Month: January 2020

I’m tempted to sing the song from childhood, “On top of Spaghetti”, but there’s no cheese to sing about. C’est la vie. Tonight we’re planning on spaghetti and meatballs. I’ll be following a 40apron’s recipe once again. I wish Cheryl Malik lived down the street and we were good enough friends that we could be invited to dinner. I’m just replicating what she says and it knocks it out of the park every. single. time. So, needless to say, I’m looking forward to dinner. Although I’m going with spaghetti squash instead of zucchini zoodles.

Today started as per usual… pack up some eggs and spinach and head off to work to eat them when I’m hungry. I’m actually nuking my eggs in the microwave. A little trick i learned from a Jimmy Dean’s sausage breakfast scramble in a cup from the local 7-11. And it’s still good, although growing a bit long in the tooth.

Lunch today? I genuinely forget. But I know it was on plan, I promise. When I remember I’ll update the post and replace this :x.

Went to the GrossOut again, and grabbed some needed stuff for tonight’s dinner. No almond meal though…. good thing we have that food processor at home. Cooking went without a problem, though it took a bit longer than expected but the end result is positively delightful and incredibly filling. When’s the last time you had just three meatballs with breadcrumbs? Usually I’m ready to eat at least 5… yet another go to recipe for the future. And with the spaghetti squash? fugheddaboudit!

Today I skipped breakfast, but I ate half an RX Bar and some fruit instead. I feel a bit guilty but still on task so I’m not sure why. It had more to do with me getting up late and needing to get to a meeting than anything.

I hoped going through this diet I’d be ready to greet the morning quicker. Back pain would go away. But all I’ve got is more energy in the day.. I’ll take it! Lunch was left over Tuna today, glad i made that. It made today a breeze. And I must make more! Lunch’s have been left overs, which have been great but having something different is better if only because it’s different.

I did a work out on the rowing machine again, and found how to race the computer! This makes things more interesting because now I have an “opponent” to strive against. The kettle bell is getting easier too

Dinner tonight was something my girlfriend wanted to cook: salmon benedict’s. I wasn’t sure how I felt about Hollandaise, and neither was she (primarily for the amount of Ghee the Whole30 book requested). However, I like this yo-yo of our time in the kitchen. It feels shared and loving, & I get some food I don’t normally gravitate toward — just speaking of change it’s nice to eat a protein I don’t tend to cook myself.

And again, I’m in awe of how good the food constantly is. I had a double-yolk egg, which dripped all over the fish and was reminiscent of a yolk on a burger. But I’m happy my girlfriend decided to quarter the recipe for Hollandaise … it was not very good. Taste like ghee and nobody wants to just eat ghee… it needs something to bind to or fry on? Long story short, just say “No” to Hollandaise on Whole30. You’ll appreciate it.

My girlfriend woke up, ready and raring to make breakfast. There was left-over scramble filling from yesterday, and she wanted to make eggs to go with it and more Chicken Apple Sausage with our Whole30 ketchup (40aprons, that ketchup is amazin’).

I think she was inspired by the tuna salad yesterday, but she’s had her eye on “Protein salad” recipe in the book for a while. I picked up some red grapes yesterday which round it out perfectly, and I’m not one to say no to someone else prepping food. Another excellent meal. Chicken thighs make a great choice and I heartily recommend it.

We were going to use the remaining Cacciatore sauce with salmon tonight but we have some chicken that needs to be used. And as my girlfriend said, “I’m not done with it yet.”, so lets have more! I burned the legs that were already cooked trying to give htem more color :/. The food still tasted good but was tainted a bit. We may be done now.

A weekend of Cacciatore. I’ll never forget you. I didn’t get any workouts in this weekend. I need to do it when I think of it instead of putting it off. I did however get half of the living room blinds clean. I don’t think they’ve been cleaned in a decade…it’s disgusting and time consuming but they look good.

I need to clear the crap on the bed and find their place. But tomorrow… it’s sleepy time now.

Today was a grand day. Cooked up a scramble with remaining hamburger from Monday night’s Shepherds Pie, stumbled but stuck the landing – I forgot salt in the home made sausage. *slap my forehead* It ended up delicious though.

And it fueled me enough to get started on the closet. I spent hours in there folding 3.5 baskets of clothes. It’s obscene how many articles of clothing I have, and ridiculous that I’ve let my girlfriend wash them, but haven’t followed up on 3.5 loads of laundry! I can’t let that happen again. And I need to donate some…

Half-way through, I got hungry… tuna salad sounds nice. Whipped some up with the remaining mayo (40aprons recipe from our In-N-Out night), celery, black olives, pickles, one Serrano pepper (gutted) and Brussels sprouts that were chopped on Monday as well. With a dash of Coconut Amino’s and salt and all of the pepper I could stand. All in a little “taco” shell of Romaine lettuce.

This is the first time I missed wheat bread. It’s a really delicious tuna salad but I don’t think I’ve ever had it without bread. By the end of it though I was fine and in heaven with the flavors. Maybe I convinced myself but I think bread kind of numbs the flavors a bit? Maybe an open-face?

Another couple of hours in the closet and its looking great. Still need to donate half of my clothes but it will work for now. They take a week on Marie Kondo’s show, so I don’t feel bad at all.

My good friend decided to come over after all and will bring her own food she had, she doesn’t yet know the umami delicousness of the Chicken Cacciatore. We have left-over but also need to use our peppers. So I made that again, while UFC 246 was on, waiting for McGregor to get up there.

Finished in the nick of time but I was literally looking at my plate to cut the chicken off of the bone and missed Cowboy going down. Thank god for instant replay. And holy cow that was an amazing way to hit someone. Shoulder checks right in the face during a grapple?

Anyway, my good friend enjoyed her food but the Cacciatore smelled too good for her to avoid and now she wants to make Whole30 with us on our weekly get-together’s. We have a convert!

I’m really looking forward to the fresh Chicken Cacciatore tonight. It came highly rated from my sister who lives near, and it’s date night. Things are working out.

I get to go in late on Fridays and a plumber is coming today to fix our leaky bathtub faucet (finally! It’s been leaking since prior to Halloween, and its’ now January. Don’t even get started on this AJ…). So today I made coffee on the stove, fried up an egg, and enjoyed my morning sitting at he kitchen table and waiting for him to finish his work.

Went in to work at nearly 1PM, stayed until 4:30, I should have logged more time today because I did work in the AM on a security issue, but eh, not like I can get unapproved overtime. When I got off of work I went to the Daiso and Half-Priced Books, for storage of our garden in the fridge (we aren’t going to make it through all of that food before it starts to wilt), and for a copy of the Whole30 book. We made it 15 days, it’s I borrowed the book on day 4. It’s time to return the book to my sister who lives near.

Got home, did 20 minutes and +2200 strokes on the rowing machine, 10 minutes on the dot of kettle bells, took a shower. Damn I’m productive! I think I’m finally feeling the energy. It’s not “Tiger Blood”, but I just feel…. less lethargic? More willing to do what I set my mind to? I prepped the food (got it all out) for the Cacciatore, but got lost in Phantasy Star IV again. By the time my girlfriend came home I was ready to get started, after just a few more minutes in the game.

Dinner was a breeze and absolutely delicious. For something that retains its foreign name, I expected more of a challenge. Why haven’t I made this before? I love this diet.

Off to bed with us after watching…something. Forgot what it was already. Tomorrow is Marie Kondo day for our closet and it’s long overdue. I may also be watching UFC 246, my good friend want’s to watch and split the bill with someone….

I removed the chicken last night from the freezer and let it sit on the counter for 4 hours before sticking it in the fridge before going to sleep. Should I remove it from the refrigerator before work? Yes. Did I? no. Will I regret it? In hindsight: yes.

Today I had a typical breakfast – Eggs, Spinach, nom.

Lunch was even more left-over shepherds pie. We’ve got food for….ever! The bottom of the fridge is like a garden – we got our food delivery which had a plethora of goodies, but the crown jewel looks to be the Red Kale. I don’t normally take and share photos but I think I must share it before cooking it, later. But we still haven’t gone through the veg we purchased on Sunday. I think we were a bit ambitious and didnt’ comprehend the left-overs that would remain.

Dinner was going to be Chicken Cacciatore, straight out of the Whole30 book I borrowed from my sister who lives near, but the chicken that I regret not taking out of the fridge is still solid as a rock in the center. Good thing we have left-overs.

Soups and stews! It’s all good. And wow, we’re half-way done! I’m being won over by this “diet”.

We’ve been stacking up a lot of leftovers in the refrigerator. At dinner tonight I completely forgot that I had cooked Beef Stew on Saturday! But I’m getting ahead of myself…

For breakfast today, I’m pretty sure that I’m no longer satisfied with eggs and spinach, because I chose to eat the remaining leftovers for breakfast of the Pork Shoulder, Kale, and Butternut squash. Still one of my favorites and I didn’t want it to go to waste.

Work had me up and down all day, and I didn’t mind so something is definitely changing in my tolerance of tasks that require me to move up from my desk. I also read an article about posture, and want to try to sit better. Crossing your desk in a chair is the next best thing to sitting on the ground in a squat. A couple of years ago I was trying to get my squat back, and I lost my way along with my weight. So, this diet is helping me follow through with discipline once again.

For lunch I opted to eat the leftover slice of Shepherd’s Pie that didn’t fit into the large container. It was smaller than a serving I’d normally eat but, I’ll certainly live. And I have seaweed snacks (made with olive oil) to eat if I get hungry. And fruit, glorious fruit. I don’t remember never enjoying fruit so much in life as I do now.

When I got home I was feeling quite energetic – jazzed for the rowing machine techniques I read the previous evening, and I even told myself if I finished 30 minutes on it, and still didn’t have “30 minutes of exercise” recorded on my watch, that I’d do some kettle-bell swings. Lo and behold, the watch told me I needed 7 additional minutes even though I moved on the rowing machine for at least 30 minutes (it was 34 minute workout but I did stop for breath twice – I didn’t let my heart rate go below 128). So I honored my commitment and went ahead with the kettle-bell swings. That exercise is too fun though, honestly. 12 minutes of that, because it got away from me, had me feeling stoked and ready for a cold shower.

No shower is as great as a cold shower after a workout. It’s crazy how cold I can tolerate when my muscles are warmed up.

But I digress. My girlfriend made it home late tonight, since she was picking up a something from her mom’s house after work and hanging out. So I got to play some Sega Genesis, Phantasy Star IV, before she got home and for a moment after. I’m loyal to Sega still so many years later – customer for life. The digression continued…

Still, and again, more left-overs for dinner tonight. Today has been left-over day and I’m not mad at it. I ate a big bowl of beef stew and a regular bowl of coconut lime chicken soup. Feeling quite satisfied with my portions we did the necessary cleaning and while we had planned to watch Game of Thrones, ended up enthralled by the old Dick Tracy series from the 1930’s (better acting than Star Wars Episode 1 in my opinion). I finally see why my dad loved it.

Woke up late today and decided I’d eat the other half of the RXBAR with some MCT oil in my coffee for breakfast (calorie wise, this is good, nutrition wise, not so much).

At lunch I ate left-over Pork Shoulder, Kale & Butternut Squash. And work was a breeze. When I got home I decided to exercise on the rowing machine. I’m getting more efficient at this. Instead of 500m, I cut down a whole minute on my 500m. But I read today about form and apparently I’m starting in the incorrect position, and stroking too fast. Will correct tomorrow.

After I finished working out my girlfriend told me she could cook tonight after all. There was a moment when she thought she’d have to stay late and I thought I’d be cooking what she planned or something else. But as planned Coconut Lime Chicken Soup.

If you’ve ever bitten into a lime or had the ptih touch your lips, that’s the undertone this soup that called for 3 whole limes in it. It was a bit lime pith-y. And we can’t put sugar in it to tame it. Oh well, it still tasted very good after the taste-buds adjusted. Perhaps this is what it should taste like? But they usually put sugar in your coconut curry’s?

Nothing especially unusual to report about my mood today or mind. Same as usual. Waiting to feel amazing or something. Pants I couldn’t pull up over my butt a month ago I can now. Is it the diet? Again….maybe.

Today was a no fuss day. I toyed with the idea of skipping breakfast in favor of a RXBAR that’s compliant (Mixed Berry), but chose not to and went with the ol’ eggs n spinach. Work was easy. Things are calmer now with the hassle-man. Nothing remotely exciting to report about today. I feel fine. I haven’t cheated, and everything is going typically.

My girlfriend had planned on making a coconut curry soup from the Whole30 book, but part way through my morning she let me know she had a migraine, and wouldn’t be making it in to work until maybe lunch if it subsided. Unfortunately, it ended up being one of those massive migraines, the type that she can’t get up from except to vomit.

I had plans to repair (replace) my cousin’s old 2012 Macbook Pro screen that was shattered when something heavy landed on the outside of it. But I knew that would take at least 2, if not 3 hours, and with dinner plans out the window, I instead opted to redux the Shepherds Pie. This time however, I used half the mashed potatoes and replaced it with mashed cauliflower.

Once again, great success. That pie was more filling with the cauliflower, which surprised me.

Feeling jazzed about dinner, and with 2.5 hours before bed I went ahead and worked on the laptop. It took me almost 3 to do, but it worked out okay. Tomorrow we eat Coconut Chicken Curry!

After partying and getting home in the wee hours of the morning, we woke up a bit late this morning. I grabbed my phone and, eerily, my second sister called no sooner than I settled back down into bed to look at my text messages. Her boyfriend had sent me a text about an hour prior and she was calling to get a recipe from us. They started us on this Whole30 journey with their success story, and we borrowed the book from them. They wanted a shot of the pork, kale and butternut squash stew-like ingredients list from it. She had suggested it before and I did make a pork shoulder last week that needs to be used up. That’s probably what will be for dinner tonight.

I enjoyed the egg foo yung so much yesterday I made it again for brunch today. My first sister had a need for Mom with my nephew so that meant she would be coming today. Since Sunday is a good clean up day, we did a deeper cleaning than usual and waited for her arrival.

The visit was nice, we chat about Whole30, life and and she got to see the rowing machine that was a gift from her and Dad on Christmas. After that we went out to get the real groceries for the week. Gross Out was a success, I saved $125 supposedly… they have plenty of veg and meat that is compliant, frozen or otherwise and its great.

We couldn’t really decide on dinner before shopping, and even for a bit when we got home. We had too many choices really. But my girlfriend wanted to cook some soup for the week and found a Pho recipe for the instant pot. I worked on the previously named Pork, Kale and Butternut Squash dish, and yet again… it’s wonderfully delicious. Warming on a cool night, and very much a comfort food.

My girlfriends Pho turned out great too. I had to have a small bowl, with some coconut amino acids and salt its as good as I remember from real Pho restaurants. After that I reminded her of the baked apples I was going to make the previous night. One problem, no apple corer. So I looked up a recipe and then forgot the timing… oh well. Cooking to smell is good enough with baked things usually.

But I should have timed it. It turned out a happy accident – ghee, cinnamon and cardamom inside a barely cut into apple turned into little apple sauce balls that were heaviliy reminiscent of icecream scoops. Happily plopped them into some bowls, grabbed some of the same spices, nuts (sliced almonds and walnuts), and sliced strawberries, and went to town. On a cold night, this is what you want. Will do it all over again!