Weigh In Wednesday 1/18/2017

Joining Rachel over at Living Better One Day at a Time - click on photo above

Another week gone by, another week of healthy eating in the bag.  I won't pretend, there are some tough moments - there was a commercial for pizza on TV the other night and I could have reached through the screen and ripped it right out the guy's hand but I restrained myself!

It's Day 23 on the Whole 30 here so still no weight to list yet but I am feeling it.  My pants are definitely looser and there is more spring in my step.  I have been drinking 64 ounces of water faithfully every day and one of my friends in Washington challenged me to a FitBit challenge which got me walking more.  It's still pretty cold outside and I've been running around too much during the day to get a real walk in but I will eventually.

The new Whole 30 cookbook is fabulous!  So far we have cooked Pan-Seared Scallops with Bacon Over Braised Swiss Chard which was delicious (we used crumbled prosciutto instead of bacon) and it was the first time for both of us to try Swiss chard and Shrimp, Snow Pea, and Shiitake Stir-Fry, also delicious and another first, using fresh shiitake mushrooms.  I roasted trays of vegetables this weekend, roasted red potatoes, Brussels sprouts, and carrots, and yesterday I had a variety of pots bubbling away on the stove for lunches and freezer meals - my version of Wendy's chili (left out the beans), Ground Beef and Green Beans in an onion and garlic vegetable broth which is a soup Vic takes for lunch, and chicken adobo made with coconut aminos instead of soy sauce which in our opinion is actually better than the soy sauce version.

We've been eating dirt for snacks - yes, you read that right.  Have you ever seen those pudding cups for kids' birthday parties that look like little gardens in cups?  They have pudding and then a layer of Oreo crumbs for dirt and a gummy worm or two sticking up from the dirt.  Well, our dirt consists of dried cherries, raw coconut, and raw almonds all ground up into crumbs in the food processor.  About half a cup makes a great snack to satisfy any sweet cravings.  It's sort of like a deconstructed Larabar (oh dear, I really watch far too much Chopped!).  I really thought that if I put the nuts and the coconut in the food processor and then added the dried cherries which are moist, the whole mixture would clump together so that I could scoop it out with a meatball scoop and make little dessert balls.  No such luck, the whole mixture stayed dirt-like and hence the name!

The other thing that we're really loving is Tessemae's Buffalo Sauce - the ingredients are:

• Sunflower Seed Oil, Olive Oil, Aged Red Peppers, Distilled Vinegar, Sea Salt, Lemon Juice, Spices, Garlic, Organic Mustard (Organic Vinegar, Water, Organic Mustard Seed, Salt, Organic Turmeric, Organic Spices)

It is just awesome for a little extra kick of flavor.  Vic loves it on eggs and I splash it on potatoes or roasted vegetables.  It turns grilled chicken into faux wings and zings up any dish that calls for hot sauce.  I buy it at Whole Foods but it's also available, along with a host of other Whole 30 compliant sauces and dressings, on the Tessemae's website. **Note:  You can see a little separation at the top of the label - most oil and vinegar mixture do this and a good shake takes care of it.