Update

My health coach posted a very fitting article on her blog today that reminded me of an experience I had last week. The directors I work with went out to dinner to one of my absolutely favorite restaurants, The Cactus. On day 27 I was plagued the whole day with the biggest temptation I have had thus far. At this point I knew I could survive eating right for another 30 days if I allowed myself to order my favorite dish and snacked on chips and salsa. I could just start over and be able to enjoy my Chicken Fried Chicken. That morning I woke up and looked at the menu and found an alternative… but still thought about cheating. At lunch I looked at the menu again, and settled on a different alternative…. but still thought about cheating. The drive down I argued with myself… the walk to the restaurant I argued more. As I sat at the table I argued a little more until the waiter came up and asked what I would like to drink. This was the point I decided I made a commitment to myself and others and I needed to stick by it.

Instead of chips and salsa, I had sliced vegetables with guacamole and salsa.

Instead of chicken fried chicken I had this mess of grilled chicken, vegetables and a portobello mushroom. I am sure the waiter thought I was annoying as I asked him the ingredients in everything but I knew he understood because when I ordered my water in the beginning, he told me about how carefully he was trying to eat and how he was also not allowed dairy or sugar.

You know what really made it easy? Being able to text my health coach. Having that extra support makes a big difference. And I knew I was not alone because she was in Las Vegas saying “No!” to a buffet of desserts.

To see Emese’s vacation eating article, click below.

https://www.livelifehealthy.me/single-post/2017/10/03/Eating-on-VacationPlanned-LapseLOVE-for-Las-Vegas

Now for some delicious meals I have had lately:

I went to MANY stores to find ground chorizo that was compliant. Before I did, I found chorizo sausages from Whole Foods. This dish was beets, sweet potatoes, carrots, and parsnips sautéed in a little olive oil with lots of garlic. It was a great balance of sweet and spicy.

Tonight I retried to make coconut chicken. I chopped up one chicken breast, tossed it with coconut flour, chili powder, ground ginger, and sea salt, dipped it in a beaten egg, and rolled it in unsweetened coconut (a smaller grated coconut than I tried a couple weeks ago). Fried in a little olive oil until cooked… it really hit the spot. I put it on top of a cauliflower stir fry (cauliflower rice, red onions, green peppers, grated carrots, pineapple, garlic, coconut aminos, and sesame oil).

Now to come full circle. My Chicken Fried Chicken from Cactus is a breaded Chicken on top of mashed potatoes and a chorizo gravy. Using this coconut chicken recipe and changing up the spices to give it more of a Spanish flair, I can see making my own Chicken Fried Chicken Whole 30 compliant.

Moral of the story: Patience makes way for rewards later.

I can not wait to taste the reward of my own Chicken Fried Chicken…. that will probably taste better but also BE better for me.

Long Days!

The second half of this week has been long and hard! I am so glad it is over and I only have one more work day until a few days off… My president of the day experience got postponed until Thursday which means next week I will have 2 DAYS OFF IN A ROW! After the past couple days, I really need those two days!

This week was also a hard eating week. I got so tired of eating the same foods since last Friday when I cooked it. Sometimes I just didn’t eat because I was bored of the food. AND, I was massively craving french fries again. 

Making the large wok full or crock pot full recipes is not working for me right now. I need a variety so that is exactly what I did tonight. I really, honestly didn’t think I would even have time to cook this week so I am glad I had an extra hour tonight. I will still need to eat leftovers once a day to clear out the freezer a bit, but at least there will be a variety now!

I found a turkey breakfast sausage that had no added sugar or ingredients besides spices. YAH! It tastes pretty good and while it was cooking it even smelled like Thanksgiving. I just whipped up some eggs, added the sausage, and some of the Healthy 8 vegetable mix from Trader Joe’s and TA-DA, I have breakfast!

At the suggestion of Emese I coated some chicken in eggs, rolled it in unsweetened coconut and instead of frying it I used the George Foreman grill. Combined with brussels sprouts makes me super excited to eat this dish! I couldn’t find smaller shavings of coconut so I will try this again for appearance sake.

I also George Foreman’d some all pork chorizo sausage from Whole Foods. Once again  no added sugar or unnecessary ingredients. I then sauted some vegetables in the chorizo drippings.  See those extra brussel sprouts? Only had a few left so I included them here. To add a little sweetness, I threw in a plum.

Lastly, once again using my good ol’ friend George, I grilled up some steak and put it on top of green beans and a handful of the Healthy 8 Vegetable Mix.

So much more of a variety!!! It makes me incredibly happy.

I also found a really good seasoning mix at Trader Joe’s I used in the steak and vegetables. I will take a picture at another time to share it!