Never fear! I’m still here…remarkably. If you thought I’d given up, thrown in the towel and consoled myself with a block of sharp cheddar cheese & a bottle of red wine, you’d be mistaken. If you thought I’d spent nearly every idle second fantasizing about those two no-no items, you’d be absolutely right!

Although I’ve had a couple days where my food intake has been less than stellar, I’ve not fallen off the Whole 30 compliant list. Mostly, I’m in violation because I don’t eat when I should and I haven’t eaten enough some days.

Let’s roll back the clock, shall we? This way, we’re all caught up and you might see something new you want to try.

Day 6 [January 7]: My girls’ school was canceled & my university closed because of the ridiculously low wind chill. I visited the market because we needed a little bit of everything. When I arrived home, I made tuna salad using my Paleo mayo & used endive leaves as a delivery system. I prepared a modified version of this soup for dinner. It made a bunch so I can enjoy it for lunch for the next couple days. Modified how? No poblano peppers–I bought one specifically for this recipe, but couldn’t locate it at go time. Tomato sauce & some tomato paste–I’d used 2/3 of the tomato sauce I’d purchased for this recipe to make sauce for meatballs & forgot to restock. Additional liquid in the form of beef broth. The soup was super easy, came together fast and tasted like a million bucks. Absolutely on the agenda to make again soon.

My workout today consisted of carting buckets and buckets and buckets of scalding water upstairs to try and thaw a frozen pipe in my guest bathroom. I was finally successful around 12 a.m. this morning.

Day 5 [January 6]: Canceled school for the kids and for my job as well. We hung out and I tried my hand at Comfort Noodles. I think I should have julienned one more zucchini or used one less egg. My ratio was off, so I ended up with more of an egg scramble with zucchini in it.

I will say the almond meal crumbles on top were to die for & I could straight up eat those all day, every day. I will definitely make these again because they were delicious and the potential for skyrocketing awesomeness is apparent.

Please also notice –or don’t if you’re weak today– the thin crust pepperoni pizza sharing this cutting board. My children’s dinner was not my dinner and we can all pat me on the back for that. I didn’t even lick the cheese.

Day 4 [January 5th]: Sunday Funday. Not really. My oldest had an MRI on her knee scheduled for the early a.m. and my youngest had an afternoon basketball game. No rest for the wicked.

Once the MRI was done, I was able to hastily consume some scrambled eggs & bacon before heading to the basketball game.

We returned home mid-afternoon and in trying to figure out late lunch/dinner, whatever, I found myself very low and needing something to eat.

I know the Whole 30’s take on smoothies. I also know that because it isn’t strictly forbidden and because I had zero in the way of sugary intake on this day that I’m perfectly fine using my marvelous blender to grind this up. Coconut milk, pawfuls of spinach, a handful of grapes & 1/4 of a big apple is not going to cause me problems overall. And, had I eaten this outright, I would never have devoured that much spinach. I shared this with a daughter & still didn’t finish what was in the blender jar.

Because I had a thawed chicken in the fridge, I made another roast chicken. Hey, if it’s not broken, don’t fix it. I also saved the carcass and put it in the freezer so I can do bone broth again soon.

Day 3 [January 4th]: Saturday = Crazy Town. My youngest had a morning basketball game [where I consumed black coffee]. I had a little over an hour once we arrived home to make food before heading out again. I opted for an egg scramble with red peppers, a pinch of porcini mushroom powder, and spinach added on top to wilt at the very end. Super tasty.

I had high hopes that I’d keep myself on track today, but let’s be serious, it just didn’t happen.

I attended my nephew’s birthday party at an arcade-like venue. It was super fun and I wasn’t hungry while there. But, we left & went home only to rush around and head to my daughter’s evening indoor soccer game.

By the time I arrived home, I was hungry and dehydrated. Totally spent. Even though I had no homemade marinara in the house, I whipped up a batch of meatballs, opened a can of tomato sauce [that was supposed to belong in Day 6’s soup!] & made some super quick sauce to use on the meatballs. That is one go-to emergency meal that is fast and tasty. Thank heavens I enjoy making it so often!