Whole30, day 15: Eggs in Indian spiced tomato sauce

Two weeks in and I keep feeling better and better. The lovely spring weather is helping, but it can't get all the credits. I'm not sure what it is, because I have been eating pretty much primally since august 2011. Does not eating any dairy really make me feel this much better? Or is it the lack of crappy sweeteners (I was using quite a lot of sucralose and I was sneaking more and more diet coke into my diet)? If I'm honest, I hope it's the sweeteners, because I think it's easier to live without...

It amazes me what a challenge like this can do to the way you think and feel about food. When I started this only two weeks ago, I told myself I could stuck to anything for only thirty days, but I would definitely eat cheese or cream as soon as those thirty days were over. Now, only two weeks later, I think I could live without dairy for a few more weeks. It's not nearly as hard as I thought it would be. I used make quite a few dishes with cream in it. Now I use coconut milk or creamed coconut a little more and I really don't care much for heavy cream. Ghee is nearly as good as butter and a tablespoon of fruit juice in a dressing is just as fine as artificial sweetener. I won't say I will never have any dairy or sweetener again, I'm sure I will, but honestly...it's a lot easier than I imagined. And maybe it sounds a little silly, but that insight, that I don't need all these things, makes me feel happy and kind of liberated. What a thirty day challenge can do....

Whole30, day 14: Lunch in the sunshine!

Today, I believe, was the first day of spring. We're not quite there yet, but after months of frost, rain, storms and dull grey weather, today was bright and sunny. And I loved it! I wanted to take in as much sun as I could and had my morning coffee outside in the garden. It was a little chilly, I have to admit, and in the shade it was just cold, but I just had to sit outside and enjoy the sunlight. It warmed up a little, and at one o'clock it was warm enough to enjoy lunch outside in a t-shirt. So I did...

If you've read more of my posts, you know that I love all things curried. Today I decided on a very easy curry soup, with some leftover ingredients.

Soto ajam

"Soto ajam" means chicken soup in Indonesian. This is going to be a lengthy recipe, but if you're short on time, there is room for a few short cuts. Like using stock cubes, and chicken breast meat. But, as with almost everything else, it's way better if you make it from scratch. This is my favorite way of making chicken soup. Typical Asian ingredients, like lime leaves, lemongrass and ginger, make this soup incredibly flavorful. The stock is rich and fatty and...oh, please, try this recipe. It is SO worth it!

Asian inspired green bean salad with coconut

Because of all the hard work I had to put in to obtain fresh coconut meat, I didn't want to put it in a blender to make coconut milk. Maybe some other time, but not today. I wanted to fully enjoy the coconut flavor and I wanted it to be still recognizable in the dish as coconut, not as a flaky or milky substance, like I was used to.