MC and I are Whole 30-ing it this month - it's his first time ever and my first since
2015. This go already feels loads different, not only because I know what to expect and whether
it's worth it, but also because I have a live-in partner committing to the program alongside me, and - wonder of glorious wonders - that partner's kitchen skills have vastly improved since 2015. So it's not just me prepping all the food (and then prepping an entirely separate table of food for my grain- and cheese-loving family). It's also MC and his trusty Instant Pot! I have no doubt that seasoned W30-ers (and all primary-food-preparers) will appreciate this new development without further explanation. Another development is that everything about my life has changed since 2015! I rarely blog or teach cooking classes these days, I work outside the home full time, and I have a toddler (allergic to eggs and tomatoes). We are mostly vegetarian and I barely ever cook or bake anything interesting. And worst of all is that my creative writing skills are super rusty. But I thought I'd try to keep a record here nonetheless, since 2015's record sure has come in handy and I know other W30s out there like this kind of anecdotal data.
This time, I'm not doing it 100%. I'm doing it like 92%, meaning, e.g., we snacked on Trader Joe's absolutely delicious vegan jackfruit "crab cakes" last night even though they had rice bran oil as an ingredient; I ate some soup with lentils in it for lunch today because I needed to finish it up from earlier in the week and I didn't want to postpone our W30 start date. Like everyone else, we've got a lot on our plate, including but not limited to: three children, jobs, school and church commitments, endless laundry, and a gazillion feet of snow outside of our house. So we are doing our best but accepting that what our best is right now will result in a somewhat modified W30, but will still serve as a functional reset for us.
We are on Day 2. We are a little hangry but hanging in there.
Yesterday we ate:
Scrambled eggs and sautéed kale and grated root veggies for breakfast
Shredded chicken with stir-fried red peppers and zucchini +
carrot-squash soup*
Instant Pot Shrimp Curry, cauliflower rice, mixed greens, and Trader Joe's jackfruit "crabcakes" for dinner. MC made the curry and it was great, though it did not meat his expectations, which I just learned were recreating
Chino Latino's Coconut Shrimp Curry.
Both of us snacked on fruit and nuts and/or sunflower butter.
Today we ate:
Eggs and veggies (MC) and chia-hemp smoothie (me)** for breakfast
Leftover shrimp curry (MC) and veggie-lentil soup + fruit + celery + sunflower butter (me)** for lunch
Instant Pot Sweet Potato-Chicken Curry with green beans and greens for dinner - this is another MC creation and it's outstanding. I wish I had taken a picture of his v. impressive mise en place, but I didn't realize I wanted to blog about all this until after the fact. Next time!
More later. xoxo
* Subbed three tablespoons ghee for butter
** Smoothies aren't "Whole 30 compliant" but see above; this falls into aforementioned 8%.
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