My Whole30 Experience

10 minutes ago marked the official halfway point of my first Whole30 experience. The end is in sight!

But what is the Whole30 you ask? It is a 30 day eating program that eliminates certain foods to help reset your metabolism and allow your body to heal. This site explains it all - no point reinventing the wheel here.

The science behind is all laid out in 'It All Starts With Food' by Dallas and Melissa Hartwig. I am yet to read it but by all accounts, it's meant to be marvellous. You know my birthday is coming up right??

A Real Food Recipe: Hazelnut Banana Bread

 Gone are the days of bread, bread and more bread. I grew up on Vegemite on toast for breakfast every single day. I had sandwiches for lunch. I had garlic bread or buttered bread with my dinner. I'd snack on bread. Yeah, I pretty much lived on bread. I am yet to experiment with a paleo-style bread that could be substituted for normal bread - you know, like to make sandwiches with. But I gave this recipe a whirl and was pretty  impressed! It's not very ideal for 'sandwiches' per se, but it makes a great breakfast and snack substitute. I do wonder how Vegemite would go on it though...

A Real Food Recipe: Blueberry Hazelnut Crumble

I can't remember having desserts very often as a kid. The folks were (and still are) hard workers (obsessive really) who would get home late every night with dinner usually around the 8pm mark (others having dinner at 6:30pm just boggled my mind). So it was probably too late to have a dessert. They'd just give us a cup of Milo and a biscuit if we were lucky and off to bed we would go.

A Real Food Recipe: Grain-Free Strawberry Banana Muffins

I love going back to my parents place. It's a country side haven with a mountain view, fresh air and a huge home cinema where I obsessively watch The Mentalist series over and over. And dogs. Five of them actually. There's Che, Nicki, Macy, Harvey and Hershey. Harvey's my brothers dog, he's the most homeless looking dog I've ever seen. Hershey's mine, a gorgeous red/tan kelpie pup and it's a mini holiday for her too. But hey, fancy that, the most health conscious member of the family has the dog named after a sugar-filled treat. Yeah, fancy that.

A Real Food Recipe: Coco-Choc Biscuits

I’ve always regarded myself as more of a ‘savoury’ tooth than a sweet tooth. I was that odd kid that didn’t eat the birthday cake.  Especially if it was chocolate cake. Ugh. But ice-cream cake, yes please! I never had the urge to buy, let alone make, baked treats. Muffins, slices, tarts, meringues, all those colourful sugar-coated treats at the nearest and dearest bakery just didn’t get me excited. Instead, just give me a packet of salty chips and I’m on my merry way.