Jinxed

Yeeeeaaaaaaah.
Remember how I was all, "There's no food I really miss and blah blah blah blah".  The day following that statement my body and brain proved it to be utter crap. I took a huge dive into the land of the food doldrums. Or, as the Whole 30 program calls it - "Kill All the Things". Most of last week was spent feeling depressed about all the things I "can't" eat and loathing everything I can. I began to obsess again about food, especially crappy things. The cravings reared their ugly little heads with a vengeance, and I will admit I had a couple of tiny cheats.  One involved a single solitary piece of cheese popcorn from my sons' bowl of Chicago Mix. The other happened out to eat on Friday night when my buffalo wings (Whole 30 approved) made a few forays into some Ranch dressing (NOT approved). I've been beating myself up about those things repeatedly. Which is kinda dumb and is coming from the perfectionist in me. But I avoided all kinds of other things including movie theater popcorn, and that is BIG. For me, anyway.  So I focus on the small victories.
As of yesterday I felt back in the game, proud of all the good choices I've been making for my body and mind and overall really satisfied with my new way of eating. But also, let's face it, I'm ready to see the beginning of my last week.
A few new dishes that we tried last week:

Asian Chicken Salad - http://nomnompaleo.com/post/5728050931/asian-almond-chicken-salad#more

 This made for two lunches this week, one eaten as lettuce wraps and one directly out of the bowl.  Both were yum although I found it more filling to use the wrap.

Stuffed Acorn Squash - I had used this recipe previously and really enjoyed it, so all I had to do this time around was remove the cheese (wah!), and I added some seasoned ground turkey. I had one half of the squash for dinner and the other half for breakfast the next morning with a poached egg on top.  Fabulous!

Shrimp Curry - one of the recommended quick meals I read about was to have some frozen shrimp and frozen stir-fry veggies on hand, along with some curry paste (I went with green).  I mixed together the curry paste and some coconut milk and let it boil, then stirred in the frozen protein and veggies until heated through. It was great but a little soupy.  My husband made a (much more fabulous) version of this dish this past weekend, and his method was to coat the shrimp and veggies in the paste and sautee it in the pan for 2-3 minutes. He then deglazed the pan with some coconut aminos (a soy sauce substitute) and added coconut milk. He had also added some jalapenos which gave it a perfect little kick.  It was an awesome one-dish meal. (Side note: I am not a fan of frozen veggies. Fresh would be much better in this dish.)

There are a few new dishes in the works for this week, along with some that have become stand-by's during this process.  I also want to give some thought to what's going to happen going forward and what kinds of changes to incorporate for the fam.
Stay tuned...