I have been experimenting with tons of new recipes and have discovered that I can actually cook.  I am pretty sure I always had it in me but if I said I couldn’t cook then I had justification not to.  My go to breakfast is still avocado, hard-boiled egg and tomato mix.  My favorite lunch has definitely been taco salad.  Every weekend I make up a batch of ground beef with taco seasoning using this recipe I found on Primal Palate.

Ingredients:

• 2 T chili powder
• 1-1/2 T cumin (I decrease this a bit)
• 1-1/2 T paprika
• 1 T onion powder
• 1 T garlic powder
• 2 tsp oregano
• 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

Rule of thumb is to use 1 tbsp of taco seasoning per pound of ground meat.

I chop up some iceberg lettuce, a tomato, half of an avocado, some cucumber.  Scoop a generous potion of taco meat and a large dollop of guacamole and salsa (both whole30 approved…meaning they have no sugar…tough to find salsa with no sugar).  Mix it all together and enjoy.  So delicious.

Our suppers have been all over the place, from crock pot roast to apple baked chicken to baked coconut shrimp.  I usually serve 2 veggies along with our meat.  Our favourites are grilled peppers, spaghetti squash, steamed broccoli and of course, sweet potato fries.

Overall, I am feeling just dandy.  Now on to the wonderful monstrosity that has taken over our basement….

Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world. You’re doing things you’ve never done before, and more importantly, you’re Doing Something.

So that’s my wish for you, and all of us, and my wish for myself. Make New Mistakes. Make glorious, amazing mistakes. Make mistakes nobody’s ever made before. Don’t freeze, don’t stop, don’t worry that it isn’t good enough, or it isn’t perfect, whatever it is: art, or love, or work or family or life.

Whatever it is you’re scared of doing, Do it.

Make your mistakes, next year and forever.

My Mom introduced me to this quote by Neil Gaiman which she read on her friend Kate’s blog, Inspired.  Isn’t it wonderful!

This is what I am thinking of as I admit to you my Whole30 challenge went astray last week as I was fighting off some strep bacteria that decided my throat was the place to be.  I was sick and when you’re sick you want things like a can of mushroom soup and when it is the only thing you can eat…you gladly take it.  My first thought as I was slurping my delicious over processed can of soup was that I failed.  I am now realizing how ridiculous that must sound.  So instead of thinking of this challenge as a total failure, I am thinking of it as rolling with the punches and learning from my mistakes.

I learned:

• This challenge is difficult and really makes you look at what you are eating…there is sugar in everything, I mean everything!  Read your labels!
• I need to plan meals and have some go to meals in the freezer ready to go for those nights when grabbing a Super Soft Taco is much easier than waiting for my ground beef to thaw.
• I have discovered the breakfast of my dreams that is healthy, delicious, filling and doesn’t gross me out like scrambled eggs sometimes do in the early morning.  Chop up 1-2 hard-boiled eggs, half an avocado and a tomato.  Mix, add some salt and pepper and the occasional piece of bacon and enjoy.
• To cook the perfect hard-boiled egg, place 1 layer of eggs in pot, add water until eggs are covered by 1 inch, bring to boil, cover and remove from heat, let stand 18-20 minutes…perfect…only took me 31 years and a little help from google to figure that one out.
• Although the “mistake” came on day 6 we have continued to eat about 80% Whole30 20% other.  The other includes the occasional soymilk latte (need to try Almond milk) and Super Soft Taco.  In other words, it is totally possible to do this thing.

I actually think this trial period was great for me because it set me up with the tools for a successful Whole30.  So…here we go.

Crossfit Lethbridge is challenging all of their members to some goal setting.  You choose your pay in ($50.00), set challenging yet attainable goals, when you successfully reach your goals at the end of the 6 weeks, you get your money back.

My goals are:

• back squat body weight
• improve flexibility, mainly shoulder and hamstring flexibility (my coach is going to help me with measuring this)
• more awareness of depth of squat
• complete Whole30

I can do it.  I have this little one cheering me on…

{this moment} – A Friday ritual.   A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

{this moment} – A Friday ritual.   A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Still sick…

According to the folks over at Whole9life, the next 30 days will change your life. It will change the way you think about food, it will change your tastes, it will change your habits and your cravings. It could, quite possibly, change the emotional relationship you have with food, and with your body. It has the potential to change the way you eat for the rest of your life.

So that is what Ry, myself, our cousin Lonee and millions of strangers have decided to do.  I have had my January buffer week and now it is time to jump into 2012.

Here is a breakdown of the whole30 programs as outlined on whole9life.com:

Eat real food – meat, seafood, eggs, tons of vegetables, some fruit, and plenty of good fats from fruits, oils, nuts and seeds. Eat foods with very few ingredients, all pronounceable ingredients, or better yet, no ingredients listed at all because they’re totally natural and unprocessed.

More importantly, here’s what NOT to eat during the duration of your Whole30 program. Omitting all of these foods and beverages will help you regain your healthy metabolism, reduce systemic inflammation, and help you discover how these foods are truly impacting your health, fitness and quality of life.

• Do not consume added sugar of any kind, real or artificial. No maple syrup, honey, agave nectar, Splenda, Equal, Nutrasweet, xylitol, stevia, etc. Read your labels because companies sneak sugar into products in ways you might not recognize.

• Do not consume alcohol, in any form, not even for cooking. (And it should go without saying, but no tobacco products of any sort, either.)

• Do not eat grains. This includes (but is not limited to) wheat, rye, barley, oats, corn, rice, millet, bulgur, sorghum, amaranth, buckwheat, sprouted grains and all of those gluten-free pseudo-grains like quinoa. Yes, we said corn… for the purposes of this program, corn is a grain! This also includes all the ways we add wheat, corn and rice into our foods in the form of bran, germ, starch and so on. Again, read your labels.

• Do not eat legumes. This includes beans of all kinds (black, red, pinto, navy, white, kidney, lima, fava, etc.), peas, chickpeas, lentils, and peanuts. No peanut butter, either. This also includes all forms of soy – soy sauce, miso, tofu, tempeh, edamame, and all the ways we sneak soy into foods (like lecithin).

• Do not eat dairy. This includes cow, goat or sheep’s milk products such as cream, cheese (hard or soft), kefir, yogurt (even Greek), and sour cream… with the exception of clarified butter or ghee.

• Do not eat white potatoes. This is somewhat arbitrary, but if we are trying to change your habits and improve the hormonal impact of your food choices, it’s best to leave white, red, purple, Yukon gold and fingerling potatoes off your plate.

There you have it plain and simple…but not so much.  Ry and I already ran into a few snags today…we ate some pea’s…oops, should have read a little closer.  We also had our emergenC this evening which contains fructose but we figured at this point in our week-long terrible cold/flu the benefits of a mighty dose of Vitamin C out weigh the cons.

Here is a breakdown of whole30 day 1 at the Cochrane home:

• Breakfast: 2 scrambled eggs, turkey bacon (which we are to limit), handful of baby carrots and part of an apple that we shared with Vaya.  Green tea.
• Lunch:  half can of tuna on salad of spinach, iceberg lettuce, carrots, cucumber and olive oil/balsamic vinegar dressing.
• Supper:  4 (5 for Ry) Not Your Typical Grandmas Paleo Meat Balls on a bed of Spinach with some peas…again, oops.
• After supper:  EmergenC, camomile tea and half an apple with cinnamon.

So far so good.  Besides this dang cold/flu we are feeling great….well not great, I still feel like I was hit by a bus and Ry horked something up into the sink that looked like part of his brain however, we are proud of ourselves for having a good first whole30 day.  I know I am going to get questioned on why we are doing this…so I will answer it right here, right now.  Ry and I are doing this challenge to see if it does change the way we feel.  If we have the capability to have more energy, better sleep, increased attention span, decreased food cravings than I think it is worth a good effort.  We do not need to lose weight but this may help us during and recovering from our workouts and maybe replace some softer areas with lean muscle.

Time for bed.  We party animals are tired…

See you tomorrow for day 2…and more adorable Vaya pictures.

{this moment} – A Friday ritual.   A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Happy New Year everyone…obviously one of my New Year’s resolutions should be to blog more…and it is, but I have decided that I needed the first week of January as a buffer…

{this moment} – A Friday ritual.   A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

• I fell in love with crossfit and have been devoting a few hours of my days off heading to Crossfit Lethbridge and working my butt off…Vaya usually comes too and eats chalk, runs around, does some rowing and chats with the other kiddos and by chats I mean steals their sippy cups.
• Vaya has increased her vocabulary like crazy, loves the word apple and loves counting (especially number two for some reason)

• Vaya has almost mastered a forward roll, I am pretty sure Ryan is worried that I am going to be a crazy gymnast mom.
• We had wonderful visits from both of our families which made us so excited for Christmas and some more family time.

• We are riding in style in our new MiniVan…yup we are those people…you can make fun of our minivan all you would like but we love it and will never go back.
• I had a girls weekend away with a great friend and experienced my first black friday in Kaliespell…well I am not sure it counts if you are sitting on the couch in Whitfish gossiping with a glass of wine in hand by 10pm Thursday and hitting the stores by noon black friday while all the crazy shoppers are sleeping off their all nighter.
• That brings us to today where I am so honoured to be featured on my gal pal Deena’s blog.  The blog world has brought Deena and I back together after not seeing each other much since high school.  I have always looked up to Deena as a beautiful friend who takes gorgeous photos, is a natural athlete and a creative wonderful Mama.  Deena has the biggest heart and it shows through her writing.  Thank so much my friend!

a happy little girl who insists on wearing a ladybug costume over her sleeper.