I'll Take My Coffee Black, Please

I think one of my favorite things about this "diet" is that I haven't counted a single calorie. I haven't even really been keeping track of what I've been eating, it's just been real food. Did I have one apple today, or six? (Answer: just one, because six will most definitely give you the poops. Moving on.)

So it's Day 17, and I haven't had a single cup of coffee in seventeen days. Mostly because I'm one of those disgusting people that likes cinnamon roll creamer plus one or two sugars, and I'm terrified that if I even have it black, I'll go off the deep end. But this morning I made a pot of natural hazelnut coffee, and I read on a Whole30 blog that a sprinkle of cinnamon over the grounds can help to take some of the bitterness out. It totally worked! Either that, or I'm desensitized from the sugar coma that my three-cups-a-day brought on. Either way, it's good (although a little weak) and I'm a happy camper. 

I've made lots of kitchen creations this week. On Sunday, Maura had some leftover Pork Verde that I made on Saturday night to take with us to a friend's house, and I was craving something different. We haven't gotten on the coconut flour train, but I attempted to make some salmon cakes. 

They were amazing! I just used 1 can of salmon, drained, an egg, parsley, oregano, onion powder, and thyme and served them over a small bit of tomato sauce. So good!

On Monday night, I made eggplant lasagna, which sadly we dove into so quickly that I didn't get a picture. But it was great because I prepared it in the morning (slices of eggplant layered in a chunky tomato meat sauce) and then had Maura pop it in the oven about 15 minutes before I came home. Boom! Done. I did sauté up some seasoned asparagus to go on the side as well. 

Then, last night for dinner, I put an entire roasting chicken in the crockpot with a spicy seasoning mix I made and let it cook from about 7:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. The chicken was so juicy and tender that we couldn't lift it out of the crockpot because it wanted to fall apart. 

Then with that, I steamed up some fresh broccoli and made our paleo mashed potatoes with clarified butter and parsley. The best.

I do feel a bit like I spend my life in the kitchen now, but it hasn't been all bad. I do have a lot of time in the mornings and the meals have totally been worth it,

Back to the grind! 13 more days!