Whole30 - A Year Later

by Tuesday, October 15, 2019
I am now officially one year from when I was in the middle of my Whole30 adventure last year, and my FB memories keep popping up reminding me of meals I ate or discoveries I made. I still subscribe to the Whole30 subreddit, and often get some fun recipes from it, or share in people's victories and frustrations.

Today, someone who is in the middle of their first Whole30 was feeling discouraged in that she wasn't experiencing the benefits she was told she would by undertaking this program. She wrote:

"If I don't feel much different than before Whole 30, I'm afraid none of the foods I bring back in will make me feel any different, and I'll have wasted these 30 days.

I did everything right. I didn't cheat, or go crazy on Larabars or fruit. I didn't snack in the last half of W30. I haven't exercised a lot, but I didn't BEFORE W30. I'm sleeping about the same too.
I guess my head feels a little clearer, and I haven't had my usual headaches/migraines since the 2nd day of W30.
 
Maybe I feel better than I realize, and once I try sugar, gluten, etc I'll suddenly feel like garbage. Maybe I just forgot how crappy I felt?"
 
And oh man. That was so super familiar in every way. So I shared:
"I hope it won't be too disappointing to report: Me? Same.

I did not get any of the supposed benefits they tout or others report. Digestion the same, skin the same, sleep the same, energy the same. I thought re-introduction would be the real payoff, when I would suddenly be shown what was changed that I wasn't noticing and...nope. Nothing. Well not NOTHING nothing. I lost...6 lbs? But I wasn't doing it for weight loss, so that was neither here nor there for me.

What did I get out of it? Well, honestly I felt really accomplished. I felt proud of taking control of my food and alcohol consumption like that.
 
I especially enjoyed the shake-up of my food routines and I learned about recipes and ingredients I would maybe never have encountered without Whole30. I have at least 15-20 new recipes in my arsenal, several of which are in regular rotation now (egg roll in a bowl is one of my FAVES!!).
 
I liked that not feeling hugely changed validated me in my regular diet not being hugely bad for me. I didn't have to make any major adjustments to combat a newfound inflammatory response. I could keep on keepin' on, maybe with a few changes here and there where I found value in doing so.
 
I like how it opened my eyes to what is really in the foods I consume--sugar and corn everywhere, amirite?! It's like a fun scavenger hunt in my life to be looking for new recipes and recognizing which are Whole30 compliant or what small tweaks I could make to a recipe to make it compliant. And often I will make those tweaks, because I have a cupboard stocked with "cleaner" alternatives.
 
And I get to support friends and people here and other places online with recipes and encouragement.
So even if I never got all those other benefits, there are so many accomplishments and insights to be gleaned through completing Whole30. I hope you come out the other side feeling as enlightened and proud as I did!"

Looking back, I still feel the tremendous accomplishment. And I'm reminded I still would like to see a dietician and talk about other elimination diets I might try to cut back on my regular nasal inflammation which Whole30 did not get to the bottom of...but that's another story.
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Thai Red Curry Chicken (Whole30 Compliant)

by Tuesday, October 08, 2019
1 lb chicken breasts (mine were from frozen)
1 red pepper, sliced
1 leek, white parts, sliced and cleaned
3 cloves garlic (or more), minced
1 Tbsp fresh ginger, grated (or more)
2 tsp cumin
2 Tbsp compliant Thai red curry paste
1 can full fat coconut milk
1/2 lime to juice
2 tsp compliant fish sauce (I use Red Boat)
2 cups packed baby spinach
3 green onions, sliced
1/2 cup cilantro, chopped (optional)
1 hot pepper of choice, thinly sliced (optional)
salt & pepper to taste
rice or other starch of choice to serve with


  1. Put chicken in Instant Pot with 1 cup water or chicken broth (broth adds more flavor). Set for 10 minutes. Natural release. Shred. (or cook and cut or shred chicken as you like) Meanwhile...
  2. Add coconut oil or other oil of choice to pan, medium heat. Cook red peppers ~5 minutes until softening.
  3. Add leeks, garlic, ginger, and cumin, stir in and let cook 3-4 minutes.
  4. Add curry paste and coat all the vegetables. Pour in coconut milk and stir to combine, add lime juice and fish sauce, stirring to combine.
  5. Add spinach, cooking to wilt down. You can also add some green onions and cilantro in this step, as I did.
  6. Add shredded chicken, season with salt and pepper, tweak seasoning levels as you wish (I added  salt, pepper, and a touch more cumin). Cook together 5-10 minutes to meld flavors and gently reduce to desired thickness.
  7. Divide between bowls (over rice, if serving), top with sliced pepper, more green onion and cilantro as desired.


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Caramelized Onion, Bacon, and Mushroom Crustless Quiche

by Monday, September 23, 2019
1 onion, sliced intos trips
3 Tbsp butter, divided (or cooking oil of choice)
4 slices bacon, cut into 1/2" chunks
4-7oz mushrooms of choice, sliced
4 eggs
1 cup cream
1 cup + cheese of choice (mozzarella, gruyere, cheddar, parm, mixed if you like)
salt & pepper
optional: thyme, parsley

Heat oven to 350
Cook onions in 2 Tbsp butter or oil over low heat, covered, stirring every 5 minutes for ~20-25 minutes until well softened and ideally starting to brown a little.
Raise the heat a bit to medium-low. Move the onions aside and add bacon chunks in with onions and cook until bacon is cooked, but not crisping. Meanwhile, continue to stir and move the onions on their side of the pan, letting bacon fat render and add to the onions, which should continue cooking and begin lightly browning and caramelizing.
In another pan, melt 1 Tbsp butter. Add mushrooms and cook through until lightly browning. Salt and pepper as you like.
Whisk eggs and cream together. Add cheese and mix thoroughly, salt and pepper, season with thyme if you like.
Drain mushrooms, onions, and bacon, then mix and put into 9" pie plate, distributing evenly at bottom.
Gently pour egg and cheese mixture over the top. Sprinkle top with some grated parmesan if desired.
Bake for 45 minutes or until golden brown and knife in the middle comes out clean.


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Was it worth it?

by Thursday, August 22, 2019
Story time:
Many years ago, Chris and I had an opportunity to go to Six Flags in SoCal. As a coaster fiend, I was so excited to get to go on many coasters I had only read about or seen on TV specials! But we only had a half day, so we needed to make the most of it.
We rode a few coasters and it was thrilling for me, but the day was already waning. The X coaster was the newest coaster, having been opened just that year, and employed technology that had never been used in coasters before, and I so so so wanted to ride it! The line was an hour, and we only had two hours left before park close. We knew we'd be giving up some other cool rides, but planned to ride X, then get in another ride or two before we had to go.
Well, as is the wont of new ride technology, it kept breaking down. A one hour wait turned into...a THREE HOUR WAIT. After the first hour, we weren't about to give up on trying to get on the ride. It kept coming online, a few people would ride, then break down again. By the second hour, the rest of the park was closed. They would honor all of us waiting in line, but there was nowhere else to go, and why waste TWO hours of waiting?
By the time the third hour was approaching, I was grumpy AF. My feet and back were sore. I was angry about the wait. I resented missing out on all those other rides. And now that we were closer to the entrance, we could see people exiting the ride. Nobody looked excited. They were walking off like blank zombies. Looked like a huge dud.
We got to the gates and were going to be the next to board. Chris leaned over to me and said, "Okay, I'm gonna ask you again when we get off. Is it worth the wait?"
"HELL NO!" I boomed. We didn't get to go on ANY more rides. We were sweaty and achey from standing around in the heat. No way is this going to be worth all this.
We got on and rode this brand new coaster, and when we got off...I understood. The reason no one seemed to be having a reaction was because they were in awe. They were stunned to silence--we were stunned silence--at what we had just ridden. It was the most incredible coaster experience I had had in my life to date and I couldn't even wrap my head around it or find a way to express what I had just experienced. "Was it worth it?" Chris asked. "Hell yes," I breathed.
So what I'm saying is, I hope our house project is like that in the end.

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A Roller Coaster Ride…

by Thursday, August 22, 2019

 Story time:

Many years ago, Chris and I had an opportunity to go to Six Flags in SoCal. As a coaster fiend, I was so excited to get to go on many coasters I had only read about or seen on TV specials! But we only had a half day, so we needed to make the most of it.

We rode a few coasters and it was thrilling for me, but the day was already waning. The X coaster was the newest coaster, having been opened just that year, and employed technology that had never been used in coasters before, and I so so so wanted to ride it! The line was an hour, and we only had two hours left before park close. We knew we'd be giving up some other cool rides, but planned to ride X, then get in another ride or two before we had to go.

Well, as is the wont of new ride technology, it kept breaking down. A one hour wait turned into...a THREE HOUR WAIT. After the first hour, we weren't about to give up on trying to get on the ride. It kept coming online, a few people would ride, then break down again. By the second hour, the rest of the park was closed. They would honor all of us waiting in line, but there was nowhere else to go, and why waste TWO hours of waiting?

By the time the third hour was approaching, I was grumpy AF. My feet and back were sore. I was angry about the wait. I resented missing out on all those other rides. And now that we were closer to the entrance, we could see people exiting the ride. Nobody looked excited. They were walking off like blank zombies. Looked like a huge dud.

We got to the gates and were going to be the next to board. Chris leaned over to me and said, "Okay, I'm gonna ask you again when we get off. Is it worth the wait?"

"HELL NO!" I boomed. We didn't get to go on ANY more rides. We were sweaty and achey from standing around in the heat. No way is this going to be worth all this.

We got on and rode this brand new coaster, and when we got off...I understood. The reason no one seemed to be having a reaction was because they were in awe. They were stunned to silence--we were stunned to silence--at what we had just ridden. It was the most incredible coaster experience I had had in my life to date and I couldn't even wrap my head around it or find a way to express what I had just experienced. "Was it worth it?" Chris asked. "Hell yes," I breathed.

So what I'm saying is, I hope our house project is like that in the end.

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