Whole 30: Week 1 Recap

Hey hey!  How was everyone's winter break?  Ours was glorious!  Filled with tons of playing, friends, family and art.  The kids and I were both bummed when Monday morning rolled around and they had to go back to school.

The other thing that as quite the bummer about Monday was Mark and I starting the Whole 30.  Are you familiar with it?  It's basically 30 days of eating nothing processed, no dairy, grains, soy (or legumes of any kind), MSG, or anything that tastes delicious.  The point of it is to 'reset' your system, relearn how to eat the way nature intended (eating until satiety, instead of engorgement), and to just generally feel better.  We've done this once before, 2 years ago, and both loved the way that we felt, so we decided to do it again!

We started on January fifth, so today is day 8 for us.  I feel like I'm finally turning the 'bloated, withdrawing from sugar/carbs' hump, and am feeling good!  I've also made my way back to the gym, where I am spending way too much time working on my upper body.  I'm only cleared from the ribcage up, so I'm basically turning these shoulders into boulders, and I'm trading in my boobs for pecs.  Sexy, like a man.  Anyways.  I've made some super delicious recipes this week, and wanted to share my top 3 with you guys!

Cinnamon Roasted Butternut Squash 

(Recipe from Make With Your Hands)

Ingredients:
1 whole butter nut squash (3 c. cubed)
2 tbs. coconut oil (melted)
1/2 tbs. dark cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1 tbs. fresh ground black pepper

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Toss squash, coconut oil & cinnamon together until all of the squash is thoroughly coated with oil and cinnamon.  Lay the butternut squash on a parchment lined baking sheet, or silpat and bake for 35 minutes.  Pull it out of the oven and  immediately toss with the nutmeg and pepper.  Put it back on the baking sheet and allow it to cool.

Seriously, this is delicious.  Use the full TBSP of pepper.  The nuttiness of the nutmeg, combined with the spiciness of the pepper and the sweetness of the cinnamon is an unreal combination.

Chipotle Meatballs  

(Recipe from Health-Bent)

Ingredients

1 lb ground meat (we used beef)
1/4 c almond flour
2 eggs
1 T chipotle adobo sauce 
1 t dried oregano
1 t onion powder
1 t garlic powder
salt

For the Sauce

1 c chicken stock
15 oz can tomato sauce
1-2 finely diced chipotle peppers in adobo sauce or you could use just sauce
2 t dried oregano
2 t onion powder
1 t garlic powder
salt

Directions

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.  Combine all of the ingredients for the meatballs, and roll into small, 1.5 inch x 1.5 inch balls.  Bake for 15-20 minutes.  While the meatballs are cooking combine all ingredients for the sauce in a saucepan over medium-low heat, and allow to simmer until it reaches desired thickness.  We served these over roasted spaghetti squash with a side of avocado, because this is a spicy recipe!  The original recipe serves it with a side of guacamole.

These meatballs are delicious!  But, our favorite part about them is the sauce.  Because you can't have ketchup or BBQ sauce on the Whole 30, things sometimes seem a bit dry.  This sauce is the perfect solution!  

Bulletproof Coffee

Ok, let's talk about this one.  I was nervous about it too.  It crossed my radar a long time ago, and I immediately thought "Yuck! Hell to the no!"  But, I decided that I needed to woman up, and give it a go, and I am so thankful that I did!  That first day that I tried it I was like the freaking energizer bunny.  I could not sit still!  Which was kind of a bummer, because my bursitis was CRAZY bad, and it hurt me to move, and I couldn't bring myself to sit still.  I didn't make true bulletproof coffee because I'm not having dairy, and the real recipe calls for butter.  Anyways, give it a try!  

Ingredients:

1 tbsp Coconut Oil (virgin coconut oil gives a stronger flavor, so if you don't like coconut just look for regular coconut oil)

1 cup of brewed coffee.

Directions

In a blender combine the coffee and oil and blend until frothy.  I used an immersion blender in my cup, because I hate doing dishes.

Let me know if you have any questions!  These are my top 3 recipes, but I made SO many more!  Missing all of my food posts on Instagram?  Don't fret, I made a new account, just food and fitness related.  Follow me @kendalgetsfit. 

Sunday Funday!

I have this shirt, and I'm trying really hard to love it.  It's soft, and cozy, and a little bit big, and really really comfortable.  But, it's a flannel plaid, and I'm fairly certain that I look like a lumberjack in it.  In fact, I bet that if I were to go to Home Depot right now they'd look at me and be like "Nah, she doesn't need any help, she's got this." To make matters worse I'm currently using a pencil to keep my hair up in a bun, because why not?  This is why you try on clothes before you buy them.

Speaking of buying, I am feeling so jaded by this Christmas season.  This morning Mark and I took the kids to see Big Hero 6 (totally adorable, and worth going to see), and there was an entire preview where every Disney character was asking a kid "What'dya get?"  Seriously?  Ridiculous.  I'm so over Disney right now that it's also ridiculous, but that's another post for another time.  Anyways, back to my point.  This Christmas break the kids and I are going to focus on acts of service, and giving our time to people who aren't as lucky as we are.  We are going to sit down and brainstorm one to two things each that we can accomplish.  Anyone have any ideas?  I was thinking the SPCA for Cam, and something involving the Sacramento Children's House for Reese.  

Oh my gosh!  I finally did it.  I stepped on the scale for the very first time post surgery.  It is seriously the most nerve wracking thing ever!  I've been wanting to do it for weeks, but it stresses me out so badly that I have to do it in a quick wave of courage.  Scales should cause 100% less anxiety than this.  Anyways, I was so pleasantly surprised!  I've lost 4 pounds since surgery, which puts me at 134lbs.  You know what that means?  I've officially lost 20lbs since May 1st!  I realize that it's 6 months, and that the bulk of that weight was lost in the first 9 weeks, however, what I'm most excited about is that I haven't yo-yo'd!  I've maintained or slowly lost.  This has totally motivated me to get back to meal prepping, and IIFYM.  

I'm trying to start shifting my meals to be more Whole30 compliant now, so that when I start it (on Jan 1st, join me!) I don't go through major carb withdrawals.  I still haven't bit the bullet and tried Bulletproof Coffee, but I want to.  I just get so sad at the thought of only starting my day with one cup of coffee.  I don't even think that I turn into a nice person until I reach the bottom of my second cup. And, that's a lot of butter.  Have you tried it?  Let me know what you think of it!

Brown Sugar Glazed Pork Chops

I have been on such a pork roll lately.  I love the way that it works so well with so many different flavors!  Plus, it's the other, other white meat.  And, I'm at that place where if I eat one more chicken breast I might drive my car into the guard rail of the freeway.  Anyways, it all started with a craving for my vegetables to be prepared in a new way, and has spiraled into pork prepared 3 different ways over 3 different nights.  I feel like I've been in such a rut when it comes to vegetables.  Balsamic brussel sprouts?  Bam, I got it.  Balsamic cauliflower? Done!  Roasted broccoli? Owned it.  Those are delicious recipes, but man, are they tired.

Anyways, I was perusing Pinterest, and I saw tons upon tons of brown sugar glazed pork chop recipes, and, I had pork chops on hand!  They're all basically the same, but I modified a few things to make it even more amazing.  You know what the best part of this recipe is?  It only uses one pan.  Seriously, make this for dinner tonight, you won't be disappointed!

Ingredients:

4 bone-in pork chops

5 slices of bacon

1 package of shaved brussel sprouts

1 tbsp. olive oil

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 tsp. cayenne pepper

1 tsp. garlic powder

1 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. black pepper

How to make them:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2.  Combine the brown sugar, cayenne, garlic powder, salt & pepper.  Dredge the pork chops in the mixture.  Make sure they're thickly coated.  There will be some mixture left over, rest assured, we use it later!

3.  Heat the olive oil and brown the pork chops.  Cook them over medium to medium-high heat for 5 minutes on each side.  

4.  Remove the pork chops from the pan and cook your bacon.  Remove bacon, let cool and cut into small pieces.

5.  Toss the brussel sprouts in the pan with the bacon grease & pork chop drippings, and sprinkle with the remaining spice mixture.  Let this cook down for a few minutes.

6.  Add the bacon & pork chops back to the pan.  Put the pork chops right on top of the brussel sprouts, so that all of their amazing juices drip right onto the sprouts, making them extra yummy!

7.  Bake for 10 or so minutes, until the meat is as done as you would like.  I like mine done medium, so I only did mine for 7 minutes.

My Husband is a Rockstar

Oh man, one blog post a week just isn't going to cut it.  Last week was CRAZY here!  The big kids started school, and they are both having such a great experience.  Reese started third grade, and this is the first year in a while that she has started with friends in her class.  She was super stoked to start school, and, we're four days in and she hasn't cried about waking up once.  She hates mornings like you wouldn't believe, so no tears is amazing.  Camden started kindergarten, and he's doing well.  At least that's what they're telling me (insert winking emoji).  After school on the first day I go to pick him up, and we find out there was a minor 'crossing of streams' incident, and he ended up peeing on a friend.  Yikes.  But, we haven't heard of any other problems, so we are just going to call that a case of first day jitters and hope that our first full week goes smoothly.  

I also went with a few friends to see the Rascal Flatts concert, and it was such a great time!  Almost as good as the people behind us.  Ha!  Let me tell you, if you're going to whisper dirty things in the hot girls ear you should first be sure of two things. 

1.  You should be sure that you're the guy she's going to go home with, and not your good buddy.

2.  You should be sure that you are, in fact, whispering.

It was so crazy!  Every time I turned around it was like couple swap.  The first time it was plaid shirt guy and sleeveless vest guy dirty dancing.  The second time it was sleeveless vest guy and black dress girl basically needing a room.  The third time it was plaid shirt guy and black dress girl all over each other.  I'm curious as to who went home with who that night.  If I could redo the night I would definitely have worked my way into the friend group just to get the gossip.

 In other news, I am having some major pre surgery anxiety.  I feel like a walking, talking basket case.  It's not even the surgery itself that scares me, it's the recovery.  It's a big recovery process, and it requires me basically handing over my entire job to Mark.  You know, my husband who also has a full time job.  I'm nervous for him.  I do a lot of stuff during the day/evening, and he has to take it all on, and it's basically the equivalent of a full time job.  So I guess for the next few weeks he will have two full time jobs.  The past week he has been such a rockstar.  Every time I feel myself getting nervous he's there, he's totally done every project that needs to be finished, and is overall being so supportive, and it really is giving me the confidence to feel like these next few weeks are going to be great, and that he will be able to handle it.  I am so lucky to have someone so supportive in my life.

Onto meal prep.  Blah.  Here's my plan.  I need healthy lunches for the next two days.  Wednesday and most likely Thursday I will be in the hospital, and Friday I can figure out something (you know, like sending Mark out to get me Thai food).  So, for lunch I will make ground turkey with steamed broccoli and squash, in Rotel.  It kind of looks like vomit, but tastes so good.

For dinner I have tonight worked out, tomorrow is a mystery, Wednesday I will be in the hospital, and Thursday and Friday will come from my freezer, for sure.  Tonight is so good, and so simple!  Do you guys ever eat chicken sausage?  I love the Alfresco brand, and they have tons of different types.  So, tonight is going to be crazy busy, and I am going to have to make dinner late, and it needs to be quick.  I sauté up the chicken sausage with peppers and onions, and serve it over noodles with parmesan for the kids, and just plain for Mark and I.  I usually eat two links because the protein is kind of low on only one,  and it's still super low in calories and carbs.

This is getting long, I'll wrap it up.  Mondays are the best because it's a fresh start.  Screw how badly you did this weekend, celebrate your wins and keep going on that high.  

Monday Funday!

I feel like five days is too long to go without blogging.  All of these things happen, and I want to share them, and then I'm like "meh, I'll just verbally unload in one post." And then it turns out to be 3 pages long.  Ha!

Anyways, this weekend went so great!  I stayed on the ball all three days.  I had my cheat meal, I meal prepped for everything else, and overall I was just spot on.  It is so nice coming out of the weekend feeling like 'I rocked that!' instead of thinking 'today's a fresh start,' you know?  And let me tell you, our weekend was jam packed.  Cheer, BMX, family parties, all kinds of stuff.  I think what led me to success was owning what I wanted, and being in control of what went into my body.

All this to say, I did have trials this weekend.  I am PMSing something fierce, and want to inhale all things chocolate.  My trainer told me that when you feel like that to eat things high in goo defats to kill the cravings.  So, I ate a tbsp. of good quality peanut butter and it totally worked!  Anyways, it doesn't cut down on the mood swings, but I'm not sure that's PMS related, or children related.  Oh Camden.  Friday afternoon one of my good friends calls me, we talk about this and that, and as we are ending the conversation she tells me "I just wanted to let you know, when the girls were face timing this morning Camden mooned them."  Argh!  That boy!  So, I go and ask him why he mooned them, and he tells me "Ava wanted me to show her my butt."  Um, no.  No one wants to see that.  (She didn't, he's just rotten).  Keep your pants on.  I have a feeling that's a sentence I'll be saying a lot over the next 13 years.  I got my new drivers license in the mail!  Let me tell you, aside from losing weight in my face, I've aged quite a bit in the last five years.  I'm telling myself that it's all coincidental and has nothing to do with my five year old, but...

left is new; right is old

I made the yummiest, most simple dinner last night!  Seriously.  It was a little bit spicy, a lot bit yummy, great crunch, all of it!  I served it along side salad, and Mark and I were two happy campers.

Shredded Buffalo Chicken

In all honesty, I found this on pinterest.  I can not remember where, so I'll share the recipe that I wrote down, and know that this did not come from my own imagination.  Making this is crazy easy, and you could totally pre make it and throw it in a crock pot to keep it warm and serve it for game day.  Or, pre make it before heading out on a crazy weekend and stuff it in celery to enjoy as you watch your 18th children's sport of the day.

Ingredients:

3 large chicken breasts

2 tbsps butter

1/2 tbsp oil

1/2 cup wing sauce

celery

blue cheese crumbles

lettuce

Boil the chicken until it's easily shredded.  I always overcook my chicken to be safe.  Remove the chicken from the pan and melt the butter, and then add the oil and wing sauce.  Mix it well and then toss in the shredded chicken.  Top with blue cheese crumbles and celery, serve in lettuce boats and voila!  The yummiest dinner ever is served.  

Oooh, I bet it would taste awesome over a sweet potato.  But I've been on a never ending diet for a long time, so don't take my word for that.

What is for dinner this week?  I've got tonight and tomorrow mapped out, so I'm going to wing this a bit, and plan as I type.  

Monday: Party

Tuesday: Orchiette, sausage and brussels tossed in pesto.

Wednesday: (first day of school!)  Breakfast for dinner.  It's a favorite around here.

Thursday: Crockpot balsamic chicken.

Friday: Pizza

I'm on the fence about Thursday's dinner.  I've never made it in the crockpot before, so it'll be a real experience.  I wonder if it'll turn to mush?  Ugh, that would be the pits.  I'm already talking myself out of that meal.   Alright, I'm off to the gym (first time since rehurting my hip!), where I will undoubtedly completely change Thursday's dinner.  I'm going to try a spicy apricot chicken, probably.

Ooh, btw, I decided to have a drink this weekend.  Which kind of means that I failed my goal of no drinking for a month, but I have a whole post written up on my relationship with alcohol, and why this was actually a win that I plan on sharing tomorrow.

I hope that everyone has a fantastic start to their week, happy Monday!

Everything in Moderation....Even Panic

So this weekend it kind of dawned on me that we are in the teens for number of days before my surgery, and I freaked out.  Not in a 'let's clean every surface that we can find' kind of way, more like a 'cry and eat all the food that I see' kind of way.  Obviously that isn't conducive to my weight loss goals, so I need to let go of what happened this weekend and really just move on to tackling things that I can get sorted out now, and focusing on the positive.

Back to this weekend.  We were crazy busy, as we always are, and I was so unprepared with food.  Friday morning the nerves started creeping in, but I kept it together, ate healthy, and allowed myself a cheat of pie and ice cream for dessert.  I figured that would be enough to keep me happy through the weekend.  Ha!  What a fool I was.  Saturday Reese officially started cheer, and we spent all day out at a football field in a town over an hour away.  What I should have done was spend Friday evening prepping chicken, turkey and salad and packed myself a really healthy day.  What I actually did was have two coffees, skip eating and then go over to friends house for a BBQ and eat all of the chips and salsa that I could get my hands on.  Obviously, that went terribly for me.  On the upside, Reese might be the cutest cheerleader ever.  Here's a picture of her squad, clearly I make children that don't grow.

(Yes, that is her in the center.)

Sunday was no less chaotic.  Cam had BMX all morning, and then we had to head to the grocery store so that we could do little things, like eat this week.  I started my day off with a coffee, skipped breakfast and then went to Panera for lunch.  I don't need to go into the details about how dinner was also a diet flop.  

One huge thing that happened on Sunday night was a drinking opportunity.  I took August off of booze with my sister and a few girlfriends, and almost everyone hasn't made it.  I mean, we're 11 days in and I'm pretty sure only two of us have abstained from having a drink.  So, my nerves are frayed, I've been busy all weekend, and Sunday night I get to my mother in law's house and find one of my favorite bottles of wine in her fridge.  I decide to just go for it.  One glass, and I'll be done.  I open it up, pour my sister in law and brother in law's girlfriend a glass, and one for myself.  I sit there and look at it, and in that moment I decided that it wasn't worth it.  I made a commitment to friends, and most importantly, to myself that I was going to take this month and have no booze all of the way through.  It felt like such a huge win.

And this brings us to today, I'm letting go of all of the fails this weekend and I'm getting back on track.  Yesterday I bought a bunch of good stuff, meal prepped and set myself up for success this week.  

Ground turkey might be the key to everything.  Cook it up, season it well and eat it on everything.  It has TONS of lean protein, no carbs and low fat.  I could go on and on, but we will just leave it at that for now. 

This week for dinner we are keeping it super simple.  I need to start freezer cooking so that I can have some sort of a meal plan for after surgery, so I want to try out a few recipes for taste this week, and then if they're good freeze them over the weekend.

Monday: Honey Apricot Chicken. (This one is a freezer cooking test)

Tuesday: Chicken Tacos.

Wednesday: Rotisserie Chicken

Thursday: Chicken Stir Fry

Friday: Pizza.  So unique, I know.

This much chicken makes me wish that I liked fish. 

Oh my gosh.  The funniest Camden conversation happened with Camden this weekend.  He is such a sassy little thing!  He asked for an apple, and we gave it to him, and he ate a few bites and wanted to switch to chips.  Well, this homie don't play that way, and we do not waste food.  You take it, you eat it.  Obviously I refused to let him switch snacks, which then led to this conversation:

Camden: "Well I'm gonna call 991 and tell them that I don't even have any parents."

Me: "Well then the police will put you in jail for lying to them."

Camden: "Well then I would be freaking scared!"

I was CRACKING UP after that conversation.  Oh, and before you wonder, yes, we talked about how freaking scared is not an appropriate thing for a five year old to say.  He then told me that it was because it's how he would feel.  Sassy I tell you.  

p.s. I totally forgot to mention this, but I am rocking getting dressed every day!  AND, I'm still not pregnant! #winning 

p.s.s. The pregnant thing is a joke, because if you watched Desperate Housewives, Lynette got pregnant.