7 days left! Tonight was the first time I REALLY wanted a drink at a former colleague happy hour, but there is no way I’m failing now!

Today’s food:

Breakfast: handful of nuts

Lunch (LPQ): Chicken Cobb salad, iced coffee

Dinner: egg salad with homemade mayo, celery, iced coffee

I finally cracked open my 22 lb. bag of coconut and made a yummy, filling drink to curb my hunger tonight.  It makes quite a bit, so I only had half.  If you like coconut, you’ll love this! [NOTE: For Whole30, you are not supposed to “paleo-fy” desserts, baked goods, and other things that might set you off. I wasn’t really making it for that, so I’m letting it slide. But it’s something to keep in mind.]

Coconut Shake
1 can coconut milk (chilled)
1/2 c. coconut shreds
3 medjool dates
1/8 t. vanilla extract or powder
1 c. ice

Put ingredients in a Vitamix or blender and puree.  It should be the consistency of a shake (or with a little more ice you can make it more like ice cream).  YUM!

Today’s food:

Breakfast: Herb frittata and roasted cherry tomatoes and asparagus, 1 piece turkey bacon

Lunch (LPQ): Salad Nicoise with dijon and olive oil, large iced coffee

Dinner: Ground beef, roasted brussel sprouts in ghee, DoritOMGs, 1/2 Coconut Shake

Had a wonderful NYC deli meal today at Artie’s on the Upper West Side.  Apparently you can get something called a “Jewish cobb salad” that is chock full-of deli meats.  Need to de-sodium after today….

Today’s food:

Breakfast: proscuitto, melon, and arugula with balsamic vinegar; coffee

Lunch: “Jewish cobb salad” (with pastrami, corned beef, roast beef, and turkey), olive oil and vinegar

Snack (movie theater): Banana bread bites

Dinner (Shake Shack): hamburger & hot dog with no buns and paleo fixins’

Today I’m 2/3 of the way through! Honestly, yesterday and today I still feel like I’m getting over that fructose and sodium indulgence from Sunday; but at least my lesson has been learned!  With my crazy schedule this week (and already today), and with novelty worn off, it will be more of a challenge to eat like I was the first two weeks.  I need to re-double my efforts and get back to focusing on grass-fed meat and veggies!

Now, that said, I’m heading out for a couple more days of living in a hotel, so I threw together these yummy snacks to keep with me (as well as some coconut flakes and mixed nuts from my nuts.com order).  Plus, they should keep the crew at the office happy too, so they’ll do double duty!

Banana Bread Bites
1 c. ground almonds
1 c. ground cashews
1 c. ground pecans
1/2 c. freeze-dried bananas
4 medjool dates
3 T. virgin coconut oil
1/3 c. boiling water

In mixing bowl, combine ground nuts. Put bananas into food processor and pulverize (does not need to be a powder or anything, just get them chopped up enough to get good coverage throughout the mixture). Add in dates, oil, and boiling water and blend to make a smooth paste. Mix thoroughly into the nuts.

Make into about twenty 1 1/2″ balls and put in the fridge. Grab one next time you have the hankering for that crazy sweet bread!

Today’s food:

Breakfast: 2 Banana Bread Bites, handful blueberries

Lunch: ground beef with homemade mayo

Dinner: 3 beef ribs, broccoli with nuts, 2 Banana Bread Bites

There is nothing better than fresh herbs from the garden. I finally planted my raised beds at the cabin yesterday! Since I’m not around much, I kept it simple with herbs (including 4 lavender plants) and Swiss chard. I also pruned my peach and nectarine trees.

Then I took some of the sage and rosemary from my huge plants I planted last year, and used them to make a delicious herbed pork roast.

Sage-Rosemary Pork Roast

1 Pork Butt Roast
Fresh Sage and Rosemary

I cut a bunch of slits in the fat of the roast and stuffed in sage leaves. I then sprinkled rosemary on top.

It was so pretty, until I tried to put it my crock pot (fat side up). Unfortunately, it was too big, so the final product wasn’t nearly as pretty…

I put it on for 8 hours on low (time will depend on the roast size and whether you have it on low or high).

Today’s food:

Breakfast: coffee with coconut oil

Lunch: grass-fed hamburger patty, 1/2 grass-fed beef hot dog, homemade mayo, Dijon, lettuce and tomato with olive oil and apple cider vinegar, 2 deviled eggs (made with homemade mayo, which took me forever!), dates, double espresso

Dinner (ran into a grocery store while on the road): salad with spinach, wild salmon, guacamole, and olive oil; coconut flakes

Note: Yesterday, even though I stayed “on program” technically, I had too much fruit sugar and processed meat. I was sick all night, and kept waking up. Lesson learned. I’m going back to super clean! I’ve spent all today trying to detox and drink as much water as possible (including with chlorophyll).

One of the key tenets of the Whole30 program is that you are not supposed to try to recreate you’re favorite foods using paleo foods. So no paleo pizza, lasagna, cakes, etc. For the most part, I’ve been really compliant. I made the Pecan Pie Bites to have something healthy on the road (although I actually thought they were a bit too good, so I left them with my family). And I made the Berry-Rhubarb Crisp for a family dinner party. But other than that, I’ve been eating things more in their “plain” (but never boring) state.

Now, that said, sweets aren’t really my problem. For me, it’s anything cheesy, salty, and fatty. Let’s just put it this way, if you’re a cheese puff, you have about as much chance of surviving a meeting with me as a I do of getting a date with Chris O’Dowd.

But, nevertheless, I decided to make some kale chips, and kept seeing recipes using nutritional yeast to give them a cheesy flavor. So then I thought, “I wonder if I could make them taste like Doritos?” So I played around and ended up with this new recipe. Mind you, I had a huge bunch of kale, so this made a LOT of chips; and I’m sure you could halve this easily. And I don’t think I’d make these again during my Whole30, since they are so much like the real thing to me (and I don’t want to tempt fate). That said, glad to know I can get my fix in a healthy paleo way!

Paleo DoritOMGs (aka Cheesy, Spicy Kale Chips)

1 large bunch kale, washed, de-stemmed, torn into chip-size pieces (I ended up with about 12 cups)
1 c. nutritional yeast
1 T. chili powder
1 T. cumin
1 t. salt
Olive oil

Preheat oven to 300.

Make sure that the kale is VERY dry before coating it. Lightly spray on olive oil (I have a mister), and coat kale.

In a food processor (I just used my Magic Bullet), blend yeast and spices on high until you get a fine powder. Sprinkle on the kale and toss to coat (I used my hand to really get it in the nooks and crannies).

Place on baking sheets in single layer (covered in parchment for easier crisping and cleaning). Bake for 10-15 minutes, just until the edge of the kale pieces start to brown. Take them out and let them sit in the pan for a few minutes to crisp up. [Note: I ended up having 3 pans full, so I did them in batches.]

Let cool completely and store. Then pull out when you’ve got the munchies! 😉

Today’s food:

Breakfast: 2 eggs over easy, 2 patties local sausage, coffee with coconut oil

Lunch: leftover Berry-Rhubarb crisp (not a very good lunch choice, but was craving it)

Dinner: romaine with bacon and over-easy eggs and a Dijon vinaigrette, DoritOMGs, Pecan Pie Bites, and iced espresso

The farmers’ market is one of my favorite destinations. I can throw down some serious cash on fresh veggies and local, organic meats. So today at the Morganton market was no different. It’s still early in the season, but I was able to pick up some beautiful lettuce and red and white radishes.

Then I stopped by the booth of my favorite local meat purveyor, Rock House Farm. Seriously, these folks are the bomb! They were pretty well stocked today, and I walked away with a roast, some bratwurst (for Memorial Day), ground lamb, and 4 filet mignon to base tonight’s family dinner party around.

Tonight’s dinner menu, courtesy of (in large part, although not entirely, unfortunately) our local farms is:

Filet mignon
Sweet potato crisps
Roasted radishes
Butter lettuce salad with blackberry vinaigrette
Berry-Rhubard Crisp

Here is the recipe for the crisp, which I came up with by combining about 8 different recipes and improvising. There is no added sweetener, but instead I pureed several medjool dates to add some sweetness.

Berry-Rhubarb Crisp

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Filling:
4 stalks rhubarb, chopped
3 cups mixed berries, chopped (I used strawberries, blueberries, and blackberries)
1 T. lemon juice
1 T. arrowroot powder
1 t. vanilla extract or paste
6 medjool dates (3 will be used for topping) – Make sure you remove pits, if they have them! I may or may not have forgotten this step….
3 T. boiling water

Combine berries in mixing bowl with lemon juice, arrowroot powder, and vanilla. Put dates and boiling water into food processor and mix until it is a paste. Add 1/2 of the date puree to the fruit and mix will. Pour into a baking dish.

Bake fruit for about 30 minutes. Remove from oven and add topping.

Topping:
1 c. ground pecans
1/2 c. almond meal
1/2 t. sea salt
(3 medjool dates that are already listed above, pureed)
2 T. coconut oil (or butter, although that is not Whole30 approved)

Combine first 4 ingredients, and then cut in coconut oil. Make sure it is mixed well. Then “crumble” on top of the fruit and put back in the oven for about 10 more minutes until it crisps up.

Let sit a few minutes before serving. Voila!

Today’s food:

Breakfast: 1 T. coconut butter, double espresso

Lunch: leftover ribs (meat only) over salad (romaine, olive oil, apple cider vinegar)

Snack: too many nibbles off the crisp topping (messed it up the first time)

Dinner: filet mignon, sweet potato crisps, roasted radishes, butter lettuce salad with blackberry vinaigrette, Berry-Rhubard Crisp

After being inspired by the Lara Bar I ate while in dire straits between groups the other day (and in order to create some high protein snacks my mom can eat too), I created a whole foods, paleo, mini version of pecan pie. Since I’m at my cabin, I don’t have all of my gadgets; but I was able to make these easily with my Magic Bullet.

Pecan Pie Bites
1 c. almonds, ground
1 c. pecans, ground
18 pitted dates (or if you were using medjool dates, more like 10-12)
1-2 T. virgin coconut oil (Tropical Traditions is my fave)
2-3 T. boiling water

Put the ground nuts in a mixing bowl. Then put dates, oil, and water into mixer or food processor and chop and blend. (It doesn’t have to be smooth – lightly chunky is fine.)

Put date mixture in the bowl, and then get ready to get your (clean) hands dirty! Mash it all together until it is thoroughly combined. It should still be a bit dry, but clearly sticking together.

Roll into about 18 small 1″ balls and put in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. Enjoy!

Needless to say, these were a big hit!! They’re not too sweet at all, which I like.  That said, they are definitely something I would need to be very careful not to eat too many of.  I’m dying to try some new versions when I get my nuts and freeze-dried fruit in from nuts.com.  (The shipment was actually delivered today, but to my NYC house; so I still have to wait a few days.)

Today’s food:

Breakfast: 1 Pecan Pie Bite, coffee with coconut oil

Lunch (Root & Vine): salad with grilled salmon, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, almonds

Dinner (Countryside): small side salad with vinegar, tomato slices, half rack of ribs (meat only, no sauce); 1 Pecan Pie Bite

Today marks the beginning of my second half of my Whole30! I feel better, stronger, more energetic, slimmer, and more alert. I love it! Plus, I’m about 11 pounds down too. (Yeah, yeah, I know I’m not supposed to weigh. But it was a milestone….)

And as if I needed more positive feedback, I ended day 15 with the most beautiful double rainbow I’ve ever seen, positioned right over our NC farm. Clearly, all is right with my world.

So after being inspired by a friend’s Facebook post this morning about baking with coconut flour, and then getting sucked into a black hole of paleo recipes, I ended up on nuts.com. I know you’ll be surprised to read that I went a bit crazy and ordered a BUNCH of stuff to try out.  Obviously, I am fully aware that I’m suppose to only have limited nuts and fruit on my Whole30 (which I’ve been doing), but I just got so excited thinking about all of the things I could make with this stuff!

1 lb. Raw Macadamia Nuts
1 lb. Pistachio Flour
1 lb. Cashew Flour
1 lb. Organic Cacao Nibs (Raw)
3 oz. Freeze-Dried Cherries
2 oz. Freeze-Dried Blueberries
2 oz. Freeze-Dried Cranberries
2 oz. Freeze-Dried Strawberries
3 oz. Freeze-Dried Bananas
5 lbs. Almond Flour
1 lb. Hazelnut Flour

I’m particularly excited to make these “Nutella” cookies for my team at work, even if I can’t have them for another couple of weeks. They are totally obsessed with Nutella, but also healthy eating – so it’s the perfect treat!

Photo credit: YesToYummy

Today’s food:

Breakfast: 2 eggs over easy in olive oil

Lunch: smoked pork chop with red kraut, grapes

Dinner (Jalapeno Grill): shrimp fajita salad (shrimp and veggies cooked with no oil, romaine, salsa, and guacamole), date