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How long does it take you to make dinner? Does it sound to you like we are spending a lot of our time cooking? We’re really not. For most of the pre-cooking we do, the time is measured in minutes not hours. And we cook extras each time so many of our meals are just get something from the frig and heat it or eat it cold.

Take tonight’s supper. I just peeled and chopped a pre-cooked sweet potato and stirred that into some leftover green beans. Later I will add pre-cooked ground beef, half a can of tomatoes and some spices. That will then get heated in the microwave and served. This is my version of Wellness Mama’s Pakistani Kimi.  http://wellnessmama.com/5228/pakistani-kima/

All that takes less time to get food on our table than any food we can get locally and we live within a mile of McDonald’s, Red Robin, Broadway Pizza, Wendy’s, Arby’s, Burger King, Perkins, Chili’s, DQ, LeAnn Chin, Subway, Jimmy John’s, Davanni’s, and two sports bars that keep changing their names.

Fast food? It’s in our kitchen.

TTYL,

Linda

I slept even later this morning so I was relieved to read in today’s support newsletter that this is the day you are most likely to need extra sleep. It even talked about how to take the best nap this afternoon. See, it’s not just me being lazy. 🙂

Because I slept so late Dave was ready for lunch when I was ready for breakfast. This is not new territory for us. I had dinner for breakfast today. We had steak, baked sweet potato, and green beans.

The steak was our first grass-fed steak. The Primal/Paleo/Whole 30 folks are big on pastured/free-range meats and poultry. No corn-fed beef if you can get grass-fed. Now I know for sure that cattle free to wander develop stronger muscles than those kept penned up; the steak could have used some tenderizer. But it was good.

After that meal we spent a little time preparing for future meals. Dave boiled and peeled a dozen eggs. I chopped pre-cooked turkey thighs and stirred them with Paleo mayo and seasonings into some of the carrots and zucchini I shredded yesterday to make chicken salad. Having a plan for meals and doing the prep work to make it easy to eat when you get hungry is an important part of sticking to a strict eating plan. We are doing it right so far.

Lunch was the chicken salad and a banana.

Part of the afternoon was spent on more food prep with Dave pre-cooking 2 pounds of ground beef and me making the egg salad.

Supper for me was a salmon Grab-it and applesauce. A Grab-it is where I mix a can of tuna or salmon with an egg and some spices in a greased Corning Grab-it bowl then microwave it for 3 minutes. If you don’t have a Grab-it you can use a Corning cereal bowl but I like having the Grab-it’s handle to make mixing and cooking easier.

Shortly I will be headed off to bed. No, I didn’t make it by midnight but I have no one but myself to blame this time because Dave went to bed early as he’s getting up early tomorrow to go operating again. I wonder if I will sleep in again or get up and do tons of stuff before Dave gets home?

TTYL,

Linda

Dave was out late operating a new to him model railroad last night so I didn’t make it to bed by midnight. Which means I slept this morning until 10 am. When I got up my body immediately announced its displeasure with yesterday’s exercises. Today will obviously be a recovery day.

But, I must say I am so proud of Dave. About 3/4 of the way into last night’s op session he discovered they were serving Oreos and M&Ms, two of his favorite foods. He didn’t eat any! He didn’t stop on the way home to get treats either! He waited until he got home then ate half a leftover meatloaf burger. Yay, Dave! Until then I didn’t know how committed he was to this program. I’ve been trying hard not to push him so I am thrilled to see him push himself.

At breakfast time today I didn’t feel like expending a lot of energy so settled for a leftover meatloaf burger and a banana. Still healthful and tasty.

For lunch we had chicken thighs we had baked previously, leftover roasted squash, and more salad with dressing.  Still easy, healthful, and tasty.

For supper I had another chicken thigh, olives, grape tomatoes, and ranch dressing to dip the tomatoes into. Finished off that batch of ranch dressing so have to decide whether or not to make more tomorrow.

I also spent some time putting carrots and zucchini through the food processor for later comsumption then needed a rest before cleaning up the kitchen. My poor body does not know what to make of these demands on it. It is used to spending most of its time sitting at the computer or in my recliner. I had planned to start a walking program now, too, but apparently that was a little too ambitious.

But the program guidelines saying most people feel like they are hungover on day two so I guess I’m glad to have just a few muscle aches.

TTYL,

Linda

 

 

I’ve just been reminded that I have not shared this recipe I invented with you all. We like these so well we make them every week. I’m hoping you like them, too.

Meatloaf Burgers

1 pound ground beef

1 egg

1 can water chestnuts, finely diced

Minced dried onion, to taste

Salt & pepper, to taste

Mix all ingredients together and shape into four patties. Cook as you would any hamburgers. We make ours on the griddle on the stove.

These meet both Paleo and Weight Watchers guidelines. Because they have no grains in them I think they might also be good for those with celiac disease as well.

TTYL,

Linda

 

I woke early (for me) this morning. I don’t know if that was excitement or worry over starting this new program or something else altogether but I was up about 9:30.

I actually remembered to do my morning exercises! These are mostly stretching to regain some mobility and strengthening because I want to be able to lift heavy things when Dave isn’t there to do my lifting for me.

Breakfast was a mushroom scramble. Basically a handful of mushrooms sautéed in ghee (butter that has had the milk solids removed) then a couple eggs seasoned with salt, pepper, and onion powder stirred into the pan.

My morning computer time included receiving a Whole 30 newsletter inviting me to join a forum of people supporting one another through this process. I lost a bunch of time to reading everyone’s introductions and adding mine. I am the “old lady” of the group since most of them appear to be in their 30s.

About noon my stomach announced that my breakfast was not enough food. I ate a half dozen olives and it became content again.

In this afternoon’s package deliveries was our newest toy.

A portable pull up bar. Height adjustable so Dave and I can both use it. Well, we can sort of use it. Right now neither of us can actually do a full pull up. But, I have instructions on how to exercise on it so as to build up to doing a real pull up. Maybe even more than one. For now, all I can do is called a dead hang. Yup, it’s just what it sounds like. I just grab the bar, using the correct form, and hang there. I can actually feel my arms straightening and later felt my back muscles wondering on earth I did to them today.

Lunch, which was very late afternoon was a meatloaf burger (made with water chestnuts instead of bread), roasted squash, and tossed salad with homemade dressing. Oh! I haven’t told you about the dressing!

I made homemade mayonnaise. And it worked the first try! Not everyone who has tried this recipe was so successful so I am thrilled! Then I added other ingredients to some of that mayonnaise to make Whole 30 approved Creamy Italian dressing for Dave and Ranch dressing for me. I still can’t believe I made non-dairy Ranch dressing since normally it’s primary ingredient is buttermilk. But it was very tasty so is likely to become a staple in my new food repetoire.

For supper I planned to stir some tuna and chopped tomatoes into some of that creamy mayonnaise and eat that with a banana. I did the first part of that, somewhat modified though. See, I had just been reading a couple of blogs about pizza which started a craving. So, I stirred some oregano and onion powder into my tuna/tomato dish which satisfied that craving just fine. But, it filled me so full I didn’t eat the banana.

So day one of my Whole 30 is going amazingly well. I even have approved snack foods ready in case I get hand-to-mouth disease later this evening. If it all goes as well as it is so far this will be a piece of cake. So to speak. 🙂

TTYL,

Linda