Last Night's Dinner, Breakfast, and goodbye to Whole30

Last nights dinner was amazing. Since, for the last few days, I've been craving cheap, low quality, salty foods I decided to treat myself to some sausage. This is not the cheap stuff though. This is locally made bratwurst from the butcher. Completely grain-free and delicious. I cooked it chopped up in the skillet with some onion, tomato, and grainy mustard. I could eat a barrel of this. With it, I had some yellow and green beans with salt and pepper, and some roasted sweet potato - with just salt and pepper as well. 

Then, I did something I'm not proud of. I had the night (and the apartment) to myself so I decided to break out the chocolate covered fleur-de-sel caramels I've had hiding in the cupboard since around the time I started paleo. I've gone this long without opening the bag, so last night I decided to have some (since I sort-of decided to end my whole30 early). Well, I ate too many and got a terrible stomach ache - like, lying in fetal position on the couch holding my stomach kind of stomach ache. Lesson learned. I used to binge like a champ - those days are done. 

I wanted today to be a good, healthy one. I started off the morning with a banana dipped in cashew butter and headed out for a run. I made a new personal record of 17.5k. I was only aiming to do 16 this weekend, but a friend who I'm having a bit of a distance race with did 17 last night, so I had to out-do him. High on my pride and success, I made a great mid-morning breakfast of eggs and prosciutto, the rest of my roasted sweet potato from last night, and some of my strawberries.

I then set off to run some errands on a bright, sunny day.

I'm still curious about the effect dairy is going to have on me after 28 days without, so I used that as an excuse to treat myself to ice cream. A scoop each of superkid and pistachio kulfi. Not only was this just about the best ice cream I've tasted...no tummy ache. No bad effects to speak of. I think I may be lactose ...tolerant. Good news.

How do I feel about eating ice cream on (what is supposed to be) my last day of whole30?

Breakfast (in bed), Lunch

Last night apparently I forgot to set my alarm, and to plug in my phone so I woke up this morning half an hour late with my phone nowhere in sight (it was on the floor on the opposite side of the bed, with dwindling battery). I plugged it in and went to make my breakfast. Because it was bright and sunny this morning I decided to take my breakfast into bed and eat there. The cat decided to join me. And I'm back to my old staple of pork and eggs - really, there's nothing better, in my opinion. 

Another work day, another packed lunch. Today was a salad made from mixed greens, orange and yellow pepper, beet, carrot, and dressed with olive oil and lemon juice. With that I had some olives and an apple chopped up with some blueberries. And now I'm cooking dinner and gleefully planning my Sunday and Monday off - the last two days off in a row I'll likely see until August. 

Am I done? Turning a Bad Day into a Slightly Better One.

Today started off rough and I had high hopes of it getting better from there. Well, the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry. Today was a tough day at work and after I finished eating my lunch (chicken hot plate and a hard boiled egg left from yesterday) I decided to go for a stroll. There's a store in the mall that often stocks Hammond's chocolate bars and I've been eyeing them since Christmas. I decided it was time, and I picked up this one (a malted milkshake chocolate bar). I knew that eating it wouldn't make my bad day go away. I knew it wouldn't make me feel better (and, in fact, may make me feel physically and mentally worse). I knew that it's unhealthy to use food as a comfort and a crutch, but sometimes logic goes out the window and you eat a chocolate bar. And it didn't solve my problems. But I enjoyed it, if only for a few minutes. I had a wee sugar high, no crash, and I moved on. Like I said last time something like this came up...I'm done feeling guilty about food. I don't want to live that way anymore. On the way home I even stopped to pick up some wine and cider. It is the long weekend after all, and though my whole30 isn't over until Sunday, I think part of me has mentally checked out. I still want to eat paleo (this decision has no end in sight) but I'm not sure if I want to keep restricting myself so much. I feel I've already reaped many of the benefits I wanted to from the program, and I kind of want to start eating on my own terms. 

That said, I made the choice to go to the grocery store and stock up on some of my favourite paleo/whole30 compliant foods so that I could enjoy the rest of the weekend and not completely undo my month. Before leaving, I had a quick dinner of leftovers because going to the grocery store hungry is never a good idea. 

Here's what I brought home. Some bratwurst (made locally from happy, healthy pigs) and some "Gordon Lightfoot" beef sausage (for Canada Day!) from the butcher. I also grabbed some Ontario strawberries and some of other favourite fruits from the grocery store, among a few other things to get me through the week. Since I have a few days off this week, I'm not planning a cook day. This week I think I'll just wing it.

After all that I decided to make myself a filling, wholesome, and whole30 (almost) approved snack. I had some of my delicious, sweet, in-season, local strawberries with roasted mixed nuts and some olives. What makes this not quite whole30 is the glass of wine just out of frame. Again, I may not be done with whole30, and I'm definitely not done with paleo...but I am done with holding myself back from the simple things I enjoy. And a glass of wine on a Friday night after a long work week (and a very long day) is one of those things.

Good Day / Bad Day

Yesterday morning started great. I had a day of work ahead, then straight off to an art show that I'm a part of. It's been awhile since I've done something art-realated and I spent the day counting the minutes until I could go enjoy it. I started off with my last egg, scrambled, and a smoothie made with chia and hemp heats, almond milk, and frozen peaches. 

Since I would be leaving to go out straight after work, I packed both lunch and dinner. What I brought was two of the spinach-meat muffins with some "rice" pilaf, the last of the chicken hot plate, along with some almonds and raisins, an egg, some fruit (mostly frozen peaches and cherries), and some celery with sunflower butter. I ate and enjoyed my lunch, well earned after a busy morning at work, but when six o'clock rolled around I had no appetite for dinner. I ate the almonds, but I decided to leave the chicken and the egg for lunch today. 

After the show, unsurprisingly, I was hungry. And there was nothing left in the fridge. To make matters worse, I seem to be going through what many others do in the final days of whole30 (according to the timeline). I'm experiencing cravings that I thought my body had given up on long ago. To make matters worse, it's not just that I want pizza or a street hotdog, it's that thinking of eating anything else (read: any whole30 compliant food I can think of) makes me feel nauseous. I don't want anything healthy, I just want crap. I was toying around with the idea of not eating at all and in retrospect I would probably have been better off with that choice. Instead I raided my fridge and sautéed a zucchini in some olive oil. While it cooked, I ate a few spoonfuls of sunflower butter from the container. Almost as soon as I finished the zucchini I felt ill - a dull, nauseous feeling in my stomach that hasn't gone away. To add insult to injury, I threw some chia muesli together last night for breakfast this morning since I'm out of eggs. Well, let's just say it didn't set. It was like eating all the components of a smoothie out of a bowl without blending first. Hopefully this means that today can't get any worse. 

Protein, Lunch, Dinner

This morning I had more chia seed muesli (and I didn't think I'd need to post yet another picture of it). I made one small change though. I've been toying around with the idea of adding a plant-based protein powder to the mix specifically for long run days. I decided to add some in today to see how it felt. I added half the recommended amount to the chia mix, then had the other half in a smoothie when I got home. I have no idea if it was just a placebo effect, but I felt good with the added protein. I most likely could have gotten the same macronutrients with some sweet potato and a boiled egg, but I liked the addition of the protein powder. I'm going to keep trying it on and off to see if there really is a true difference (and to see whether it's worth actually buying). This is the one I used, by the way. It is paleo except for the addition of brown rice protein (the main protein source is from peas and sacha inchi seeds). It also contains vanilla flavouring and stevia. It isn't whole30 approved, so I really should have waited until next week to try it, but I've really gotten into thinking about getting ready for the half-marathon in the fall. Another cheat? Sigh, technically yes. 

Here's lunch. I brought some of the cauliflower-rice pilaf, two meat muffins; some almonds, walnuts, and raisins; and an apple. 

This evening I didn't really feel like anything particular for dinner. I was hungry, but didn't really feel like eating. It would have been a great day to just switch all my dietary needs to soylent. I pressed on. Really, the only thing I felt like I could eat was fruit so I decided to make that a big component of my dinner. I added a couple scrambled eggs and some kale sautéed in clarified butter and seasoned with the ras el-hanout spice blend from Well Fed. I like having breakfast for dinner, but honestly I could have just spent the whole night eating fruit. 

Breakfast, Lunch, Perfect Hard Boiled Eggs

This morning for breakfast I had more chia seed muesli. Since it's summer I'm leaning more toward sweet, cold breakfasts and on days when I wake up at five, it's so nice having something pre-made that I don't have to cook. It's also nice being able to change the flavour with different fruits. This one had raisins mixed into the chia and hemp heart mix so they plumped up overnight. I topped it with frozen peaches and cherries, and some unsweetened coconut. Perfect with a cup of coffee. 

For lunch I had more of my chicken hot plate meal, an apple, and some almonds and raisins. Since I was hungry after eating a similar lunch yesterday I added the egg (sprinkled with celery salt) for some extra protein. There's something so satisfying about getting perfectly cooked hard boiled eggs (rich, dark yellow yolk with no hint of grey around the edges, and an easily removable shell). I've decided to share my technique which works perfectly every time. I got this method from the highly trusted authority in all things culinary: Alton Brown, via one of his post-it twitter q&a's. Here's the one that relates to our purpose. I already knew about putting the eggs in cold water and bringing to a boil (that way they don't crack) and letting them sit in the hot water for a set amount of time before cooling them. What I didn't get was why sometimes the shell insists on sticking to the egg white and I end up mangling my egg in the peeling process, until I saw this. Week old eggs! Weaker membranes! It works. every. time. Thank you, Alton!

I try to buy a new dozen when I get down to four. I then boil the four, and by that point they've been in my fridge for about a week already. They always turn out perfect this way. 

Until tomorrow.

Oh, where's dinner? I went to a friend's place after work to help with a project. I figured it would only take 3-4 hours, so I figured I would just come home and eat around 8:30-9:00. Welp, it didn't quite happen that way. I didn't get home until nearly 10:30 and I had snacked much of the evening on grapes and brazil nuts. Though these items made for a delicious "dinner" it wasn't quite ideal. Oh well, it happens. I had a couple celery stalks with sunflower butter and now I'm ready for bed. I'll eat for real tomorrow. 

Quick Dinner Post

I'm going to make this a quick one because I am very ready to go to bed. I'm not sure where my paleo-energy went today because I was exhausted all day. As soon as I came home I made dinner and then spent the rest of the evening in a half-awake-half-asleep stupor on the couch before deciding to go to bed for real at about 9:30. I just had to throw my lunch together for tomorrow and then post this. 

Tonight I had some of the rice pilaf (still delicious) and two of the meat muffins (wish there was a better name for those). My only issue with the muffins is that they stick to the paper. Maybe they need to be greased as with flour-sugar-egg muffins? Not too sure, but I'll certainly be making them again so we'll see. I also had a small salad with mixed greens, beet, and white heirloom carrot - dressed with balsamic vinegar and olive oil. That's it for now. I'll be waking up tomorrow with the sun.

Back to the Grind, Breakfast and Lunch

My weekend off was great, and I wouldn't change a thing (except for how fast it went by). It was supposed to thunderstorm all weekend, but it held off and was hot and sunny...Aaaand, now it's time for another six-day work week. I started it off with two mugs of black coffee, two scrambled eggs with chipotle hot sauce (paleo friendly!), my last piece of prosciutto, and some grapes and raspberries. 

After breakfast, I threw today's lunch together. I've got my "hot plate" mix with chipotle hot sauce along with some fruit salad (with extra raspberries...they're in season) and a handful of almonds and raisins. And now off to get myself ready for day one back at work.

Dinner

I definitely didn't feel like cooking anything else after today so I just had a little of each thing I made. This meat muffin was the runt of the litter so to speak. The recipe was meant to yield twelve muffins, but I got nine with a small one as the tenth. It was delicious. Rich and slightly eggy, not greasy, and perfectly seasoned. I'll be making these again for sure. The "rice" was also a big hit. The cinnamon and dried fruit made it taste sweet and comforting, and the onion and cumin gave it a great savoury aftertaste. This is another dish I'll be coming back to. Finally, the "hot plate". The seasoning was good (can't go wrong with cumin and chili powder) and the mix tasted very fresh and light. All in all, not a bad cook day! 

Breakfast, Lunch, and Cook Day

This morning I wasn't in the mood for eggs - I wanted something sweet and cold. I didn't have any chia muesli made so I made a smoothie that contained all of the same ingredients. My smoothie was made with 2tbsp chia seeds, 1tbsp hemp hearts, a spoonful of cashew butter, a spoonful of cocoa, a banana, some almond milk, and ice. 

I set out for my run and achieved my goal of 10k, but the heat definitely got to me. I'll need to get used to running in hot, muggy weather. I think summer may finally have made it to Toronto. 

After running, I had some errands to do, including a lengthy trek to an art gallery to drop off some work for an upcoming show. While walking I realized that I felt exhausted. I hadn't drunk enough water and I certainly hadn't eaten enough (only a bit of fruit salad and a larabar after my run). Even though I had no appetite because of the heat, I made myself eat some eggs and prosciutto with raspberries and a litre of water. I felt much better after.

Now for cook day. Once again, my recipes are all from Well Fed. There are so many recipes in that book I want to try. First up are these Meat & Spinach Muffins. They are very easy to do and I love how customizable they are - they could be done with extra vegetables, other seasonings, and other types of ground meat...and I know they'll be perfect for packed lunches. They also gave me a chance to use my neglected muffin pan and liners!

Next up is the cauliflower rice pilaf. I've made cauliflower rice before, but never with added flavours and ingredients. The raisins and apricots in this seemed really appealing so I wanted to give it a try. Side note - my budget this week didn't really allow for the pine nuts called for in the recipe, so I subbed in walnuts. Here's the apricots, walnuts, and raisins getting toasty before I add the cinnamon, cumin, and cauliflower.

Lastly, I made a "hot plate" as outlined in Well Fed. I basically just took stock of what was in the fridge and picked up some extra veggies at the grocery store. I decided to use chicken because my meals of late have been pretty beef-centric. 

In the book, hot plates are described as "turning 'ingredients' into dinner". You basically just choose an assortment of proteins, veggies, and fat and sauté it all together until you have a meal. You can also use any type of seasoning you want to create different flavours (the book includes suggestions for Chinese, Indian, Italian, French, and other international flavours). For mine, I went with a tried-and-true mix of salt, pepper, chili flakes, cumin, and chili powder. Because my skillet isn't gigantic, I cooked everything in batches. First was onion and garlic, then was zucchini and carrot, then the chicken, and finally yellow pepper, haricots verts, and kale. I seasoned each batch individually and then mixed it all in a large bowl before putting into a reusable container. 

Here's the chicken and the zucchini-carrot mix hanging out while the pepper and kale cook. Below is the finished product all blended together. I haven't tasted it yet, but I bet it will be awesome with some hot sauce.

All done! Here's everything cooling off before going into the fridge.

Dinner and Food for the Week

I didn't post lunch because I didn't really eat one. I know that skipping a meal and snacking instead is not whole30 approved, but there it is. I had a smoothie made with ice, a half banana, a spoonful of cashew butter, a spoonful of cocoa, and some cold coffee. Then, a bit later I had the rest of a bag of veggie chips that I found at the grocery store. I love that they use an approved oil rather than canola, which the other veggie chips I've bought in the past use. They are delicious, but like regular chips certainly demand a high level of self-control. 

Later I decided to go to the store to pick up what I need for my weekly cook-up. I plan on doing the cooking tomorrow, but I figured I'd give myself a head-start and get the food today. 

After getting everything home, I was officially hungry. I picked up a couple burgers at the butcher. They are made in-house and the particular ones I bought don't contain any breadcrumbs - just herbs and spices. All I had to do was throw it on the skillet while I microwaved another half sweet potato and mashed it with clarified butter and the ras el-hanout spice blend. I also put together a quick salad with mixed greens, tomatoes, carrots, green onion, with apple cider vinegar and olive oil on top.

Breakfast

It's supposed to thunderstorm today, but luckily the rain has held off so far. I was able to have my chia seed breakfast with cashew butter, a cup of coffee, and I hit the road. I did 16k (new personal record!) but I had to walk a bit, so I'm going to try again later in the week. When I got home, I had a plum and a hard boiled egg topped with celery salt. That's it for now.

(Very) Simple Dinner

Today on my lunch break I forgot to take a picture of my lunch (whoops!) Don't worry, it was boring. I had the rest of my beef stew and some more of the butternut squash with some grapefruit. For dinner, I was basically stuck with what was left in the fridge, which wasn't much. I had some crispy sautéed kale (fried in a bit of duck fat I forgot was in the fridge) and a half sweet potato, microwaved and mashed with some clarified butter and spice blend. Not really all that filling, but I finished off my jicama home fries a bit later. Until tomorrow. 

Catch Up

Whoops - things got away from me a little. Yesterday I worked 7-4, had errands to run directly after, then as soon as I got home, I had to prep for an art show I'm going to be in coming up. I have the exact same schedule today, but I'll try to update the rest of my day this evening. Let's start with yesterday's meals. 

Since I knew I would be working early I made another batch of the chia paleo muesli. It's great having something ready to go in the fridge so I don't have to cook at five am. That said, I need to work on a way to make it a bit more filling. My stomach was growling by seven. 

For lunch I had the exact same thing as the day before. There's nothing wrong with that - as I've said before, I have no problem eating the same things over and over. That's part of why doing "cook days' are so helpful, and help me to be successful. Here's cinnamon beef stew, butternut squash, and about half an apple with sunflower butter. 

I decided to have "breakfast" for dinner. It's quick, easy, and hearty. I had crispy pan-fried kale with two over-easy eggs on top, along with two pieces of prosciutto, some jicama home fries, and a half grapefruit. For some reason I was hungry again an hour later, but sometimes that happens. I had some strawberries dipped in cashew butter, a big glass of water, and called it a day. 

And finally this morning's breakfast. I'm posting as my phone works it's way through 30 some-odd app updates (I get lazy and hate updating, but videos on instagram? I got curious). Breakfast...you guessed it. More chia. This time I added a spoonful of cashew butter to see if the added protein would help keep me full for a bit longer. I think I also need to use fattier coconut milk and possibly even look into a paleo friendly protein powder, I don't know. Anyway, until later.

Cheers

Lunch, and my Best Dinner Yet

This morning I threw my lunch together quickly before work. I had some more of the cinnamon beef stew with the butternut squash on the side. I added some sliced apple with sunflower seed butter. This filled me up and kept me that way for a solid five and a half hours until I could come home and eat. 

When I have downtime at work (it's rare) I like to take a mental inventory of what I have on hand and think of what I'd like to make for dinner. Since I eat a lot of leftovers and use a lot of the same ingredients, trying variations helps add variety to my meals. Today I thought about doing my last duck burger "Aussie style" with a fried egg and fresh beet on top. It was amazing. Served with romaine for a "bun" and some kale (sautéed in clarified butter until the edges got crispy and seasoned with ras al-hanout). I also fried half an apple in clarified butter with a handful of pecans and a generous dash of cinnamon (the recipe for this is from Paleo Comfort Foods but it's pretty much just what I wrote). I have to say, I think this was my favourite dinner of the whole30 so far. A burger should always have an egg for a blanket.

Dinner / Breakfast

Quick post today...I still need to finish my coffee, make my lunch, and get ready for work. Last night I had a duck burger with mustard, lettuce, and tomato. I also had a quick salad of mixed greens, carrot and apple, and dressed it with balsamic vinegar and olive oil. I finished off the other half of my roasted sweet potato with ras al-hanout, and on the side I had a little grated beet salad with lime juice, coconut milk, cumin, salt, and coriander. It was alright, but I need to tweak the seasoning a bit I think.  

This morning I was really in the mood for a smoothie so I made a small one and scaled down my regular breakfast to one egg and one slice of prosciutto. I also had some of the jicama home fries on the side. My smoothie came from the fact that yesterday at Fresh they had a new "Red Velvet" smoothie on the menu that I was tempted to try. I decided instead to try making it at home. Their version is made with pineapple, beets, strawberry, and ginger. I decided to stay more true to classic red velvet; I made mine with strawberry, raspberry, beet, half a banana, and a spoonful of cocoa. It turned out awesome - fruity - but not too sweet - with a slight hint of chocolate. Here's what I used:

Paleo Red Velvet Smoothie
use whole30 compliant almond milk, or swap for coconut.

ice
1/2 frozen banana
handful of frozen raspberries
4 strawberries
2 tbsp grated beet
1 tbsp cocoa powder
3/4 - 1c almond milk (until desired consistency is reached)

I like to crush the ice first in the blender, then add all other ingredients and blend until smooth.

By the way, the use of cocoa was apparently debated a bit before being deemed okay for the whole30. Dallas & Melissa's stance is that it is technically okay, but since chocolate is a food crutch/addiction for many people, it may not be wise to use it in your whole30 because it may hold you back from re-forming your healthy relationships with food. If you're doing a whole30 and were/are a chocoholic...keep this in mind. It could easily be left out of this recipe.

Breakfast and Lunch Date

Today ended up being the perfect day I'd hoped for on Sunday. Sure, I woke up with a pounding headache (my summer cold rages on) but I ate some chia seed paleo muesli, had a mug of coffee, and set out for my run. My goal was to run 15k - I'm trying to see whether it'll be worth it for me to sign up for a half marathon - and I did it! ...15.5 to be specific. 

Afterward, I planned to spend the afternoon cleaning the apartment, but it was so nice out that I didn't want to waste the day. My boyfriend and I went for a walk, went to MEC and looked at stuff neither of us can afford, and then went out for lunch. We went to Fresh and had a great lunch despite our several food requirements (my whole30, he's a picky vegetarian). I got a Thai salad. I really hate being one of those people and I've never had to be before, but I had to swap the peanut-based dressing for a ginger one, and ask for the peanuts to be left off the top. Otherwise, the salad was completely compliant and tasted just like bánh mì (without the bread and pork). I also got a smoothie. They have a tonne of whole30 compliant smoothies and I was going to go for a veggie packed green one, but I decided to treat myself to "mocha mint" which had cocoa, mint, banana, espresso, and almond milk. I wasn't about to ask the girl whether there was carageenan in their almond milk, but I'm pretty sure I'm in the clear. 

Breakfast / Lunch / Dinner

My one day weekend was cut abruptly short by a summer cold and a very early morning today. I was up with the sun at five am, and had my go-to comfort breakfast of scrambled egg and prosciutto, this time with a bit of the jicama home fries. Apologies for the crummy low-light pic...the sun wasn't quite awake yet either. 

Luckily, I packed my lunch last night so I didn't have to fumble around first thing in the morning (and I could sit with my mug of coffee just that much longer). I packed some of the cinnamon beef strew with carrots and baba ghanouj, fruit (it's frozen) with coconut and coconut milk, and some mixed raw nuts. The beef stew was awesome, very warm and hearty. It's not exactly a summery meal, but the air conditioning is so high in my work break room that it feels like winter anyway. 

For dinner I had another duck burger and salad and on the side I roasted some sweet potato in the ras al-hanout spice blend, and topped them with some fresh parsley. The sweet potatoes were so good, I kind of wish I'd done the butternut squash casserole from yesterday with sweet potato instead. Oh well, next time.

Dinner

I decided to go ahead and have dinner though I was more curious to try what I'd cooked than I was hungry. I had one of the duck burgers on romaine topped with cherry tomato, onion, and grainy mustard. I've had duck before, but never as a burger and it was delicious. It was meaty and fatty, and a nice change from beef. I also had some of the jicama home fries and butternut squash, and a quick salad made with greens, strawberries, carrot, and pecans. On the whole, dinner was quite satisfying. I found the squash to be very rich but good nevertheless. The jicama was a little challenging, because the recipe calls for it to be soaked in a slow cooker for 12-24 hours prior to frying. I don't have a slow cooker, so I simmered it for a few hours while I was making everything else. It probably could have used a bit more time, but I'm not too worried...it tastes awesome. 

Whole Foods & Cook Day

This morning got off to a rocky start. I made my way through a six day work week primed for my Sunday off with a list of things to do. On top of my list was attempting to run a new personal record this morning (I was aiming for 15k). Even though it was grey and rainy outside, I laced up and went for it. And it. was. pouring. I made it about 4km and realized I could barely see where I was going, and I was worried that my phone, shoes, and nike+ fuelband would be destroyed so I headed home, defeated. Oh well. I also had a list of recipes I wanted to make for my cook day and a trip to Whole Foods on the list, so I powered on. 

As I biked up to Whole Foods, the sun came out. Oh well. I've been once before, but found it expensive and overwhelming. It's still expensive and overwhelming, but there's a lot of amazing stuff there to choose from. I came away with some baba ghanouj, and a little snack - some dried persimmons (so good!) and a pack of "nud" chai flavoured energy crisps. I was glad to see the only ingredients are organic banana, coconut, sesame seeds, chai spices, and vanilla. They were quite tasty, though they mostly just tasted like banana. 

Afterward, I hit up the bulk store for some spices, then the butcher for some (local, grass fed) stewing beef and an impulse buy of ground duck. Then I went to the grocery store for produce and made it home with all of this on my bike. 

 Here's what I made: (from Well Fed/The Clothes Make the Girl)

Velvety Butternut Squash
...and the Ras Al-Hanout to go with it
Cinnamon Beef Stew (Greek Beef Stew)
Jicama Home Fries (recipe from the book, not posted online)
Duck Burgers (recipe below) (also, not pictured)

Before and after pic of the squash. I'm excited to see how it tastes. The spice blend smells amazing, and since I've been on a sweet potato-coconut milk-cinnamon bender lately, this should be a good variation.

Here's an unfortunately blurry picture of all the herbs and spices added to the stew. It smells amazing and I'm looking forward to tasting the cinnamon in there. 

Here's the Jicama Home Fries, which smell amazing. The only variation I made was to cook the jicama in some of the duck fat leftover from my burgers. (Since the recipe is in the book, but not online, I'm going to leave it there. The book is really, really worth it).

Now the burgers. I was at the butcher waiting for my beef to be cut up for the stew and I saw in the case that they had citrus duck burgers. I asked for an ingredient list and was sad to see that there were breadcrumbs, but the butcher let me keep the list so I could recreate the burgers on my own with some ground duck. I bought the duck but didn't have many of the ingredients on hand, so I winged it and used a half teaspoon each of smoked paprika, cumin, and coriander along with an egg, salt, and pepper.  I think I'll head back and try the ones there once my whole30 is done.

Well, that's it for now. Once again, I've spent the day in the kitchen and have been left with very little appetite. I'm feeling sleepy and although the sun streaming through the window is tempting me to get outside, I'm back at work tomorrow and can feel a summer cold coming on, so I'm going to stay put and self-medicate with food.