Whole30 Vegetarian Day 5: Pan Seared Brussel Sprouts with Apple, Onion and Dates.

Yesterday had me a little down in the dumps after dinner. I developed symptoms of "detox" like a sore throat and headache. I could post a 99 page rant about how much I hate the word detox, but that might be for another day.

According to the Whole30 program, symptoms of detox are normal and expected. (I can't help but wonder though, why when I switched from meat-eater to vegetarian, or when I jumped, at one point, into Ayurveda, why I didn't develop any adverse reactions or detox symptoms, only felt amazing immediately?) Anyway, I slept almost 11 hours last night (!!!!) And woke up feeling amazing. No adverse symptoms today, and my energy levels are great.

For breakfast I wasn't feeling particularly hungry, so I had a cup of coffee and a banana. Meh.

For lunch I had a salad with avocado, strawberries, grapefruit, tomato, cucumber and broccoli, over romaine, in a balsamic vinaigrette.

Dinner was the main take-away today and is adapted from a recipe I found at Herbivoracious.com. Their recipe uses honey (not allowed in my program) so I used dates instead, and ghee instead of butter (ghee allowed, butter not). This recipe isn't vegan, but you could easily make it vegan by subbing coconut oil for ghee.

The dish came out AMAZING. Better than expected. The dates give it a sort of brown-sugar quality that is delicious.  I'm loving trying new recipes, and the challenge to make them fit with in the program. So far I've found quite a few that will stick around after this month is up.

Oh. And some notes about what I'm noticing: We aren't allowed to weigh ourselves during the program. But my pants feel looser and more comfortable, my waistline is visibly slimmer (probably from dumping some bloat and water weight) and my skin looks great. I am missing wine tonight. A glass of wine would be great.

Ingredients:

1/2 of a medium onion, chopped

1 apple, cored and chopped (I left the skins on)

2 dates, pitted and chopped

1/2 lb of fresh brussel sprouts, stems chopped and outer leaves removed, then sliced into 1/4 inch pieces

1/4 tsp fresh rosemary
1 tsp apple cider vinegar

salt to taste

2 tbsp oil of your choice (ghee or coconut)

In a large skillet melt your oil, then saute the onion until soft, about 4 minutes. Add in the apple and dates, and cook another 2 minutes. Then add in vinegar, the rosemary and brussel sprouts. Cook until desired tenderness (about 5 minutes for crisp sprouts, longer for more tenderness). Enjoy the savory, sweetness of it all!