Whole 30 Week 3: surviving three feet of snow, making homemade mayonnaise, and losing two more pounds

This weekend, after a so far almost snowless winter, we got three feet of snow.  Our kids were excited.  Ben bravely shoveled us out.  This is the second day after the blizzard, but there are still a lot of roads unplowed, and almost everything is closed.  With three feet of snow, it’s like—where do we put this stuff?  I think it might be awhile before things return to normal around here!

Before the blizzard struck, I hit the grocery store because it seemed like the thing to do, but truth be told, I only shop once a week anyway, and our pantry and freezer are well stocked, so I wasn’t worried about running out of food.  I went to the grocery store specifically because I needed olive oil—and I waited in a long line of other people buying necessities like bread and milk.

How do you stock up for a blizzard when you’re on the Whole 30?  All the meat and eggs we eat requires the power being on to cook them.  Fortunately, our power stayed on and we went right on cooking, but my menu plan B involved a lot of canned tuna, raw fruits and vegetables, and Whole 30 muffins.

I also realized that when I’m snowbound, I get an itch to bake and eat a lot.  If I hadn’t been on the Whole 30, I would have made a batch of cookies and a chocolate cheesecake; I would have indulged right alongside my children on multiple cups of hot chocolate, as well as snow ice cream and snow candy; and I probably would have gained a few pounds.

The view from my lap on our snow day--it seemed like a good day to read Katy and the Big Snow.

As it is, I’m down two more pounds this week, which makes ten pounds in all since the beginning of the month.  Here was this last week’s menu plan:

• Breakfasts
• fried eggs
• fried mushrooms, sausage, and spinach
• raw fruit
• Whole 30 muffins with blueberries
• Lunches
• salad with grilled chicken, hard boiled egg, tomato, and avocado
• leftovers from previous night’s dinner
• tuna salad over spinach
• Using this homemade mayonnaise!
• This recipe is a success.  Since I made all of it into tuna salad (using two cans of tuna), I used a small egg, cut the olive oil down a bit, and added mustard and dill.  I think I might stop buying mayonnaise in the future since this recipe is so quick and easy.
• Snacks
• carrots/apples and almond butter
• hard boiled eggs
• more Whole 30 muffins (trying not to eat too many of these—they have definitely helped rescue my craving for baked goods, and our kids love them)
• Dinners
• Dinner: spaghetti squash with spaghetti sauce and ground beef
• Dinner: whole chicken in crockpot with potatoes, carrots, onions (then I turned the leftover meat and vegetables and chicken broth into a delicious soup for lunch the next day).
• Dinner: flounder with Romesco sauce over spaghetti squash—absolutely love this sauce.  It would have been better over zucchini, though.
• Dinner: tuna cakes—these were okay, not my favorite, but a nice change of pace.
• Dinner: sweet potato casserole and mini frittata muffins
• The egg muffins were delicious!  I have never baked with prosciutto before, but I loved it.  The sweet potato casserole is easy—I blend up baked sweet potato, coconut milk, eggs, cinnamon, and nutmeg, and then bake it.
• Dinner: beef cabbage soup in the crockpot--this was our blizzard day meal!
• Dinner: roast beef with broccoli and homemade French fries

I’m at the point in the Whole 30 when these habits are beginning to feel established.  It feels normal to eat this way, I’m not hungry, and except for unusual moments like when three feet of snow is falling outside and I have an itch to bake, I don’t struggle with many cravings.

I’m going into the final week now!  Come February, I’m looking forward to getting back to chocolate just in time for Valentine’s Day, but I am hoping to continue to bend my diet in the paleo direction.