Whole 30 - Days 14-16 - I Dream of... Donuts?

As I get further into this challenge, it's getting way easier. My last trip to the store, I had so many ideas for new recipes that I haven't tried before. I think my new attitude towards this is to try to be as creative as possible with my meals. If I can get through this without repeating a dinner, I will be really impressed with myself.

Day 14

I'm kind of drawing a blank on this day. I usually write these as I go along but the days after this one were so exciting I just kind of skipped over it. At least I have pictures to document my food!

I love non-traditional breakfasts. It's fun to mix up traditional and non-traditional as well. Using the leftover salmon with my eggs was a nice way to change things up. I think the whole dish would have been amazing with some hollandaise sauce but I had made some over my leftover dinner the night before and thought it would be too much to have two days in a row. Even though it's Whole30 compliant, it is still mostly butter. 

Dinner was super exciting though. I made some slow cooked short ribs from my Practical Paleo cookbook and they were amazing. I think this is going to be one that we make all the time. I served it over a bed of mashed potatoes and a side of broccoli. 

Can I also just say how much I love the slow cooker? I really only used it for chili and carnitas before but I've been using it all the time through this Whole30. It makes things so much easier. Know you won't have time to cook? Set something up in the slow cooker and BAM dinner is ready for you. 

Day 15

Days 12-13 in the book said that some people have weird food dreams around those days. If I'd had them before, I don't remember. However, last night, I had a very vivid dream FILLED with food. I had one about going to a restaurant and ordering a dish I thought would be Whole30 only to find it covered in cheese. I had another about a big family party that had cakes and donuts and all sorts of desserts or treats. Dream Nikki was having an almost impossible time time resisting but somehow she did. Another thing I remember? I was wearing one of my favorite dresses and instead of being a little too tight, it was a little loose. I'm happy my sub conscious reminded me that although there are struggles on this journey, there are reasons we stick with it. 

Also... I'M HALF WAY!!!!

Day 14 and 15 were filled with fire alarm testing. Fire alarm testing is possibly one of the worst things you can experience. It is basically the fire alarm ringing on and off all day. The animals and myself were not happy. I decided to do some work on the balcony to escape the noise. My little puppy assisstant joined me.

Before working though, I did a little blog writing. Isn't that super meta - a picture of my writing this blog in this this blog? 

For dinner, it was another slow cooker meal. This time I did chicken breasts with a green chili salsa that ended up as some awesome shredded chicken. I served those with fried plantains, an avocado, and some mango salsa. Mango salsa is basically my favorite thing ever. There was a restaurant in San Francisco that had the best mango salsa (and maybe the only one I ever liked) and I've always tried to re-create it.

This time I came very close. The salsa was mango, heirloom tomato, cilantro (luckily not from a recalled area!), jalapeno, and a little lime. I pulsed it in my ninja until it had a liquid but chunky consistency. I think there was only one little change separating it from my dream salsa and I really want to test out my theory. 

This was also the first day I really felt the tiger blood (super high energy feeling you get when your body has adapted to all your healthy eating). I thought I'd had it a few days before but then hit a slump shortly after. However, this day, I checked so many things off my to-do list. I have a huge cross stitch project I want to start and got a lot of that organized as well as going through MONTHS of mail, sending out long over due cards, and cleaning the apartment.

It was exactly like this

Day 16

The last couple days, I've kind of been falling in love with eggs. Usually at this point may Whole30ers are sick of eggs. However, I've been changing up my breakfast enough to not feel that way at all. Then, I looked at some of the really basic egg recipes in the Whole30 book and decided to try going back to basics. I forgot how delicious perfectly simple scrambled eggs can be. I usually throw in everything in the fridge and more. The eggs don't need it. Just eggs, some coconut milk, pepper, and hot sauce and BAM perfect eggs. 

After finishing work Friday, I wanted to finish the set up for my next cross stitch project. I've been holding on to these supplies for months, a little to scared and lazy to tackle this one. However, Whole30 has me feeling so energetic that I finally just did it. It was nice to get the project to a place where I can actually start stitching. 

For dinner, I wanted something quick and easy. I had a recipe for some lemon chive zoodles which I thought would be a nice change from marinara sauces. I made those with some chicken thighs. The sauce was pretty good but the base was mayo and it overwhelmed a little bit.

That night, we went out with some old friends who were in town. It was really my first big temptation since I've been shutting myself in a bit. I stuck to my exciting soda waters though and still had a good time. It really didn't even feel like too much of a struggle to not drink.

Summary

I think we're really getting there. I feel like I'm out of any slumps I had and I'm feeling great. I'm sleeping better and I've been dusting off all my paleo cookbooks and finding fun recipes to try out. There are hits and misses with those but at least I'm trying them and finding out!

I also am feeling amazing. It's so nice to have the energy to do all the things I usually put off. It's funny how we don't realize how much food and stuff affects us, until we change it up. I can't believe how much better I've been sleeping and feeling. It's really nice.

But I still miss cheese.