Day 1: Learning to Like (maybe eventually love) Mushrooms!

Well it's Day 1! I'm sure as my excitement wears down, and life gets busier (this is a weekend after all), I'll post less often but for now I'll post as I can!

Breakfast was left over Italian Brunch Bake! YUUUUUMMMM! I warmed it up in the toaster over because I'm a snob about eggs in the microwave (shiver), and it was great! I had some concerns about warmed up egg but concerns officially GONE! This meal (from Day 0) is going to make a regular appearance in my Whole30 and beyond! I also added some cucumber slices and cherries to breakfast and I'm stuffed. That being said I'm one of those people who will REALLY be learning a lot when it comes to breakfast (cause I rarely ate it and if I did it was always wrapped in a tortilla), so my portion was smaller then recommended but I'm taking baby steps!

Beautiful and yummy!

I've never been a coffee drinker, and if you have met my family you will realize that is a HUGE shock and anomaly, but I'm also NO stranger to caffeine!  SO...I brewed fresh unsweetened black iced tea this morning! I LOVE tea and grew up a sweet tea drinker, I've previously adjusted to drinking it unsweetened and it sure helped with the no soda (yes I was that soda in the morning kinda girl)!
I mowed the lawn after breakfast and that left me super tired, more so then most weeks so I think the changes are taking effect. I got a headache not long after mowing the yard not sure what drove it, I had hair piled on top of my head due to a lack of desire to dry it after my shower and I tend to have headaches but...I took some tylenol, drank some water, and took my hair down and was better fast.

I decided to take on a few projects today to prepare us for the week! I made Whole30-friendly simple ketchup, the BBQ Sauce from page 274 of ISWF, and attempted the olive oil mayo from page 276 of the book! I did this while I also made meatloaf for lunch!

First lets talk ketchup and BBQ sauce! I like my ketchup, mostly on foods I can no longer eat, but I like it! Karl, my husband, LOVES ketchup! He puts it on EVERYTHING! I knew from the beginning of this Whole30 idea that I was going to need to find/make some good sauces to keep him involved! Luckily there must be many others like him out there so finding recipes was easy. I just picked one cause that seemed like the easiest thing to do, it was VERY easy to make and tastes pretty good (apparently to him it has an after taste so I'll be trying it sans allspice next round). We also tasted it before giving it the night to rest and let the flavors combine....I'll update if his opinion changes! Here it is:

I stored it in a jar from one of my ingredients last night! I might try it with my meatloaf left overs this week!

Then there's BBQ sauce! We use it on chicken a lot (you will notice as we move through this process I am the meat eater in our marriage) and this helps Karl get the chicken down (his way of saying it not mine)! The book has a BBQ recipe so I decided to make it! It smells great! I never shy away from using the maximum spices listed, this time a full teaspoon of the HOT Trader Joe's Jalapeno Sauce and 1/4 teaspoon of cayenne pepper might have been a tad too much! Karl liked the taste, but we will dial the spice back a little next time! I let it simmer a little longer then suggested to get my desired thickness but overall pretty easy!

Here it is pre-cooked...

and here is the finished product!

So those are the success stories, then there'e the mayo... First, you should know I am not a super patient person, so this particular item may take a few attempts! I looked at a few recipes and they ALL stress that the ingredients need to be at room temperature (which takes time) and that the oil must be added SLOWLY, VERY VERY SLOWLY! I think I messed up both of these items and it resulted in a creamy mess...so I guess I'll try that again tomorrow! This next attempt needs to go better cause so far I've not overly impressed Karl with the recipes I've tried and he wants to eat can tuna and mayo (yuck but ok).

While preparing sauces I also made the meatloaf!!! I chose to make two loafs so I could have LOTS of leftovers. I also cut the garlic down (only 1 Tbsp of minced) and decreased the tomato paste (I had 6 oz cans so I used 1.5 cans per loaf instead of 2). Of the optional add-on ingredients I added onion! I LOVE THIS MEATLOAF! So does Erik, the roommate! Karl on the other hand says it tastes good but he does not understand how Erik and I eat so much meat...ugh I think I need to make some calorie dense vegetables for this man! I will make this recipe again but when I do I will likely add some more veggies and only use 6 oz of tomato paste per loaf (to keep the carb/natural sugar low)! To top off the meal I roasted some asparagus with avocado oil and coarse salt, and had cucumber and garden fresh tomato. Here is the finished product:

AWESOME!

I decided to try one of the master recipes from the book for dinner; I used the tarragon cream version of the chicken master recipe (Pg. 265-266 in ISWF). YUMMMMMM! I can't believe how many mushrooms I've eaten since last night without a single complaint! Maybe I am learning something!!! I had to cook my chicken a little longer (maybe my temp was off) but this recipe was nice and easy! Erik reserved his opinion until he added up the total carbs (super low) so he loves it haha! Karl's response was "it's coconuty" and "it's good for chicken", I'll take it! We also had some more roasted asparagus! 

The picture does not do it justice! 

Last item on the to-do list was to prepare my breakfast and lunch so that tomorrow can be successful; I prepped Italian Brunch Bake and tarragon cream chicken!!! We all survived and conquered DAY 1! YAY us!!!

There's always something to learn...

L