UPDATED 8/12/15: I’ll explain further in the Day 2 post, but please note that I’ve changed the name of the program I’m doing for the next 30 days to “My Wholesome 30,” which will be my own personal program inspired by Whole 30, but with allowances for things that might not be 100% Whole30 compliant (like regular bacon or lunch meats that might have traces of sugar, or things cooked by others which might use non-compliant ingredients, like soy products or vegetable oil). I still plan to try to stick to the core tenets of Whole30 (avoiding dairy, grains, legumes, and alcohol and choosing healthy meats, veggies, fruits, and fats instead). But I don’t want to give you the impression that everything I record here for the next 30 days is 100% compliant to Whole30. My intentions and efforts will definitely be 100%, though!

Day 1 on My Wholesome 30 was a success! Even without having pre-planned or been to the grocery store yet, cleaning out the fridge/pantry reminded me of what I already had on hand, and there was more than enough to be able to get through the full day without going off plan or necessitating a run to the grocery store.

Day 1: Breakfast
In reading the newsletter for Day 1, I came across a recipe for “Morning Mix.” The basic recipe calls for one pound of ground pork or turkey (I used pork because I had it and because I don’t like turkey), a diced apple, and 1/8 teaspoon each of cinnamon and nutmeg. That didn’t sound to me like it would be very flavorful, but I was willing to give it a try.

In a large skillet over medium-high heat, brown ground meat. While meat is cooking (and stopping to stir it up occasionally), cut apple into approximately 1/2-inch pieces. This will help them cook through faster.

Alteration to the Original Recipe: The meat needs to be seasoned. Many others have recommended adding chopped onion and garlic, while others recommended cooking a few pieces of bacon first, then cooking the ground meat in the bacon fat, and adding the crumbled bacon back in. I added salt and pepper and bacon bits.

Once the meat is just cooked (it will continue cooking with the apples, and you don’t want it to dry out), add the apples, cinnamon, and nutmeg. At 1/8 teaspoon each, I couldn’t even taste them. So it needs more seasoning than what’s called for. Continue cooking, stirring occasionally, until the apples are fork-tender.

Makes 3–4 servings, depending on how hungry you are.

Alteration to the Original Recipe: Others suggested adding diced sweet potato or leaving out the apples and adding greens—spinach or turnip greens or kale (yuck!). Basically, it’s more about using a base of lean ground meat with something added for flavor and other nutritional value.

Day 1: Lunch
This should look familiar, because it’s the leftovers from the other night, when I made Orange-Lime Marinated Pork Chops.

Day 1: Afternoon Snack
Snacking is not encouraged on Whole30, but around 4:30, I started feeling really noshy (that pork chop was really small, and that was only about 1/3 cup of greens), and since I knew it would be an hour or more before I could eat supper, I decided to go for crunchy and sweet:

Day 1: Supper
Again, not having planned my meals for the week yet, I was trying to figure out on the fly what I was going to have for supper. But since I’d cleaned out/organized the kitchen on Sunday—and written down everything in the freezer so that I can eventually plan—I knew I had a pack of four chicken thighs in there. That’s when I remembered Nom Nom Paleo’s Cracklin’ Chicken recipe. I followed her recipe pretty much to the letter, except that I only did 4 thighs (half the recipe) and I used olive oil instead of ghee (clarified butter). So there’s no point in rewriting her instructions.

This is a great alternative to fried chicken—the skin crisps up nicely, and it’s mostly a “set it and forget it” cooking process (of course, you don’t want to leave anything on the stove unattended—but you really do just want to let these cook undisturbed until the skin gets crispy). But, as she mentions in her instructions, a splatter guard is pretty much a necessity for this! I used Tony’s More Spice on the meat side, so I almost got the flavor of Popeye’s spicy fried chicken.

All in all, it was a good day.

Day 2 (today) brought my first eating out challenge, but I’ll post about that tomorrow!