whole 30 update

So...
I didn't fall off the Whole 30 wagon.

Well, not really.
Well, kind of.

But not really.


I started out the year doing the Whole 30...having already made it very clear that I was going to be taking a bit of a "break" for my birthday weekend (which was actually going to be a week or so after my birthday).
As it turns out, one of my close friends also has a January birthday, and invited me out with a group of girlfriends for dinner on 11th.  I'd been doing well on the W30 up until then, but after that dinner out, everything kind of crumbled apart--especially with my knowing that my birthday weekend was just ahead.

Anywhooooo...
last Monday (1/27), my best friend and another close friend (actually the same one that invited me out for dinner in January) started the Whole 30.  So, I started again, all fresh and new, with them.
Let me tell ya, it's an entirely different ball game, doing something like this with friends!  I feel so accountable to them...like if I "cheat," I'm letting down the whole group.

I've been great.  No cheats.  Not even a bite.

Part of what has made this Whole 30 experience so different from the past times that I've done it (an entire W30 last year and the brief W30 bits at the beginning of this year) is that I've been diligent about planning out our meals and doing the appropriate grocery shopping.  
In the past week or two, I've made some of the best W30 meals I've ever tasted...meals that I would eat, that I would crave, even if I wasn't doing the W30.

My all-time favorite (thus far) is this recipe for Comfort Noodles.  After I raved on and on about these on Instagram, someone had the grace to let me know that Melissa Joulwan, who wrote this recipe, also wrote the popular paleo cookbook, Well Fed {{insert smacking forehead}}.  

These "noodles" are to.die.for.
Really and truly.
And they taste just about the furthest thing from a big pile of zucchini that you can imagine.
Make them.  Just make them and taste and see.
Oh.My.Word.
Yes.  They're that good.

Pointers on the noodles:
☛let them "sweat" for a while...she says 20 minutes...I say longer.  I let mine sweat for well over an hour.  The way I figure, the less moisture, the better.  Mine turned out perfectly, so I'll always sweat them for the longer amount of time.
☛trust her...and me...you do need a julienne peeler for these babies.  Don't try to teeny-tiny slice them on your own.  It'll take waaaaaaayyy too long.  Amazon has this one for $10 (and plenty of other choices around that price range)...it's SO worth every penny.
☛if you feel like you need something more substantial than zucchini and eggs, in a separate deep skillet, sauté some chicken breast along with your favorite W30-compliant sausage.  Toss in a bit of minced garlic, along with whatever other seasonings might float your boat.  Oh my, the deliciousness.  This is what I did the first time I made these.  I'm making them again tomorrow night (my second time), and I think I might throw some fresh grape tomatoes in with the chicken breast and sausage, and maybe even a bit of green onion.
☛most importantly, don't skip the almond flour topping.  Trust me.  It sounds like such a little thing.  Don't skip it.  It is SO yummy and well-worth the extra bit of effort to throw it together.  I will say, though, I had a hard time getting mine to crunch up as much as I wanted it to.  When I make these tomorrow night, I'm going to try to use my homemade almond meal rather than almond flour...I'm hoping that the coarser texture of the meal will yield a crunchier end result in the topping.

I'll be back in the next day or two to share another fabulous meal I made...
In the meantime, run out and grab some zucchi-nucchi (zookey-nookey...that's how we say it in this house) and whip up a batch of these.
You won't regret it.