day 12: not cooking

As much as I love to cook, sometimes I just need a break. You know? Today I get that break thanks to leftovers. Yay, leftovers!

Breakfast: leftover "Awesome" Salmon & Roasted Brussels Sprouts (Remember, rethink breakfast.)

Lunch: leftover Vietnamese Chicken Noodle Salad and 1/2 avocado

Dinner: Brats & Kraut (made by my MIL)

I have said before that my MIL really does try and cater to my diet requirements. That said, she is also fearful--and it is a fear--of altering a recipe, so when the recipe calls for brown sugar, as in the case of the kraut, she added brown sugar even though she knew I couldn't eat it. 

{sigh} God love 'er. She did, however, save some of the uncooked sauerkraut so that I could do my own thing. This turned out really well, because I wanted to eat my kraut raw this time. (Remember I was talking about how well things were going poop-wise. Yeah, not so much. But I don't want to talk about poop in the same sentence I am talking about food. Ew! Gross!)

So I took my raw kraut, grated an apple, grated a carrot, mixed it all together and voila! Really tasty kraut. As far as the brats go, I just had to hope that they did not have sugar. Most do not, and I didn't want to dig through the trash to read the ingredient. 

Sometimes it's just better to let it go. 

Dinner was great. Tomorrow we ski!

day 11: sh!t day

I love P!nk's latest album, The Truth About Love. I cannot get enough of it. And to quote one of my favorite songs, "Blow Me (One Last Kiss)," let me just say:

I've had a sh!t day.

I'm not going to go into detail and relive the frustrations of work all over again. I am racing against a deadline and the software I am using is not the user-friendliest! I didn't even have time to shower today.

I work from home on Thursdays, which means that the best thing about my day was snuggling with the kids this morning. That, and I get to make myself and them a hot breakfast. This morning the boy-child requested omelets. I can do that!

I fried up six slices of my U.S. Wellness Meats sugar-free bacon. (You will never miss the sugar. Just trust me on this. Not sure why it's used.) This bacon cooks up quickly and goes from raw to super-crisp in nothing flat. And it renders lots of yummy fat for more cooking. I poured some of the fat off and then sautéed a diced red bell pepper. The kids each wanted a three-egg omelet. (It's nice to have chickens.) The boy-child ordered a bacon, red bell pepper, provolone and avocado omelet. The girl-child wanted everything but the veggies.

Cooking the omelet

I had everything but the cheese. Y.U.M!

day 11: breakfast
Three-Egg Omelet with Sugar-Free Bacon, Sauteed Red Pepper and Mushrooms

I HAD A GOOD LUNCH! Praise be!

You know how I posted a few days ago that I never make the same recipe twice? Well, I am a big, fat liar. I have another recipe that has become a "Do again," as my kids would say: Barefoot Contessa's Caesar Roasted Swordfish, except I use salmon because my freezer overfloweth. This is so good. The last two times I have made this, I served it on Romaine that I had tossed with the extra dressing I made, which is excellent, by the way. (I made Everyday Paleo Family Cookbook's Caesar dressing. Meh. Did I make that on "meh" day?) It is now my go-to Caesar salad dressing. Who knew the Barefoot Contessa was Paleo? I bet she doesn't even know.

Anyway, I had a lot of salmon leftover, so I put it in the freezer, because we have a tendency to get "salmoned out." That's an Enginerd term. I pulled that from the freezer last night and voila! Lunch.

day 11: lunch
Baby Spinach Salad with Roasted Caesar Salmon and avocado with Balsamic Vinegar and EVOO dressing

The girl-child picked mussels for dinner this week. The boy-child chose venison.

Boy-child went on his first hunting expedition this last October. Whether you are pro-hunting or not, you cannot deny that shooting your own deer guarantees free-range, grass-fed meat. And it turns out we all like venison. Who knew?

Mind you, I marinate the hell out of if, but it is delicious. I pulled a couple of tenderloin out of the freezer, and had him mix up a marinade. I rarely use a "recipe" for marinade. Oil. Acid. Herbs. Garlic. Sweet. This is what we came up with this time:

Venison Marinade I

3/4 cup EVOO
1/4 cup coconut aminos
1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
1 Tbs Italian seasoning
1/2 Tbs onion powder
1/2 Tbs garlic powder
sea salt
black pepper

What I Did:
Pour everything into a gallon-sized Ziploc bag.

Mix. Add meat. Refrigerate.

We marinated two tenderloin for two days. This afternoon, I baked up a butternut squash and roasted some garlic for The Clothes Make the Girl's "Velvety Butternut Squash," vacuum-sealed the tenderloin and plopped them into my Sous Vide Supreme Demi at 120° for a couple of hours, until I was ready to deal with it.

When I was ready to deal with dinner, I made the squash and put that into the oven. I heated some bacon fat to smoking and seared the tenderloin. As the meat was resting, I used the same pan to fry up the leftover purple "superkraut" from last week's sausage-kraut dinner.

day 11: dinner
Venison Tenderloin with Purple Kraut and Velvety Butternut Squash

Breakfast: Three-egg omelet with bacon, red bell pepper and avocado

Lunch: Spinach Caesar with Barefoot Contessa's Caesar Roasted Salmon (leftover)

Dinner: Venison tenderloin with Purple Sauerkraut and Velvety Butternut Squash

Today was one of those days where if I had not been following the Whole30 I would have had a bottle of wine. For dinner. By myself. Along with a tub of chocolate chip cookie dough.

Hopefully tomorrow will be less stressful.

day 10: sunspots or brainfarts?

I don't know if it's the possibility of Sunspot AR1654 erupting or not, but today has been very strange. Awkward even.

It started out after my workout this morning. (I work for a great company and we have a gym and locker room on-site. I work out in the morning and get ready before I head to my desk, which means that I pack my gym bag the night before so I can just grab and go in the morning.) In the course of my long workout life, I have forgotten articles of clothing. These are usually contained to panties, socks and bras. The missing bras are always fun. I have breastfed two children. That is all I am going to say about that.

This morning I had forgotten my skirt. This is a first. And I had packed tights...or so I thought. Oh, no. I packed footless tights. I didn't even know I owned footless tights. But I had my bra and knee-high boots. I had no choice but to put on my footless tights and then put on my too-short, sweaty, semi-shiny yoga/workout pants that have a reflective logo on the label.

My co-worker said, "It could be worse," but I am a real-life Glamour Don't.

On the flip-side, I did sleep beautifully again last night!

Lunch today was another disaster, the only difference between today and yesterday is that I added a small apple and more nuts, this time pistachios. Seriously. This nut addiction needs to go buh-bye. Need another munchable, because I am about to turn into a nut. Wait...

I will do better tomorrow. I will do better tomorrow. I will do better tomorrow.

I left work early today to get out of those gawd-awful pants and tourniquet-esque tights. Man, were they tight around the waist! Anyhoo...I had to bring work home and by the time I got the kids and went to the chiropractor, I had to get some work-work done and dinner was a low priority. I was not in the mood to slave. Fortunately, on Sunday I had pulled a slab of Coho salmon out of the freezer and had a pound of Brussels sprouts. Last summer I made a double batch of 101 Cookbook's Magic Sauce. This stuff is great and keeps forever in the refrigerator. I mean, it has been months since I last made it. Still good as new. The kids love it, and have changed the name to "Awesome Sauce." I have to agree.

I trimmed and cut the Brussels sprouts in half, tossed them with melted bacon fat and a few big spoonfuls of Awesome Sauce and roasted them at 450° for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, the Enginerd pulled the pin bones and when the 15 minutes were up on the sprouts, I took them out of the oven, scooted them over to the side and then put the salmon filet in the same pan, topping it with a mix of Awesome Sauce and just a bit of bacon fat. Back in the oven for 10 minutes, and done. Finished with fresh Meyer lemon juice and served.

Awesome Sauce Filet of Salmon & Roasted Brussels Sprouts

Dinner was easy and awesome. (Do I need to type this up as a "recipe?")

day 10: dinner
"Awesome" Salmon & "Awesome" Brussels Sprouts

Breakfast: Frittata (leftover)

Lunch: Coconut Amino Roasted Almonds, Honeycrisp apple, pistachios

Dinner: Awesome Salmon & Roasted Brussels Sprouts

Have you ever felt like your brain is your imaginary friend? Well, my imaginary friend went off to be someone else's imaginary friend today, because my brain didn't work at all.

Tomorrow is another day!

day 9: rethink breakfast

The best advice I ever got while doing the Whole30 back in August was to rethink breakfast. Breakfast does not need to be eggs. If you are just eating only eggs in the morning, you will get sick and tired of eggs tout de suite. So, what else can you eat? Ummm...how about anything that is Whole30 compliant? Seriously. I often have leftovers for breakfast. You might get some strange looks as you heat up your sweet potato in the work kitchen microwave (I certainly have) or mix homemade mayo into a can of tuna (yep), but SO WHAT!

The Whole30 is all about changing your relationship with food. When you start to think about your meals—breakfast, lunch and dinner—nothing should differ. You want to eat high quality protein, healthy fats and vegetables at every meal. If that means eating last night's dinner for breakfast, then do it. (Personally, I need a little break from eating the same thing twice in a row, but do what you have to do.)

I have posted my breakfasts to date. Some of them are eggy. Some are not. For example, this morning's breakfast was a hodgepodge from my fridge. We are talking leftover pork stew, sweet potato nd avocado. It was pretty decent, truth be told.

day 9: breakfast
Sweet Potato, Country Pork Curry, and Avocado

I had really high hopes for lunch, but as often happens when I eat a nice, hearty breakfast, I wasn't hungry. Not even a little. I did that whole "steamed fish and broccoli" visualization thing, and nope. Nada.

I got a teensy, tiny bit hungry around 2:00 p.m., but by that point, I figured anything I ate would interfere with dinner. I don't know. This happens whenever I eat such a great breakfast, and I will often just skip lunch and have an early dinner. Again, there is no rule that states, "Thou shalt have three meals per day." Occasional fasting is not a bad thing. Hell, we do it every night when we sleep, unless you eat when you sleepwalk, and then I cannot help you.

Anyway, I am not at all proud of my "lunch." I had just one small handful of the Coconut Amino Roasted Almonds I made over the weekend. And then I had another handful, slightly larger. And then another. Around 3:45, I actually did get hungry, but I'm leaving work in 90-ish minutes. Do I really want to eat my lunch now and then go home and have a family dinner? No.

day 9: sad little lunch at my desk
Leftover Caesar Salmon & Roasted Coconut Amino Almonds

(Do not be fooled. I ate WAY more almonds than this shows. I will cease nut consumption next week. At least that's the plan.)

Another little tidbit: we have dinner together as a family nearly every night. We do not have a television anywhere near the dining area, so it's just the four of us, all eating the same thing. Occasionally, we stop chewing and actually talk to each other. It's nice. I miss it when one of us cannot make it.

I picked the kids up and they both said that they wanted Everyday Paleo Family Cookbook's chicken noodle salad. As I am wont to do, I use recipes as a starting point and then go from there.

I doubled the kelp noodles and cabbage and used all of the leftover chicken I had shredded previously. I cut up some Cuties and added lots of chopped cilantro. EP's recipe called for a dressing of coconut aminos and sesame oil. I thought 'twas boring. Instead, I made a Vietnamese dressing. 

Here is my version:

Vietnamese Chicken Noodle Salad

Serves 6 - 8

2 12-oz. packages of kelp noodles (I use Sea Tangle)
4 cups shredded chicken
6 green onions, sliced
4 cups of chopped purple cabbage
2 cups mandarins (I cut up some Cuties)
1 cup (ish) cilantro, chopped

Dressing
1/2 cup fish sauce (I use Red Boat Fish Sauce. It is the best.)
2 Tbsp chili oil
1/3 cup toasted sesame oil
1/3 cup fresh-squeezed lime juice
1-inch x 1-inch chunk of fresh ginger, peeled and minced

What I Did:Open the kelp noodle packets, dump them into a colander and rinse with warm water, separating the noodles by hand.

Put all of the stuff above "Dressing" into a big bowl.

Mix everything below "Dressing" and then pour over the stuff in the big bowl.

day 9: dinner
Vietnamese Chicken Noodle Salad

Breakfast: Sweet Potato, Food and Wine's Slow Cooker Country Pork Curry (leftover), Avocado

Lunch: Salmon (leftover), Coconut Amino Roasted Almonds

Dinner: Vietnamese Chicken Noodle Salad

Nada Colada

day 8: one week down...

You get a break today, as this is a short post.

Breakfast: Leftover Frittata

Lunch:  Leftover Ropa Vieja

Dinner: Eat Like a Dinosaur's Curried Mussels, Not Muscles

The girl-child picked this evening's dinner, and even did most of it herself.

Mona Making Mussels

We decided to sub Penzey's Rogan Josh Seasoning for the curry powder. I had the girl-child do a blind sniff test between the two, and this is the one she picked.

It was really good.

day 8: dinner
Curried Mussels, Not Muscles

day 7: easy Sunday

Breakfast: Frittata made with Sugar-free Pork Breakfast Sausage from U.S. Wellness Meats and sauteed mushrooms and yellow peppers

Lunch: Nuts and bacon-wrapped dates

Dinner: Turkey breast with green beans

Remember those mushrooms and yellow peppers I fried up last week. Well, here they are!

Frittata cooking

I didn't quite catch a photo of the finished product before taking a bite.

day 7: breakfast
Frittata with Crumbled Sausage, Mushrooms and Yellow Peppers

Lunch wasn't really lunch. Lunch was a snack, and probably not Whole30 approved, but it was damned tasty. Too bad I do not have a photo of the finished product. I ate them too quickly.

day 7: "lunch"
Bacon-Wrapped Dates

I don't have a photo of dinner. We had dinner over at my in-laws, which is actually a very nice Sunday night family tradition. My MIL, even though she doesn't understand why I eat this way, did everything she could to accommodate my diet, including using ghee instead of butter for the turkey breast and green beans. She really does try, and I am very appreciative.

day 6: skiing

Crystalline day at Steven's Pass. I am so glad I took advantage of the gorgeous weather to go skiing instead of staying in Seattle sitting on my ass watching a double-feature in preparation for the Oscars in a dark theater. This was one of my best days of skiing in a long time.

Breakfast:      Scrambled eggs and bacon

Lunch:             Leftover steak Caesar Salad

Dinner:            Combination of Heather Cristo Cook's Asian Salmon Burger and Everyday Paleo Salmon Cakes with Ginger-Sriracha Aioli and sliced avocado with Chinese Cucumber Salad

day 6: dinner
Asian Salmon Cakes with Ginger-Sriracha Aioli & Chinese Cucumber Salad

This was dee-lish, and I will be making it again.