Whole30: Week Two

As I wrap up week two of my Whole30, I was going to recommend Pinterest as a great resource for finding Whole30-friendly recipes, but lately it’s all pumpkin spice cupcakes with maple bacon cream cheese frosting and ohmygod I want to eat all the cupcakes and dairy in the world.

Breakfasts of scrambled eggs and veggies are getting boring, but I’m far too lazy in the mornings to attempt anything more exciting. Lunches continue to be a mix of leftovers or a salad, although at least twice in the past week I’ve forgotten to prep any homemade mayo which means poor hubby is eating a plain ole can of tuna for lunch along with his veggies. Worst wife ever.

This week’s dinners included:

• Day 8: Smashed steak with homemade cherry sauce, and a big bowl of roasted multicolour beets drizzled with balsamic vinegar
• Day 9: “Wonton” soup (from the Gather cookbook) along with heirloom tomatoes and a nuked yam
• Day 10: Super-hot chicken wings, with a lame attempt at homemade coleslaw, and heirloom tomatoes
• Day 11: Rogan Josh lamb stew, roasted green beans and eggplant
• Day 12: A repeat of the same spicy pork ribs recipe from last week, but with the addition of a Paleo-friendly BBQ sauce glaze right at the end, along with boiled beets and roasted yellow zucchini
• Day 13: Thanksgiving meatballs, along with roasted burnt yellow beans and heirloom tomatoes
• Day 14: The best goddamned steak we’ve ever grilled at home, with a tangy chimichurri sauce, roasted broccoli and eggplant.

Doesn’t look like much, but delicious. Also, if my parents had roasted broccoli and eggplant with a bit of olive oil, perhaps I would have eaten my veggies as requested.

Allow me to rave for one moment about Tessemae’s all-natural salad dressings. These are the first products I’ve ever seen in store that are actually labelled as being Paleo. (Another day, I’ll rant about the ridiculous over-proliferation of everything being labelled as gluten-free, even foods that should have never had gluten in them in the first place.)

And yes, I’m sure it’s super-simple and fast to whisk up your own salad dressings, but as previously mentioned, I’m lazy and love the convenience of having some quick shots of flavour in my fridge, without having to think about it or realize mid-meal-prep that I’m out of olive oil or white wine vinegar or the zest of a something vital to making a good dressing.

So Tessemae’s salad dressings are a lifesaver, without the canola oil and added sugar that are part of prepared salad dressings. We’ve mixed a few drops of the Southwest Ranch flavour with some homemade mayo to create a flavourful dipping sauce for veggies, and used the BBQ flavour as a glaze for pork ribs.

As week 3 begins, the big challenge will be keeping Whole30 with a busy schedule. I’ve bought a weekday matinee pass for the Vancouver International Film Festival which starts tomorrow, and darting between theatres will leave little time for healthy lunches.

Will I be able to resist the siren smell of buttered popcorn? Stay tuned to find out.