Friday night: typically Papa Murphy's Pizza night at our house. With only M, LoLo, and myself to cook for, I took the easy way out and bought the girls those cute little singles that they put together themselves. Big HIT...for them. For me, I made a gluten/grain-free pizza with sweet chili sauce and anything not nailed down in the veggie drawer. I did cheat with the tiniest amount of mozzarella cheese. Had I known prior to this that there was actually something called "dairy-free" cheese, I would have had that. But, alas, a girl does what she needs to do. All in all, it wasn't bad. The crust had a sweet, yet kind of grainy, taste and texture, but I couldn't get it rolled out as thin as I would have liked. But, it wasn't bad and definitely quenched my Friday Night Pizza craving.
I had so much hope for my Saturday "non-egg" breakfast of Apple Crisp Pancakes. The "candied" applies and the caramel sauce (made out of dates) were fantastic. I could have eaten just those 2 components. The pancakes......although not a complete fail, were just OK. Am still struggling with the texture of the almond flour. Surely, there has to be a non-grain flour mixture that tastes more like gluten and less like dried oatmeal. The next day I used the left over pancake batter, added a little coconut oil, and cooked them up as waffles. There's no picture, because they looked worse than terrible. But, they tasted better than they looked.
Saturday night, we hit CFA after a soccer game. M and LoLo got to choose. I ordered a lettuce wrapped grilled chicken filet with tomatoes and extra pickles and a water since the CFA carrot&raisin salad is full of sugar (according to the CFA manager). M got her usual; LoLo got fruit instead of waffle fries. I ate the fruit she didn't want, and somehow by the grace of God, I didn't arm wrestle M out of any of her waffle fries. It was weird to not be walking out of there with a large iced tea and a tummy full of deliciously fried fat food.
Busy week with fundraising shows for the dance studio (oh, yes, you can still place your order... www.cookielee.biz/stacymalone), student-led conferences, and getting ready for the dance convention this weekend. Dinners this week consisted mostly of sliced apples with sunbutter for me. How have I not enjoyed this tasty confection before? It's delightful and I might just start licking it right out of the jar. Mikayla announced last night that she's had chili 3 nights in a row, and she'd probably enjoy something else tonight. Tonight's dinner is cooking as we speak: crockpot pulled pork with a rub that might just burn my family's tongues off and a home made BBQ sauce that I was simmering until after 10 PM last night. The pork only called for 1/4 cup of liquid in the crockpot (1/2 of which was brandy which I didn't have), so I added 1/2 cup of water just to be safe. (Doesn't 1/4 cup of liquid seem ridiculous in something that cooks for 8-10 hours? The recipe agreed that it did, but swore it's all that was needed, so I'm trusting the recipe blogger.) It had better be good. No baked yummies this week. But I am determined to find something to make my signature "everything-free" dessert.
As I round out into my "last" week of my Whole30, I have to say that I'm quite glad I took the challenge and completed this experiment. I actually feel pretty good - which is saying something since I haven't had any hormone replacement and I've only been hit or miss on my regular fist-full of vitamins, supplements, and anti-bitch meds. So that's good, right? Although, my husband might debate that fact - you'd have to ask him. All things considered, I haven't really missed the sugar/substitutes and grains, and I haven't yet tired of the protein/veggie meal plan yet. Actually, it's been quite fun to come up with substitutes, and whole food recipes, using ingredients I've never tried before. So, at 30 days, I'm just going to stop counting, keep looking for healthier, more whole-food recipes, and see if I can't lose instead of gain this winter. That'd be a first!
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