11.30.2013

Dairy and Grain Free Green Bean Casserole

Happy post thanksgiving, friends! I hope you had much delicious food. I certainly did, and all of it Whole30 friendly. I mean, I definitely over-ate, which is not really in the spirit of the program, and was uncomfortable after, but after I'd digested everything, I felt just as good as I always do lately. No bloating, cravings or food coma the next morning. Not to mention, TONS OF DELICIOUS LEFTOVERS 
(yes, the caps were necessary there, don't judge me). Seriously, I love leftovers. I love them almost more than the original meal. What's most exciting about thanksgiving leftovers, is that you don't have to just eat the same meal again, you can recreate them into a new delicious combination. 
For example, breakfast this morning was a sorta thanksgiving eggs Benedict. 


This triumph was achieved by mixing an egg into some leftover cinnamon butternut squash mash and frying it like a burger, then topping the thing with cranberry sauce and a fried egg. Magic! 
Dinner tonight is a turkey shepherd's pie... Or pot pie... Or just casserole, I'm not too sure what to call it. It's leftover green bean casserole mixed with turkey and gravy, then topped with a layer of the same squash mash (I had a LOT leftover) and baked till delicious. 

I was always a huge fan of the next day (or next three days) turkey sandwich, and don't get me wrong... I still think those are delicious... But who needs the bread? Lunch today was turkey and raw kale topped with homemade mayo. I am thankful. Thankful for leftovers. 

I contributed five items to my family's thanksgiving. Partly as an effort to minimize their work, and partly to ensure there'd be plenty I could eat. I shouldn't have worried, my mom cooked too much as usual (and I convinced her to try roasting her Brussels sprouts instead of boiling, success!), but I am glad for all the extra food. Most contributions were basic: cinnamon mash butternut, gravy, garlic mashed cauliflower and Melissa Joulwan's fantastic Whole30 friendly cranberry sauce, but I also wanted to recreate a favorite of mine from years past: green bean casserole. 

Green bean casserole is usually my contribution to thanksgiving, and I've always made it the "traditional" way, with cream of mushroom soup and French's fried onions. This year, that was off the menu, and I replaced it with this:

Dairy and Grain-Free Green Bean Casserole

2 lbs fresh green beans
1/2 medium cauliflower 
2 cups chicken bone broth
1 medium sweet onion
1/2 cup olive oil
2 cloves garlic
Oregano
Salt and pepper
Optional: milk alternative to taste
Also optional: mushrooms

First, chop your green beans into 1-2 inch pieces and boil with one cup of chicken broth for 10 minutes or until tender. Drain and set aside. 
Preheat oven to 350. 

Cream of cauliflower:
While beans are boiling, chop cauliflower into small florets, smash garlic cloves and boil both with second cup of broth until cauliflower is fork tender. 
Add cauliflower to food processor or blender with a 1/4 cup of the broth from the pot and oregano, salt and pepper to taste. Blend until smooth, add milk to increase creaminess if desired.  
If using mushrooms (I skipped them because my sister dislikes them), roughly chop and sauté in a tbsp of oil over medium heat and add to cream sauce. 

Crispy onions:
Chop onion into long thin strips. I cut rings and then sliced them in half. Heat oil in a pot over medium low heat. Add a layer of onions to the oil and let sit for 4-5 minutes until crisp, stirring once. 
Remove with a slotted spoon to a paper towel covered plate to drain and add another layer. Repeat until all onions are cooked. 

Assemble!
In a casserole dish, mix green beans, cream sauce and half the cooked onions. Top with remaining onions. 
Baked in preheated oven for 20-25 minutes. 


Envision it with MORE onions on top, I definitely did not use enough with only 1/2 an onion. Also, envision a better picture, I'm a terrible photographer. 

Anyway, I was pretty proud of this, the flavor is light and oniony and the texture creamy. Not to mention totally dairy and grain free and optionally vegan. I can certainly see myself making this again... This time properly with mushrooms and not inviting my picky sister to try it... Yeah. 




11.27.2013

Baked eggs and Mexican chocolate

Hello from Day 21! Three weeks in and going strong! Well, sort of... I'm honestly not feeling so amazing. My headaches are gone and my energy levels are more stable, also sitting through the day is easier. I should be over the MOON about this... But I keep going through waves of ridiculous cravings, things I couldn't eat even before starting the program like rich chocolate cake with milk chocolate frosting, cheesy pizza and nachos... I think my brain is angry at me for trying to take control and it's lashing out by taunting me with these images. It's no fair. Also, my skin is just as terrible as it started, if not worse... and this past week, I've been beset by bloating and general discomfort. Humph. This all makes for a sad Kate. 
But, that aside, I have two new obsessions. First: baked eggs. I found a small ceramic dish in our cabinet that is the freaking perfect size. 


It's a ridiculously easy dish to make, with endless combinations. My favorites were leftover beef sweet potato hash with broccoli and cinnamon sweet potatoes topped with salsa and avocado. The only issue is it can be time consuming. Pro tip (ya know, from my huge experience making it... three... times... Yeah): have your bottom layers cooked ahead of time. Leftover veggies chopped small are GREAT, or some wilted spinach. 

Anyway, this ain't really a recipe, just a basic how to. Preheat your oven to 400 and fill your dish with a layer of veggies/meat. If they are not precooked, place the dish in your preheated oven till tender.  Crack a couple eggs over your filling and return to the oven. Bake for 12-15 minutes until eggs are set. 
Try not to scarf it down. It's hot, for one.  For another, it's just unsightly. 

My second obsession: Mexican chocolate coffee. Chocolate, you say? How can this be, shouldn't you be having nothing sugary during your Whole30? (That's what you're thinking, right? I knew it). Never fear, I've not imbibed of the sugaryness. I simply desired something chocolate. Intensely desired. The smell and rich taste, I needed it. But it didn't need to be sweet, it just needed to be CHOCOLATE. 

The solution? Duh, I said it already. 

Mexican Chocolate Coffee 

2 teaspoons coffee grounds (real coffee, Teeccino or an herbal mix of carob and chicory)
1 teaspoon cocoa powder (real cocoa powder, not hot chocolate mix)
2-3 dashes cinnamon
1 dash of cayenne pepper
Optional: coconut/almond milk to taste
Optional: honey to taste

Brew grounds and spices in a French press (if using a regular coffee maker, brew with cinnamon and cayenne, but save the cocoa powder for after). 
If desired, mix brew with milk to mellow and/or honey to sweeten. The honey will make it more like a mocha. 

This was deep and bitter and a touch spicy. And oh so soothing. Since I use herbal coffee, it makes a great evening drink in place of hot cocoa. 



11.21.2013

Wooooah! We're halfway there!

Hello from day 15! I have officially survived the halfway point and I'm feeling pretty good! A couple things that are surprising me are a number of cravings that popped up randomly today even though I thought I was past the point and I'm having troubled getting out of bed mornings. The cravings, I feel, are more linked to my emotional state than the actual food though and same with the getting up part. I'm craving general tso's chicken, chocolate pudding and almond butter chocolate treats. These are my traditional "soothing" comfort foods and I think I'm craving how it made me feel when I'd eat them. This is why I am being so careful to not recreate any old comfort foods this month. I simply need to learn to handle my stress without food. Then again, I also had a craving for cinnamon toast crunch the other day... I can't explain that one. I hate the stuff. But, goddamn, I really want some general tso's. But how comforting would it be now or would I just feel sick? The morning issue isn't so much the waking up, I'm alert when my alarm goes off, I simply have no motivation or desire to move. I'm going to blame that on the cold though. Cold is dumb. Ugh. 
But otherwise, I'm doing damn good. This weekend my face broke out terribly and painfully, but I haven't had a new blemish in days and I appear to be quickly healing. Also, headaches are less often and my body temperature is more regular at work. I call this a success well worth another couple of weeks, yeah?
I've been eating pretty well too. Simply, but well. Last night I threw together a small butternut squash lasagna to provide lunches for the next few days and earlier this week, I was lunching on roasted chicken drumsticks marinated in coconut aminos and spices. I'm addicted to coconut aminos now. For breakfast yesterday, I had some cauliflower to use up, so I riced it and fried it up with some egg. Tada, fried rice brought to you by Coconut Aminos! 
It's funny, comfort food cravings aside, all I'm really missing right now, is just a glass of wine or two while cooking dinner. Which is funny, that's what most bloggers whose experiences I've read seem to miss, though not necessarily while cooking dinner... O:)  I know this one is a genuine, safe desire, rather than a craving, because I'm not envisioning how it feels or tastes to consume, I just miss its presence in my life. That will be my day 31 treat, for sure. 

I'll be experimenting with a chili recipe this weekend, so hopefully I'll have a recipe to share. In the meantime, happy eats!

11.15.2013

Sugar anger

Whoosh. It's been a helluva week. I realized sometime today that I didn't have a headache. THAT'S pretty freaking exceptional. Aside from that though, I've been going through a "why am I doing this to myself?" phase. Physically, I feel the same (no bloat or any other common symptoms, at least not that I know of... All my clothes are too big already from my weight loss earlier this year), though I am definitely breaking out more than usual. I'm finding blemishes, painful red ones, traveling up the sides of my face, which is unusual. My problems tend to stay focused in the chin and jawline areas. I'm hoping this is no more than a detox symptom that will fade shortly. 
In the meantime, I've been exposed to all kinds junk that I can't eat this week and it's been HARD. I mean, it's all dairy loaded stuff that I've been avoiding for the past 6+ months anyway, but I've always had something else to ease the pain: a bit of dark chocolate I keep stashed in my desk, crackers, fruit, etc. I ate way too many cashews today in compensation. It sucked. I was assaulted by a whole day of pastries, cookies and other treats and I spent lunch surrounded by 30 large pizzas from my favorite local place and my coworkers happily chowing down as I ate tuna, salad and broccoli soup. I was in some serious emotional pain, people. 
I'm also having some trouble with the concept of SWYPO (Sex With Your Pants On) as told by the Whole9 crew. The idea is that you shouldn't use Whole30 approved ingredients to make the old junk foody things you love because the process is more than what you put into your body, but the emotions associated with those foods. Banana ice cream is clearly comfort food even if it's just banana and maybe almond butter. It's about the texture and how scooping up cool, sweet, creamy spoonfuls feels to you. It makes me wonder where the line is. I got this recipe for an alfredo with white sweet potato noodles that sounds delicious. It's not going to make me go down the dark and stormy path of gobbling alfredo everywhere I go and I'm mostly just excited that it'll be delicious. But, I'm not gonna lie, the creamy texture does sound comforting. Gosh, this is complicated. Only 3 more weeks. 

11.13.2013

One week down!

Hello from Day 7! I survived one whole week! Yay me! Today was a tough day, very stressful emotionally and I just desperately wanted to dive into a mocha or a plate of brownies. But, of course I know better than to give into that, I've been fighting those temptations for far longer than a week.  I made a cup of peppermint tea and shuffled through my day. 
Overall, it's been a pretty easy first week compared to other detoxes I've done.  The Whole30 timeline on Whole9's page suggests that the first week consists of food hangovers, anger and exhaustion. I've pretty much felt... the same as before I started. I'm looking forward to getting through week 2 as I can only expect it will be boring. It's stated to be the frustration stage, where nothing is going wrong, but nothing good is happening just yet. I'm not worried about this phase. It'll kinda be a repeat of last week, but as long as my food excitement continues, I'm ok with that. Speaking of, I've been eating mostly leftovers from my cooking escapades last weekend. Which is super cool with me. I've made so many things that I can easily mix and match based on my mood. Though last night I grabbed dinner with my parents before a movie. EXTENSIVE research showed me that the Panera Mediterranean chicken salad was safe so long as I subbed out the chicken (which has sugar in the ingredients... gross) and bacon (sugar and nitrites, sad face) and added steak. Mmm, steak. Unfortunately, they happened to be out of olive oil, so my dressing was just lemon juice. Double sad face and very boring. Eating out is definitely stressful while Whole30ing. When desperate, I am told that Chipotle carnitas are safe, though I would verify with the local manager first because it seems they've been fiddling with their ingredients a lot. Huff. Note to self: cook a LOT on the weekends to alleviate need and suffering during the week. 
Only 3 weeks and two days to go!

11.11.2013

Weekending and Squash Soup

Hey guess what? I successfully made my squash soup perfectly AND I measured everything. Huzzah! This has been a pretty damn good weekend. I got caught up on just about everything I needed to do, made some tasty food that'll last me for a few days before I need to cook again and I got some serious relaxing, TVing and reading done. I seriously don't remember the last time I had the time and attention span to get through a few hours of reading undisturbed. I even went for a run! *gasp* Well, more of a walk with a few spurts of jogging in between... Anyway, details. It was a good workout on a beautiful, sunny, semi warm (50ish degrees) day and my thighs definitely hurt because I am seriously out of shape. Oof. I think my last run was about 2 months ago. I've got to buy a set of weights to add in some strength training too. I can't expect to fully appreciate my Whole30  if I'm not exercising. No matter what you do, diet is only part of the health cycle, right?
Anyway, aside from my quite tasty (copious amounts of) chicken broth and squash soup, I also made some one pot spaghetti and meatballs today. Oh man, how awesome is that? Hey, don't judge, it's spaghetti squash. 


I can't take credit for this one, like the roast chicken, this one belongs to the gods of the internet. More specifically, I found this on PaleoPot. I didn't follow the recipe, just the idea. I threw in some canned crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, spices and grass fed meatballs flavored like Italian sausage and a spaghetti squash sliced in two and seeds removed. 5 hours on low and magic dinner!


So now I have to decide just what the heck to have for lunch tomorrow: chicken and gravy, spaghetti or squash soup? Maybe all three! Or maybe not...
Anyway, you should see this soup for yourself, eh?

Winter Squash Soup

4 cups winter squash
3 cups chicken/veg broth
1 cup coconut milk
1 tbsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp cloves
salt to taste

Cut squash in half, scoop out seeds and roast open side down at 375 for 30-50 minutes, depending on the type of squash (I've used hubbard, butternut and pumpkin) until soft. Hubbard is tough to cut, so prick it all over and roast for 10ish minutes whole before cutting in half. 
I call Hubbard squash Blue Meanies, partly because I love yelling "Blue Meanies!" and partly because these these are huge and dense. And blue. Duh. But it did make a darn tasty soup that rivaled my previous butternut soup. 

Scoop out the flesh from your cooked squash and add to a pot along with the chicken broth and spices. Mix ingredients well and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for up to a half hour. 
Add coconut milk and continue simmering for another 5-10 minutes to reduce the liquid and allow the flavors to meld. 
Adjust seasoning to taste and blend liquid (an immersion blender works great or in batches in a full blender). 
Top with precooked protein or veggies if you want and serve. 


I opted for some leftover ground beef. Man, was this filling. I feel like I'm going to be making a lot of soup this winter. The warm and creamy is the definite combatant of carb cravings. Want pudding? Eat a sweet, creamy soup. Win. 




11.10.2013

Weekend eats

Howdy! How's everyone's weekend going? Today's day 4 and I'm feeling ridiculously positive. The stressors of last week have faded from my mind significantly and I've spent the weekend alternating between productivity and relaxation and I still have another day and a half to go!
Yesterday was a bit frustrating as my kitchen adventures did not go according to plan (it all worked out in the end fortunately), my mayo didn't emulsify... Super gross by the way, but I learned that you can recover it by taking the mayo fail out of the blender and adding it back slowly to an egg yolk. Whew. Have you ever made your own mayo? You should, it's so much better for you than store bought and just takes a few (messy) minutes! Anyway, I also had to fight with my half thawed chicken to get it ready for the crock pot. I roasted the whole bird in the slow cooker and it makes an awesome gravy too! Thanks to Michelle Tam's awesome recipe (http://nomnompaleo.com/post/4807547385/slow-cooker-roast-chicken-and-gravy), I had a delicious dinner with mashed cauliflower. Aaaand earlier kitchen frustration... Vanquished. 
I didn't even bother cleaning the crock pot once I'd removed the gravy, just tore apart the chicken and threw the empty carcass back in along with another carcass I'd been keeping in the freezer, some chopped veggies, water and ACV. Tonight I should have some tasty chicken bone broth to make soup with! Mmm. 
I got lots of sleep last night, nearly 12 hours. I can't say if it's detox recharging or just because I needed it. I'm overall feeling pretty well adjusted considering it hasn't even been a week. Maybe because my diet wasn't terrible before (though I definitely fell into the pre-detox trap of justifying junk since I wouldn't be able to eat it for the next month). 
Today for lunch, I threw together a simple chicken salad, shredded leftover chicken, mayo and spicy mustard (I freaking love brown mustard in my chicken/tuna/egg salads) on beet greens. The stem part of the green added a nice bit of crunch to the mix. 


I'm probably going to be eating this a lot since I have a whole chicken to go through... Hmm. 

Tonight I'm making a squash soup with my Hubbard squash, it's developing a bad spot.  Sadface. Hopefully it's salvageable. *fingers crossed* I promise to write down the recipe this time!

11.08.2013

Whole30 update and roasted sweet potatoes

Today was a rough day. A culmination of an long emotional week, car trouble and cravings (not helped by my office's weekly "share" day involving cookies, cheesecake, and a giant peanut butter ball) led to some serious depression that I desperately kept trying to turn into anger. Anger is preferable to sadness. 
It was fortunate for me that all those treats were loaded with dairy or I might have given in and gorged my feelings. I made it through the day without breaking down into tears or exploding at anyone (though I spent a lot of time fantasizing about how I'd respond the first person who said something I didn't like), made a quick stop at the grocery store and headed home to discover that my roommate had made tacos and left the meat completely plain so I could partake. Yay, instant food! I threw together a simple taco salad with beef, guac, compliant store bought salsa and greens. Still a bit hungry, I threw some sweet potato cubes in the oven for something sweet and creamy. Mmm. I may not have mentioned before, but I'm taking my Whole30 a step further and eliminating fruits for at least the first 21 days. I'm kinda combining the Whole30 and the 21 Day Sugar Detox together. Why? Because I'm crazy, probably. But really,  it's tough for me to beat sugar cravings, I feel like I'm likely to use fruit as a crutch to get through the process and then I'll just plain still have sugar cravings in the end. So, the few indulgences the 21DSD allows are sweet potatoes and green apples... In moderation. *deep breath* I can do this. In fact, less than half a sweet potato was enough to satisfy. Huzzah! Amazing what just a little cinnamon and salt can do, eh?

They're super easy to make!

Cinnamon roasted sweet potatoes

1 medium sweet potato
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Cinnamon
Sea salt

Preheat your oven to 375 and chop sweet potato into approximately 1" cubes. 
Toss with oil, cinnamon and salt.
Roast for 20-30 minutes until tender. 
Gobble them up like the delicious things they are. 

Plus side this week, I'm pretty food crazy. Like, excited about cooking ALL the things using whatever I've bought ahead of time. Including some "weirder" ingredients that I've never played with before. This week being beets and leeks. Beets aren't weird, I know, but I've never cooked with them before and I'm getting really into using EVERYTHING and reducing food waste (cus I'm poor, duh, and this crap's expensive). So I'm playing with beet greens and stems too. More on that later. :)
I've got some exciting food plans this weekend. I've got NO plans outside my house, so hopefully I'll have more tasty food things to share soon. 
I'm also keeping a detailed log of what I eat and how I feel on a day to day basis, as well as a list of my symptoms. I'm pumped to see how they change over the next few weeks. 

11.06.2013

Beef and brussel stuffed carnival squash

Well, today certainly had its ups and downs. I woke feeling just a little bit of that "new things!" excitement, took all my before measurements and pictures and moseyed down to make breakfast and lunch. Success.  I roasted come carrots and chicken legs and scrambled a couple eggs with smoked salmon. I took my vitamins, got dressed and headed to work.
That's where the down part came in. I hoped to ride the new things high through the day, at least, before the inevitable bout of cravings and miserableness hit me on day two or three. Unfortunately, the headache I've been suffering at work hit immediately and harder than usual (this is another thing I'm hoping to fix, for sure). The first half of this week was pretty rough, emotionally and I'm still regaining control. I was just enough distracted still to not accomplish much today. On top of that, I realized that I didn't check the ingredients in my vitamins before taking them this morning. Turns out, one of them has rice flour AND soy lecithin. Sigh. So now I have to decide if I am starting day one again tomorrow without the lawbreaking vitamins or if I continue taking them as a daily cheat... Hmm. 
But hey, upside! I made a super tasty and simple dinner tonight! Wanna see it?

Beef and brussel stuffed carnival squash

Ingredients

1 carnival squash
1/2 lb ground beef
2 cups Brussels sprouts
S&P 

Preheat oven to 400, cut squash in half and scrape out seeds (save them for roasting!). Place cut side down in a pan and bake for 30-45 minutes, until soft. 
Remove the hard nobs at the end of the Brussels sprouts and slice in half. 
Crumble and brown the beef in a pan. If using grass fed beef, reserve the fat in the pan and remove the meat to a bowl (if using regular beef though, drain the fat and add your own cooking fat to the pan).
Add the sprouts to the fat and cook until easily pierced with a fork. Add back the browned meat and season with salt and pepper to taste. 
Fill the hollow in the center of each squash half with beef and sprout mixture. 
Scoop out forkfuls of delicious!



11.05.2013

My Whole30 goals

My pumpkin soup came out a little too thin, so I just dumped it in a mug and drank it. That's what I get for not measuring last time, dammit. I've learned my lesson, I swear! I promise to measure from now on, then I can share my tasty soup recipe (once I figure out what it is...)
Looks tasty though, right?

So, here it is. Detox day 0. I know, I said this would be day one, but the weekend got away from me and I wasn't able to get the necessary groceries. So, today after work involved a trip to Whole Foods, some sticker shock over the cost and some meal planning. I'm keeping my meal plans really basic, based on whatever I pick up every week. I'll be aiming for sales along with the occasional treat. This week's treat is a pack of smoked salmon. For future reference, if you're a fan, check the ingredients! The first pack I picked up included sugar. Eiw, who puts sugar in smoked salmon?
Anyway, so far, I've picked up 2 lbs of ground beef (I found grass-fed beef, yay!), 3 lbs of chicken legs, uncured (and un-sugared) sausage, a dozen eggs and smoked salmon (for $45, uck). Tomorrow, I'll hit the regular supermarket for some avocados, beets and green veggies to complement the load of squash and carrots I'm hoarding. Treats in future will be much more limited, I can't afford $50 a week just for meat!
Oh, another change, I decided to heck with thanksgiving, I can still enjoy it plenty without pie. It's more important for me to make the 30 day detox in full. I have lots of goals; weight loss barely even registers on it. I'll be starting off with a number of "befores" tomorrow morning. Aside from weighing in, I'm gonna take basic measurements (waist, thighs, arms), checking my body fat percentage and taking pictures. Then, I'm going to put it all aside until day 31. I don't give a damn if the number on the scale changes, but I will be somewhat hoping for some slimming in my measurements. My primary focus, however, is change in my skin. I have painfully uncomfortable chronic cystic acne on my chin and spreading up my cheeks. I have heard a number of Whole30 stories about drastic acne improvements. Let's just say I'm excited to see if I'm one of them! Second, I'd like to see some serious emotional improvements. My stress and anxiety levels have been slowly climbing lately, culminating in being afraid to settle down and attempt to sleep because my mind creates terrifying images in the dark. 
So, tomorrow is day one.  For breakfast, I'm planning an egg and salmon scramble and lunch will entail roasted carrots and beef patties or chicken... Haven't decided yet. I promise to keep you posted!