healthyeats

day twenty-nine: monday morning qb

Posted on by thedingismything

Holy cow. This was one of those weekends when I need a weekend to recover from my weekend. Spent Saturday morning at an Earth Day event picking up trash out of the L.A. River, and then Sunday I helped my mom clean out her garage to prep for a yard sale next weekend. It all added up to a lot of manual labor followed by a lot of time recovering by binge-watching season 5 of Game of Thrones before the new season premiere last night.

Again, holy cow – if you saw it, you’ll know what I’m talking about.

Where I went right this weekend:

The Husband and I have a long-standing tradition of making a big celebratory dinner for the first Game of Thrones of the season. We try to make it something they would eat on the show. He was in charge of last night’s feast, and he outdid himself with a little dish he called “Fleabottom Bowl of Brown.” It was a Whole30 compliant beef stew he came up with on his own, and it hit the spot. The only this we were missing was our wine. Tyrion Lannister would have been truly disappointed.

beef stew

Where I went wrong:

Despite all my activities this weekend, I still fell short of my step goal both days. I averaged around 7,000 steps per day. It probably wouldn’t have taken much to get those extra steps – a quick walk around my neighborhood would have done it.

We had our eyes on the prize this weekend, and stayed focused on Day 30 being around the corner. But, I felt like we dwelled a little too much on thinking about how everything would have been better with something NOT allowed by our diet. Example: After the river cleanup, we both were dying to go with our friends to Golden Road Brewery and just spend the rest of the day drinking beer and hanging out. Talking about it over and over made it so much harder to focus on the main event itself. And, after eating the beef stew, all I could think about was how it could have been even better with a big ol’ glass of merlot (don’t judge me) and some crusty bread to soak up the juices at the bottom of the bowl.

Goals for this week:

Make it to Wednesday. Come onnnnn, Wednesday.

No seriously, I’m looking forward to a little freedom after Whole30 is over. But, I’m also afraid of going nuts and undoing all the good I’ve accomplished. Seems to be the outcome of every diet I’ve ever done. Which is why we started thinking of this not as a diet, but how we’d like to eat from here on out. Just with a little more flexibility. I’ve realized I don’t miss sugar at all and I could eat like this quite happily as long as I could enjoy a glass of wine with dinner or a nice cocktail at the end of the week.

So my goal for this week is to enjoy a few days of being done with Whole30, but to try just wading into the pool instead of diving into the deep end right away. I want to introduce one thing back at a time, and avoid stuffing my face with junk food again.

Note: This is a re-post from the Tumblr version of this blog. It originally ran on April 25, 2016.

day twenty-six: light at the end of the tunnel

Posted on by thedingismything

I’m wearing a pair of jeans today that 27 days ago wouldn’t fit over my ass, let alone zip up.

They aren’t one, but two sizes smaller than the size of my Mercy Jeans that I acquired just prior to starting Whole30.

Look, I know. I’ve bitched a lot. I’ve lost my mind a few times. I’ve complained more than I care to admit. And in four days from now, at 11:59 p.m., I’m gonna be poppin’ some bottles to celebrate being done with this.

But today, I’m wearing my skinny jeans. And they’re not uncomfortable. So was this past month worthwhile?

Ask me again on Wednesday.

In the meantime, I’ve got another yummy Whole30 dinner for you, along with another of my trademark valuable lessons learned.

I made meatballs again. And, in keeping with this week’s apparent theme, they didn’t come out as good as they did the first time. At least I was able to figure out why they didn’t.

Kids, when you make meatballs, you need to use ground meat with a little fat. I’m not saying the 80/20 bargain bin bullshit. But don’t use the 99% Fat Free I’m So Much Better Than You Because I’m Extra Lean Ground Turkey. If you do, they’re going to come out dry, like mine did. If you still insist on being a fat free ground meat snob, make sure you have some all natural nothing added snobby applesauce on hand to go with it, because that’s what saved my meatballs from joining my mayo in failure hell.

The other redeeming feature in this meal was my Whole30 compliant mashed potatoes – recipe invented by yours truly. I tackled the potatoes first, because a) they are easier to keep warm, and 2) making the meatballs is an action-packed process that requires a lot of attention. Just like me.

First thing you want to do is get a pot of water on the stove and get it to boiling. I hate forgetting to do this ahead of time – then I’m halfway through with cooking and have to stop and wait for water to boil.

Peel your potatoes and cut them into halves or quarters, depending on size. They’ll cook more evenly and quickly this way. Plop them into the boiling water, and set your timer for 10 minutes. They might take longer. When you can stick a fork in ‘em easily, they’re done. Don’t cook them to the point that your fork breaks them apart. Then your mashed potatoes turn into mush potatoes, and nobody likes that.

mashed pot how to

While the potatoes are boiling, put all the meatball ingredients into a bowl. One pound of ground meat, one beaten egg, onion, S&P, oregano, and I like to use a little almond flour (about ¼ cup) to give them some oomph. Using your hands, mush everything up together. Here, it’s OK to mush. You can use those plastic cafeteria gloves if this step grosses you out. But just remember this makes you a weenie and everyone will laugh at you.

meatball how to

When the potatoes are ready, drain the water and get out your potato masher. Time to work out some of that stress. You’re going to add in, one at a time, some ghee or clarified butter, canned coconut milk, and chicken broth. Depending on how many potatoes you use, these amounts will differ. I used two giant potatoes, about 2 tablespoons of ghee, about ¼ cup of coconut milk, and 1/3 cup of broth. First add your ghee and let it melt while you mash it in with the potatoes. Then add the coconut milk, and mash again. Finally, add the broth a couple tablespoons at a time and mash mash mash away until it reaches the right consistency. You’ll know when it’s there.

I got fancy and added some chopped chives to mine.

Back to your meatballs. Heat some oil in a NONSTICK pan – that’s super important – and roll your mushy meat concoction into golf ball sized balls. And here, don’t be like me. Actually roll them. I just kinda picked up meat and shaped it, thus my meatballs look more like meatcubes. Put them in the pan, and rotate every minute or so to brown on each side. Have a baking sheet ready and lined with parchment paper. When the meatballs are browned, line them up on your baking sheet and finish them in the oven for about 6-7 minutes.

Et, voilà. Meatballs and mashed potatoes. Super good yummy comfort food to get you through your last week of Whole30.

meatballs and mash

 

Note: This is a re-post from the Tumblr version of this blog. It originally ran on April 22, 2016.

day twenty-five: the great mayo meltdown ’16

Posted on by thedingismything

Got a little bit of bad news yesterday. Both of the offers we submitted for houses last week were rejected. Seriously, who are these people making all-cash offers over asking price? How are we supposed to compete with that? Who has half a million dollars in cash just lying around anyway? And if you do, why the hell would you want to live in Reseda, of all places?

<<deep breath>>

As you might infer, I’m a little disappointed. But, I also was expecting it, so it wasn’t completely devastating. I took the news pretty well, and tried to muster up enthusiasm for going back to square one and checking out the latest on Redfin and Zillow. That lasted about 10 minutes before I was just over it.

I take solace in knowing that it’s not just us who find it difficult (read: impossible) to buy a home in this market. Still, it makes me feel pretty crummy. I’ve had some pretty sharp peaks and valleys when it comes to my self-worth and self-confidence over the years. I can honestly say that nothing has made me feel as much of a miserable failure in life as this home-buying process has.

When I finally left the office, I had one of those commutes where every asshole on the 5 freeway decided it was ok to cut me off. I hit every single red light. I had to stop at the store, and a shithead stole my parking space as I was about to pull in to it. Got in the shortest line behind the s-l-o-w-e-s-t old lady who, of course, paid in cash – with exact change.

You can imagine I’m reaching the end of my rope here.

The Husband said he would handle dinner for us. He was taking a stab at a salmon cakes recipe out of the Whole30 book. The note at the bottom of the page said it paired well with the tartar sauce recipe, made from their basic mayo.

For any newcomers, the Whole30 basic mayo was the first Whole30 recipe I made and it was a smash hit. I was so happy with it. Easy to make, tasted great, saved my lunches for the first 10 days. I haven’t made any since I ran out of my first batch, so while he made the salmon cakes, I took on the mayo so we’d have a nice little sauce on the side.

One egg, one-half teaspoon of mustard powder, one teaspoon of salt and a quarter of a cup of olive oil all went into the standing mixer. I flipped it on, and it started to combine.

And then, it just kinda did nothing.

I seemed to remember it looking a little less liquidy the first time. But oh well. Let’s just keep going.

Started to drizzle in my one cup of olive oil. Little bit at a time. Little bit. Little. Bit.

Only difference was MORE of the liquid. Not thickening. At all.

Do I stop? No! Persevere! Keep going! It will start to emulsify.

Have I mentioned it’s 7:45 p.m. at this point, the salmon cakes are just about ready, and we’re both starving?

Entire cup of olive oil is mixed in. It’s the same consistency. Much more yellow than I remember it looking the first time.

At this point, a person in their right mind might step back and think, “OK, clearly this isn’t working out. You’re hungry and tired and very stressed out. Just stop and enjoy the cakes by themselves.”

I wasn’t in my right mind.

I went back to the recipe and saw the direction that said your egg needed to be at room temperature in order for this to work. Forgot all about that. No wonder. A tip said that if you’re pressed for time (story of my life) you can put the egg in a bowl of hot water for five minutes and then it would work.

Second egg comes out of the fridge and goes into a bowl of hot water. I remove the first failed batch from the mixer and pour it into a mason jar. All I can think about at this point is that a bottle of olive oil costs $15 and I just wasted about $3 worth. I can’t throw this away. I can save this somehow.

I start the second batch. Egg is warmed to room temp, everything else is good to go. I’ve re-read the complete instructions for the recipe about four times. It’s now 8 p.m. and the salmon cakes are out of the oven. The Husband, the most patient man on the Earth, is waiting for me to get this mayo right.

I add the first ingredients. It looks slightly thicker this time. I’m hopeful.

I crank the mixer up to top speed and begin to slowly drizzle in the olive oil.

Same. Exact. Results.

Not thickening. Not getting lighter in color. Not working. Not happening.

And I start losing my mind.

There is ugly crying, and then there is what unfolded for me last night.

My face got hot, tears welled up in my eyes and streamed down my face. I’ve wasted $6 worth of olive oil, about 45 minutes, made my loving husband wait for mayo that never happened, ruined dinner by crying, and above all, I can’t buy a house.

At that point, realizing that my brain had long stopped working, The Husband literally handed me my plate of three salmon cakes, turned off all the lights in the kitchen and walked me over to sit down and fucking eat. And I cried the entire time.

I think it’s fair to say that our home offer rejections affected me more than I realized. I rode that bus way past Discouraged, past Disillusionment, straight into Crazy Town.

After we ate, I went back and poured the second failed batch into the jar with the first one. It’s in my fridge as we speak. I’m going to find a way to use it if it kills me.

P.S. The salmon cakes came out really good, in case anyone is wondering. And I married the greatest man on the planet.

PhotoGrid_1461270108085

Wouldn’t that have just been perfect with a little mayo?

 

Note: This is a re-post from the Tumblr version of this blog. It originally ran on April 21, 2016

day twenty-four: a lunch-time quickie.

Posted on by thedingismything

Get your filthy mind out of the gutter.

I’m talking about healthy lunches you can make in mere minutes. No more excuses for going out. Not that you can, because you’re on Whole30 and no restaurant is safe, apparently.

My awesome parents felt my pain about how tired I was getting of cooking all the time. So they invited us over for dinner, and promised to cook everything per our guidelines. We had grilled yellowtail, roasted sweet potatoes and steamed veggies. All were seasoned only with olive oil and a little S&P. And it was delicious. I would have taken a picture, but I ate it too quickly.

After dinner I realized the only downside of not cooking for myself was that I had no leftovers to pack for my lunch the next day. We didn’t have anything prepped at home, either. Crap.

Decided to make my go-to tuna salad, but also realized that I didn’t have any Whole30 mayo already made. Double crap. Decided to make some, but then realized we were low on olive oil. Crappity crap crap crap.

It just wasn’t my night.

The Husband had a genius idea: substitute avocado for mayo with my tuna.

So I did. And it is Y-U-M-M-Y.

tuna

Five-Ingredient Tuna Salad

1 Can of Solid White Tuna in Water, drained
1 Avocado
¼ c. chopped onion
2 stalks celery, chopped
Juice of ½ lemon
(and some pretty little lettuce pieces on the side, if you’re feeling fancy, but that makes it a six-ingredient dish and that just doesn’t sound as easy so I’m leaving it out)

Directions: Mix.

Time to prep: As long as it takes you to open a can, scoop an avocado, chop onion and celery and squeeze a lemon. It took me longer to arrange the lettuce so it looked pretty for this picture than it did for me to make the tuna salad.

Note: This is a re-post from the Tumblr version of this blog. It originally ran on April 20, 2016.

day twenty-three: ooops.

Posted on by thedingismything

I make mistakes on a regular basis. Like, it would be fair to say that I do something dumb pretty much every day.

Here’s some proof:

tupperware

Yep. I forgot that I put a Tupperware on top of our oven and then turned it on. Whoops.

In the last week or so, I’ve burned my finger, gotten my leg caught in the chair at my hair stylist’s salon, packaged up leftovers but forgot to put them away in the fridge, melted that Tupperware lid, and about a dozen other really dumb things.

Here’s the take-away: I’m never going to not make mistakes. The important thing is to learn from them, and to learn how to recover and rebound when you do make them.

This time yesterday, I was about halfway through writing a blog post about how The Husband and I found a few restaurants we could order food from and still eat within the rules of Whole30. We’ve done this exactly three times in 23 days, which is a HUGE improvement from how often we were eating out prior to starting Whole30. The first of these three times, we got salads from Chipotle.

I had done a little research on Paleo diet-friendly restaurants, and what you could order at each one. No, Whole30 and Paleo are not the same thing, but they are the closest you can get when comparing most nutrition guidelines. Y’all don’t know how excited I was when I saw Chipotle on the list. Salad, no dressing, double chicken, pico and guac. Yes, please!

I told The Husband and he was as excited as I had been. We made big plans for a Friday night “date night” that included a little Chipotle action and binge-watching the last season of Game of Thrones before the new season starts. (HOLY SHIT YOU GUYS IT STARTS THIS SUNDAY. CAN. NOT. WAIT.)

We were standing in line for about 15 minutes, it seemed, and The Husband asked me if we could have the fajita veggies. I told him I didn’t think so, but I wasn’t positive. He got out his phone and looked it up. No dice – the fajita veggies are grilled using rice bran oil, a Whole30 no-no.

I have to take a quick second here to applaud Chipotle for the transparency of their website. You can find out every ingredient that goes in to every item on their menu. They have a whole page dedicated to allergen information. Their nutrition calculator allows you to basically build your meal and find out fat, sodium, carbs and protein info before stuffing a 1,600 calorie burrito in your face. I wish more chain restaurants took this website as their model.

Fast forward to yesterday, when I’m sitting here typing, retelling this same story. I couldn’t remember what kind of oil they used that made the veggies off-limits. So, I pulled up the Chipotle website … and discovered they use rice bran oil to cook their chicken, too.

WHAT.

THE.

HELL.

Alright. So, there goes that one. I deleted the entire post, said a few choice words, and beat myself up a little for not doing my homework beforehand.

I consulted my Whole30 book last night, to see what they recommend doing if you slip up. Was it deliberate? No. Is it a food that I would eat emotionally or for comfort? Absolutely not. (If I’m eatingrice bran oil as my comfort food, I’ve got other problems.) And in my opinion, it wasn’t one of the major criminal offenses. It wasn’t sugar, dairy or alcohol.

So, the big question, am I going to start my Whole30 all over because I ate something cooked in rice bran oil?

Um, FUCK no.

If I was eating Chipotle chicken three or four times a week and getting double meat on each order, I might acknowledge the need to push reset. But honestly, if chicken (that they brag about being “responsibly raised”) is the worst thing I eat in 30 days, I’ll be just fine.

Last night, when The Husband got home from the gym, I told him about my discovery.

“Love, I have something I need to tell you.”

“Uh-oh.” Something you have to know about him: Not only does he have incredible willpower, but he is a rule-follower, to the letter. Two traits I find very appealing in a husband.

I broke it to him easy: “You remember when we had Chipotle last week? And how you looked up the fajita veggies and found out they were cooked in rice bran oil? Well, I don’t know how to tell you this … but … so is the chicken.”

“Yeah, I know.”

WHAT?? “You knew?? Why didn’t you say anything?”

“We were already in line.”

Yep.

Looks like we’ll just be sticking to home cooking for the next seven days.

Note: This is a re-post from the Tumblr version of this blog. It originally ran on April 19, 2016.

day seventeen: table for two.

Posted on by thedingismything

I might have mentioned once or twice that The Husband and I have started looking to buy a house. Anyone who has tried to do this in the last year or so will feel my pain. In Los Angeles, it is impossible to buy a move-in ready house unless you are independently wealthy. Impossible.

The fact that we began this process around the same time we decided to begin our Whole30 was both brilliant and disastrous. Brilliant, because if I was not limiting myself to what food I was eating, I probably would have gained about 10 pounds in the last two weeks from stress eating and drinking until I felt like less of a financial failure. Disastrous, because by the end of our second week, The Husband and I were on each other’s nerves like no one’s business and taking all our stress out on one another.

He worked all day Saturday, while I did some cleaning and food shopping. I had a vision of me cooking a wonderful dinner for him so that the house smelled yummy when he came home after a hard day’s work and then the two of us sitting at the table and enjoying every delicious bite.

What happened instead is that food shopping took me about two hours. That is a major downside of Whole30 – having to read labels on everything. I chalk that up to being a newbie. I’m sure it gets better when you’re on Day 28 or doing it for a second or third time. (I don’t wanna!)

By the time I got home, he was already there and was playing his video games. I got annoyed because there was a sink full of dishes and I couldn’t cook because the kitchen was a mess and the table was covered with all kinds of junk so we wouldn’t be able to sit and eat until it was cleared.

OK, time for some serious truth talk here. Who sits and eats at their dinner table every night? Or, at least, often? Our “dining” table has become a collect-all for junk mail, miscellaneous paper goods that don’t fit on shelves, that Ikea shelf I have been meaning to put up for a few months now, cans of cat food I’m too lazy to put away in the cabinet, Monopoly game pieces from Vons (we’re so gonna win!), and just about anything else you can imagine. We’ve been eating dinner from our couch while watching Jeopardy, just about every night since our honeymoon. It had been literal months since we ate at our table. Is that not normal?

Back to Saturday. I snipped at him for some help, and he snipped at me, and we were all set up to fight and have the whole night ruined. But somehow things steered themselves back on track and he did the dishes and cleared the table and I made one of our best dinners yet. And we got to sit at our table and eat it together. And we enjoyed each other’s company. It’s the closest thing to a date we’ve had while on this dumb diet.

The Whole30 cookbook has a recipe for an herb and walnut encrusted pork tenderloin with mashed cauliflower “potatoes.” It’s phenomenal. And, even better, it’s easy. And, better yet, it’s relatively inexpensive. All the ingredients were less than $20 (not including pantry staples) and we got six meals out of it.

So here’s where my lack of professional training comes into play. When I opened the package of pork tenderloin, I was expecting one hunk of meat in kind of the shape of a log. But, there were two long slabs of meat. After a little research (i.e. Google) I’m still not sure that pork tenderloin is supposed to be like this. It initially threw me for a loop, but I remembered I had cooking twine (don’t ask why) and just tied them together.

Another instance in which following directions probably helps. I had prepped everything for the recipe in advance, which means I chopped the walnuts before I started assembling everything. The directions tell you to season the meat with a spice rub, then chop your nuts and roll your meat in them to coat it. This recipe yields a whole heckuva lot of spice rub. I applied it allllll over, and had a ton left over. So when I went to roll it in the chopped nuts, they didn’t really stick. I think if you do the spice rub in advance, and let it set for a while, the nuts will stick better. When all was said and done, I had a ton of unused nuts. So many nuts.

I have a few friends who just snorted reading that. I threw it in purely for their entertainment.

While the finished product came out tasting incredible, I know what I’ll do differently the next time I make this. Assuming I get a similar cut of meat, with two slabs, I would apply the spice rub to each piece and let is set for about 30 minutes. I would sprinkle chopped nuts on top of one piece, stack the other on top and tie them together. Then more nuts on top, and any extra spice rub to make a really tasty crust on top.

I cooked it per directions, measuring its temperature after 25 minutes. It needed more time, so just another 5 minutes got me to exactly 145°, right where the book said it should be.

selfie_2016-04-13-09-19-39

While it was in the oven, I made the recipe for mashed cauliflower “potatoes.” It looks just like mashed potatoes. Bonus: Texture aside, it tastes just like mashed potatoes. Maybe even better. They were light and fluffy and I could eat them all day without feeling bad.

One note before you try them at home: The recipe calls for chicken broth. It’s not easy to find Whole30 compliant chicken broth, and when you do, it’s expensive. Lucky for me, last week we got a (Whole30 compliant) rotisserie chicken that we cut up for chicken salad. I used the carcass to make chicken bone broth (using another recipe in the Whole30 book). So, I was able to make the mashed cauliflower with made-from-scratch chicken broth. WHO THE HELL HAVE I BECOME??!?

For the pork tenderloin topping:

About 1/3 cup chopped walnuts
Mustard powder
Garlic powder
Paprika
S&P

For the cauliflower mash: 

One head cauliflower, cut into florets
2-3 Cloves garlic
Ghee, or clarified butter
Coconut cream
Chicken broth
Chopped parsley

Steam the cauliflower until you can poke a fork in ‘em. Put them in a food processor, or if you’re like me and don’t have one, use a Ninja blender or similar. Make sure it’s big enough to handle all the cauliflower. Add in the ghee (which is just really fun to say) and the coconut cream, then the chicken broth a little at a time until you reach your preferred consistency. Add the parsley last and give it a final spin. I added some extra salt to them, for flavor.

 

Note: This is a re-post from the Tumblr version of this blog. It originally ran on April 13, 2016.

day sixteen: the easiest dinner you’ll ever make.

Posted on by thedingismything

Before starting out on this ridiculous Whole30 journey, our dinner routine was the same old thing week after week: Food shopping on Sunday night with the best of intentions. Chicken and veggies on Monday night. Turkey Taco Tuesdays. Wednesday would be more chicken and veggies. By the time Thursday came around, we’d be sick of cooking, so we’d get a little cheapie take-out. Friday Funday calls for dinner out and drinks. Then Saturday breakfast on the go, followed by a weekend of “Where should we go for lunch?” and “Where do you want to eat dinner?”

It was a vicious cycle.

One upside of Whole30 has been that we’re forced to try some new recipes and think outside the chicken-and-veggies box. If you’ve been following along, you’ve seen some of our new fav’s. The turkey meatballs  and loaded sweet potatoes are right up there. I haven’t even told y’all about The Husband’s chili he made last week.

Trying new recipes each night can be a little exhausting though. This is when it pays to have a staple, like my basic chicken and veggies.

You know that one go-to dish you have in your repetiore that you can make in your sleep? This is one of mine. (The other, in case you were wondering, is my mom’s chocolate chip cookies. But I’m not going to think about those sweet, crispy-on-the-outside, warm-and-gooey-on-the-inside, melt-in-your-mouth, better-than-anything-on-the-planet cookies.)

Chicken and veggies is cheap, quick and easy. Just like me.

This meal is perfect if you’re pressed for time. The total cost is going to range depending on the quality of meat you buy and whether you’re buying frozen or fresh veggies, and whether they’re in season. You can go dirt cheap and get a pound of chicken tenders for about $4 and a bag of frozen veggies for another $2. On the higher end, you can buy the larger vegetarian-fed, no antibiotics, raised without hormones, fancy pants chicken breasts that Whole30 encourages, and that will run you about $10 or more for a pound and a half.

If you already know how to make basic chicken and veggies, there is no need to read any further. Unless you like a good joke about large breasts. That’s going to happen. But, if you don’t know shit about dick when it comes to cooking, I invite you to read on.

Disclaimer: This is not a recipe. This is my own personal method. And I’m not professional trained to work in a kitchen. (Obviously.)

To make chicken and veggies, you only need about 30 minutes max. Turn on your oven to about 400° and get out one large nonstick pan and one oven-safe pan. You’re also going to want a good pair of tongs.

Start with prepping your veggies. This process is going to depend on what you’re working with, obviously. For this example, I’m using Brussels sprouts. You want to buy the tiny ones; they’re more tender. The large bulbous ones are a little rough to eat. I like to cut off the stem part as much as possible and then halve them. Get some kind of fat (either olive or coconut oil works best here) going in your nonstick pan and swirl that puppy around. Once it’s hot, place the sprout halves flat-side down in the pan. All of them. When there’s no more room left, just throw them all on top. Everybody in the pool.

A package of pre-cut butternut squash is a great compliment to Brussels sprouts and adds another level to a basic chicken and veggies dinner. They will get squishy fast, so don’t be in a rush to add these. In fact, if you want to redirect your attention to the chicken and then come back, that will work just fine.

You’re probably wondering about seasoning at this point. This is my only “trick” when it comes to chicken and veggies. I don’t even know that it’s a trick. More like a guideline.

I used to date this guy whose mom told him he should never date a girl who didn’t wear panties that matched her bra. (We broke up.) Apply this rule to your chicken and veggies: Whatever seasoning you put on the bird, you put on the veggies.

This helps change your dish up. If you’re using peppers and onions, go for some chili powder, paprika and fresh garlic. If you’re using asparagus, lemon pepper and fresh lemon juice is perfect. For Brussels sprouts and butternut squash, I like something a little more savory, like dried rosemary and thyme. No matter your combo, you’re always going to start with kosher salt and black pepper. If you don’t have a pepper grinder, no bigs. If you do, mazel tov.

So you’ve got your veggies in the pan and your chicken out on the board. Salt, all the way around. Pepper. Sprinkle that thyme all over. Take about a tablespoon of rosemary in the palm of your hand and use your fingers to grind them down, then you can throw that on top. I’ve learned to use rosemary conservatively. It’s lovely, but very powerful. Just like me.

Your seasoning is done, time to get that bird on the stove. Put your choice of fat or oil (remember, matchy matchy) in the oven-safe pan. When it’s hot, GENTLY lay down each breast so you don’t get oil splatter. This here is very important: Once you’ve put the chicken in the pan, DON’T TOUCH IT.

DON’T poke at it.

DON’T push it around.

DON’T try to lift it up.

What you’re trying to do is brown one side real good, then you’ll flip it and brown the other side real good. How do you know when it’s time to flip it? When you can use your tongs to pick up the breast and it lifts up without sticking. But you just told me not to try to lift it up…?   I know. Life’s a bitch, isn’t it?

Keep an eye on how long one side takes before you can flip it. However much time it took to cook the first side is a good measure for how long you should leave it on the other side, but I generally give it a minute or two less. You’re going to take the pan at this point and put it in the oven, so it will continue to brown on that side while it’s cooking.

The amount of time these stay in the oven depends on how large your breasts are (HEEYY-O!). If you’re using tenders, you are going to skip putting it in the oven entirely because they’re so small and pathetic they’ll cook on the stovetop and finish in no time. If you have large breasts, like me (winky winky), you’ll want to cook them between 20 and 25 minutes, including the time they spent stovetop.

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The tricky part is that chicken is one of those things you definitely don’t want to undercook, but you also reallllly don’t want to overcook. Dried chicken is awful. But so is food poisoning. This is why God invented meat thermometers. Use this to tell when your chicken is done. This being said, I will tell you that every time I’ve cooked chicken until it was ready by my meat thermometer’s standards, it came out drier than a Christmas tree in March.

Bobby Flay, if you’re reading this, I love you but please don’t read what I’m about to say. To make sure the chicken is done, I will usually take a knife and cut into one of the thickest parts of the breasts. If it’s pink, it’s not ready yet. No pink? Time to eat. You will lose some of the juice by doing this, but it’s better to be safe than vomiting.

So there you go. Chicken and veggies. It’s so easy, even I can do it.

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Note: This is a re-post from the Tumblr version of this blog. It originally ran on April 12, 2016.

day fifteen: monday morning quarterbacking

Posted on by thedingismything

Holy shit, you guys.

I’m at the halfway point! FIFTEEN DAYS and I’m done with Whole30.

Last week was rough, I’m not gonna lie. There were a few moments between Thursday and Saturday where I just wanted to pop open a bottle and drink myself happy again. I wanted to run into Menchie’s and just bury my face in a giant cup of frozen yogurt. I wanted to grab the donut straight from my co-worker’s hand and shove it in my mouth.

You get the picture. I’m pretty sure The Husband was ready to file for divorce by Saturday morning.

Where I went right this weekend:

A few things saved my life over the past day or so. I battled the craving to hit up a Mexican restaurant and eat all the chips and all the guac and drink all the margaritas by making my own guac at home, and buying and cutting a jicama to sub as chips to dip in the guac. It was surprisingly delicious and definitely hit the spot. Also, we treated ourselves to buying an 8-pack of La Croix sparkling water. It was a nice change from regular water, and it made it feel like I was treating myself to a fancy cocktail.

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We also tried a few new Whole30 recipes that were ah-mah-zing. Details to come.

Where I went wrong:

In addition to not getting any workouts in this weekend, we made bacon for breakfast both Saturday and Sunday morning. It was Whole30 compliant bacon, but bacon nonetheless. I can’t help but feel a twinge guilty for over-indulging.

Goals for this week:

I felt so low on energy last week that I didn’t feel like I really pushed myself to accomplish much activity. I know I only made my Fitbit-mandated 10,000 steps once or twice. Goal for this week is to get more steps in, and make it to my morning bootcamp every day. I need to keep my activity up in order to really get more results from this.

That being said, I have to brag that my tight pants are not so tight anymore. I was able to wear a pair of pants on Saturday that haven’t been wearable outside the house in a few months. And the pair of Mercy Jeans (definition: the super cheap one-size-up jeans you buy when you’ve gained some weight and all your current jeans are too tight to wear anymore and you don’t want to walk around bottomless like Donald Duck) I acquired last month are now SO big on me, I can’t wear them without looking ridiculous. Yay me!

Note: This is a re-post from the Tumblr version of this blog. It originally ran on April 11, 2016.

days nine and ten.

Posted on by thedingismything

Oh, restaurants.

How great are restaurants?? Not even fancy ones, but just plain ol’ restaurants.

It’s so comforting to know there is a place you can go at the end of a long day of work, where you can sit down and relax and tell someone what you want to eat. Then minutes later, they bring it to you and all you have to do is eat and enjoy. When you’re done, you just pay and get up and leave. No work. No dirty dishes. No risk of burning your food (or yourself) or making a disastrous mistake in your kitchen. Everything is taken care of for you.

God, I miss restaurants.

Nine days into our Whole30, The Husband and I are getting real sick of cooking. Honestly, I think the biggest challenge hasn’t been dealing with missing out on junk food, but rather having to cook every single meal. We’re running out of steam.

Million dollar idea for some Silverlake fitness hipster with time and money to spare: Open up a Whole30 restaurant. I’ll be there three times a week and I’ll hug you after every meal.

There is a restaurant close to our apartment that we both especially miss. It’s an upscale Argentinian place called Malbec. Their chimichurri sauce is the stuff a flank steak’s dreams are made of. I drive past it each morning on my commute to work, so I’ve been especially feeling it the last few days.

The other night, when it was time to play “What’s for dinner?” I was really craving some flavor. We had bought a package of sirloin strips at the market that was 30% off because its sell-by date was approaching. (Note: This is one of my favorite ways to eat healthy on a budget. If you know you’ll use it right away, get the discounted good meat at the market. Saves at least a few bucks each time.)

Flipping through our Whole 30 cookbook, I found a recipe for chimichurri steak kabobs and we had all the veggies needed. While I didn’t have the ingredients or the time to make the actual chimichurri sauce from the recipe, we bought a jar of it from a winery in Temecula a few weeks ago. Gods be good, it was Whole30 compliant.

We marinated the beef in about half the jar’s worth of sauce while we soaked the wooden skewers in water and cut up all the veggies. Assembling the kabobs took the longest time, but it was also really fun. I like playing with food.

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In an ideal world, we would have grilled the kabobs out on the barbecue. However, we haven’t filled the propane tank yet for grilling season. I had to do my best using a grill pan over the stove, and it actually worked pretty well.

I personally like my beef on the rare side, so I just cooked the kabobs on a higher heat to get a nice char on the outside before finishing them on a baking sheet in the oven at about 375°. When they were done, I served them with a drizzle of the remaining chimichurri sauce.

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This would go really good with some rice or diced potatoes. Or a nice crusty bread to soak up all the sauce and juices.

Mmmmmmmbread.

P.S. A mishap with my potholder (read: a hole at the top of it) led to a minor catastrophe during the making of this dinner (read: burning the shit out of the tip of my right index finger). As a result, I’m now doing all my typing with my right hand shifted over one key. It’s a miracle I was able to get this typed without every word being soekked kuje thos (spelled like this).

Note: This is a re-post from the Tumblr version of this blog. It originally ran on April 7, 2016.

day eight: the chopped edition

Posted on by thedingismything

Before we started doing Whole 30, The Husband and I loved watching the Food Network. Now, of course, it’s a little like torture. I just can’t bring myself to watch our beloved Bobby Flay make one more waffle with bruléed bananas on top, no matter how darn cute he is. (I’m not alone on this one. The Husband has a pretty big man crush on him, too.)

But our absolute favorite show is “Chopped” – where the contestants get a basket of four wacky ingredients and have to make a gourmet dish out of them in a certain amount of time.

From time to time, when my dinner routine has become … well, routine, I will play my own game of Chopped with whatever I’ve got on hand in my fridge and pantry. I’ll take a protein and veggies and some cooking staples and try to make some sort of complete meal out of them.

Last night I took my Chopped game to the Whole 30 cookbook. I had chicken thighs in my fridge, a shit ton of sweet potatoes, and lots of greens. In the poultry section I found a recipe called Melissa’s Chicken Hash, which looked pretty darn good. It called for boneless chicken thighs (Check!), one sweet potato (Check!), spinach (Check!), a granny smith apple (Amazingly, check!), red pepper flakes (Check!) and walnuts (Nope! But I did have cashews. Close enough…).

Perfect, right?

Ha.

My brain was kinda on another planet, so things were off to a rocky start from the get-go. I forgot to cut the chicken into smaller pieces before throwing them in the pan. And in the interest of full disclosure, I didn’t realize we were out of walnuts until I’d already prepped every other ingredient and the chicken was in the pan. I had to grab our container of mixed nuts and frantically fish out all the cashews.

After only a few steps, it began to sink in that my dish wasn’t going to look anything like the picture in the book. Melissa, please.

Here’s the comparison. It’s pretty obvious which is which.

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One thing that made a big difference is that I don’t have a veggie spiralizer, which – although it doesn’t explicitly spell out in the text – I’m pretty sure that’s how the picture looked as good as it did. I used a box grater to grate the sweet potato, so it came out pretty mushy after being cooked.

The Chopped judges score the contestants on taste, use of basket ingredients, and appearance. I failed miserably on appearance. But The Husband gave me a thumbs up on the taste. I think he said something like, “If you didn’t know what it was supposed to look like, it would be really good.”

Yep.

Note: This is a re-post from the Tumblr version of this blog. It originally ran on April 5, 2016.