The Hunger Within

If you were to sneak into my home and see what I’ve been up to the past two days you’d most likely find me snacking. I’ve been insatiable and thank heavens I’m on the restrictive diet or else I’d rationalize eating the whole container of dark chocolate covered almonds…and all the cheese…and the frozen birthday cake. Yes, I froze some of Little Girl’s birthday cake so that I may enjoy it once the Whole30 days are up. I have to see what all the ‘mmm’ing and ‘ahhh’ing’ were all about at the party this past weekend.

Speaking of which, I prepared a nice little spread of  ”safe” foods  myself and the 4 or 5 other guests who happen to be participating in either a cleanse of the Whole30 program. Of course, I had to make a dish to please the Man and his men friends. And then there was the aforementioned cake, each of which (yes, there were two) were beautifully decorated and generously frosted. Despite the overwhelming amount of temptation, I was able to stick to my plan, and (somehow) successfully avoided shoving my face full of dip and cake. How I managed to do so still baffles me…

Healthy (and crowd pleasing) Party Food

Baba Ganoush aka Roasted Eggplant dip
Mango and Tomato Salsa
Chicken Salad w/ homemade mayo
Roasted Beet Chips
Crispy Sweet Potato Fries
Fresh Veggie Platter (broccoli, carrot sticks, zucchini sticks, turnip chips)
Vanilla-Cinnamon-Banana “Ice Cream”
Vanilla-Almond-Coconut-Date “Granola” (I call it faux-nola)
Not-So-Healthy (but equally if not more crowd pleasing) Party Food
Buffalo Chicken Dip
Fritos, Tostitos and Triscuits
Birthday Cake

Also, last week I downloaded the PDF version of Well Fed, Paleo Recipes for People Who Love to Eat by Melissa Joulwan. Seriously, if you only buy one cookbook this year this needs to be it. She’s really compiled an amazing set of recipes which, she says, were tried and tested until perfection. And I must say, the recipe titled “The Best Chicken You’ll Ever Eat” is doggone ridiculously good (don’t forget to make the Moroccan Sauce that accompanies it – seriously worth the extra 3 minutes). Last night was a dinner night with good friends and The Best Chicken was on the menu, along with roasted asparagus and creamy mashed cauliflower. Needless to say, we were all members of the Clean Plate Club. Now, go buy that book!

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