cocktail sauce - whole 30 style!

So I am still going on strong with Whole 30 - but man, do I feel that sugar hangover. It's inevitable. I mean, I think I eat pretty healthy (compared to most) but I am nowhere near perfect so of course I am going to have that sugar crash.

I am also craving bread and cheese (and damn you Wegmans sample lady for lovingly pushing a whole wheat baguette covered ever so beautifully by a block of gouda). But I digress.

I am allowed seafood (wild-caught, sustainable seafood of course!) and I really wanted shrimp but who can eat plain shrimp? Not me, so I wanted cocktail sauce with it. But of course cocktail sauce (the typical kind you'd get at a restaurant or the store) is not really "whole 30 compliant"...

So I did some (a lot) of googling and lo and behold - I give you whole 30 cocktail sauce!

• tomato sauce (1 tablespoon)
• chopped celery (half a teaspoon)
• horseradish (half a tablespoon)
• sat & pepper (half a teaspoon)
• lemon juice (half a tablespoon)

Now, I could not, FOR THE LIFE OF ME, find the measurements for this so I just experimented to taste so I recommend you do the same.

I mixed all the ingredients and I was pretty happy with it. Reminded me of cocktail sauce but also had a nice tang to it.

I ate it, so obviously I recommend this.

I also tried to make Whole 30 approved mayo but that did not work out as well. Guess I'm sticking to avocado as a substitute!

6 days down... 24 to go!

egg muffins

I suppose now is a good time to announce this new food venture I have decided to take.

 Whole 30.

Now, if you do decide to click that little link... don't be fooled. This NOT a quick fix diet program. In fact, I despise the word diet. DESPISE IT.

I lost sixty pounds in 2011 and do you know how I did it? By NOT dieting.

Yes, I changed my eating habits and cut out most of the junk but I learned this handy thing called "moderation" and it changed my life!

But lately, I've just been feeling... not good. So after much consideration, lots of back and forth, and lots of research I decided to just go for it

Basically, Whole 30 is 30 days with no processed foods, no added sugars, no grains (bye bye bread!, and no dairy... among other things. I can eat eggs, meat, fruit, and veggies. I can eat almond butter and nuts and I just have to be careful and aware of how food is prepared. I don't want to write a book about this but certain oils are not allowed, I can't eat butter, and there are a bunch of other things that are off-limits.

Today is day 4. And yes, I miss my yogurt and my coffee creamer. And I want a large pizza from my favorite pizzeria and a cupcake from Wegmans. But I know this is going to make me feel like a million bucks. The point is to learn about food and nutrition. After 30 days, I will (slowly) introduce all those things back in my life but the goal is to not want to anymore. The goal is to choose the healthy and natural foods over the processed and junk foods.

Okay, I will jump off my soap box for now and get on to the real purpose behind this post.

EGG MUFFINS!

Since yesterday I ran a 5K, I knew I needed my usual pre-run fuel. Usually, it is a banana and toast with peanut butter. Well, since I am not allowed to eat peanut butter OR bread and I knew just a banana would not cut it, I decided to whip up some egg muffins.

You really just need a few things:

• eggs (well, duh)
• your favorite kind of breakfast meat (I chose sausage - organic, all natural, with pretty much no added processed crap)
• your favorite veggie (I picked broccoli)

I gather you probably want to use 1 egg per muffin. I made three muffins so I used three eggs.

 Before I go any further, can I just point out something? See these cracked shells? These are leftover from my breakfast Friday morning. I stupidly forgot to throw them out. I am definitely absent-minded when it comes to the kitchen.

Oh, and this muffin pan? Still had the PACKAGING on it. Who knows how long this baby has been chilling in my cabinet...

I mixed up my eggs, added my sausage and broccoli, and put them in my muffin pan and stuck them in my oven.

I let them bake for about 18-20 minutes. My oven is a little wonky so I kept checking them. When they seemed done, I let them sit for a bit and then into the fridge they went.

Before we left for the race on Saturday, I heated them up in the microwave, threw them in a baggie, and off we went.

They tasted yummy - like omelettes you can hold in your hands and they were great race fuel. I ran my quickest 5K since October. No, I did not get a personal best but I did well for myself and I was happy.

Egg muffins, you and some more varieties will be welcome in my mouth anytime.