Round 2, Days 5&6: The Days of the Leftovers

I'm playing catch up this morning from the past two days. It's been a crazy busy 48 hours. I haven't really had time to cook the things I have planned out, so I've been living on leftovers, random snacks and impromptu meals. I've been feeling the effects of that. I've been snacking more, my energy levels have been all over the map, and I have a general feeling of disorganization. I don't feel as aligned with my life as I've previously been. Today I've resolved to organize myself again and get on top of this sense of chaos in my life.

It's getting much easier to say "no" to temptations for the most part. Yesterday I had a stressful morning with two cranky toddlers. I would have given anything to eat a cookie (or any kind of baked good, really). I was a little pouty about it, to be honest.

One positive body change I have noticed is an obvious lack of swelling in my lower legs and ankles. Almost constant adema has been a perpetual problem for me for years, especially in the hot summer months. It used to be so bad that I couldn't wear flats or flip-flops because they made the swelling so much worse. Lately I've had one or two days where my ankles have been a touch swollen, but the improvement overall has been HUGE. I even wore flip-flops for an entire day without feeling like I had elephant feet by the end of the day. It's been an amazing feeling. I party a little bit about it in my head everyday. It's a big deal, people.

Now that I'm feeling much more confident with recipes and cooking, I need to add some physical activities. I have an UP24 band by Jawbone that I've been relying on for a measure of my physical activity, but my steps have been a little...lame...lately. I've decided to increase my focus on exercise this week.

I've had a few people ask me for the Whole30 mayo recipe and the chicken hash I keep raving about, so here they are:

Melissa's Chicken Hash

Ingredients:

1 T cooking fat, like Ghee or olive oil
1lb boneless skinless chicken thighs cut in 1-inch dice
1/4 cup of walnuts, roughly chopped
1 granny smith apple, cored, peeled and large-diced
1/2 sweet potato, peeled and grated
Two generous handfuls arugula
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
salt and pepper, to taste

Instructions:

1. In a large skillet, heat up cooking fat on medium high heat. When cooking fat is hot, add chicken, season with salt and pepper, and brown on one side, making sure not to crowd the pan, about 2-3 minutes.
2. Add walnuts to toast, shaking the pan occasionally so the walnuts don't burn. Turn chicken to brown on the other side.
3. Add apple, sweet potato and red pepper flakes. Cook until apples are soft, 2-3 minutes.
4. Add arugula and cook another 30 seconds or until wilted. Add more salt to taste
Serve immediately.

Whole30 Mayo:

I'll refer you to the following link for the base mayo recipe. To make cilantro lime, add 2T of finely chipped cilantro and substitute the lemon juice in the recipe for lime.

http://whole30.com/2014/05/mayo/

What I ate:

Ummmm... I don't remember... but here's two pictures:

On the left: Breakfast yesterday; Rando leftovers topped with two fried eggs and a side of strawberries.

On the right: Leftover potato salad and hot dog with a drizzle of mustard (which is DELICIOUS by the way. I'll never know why I haven't liked mustard before now...) and a side of raspberries. No, this isn't my toddler's lunch...