Day 8: Getting used to my breakfast in a bag

Day 8, people! It's been an adjustment this past week, but I'm excited to keep continue learning!

Here's the thing, in participating in this whole ordeal (HA, see what I did there?), I've gained self-awareness, something I thought I already possessed, but apparently not with food.

A few things I've realized:

1. If I prepare food one day of the week it's much easier to eat well and enjoy what I'm making during the week (I considered this an urban, pinterest-loving, betty-crocker-reading myth that all of the proponents of this method were the put-together people who pay their bills the moment they get them and always have fresh towels in their kitchen. I exempted myself, but NO MORE!)
2. If I pick around three new and intriguing recipes to try in one week, I am more inclined to enjoy them and not want to kill myself. I pick them out before I go to the grocery store, and then eat "diner style" for all other meals.
3. I am beginning to see the snack monster for who it really is: sly and subtle. Before Whole30, I would make it a point not to snack

Breakfast

• Monkey Salad
• a few slices of mushroom/diced tomato
• 1 hardboiled egg

Lunch

• Chicken breast (when I say this, they are considered "half" because they are sliced thin)
• an attempt to broil brussel sprouts (a little less than 1/2 the bag) -- my broiler does not have more than one setting, so instead of cooking all the way through, they just became hot on the outside 
• 1 peach (LOVE these now)
• 2 carrots (cut up)

Dinner

One of my best friends just came back from studying abroad in Italy, so I wanted to make him and my other good friend, Matt some dinner to hear about all of his adventures! 

So! Ben and I (who is surprised he was the main reason this was a success? NO ONE) spent the afternoon preparing, what I hoped to be, a fiesta-themed meal! I figured tacos were probably did not make much of an appearance in pasta-land, and it would comply well with my whole30 rules!

However, I'm about as mexican as this lemonade.

I'm a sucker for tThe Office. Besides cooking, it's basically all Ben and I do. Zero shame here, only stomachs full of excellent ground beef.

Ben made the Pico de Gallo you see to the left:

• 4 or 5 roma tomatoes
• fresh cilantro
• 1/3 of a white onion
• 1/2 of a lime
• 1 green jalepeno pepper
• salt/pepper/other spices you like!

It was so dang good.

Also! I tried out the guac recipe again, and I learned the difference between a bulb of garlic and a clove of garlic. 

My last guac attempt included a bit of a meltdown (you remember, the one where I facetimed Ben and cursed his gifted garlic ways). I discovered why I was so frustrated with the garlic...because I had cut up and put an entire BULB for my guacamole, not a clove!

It's a learning curve, folks.

I am well aware of the difference now, and my love for garlic-y guac!

You gotta take what you can get.

Dinner turned out to be a success! Such a great night with friends listening to travel stories until only a puddle of lime juice coated the pico bowl.

Though I could not participate in the consumption of tortillas, chips, or cheese (though the cheese was already out. Thanks lactose intolerance) I was still plenty full! I created a salad out of

• shredded lettuce
• ground beef
• lots of pico
• lots of guac

I think less and less about what I can't have because I'm getting more and more creative with what I CAN have. It's challenging and I'm sure would be much more difficult to embark on if I had a full time job or a full school schedule, but for now, I am doing this for me, and I am starting to enjoy it.