My mayo didn't break!!

Ive tried making mayo before and it was an utter failure. This time I followed Melissa Jouwen's recipe in her book "Well Fed" and...

IT FINALLY WORKED!

I took one kinda sorta short cut and it really turned out well. From my previous errors, I knew the mayo would break if I over mixed as I added the oil. In the past, my problem was either I drizzled too slowly or too quickly. This time I used a small food processor and added oil in 1/3 cupfuls and pulsed 6 times after each addition. After the last 1/3, I ran the processor for... maybe 5 seconds? until I saw the mayo thicken and I stopped. 

I threw some in tuna with my own spice blend of salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder and tumeric (hence, it's very yellow). I ate this alongside some halved cherry tomatoes. 

It came out sooo yummy that it's toddler-approved!! 

Quick midday snack

Sliced, sweet, tricolor peppers and the remaining balsamic vinaigrette from this morning. 

Saturday morning goodness

Best Parent Award goes to this gal. I heard my stealthy toddler (oxymoron?) say "Eck!" after spitting something out while she stood behind me. I turned to find her dumping my black coffee on the floor. At least it was 4/5s of the way done.

She was able to get away with grabbing my coffee for two reasons: 

1.) I didn't realize how much she's grown and she can now reach things off a table that was previously a safe zone for my coffee.

2.) I was consumed by my (delicious) meal prep!! 

So here is what I made: Eggs baked in marinara sauce, plantain home fries and a breakfast salad. 

Here's how it was done:

Peel, quarter and season 3 green plantains with 2 tbsps of coconut oil, salt and pepper. Bake in a preheated oven at 350F for an hour. Set an alarm for 30 minutes in. 

Wash and peel 6 mushrooms, an onion and 6 asparagus stalks. 

Blanch the asparagus, dice the onion and quarter the mushrooms. At the 30 minute alarm, toss everything together, add more salt and pepper and put it back in the oven.

Fill a small ramekin with 1/4 cup of marinara sauce (my fav is Rao's marinara) and place an egg on top. I overfilled mine because I'm in love with this sauce. Place the ramekins in an oven safe baking dish and fill halfway with steaming (not boiling) water. Bake on 350F for 15-25 minutes, depending on how well you like your eggs done. 

Prep the salad greens and assemble your favorite dressing. My fav dressing goes like this. 1 tbsp whole seed mustard, 1 tbsp superb balsamic vinegar, 2 tbsps good evoo and salt and pepper to taste. I put it in a small mason jar and shook it all up until thick and delicious. 

Get your coffee ready. We're big fans of the Aeropress and I get to customize my coffee by adding a dash of cinnamon to the grounds. 

Everything should finish cooking right around the same time - unless you're like me and you realize you should've put the eggs in the small convection oven since that has reliable temperature control instead of your old apartment oven and your eggs are well underdone. 20 minutes later, I took these: 

If you're the type who likes to keep different parts of your meal separate, by all means, keep the eggs in the cups. I opted to turn it all out and slosh the eggs and marinara with the home fries. Mmm!! 

Enjoy! 

Baked Eggs Recipe

Plantain Homes Fries Recipe

Balsamic Vinaigrette Recipe

Here goes nothin'

I have been on my first official Whole30 for exactly 51 minutes. I'm more nervous now than I was yesterday and wondering "if I can". Up until now, I haven't had shred of doubt since I decided on this food and health journey - mostly because I've been preparing. I've been cooking up a storm, testing meal ideas. I've been making Whole30 approved food choices as frequently as possible just to see "if I could" and, by and large, I did!

Side-note: If you're wondering what Whole30 is, it's a diet that focuses on eating whole foods (e.g. meat, vegetables, fruit and nuts/seeds) and nothing processed for 30 days as a way to determine how your body responds to a lack of carbohydrates, dairy and legumes. It's also a way to put your body into a state of ketosis, if that's your thing (though ketosis is not the expressed purpose).

I guess here is a good place to post my current stats.

Current weight: 141.00 lbs. (63.96 kg)
Current BMI: 27.5 (falls smack in the middle of the 'Overweight' category)

I started this journey thinking "Oh great! Here's a way to lose weight and not have to give up bacon!" and while that's true, during my study and prep month (February), I learned so much about health and nutrition, I'm not focusing on weight loss. I'm not weighing myself until the last day. Losing weight will be an added bonus to jump-starting my healthy-eating perspective, possibly discovering food-related issues I never knew I had and awakening my tastebuds from their sugar coma.

If you'd like to learn more about the Whole30 food plan, check them out at www.Whole30.com and I strongly suggest you buy a copy of "It Starts with Food" by Dallas and Melissa Hartwig. It's a great read, it's well cited with peer-reviewed articles and makes a strong case for why we should eat this way the majority of the time.

See you in the A.M. with my first Whole30 recipe: Eggs poached in tomato sauce, baked green plantain home fries and a morning salad.