A Loving Update

Happy Valentine’s Day! No matter what this holiday means to you in terms of earthly relationships, I hope you know that you have a Father in Heaven who loves you. Because He loves you. Because He loves you. No strings attached. He loves you with a love that never ends, He loved us first, before we loved Him, He loves us the most, He is the very definition of love. We would not know love without His example. No matter how you feel about this particular day of the year, I hope you’ll rest in the knowledge that you are indeed loved in a most powerful way and because of that, you too have the capacity to show that love to others.

If there’s someone in your life you want to treat this Valentine’s Day, even if it’s you, I have a special goodie for you to share: A decadent chocolate cake, filled with chocolate cherry frosting and drenched in chocolate ganache. It’s made without gluten, seed oils, or refined sugars. Those things cause leaky gut and a host of other problems and a leaky gut is very decidedly unromantic.

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My daughter and I had some good, quality girl time in the kitchen preparing this special treat for our boys. We know they’ll be surprised! Especially, since we’re on a no dessert, no candy, no treat kick around here until early March. I know the kids have had a few treats here and there (I’m looking at you grandparents), but that’s ok. They are eating way less sugar than normal so it’s still a win.

We’re making an exception for Valentine’s Day with this cake. Sadly, I will not have any, but don’t feel too sorry for me. I’m on day 12 of my Whole 30 Day Sugar Detox and doing really well. Chocolate cake is delicious for sure, but I want to see this through. It can wait a few more weeks. I’ll freeze a slice for myself and enjoy it guilt free in 18 short days.

I have just a couple recipes for you this week, besides the yummy cake:

  • A hearty, one pan dinner of Chicken with Mushrooms and Broccoli. This one stemmed from a desire to recreate chicken divan and morphed into something a little different and totally autoimmune protocol friendly.DSC_2112
  • Super quick, crispy potato chip crusted fish! Yes, I know you’re not supposed to eat chips on the Whole 30, but there were a few crumbs in the bottom of the bag and one piece of fish in the fridge and I needed a quick dinner. This was ready in 10 minutes. Ten minutes! I sautéed some veggies while the fish cooked and I had an extremely satisfying dinner and cleaned out the fridge and pantry to boot!

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  • Tuna patties, ala 1950s. I was just cooking for us girls and the little IMG_4073one actually enjoyed these. Usually we make paleo pizza when it’s just us, but no cheese makes pizza less than desirable. And I’m trying really hard to rein in the budget a little bit and canned tuna is healthy and cheap!

 

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As I said above, the Whole 30 Sugar Detox went pretty smoothly this week. I did indulge in some cheese at our Super Bowl Party, but that was a conscious decision and I didn’t let it derail me. Dairy is not a trigger for me so I knew that I could have a little (and I did have just a little) and it would not send me running for the candy my husband has hidden somewhere around the house. Whether or not dairy causes inflammation for me is yet to be seen. Twelve days into this detox, with that one intake of dairy, and my feet are feeling a little better. The pain varies from day to day, but it is severe enough most of the time that even a small improvement is noticeable and I am so, so thankful for any reprieve!

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Other happenings on the blog this week: the long promised article on Histamine Intolerance is up. You’ve quite possibly never heard of this and therefore think it doesn’t apply to you, but give it a read and see if anything resonates. It was a surprise to me that I have this condition.

In the works:

  • A primer on cooking fats, which ones you should be cooking with and eating and which ones you should leave behind forever. It’s almost finished and will be up next week.
  • A resources page to help you understand all these weird paleo ingredients and where to find them.

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My breakfasts and lunches this week looked very similar to last week.

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I’ve read a lot of other blogs where people chronicled their Whole30 experience and honestly, I’m pretty surprised to see the amount of fruit and chia seed pudding folks are eating. Maybe they’re all doing extreme workouts every single day, but they don’t say so. And they seem to be getting amazing results. So my thoughts…..

  • I am not getting amazing results. Hopefully, this is coming. It is hard to stay motivated when you don’t feel all that different. The Whole30 people say it really does take getting to the half way point or even a little further before you really experience all the increased energy, reduced inflammation, weight loss, obedient children, etc. Oh, maybe that last one doesn’t have anything to do with the sugar detox.
  • Maybe I, too, should be eating more carbs. I make sure I eat fruit or sweet potato on workout days, but I’m talking one piece of fruit or a regular/small serving of potato. I know that I don’t handle seeds well so that chia pudding everyone raves about is not for me.

All this to say, reading about other people’s experiences can be valuable, but you can’t expect the same to work for you. I’m having to be patient and figure out what works for me.

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I so appreciate you being here, reading, following along on my journey and trying my recipes. This is all so new to me and I appreciate every bit of feedback you offer. Please don’t hesitate to comment if something doesn’t make sense, if one of the recipes doesn’t turn out well for you or if you’re curious about some paleo ingredient or other thing. I want this to be useful for you!

Happy Valentine’s Day!