everyday STRONGER...: Gearing up for Whole Life Challenge

This weekend I started thinking a bit more about my upcoming transition into the Whole Life Challenge (WLC). I’m starting to look at foods that I eat daily and how I can amend/change them to make them WLC compliant. Many who I’ve spoken to about paleo/WLC (not entirely the same but they both require quite an overhaul to normal routines) have mentioned that it just seems like so much work and that they don’t have the time. My response is always the same – you need to plan, plan, plan. Along with this I usually try to spend a few hours on a Sunday afternoon preparing for the week ahead so that lack of time can’t be an excuse. I’m going to try and document more of these processes and highlight recipes that I’ve found/ enjoyed here as well now that we’re about to embark on another (8 week) challenge.

I started off by making a trip to the Angry Almond in the Subiaco farmers market. Brenda had mentioned that she found chestnut flour here and since I’m trying to find an alternate to almond meal for baking I decided to check it out. I haven’t used it yet but I grabbed a package – it’s about the same price as almond meal but the texture is much finer (which is what I’m looking for). I’m not sure how it will behave when used – for example coconut flour is way more absorbent than white flour – but I’m excited to check it out. Also - since legumes are WLC compliant (not so for paleo) – I also picked up a small package of chickpea flour – again, I’m excited about the possibilities. I also grabbed some cheap pitted dates ($3.50/kg) as Angie had mentioned a way to easily make date paste for baking/ as a sweetener).

Angry!

Date paste(aka date butter from Deliciously Fitt Blog)

This was a very easy recipe and didn’t require any measuring – I dumped the (cheap!) dates into a pot, added some water to mostly cover them up, squeezed the juice of a lemon from the tree and put it on high heat to bring to a boil. Almost immediately a candy store sweetness started to waft through my house. It was quite enjoyable. I’m not sure how long I left the dates on the stove – after they reached a boil I half covered, turned the burner down to low and just stirred occasionally. I tried using my blender once they had boiled down – and while it worked I would definitely recommend a hand mixer. My glass blender didn’t like the heat so much (which is I think how the glass cracked – though didn’t break) and struggled a bit with the thickness of the mixture. It still turned out quite well. I made ‘date cubes’ which I think might make it easier to grab small amounts when needed as well as freezing the rest of the mixture to have on hand when I need it. It tastes super sweet and I can’t wait to use it as a honey substitute over the WLC.

Date paste cubes

Date paste - tastes better than it looks

My ‘planning’ isn’t so much in making a list but rather in picking up a ton of stuff from the market – a variety of veggies and herbs and fruit for the week and grabbing sufficient proteins that am craving. I take this all and get creative and it’s how I enjoy cooking. More specific planning to each meal might be more your style, whatever it is just figure out what works and try and stick with it.

Food for the week... time to get creative

Generally at minimum I cook up a bunch of proteins for the week and then I also ensure that I keep my fridge stocked with plenty of easy to cut up/ mix up/ cook up veggies – I tend to steam a lot of stuff just under a cover in the microwave – it only takes a minute or two to do. Here's how I prepared for this week:

Food for the week (a list)

-chicken skewers

-egg ‘muffins’ with bacon, spinach, cherry tomato, onion, basil, mushroom

-pork spare ribs with tomato and honey sauce

-roasted squash (to try breakfast/’oatmeal’ recipe)

-steamed broccolini and baby zucchini

-roasted sweet potato wedges (with sea salt and olive oil)