January Whole30!

Happy New Year!!

It’s time fort he January Whole30. Since you are new to this, here are some resources that you should keep in mind before starting on January 5.

Here are the best resources for the Whole30…

It Starts With Food—the book that started it all. It is a great resource for all things Whole30—also the Whole30 website: www.whole30.com

Recipe Blogs:

Nom Nom Paleo—I have this book coming and can’t wait—there is also an iPad app that has amazing recipes (some of which you can find on the blog), including:

§       Easy Tandoori Chicken (I use coconut cream and lime juice)

§       Roasted Kabocha Squash

§       Slow Cooker Kalua Pork

§       Fiona’s Phenomenal Green Chicken

§       Cherry Chicken

§       Mexican Braised Beef

§       Prosciutto Wrapped Frittata Muffins (I don’t use coconut oil in this and use a little water instead of coconut milk)

§       Slow Cooker Thai Beef Stew

§       Slow Cooker Beef & Tomato Stew

The Clothes Make the Girl—I have both of the Well Fed Cookbooks—which are ridiculously good. Some of my favorites include:

§       Olive Oil Mayonnaise (I make mine in a mini food processor)

§       Moroccan Dipping Sauce

§       Best Chicken Ever

§       Chocolate Chili

§       Meatza

§       Bora Bora Fireballs (I cook the coconut with the balls instead of rolling them in the coconut later)

§       Creamy Spice Market Kale

§       Cumin Roasted Carrots

§       Velvety Butternut Squash (amazing with a lot less garlic—I only use two cloves—and eat it with Nom Nom Paleo’s tandoori chicken)

§       Thai Basil Beef (I use flank steak cut into thin slices instead of ground beef)

§       Deconstructed Gyro

§       Plantain Nachos

§       West African Chicken Stew

Here’s a great blog post with the top 30 reasons to do a Whole30

Also, a list of Whole30 Week 1 Meal Plan, and a month of Whole30 meals.

And one final recipe—my favorite breakfast bake (I usually take leftovers for lunch).

Enjoy!!

This is my new neighborhood!

For those of you that worry about me living in a big city (Mom, I'm looking at you)...I'd like to share this video with you. THIS is my neighborhood.

Lessons Learned

Here are some lessons learned from my trip:

1. GET A GPS...google maps may fail and you need a reliable way to find your hotel.


2. GET AAA...I have to thank my mom for this one. I don't know what I would have done in that snowstorm without it.


3. Check the weather...and make contingency plans...4 days of rain and snow is bad for the eyes and the brain.


4. CHARGE THAT IPOD...enough said


5. 36 hours is way too long to be by yourself (even with the dogs)...next time I'll force someone to tag along!

No photos today, but I should have taken one of the six inches of snow that I woke up to this morning.

Today was a long day. I slid off the road during a snow storm...good thing my mom talked me into getting AAA--they were there within a half hour and I was back on the road in an hour. The rest of the trip to Coralville, Iowa was filled with heavy rain and gusts of wind. Needless to say, my hands are sore from gripping the steering wheel and my eyesight is shot but things will be better tomorrow.

I'm over half-way! Only 800 miles to go!!

snacks, snacks, snacks

So for a long road trip, you really need to have a lot of snacks...healthy and not-so-healthy alike. My favorite came in the form of furikake snack mix...a snack mix that I CANNOT stop eating on this journey...thanks to a great friend who added it to a care package for me (I'm drinking a Hornsby's right now!). Furikake snack mix is the perfect blend of salt and sweet! I highly advise you try it sometime.

The rest of the drive was BORING...flat with snow in Wyoming and flat with rain in Nebraska--I was not motivated enough to take some pictures. Oh, and Ernie slept most of the day, I guess the view wasn't that great afterall.

1000 miles down...1400 to go.

...and she's off

So I started the journey from Boise to Ballston today. My first trip with the dogs so I didn't know what to expect. Here's what I found:

Cookie...patiently laying in her bed.

AND

Ernie...nervously standing and staring (at me or out the window, I wasn't sure)...for 175 miles


THEN



He passed out for about five minutes before getting up and staring again.



Maybe he was watching the view...




I made it to Salt Lake...stay tuned for tomorrow...Nebraska is calling.