Whole30, days 16-19: Salmon two ways, and Paleo Minestrone

We're in the Whole30 groove now. (Tiger blood? Yeah, that!) Very few cravings, though it would be nice to have a beer on Saturday afternoons. We're eating great stuff, sleeping well, and have good energy. After stopping almonds a week ago, my acne is slowly clearing up. We'll continue that experiment. I managed to put together a consistent week of running, though due to the stupid cold weather, it was disproportionately indoors. Still, good long trail runs last weekend and tomorrow should keep me on track for Zumbro and Superior.

This week, we did a couple of our standard, every week-or-two dishes, roasted salmon and minestrone. They're both awesome, come together quickly, and our kids love the salmon. (They're very dubious of soup, but maybe we'll get there someday).

Monday (day 15) continued:
Dinner: Salmon roasted in coconut oil, sauteed cauliflower, roasted parsnips, carrots and golden beets with cumin and cinnamon. 1/3 c blueberries with coconut milk.

Salmon, coming out of the oven

The root veggies were still cooking...

Golden beets, heading in to roast

Roasted root veggies. Wow, these were pretty great.

This is one of our two go-to salmon recipes, and it's dead simple and delicious. Like many of our favorite recipes, it's adapted from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything. His version uses butter, which is even better, and ghee is good too.

As long as you've got a hot oven, you might as well roast some vegetables before or afterward -- we like to finish baked sweet potatoes this way (and white potatoes when not Whole30-ing) for a browned, blistery, crispy skin. Oven roasted broccoli, cauliflower, sliced winter squash, or root veggies are other logical choices.

Oven Roasted Salmon (serves 3-4):

3 Tbsp coconut oil, ghee, or butter
1 lb salmon fillets, preferably with skin (it gets deliciously crisp)
salt and pepper

Heat oven to 450. Make sure it's fully preheated before you use it. In a large ovenproof pan, melt the cooking fat over medium-high heat until it's quite hot but not smoking. (If you're using butter, heat it till it foams and then stops foaming).

Sprinkle the fish with generous salt and pepper and place skin side down in the pan. Immediately place the pan, uncovered, in the oven, and roast for 5 minutes. Flip the fish over and roast another 5 minutes, or until the center flesh is opaque.

What's that? You want the other go-to salmon recipe too? Oh, all right. This salmon poached in salsa verde is my kids' absolute favorite. They would eat it 3 times a week if we let them. It's a simplified version of a recipe in Rick Bayless's Mexican Everyday. It goes together pretty fast; you can even use frozen salmon straight out of the freezer if it's been that kind of a day. Lately, we have been omitting the tahini/nut butter, since we are suspicious one of the boys is sensitive to nuts. The sauce is fine without it, but richer with it. When doing Whole30, we substitute green beans, broccoli, or cauliflower for the peas it calls for.

Bayless calls this recipe "Salmon in Luxurious Green Sesame Pipian." We call our version "Fish and Peas."

Fish and Peas (serves 3-4):

1 12-ounce jar tomatillo salsa (we use Trader Joe's Salsa Verde)
1/2 c water or chicken stock
[optional] 2 Tbsp almond butter, other nut butter, or sesame tahini
1-1.2 lb salmon fillets, thawed or frozen
1 lb frozen peas, or green beans, broccoli or cauliflower florets

Pour the salsa into a medium-sized saucepan and heat it over medium heat until it's simmering. Simmer for about 15 min, or until it has thickened to the consistency of tomato paste. (You can do this up to an hour in advance.)

Add the water/stock and nut butter, if using, and bring back to a simmer. Add in the salmon and cover with the sauce (it may not totally cover the fish; that's okay). Simmer uncovered over low-medium heat for about 15 minutes, or 25-30 if previously frozen, turning the fish once or twice and stirring occasionally, until the flesh is opaque. Meanwhile, cook the peas or other vegetable.

To serve, place fish and vegetables on the plate and spoon sauce over them.

Tuesday (day 16):
Breakfast: Baked egg, sausage, and chard. Pumpkin. Black coffee.
Post-run: Seward Co-op salad bar: Chicken, olives, arichokes, marinated cucumbers, and sunflower seeds, with a little olive oil and vinegar. And a sweet potato. Black coffee. Awesome snack.
Lunch: Tuna salad with green beans and roasted yellow pepper. Salad with lettuce, 1/2 avocado, roasted yellow pepper, sprouts, olive oil, and balsamic vinegar. A few sunflower seeds.
Late afternoon: Half a sweet potato, pistachio nuts, a piece of dried pineapple.
Dinner: Roasted chicken, sweet potatoes with pan juices, broccoli. Should have gotten a picture, but the broccoli came out after everything else, and by then it was too late -- my plate looked like it had been attacked. (Which it had.)

Wednesday (day 17):
Breakfast: Baked egg, sausage, and chard. Pumpkin. Black coffee.

Midmorning: Apple, a few pistachios. Black coffee.

Lunch: Tuna salad with green beans and roasted yellow pepper. Salad with lettuce, 1/2 avocado, roasted yellow pepper, sprouts, roasted golden beets, olive oil, and balsamic vinegar. A few sunflower seeds.

Late afternoon: Half a sweet potato, sunflower seeds.
Dinner: Minestrone soup with a baked sweet potato.

Paleo Minestrone (serves 4):

1 lb Italian or Polish sausage
1 large onion, chopped
2-4 carrots, chopped
2 stalks of celery, chopped
3 large cloves of garlic, minced
1 28-ounce can of diced tomatoes, with juice
(optional) up to 2c chicken stock, if you have it on hand
3-6 cups of additional vegetables:
- broccoli or cauliflower florets (frozen = OK)
- green beans (frozen = OK)
- parsnip, rutabaga, golden beets, celery root
- sweet potatoes, or white potatoes if you're not doing Whole30
- winter squash or pumpkin
- zucchini or summer squash
- kale, spinach, or chard (frozen = OK)
1 tsp dried basil
2 tsp dried oregano
lots of black pepper
salt to taste

Cut up the sausage or remove the casings. In a large pot, saute the sausage over medium heat till it's in bite sized pieces and cooked all the way through. Add the onion, carrots, and celery and continue cooking till the onion is translucent, about 10 min. Add the garlic and cook another minute.

Add the tomatoes, chicken stock if you're using it, the additional vegetables EXCEPT for greens like kale/chard/spinach, and then enough water to just cover everything. Add the seasonings. Bring to a boil, then simmer for at least 30 min and up to 90 minutes. Taste and adjust the seasonings. Add more water if it's looking too thick.

10 min before serving, add the greens, if you're using them.

Thursday (day 18):
Breakfast: Baked egg, sausage, and chard. Pumpkin. Black coffee.

Post-run: Seward Cafe! 2 egg omelet with kalamata olives, mushrooms, and broccoli, with tahini and jalapeno salsa. Grilled carrots. Sprouts. Black coffee.

Lunch: Tuna salad with green beans and roasted yellow pepper. Salad with spinach, 1/2 avocado, roasted yellow pepper, radish sprouts, olive oil, and balsamic vinegar.
Dinner: Leftover minestrone with a fried egg and 1/2 a sweet potato. A few dried apricots. A bite of coconut butter I made while cleaning up the kitchen.

There's soup under there. Really.

Friday (day 19):
Breakfast: Back to the usual! 3 egg omelet with kale and jalapenos, cooked in ghee. The last of the pumpkin. Black coffee.
Post-workout: 1/2 a sweet potato, a little roasted chicken, 2 big olives, sprouts with a little olive oil and vinegar. Black coffee.
Lunch: Tuna salad with green beans and roasted yellow pepper. Salad with spinach, 1/2 avocado, roasted yellow pepper, roasted golden beets, radish sprouts, olive oil, and balsamic vinegar.

Whole30: Week 1 wrap-up and Paleo Diner Hash recipe

Okay, I'm jumping the gun a little here at day 6, but we'll call it week 1. I'm eating well, have avoided the "kill all the things" phase of the Whole30, and actually feel pretty awesome. I guess I didn't have as much bad diet to detox from as last time.

Wednesday (day 3): Didn't end up going out after all (babysitter couldn't make it). So made breakfast for dinner: Sausage (Whole30-friendly, from Seward Co-op), 1.5 over-medium fried eggs, and a huge pan of paleo diner-style sweet potato-pumpkin-kale hash (which I immediately named "squaash", to rhyme with "hash").

Paleo Diner Hash. Oh my this was good.

Paleo Diner Hash (serves 2 hungry people):

3 Tbsp coconut oil
1 onion, cut into 1/2" dice
1 baked or microwaved sweet potato, cut into 1" dice
1 cup (or so) roasted winter squash or pumpkin, cut into 1" dice
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Dash of cayenne pepper (optional)
4 cups (or so) fresh chopped kale or spinach (or 1/2 lb frozen spinach would probably work)

In a large heavy skillet over medium heat, melt the coconut oil. Saute the onion till soft and translucent. Add the sweet potato, squash, and kale (if you're using kale) and saute over medium heat, stirring infrequently (to let stuff brown), until the veggies are starting to brown. Season with generous amounts of salt and pepper and a judicious amount of cayenne, if you like. Once the sweet potato, squash, and onion look cooked enough for your taste, if you're using spinach, add that in and stir till it's wilted. Serve with fried or poached eggs!

Thursday (day 4):
Breakfast: Omelet with 3 eggs, kale, and pickled jalapenos, cooked in ghee. Roasted pumpkin. Black coffee. (Hey, it's working for me!)
Post-workout: Almonds, black coffee. (Should have eaten something with carbs, but I got distracted once I got to work)
Lunch: Big salad (lettuce, 1/2 avocado, cucumber, grape tomatoes, sugar snap peas, green pepper, 1/2 roasted yellow pepper, roasted eggplant, olive oil and balsamic vinegar), tuna salad (tuna in olive oil, celery, apple, sliced almonds, paleo mayo) with green beans and some roasted peppers on top.
Snack: Dried pineapple, a clementine, almonds.
Dinner: Pork stew (pork shoulder braised in red wine with garlic, onions, and carrots -- oops, my husband forgot alcohol was off Whole30 but OMG THIS WAS DELICIOUS) over steamed cauliflower. Stew recipe was modified from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything, which I love. Too hungry to take a picture.

Friday (day 5):
Breakfast: Seward Cafe! 3 egg omelet with kale, broccoli, mushrooms and tomato. Tahini on top, sprouts on the side. Black coffee. Also some roasted pumpkin with ghee at home.
Lunch: Big salad (lettuce, 1/2 avocado, a clementine orange, 1/2 roasted yellow pepper, roasted eggplant, clover sprouts, olive oil and balsamic vinegar), tuna salad (tuna in olive oil, celery, apple, sliced almonds, paleo mayo) with green beans and some roasted peppers on top. Almonds.
Dinner: Chorizo, pan-roasted Brussels sprouts, and a sweet potato with ghee.

Frozen Brussels sprouts (thanks, Trader Joe's!) straight into a hot pan with lard, cook till browned, salt and pepper. Pretty good, though fresh local sprouts are better in season.

Why yes, that is a whole lot of food.

Saturday (day 6):
Breakfast: Omelet with 3 eggs, kale, and pickled jalapenos, cooked in ghee. Roasted pumpkin. Black coffee.
During 3 hour run: 2 Larabars (Pecan Pie -- ingredient list is dates, almonds, pecans), water
Post-long run: Small baked sweet potato and Seward Cafe breakfast: 3-egg omelet with kale, tomatoes, and carrots with a side of tahini and a side of broccoli, black coffee. I was stuffed after this. But 2.5 hours later, I was definitely ready for...
Lunch: Leftover pork stew (pork, carrots, garlic, onions).

On an unrelated note, my run today was awesome! It's finally warmed up here and the temperature was 28 degrees. Shorts weather! I ran 3 hours with a friend, and we saw dozens (!) of other runners out on the trails! I think everyone came out for the nice weather. Trails were in great shape and it was a joy to run out there.

Pam and I, happy after a big run

Review: GrazeBox

I'm not a big "box" person. Birchbox, Nature Box, Stride Box, Kona Kase... I haven't tried any of them. First, I'm cheap. $20 or $25 a month seems like a lot to spend on stuff that I'm not sure I'll like. Second, I'm a creature of habit. Why do I need to try new stuff? I know what I like.

Even so, I was intrigued to get a card in a shipment from Sierra Trading Post advertising a new "box": GrazeBox. The good part? A box of snacks was only $6 a shipment, and the first one was free.

What the heck, I decided to check out the website, graze.com. There are currently 90 different snacks on offer. You can go through them one by one and flag them to come to you frequently, sometimes, or never. There are also shortcuts to eliminate all snacks containing gluten, or dairy, or non-vegetarian ingredients.

I went through and eliminated everything with dairy and most things with gluten (which still left me with 49 snacks to be randomly selected from), and signed up. You need an invitation code to sign up, and then can share it with others. Feel free to use mine: "ROBYNR8MR".

My first box got here the other day. Here's the details:

GrazeBox, with a quarter for size reference.
It came with a thin plastic sleeve around it to keep it shut.

Turned over...

... and opened. The flyer had information about Graze School of Farming in Uganda, their charity, and my invitation code.

Four snacks, each 1.2-1.3 ounces (about 1/3-1/2 cup total). Nutrition information and ingredients are not labeled on the packages, but are available on the website. These range from 95-200 calories per serving. 

Graze's Chocolate Orange: Belgian dark chocolate, orange infused raisins, and hazelnuts.

Spicy Corn Taco: spicy chili peanuts, roasted corn (think corn nuts), and roasted edamame. (I've eaten about half).

Seedsational: roasted pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds with soy sauce

The fourth snack was "Little Figgy Went to Market": apple, cranberries, and dried figs dusted with rice flour.

So far I've tried the Spicy Corn Taco and the Seedsational. Spicy Corn Taco has a nice texture, with crunchy corn nuts and edamame, and lightly roasted peanuts. The flavoring is pretty mild: it's not especially salty, and not very spicy. Nice, but the texture and the good ingredients are better than the "spicy" flavoring. The Seedsational is pretty good. Nice salty tamari flavor, good nut flavor. I would get it again.

The verdict? Not a bad deal. For $6 a box (and the first and fifth ones free), you get four decent-sized snacks, delivered to home or work, every 2 weeks. There's lots of variety, and there are good gluten free, dairy free, and vegetarian choices. Fewer Whole30/paleo options, but there are a number of mixes that are only dried fruit and/or nuts, so that's covered too. The website makes it easy to control what you get, so if I liked the Seedsational, I can put it on the "send again" list; if I'm meh on Spicy Corn Taco, I can request it never be sent.

Oh, a final point: I'm impressed by their customer service. My first box went missing somewhere in the depths of our shipping/receiving department. When I contacted Graze (on Christmas Eve!), I got an email within 20 minutes crediting my account with a free shipment and apologizing for the loss. Thanks!

Want to try GrazeBox for yourself? First box is free. Go over to graze.com and use invite code "ROBYNR8MR". Happy snacking!

[Disclaimer: I did not receive products, services, or anything else for this review. I just wrote it because I kind of like this service.]

Birthday cake (the gluten-free, dairy-free edition)

It's birthday season at our house. Both of the boys were born in September, my husband in October, and my birthday is at the end of December. Since we started avoiding gluten and casein (dairy) almost two years ago, we've figured out lots of ways to eat well without these ingredients. As luck would have it, I already had an almost-flourless chocolate pudding cake in the armamentarium, and it was easy to convert it to a fully gluten free, casein free version.

"Can I lick the knife afterward?"

The kids love this dessert because (a) it's delicious, warm and gooey, and (b) you get to mix it up in the food processor, which makes a terrific racket grinding up the chocolate. I like it because (a) it comes together incredibly fast (you actually steam it in the microwave rather than baking it, so cook time is 4-5 min, rests 10 min, then eat), and (b) it makes a small-ish dessert (about 6-8 servings -- it's rich) to minimize drama over leftover cake.

I  haven't tried it but suspect you could pull off a fully paleo-fied version, substituting in almond flour and sweetener of your choice (date sugar or maple sugar might work well) for the flour and sugar.

We serve this warm with coconut milk ice cream; it would also be incredible with sorbet or just fresh fruit. If you serve it warm, you can't frost or decorate it, but if you cooled it, you could decorate it as a volcano (I'm imagining raspberry puree or strawberry jam as the lava), a turtle (maybe a banana head and legs with raisin eyes?), or anything else you could build around a hemispherical cake.

The recipe is adapted (by me) from Barbara Kafka's cookbook Microwave Gourmet. It was published in the New York Times on April 2, 2008.

Steamed Chocolate Pudding Cake, the Gluten-Free, Casein-Free Version
Time: 15 min
Servings: 6-8

2 Tbsp room temperature ghee or coconut oil (original recipe: butter)
8 Tbsp chilled ghee or coconut cream (original recipe: cold butter, in pieces)
8 oz semisweet or dark chocolate
1/2 c light brown sugar, packed
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 c full-fat coconut milk (original recipe: heavy cream)
1/3 c gluten-free baking flour, corn flour, or almond meal (original recipe: flour)
1/2 tsp baking powder
3 eggs

1. Use room temperature fat to grease a 4-cup microwave-safe bowl.
2. Put the chocolate in a food processor and grind it (note: LOUD!), 

then add the cold ghee/coconut oil and sugar.

Process until combined. Add the remaining ingredients and process until smooth.

3. Pour into the greased bowl

and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Microwave on high for 4 to 5 min, or until just set. Remove, pierce the plastic with the tip of a sharp knife, and cover with a heavy plate.

Let it rest for 10 min. (It keeps cooking during this time, so don't skip this step!)
4. Unmold onto a serving plate and serve warm or cold.

Cake and ice cream! Birthday ultra classic.

Whole30, weeks 2-3

Okay, nearing the end of the Whole30 here (last full day is TODAY!), and realized I haven't posted anything about it in a while. It doesn't feel like an unusual thing any more, more like "this is how we eat" -- hence, I stopped logging what I ate every day. That said, I really miss a couple of things and can't wait to reintroduce them, starting as soon as tomorrow. (I'm looking at you, beer and hash brown potatoes).

Wrap-up post to follow. Meanwhile, here's some data for anyone considering a Whole30.

Week 2: Some days of grumpy. It passed after a few days, but not sure whether that was finally getting enough sleep, stepping up the carbs, or just the tincture of time. PMS? I never have mood problems related to this, but I did have more noticeable cramps than usual, so perhaps that's a component. Still good food, even energy, little to no need to snack.

Week 3 (beginning): We're pretty much figured out what to eat. I don't really feel deprived, except I really would like a good beer. We got an immersion blender, so we had fun with making smoothies. They're pretty awesome. Don't worry, we don't actually do these every night.

Week 3/week 4: Stopped keeping track of every meal. It's all good, we're still doing it, but pretty much more of the same going on here.

The details:

Day 10 (the rest of it):
Pre-race snack: 1/2 Larabar, carrot
Post-race: Ginger kombucha, 1/2 Larabar
Dinner: Seward Cafe BBQ chicken, coleslaw, kale. Not convinced this was fully Whole30 compliant, but it was pretty close. Then some raw beet salad from the Seward Coop. Yum.

Day 11:
Breakfast: 2 egg omelet with 1/2 roasted red pepper, 1/2 tomato, Kalamata olives, spinach. Black coffee
Snack: 1/2 Epic Bar (those are weird), sunflower seeds, coconut, black coffee
Lunch: Salad with greens and spinach, 1/2 roasted red pepper, and tuna salad, carrots, banana with almond butter
Snack: 1/2 Larabar, sunflower seeds
Dinner: Taco salad (lettuce, ground pork sauteed with onions and spices, lots of homemade guacamole), fried plantain (fried in coconut oil; SO GOOD), a little later we made fried sweet potato rounds (microwaved a sweet potato, cut into 1 cm thick sections, fried in coconut oil) and ate them with the rest of the guac.

Sleepy in the middle of the afternoon at a meeting, which hasn't happened so far on Whole30. I mostly blame a week of being short on sleep. A little grumpy. Made a point of going to bed early, though sleep was interrupted by a spectacular thunderstorm around 3:45 am.

Day 12:
Breakfast: 3 egg omelet with tomato, mushrooms and kale, with tahini on top (Seward Cafe). Black coffee.
Snack: Macadamia nuts, coconut flakes, black coffee
Lunch: Salad with greens and spinach, 1/2 roasted red pepper and chicken salad, carrots with almond butter
Snack: More mac nuts and coconut
Dinner: Beef stew with ancho chile sauce, carrots and potatoes, modified from a recipe in Rick Bayless' Mexican Everyday (oops, husband didn't realize potatoes were off the W30), eaten on cabbage leaves.

A grumpy day. I thought "Kill All The Things" was week 1? I'm blaming it on cumulative sleep deprivation.

Day 13:
Breakfast: 2 egg omelet with kalamata olives and spinach, steamed cauliflower, black coffee
During run: 6 dates, 1/2 Larabar
Post-workout: 1/2 Larabar, coffee with almond milk, roasted eggplant, red pepper and onions, a little homemade sausage, sweet potato hash
Lunch: Leftover beef stew on cabbage leaves
Dinner: Out at Barbette. Yum! Oysters, salmon Nicoise salad, Steak Helene with kale, tomato, and sunchoke. Then blueberries and kombucha.

13 mile run in the rain and mud. Still a little grumpy. Trying to step up the carb intake.

Day 14:
Breakfast: 2 egg omelet with mushrooms and tomato, kale chips (with lard), 1/2 sweet potato, black coffee.
Lunch: Seasoned ground beef and pork with turnip greens and spinach, sauteed carrots and cauliflower with ghee and chives
Snack: Pistachio nuts, coconut flakes, carrot with almond butter
Dinner: Five Guys hamburger, bunless, double meat, with mushrooms, fried onions, lettuce, tomato, jalapenos, mustard. No peanuts or fries this time. Brought along some pistachios and coconut, and that helped with the starving-must-eat-peanuts phenomenon.
Snack: Blueberries, almonds, coconut flakes with coconut milk over the top. Yum.

Slept in this morning. Finally feel decently well rested!

Day 15:
Breakfast: 2 egg omelet with mushrooms, roasted tomato, kale chips (with lard), 1/3 avocado, black coffee
Post-workout: Banana with almond butter, a few plantain chips, black coffee

Lunch: Salad with spinach, tuna salad (tuna in olive oil, homemade mayo, celery, green onion, apple), 2/3 a small avocado, and homemade vinaigrette. Cucumbers, carrots, a few sunflower seeds
Dinner: Salmon in green pipian sauce (from Rick Bayless' Mexican Everyday), with steamed cauliflower
Snack: Smoothie with banana, blueberries, coconut milk. A bite of coconut butter

Ran 5.4 miles. Hot (okay, 75 degrees) and sunny! Made kombucha. We'll see how that turns out...

Day 16:
Breakfast: 2 egg omelet with mushrooms, 1/4 roasted red pepper and green onion. Half an apple and half a sweet potato. Black coffee
Post-workout: Banana with almond butter, plantain chips, sunflower seeds, black coffee
Lunch: Salad with spinach, tuna salad, avocado, roasted red pepper, and homemade vinaigrette. A hard boiled egg. Cucumbers, carrots, a few pistachios.
Dinner: Happy hour at Acadia! Fried sweet potatoes, bowl of Ted's Big Red Chili, a glass of grapefruit juice/seltzer water. I do miss beer.
Snack: Smoothie with banana, frozen strawberries, coconut milk. We're diggin' the new immersion blender.

Ran 4.2 mi. Cooler and breezy.

Day 17:
Breakfast: 2 egg omelet with mushrooms, kale chips, 1/2 avocado, black coffee
Post-workout: Hazelnut milk latte (iced) from Peace Coffee, banana with almond butter.
Lunch: Salad with spinach, tuna salad (tuna, homemade mayo, snow peas, green onion, green grapes), avocado, and homemade vinaigrette. Cucumbers, carrots, a few pistachios
Snack: Macadamia nuts, coconut flakes
Dinner: Taco salad: Spinach, chorizo, homemade guacamole. Plantains fried in coconut oil.
Snack: Smoothie with banana, almond butter, coconut milk, cocoa

Day 18:
Breakfast: 2 egg omelet with mushrooms and 1/2 roasted red pepper, 1/2 sweet potato, black coffee
During run: About 12 dates, 6 S-Caps, a ton of water
Post-workout: 1/2 sweet potato, 2 egg omelet with tomato, kale, and kalamata olives, with tahini on top (Seward Cafe FTW!), black coffee
Lunch: Salad with spinach, tuna salad (tuna, homemade mayo, snow peas, green onion, green grapes), roasted red pepper, and homemade vinaigrette. Pistachios. Still pretty full from post-run meal.
Snack: Cucumbers and carrots, a few pistchios.
Dinner: Deconstructed fish tacos: fried cod (breaded in almond flour), guacamole, fresh tomatoes, lettuce.
Second dinner (because I had surgery the next day and couldn't eat after midnight): Nicoise-ish salad with lettuce, fried chicken, green beans, olives, anchovies, hard boiled egg, lettuce, homemade vinaigrette.

Ran 15.2 hot, slow miles

Day 19:
No breakfast, because of surgery
Late morning: 2 egg omelet with roasted red pepper and mushrooms, black coffee.
Lunch: I can't remember. I think a salad.
Late afternoon: Hamburger patty, asparagus with lemon and ghee
Dinner: Pulled pork shoulder on fresh spinach, tomato
Snack: Coconut butter, a few pistachios

Day 20:
Breakfast: 2 eggs, kale chips, sweet potato hash, black coffee
Lunch: Carnitas, sauteed pea greens with a little fish sauce
Snack: Plum, kombucha
Dinner: Italian sausage with peppers, onions, and tomato sauce, over zucchini noodles.
Snack: Strawberry-banana smoothie with coconut milk

Day 21:
Breakfast: 1.5 egg omelet (egg + a leftover egg white) with mushrooms and roasted red pepper, black coffee.
Post-workout: Fried plantains, small piece of sausage
Lunch: Salad with lettuce, fried chicken, avocado, tomato, homemade vinaigrette
Dinner: Salmon roasted in ghee/coconut oil, spicy curry cauliflower and snow peas
Snack: Pistachios, strawberries with coconut milk

Ran 4.2 miles. Felt great post surgery!

Day 22:
Breakfast: 2 egg omelet with mushrooms, roasted red pepper, and green onion. Steamed cauliflower, black coffee.
Snack: Macadamia nuts, black coffee
Lunch: Salad with spinach, tuna salad (tuna, homemade mayo, celery, green onion, green grapes), roasted red pepper, and homemade vinaigrette. Carrots and celery with almond butter. Cucumbers. Pistachios.
Dinner: Chicken legs roasted in coconut oil with roasted onions, parsnips, and carrots. 

Epic Culinary Wins on Whole30

Ever gone camping? After a day of backpacking, bushwhacking, and skinny-dipping, you cook a stupendous meal of freeze-dried vegetables, tuna in a pouch, and instant noodles-n-sauce, slurp it down, and think, "This tastes AWESOME! I should try this at home!".

Then, at home, of course sanity sets in and you realize that it tasted great because of where you were and what you were doing... and that instant noodles-n-sauce should never grace your table again... until the next camping trip, anyway.

I don't think that's what's going on here, but check back with me in a couple weeks, when Whole30 is a fading memory. At any rate, these are some new finds that have been freaking delicious and that I think we'll keep in the rotation. Unlike the noodles-n-sauce.

Epic Whole30 Culinary Wins, So Far

• Real fish sauce and anchovies as little salty umami-bombs. We sprinkled a little fish sauce on sauteed kale the other day and it amped the flavor way, way up. And I'd kind of forgotten how cool anchovies are. Gotta get to work on that Caesar salad real soon now...
• Cabbage slaw for fish tacos. Shredded cabbage, a little green onion and jalapeno, lime juice, and salt. If it sits for 30 min while you fry the fish, it gets just a little tender. Yum.
• Sauteeing vegetables in roasted chicken drippings. Cabbage (again) was awesome this way.
• Kale chips for breakfast. Because, why not? I made them with lard, which added an unexpected and delicious slightly porky flavor.
• Giant salad for lunch. With a big whack of chicken or tuna salad, it's totally satisfying.
• Homemade mayo. Who knew it was so easy to make? I used a fork and a bowl and it took 10 minutes, tops. (I used light olive oil, not mac nut oil). Great base for chicken/tuna/egg salad -- and I'm not even a mayo fan.
• Kombucha. Why have I not tried this before? It's a little sour, it's bubbly, it's funky. Like drinking a Berliner Weisse.
• Dessert parfait: Fresh blueberries, sliced almonds, coconut flakes, with coconut milk (canned) poured over the top. Oh MY is this good.

Whole30 Dining Out In Minneapolis, So Far

Haven't done a ton of this, but here are a few good recommendations:

• Brasa. Little place in Northeast Minneapolis that is a paleo haven. Pulled pork, rotisserie roasted chicken and many of the meat specials are Whole30 compliant, as are many of the vegetable sides. You can eat WELL here for lunch or dinner. Plus there's enough variety for picky eaters, gluten free eaters, and even vegetarians can do pretty well by eating sides. There's great outdoor seating, and thanks to the giant roll-up garage doors, sitting indoors feels like sitting outdoors too, on a fine day. Finally, it's a steal -- a very satisfying two meat, three sides, and a drink fed two of us for $27.
• Barbette. It's in Uptown, and also has outdoor dining, though it's on the sidewalk. Excellent Whole30/paleo options here, including a daily tartare, raw oysters, salads (like the salmon Nicoise we tried, which was 100% W30 except for the potatoes), vegetables, fish, chicken, and steak. The steak is very good. (But I did miss eating steak frites, which I love). Good service, fun decor, good place.
• Burch Steakhouse. A new place in Uptown, by the folks who brought us the fabulous Bar La Grassa. We tried it before starting the Whole30, but it's a great place to go for Whole30/paleo food, though costly enough that we'd probably wait for a special occasion. But wow. Grass fed beef, beautifully prepared. Don't miss out on the starters and sides -- we had the roasted cauliflower with anchovies and it was incredible. We also had the lamb tartare, which was good, but next time I would focus on steak and veggie sides, which really shine.
• Seward Cafe does a nice omelet with a wide choice of veggies. They also have good coffee, espresso, and smoothies.
• Haven't been there during the Whole30, but it looks like The Bad Waitress could also put together a pretty good breakfast, with omelet options including chicken and chorizo, as well as lots of veggies including avocado. (I don't know if their chorizo is OK or not). Their coffee is from Spyhouse, so it's excellent.
• What's that? You want fast food? Okay. Two decent options here, Chipotle and Five Guys. At Chipotle, get a salad with carnitas, salsa (not corn salsa, duh), and guacamole. At Five Guys, get a bunless burger with whatever toppings grab you (except ketchup, mayo, cheese, and bacon). Try not to eat the peanuts.

Whole30, 10 days in

I'm at day 10 of the Whole30 now, and thought I'd check in before heading out to my weekday trail race tonight. Even though it's not as a radical a change for me as it is for most people who try it out (we were already gluten/dairy free and 90% paleo), it's still meant some significant changes. Some were expected, and some have been more of a surprise. Overall, this has been a good experience so far. It will be interesting to see what further changes happen in the next 10 days.

Good stuff:

• Way less snacking going on here! I had gotten into the habit of eating a little something every hour or two, especially when at work, especially while ultra training. It got me the calories I needed at the time, but when my caloric demands declined, the urge to eat something (especially something salty and crunchy) lingered. I still have urges to snack, off and on, but since I'm full and stay full after meals, they're easier to rationally ignore.
• More even energy. I always have pretty good energy, but would have a bit of an afternoon "slump". Not now, and I think my energy levels will be through the roof once I get to the end of this crazy work week and start getting 8 hours of sleep again.
• No GI upset on runs. None. Even multi-hour trail runs, in heat, eating fiber-rich stuff like dates and Larabars. GI stuff has seldom been a big problem for me while running, but long runs are where it emerges, and it just hasn't.
• Holy cow, I thought we were eating lots of vegetables before this. It's unreal how many we're eating now. C and I ate HALF A HEAD of cabbage last night in a cabbage slaw. Along with a giant bowl of guacamole, some lettuce leaves, oh, and a whole lot of fried fish.

Not-so-good stuff:

• "I just got home from work, it's already 6 o'clock, and I'M STARVING." Most things we're eating require cooking. Some require significant prep. When we can plan ahead, it's awesome, but when you get behind on the food prep and organization, you can definitely end up scouring the kitchen looking for something to eat RIGHT NOW NOW NOW. 
• "I just ate a banana and almond butter for a post-workout meal OH CRAP it says not to eat fruit post workout!" Still figuring out the "gray areas" of the diet (how much is "a little" fruit? How much is "limited" almonds and sunflower seeds? Am I doing it right?).
• Eating out. We don't do it all that often but when we do, we want to eat well. It can be done, but it requires some advance planning... and it requires giving up some things that just look really good. 
• Date night without a beer is really not the same, no matter how much herbal tea you drink.

Food recap for the last 3 days:

Day 8:

Breakfast: 2 eggs fried in ghee with hot sauce, steamed broccoli, small salad (greens and homemade vinaigrette dressing), black coffee
Lunch: Salad with spring mix greens, tuna salad (2/3 can of tuna, homemade mayo, celery, green onion, apple), tomato, avocado, homemade vinaigrette. Two carrots and a celery stick dipped in almond butter, hazelnut milk latte
Snack: Macadamia nuts, coconut
Dinner: Lamb merguez sausage, sauteed red kale with a little fish sauce, steamed baby turnips and carrots with ghee. A little later, fresh blueberries, sliced almonds, and coconut flakes with coconut milk. Oh my was that good.

Day 9:

Breakfast: 2 eggs fried in ghee with hot sauce, baked kale chips (tossed kale in melted lard), roasted tomato, 1/4 avocado, black coffee
Post-workout: Small banana with almond butter, macadamia nuts
Lunch: Salad with greens, tuna salad, sauerkraut, 1/4 avocado, and vinaigrette. Hard boiled egg, two carrots with a little almond butter
Snack: Macadamia nuts, coconut flakes, black coffee
Dinner: Fish tacos: Cod rolled in almond flour and fried in coconut oil, guacamole, cabbage slaw (cabbage, jalapeno, green onion, lime juice, salt and pepper) on lettuce leaves. This was really good.

Ran 5.4 miles. Quads still sore from 3 days ago!

Day 10:

Breakfast: Omelet with 1 egg, 1/2 a roasted red pepper, kalamata olives, and wilted salad greens, steamed broccoli, black coffee
Snack: Sunflower seeds, macadamia nuts, almonds, cashews, coconut (I think I should have made TWO eggs for breakfast! I was hungry just 2.5 hours later!)
Lunch: 1/2 a grilled chicken breast, salad with greens, tuna/egg salad, 1/2 roasted red pepper, vinaigrette. Two carrots, black coffee

Running with a broken elbow (or, "It's just a flesh wound!", or, "Come back here! I'll bite your legs off!")

Yes, you can!

When I broke my elbow at Zumbro (story in a future post), I googled "running with a broken elbow" and "running with a broken arm" the same night.  There's not a lot out there on the internets about running with a full arm cast (though a number of stories about short arm casts), so I thought it might be helpful to share my experience.  The summary?  Yes, it can be done.  If you're a little nuts.

At my first appointment with my orthopedic surgeon, I asked "Can I run?"  It was 5 weeks before Superior 50K, my first ultra, and I was not going to miss it, by golly.  She assured me that I could run as soon as it was in a cast, a week after surgery.  Before, that, low/no impact exercise was fine.

That curvy piece off to the left is supposed to be attached to something.

With my arm in a giant splint and a doctor's blessing, I was at the YWCA bright and early the very next morning.  I hit the elliptical [I believe that may be a first for me! I didn't even die of boredom], then cranked the treadmill up to 15% grade and walked, briskly, for 30 minutes up a big imaginary hill.  Hey, it beat another half-hour of elliptical.

As an aside, you want some funny looks and great conversations, go do a really sweaty workout at your local Y or running trails with a full arm splint or cast on.  Had a great talk with a guy who broke BOTH wrists and several fingers two years ago in a bike accident, recovered, and decided to bike across the country.  He concluded his story, "So you WILL get better! Hang in there!"  Oh yes I will.

My awesome orthopod fixed me up four days post injury with a ginormous plate and six screws.

Talk about race hardware!

I enjoyed two days of frequent naps, quality cat time, and Vicodin, then swapped the good drugs for Tylenol and hit the Y.  Still in a splint, I biked, elliptical'd, and did lower-body strength work (lunges, squats, situps, whatever I could think of).  Got into a cast on post op day 6 and the next day I ran a mile, on the indoor track at the Y.  It was slow and awkward, but nothing hurt.  The next day I ran 5.4 miles, no slower than usual.  (There's nothing like an 10 day, unplanned, radical taper to help your speed).  The 50K was ON!

On post op day 10, 4 days after getting my cast, I did the last big training run before Superior -- 25 miles at Afton State Park.  I wore my Hoka Stinsons, my go-to trail shoe at that point.  I carried a Velcro luggage strap in case I needed a field sling.  (I didn't).  Reasoning that I tie up my only functional hand with a handheld, I exchanged my usual Ultimate Direction bottle for a new-out-of-the-package Nathan Intensity hydration pack.  (Luckily, it worked magnificently the whole day).  I filled it with Nuun, stuffed 900 kcal of snacks into the front pockets (Shot Bloks, Gu and Roctane, Picky Bars), and I was off, in 39 degrees and crisp air, at 5:30 am.  A 30-minute out-and-back while waiting for others to get there, then the 15.5 mile race loop, then a very slow and gimpy solo 7 miles back around Africa Loop/Back 40.

It went pretty well, considering my entire dominant arm was in a massive fiberglass cast.  A little IT band problem on the opposite hip in the first 3 miles or so went away fairly quickly.  It came back in the last 5 miles with a vengeance, and I mostly walked the last 3 miles or so, occasionally jogging a segment or two.  I've never had IT band problems to speak of before or since.  I theorize they related to decreased arm swing on the right because of the added weight of the cast.  I had a pretty serious bonk at the end of the full loop, around mile 18, but got a second wind after eating an entire Picky Bar.  It was very difficult to get back up and head back out for the last 7 miles, but I did it.

I was in the cast for 3 weeks and ran over 75 miles in it.  It was funky, and awkward, but it worked okay.  I always felt like I would feel worse if I didn't run, so I just kept going for runs in it.  When I got it off and graduated to the articulated arm brace, it was a relief, but also a triumph.  Nothing was going to stop me from doing my 50K.

Graduated to a brace. I added the Superior bling myself.

Whole30, week 1 recap

I haven't been photographing food, but it's been pretty awesome -- both to look at and to eat. I feel like I'm eating well so far. Eating out over the weekend was harder.  Our goal has been to observe the spirit of the diet, but not interrogate our waitress about the ingredient list.

Great energy levels and very little urge to snack between meals -- since this was one of the main goals I had in starting Whole30, I feel like it's a win so far.

I don't seem to have the crazy week 1 Whole30 moods, maybe because it's not a huge departure from how I was eating before? We'll see how week 2 plays out.

Day 1 (Monday, June 10):

Breakfast: Broccoli, green beans and garlic sauteed in coconut oil, 2 eggs cooked in ghee, black coffee
Lunch: Taco salad (big bowl of spinach, ground pork with chili powder, cumin, salt and pepper, and a big scoop of homemade guacamole)
Dinner: Grilled hamburgers, summer squash, sweet potato with ghee

Day 2:

Breakfast: 2-egg omelet cooked in ghee with turkey, broccoli, green beans and garlic, black coffee
During run: 5 dates, water
Post-workout: Hard boiled egg, banana, black coffee
Lunch: Salad with turkey, 1/2 avocado, tomato, and a hard boiled egg, with homemade vinaigrette dressing, then an apple and 2 carrots dipped in almond butter
Snack: Macadamia nuts, coconut flakes
Dinner: Roasted chicken, cabbage sauteed in chicken drippings, and a big salad with avocado and tomato, with homemade vinaigrette dressing

Ran 8.3 miles. Fueling felt fine with eating dates. No GI problems. It is a pleasant surprise how little I want to snack -- I have felt pretty full between meals.

Day 3:

Breakfast: Steamed broccoli, 1 egg cooked in ghee with Mean Green hot sauce, black coffee
Lunch: Salad with turkey, 1/2 avocado, tomato, and a hard boiled egg, with homemade vinaigrette dressing, then 2 carrots dipped in almond butter and 2 carrots plain
Snack: Sunflower seeds, coconut flakes, black coffee
Dinner: Salmon roasted in ghee, broccoli, big salad with avocado and tomato

Day 4:

Breakfast: Steamed broccoli, 1 egg + 1 egg white (left over from making mayo) cooked in ghee with hot sauce, black coffee
Post-workout: Omelet with kalamata olives, kale and carrots with tahini on top, 1/2 sweet potato, black coffee
Lunch: Chicken salad (leftover chicken, homemade mayo, almonds, capers, lemon juice) with lots of greens and tomato, 2 carrots dipped in almond butter
Snack: Sunflower seeds, coconut flakes
Dinner: Polish sausage, sauerkraut, 1/2 sweet potato
After-dinner treat: Blueberries, coconut flakes, almonds and walnuts

Ran 7.1 miles. I didn't eat anything on the run and was fine for the first hour, a little tired for the last 15 min. Overall, though, I'm pleasantly surprised that I don't seem to be any more prone to bonking than I was when eating more carbs.
The omelet was at my favorite restaurant, the Seward Cafe. Being a mostly-vegetarian place, the main Whole30-compliant items on the menu are omelets and stir fry. The omelet was great (especially the olives), and asking for tahini instead of toast was brilliant. Yum.
I was hungry by dinnertime! Then, after kid bedtime, still wanted a bite of something. (I wanted dark chocolate, but blueberries and nuts were pretty satisfying).
I am developing a little acne, which is seldom a problem for me. It's a little annoying.

Day 5:

Breakfast: Steamed broccoli, a little ground beef and 1 egg cooked in ghee with smoked paprika, black coffee
Snack: Apple, macadamia nuts, black coffee
Lunch: Chicken salad (leftover chicken, homemade mayo, almonds, capers, lemon juice) with lots of greens, avocado, and tomato
Snack: Banana with almond butter
Dinner: Pork shank osso bucco (from this recipe, but chicken stock instead of white wine) over sauteed green cabbage. YUM.

Odd, vivid dreams, but not about food.

Day 6:

Breakfast: A little ground beef, 1 egg cooked in ghee with smoked paprika, 1/2 sweet potato, 1/2 avocado, black coffee
During run: 8-10 dates, 1 Larabar, 6 S-Caps, water
Post-workout: Omelet with kalamata olives, kale and tomato with tahini on top, 1/2 sweet potato, black coffee
Lunch: Left over pork osso bucco and sauteed green cabbage
Dinner: Went out to Brasa. Paleo heaven: Rotisserie chicken, pulled pork, collards with smoked chicken, sweet potatoes with andoille, creamed spinach (yes, this was off the Whole30), and fried plantains. Unsweetened iced tea. Serious YUM. Herbal tea later.

Ran 15.5 hilly trail miles in muggy weather. Awesome, consistent energy throughout run but I was spent by the end. For longer runs I think I need something with protein. First time using S-Caps instead of Nuun; it seemed to work fine.

Day 7:

Breakfast: 1 egg cooked in ghee with hot sauce, broccoli, 1/2 avocado, black coffee
Post-workout: 1 egg in ghee with jalapenos, 1 banana and almond butter, a few blueberries
Lunch: Salad with tomato, avocado, sauerkraut and canned tuna ("Tunakraut salad"). Surprisingly good, if a bit random
Dinner: Out to Five Guys. Had a burger bowl with lettuce, tomato, fried mushrooms and onions, jalapenos, and mustard. Oops, I also had a few peanuts and a few fries. Honestly, eating out, when you're hungry, is difficult.
After dinner: 2 carrots, handful of sunflower seeds, coconut flakes.

Ran 5.6 slow hilly miles.

Why try Whole30?

The two adults in the house are trying the Whole30 diet this month (June 10-Jul 9). Heard about it? Tried it?Here's some info: http://whole9life.com/category/whole-30/

From the Whole 9 website:
Eat real food – meat, seafood, eggs, tons of vegetables, some fruit, and plenty of good fats from fruits, oils, nuts and seeds. Eat foods with very few ingredients, all pronounceable ingredients, or better yet, no ingredients listed at all because they’re totally natural and unprocessed. 

More importantly, here’s what NOT to eat during the duration of your Whole30 program. Omitting all of these foods and beverages will help you regain your healthy metabolism, reduce systemic inflammation, and help you discover how these foods are truly impacting your health, fitness and quality of life.

• Do not consume added sugar of any kind, real or artificial. No maple syrup, honey, agave nectar, Splenda, Equal, Nutrasweet, xylitol, stevia, etc. Read your labels, because companies sneak sugar into products in ways you might not recognize.

• Do not consume alcohol, in any form, not even for cooking. (And it should go without saying, but no tobacco products of any sort, either.)

• Do not eat grains. This includes (but is not limited to) wheat, rye, barley, oats, corn, rice, millet, bulgur, sorghum, amaranth, buckwheat, sprouted grains and all of those gluten-free pseudo-grains like quinoa. Yes, we said corn… for the purposes of this program, corn is a grain! This also includes all the ways we add wheat, corn and rice into our foods in the form of bran, germ, starch and so on. Again, read your labels.

• Do not eat legumes. This includes beans of all kinds (black, red, pinto, navy, white, kidney, lima, fava, etc.), peas, chickpeas, lentils, and peanuts. No peanut butter, either. This also includes all forms of soy – soy sauce, miso, tofu, tempeh, edamame, and all the ways we sneak soy into foods (like lecithin).

• Do not eat dairy. This includes cow, goat or sheep’s milk products such as cream, cheese (hard or soft), kefir, yogurt (even Greek), and sour cream… with the exception of clarified butter or ghee. (See below for details.)

• Do not consume carrageenan, MSG or sulfites. If these ingredients appear in any form on the label of your processed food or beverage, it’s out for the Whole30.

• Do not eat white potatoes. This is somewhat arbitrary, but if we are trying to change your habits and improve the hormonal impact of your food choices, it’s best to leave white, red, purple, Yukon gold and fingerling potatoes off your plate.

We're 90% of the way there already. We've never been big on processed foods, and our kids were never interested in bread, rice, or pasta. Over the last 18 months, we've eliminated gluten and dairy (except for coffee cream) from our diet at home. We started the Great Gluten Experiment to see what it could do for kid behavior; an unexpected added benefit was that C felt better without gluten on board too -- fewer headaches, more even energy.

Once we figured out what to eat, we really didn't miss gluten or dairy much. We rarely eat out. (Well, except for Five Guys). We eat a lot of vegetables, eggs, and local meat. On the other hand, we both love beer. I'm a runner and eat rice, potatoes, black beans, and sometimes bread and cheese when I'm out of the house... but not often. I eat gels and bars and the like while running.

So, if we're 90% of the way to paleo already, why try the Whole30?

- We're curious to see if anything changes, interested to see if it does anything more for us. Will it affect my endurance? Reduce running injuries and little aches and pains? Give me more even energy?
- I wouldn't mind changing my graze-all-day eating habits. They were fine when I was at peak ultramarathon training, not so functional now that my mileage is half or two-thirds what it was. This is a good jump-start to change the habit of eating every 2 hours.
- No big events or travel in June, so it's a good time to give it a shot!