Menu Plan: Week of April 27 - Whole30 Detox, Week 1

This Monday is when we start our Whole30 detox where we go 30 days without eating grains, legumes/soy, dairy, sugar, or alcohol.  I've had a few worries come to mind when planning for this cleanse.

• I'm afraid that I am going to have trouble with my breakfast. I was joking about being addicted to oats because I have oatmeal for breakfast every single morning, but I might actually be addicted.  We'll find out.
• I'm also worried about what to eat before going to Zumba class. I typically have a couple pieces of toast with nut butter on them but bread is not allowed on our cleanse.  I tried a Whole30-approved pre-workout meal of two eggs and a handful of nuts and it worked out fine, so maybe I'll just eat that same exact thing every week.
• I'm afraid that I won't be able to do it, that I won't be strong enough to last the whole 30 days doing this change. This cleanse is generally pretty close to what I already eat, but occasionally I include a little bit of rice, bread, or pasta or something with sugar in it like a dessert.
• I'm afraid that I'll eat something without thinking about it, like clean off my son's spoon for him or while I'm packing his lunch in the morning.  It's just a habit to give a taste when packing his lunch, even if I'm not hungry.

Menu Plan for Whole30 Detox, Week 1

I don't know how much we'll eat each day so I've got ideas ready and we can make them as we run out of food.  Snacks aren't really condoned, so I came up with ideas that can supplement our meals since we're just figuring all of this out. 

I bought much larger amounts of things we already buy, like three dozen eggs from the local farmer, 14 bananas since Husband Jeff said he wants to eat bananas a lot, a bag of sweet potatoes, a bag of regular white potatoes, loads of fruits and veggies, etc. 

Prep - clean fruits & veggies, make a dozen hard-boiled eggs, make taco meat for lunch salads, make breakfast casserole

Breakfasts - egg casserole with homemade sausage, roasted veggies, fruit
Lunches - taco salads, leftover meat on top of salads, sweet potatoes
Lunch/meal supplements - apples and bananas with nut butter, some sort of dip with veggies, hard-boiled eggs, olives, monkey salad (banana slices, nuts, coconut flakes, raisins, nut butter)

My favorite random food item that I've found we can eat is pork rinds.  I want to make a creamy cashew dip and we can eat the pork rinds dipped in that.  

• Monday - The weather is supposed to warm up this week, so grilling out seems like a great option.  We'll grill up a whole package of chicken breasts and any leftovers we'll have on salads for lunch.  We've also got a grill pan, so we'll grill up a bunch of potatoes and veggies too.
• Tuesday - I've got a massage scheduled, that should be a really nice way to start the week, especially with this cleanse.  Grandma & grandpa are going to pick up Sonny D like usual, so we don't have to worry about dinner for him that night.  I don't know what Husband Jeff will eat for his pre-workout meal, but I'm going to have two eggs and a handful of nuts.  We also need to eat a post-workout meal of protein and carb-dense veggies, so I've got a bag of sweet potatoes waiting for us. 
• Wednesday - Around lunch time we've got Sonny D's conference at his preschool.  baked fish, spinach pesto (minus cheese) on zucchini boodles, and a frozen California veggie blend.
• Thursday - Trader Joe's spicy Italian chicken sausage (hot dog for Sonny D), homemade baked sweet potato fries with homemade mayo (which I made on Saturday, amazing!), a half batch of tomato-basil soup.
• Friday - BBQ pork shoulder roast, some sort of slaw, gold potatoes.  It's Me & D night but I think Husband Jeff is going to take him to the pool for open swim.  Lessons have been going great!
• Saturday - I've got exercise class in the morning like usual, and Sonny D has his swimming lesson.  We usually let Sonny D pick the lunch place after swimming, but I've warned him that Daddy and I won't be able to go out to eat at restaurants on our special diet, so I think I've convinced him to come home for lunch but we'll still take him out for the requisite post-swimmng ice cream.  For lunch we'll have leftover BBQ and slaw.  Dinner will be grilled burgers and potatoes.
• Sunday - I recently had to fill out some paperwork and give our dog's birthdate, so I randomly picked a date that worked with the age we estimate him to me.  So I picked May 3, so Zipper will be 2 years old on Sunday.  We'll probably treat the dog in some fun way, maybe make him a special doggie treat.  There's also the MadCity Bazaar (billed as "an urban pop-up flea market") that I'm going to check out and our little northside farmers' market starts up.  Lunch will be a random assortment.  We might have some leftovers from the week we need to eat up but if not, we can have tuna salad, hard-boiled eggs, nuts, and fruit.  For dinner we'll grill up a sirloin tip steak and have a frozen Price Edward veggie medley (green beans, yellow beans, and carrots). 

Whole30 Shopping

Here is a list of things I've already bought to stock our kitchen.  This is certainly not an all-inclusive list of what's available, just what I've bought so far.  

From Target

• Nestlé pure life sparkling water - we love the any of the flavors
• Market Pantry raw, tail-off peeled shrimp
• Pace picante sauce
• Reese artichoke hearts
• Taste of Thai coconut milk (full fat)
• Celestial Seasonings tea (I found a great chocolate caramel flavor on clearance)
• California olives
• Sun-Maid dates
• Archer Farms frozen butternut squash
• Birds-Eye frozen broccoli

From Aldi

Fresh

• Romaine hearts lettuce
• Multicolored peppers
• Lemons
• Mandarin oranges
• Bananas
• Grapes
• Cilantro
• Fresh green beans
• Limes
• Organic grape tomatoes
• Avocados
• Cauliflower
• Broccoli
• Blackberries
• Raspberries
• Mangoes
• Pears
• Minneola tangelos

Frozen

• Steamable California medley
• Swai fillets
• Prince Edward vegetable medley

Pantry

• Yellow mustard
• Roasted red peppers in a jar
• Diced tomatoes in a can
• Black olives
• French green beans in a can
• Unsweetened dried coconut chunks
• Sliced beets in a can
• Decaf coffee
• Pumpkin purée
• Organic tomato sauce
• Any of the regular nuts in the baking area or snack area

Refrigerated

• Unsweetened almond milk
• Unsalted butter (to make ghee)

From Trader Joe's

Fresh

• Bananas
• Sliced mushrooms
• fresh pineapple spears
• Grapefruit
• Hothouse cucumbers
• Bananas

Pantry 

• Raw pumpkin seeds
• Raw mixed nuts
• Unsalted sunflower seeds
• Unsweetened dried dark cherries
• Organic Thompson raisins
• Hatch green  chile salsa
• Canned Skipjack tuna
• Canned albacore tuna
• 21-seasoning salute spice blend
• Pitted jumbo Kalamata olives
• Premade Punjab Indian eggplant dish
• Dried Turkish apricots unsulfured
• Black olives
• whole raw cashews
• Salsa autentica (red salsa)
• Raw almonds
• Kosher dill pickles
• reamy salted almond butter
• Capers

Refrigerated

• Spicy Italian chicken sausage
• Applegate organic beef hotdogs
• Organic chicken tenders
• Prosciutto
• Sliced uncured roast beef lunch meat
• Smoked wild sockeye salmon

Frozen

• Chili lime chicken burgers
• Frozen turkey burger patties
• Vera Cruz marinated fish
• Grass fed Angus strip steak

Whole30 Cleanse Food Ideas

This post is for my friends Ildi, Heather, and Kristen.  Ildi is curious about what food we'll eat on the cleanse, so I'm sharing that.  Heather and Kristen are both currently gluten-free, dairy-free, and soy-free, so these ideas fit within their restrictions.  Heather has food intolerances and Kristen is breastfeeding her son who is having digestive issues when she eats those foods.   

Husband Jeff and I are starting the Whole30 cleanse on Monday, April 27.  The cleanse excludes foods that can cause inflammation such as sugar, grains, legumes, dairy, alcohol, MSG, sulfites, and carrageenan.   I've been preparing a list of food/meal ideas, bookmarks for specific recipes, and food that we can buy that fits in with the program.

Here is my Pinterest board of Whole30 ideas.   I also have over 200 bookmarks of Whole30 recipes.  There is also a recommendation for how to make a balanced Whole30 meal, the short version is a hefty amount of protein (1-2 palm-sized portions) and veggies with a decent amount of fat. 

I mention mayo in these ideas and it would involve making it homemade. 

Breakfast

• sweet potato hash (sweet potatoes, bell pepper, onion) with fried egg on top
• southwest egg bake (peppers, onion, taco meat, salsa, black olives, green chiles)
• pumpkin breakfast pudding (with eggs to make it like a souffle and nuts on top)
• roasted veggies with fried egg or scrambled on top
• scrambled egg masala
• fritattas with leftover roasted veggies

Lunch

• lunch meat rolled around avocado
• riceless sushi with tuna, salmon, shrimp, sweet potato, cucumber, avocado, carrot
• taco salads
• any leftover meat from dinner on a salad 
• avocado and tomato salad
• tuna salad in cucumber cups
• egg salad
• chicken salad

Dinners

• meatballs/meatloaf
• pot roast/beef stew
• grilled steak
• burgers
• chile con carne
• poached or baked fish
• ceviche or avocado shrimp salad 
• fish/shrimp curry
• shrimp scampi
• nut crusted fish
• fish taco lettuce wraps with cumin-lime coleslaw
• pesto (no parmesan) on fish, chicken, or veggies
• chicken or steak fajitas without tortillas
• almond-crusted chicken fingers
• mustard chicken
• Mexican chicken soup
• salsa verde chicken 
• chicken shawarma 
•  cauliflower or cashew alfredo sauce (nutritional yeast instead of parmesan) on veggies with chicken
• BBQ pork shoulder
• roasted veggies with sausage
• cauliflower rice (could season with lime and cilantro)
• zucchini noodles with homemade red sauce
• baked sweet potato fries with spicy homemade mayo
• tomato basil soup
• celery, fennel, bell pepper slaw
• lots of homemade dressings - vinaigrettes, creamy cashew dressings, mayo dressings, tomato dressing, kalamata olive dressing, etc.

Snacks

• nut butter on apple slices, banana, celery, cucumber slices
• hard-boiled eggs or deviled eggs
• monkey salad (banana, nuts, unsweetened coconut flakes, raisins, nut butter)
• smoothie (these are not really recommended but sometimes you gotta bend the rules)
• romesco dip (roasted red pepper and almonds) with veggies
• olives
• unsweetened applesauce
• deviled eggs
• savory spiced nuts
• stuffed dates 
• grainless granola (dried fruit, nuts, seeds, coconut) to eat as a topping for fruit

beverages

• flavored water (lemon, lime, cucumber, mint, berries)

Let me know if you have any questions or want any specific recipes, I'd love to share with you.

Less Money: Our Aldi Favorites

This post is for my mom and my friends Rachel and Renae.  All three of them now shop at Aldi.  I convinced my mom to try it and she likes it.  My friend Rachel knew that I went there and she has looked back at my blog posts to see what I've bought.  And Renae and I share our awesome Aldi scores with each other on almost a daily basis. 

I love that the new Aldi I go to is on Bunny Trail road. It just tickles me. I discovered it around Easter, and I thought it was maybe an Easter-related joke on the receipt.  I sing "Here Comes Peter Cottontail, hopping down the bunny trail" every time I go to the store.

I just started buying some housewares at Aldi.  We have a coffee maker at home but husband Jeff drinks regular while Sonny D and I drink decaf so we were always ending up only able to make one type of coffee in the morning. So I bought an insulated carafe so we could make one type of coffee and put it in the carafe and then make another pot of the other type. The packaging shows the Aldi store brand "Crofton", but it's marked Emsa brand on bottom. Emsa is a good brand, their similar carafes are around $20 but the Aldi one I bough was only $10. Nice!  I also picked up a cute $4 rag rug for the spot between our garage door and the basement because Husband Jeff makes frequent trips between the garage and the basement when he's doing woodworking projects.

I also love how Aldi is a small store, they don't always have everything I want but I can be in and out really quickly.

On to our favorite things...

These are not really in any order.  I took pictures as I walked around the store, so that's the only order to any of this.

In addition to all of these items, I also love that I can get organic items at Aldi.  I recently bought organic steel-cut oats and there are quite a few other items you can occasionally find. 

The SimplyNature hot salsa is really good, but the medium one is sweet and not spicy at all.  Get the hot stuff!

Hot organic salsa

The Southern Grove retreat trail mix is really good, not too sweet and a little salty.  Only almonds, chocolate chunks and cashews. 

trail mix, for all the non-hiking I do. 

We go through a lot of peanut butter, we buy the creamy stuff in the biggest size they've got, and we usually need a new one every other month. 

Creamy peanut butter all the way!

I like this SimplyNature almond butter.  I don't think it's the best price around since I bought a larger jar of organic almond butter at a different store for not too much more, but it's yummy.  And not thin and runny.  I like that they have more unusual/non-standard things like this at Aldi so I don't have to go elsewhere for them. 

Pre-Zumba workout food, almond butter on toast.

I love Millville multigrain crispy oats!   It's less sweet than multigrain Cheerios and they seem a little crunchier. 

Just add milk!

They have really good nuts in their baking section -- walnuts, almonds, and pecans in various forms.  No salt or anything on them.  I put them in my oatmeal and throw handfuls into my pesto. 

I'm nuts for their nuts!

I picked up this tomatoes, okra, and corn blend on a whim and was pleasantly surprised.  I don't remember if Sonny D and Husband Jeff ate it, but I recently picked up another can because I liked it. 

Tomatoes, okra, and corn.  I assume this is a Southern thing?

I love all the fresh produce at Aldi!  The selection is limited, but the prices are sometimes totally amazing!  Avocados for $.49, pints of blackberries or raspberries for $1.50, etc.  Plus they have some organic items, love that! 

Fresh fruits and veggies.

This guacamole is so good!  We've had both the spicy and the regular and love both.  And the spicy version is definitely spicy!  You get two pouches in the box. 

Get chips and a box of this guac and you've got the start to a good meal!

Real Parmigiano-Reggiano only comes from Italy, the rest is just called parmesan.  This stuff is authentic! 

Parmiginano Reggiano straight from the old country.

The regular fresh salsa is really tasty, haven't tried any of the other flavors though.

Fresh salsa

Vanilla Greek yogurt is the way to go.  Husband Jeff says the yogurt from Trader Joe's is too runny and prefers this.  Sonny D calls it "malinda yogurt" (is 'vanilla' hard to say?)

Thick Greek yogurt.

Zipper dog chillin' after waiting for me to finish grocery shopping.

Here's a photo of everything I bought at Aldi one day.  Starting on the left and going clockwise:

My haul from a recent trip to Aldi.

• Heads of romaine lettuce - I used to buy the bags of salad greens, but we go through them so quickly.  They usually only feed Husband Jeff and I for two dinners.  So I switched to the heads of romaine lettuce and I chop it up, spin and wash in the salad spinner, and store it in the fridge in the salad spinner.  Lasts us forever!
• The orange box is protein bars for snacks for Sonny D (and us!).  These are chocolate-peanut-almond or something like that.  
• Their croutons are the crunchiest we've ever had!  I buy whatever random flavor appeals to me at the moment.  
• Husband Jeff says their chianti and red zinfandel are decent.  
• I'm forever buying French vanilla coffee creamer, we drink it in our coffee and pour it on our oatmeal.
• We love their unsweetened original almond milk, same ingredients as the Trader Joe's version.  And no carrageenan. 
• The El Milagro tortilla chips are great, less salt than most brands, extra crunchy, and made from non-GMO corn.  
• We also buy a lot of fresh produce there, grapes, organic grape tomatoes, avocados, conventional and organic apples, bananas, Cuties clementines, carrots. 
• Sonny D loves canned mandarin oranges, he calls them "juice oranges" because they come in liquid.  

We tried the Priano roasted garlic and onion spaghetti sauce and Husband Jeff found it bitter, so we tried the pomodoro version.  Much better!  It's your basic red sauce.

Priano pomodoro sauce.

If you like sweet wine, this Moscato is pretty nice.  I wish it were a sparkling moscato though, makes it a bit more refreshing rather than cloyingly sweet.

Pink Moscato wine.

I loved these spicy fried pickles!  I baked them on a rack in the oven and they crisped up pretty good.  We skipped the dill cream sauce and ate them with ranch dressing.  Quite spicy. 

I can't turn down fried pickles. 

We like this Millville Honey Crunch 'n Oats cereal. 

More tasty cereal.

We're not gluten-free, but I recently bought some of the Live GFree pasta and pretzels and were impressed by both of them.  The pasta didn't get mushy and the pretzels are a much cheaper alternative to our absolute favorite pretzels from Glutino.

I don't have photos of it, but we also love the organic grass-fed ground beef, it's much cheaper than the similar product from the local grocery store.

I also completely love the mixed flower bouquet, I've had them last for two weeks with essentially no maintenance (I rarely remember to change the water).

Oh, and I totally love the country-style chicken breakfast sausage.  It's so good and there's only like 5 ingredients (chicken, a couple different spices, salt, sugar.)

Your Favorites

I've started a new habit of asking the checker about their favorite Aldi item.  The first gal I asked said the take-and-bake pizza, which I have read recommendations of online. She also mentioned the frozen ravioli. Husband Jeff likes frozen ravioli so I might have to pick some up.

I would love to hear what you like from Aldi.  Send me an email to share your favorite buys!

Menu Plan: Week of April 20

Here's a photo log of the past week.

Tuesday I took 9 boxes of stuff to Goodwill. Love getting rid of stuff!

Wednesday we got a load of dirt delivered for our garden beds.

Asparagus growing in our garden, harvested a day later for dinner.

Three bulbs of garlic growing in the garden.

Saturday's Food Camp demonstration about water kefir.

Husband Jeff built Sonny D a balance beam on Sunday morning.

Then Husband Jeff put together his new firepit (birthday gift).

Jeff also built this pair of garden beds on Sunday.

The closer bed is Sonny D's and he's planning to grow carrots and blueberries.  The next bed back is Husband Jeff's, he's going to put in flowers.The far-left bed in the back is my vegetable garden. 

Kefir grains, looks like water crystals.

At the water kefir presentation at Food Camp we were given about 1/2 cup of kefir grains.  The grains are a SCOBY, a symbiotic colony of bacteria and yeast. Water kefir grains are used to ferment sugar water and turn it into a probiotic fizzy beverage similar to soda. I didn't take notes at the presentation and I followed a recipe the presenter recommended but hopefully I did everything correctly!  I made a lime kefir water, inside the quart mason jar are a dried apricot (somehow dried fruits help it ferment), 1/4 cup sugar, about 1/3 cup of kefir grains, two limes cut in half, and filtered water.  This primary fermentation creates the probiotics and then there's a second fermentation to create the carbonation.

My lime water kefir right after making it on Monday morning.

My water kefir a little more than 24 hours old. Look at the grain growth!

The water kefir grains seem to be multiplying pretty quickly even though our kitchen is pretty cold.  They are mature grains and hadn't been dehydrated like the ones you buy online because I've read those take a little longer to get going.  I'll let it ferment for two days and then strain out the grains and combine the resulting fermented kefir liquid with some sort of juice and let that ferment a couple more days and then it will be ready to drink.

This Week

• Monday - We watched our friends' boy who goes to preschool with Sonny D.  The two of them had a great time romping around and playing while I made dinner.  We had Trader Joe's Italian sausages, Syracuse salt potatoes (potatoes boiled in really salty water. try it, so creamy!), and roasted veggies. The veggies included seven spears of asparagus from our own garden.  I also made a creamy cashew-based dip/sauce with chives from our yard, it worked as a great sour cream substitute for the potatoes. 
• Tuesday - No dinner planned because Sonny D is hanging out with grandma and grandpa while Husband Jeff and I go to Zumba.  I want to try eating the pre-workout foods for the Whole30 detox we start next week, but I might wuss out and stick with my usual two pieces of toast with almond butter.  Next week I'll really have to do it though since we'll be on the detox.
• Wednesday - Pasta with red sauce since we have a leftover half a jar frozen.  The sauce doesn't fit within the Whole30 restrictions, so we need to eat it now rather than later.
• Thursday - Husband Jeff's birthday and a family celebration at his cousin's house.  We'll eat whatever they're making, sounds like brats and chicken breasts on the grill. 
• Friday - pesto pasta with cheese ravioli, corn, and salads. 
• Saturday - Sonny D's swim lessons again, we haven't discussed what we'll do for lunch afterwards, but it always includes getting ice cream.  We're also going to pull out the tent and try taking a nap in the yard in the afternoon.  If that goes well, we'll also try sleeping out there at night, but this weekend looks rather cold so we might have to wait a while. Dinner will be hot dogs grilled over Husband Jeff's new firepit (birthday gift) and of course we'll toast marshmallows for s'mores. 
• Sunday - I'm going to a vegetarian Indian cooking class in the afternoon while Sonny D and Husband Jeff go to a birthday party for the boy we watched on Monday evening. 

Amazing Avocado Salad Dressing, Happens To Be A Whole30 Recipe

This recipe is dedicated to my friend Renae, she's an avocado lover.

I threw together a salad dressing on Sunday night that I totally loved. It was based on user Beets' recipe from the Whole30 recipe sharing forum, but you don't have to be on a special cleanse to eat it.

Beets' original recipe:

1/4 avocado
juice from 1/4 meyer lemon
sea salt
1/4 cup (?) good EVOO

I was making dressing for both Husband Jeff and I, so i double the amounts (unmeasured, cause I'm a rebel!) -- I mashed half an avocado with a fork, a couple tablespoons of bottled lemon juice (wish we had fresh lemons!), a hefty glug of olive oil, and then tasted it to get the right amount of salt.  Then I added a southwestern spice blend since we had marinated the chicken in lime juice, olive oil, and cumin.  It made a lot of dressing and we probably could have gotten away with the original amount for the two of us, but I knew it wouldn't stay pretty since the avocado would oxidize, so I made sure to finish it off that night. 

I don't have a photo, but the dressing was a thick avocado-green sauce.  We used it on hearty romaine salads with grilled chicken breasts. Jeff did a great job of grilling the chicken, it was juicy and tender.  We'll definitely be making this dressing again!

Menu Planning: Week of April 13

In preparation for our Whole30 cleanse/detox, this week I'm planning that we'll aim to eat up some of the foods that we can't have during the detox so we can get them out of the house. Next week I'm hoping our meals will skew even more towards gluten-free and compliant foods so we can prep our minds and bodies for the cleanse. 

It's a quiet week. I've been slowly adding to a pile of stuff for Goodwill, probably should take that in before it gets too large. We did a lot of garden/yard cleanup over the weekend, feels good to have it ready. I've also got my garden and plantings all planned out, can't wait to go buy seeds and seedlings. Just have to wait for Husband Jeff to put the plastic on the raised garden bed. 

Monday - Trader Joe's tomato & roasted red pepper soup with quesadillas.   The tortillas have been languishing in the fridge and need to get eaten up, same with the soup we opened this weekend. It's Sonny D's favorite soup, he calls it "red soup".

Tuesday - Sonny D will do his usual plan of hanging out with grandma and grandpa for the evening, but our Zumba class is cancelled for the next few weeks because our instructor had appendicitis last weekend and an appendectomy. Not sure when we'll have class next. I don't really want to skip the exercise, but it would be nice to have a date night with Husband Jeff.  I looked at the nearby movie theater and they've got Furious 7 playing, and I love cars and action movies, so it sounds great!  Plus Tuesdays are $5 movies, can't beat that price for the first-run movies. Maybe I can convince him to grab something quick to eat and head over there. 

Wednesday - panko-crusted tilapia, gnocchi alla sorentina, and peas, all frozen stuff from Trader Joe's and stuff we can't eat during the cleanse. 

Thursday - General Tso's tofu with rice and chicken-cilantro wontons. I really hope this is the last of the wontons, they're really good but it's like the never-ending bag from Costco. I swear I've made wontons from this bag at least 5-6 times and they're still not gone.  Another meal full of things we can't eat on the cleanse. 

Friday - I'm shopping at and working my volunteer shift at the Half-Pint Resale event, that leaves Husband Jeff and Sonny D to fend for dinner by themselves. When given options, Sonny D said he wanted pasta with red sauce. It's also open swim night at the nearby elementary school, hopefully they get to go because last week's swim lesson was cancelled because the instructor was sick. Sonny D took it all in stride, but he was really looking forward to class.  

Saturday - I'm spending all day at Madison Food Camp, I'm so excited!  They still have spots open if you'd like to come too!  Sonny D has his official swimming lesson, I hope he does as well as the last time, he actually stayed in the water for the whole lesson and did great. Dinner is Italian sausages, soycutash, and Syracuse salt potatoes (potatoes boiled in a really salty brine, it makes them tender). Only the potatoes from this meal can be eaten during our cleanse.  It's a recipe I haven't tried before, but if they're good I'll make them again. 

Sunday - We're going out with husband Jeff's parents for for Jeff's birthday (a few days early) and our anniversary. No idea where we'll go, but Husband Jeff tends to pick his favorite local pizza place, Glass Nickel. Since I get a tiny 1/3 vote, I'd like to suggest going somewhere else.  One of our well-liked Chinese restaurants (Imperial Garden east) is closing because they're getting torn down to make way for new development and it would be nice to go there one last time. Plus I like that it's one of the few nice eat-in Asian restaurants around, most of them are the quick takeout places. 

Have a nice week and enjoy the weather wherever you are, it's supposed to be in the 60s and 70s this week for us.  

No Menu Plan: Whole30 Instead

I barely had a menu plan for this week, so I'm going to skip posting that for this week. It ends up I only had half the week planned and then we needed to go grocery shopping to buy ingredients to eat anything else for the rest of the week.

Last Week

A funny little thing I wanted to mention. Our dog Zipper sleeps on our bed with us and sometimes he'll snore so loud that it makes me laugh, and I'm supposed be trying to fall sleep. But it's just so cute this teensy little dog with this big ol' snore going on. 

Here are some pictures of food from last week.  

Cooked down frozen strawberries to make sauce for waffles.

Aldi multi-grain gluten-free bread, quite good!

This peanut butter-chocolate fruit dip was based on the recipe from Oh She Glows. I scaled it down to approximately half but with a lot less almond milk since it seemed like it would be too runny with the full amount.  Sonny D liked it, but I absolutely loved it.  When it was gone, I swiped my finger around the bowl to clean it out. 

Peanut butter-chocolate dip.

 

Whole30

Husband Jeff and I are interested in a detox/cleanse called Whole30, it doesn't allow gluten, grains, legumes/soy, sugar, or alcohol. I'm happily planning and researching what we'll eat for the 30 days. We're starting to remove those things from our diet already so it won't be such a shock when we are actually doing it. We've found that black coffee is yucky!  :) We've got some events coming up that would make it really hard to start the cleanse so we're gonna wait towards the end of the month after Husband Jeff's birthday.  I'm glad we're doing this together, it's nice to have a partner on something so challenging like this. 

Whole30 appeals to me because I have been overeating at meals. And clearing my son's plate after he was done eating. And feasting on Easter candy. I want to feel good about my body. I am proud of my strength from weightlifting but I want to feel good about the rest of my body, get rid of the bit of flab.  I think it will feel good to reset our eating habits. 

I'm very excited to plan and make all sorts of new foods. I want to make homemade mayonnaise, which just sounds totally awesome and you can use it on everything because fats are good for the Whole30. I love browsing Pinterest to find new recipes and a new concepts, here's my Whole30 Pinterest board.  It's neat to find there are regular dishes we will be able to eat, like beef stew. I've already started grocery shopping in preparation for our cleanse and reading labels at Trader Joe's and Aldi.

For Sonny D we're going to probably serve him the regular food that we're already eating for dinner and then just adding in rice or pasta for him, but I'd like for him to eat some of the foods that were making anyway.  He doesn't really like much veggies so would be good for him to try some new things. For breakfast he normally eats cereal, oatmeal, or an egg sandwich. I make his lunch for preschool so he'll eat his regular things like peanut butter sandwiches, crab snacks, seaweed,  hard-boiled eggs, homemade trail mix, and other random things that he likes.

In my Whole30 research I saw a recipe called Monkey Salad that I had to try because it sounded good and I had all the ingredients. It's more of a concept than a recipe, banana slices with whatever type of nuts/seeds, unsweetened coconut, etc.  Would be good with some dried fruit or nut butter too.

Monkey salad - banana, pecans, unsweetened coconut flakes, pinch of salt