My Whole30 Journey - Cool Veggie-Packed Gazpacho

I am often asked where I am from, or where my family is from. Its a nice way of asking why I my coloring is as dark as it is. The truth is that I am fully American, like Mayflower American. Okay, maybe not that far back, but almost! I usually appease people with an answer that will give them the information they want: I have dark skin and hair because part of my dad's family is from Spain.

Spain is responsible for some pretty awesome contributions to this world. The language, the classical guitar, some awesome artists (Dali, Picasso, etc...), the siesta, and of course the food! Spanish tapas is one of the best culinary experiences available. 

Tapas is basically a smorgasbord of small portions of different appetizers or snacks. Usually you would order a few different items and share amongst the table. The idea is that you would have more opportunity for conversation because you aren't focused on eating an entire meal, and because you are sharing everything on the table. A little sangria doesn't hurt either!

One of the things I always order at a Spanish tapas resteraunt is gazpacho. Essencially cold soup. Gazpacho can really be anything from fruit soups (Tropical Fruit Gazpacho recipe) to salsa type soups. Everything in gazpacho is always fresh and flavorful. Its really so refreshing to sip down a cup of this chilled soup.

gazpacho served with stake and fried plantains (Whole30 approved!)

This particuallar recipe has been tweeked from Ina Garten's recipe. I added some extra veggies, and some fresh cilantro (love me some cilantro), and a little kick of jalapeno. I think my additions just kick up the recipe. 

I love a good bowl of this cool Spanish soup on a hot day. It has amazing flavors, spicy and fresh, it just makes your mouth sing! Its also packed with fresh veggies so its awesomely healthy.

heck yes! make your body happy!

Unless you are on a no-vegetables diet, this will be approved! Its paleo/primal/caveman, nut, grain, gluten, sugar, sweeteners, fat, soy, egg, and dairy free, its also vegan and raw. I mean come on! Talk about healthy! Its also pretty simple to make, just toss your veggies in a food processor or blender and then let it all chill so the flavors blend. Its a pretty impressive little soup for a dinner party or just keep it all to yourself and take it to work for lunch.

Cool Veggie-Packed Gazpacho
(adapted from Ina Garten's The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook, foodnetwork.com)

• 1 hothouse cucumber, halved and seeded, but not peeled
• 1 zucchini 
• 2 red bell peppers, cored and seeded
• 4 plum tomatoes
• 1 red onion (optional)
• 5 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 bunch cilantro
• 23 ounces V8 tomato juice (3 cups)
• 1/4 cup good olive oil
• 1/2 tablespoon kosher salt
• 1 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
• Optional garnishes: fresh cilantro, lime wedges, avocado

Roughly chop the cucumbers, bell peppers, tomatoes, and red onions into 1-inch cubes. Put each vegetable separately into a food processor fitted with a steel blade and pulse until it is coarsely chopped. Do not over-process!After each vegetable is processed, combine them in a large bowl and add the garlic, tomato juice, vinegar, olive oil, salt, and pepper. Mix well and chill before serving. The longer gazpacho sits, the more the flavors develop. Garnish as you like and serve with crusty bread, tortilla chips, or just on its own.

Prep Time: 20 minutes
Serves: 4-8 (depending on your portion sizes, I got about 8 servings)

My Whole30 Journey - Reintroduction

iced coffee with cream

Day 1 - Dairy

What I ate:

• A splash of cream in my coffee - it was good, but honestly I like coconut milk in coffee. I don't think I will go back to cream unless that is the only option
• Two spoonfuls of plain Greek yogurt over peaches - again, good but I like coconut milk.
• Three slices of cheese with turkey roll-ups - this was more what I had been missing.
• Small amount of mozzarella with dinner - yup! I missed cheese!
• Small bowl of ice cream after dinner - holy sweetness Batman! I haven't had any kind of sweeteners in a month and that sugary ice cream was crazy! It didn't even taste that awesome. I wasn't relishing it, it was almost sickeningly sweet. 

How I felt:

Ugh! I started feeling kind of crampy in my hips and lower back, kind of like mild

contractions or PMS. My joints felt sore, I was bloated, and I got a stomach ache after the ice cream. I had a really hard time falling asleep and didn't sleep well at all. Seems like my body isn't loving the dairy or the sugar.

Day 4 - Gluten

amish friendship bread
(not actually what I ate, but I forgot to take a pic)

What I ate:

• 1/2 of a giant (seriously, bigger than my head) pancake - couldn't eat more than half.
• A few Ritz crackers through out the day - megh, take it or leave it.
• A slice of homemade wheat bread with dinner - this was pretty good, I really do love a good slice of homemade bread.

How I felt:

Honestly, gluten is what I was expecting would give me to hardest time, and I didn't notice any reaction. I felt fine on the day I introduced it and I felt fine in the days following.

grits from mallery street cafe, st. simons island, georgia

Day 7 - Non-Gluten Grains

What I ate:

• Grits with breakfast - we were in Georgia, so I had a good southern bowl of grits!
• Gluten-free bread sandwich - Udi makes a really tasty bread.
• Rice with dinner - just white rice, not to interesting. take it or leave it.

How I felt:

I was pretty much fine all day until after dinner. My fingers started to swell up about 45 minutes after dinner. It was slightly itchy and painful. I am thinking rice may not be my ticket to healthy living.

Day 10 - Legumes

SKIPPED IT! 

I don't really have any desire to reintroduce legumes into my diet. I honestly don't miss them. Not even peanut butter. 

My Whole30 Journey - Week 4

This is going to be a short post, I am still riding the high of Week 3, but I wanted to share a little of my Week 4 experiences. 

This week has been a little harder than last week. I have been more tired and have taken a few naps, but I am pretty sure that has more to do with A waking up a few times a night to feed and chasing after J all day long. 

I have noticed that my skin has been clearer. I have pretty sensitive skin and if I don't rinse my face off after eating a juicy piece of fruit then I will break out. I had a rash on my chin, it wasn't really visible but it was bumpy. It had been there for a few weeks and I couldn't figure out what it was from. That has pretty much disappeared. I also had some form of hives on my hand, again no idea where it came from, and that is gone too.

I have eaten a ton of great food on this journey. Its been amazing how rewarding real, clean, healthy food can be after you get all the crap flushed out of your system. I cannot wait to share some more recipes!

I am looking forward to the reintroduction process. I can't wait to have cheese again! I am a little worried that I won't like it anymore, so many people say that the foods they loved before don't really appeal to them after the Whole30. I really want to still love cheese, especially since that is one of the foods that is paleo approved. 

CONFESSION: I didn't actually start reading It Starts with Food until mid Week 3. I don't recommend that course of action. I read a ton of stuff from the Whole30/Whole9 website and blog, but didn't start reading the book until later. I still haven't finished it and am kind of skipping around a little to get whats important in the moment. I think the Whole30 is doable and doable successfully without reading It Starts with Food, but I think you will get a lot more out of the program and be even more successful long term if you read the book. 

That's it for now folks! 

Let me know if you are thinking about starting your own Whole30 Journey! 

Xoxo, 

Coco

My Whole 30 Journey - Tropical Fruit Gazpacho

When we were packing up our apartment to move I ended up with 3 good sized boxes full of cook books. I have a problem. I come by this problem honestly, my mom also has quite the collection. My bet is if they were to move she would have more than just 3 messily boxes.

Recently she has been adding to her paleo and primal cookbook collection. She has some great ones. I love to raid her bookshelves in search of the perfect recipes. 

Make it Paleo, by Bill Staley and Hayley Mason

This week she has been cooking out of Make it Paleo, by Bill Staley and Hayley Mason. I love this cookbook! Its full of beautiful full page, full color photos. Its like reading a recipe blog. Oh, and the recipes are great too :)

So far, I have made two recipes from Make it Paleo. Chocolate Pie (for my dad's birthday, post to come) and this Tropical Fruit Gazpacho or Summer Soup. 

Tropical Fruit Gazpacho from Make it Paleo

This soup is wonderful. Its has a cool, refreshing quality and its not too sweet. Its like a trip to the Bahamas! We ate it as a first course, but it would be perfect for breakfast or as a dessert or in shot glasses at a party.

Its important to use fresh ingredients, the soup isn't cooked and relies on the fresh fruity flavors of the fruit used. Make sure everything you are using is ripe and naturally delicious. I did use about a 1/2 of a cup of coconut flakes instead of a fresh coconut (didn't feel like hacking into a coconut), but that is the only substitution I have experimented with.

Tropical Fruit Gazpacho
(Original recipe from, Make it Paleo: Over 200 Grain Free Recipes for Any Occasion, by Bill Staley and Hayley Mason.)

• 1 pineapple, peeled and chopped
• 1 mango, peeled and chopped
• 1/2 cucumber, peeled, seeded, and chopped
• 1/2 coconut, chopped (or 1/2 cup dried coconut flakes)
• 1 lime, juiced
• Optional garnish: lime wedges, chopped mango or pineapple, coconut flakes, cucumber slices

Peel and chop pineapple, mango and cumber. Reserve 1/2 cup of diced pineapple to add after blending.

Tap open coconut using blunt edge of a chef's knife, separate meat from shell. Using a vegetable peeler, remove the think inner skin. Shop coconut meat into chunks.

In a high-speed blender or food processor, blend coconut chunks on high until finely shredded. (I did this even with the dried coconut flakes.)

Add mango, pineapple, and cucumber, and puree.

Squeeze in lime juice, and continue to process until smooth.

Stir in diced pineapple. Garnish and serve.

Prep time: 15 minutes

Serves: 6

Will impress: Everyone!

My mom's recipe notes.

I highly recommend buying this cookbook. Make it Paleo: Over 200 Grain Free Recipes for Any Occasion, by Bill Staley and Hayley Mason. Available on Amazon.com and on shelves at any major book store. Or visit their website at The Food Lovers Kitchen.