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Whole30 - Part Two, Take Two (Or Whole21?)

Beautiful winter morning on the day we left MA. This is Mark's parents' backyard :)

As I mentioned a few weeks ago, we were not successful during our attempt to do a second Whole30. I started making a conscience effort to eating cleaner and working out more under the "Operation Beach Bod" title. I think this was my subconscious way of allowing myself to indulge over the Christmas week and not feel like I was ruining another attempt at a Whole30. But as of 12/31/12, Mark and I are no longer playing games and we are going to follow the Whole30 rules for the next 21 days. Why 21? Well we are leaving for Puerto Rico on January 20th and we are going to enjoy the Caribbean delights!

So here we are at a Whole30 - Part 2, Take 2. Or should we just call it Whole21?

Whole21 Eats - Day 1 
12/31/12

Meal 1: sorry no picture, but we had two eggs + all natural sausage links + an orange

Meal 2: I woke up with a horrible cold so I was craving something comforting and I was also not in the mood to cook anything. I simply threw a sweet potato in the microwave for 5 1/2 minutes and enjoyed that with some ghee and rosemary.
Meal 3: I started to get really hungry around dinner time so I made myself some mocha rub steak and some roasted cabbage.

To make the cabbage, I cut into wedges and drizzled with olive oil, fresh lemon juice, salt and pepper. I then roasted in the oven at 450 degrees for 15 minutes, carefully flipped, then roasted for another 15 minutes. It's pretty tasty.
The cabbage before hitting the hot oven!
Did you know that cabbage is an excellent source of vitamins K & C, as well as very good sources of folate, fiber and manganese? Outside of coleslaw, I've never eaten too much cabbage, but now I'm going to keep it in rotation! 

I was also pretty snacky throughout the day so I snacked on oranges and baby carrots throughout the day.

Overall - successful day!

Now if only this annoying cold would go away I could actually work out!


Whole21 Eats - Day 2
1/1/13

Happy New Year!

Meal 1: We started the New Year with a big, hearty breakfast: Sweet Potato and Sausage Frittata!


It was super filling and super yummy!

Meal 2: I had some left over sweet potato and avocado from earlier so I just munched on that.

Meal 3: Garlic Chicken with Roasted Veggies over Mixed Greens - always an easy meal to throw together!


And as I type this, I'm having an orange. I'm hoping the extra Vitamin C will help me get over this cold faster! It really sucks (excuse my language) being sick for the third time in about 6 weeks. What's up with that?!

2 days down - 19 more to go! We can do this!
cabbage, clean eating, eat real food,
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How to Make Ghee at Home!


Almost 4 cups of homemade ghee!
I first learned about ghee when I was starting my first Whole30. It was the only "dairy" item that was allowed on the program so I immediately started doing some research and tried to track it down in my local grocery stores. Basically, ghee is clarified butter that has been removed of all of the milk solids. Since most people cannot tolerate those tricky milk solids, you are left with a product that is easy on the stomach and just a purely delicious fat that can stand up to higher heats (it's the milk solids that turn brown when you burn butter).  It took me a while to finally track down this heavenly buttery product, and when I did I paid a little over $10 for a 10 ounce jar. OUCH!

I've since been purchasing ghee at about $5.99 per 8 oz jar - but still - VERY EXPENSIVE. To us, it was worth it as it really does add some wonderful flavor to our morning eggs or when we pan-fry our rib-eye steaks. When I recently found out that you can EASILY make your own ghee at home, I knew I had to give it a shot!

I followed the general principles in this post and ended up with almost 72 ounces of beautiful ghee for only $7.58.  That sounds like a bargain to me! And it was SO EASY. Easier than I thought. I will probably never buy ghee again from the store.

Here's how it went down last night:

Ingredients/Items Needed:

Crockpot, 2 lbs of organic butter, and a cheese cloth
Step 1: Place all butter into a crockpot. Set on low and leave crockpot uncovered for about 3 hours.


After about an hour or so, you can already see the milk solids separating and either floating to the top or sinking to the bottom.

Step 2: After about 3 hours, take a glass jar big enough to hold all of your fresh ghee and cover the opening with a cheese cloth. I folded the cloth so that the ghee had to seep through 4 layers of cloth. Using a small ladle, slowly ladle the ghee through the cloth and watch the deliciously golden ghee fill up your jar and leave those stinky milk solids behind!

This is the culprit for many upset stomachs!

Step 3: Tightly seal your ghee and admire it. You just successfully made ghee and saved yourself a lot of money in the process!
This should last us a while!

Step 4: While I've read that ghee does not need to be refrigerated, with this much ghee, I'd rather make sure it keeps safely for a while. Once the ghee cools, it turns solid and looks more like butter again.

Almost 4 cups of homemade ghee!
Seriously, I don't think I've been more proud of something I've made at home. Well, maybe when I made homemade mayo for the first time! Who knew this stuff could be so easy?!
crockpot, Ghee, homemade,
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