Honest Whole 30 Recap, Week Four + Dairy-Free Chocolate Cherry Hazelnut Ice Cream

If you’ve been following along this past month, you’ll know I’ve been chomping, loving and sometimes struggling my way through a Whole 30. I’ve been coming here and writing you full disclosure,  overly-honest weekly recaps of  what this experience has been like. If you’re just tuning in now, lemme catch you up: Week One. Week Two. Week Three.

So you know what this post is, right?! It means I DID IT! Holy Bears. I made it. This is Whole 30 graduation. That moment where I walk across the stage in my cap and gown and gloriously move that tassel from right to left. I go to accept my Whole 30 diploma and moon the audience.( I think I saw that in a 90’s movie once–maybe we’ll scrap that bit). This is the moment where we cue the Chariots of Fire theme song as I cross the finish line. I’m wearing dolphin shorts (because, why not). I valiantly break tape with my chest. Is that tape made out of cheese? Maybe. In that case, I break the tape with my mouth.  I chug some water and then eat all the ice cream.  Of course, none of this actually happened. Well, except the ice cream. You can tell by these photos that ice cream totally happened. I’m gonna hook you up with a recipe so that it can happen for you too. But, first things first… […]

Ginger Berry Lime Ice Pops | It’s POPSICLE WEEK!

Fun facts: 
1) It’s POPSICLE WEEK! That’s right. All week there are bloggers around the net popping off popsicle recipes and helping you get some of that sticky-end-of-the-popsicle-juice all over your chins. Who declared it Popsicle Week? Well, that would be Billy of Wit & Vinegar. There are 37 of us throwing recipes your way this week! You can find all of them HERE on Billy’s blog  as they go up throughout the week.

If you’ve never been to his blog, I suggest you go. He’s hilarious and I kinda wish that we could get together and dunk some of these popsicles all up in some booze and just see what happens. We can talk about Mariah Carey  and sing a lot of Vision of Love (um, yeah, so..that’s my Dad playing keyboards in that video–not kidding). There are lots of snacks, and sometimes we high five. At some point in the evening there are talks of learning all the choreography from Single Ladies, but after realizing we’ve had too many booze+ popsicle mash-ups, we just call it a day and play Scrabble. We show each other pictures of our dogs and tell stories about them like they’re our kids. The usual friendship things.  Note: none of this has happened, it’s just a really weird fantasy that I happen to be sharing on the internet in front of all the people. Meh. Oh, well… […]

Honest Whole 30 Recap, Week Three + Rosemary Meatballs With Dijon Collard Greens & Apricots + Enter to WIN the Autoimmune Paleo Cookbook!

Well, my lovely friends–It’s been THREE whole weeks. If you are just joining us this week, I can catch you up with Week One and Week Two!
For three whole weeks, no cheese has touched these lips. No grains have graced my tongue. Nary a bean has entered this pie hole. More than that… no actual pie has entered this pie hole (not even pizza pie). These days I stress eat carrots. Do we call this progress? Maybe. Does the fact I think those carrots taste dang sweet feel like a victory? Not sure. Mostly I feel like nature is tricking me into feeling like veggies belong in a Willy Wonka film. That’s fine. We can make that chocolate river into a green smoothie. Add some chia for texture. Not too much, though, or we can’t boat on it.  This has already gotten weird. You’re welcome.
All in all, things have been going really great. I don’t feel as tortured and dramatic in the day to day. There have been a few evenings of cravings where I just sub in something benign. Oh, I can’t have a hunk of chocolate? No problem. I’ll just eat this apricot and some almonds. The substitution does one of two things–it either satisfies you or you’ll find yourself grumpy and not able to eat it because it’s not chocolate. The second one means you’re not really hungry. If you’re looking all sideways at an almond and blaming it for not being dessert, just put the almonds down. No need to curse at them. I’ve already done it for you. We’ve had a dialogue. It turns out it wasn’t the almond that has issues, it was me. Typical. […]

Honest Whole 30 Recap, Week Two + Raw Zucchini Ribbon Salad With Tomatoes, Basil & Olives

Alright, folks! It’s already been a week since the Honest Whole 30 Recap, Week One!

If you didn’t catch that post, you can read it here. I get into what the Whole 30 is, explore the creepy term “sex with your pants on” in relationship to cauliflower pizza, explain why I am not crazy-militant with myself,  and how I accidentally ended up drinking all the bourbon. Oh, and no… just in case you’re wondering bourbon is not on the approved Whole 30 list of foods. Whoops. But hey, we’re keeping it real.

So, today I get to share with you the nitty-gritty of the second week along with a super simple recipe for this zucchini ribbon salad. See that picture? I put all of that in my face. All of it. I photographed it with two plates to make it look like I was a dainty lady– and that I wasn’t the only person hoovering a salad built for four into my singular gaping pie-hole.

Sometimes you just need to eat all the veggies, because you can’t eat all the chocolate. Also, when in doubt… spiralize all the veggies. It just makes things fun. I don’t have the scientific proof, but I’m pretty sure there is some sort of study somewhere by some guy who likes to do studies which states that eating zucchini in its spiralized form is 110 % more fun then eating “regular” zucchini. Also, I might have just made that up. […]