Adventures of a tribal dancer...

We are finishing up our Whole30 this week, and had some meals prepped for the final two days, which included a batch of my favorite IP pork carnitas. Since we're still off All The Things, we couldn't use regular tortillas yet, but I had great success with making plantain tortillas a couple weeks prior and was eager to try to improve upon it. The flavor and consistency of those were mostly good, but they were a bit dry and dense. I hoped to simply mix up a little bit more moist batter, and add some compliant baking powder to maybe add some fluffiness.

Well, best laid plans... My green plantains intended for my tortillas had turned brown in the middle, and all I had were ripe ones. What came next was messy but delicious! The "batter" is more sticky and temperamental, due to the more ripe plantain, but the sweetness from the plantains were amazing and the texture of the tortilla was stellar. Chris made a point to tell me I needed to write this recipe down, so here it is!

INGREDIENTS

2 yellow plantains, mid-ripe ideal, with some browning
3 Tbsp coconut oil, refined, melted
1 Egg Whites
1/8 tsp Whole30 compliant baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
4 Tbsp Tapioca Flour, or more (or whatever non-gluten flour you like)

DIRECTIONS

Cut plantains into 2-3" chunks. Boil for 5 minutes to soften and remove skins. (you can also microwave for a couple minutes, if you prefer).
Put all ingredients except for tapioca flour in food processor and blend. If it seems too sticky and wet, add a little tapioca flour to help bind. It should be pretty wet, but able to be molded into soggy ball/lumps with your hands (sounds SO appetizing, doesn't it?!).
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Lay out a sheet of parchment paper on a baking sheet and sprinkle with a little tapioca flour (you can skip this, but I felt it helped work the batter). Divide plantain mixture into four balls and place well spaced apart on the floured paper. Spread into desired shape with your fingers, wetting them with water as needed to prevent sticking. Optional: Sprinkle flour over the tops, then place a second piece of parchment paper on top. Roll/press out plantain mixture until desired size and thickness. With a couple small plantains, mine came out to about 4" across and 1/4" thick. I would try to make them a little thinner and wider next time.
Remove top parchment paper, if used, and place in oven. Bake for 10 minutes, then flip and bake another 5 minutes. Check for doneness and remove when browned.

These will reheat well, so you can make multiple batches and save some for later in the week if you wish.

Soon, my precious.

We are in the home stretch of reintroduction right now. What I can say is: Feh. Nothing has changed, really. Chris MIGHT have a slight corn sensitivity (he got stuffy overnight after having precisely six corn chips, so it seems unlikely, but maybe?), but nothing else has changed. Dairy had no effect, alcohol is back in rotation (though more moderate than before for now), non-gluten grains nothing for me for sure. Tomorrow we do legumes, and Saturday we do gluten grains, then we'll be all done.

We slept a bit better during the middle and end of the experiment, but that's likely more not having sugar, especially in wine or end of day meals or desserts. But nothing like "I SLEPT LIKE A BABY!" Just, "Yeah, I guess I have been sleeping a little better."

We have both cut way back on sugar in our tea in the morning and are more aware of sugar in stuff than before. And I got some new recipes we like very much to carry into the future.

That's about it. Nothing life-changing like they try to promise.

Is it worth it? I am glad I did it. I don't plan to do it again (some people do it as a reset once a year or whatever). It was a lot of work. I am lucky that I don't have a lot of hangups around food and eating, but some people report feeling AWFUL emotionally/mentally on Whole30 because it makes them even more obsessed with what they're eating and increased feelings of shame, guilt, or worry about what they are cooking/eating. I can totally see that. I had to think about food a lot more than I do, and while some of it was good (aforementioned paying attention to sugar and corn in EVERYTHING), sometimes it was exhausting and/or downright frustrating.

If you want a challenge to reset some habits or thoughts around food, try it. But don't allow yourself to feel pressured and brow-beaten into doing it perfectly in every minute detail if that brings you more stress than you are ready to take on. A lot (a LOT) of people quit after a few weeks due to the stress they felt, and I can totally understand it. We made it, but barely.