Day 2 (Saturday) / Banana Nut Bars

A day of rest, good eating, great roommates, and a good deal of ny/dayquil really helped me heal quickly. I was still sick/congested, but no longer felt like I had been sucker-punched all over my body. I woke up about 8:45am and eventually made my roommates breakfast (after plenty of hand washing):

• Fried eggs over arugula 
• Sweet & red potato hash (olive oil, salt, pepper) 

Snack 1:

• Almonds 
• Banana & almond butter

Lunch: 

• 1 fried egg over left over sweet potatoes 

Snack 2: 

• Banana nut bars (recipe below) 

Banana Nut Bars! Perdy good and very simple to make. I got this recipe from a paleo book/recipe Cristin gave me. I can't find a link unfortunately.

Ingredients: 

• 2 bananas
• 3 cups nuts (I used 1 cup cashews and 2 cups almonds) 
• 1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
• 2 eggs

Instructions: 

• Combine all ingredients except eggs in a food processor (oops, I included the eggs, and they still came out okay) 
• Pulse until well mixed. You want it pretty well chopped but chunks are delicious so not too much. 
• In a mixing bowl, combine mixture with eggs.
• Press into an 8x8 pan 
• Bake at 350 degrees until done. Mine took about 25 minutes 
• Cut 4x4 so you have 16 bites/bar (or however you want to divide it up) 

These are great for snacks, dessert, or breakfast. 

Dinner: 

• Thai chicken with sauteed onions, bell peppers, green beans, cauliflower "rice" - topped with cilantro and unsalted/raw cashews. Julie made this in a crock pot and it was delicious and filling. I'll try to get the recipe from her soon. 

Snack 3/Dessert: 

• Banana nut bars topped with almond butter and 1/3 banana

Today was better than Day 1 but a bit rough. I was excited to have some energy back so I decided to get some things done and go to the grocery store. Daniel and I ended up going to 3 different stores at the most busy time...I wanted to hurt a lot of people. I do not recommend grocery shopping on a weekend afternoon ever, but especially if you have a bad headache and congested/nasty face.

It is a bit challenging going grocery shopping for Whole 30 because one store might have full-fat coconut milk with no added sugar, but not the cheapest/best produce. Another store may have great deals on produce but not the best meat options. It goes on. I thank Daniel for putting up with my crankiness on this day! We went to Compare Foods for produce and canned tomato stuff for chili / Trader Joe's for stew meat, chicken, ground beef, nuts, eggs, some random other stuff / Harris Teeter for full-fat coconut milk with no added sugar. As I'm writing this I realize how whiny I must sound. I should be thankful, and am, that I do not live in a food desert, can afford groceries, and have a car to go all around town to buy quality food!

On a positive note, I'm really liking Whole 30 this time. I did a version of this back in 2011, and documented it on this blog, but some of the rules were a bit different. It also really helps I'm doing this challenge along with Julie, Cooper and Daniel. We're splitting the groceries and cooking which makes such a huge difference. The only thing I've really missed so far is chocolate. I've noticed that I'm not having as many stomach cramps or bloating. When I finish the challenge, I'm going to actually introduce things into my diet slowly (I didn't do this last time). We shall see!