some more nuts.  We are pet sitting right now, which means our options are limited.  But I go home tomorrow, so I'll cook up some meats to have available for him if he comes home from work hungry (since doubling up on nuts isn't the best option for losing weight!)

Today, he had eggs, stir fry veggies (with garlic coconut amino acids in place of soy sauce) and half an avocado for M1.  Getting those healthy fats in is important!  For work (lunch and dinner) I packed Buffalo Chicken (combine 1 cup Frank's hot sauce and 6 Tbsp coconut oil, mix it with shredded chicken - makes several servings, of course!), baby carrots, red pepper strips, frozen broccoli, mixed nuts, boiled eggs (remember what I said about limited options right now?) and a fruit cup.  These fruit cups were a fun find!  They are Wawona Organic Mixed Fruit Cups and were in the freezer section at Costco, although this was the first time I've seen them there.   They have peaches, pineapple, mango and strawberries, in white grape juice.  No sugar, artificial colors or flavors.

I'm looking forward to getting back into my own kitchen and trying out some new recipes for him!  Next week's menu includes fun stuff like a variation of peanut butter and jelly burgers (since, you know, he can't have peanut butter OR jelly!) and Asian Lettuce Wraps.  I'll also be whipping up another batch of homemade mayo, so he can have some salmon or tuna salad.

A special treat as he starts Whole30 again

I was informed a couple weeks ago that there would be another round of Whole30 in January.  So here we are, on January 2nd, doing Whole30 Day One.  My BabyLove is wanting to focus on losing weight this time, so we are limiting him to only one fruit a day and very few potatoes (mostly just on days he works out.)  Although we really didn't have a lot of baked goodies around this year, I know it will be hard going from holiday splurges into Whole30.  So I wanted to have something tasty, special and compliant for him.  Enter Chai Tea Concentrate, which he will mix with almond milk.  I'm not a fan of chai myself but he enjoys it, so I am currently brewing him a batch.  I do have to admit, the house DOES smell lovely!  Here is the recipe:  http://myheartbeets.com/homemade-chai-concentrate/

I did it with ground ginger and cloves, as that is what I had available.  We'll let you know what he thinks of it!

Happy New Year!!

UPDATE:  Um, yuck.  If we do another round of Whole30 in the winter, I'll play around with it again.  But we didn't like this one.