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Cahliah's Mother/Daughter Whole30


cahliah

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I've found the big difference between my mom and myself. She'd rather just cook a protein and a vegetable and call it a meal - I need a cohesive dish so that I'm not choking down vegetables on their own. Which works for us, so long as I'm the one cooking the cohesive dishes, and she has proteins and vegetables she can throw together. She loves her canned veggies - well, her canned green beans, beets, and potatoes. She's not big on variety, or trying new things. (Though she did try a fried plantain - and spit it out, of course, because it was "gross.")

My ex came to pick up my daughter after she got out of school today, and I was tired, and my mom was tired, so we both just went to bed and decided to make it a "GYO" (get your own) night. Especially since she didn't get my message to get celery and mushrooms while she was at work last night. I wound up sauteeing up a bunch of onions, carrots, and red & green peppers, as well as the other half of this morning's plantain, and a Trader Joe's spicy italian sausage, and throwing it all in a bowl of chili. I finished off the meal with a red pear that I forgot I had (still have one left for tomorrow.) It was good, and filling, and worth the little effort of cooking up the veggies - gave some texture and flavor variation to the very monotonous chili. It was a good break, too, from my mom saying every night that the food was "good, but...." and always having a criticism.

I spent a little money today, even though I really shouldn't have, but it was all Whole30 related... I got a couple more boxes of La Croix - including my daughter's favorite (Cran-Raspberry), a surprisingly Whole30 compliant marinade that wasn't marketed as such, and a lb each of chili powder, cumin, and smoked paprika, as I'm going through those three spices like crazy. I also scored a veggie spiralizer, and Amazon had a really good deal on the Kindle version of Food Freedom Forever ($2.99!) so I snagged a copy of that, too.

Oh, and my mom kept talking about craving pizza (we usually have pizza at least one night a week, so this isn't really unexpected) - but even though it's my absolute favorite food, and I could probably eat it every day and not get tired of it... I had no desire for it when she brought it up. Even when she said, out of the blue, "Let's get a pizza tonight." (Of course, if there was a pizza in front of me, and I could see it, and smell it, it'd likely be an entirely different matter...)

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I too am a recipe person.  I can have 1 recipe and plain sides or protein but just protein and plain veg  looks too much like the diet meals of old even though the veggies now have fat on them.   a simple combined meal like your chili and veg combo sounds great.

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1 minute ago, JenHZ said:

I too am a recipe person.  I can have 1 recipe and plain sides or protein but just protein and plain veg  looks too much like the diet meals of old even though the veggies now have fat on them.   a simple combined meal like your chili and veg combo sounds great.

Exactly! When we started this, my mom kept talking about easy it would be with grilled chicken and steamed veggies, and I almost said no... But, then, I read It Starts With Food and realized it didn't have to be that way. I think that's why I'm doing ok and not craving other foods constantly (just sometimes - and it's usually brief) - I'm eating good, tasty meals that fill me up both physically and psychologically, instead of feeling like I'm depriving myself with protein & vegetables.

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Didn't eat enough at dinner today, and wound up hungry 2 1/2 hours later. I tried distracting myself, but even after drinking a La Croix and playing my ukulele for a bit, I was still hungry. Had a mini meal/snack of another Trader Joe's spicy italian sausage and a small salad with a hard boiled egg and homemade ranch dressing. Fixed the hunger pangs, and was actually pretty good, as far as snacks go.

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I am all about the one pot meals.  I've never been fond of the traditional American 1 meat, 1 veg, 1 starch plate except under certain circumstances (steak?  yum).  I made my meal plan for the next 7 days and am going to make up some casseroles and soups to have easy to grab dishes.

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I did next week's planning the other night, but I think I'm going to have to change a few things up, after seeing how things worked out this week. And I'm going to start planning backup options for when something doesn't turn out.

Wound up just having more chili for my 3rd meal tonight, with a couple handfuls of onions & peppers sauteed and tossed in, and some carrot sticks with ranch dressing on the side (mmmmm, ranch dressing!) I made sure I had a bigger portion of chili this time, though, and I actually had a hard time finishing it. Hopefully that means I'll be ok until breakfast.

...I think I'm almost sick of this chili now, though. Having it every meal for a full day will do that to you. (Next week, I prep 2 grab & go meals to alternate!)

At least I got through the hangover and the "Kill ALL the things!" phases without any real side effects.

 

Today's condensed food log:
Meal 1: Aidell's chicken & apple sausage, roasted potatoes & carrots, fried plantains, chili
Meal 2: Trader Joe's spicy italian sausage, onions, red & green peppers, plantains, chili
Snack: Trader Joe's spicy italian sausage, salad with ranch dressing
Meal 3: Chili w/ onions and red & green peppers, carrot sticks w/ ranch dressing

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Had a dream last night in which I was happily munching away on what I thought was a compliant Nutri-Grain bar. I had read the label and everything! ...until my mom pointed out that it was a Nutri-Grain bar. And I re-read the label, and of course there were grains. And sweeteners. Nasty sweeteners, at that! And then, for lunch (still in my dream) I was eating a bowl of soup... And then realized there were noodles in it, and I had to spit it out. I think I cried at that point. Apparently, my body needed the grains so much that I was unconsciously seeking them out, and not realizing it. I was glad to wake up and realize it was just a dream, though!

...of course, looking at the contents of the fridge this morning, I was wishing I could just grab a Nutri-Grain bar. I'm over the chili, and there was nothing else that screamed "meal" at me that wouldn't require cooking, and no veggies that sounded good. I broke down and grabbed an italian sausage, and a handful of baby carrots with some ranch dressing. Managed to eat the sausage (dipping it in the dressing!) but I choked down one carrot, and it was like... Nope! Not happening.

Going to be really tight on grocery money this week. More so than I expected. So I'm re-thinking my entire menu for next week to work with what we have, or what won't cost us a ton. Thankfully, we got a really good price on ground beef this week, and we stocked up, so we do have protein. And I have more fish, and an extra bag of chicken wings, so worst case, we can use those. (And I just realized how many bones are in the chicken wings! Free chicken stock!)

Still lost on what to serve with our wings tonight, since the coleslaw turned out kinda gross. Might just roast some potatoes & carrots (and make extra so that I have them for mashed potatoes for the shepherd's pie on Wednesday)

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Alrighty then. First of all, those mixes are bitter.  You always have to start with a fresh head of cabbage, including the purple head and fresh carrots.  The mixes don't hold up because of whatever they wash them in, bleach water or soda water.

I use a progressive food prep, manual food processor (amazon).   I have a cuisinart but I can't stand taking that thing apart, washing it, putting it back in the box. It's labor intensive. This manual food prep machine is so easy and it does everything. The cuisinart grinds it so fine that it turns into a pile of mush.  

I grind my cabbages, 2/3 more green to purple.  Sometimes, I don't bother with purple because it makes the slaw turn purple.  Just adding a few twigs at the end.  Same with the carrots.  If you buy one of these manual food prep devices, carrots are the one thing you cannot put in there. It will break it.  They're too heavy and strong.

I add my mayo and one sweet onion into the food prep grinder.  Adding celery seeds, good quality salt and pepper.  Then I add coconut vinegar.  I don't use ACV, it's sooo strong and bitter.  I add a tad of real apple juice to take the bitter edge off.  You have to work with it to get the right balance. If I don't have apple juice,   I've used pomegranate juice, with a splash of a berry flavored kombucha to brighten it all up.  

Gently stir the purple cabbage twigs and carrot shreds in at the end because it can color everything purple.  You know. 

The coconut vinegar is mild and very tasty.  Maw says my slaw is the best she's ever had.  I agree.  Here's my tools of the trade. Twenty bucks for the food prep machine. You can't rough house the small grinder because it's plastic but if you treat it gently, it's adorable and so easy to wash. 

I can't make the coconut vinegar picture any smaller.  

Product Details

vinegar

 

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Dinner was much better than breakfast. Baked chicken wings with homemade BBQ sauce (that was really more like a fancy ketchup than BBQ sauce, but it worked), split a can of peaches (in juice, drained) with my mom, and had the most amazing mushrooms - sauteed in duck fat(!!) with balsamic vinegar. I'm not a vinegar person, but omg, these were good!!! Made 1/2 lb of mushrooms and it was everything I could do not to eat the entire thing of them in one sitting.

Got next week's menu worked out so that we don't need to spend much on groceries, but we'll still be eating well.

This is going to work!

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Almost forgot to log tonight!

My 3rd meal of the day was the remainder of the mushrooms, the leftover chicken wings w/ homemade ketchup/BBQ sauce, and a red pear. I also forgot to add that I had a snack of a handful of walnuts between my 1st and 2nd meals.

 

Today's condensed food log:
Meal 1: Italian sausage, baby carrot, ranch dressing
Snack: Handful of walnuts
Meal 2: Baked chicken wings w/ bbq sauce, sauteed balsamic mushrooms, peaches
Meal 3: Baked chicken wings w/ bbq sauce, sauteed balsamic mushrooms, red pear

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Today has been tough so far. Up until now, I've mostly managed to avoid side effects, but the fatigue totally knocked me off my feet today. I woke up tired, but got dinner going because it needed to cook in the slow cooker all day. Couldn't find anything that sounded at all appetizing for breakfast, and decided to just eat a handful of walnuts instead of making myself eat something that I wouldn't enjoy. (This is where I'd normally grab a slice of bread or a roll or something and call it good.) Took a nap shortly afterward, and didn't wake up until it was almost dinner time.

Dinner was slow cooker potato soup (with carrots and onions and garlic) and crispy pork belly. Wasn't a huge fan of the soup - was too thin for my tastes, and I definitely missed the cheese & cream we usually load our soup with (I did put coconut cream in it, but it wasn't enough.) The pork belly was good, though. Never actually tried it before now. My mom, on the other hand, ate two huge bowls of soup, but didn't care as much for the pork belly - which is fine with me. We made enough of the soup to last quite a while - and we'll probably wind up freezing individual servings for future meals.

Got the menu planned for next week... I'll be making Kima (ground beef curry) for lunches for myself, and we also have the leftover potato soup, and then the plan is as follows:
Monday: Shepherd's Pie
Tuesday: Coconut shrimp w/roasted potato & carrot "fries"
Wednesday: Cheeseless chicken parm w/spaghetti squash
Thursday: Baked (or grilled) chicken strips w/pancetta roasted brussels sprouts
Friday: Swedish meatballs w/mashed potatoes & roasted rainbow carrots
Saturday: Pork roast w/potatoes & carrots (maybe green beans, too)
Sunday: Chicken, broccoli, & potato soup w/ salad

...and my spiralizer came today, but I didn't have the energy to go out to the mailbox and get it, so I won't have it in my hands until tomorrow. Oh well.

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My definition of what's "quick" for meals has changed even in the past week.

I wanted something "quick" which, this time, meant frying up my remaining plantain in the fat leftover from the pork belly I cooked for dinner, and then sauteeing the rest of my onions & peppers in the same fat. I had a bunch of the veggies mixed into a bowl of chili, and half of the plantain with about a tablespoon of almond butter. Before, "quick" would have meant tossing something in the microwave, or making a sandwich.

 

Today's condensed food log:
Meal 1: Handful of walnuts
Meal 2: Potato soup w/ carrots, onions, & garlic, and pork belly
Meal 3: Chili w/onions & peppers, 1/2 fried plantain, almond butter

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Didn't get much sleep last night - couldn't sleep until late, and then I woke up in pain - my right arm hurts to the point where I can't lift it without actually lifting it with my left arm. Going to put a heating pad on it and see if that helps.

Breakfast today was essentially "grab something so I can take some ibuprofen" - the other half of last night's plantain, nuked, with about 1 tablespoon of cashew butter. Hopefully I'll feel better in time for dinner. If not... My daughter will have to get another cooking lesson tonight! ;)

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A couple hours after I had the plantain, I wound up having the remaining pork belly from yesterday. Mostly because I needed to eat something more, and not really because I was hungry.

Dinner was shepherd's pie (well, with ground beef instead of lamb) - it was alright, but I realized that I don't care for thyme, and it took the dish from something I would have loved to something that was more "meh." I ate a bowl and my mom ate two, and I was wondering at how she eats so much more than I do.. But I was hungry again within 1/2 hour, and an hour after I ate, I broke down and got another serving. Which I ate less than half of, and when my cat started eating from it, I just shrugged and let him.

Tonight was a really rough night for me, though. Between my sore arm, and my daughter having a ton of homework and no focus, which meant I had to sit there and pretty much just watch her and make sure she stayed on task (which she basically didn't)... Had a small handful of walnuts at one point because I kept feeling hungry again, but didn't want more of the shepherd's pie. I wound up having to hide all of her snacks, and the girl scout cookies we got the day before we started (horrible timing!), and I still wound up grabbing a handful of pistachios. Of course, I realized I was bored and not hungry, and I made it my mission to remove as many pistachios as I could without breaking the shells apart... And gave the nuts to my daughter to munch on while she worked/fretted. And about 2 hours after that, I decided to use some of the hard boiled eggs we had to make deviled eggs. I love deviled eggs. Usually. But I also use Miracle Whip, not mayo... And they just weren't good with mayo. So I ate all of one bite of one, put the remaining deviled eggs in the fridge in case my mom wants them, and... No snacks for me.

I'm realizing I do eat, sometimes, out of boredom. Like tonight, where I was stuck keeping an eye on my daughter, and couldn't go off and find other things to entertain myself. I had already checked the news on all the sites I check, I did my language lessons for the day, reading a book was too intensive, and I didn't really have any games to play on my phone, so there wasn't really anything I could do... And that's when the munchies happen. I probably would have eaten half a box of girl scout cookies tonight, if I hadn't been doing Whole30. And it was incredibly hard not to, especially with my daughter eating chocolate in front of me (she's excused - it's that time of the month for her, too.)

I need to start thinking of things I can do in situations like this because, even though I managed to not go too far off track (a handful of walnuts, a single pistachio, and one bite of a deviled egg isn't that bad), I didn't really need any snacks, period. If I'm going to take control of my eating, I need to find alternatives to snacking when I'm bored or stressed.

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...also, my pants are falling down.

Not my jeans - those always fall down, and I wear belts with them for that exact reason.

My leggings were falling down all day. I wear my leggings specifically because they don't fall down. But they were falling down today.

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the leggings are a good sign, hope you have a smaller size handy

I so get you on the kid homework hovering.   I like Polyvore( nota game) on the computer and Wordament on the phone. BTW crunchy foods are supposed to help kids  concentrate so WTG on pistachio feeding.

funny I also am anti thyme.  I skip it or substitute summer savory, which never gets used up anyway. 

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I've been the same size for the past 10 years... If I need a smaller size, I'm going to be wearing my (belted) jeans a lot more often, until my body decides where it wants to settle again.

Dinner was my last Trader Joe's spicy Italian chicken sausage, 1/2 can of pears, and a few spoonfuls of leftover potato soup - which I've decided tastes like dirt, and I won't be touching it again.

At least my arm is feeling a little better tonight. It was pretty bad for a while there.

Tonight is going to be an early night, I think - dealing with the midget's homework (which she didn't finish - decided 1 1/2 hours after bedtime that it just wasn't going to happen, and she'd do lunch detention if she needed to)

 

Today's condensed food log: (I didn't do so well today)
Mini-Meal 1: 1/2 plantain, cashew butter
Mini-Meal 2: Pork belly
Meal 3: Shepherd's pie
Snack: Handful of walnuts
Snack: 1 pistachio
Snack: 1 bite of deviled egg
Meal 4: Spicy italian chicken sausage, canned pears, few bites of soup

 

....I'd say tomorrow will be better,  but my mom does the grocery shopping and she's proven that she doesn't bother to read labels (found out she put seasoning on burgers last week that included sugar - the one time I let her do the cooking!) The coconut shrimp isn't happening because the coconut she got has sulfites in it (seriously - why does coconut need sulfites???) So I think we're just having burgers & baked potato & carrot fries. Minus the sugar-seasoning.

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Where does munchkin do homework?  Can she do it at the kitchen table so you could cook/prep or do dishes or something while she works?  That's what we do.  My 12 yo is horrible about homework and we practically have to sit on her to get it done but I have ADD too so I can't just sit there or I go crazy.  If I'm working in the kitchen I can watch her and she can ask me questions while I keep moving.

Congrats on the leggings, that's awesome!  I noticed my jeans this morning are loose but my gut size fluctuates all the time so I'm not going to celebrate yet :)

 

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