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Ah, Sunday! And a Bank Holiday weekend too so no sinking feeling come the afternoon that I have to go to school in the morning. Had booked a yoga class in the morning so had to get out and make up for my sloth-like behaviour during the week. Quick omelette for pre-gym fuel and a yummy gingersnap peach tea.

After a week of sitting in a desk chair, instead of using my standing desk at home, I could really feel the difference in my hip flexors. A lot less flex! Will have to keep working on it and walk around more in the office. Made a quick Greek salad and lamb meatballs before making the most of the good traffic and going to IKEA Southampton to do some returns – Bank Holiday weekend should have been a nightmare but actually ok. Had to pick up some padkos for the drive home and luckily there was a Tesco Express open. Best option available? Well, it wasn’t the plain roast chicken breast which I bought without checking the label – why would we? It’s only roast chicken. Wrong. Rice Flour, Potato Starch, Cornflour, Dextrose, Brown Sugar, Rapeseed Oil….

The bag of almonds and Mattessons smoked sausage were fine though. Surprising that a Vac-Pak deli sausage could be so crap-free!

Filled up on that during the drive home so didn’t really want dinner when I got in and just had a bottle of water. Stayed up late watching TV and fell asleep on the sofa. Crawled to bed just after midnight.

“It’s the final countdown!… du du doo doo…”

Ok, so it’s a bit more than a week – it’s 9 days but as I shop at the weekends, and we’re going away next weekend, I have to plan up to the end of the Whole30 test period.

After 3 weeks of cooking and freezing meals we actually have enough stored to cover us for the remainder of our Whole 30; just need vegetables and other fresh items. I also need to plan ahead for when we get back from holiday, which will probably entail a bit of clean up, some economical meals and dinners we can get on the table with minimum effort after work and gym. I’m thinking “A week of dinners from 12 items” or similar.

Hubby had gone for a morning run so had breakfast a bit late; grilled bacon with fried eggs and some lovely coffee. Got to spend most of the morning wrapped in my Slanket™, poring over cook books and planning for our final week of Whole30.

Hit the supermarket a bit late but managed to get everything we needed before coming home for lunch and some nice fruit tea in the sunshine. Tried the new Twinings Gingersnap and Peach infusion at Costa coffee the other day, got hooked and managed to track it down in Tesco. Easier than slicing up ginger root, for the office at least. More expensive than your average “fruit tea” bags but still only work out at under 30p each, so cheaper than the café options.

Snacked on anchovies, olives and prosciutto while watching rubbish Saturday night TV. Realised the time and got dinner ready; lamb curry (already made) with roasted cauliflower, then caught up on Breaking Bag – on Series 4 now (shh! No spoilers!) Got to bed a little late but ok, not a school night.

 

Very tired still this morning but managed to get out of bed at a reasonable time. Friday, so was going in “casual” which makes getting out the door a bit quicker. Omelette with smoked mackerel for breakfast. Nice for a change. Avoided the fruit bowl all morning but did have a couple of coffees. Tuna salad for lunch, then had a plum while sitting on a conf call.

Ended up staying late due to another meeting (on a Friday?! FFS!) but drive home didn’t take too long.

Didn’t feel up to doing a full shop so just grabbed some bits to go with the enormous marrow we had for dinner – stuffed it with chorizo and peppers.

Took forever to cook the marrow; recipe said 30mins but I suppose this was a bit of a monster marrow. The other half (nearly a kilo left over!) got stashed in the fridge. No pictures as was too tired.

Only got to bed at 11pm so didn’t expect to be up early in the morning – but what the heck, it’s the weekend 🙂

Getting up is getting harder 🙁 Crawled out of bed and into the shower; found an omelette waiting for me when I got out. Made it to work in plenty of time tho. Hit a bit of a dead end workwise mid-morning so got a cup of lemon tea from the vending machine (not terrible) and a plum.

Held out until 1pm for lunch – smoked mackerel with broccoli, almonds and tomatoes. Plenty of protein and good fats there.

Wasted most of my afternoon trying to fix my laptop, again, and ended up having to stay late while it rebuilt. The fruit bowl was right in front of me so scoffed most of a bunch of grapes and a small orange out of boredom. Really wanted some cheese by the time I’d given up and decided to go home. Added yet more fruit by making pancetta wrapped pear wedges when I got home.

Got started on dinner pronto to stop me snacking; aubergine lasagne. A cross between melanzane parmigiana and a Ragu lasagne, but no béchamel sauce or cheese allowed so topped it with a few spoons of macadamia nut butter instead. Pretty satisfying. Was still wanting cheese after that so had some more water and rode out the craving.

Was falling asleep by 9:30 so hauled off to bed and tried to read for a bit. Zzzzzzz.

Definitely more of a struggle to get out of bed this morning. Black tea and an omelette then on the road in about 15mins. Bit of a stressy morning with technical issues – hate when this stuff is outside my control. Not much I could do except wait, and have a coffee and a banana. Not a big fruit-eater but something to do.

Lunch with the team was nice. Had my madras chicken salad on romaine leaves with a few cherry toms – pleasant change to have people talk about my lunch without a derisive sneer about “Atkins v2.0”. I seem to have joined a foodie group!

Starving by the time I got home (this work malarkey is tiring!) so got cracking with dinner straight away. White fish roasted on top of ratatouille, from a batch I made last week, with a plum for “dessert” while we watched a movie.

Meant to go to bed at 10pm but ended up half-watching the news and half falling asleep on the sofa so got to bed at 10:30 and out cold!

Bit of a scramble to get out on time, but ended up being early for work. Black tea and an omelette for breakie, time for a shower and even managed to blow dry my hair. Am I becoming a morning person?!

Actually took an hour break for lunch, but spent most of it catching up with people over tea. Guzzled my lunch salad (mackerel, beetroot and egg) at my desk in about 5mins but felt well rested.

Was peckish when I got home so had a couple of slices of prosciutto before heading to Waitrose for a few more salad bits. I always prefer to under-shop for perishables like that, and it gives me an excuse to have a mooch around Waitrose 🙂

Nice, spicy jerk chicken for dinner with plantain chips and mango salsa to perk me up. Was getting a bit distressed by the lack of piccies this week so, ta dah!

Knackered but only hauled myself to be at 10:30

Back at work. Up early – and it felt very early to me. Omelette and coffee served by Hubby. Normal morning service resumed after 6 months 🙂

Had a couple of cups of black tea during morning meetings, and a plum. Earl grey tea from the machine is marginally less disgusting than the “English Breakfast” and at least I’d save a small fortune on coffee bar lattes!

Bit of a late break for lunch, due to meetings and the like, but luckily I made a packed lunch so didn’t have to worry about eating. Having worked here before I knew that the canteen can be sadly lacking in options. Got a cup of coffee with the new boss, but that was my lot for the day.

Home at a reasonable hour and instructed Hubby on how to cook dinner. A rustic Spanish pig’s cheek stew with lots of carrot, onion and smoked paprika served with celeriac (leftover from the whole celeriac I roasted on Saturday night) to mop up the sauce. Mmmm 🙂

Very tired but only got off to bed at 10:30 Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

 

This was going to be another tricky day. Family lunch to celebrate 2 birthdays – which normally means fizz and cake. Filled up on gammon and eggs for breakfast, then tucked into cold roast beef and ham with veggies for luncheon swapping the cake and ice cream for some fresh raspberries. Simples and plenty filling. Not having cake wasn’t a problem (not really a cake person) but no horseradish sauce on beef – aaargghh!!!

A quite pre-evening of laundry and reading, accompanied by some ginger tea (not had any for a while) and preparing packed lunch for tomorrow. Even though it’s Sunday, I really didn’t miss a glass of wine. Hmm, must be personal growth!

For supper I had some more ham-wrapped peaches and leftover roast chicken, followed by kippers with poached eggs. Bit of nursery food 🙂

Yay! Hump Day! Somehow managed to sleep until 10:30

No idea how that happened. Wasn’t a late night and it’s not like I did much yesterday. Skipped breakfast as it was so late and I has food shopping to do. After a dash around Sainsburys, made greens, eggs and ham for lunch (the last of the kale with crispy prosciutto) .

Then popped out for a 5km walk. Picked up some dried apple and pear to nibble on. Might have been a bad idea as ended up with a bit of a sugar rush.

Nice cup of coffee when we got back. Really wanted a latte but … not long to go now. Downhill from here! Our final 2 days of Whole30 will be in Madrid so not sure how we’ll manage. No problem getting black coffee, but staying away from cheese and sugar might be tricky as well as wasting all that tapas bread. On the plus side, we also get to break or Whole30 in Spain 🙂

Special Saturday night dinner of crudités with tonnato (yes, tonnato) sauce dip followed by steak with roast celeriac. Watched a very long movie so only in bed at 11pm.