So far, so good! I haven't experienced any headaches or crazy cravings yet. I did almost cry today when I saw a Jersey Mike's advertisement, so maybe I am experiencing SOME level of craving! Bread is still delicious. I also long for a Dr Pepper every time I drive past a Sonic, but whatever.
I feel like I ate a ton the first four days and then my appetite slowed down. Last night, I wasn't hungry for dinner, so I munched on some almonds and a few clementines. Today, I wasn't hungry for lunch, so I picked at the chicken salad I made once it got cold and left it at that. I remember this distinctly from my first successful round of Whole 30 - I would eat two full meals and then basically snack for the third one (usually lunch). I'm also really trying to listen to my body, so hopefully that's what I SHOULD be doing, instead of eating just because it's a "meal" time.
At this point, I am most proud of my homemade mayo and subsequent homemade chicken salad using said mayo. I used the recipe in It Starts with Food and could not be happier with the way it turned out. I first used it as the base of the Dreamy Avocado Dressing (also from It Starts with Food) and HOLY YUM was that delicious. Today, I kind of winged my way through making chicken salad. I have never made chicken salad before - mostly because my mom's is terrific and why fix what ain't broke? So I called her, figured out what she did, and just went with it. I thawed some chicken tenderloins, threw them in a pot with two carrots, two piece of celery, and half of a white onion (this way of preparation has a French term that my mom threw at me, and clearly I absorbed - I will look it up), and boiled them until cooked through. Then I shredded that chicken in my Kitchen Aid mixer with the paddle attachment. People - if you haven't discovered this kitchen hack yet, allow me to educate you. You can put whole chicken breasts in the bowl, turn it on, and it will shred that chicken PERFECTLY. Never again will you shred chicken by hand. You're welcome. After it was shredded perfectly, as always, I added diced celery, diced granny smith apples (my mom doesn't do this, but apparently her Granny did - Granny was right!), homemade mayo, and some salt & pepper. I mixed it up and threw it in the fridge. Y'ALL - IT IS SO GOOD. Just trust me and make it yourself. Or ask me, and I'll make some for you. I may or may not have to make some more tomorrow because my forkfuls throughout the day put an unexpected dent in my supply for lunches this week.
My other big win was making my own vegetable broth. I saw this silly thing on Facebook a few months ago and making your own broth using leftover veggie scraps that you just collect over time and stick in the freezer in a gallon Ziploc bag until it is full. Well, I have had two gallon Ziploc bags in my freezer for months, and I never made the broth. Fast forward to last Monday when I was combing the shelves at Publix looking for any kind of broth that didn't have sugar in it. Long story short - NONE OF THEM DO NOT HAVE SUGAR AS AN INGREDIENT. So, home I came. I grabbed a large Dutch oven, threw in the veggie scraps, covered them with water, and set it to simmer. I let it simmer for about an hour before I strained it. I couldn't tell at that point if it was going to be any good. It smelled a little funny to me, to be honest. I was planning to use it to make hamburger veggie soup two days later, so I just set it in the fridge and pulled it back out on Wednesday night. I usually use beef broth for this soup, which typically has more flavor to begin with. Y'ALL - THE SOUP WAS BETTER THAN NORMAL. Like so good. Had so much flavor! It was so simple to make, and basically free - I used what I would have normally thrown away and water to create this. That's it! I did not have to buy one single thing.
No big flubs so far - I'm sticking to pretty basic things that have a low level of risk. It's working for me. Fingers crossed that it continues to do so!
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