WHAT "Tiger Blood"???

I'm on Day 19 of Whole30, and supposedly, Days 17-ish to 20-ish are when you feel "energetic, ready to tackle the world, and have Tiger Blood."

Well. 

Not so much. 

I mean, I'm feeling like I'm going backward. I know part of my problem is portion control, as well as knowing that I have a problem with sweets. But I'm not feeling the light, feeling the better sleep, and feeling that ZIP that we're supposed to feel. 

But then there's the asterisk.... *your results may be different*... So I think I may have to do another round, lighten up on the portions (particularly of meat and fat, and have fruit only occasionally) and see if I can drop more pounds. I also think that taking another round will push the sweet tooth farther in the background. 


The meal planning has been good for me. And lucky for me, I'm not easily bored, so I'm kind of in a "the usual" for breakfast, and I'm not tired of eggs. Yet. 

I bought 4 large portobella mushroom caps, and roasted them. So dinner the other night was a mushroom cap with cauliflower rice + spinach, some cherry tomatoes and bacon. 

There's a question, maybe, on whether it's portobella or portabello... Either way: big, meaty mushrooms. 

Roasting was the easiest thing: just rinse them off, rub the top with a little olive oil, and place on a roasting pan, gill side up. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast at 400 degrees for 10 minutes, then flip them over and roast for another 5 minutes. 

They'll keep for about a week, and I'm kind of moving through ways to jazz them up and eat them. 

Breakfast today was 2 eggs, mushroom, and my usual salsa and avocado. 

I left the yolks a little more runny - more a matter of timing than anything. Sometimes, I misjudge and it's not as cream and "yolk-y" as I'd like. 

The thing is the texture. The texture of the yolk contrasts with the salsa. And then there's the creaminess of the avocado. All with the undercurrent of the meaty mushroom base and it's got protein, appropriate fat, the veg and the hot/cold buzz to the tastebuds. 

I'd encourage you to give it a try. 

Dinner tonight was courtesy of Hubby, as I had a class to teach. Pork loin, sweet potato hash and broccoli. I added a mayo dip to it (there's got to be what's called "plated fat" in the meal), and then I had a banana. I hadn't had fruit all day, so I figured that would be ok. 

Tomorrow, I'm likely to revisit that breakfast, have a salad for lunch and then something will present itself for dinner. It's been another weekend where it's all gone woooooooooosh and I'm not sure that I'm ready for it to be Sunday tomorrow!

Zonta Club...

So I'm a member of our local Zonta Club. It's an organization concerned with advancing the status of women. We do service projects around the town, and today we were cleaning up the gardens at the Joliet Hospice. I got to prune a tree... and then we plucked the "reeds" out of the spent lilies so that they can re-flower this spring. 

We spent two hours doing the work. Bending over. I ended up teaching my "crew member" (dwindled from 4 of us to 2 of us as the others got assigned to other spots) how to properly bend, because she was complaining about her back. 

The person coordinating the clean-up was very grateful, it was just cool enough and just cloudy enough to make it bearable, and yes, that's my jacket hanging off the tree. It's not the tree I pruned, but after wrestling with the one I had to trim, I was warm!

And now I'm sore!! I've been having trouble with my hip, and even though I was practicing proper technique, I've got a sore rear end!

But the gardens are gorgeous.

After we were done, I meandered down to the creek that borders the one edge of the hospice's property. 

You can see how tranquil it would be for a stroll or just to look out the windows. It's a beautiful property. 

Meeting with friends...

The other day, I met with a friend of mine. She's recently retired and it had been a while - since the Women's March in January - that we'd been able to spend time with each other. 

We had a great time, but before that, I was running early, so I drove through our local park. It's being rehabbed, and wowza - the roads are lovely, and the signage is all fixed up. 

So as I was traveling through the park, I stopped dead when I saw this little guy... Well, I'm not sure whether it's a guy or a gal. But the man who's parked outside the frame says that "it" comes out about lunchtime every day, and he shares his lunch with it. 

I'm not sure how I feel about feeding the wildlife. But it looks like the creature was foraging in the garbage anyway. 

It was great to see my friend. We got to vent to each other about the "stuff" we needed to release, and we made tentative plans to meet up to shop - she's got a kid getting married, and needs to work with a Mother of the Groom dress. 

I don't do that often. I know it sounds cliche, but my schedule is pretty tightly regimented, and if something's thrown off, then the whole thing goes kabloooey. 

I find, though, that I need to get together with friends. I need to sometimes not be in charge of stuff. I'm finding that I need those relationships to keep me on an even keel. 

All work and no play makes me cranky. 

Random Picture...

When I got home from the garden jaunt, I had to prep for the class I was teaching - it was a "Ditch & Switch" class for Young Living Essential Oils and I was working on handouts and the stuff you prep for being able to present. 

Anyway, this is what greeted me when I came home. She actually sat there, didn't move, didn't woof, didn't whine. 

Sat there. While I walked in, dropped my stuff off, went to pet the elkhounds, went to the bathroom, and THEN...

When I sat down in front of my computer, she decided to waddle herself off the couch to say hello. 

She continues to amaze me with her personality. She's aloof, but cuddly. She wants to be petted, and yet she'll walk away. 

Can't quite figure her out some days. Some days, she's a "mama's dog" and some days, I don't exist. 

Which is fine with me. We all have our days. Even our dog days. 

Wait...Was That the Weekend???

...so I blinked and the weekend went woooooooooooooooshhhh and now it's Monday...

I'm not quite sure where it went, but it went there fast. Most of Sunday was spent on food prep for the week. And here we go...

Whole 30...

First, I prepared a roast chicken. This little bird got carrots and leeks in the cavity, and a rubdown with olive oil. Then, some frozen sage was tucked into the breast meat area under the skin. A little water, a thermometer and pop-you-go into the oven for about an hour or so. 

I want to get a better meat thermometer, but what we have works, so I can't really complain. I just like the old one (it died).

After I finished the chickie-bird, Hubby dissected it and then I froze the carcass for use making bone broth. 

That was, at least, the plan for the weekend - doing as much prep as I could so that I wasn't scrambling for meals. The Non-Scotch eggs were done, and I then turned to the veggies. 

The prep area of the kitchen was a bit crowded after a quick trip to the store, but I got everything portioned out. The sausages were individually wrapped and tucked away. I found some uncured Polish sausage (yay!) and I made up several packages for future use. Hubby and I actually love that grilled, so it's going to be a nice thing to dive into now and in the future. The mushrooms were used for my "squash surprise" and I cleaned up a nice fresh leek. 

Cleaning leeks is easy and it's important, unless you like chewing on sand. Cut off the green part of the leek, and then split the white part down the middle. Rinse it thoroughly under running water and spread apart the layers to get all the way down in there. 

Hubby likes to dice his. I like to slice mine. I took one half and put it in a little zipper bag for the freezer. The other half went into Squash Surprise. Leeks freeze well, and since you have to cook them anyway, it doesn't matter what their texture is after being frozen. 

Then I started on the squash, after rinsing them in Young Living Essential Oils Thieves Fruit & Veggie wash. It really takes the "stuff" off your veggies. Even the wax on the cucumbers comes right off. 

Put a couple teaspoons of it in a bowl of cool water, plunk in the veggies, and let them sit for about 2 minutes. Rinse. Good to go...

I rinsed the mushrooms in plain water, gently rubbing them to get rid of the dirt. 

Sliced them up, sliced up the yellow and zucchini, sliced up several carrots on the bias and a parsnip. 

Sauteed the leeks and about 3 cloves of chopped garlic in a saute pan with a little olive oil, then removed those items and set them aside. While those were cooking, I boiled the carrots and parsnip for about 6 minutes in a pan to start them softening - I wanted to partially cook them so they wouldn't take forever, or burn while I was trying to put this all together. 

I added everything except the leeks + garlic back into the pan, added salt, pepper, and Penzey's Spices Mural of Flavor salt-free blend, and some tarragon. Stir it around, let it cook a bit, so the mushrooms and squash give up their juice. 

Then add in the leeks and garlic, stir it all up, and when the carrots and parsnips are just past fork-tender, you're done!

Squash surprise. 

You can use this as a base - add tomatoes if you want. Serve as a side dish, or on top of pasta or spaghetti squash. It would also be great on top of rice with some pulled chicken, or if you add some beans, you have a nice vegetarian dish. I put it with some cod that I cooked up so it was almost a "fish stew" kind of thing. And otherwise? I'd be good with it alongside scrambled eggs, or inside an omelette. 

So. Veggies done, fish done, chicken done... I also roasted some asparagus, but ran out of both energy and time to make an asparagus soup. 

I also used a little of my fresh mayo and made up a "ranch" style dressing! 

I was a little sparse on protein today for the salad, but I survived! And I think I'm ahead for the week, in total. I have a meeting tomorrow, and I have no idea what's on the menu (I guess I could read the newsletter for our group...). I know I'll have to wing it. So I'll likely bring my own dressing and hope there's nothing breaded on the plate. Or I'll eat the salad and veg and bring the meat home for Hubby. 

Knitting...

Shout-out to Sandy at Rembrandt Yarns!! I got my sock yarn, and I can't wait to knit this one up! She was prompt and kind about getting me what I ordered - and she let me keep the worsted weight skein! I have some lovely white/cream yarn that will go with the worsted weight, so I can make a shawl with it. Or maybe a hat. I'll have to see. 

Here's the sock yarn. Sorry about the shadow of my hand - I thought the flash took off, and I didn't notice it till now. 

I did another point on the Close to You shawl as I was in between cooking tasks. Hubby said that was as much cooking as I'd done in the past 6 months, and he's right. 

Now if I can up my knitting, I'll be in good shape. This sock yarn is destined for a shawl of some sort - it's too pretty for feet. And the sock blank I ordered will definitely be a pair of socks - maybe that's the time I'll shoot for trying a cable up one side? Up both sides??? Hmmmmmm. 

Lots of options, for sure. 

Random Picture...

Well, not entirely random. This was on my drive to work. Yes, it's April 9. And yes, that's snow. And yes, we're all kind of over it. 

And yes. There may be more coming. 

It depends on how the latest weather pattern unfolds. Could just be rain, which is good, but could also be snow. 

Which is weird. 

I'm in a strange state. I feel kind of bloated and tired, as I'm trying to clean up my diet and habits. I'm so impressed with the kindness of some people. And then, in the space of 10 minutes, going to the grocery store, I almost get T-boned because two guys (yes, they were guys, because I saw them as they looked right at me) blew stop signs at the side roads and careened onto the main road, cutting me off. 

I was trying to be kind about the first one, figuring "maybe there was a family emergency. After the second one in a few blocks, I went right to "dirtbag morons." 

Maybe I'm in the same tizzy as Mother Nature - we're not sure WHAT she's up to lately!