Happy Thursday!!! Guess what? Tomorrow is Friday! Yesssss! I hope all of you have had a great week!
So, let’s start with a Whole 30 Recap of the past few days:
I have to be honest. For a few days there, I had zero energy. Tuesday and Wednesday were ROUGH for me. I had read on the Whole30 forums that I might feel this way, so I was kind of expecting it. I would feel great until about lunch, and then around 3:00, CRASH. After chatting with some of my friends who are also following the plan, I found that I might not be eating enough. When you swap out lots of wheat products (which is what I was eating) like toast, whole wheat waffles, pasta, etc., and replace them with vegetables… well you can imagine there is a bit of a calorie difference. Today, I knew I would be teaching Zumba, so at lunch, I added extra calories and almonds and it made a HUGE difference. I feel soooo much better and I had plenty of energy to teach! Woo-hoo! And, I have even better news. After waking up for 3 years or so with terrible knee pain, I have had little to no knee pain for the past two days. This is HUGE news. I think this may be from cutting out wheat. As I said before, I ate a LOT of wheat. However, I have been reading a lot of information about wheat and how it really causes a lot of inflammation. If I am able to cut out my Joint supplement after changing my eating habits, well—that would be nothing short of amazing.
So now that I have reported the good news about how I am feeling, let’s talk food!
I thought I would share this meatball recipe with you. This was the first time in years that I have made my own meatballs. And it was the first time I didn’t use a “filler” like breadcrumbs. I thought these turned out pretty darn tasty, if I do say so myself. And who doesn’t love a meatball—am I right? I thought it would feel weird to eat them without a big bed of noodles, but actually I did not miss it!
Ingredients:
- 1 lb. ground beef (I used 96%lean beef)
- garlic powder, dried oregano, salt, pepper
- 1 large egg
- coconut oil or EVOO
- 2 14-oz. cans of diced tomatoes
- more garlic powder, oregano, salt, and pepper
Prep:
Combine beef, spices—as much as you would like—and the egg. Mix well in a bowl. The best way to do this is with your hands. Just dig right in and don’t think about how messy it is. :) Roll out meatballs—whatever size you like. Heat oil in a large skillet with a lid. (But keep the lid off for now.) When the pan is hot, add the meatballs. Cook for 3-4 minutes, or until brown on the bottom. Turn the meatballs and brown the other sides. Remove from pan. Set aside. Pour in the tomatoes and scrape up the brown bits from the pan. Add any spices you like to the tomatoes. Once the tomatoes are hot, add the meatballs back in. Bring the sauce to a boil, and then simmer on low for about 15-20 minutes, or until meatballs are cooked through.
I’ve had fun experimenting with new meal ideas over the past few days, including chicken-salsa-avocado lettuce wraps
and a new tuna salad recipe that I made tonight with homemade mayo!
That’s right, kids. I made my own mayo tonight! I’ll have to tell you about that sometime soon!
Alright, time to settle in and watch “The Office.” Tomorrow’s Friday!
I will have to try those meatballs. They sound yummy!
ReplyDeleteI forgot to share that one thing I have been using for "noodles" is zucchini. I bought a little julienne peeler at BB&B and I use that to peel the zucchini into noodles. I will heat them through just a little and then mix with sauce or put them in chicken stock for soup. I like the taste and texture so much better than spaghetti squash, and it's so much easier.
I think you are so right about the wheat. I had an off day yesterday and ended up eating a lot of bread. By the end of the day I felt so yucky. Today is detox day... you are definitely inspiring me to stick with it!