In hindsight, our timing could have been better.

After a wonderful return trip to Germany recently (one reason of many the blog has been so quiet lately), eating and drinking incredible things, we decided to shock our bodies senseless by beginning Whole 30 the day we returned.

“What is Whole 30?” you ask?  Torture.

Okay, that might be a wee exaggeration, but it’s a culinary stretch for us, both in preparation and consumption.

It started rather innocently, when Tad googled how to bake sweet potatoes when I was out of town.  He landed on a Paleo blog, and that, I’m afraid, was that. He landed on a page that showed before and after pictures, which lead him to read more.  The more he read, the more he was convinced this was a Good Thing.

Curses to those healthy food bloggers!

But then, the more I read, the more I was intrigued.

For the first time in my life, I decided to restrict and revise my diet NOT to lose weight but to improve my quality of life.

 

I haven’t slept well in over ten years (and ten years prior to that, I wasn’t sleeping well because of babies!).  My metabolism is flatlined.  My body has changed – really changed – over the past two years and not for the better, and without me eating more.

For 30 days we’ve committed to:

• No dairy (including cheese or yogurt)
• No sugar including natural and artificial sweeteners
• No added sugar (which, when you read American canned good labels, IS IN EVERYTHING)
• No grains (buh-bye beautiful breads, rolls, bagels, English muffins…)
• No soy, carrageenan, MSG or sulfites

So when I’m committed to something like this, I’m ALL in, and I become the Best Rule Follower of Them All.  I even smacked Tad’s hands for chewing gum because it’s off limits!  Gum triggers false signals to your digestive system AND it contains artificial sweeteners.

Interestingly, Whole 30 even engages your brain; we’re having to think more about meal planning. Almost none of my go-to recipes are Whole 30 compliant, so I’m reinventing the menu wheel in our house.  Which is why I’m sharing a recipe today.

I call it Egg McMazings because it’s incredibly versatile and you can add your favorite ingredients.  Basically, I googled a bunch of recipes, and tailored this to what I had on hand:

 

Egg McMazing – Whole 30 Egg Muffins

Ingredients:

• 10 eggs (Whole 30 recommends pastured, grass fed if you can get ’em)
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 cup bell pepper, chopped
• Big ol’ handful of Kale, chopped with stems removed
• Basically your favorite ingredients in whatever amounts you’d like.
• Salt & Pepper to taste

Lightly grease muffin tin or line with muffin cups.  Beat eggs together with salt and pepper and gentle fold in veggies.  Cook for about 20 minutes in a pre-heated 350° oven, or until eggs are set in the middle.  Will keep about 4 days in the refrigerator and my Publix manager (I kid you not, the guy who told me to make these) said they freeze wonderfully.

See??? The EASIEST recipe in the world!!

Notes:

• I sautéed my veggies in a little olive oil because I wanted to make sure they were tender, not crunchy.
• I can’t wait to try this with ground, browned sausage, broccoli, mushrooms and maybe zucchini.
• I’m sure everyone else on the planet would like tomatoes in ’em (blech!).
• I used 11 eggs (I was thinking one per muffin) and had some leftover (I didn’t want to fill muffins too full; can’t stand it if they cook over and brown too much).  I scrambled the remaining mixture and it was *almost* like a frittata (and finished much sooner than the egg muffins).

Questions?  Comments?  Have you tried Whole 30??
I mean, I’M EATING KALE, PEOPLE, even in smoothies.  

I have no idea who I am anymore….