Round 2

"Behold, I am doing a new thing....."Isaiah 43:19a

So It's day 3 of my second round of Whole 30 type eating.  After the "feasting" season of Thanksgiving and Christmas, my body is very ready for a change.  My weight has gone up and down and up and down the last couple months, and so has my energy level.  It's time to -as we say in Tennessee - hunker down and get busy.  After 2 days back in the "30" saddle, I already have more energy at the beginning of the day, and I have to say it was not as hard falling back in line with the plan as I thought it would be.  I spent the last few days of December in prep mode.  Egg boiling, menu planning, condiment making, recipe searching, butter clarifying, you name it.  I am excited to try some new sauces and things I have found and adapting my own.

I'm grateful I had somewhat of a knowledge base in my head this time around.  It made shopping easier and it's been easier to figure out what to have for dinner, because I already have ideas from the last time.  So grateful I kept notes too, so I could go back and refer to them.  I even cleaned out my spices and organized them in a drawer - label side up of course- so I can easily see what I need without something falling on my head!  I love to cook and I love to use spices, but if I can't get to them, I am less likely to use them and the food tastes bland and I miss the mixes, prepackaged flavors and such that I definitely DON'T need.

In other news, the holidays were great and time off with the family was wonderful, but I am ready for a normal schedule again.  My little family loves a little laid back leisure, but we so much better when we have a routine.  We had the "first of the year family meeting" yesterday (my man and I had our "meeting" the day before), and talked about some goals to work on for the coming year.  Healthy eating for the whole family is one of those.  The kids were thrilled!  Okay not really but let me have my little fantasy for a minute here.  The boys take after their dad....meat and potatoes and the occasional, "What are those green things called again?" My girl though, she is like her mama and likes to try new things so I have at least one ally.

My husband wants to try out some of this plan this time too.  As a man who has lost large amounts of weight in his young adult hood, he knows the benefits of healthy eating, but he isn't totally sold on the strict nature of Whole30 just yet.  He may be able to incorporate a few changes into his routine and do just fine.  For me, Whole30 is just a good "reset" to remind my body what good food and good health feel like.  That motivates me to move forward and continue doing the right things.  That and the even bigger motivation to be the woman God wants me to be.  Above all else, I want to honor Him.

And now a word from my kitchen:

Favorite meal so far:

-olive oil in the skillet
-saute onions, peppers, mushrooms and garlic till soft then set aside
-make hamburger patties (lean - no add ins- season with salt, pepper and garlic powder), throw in skillet and cook till mostly done
-add veggies back in with meat and cover with coconut aminoes (soy sauce alternative) and a little more olive oil and simmer until the meat is cooked through and the kitchen smells heavenly.

I didn't want to go down to the basement for potatoes ( I was in the middle of several other cooking projects at the same time) so I grabbed a handful of  frozen sweet potato cubes (I buy bags of frozen cubed sweet potatoes at Fresh Market and they are the bomb diggity-no peeling - holla!)  and heated them in the microwave with a little butter (clarified) and cinnamon.

Oh Aunt Bee....it'll make your tongue slap your eyes out!

I made four patties, ate one and put three more in the fridge in a container with the veggies for quick/easy dinners over the next few days.