The end of the year is crazy for me at work. Lots of long hours and events, and I generally don’t feel like cooking big dinners once I get home. Because of my big Trader Joe’s haul a few weeks ago, I am fully stocked up on the fall flavors TJ’s have to offer. Last week I cooked up a simple six ingredient meal that had me wanting more. I discovered this Gilbert’s Bourbon Apple chicken sausage, added some gemelli pasta, and Trader Joe’s Autumnal Harvest pasta sauce and there you had it.

2 Gilbert’s Bourbon Apple chicken sausages
½ shallot, chopped
½ lb Barilla Gemelli
1 cup Trader Joe’s Autumnal Harvest pasta sauce
¼ cup half & half
½ bag spinach

1. Boil pasta to the directions on the box.
2. Sauté shallots in oil and add chicken sausage on medium high until browned.
3. Once browned add pasta sauce and half &half. Lower heat to medium low and allow to simmer 5 minutes.
4. Add spinach and fold into sauce. Allow to wilt down.
5. Drain pasta and add to sauce. Fold together and serve.

Each January I take full advantage of it as a time to reset. I blame it on my time in retail where January was the time of year we could take vacation freely, work 30-hour weeks if we want, and had very little work. My January reset is kind of a big deal to me and I use it to plan a lot of my upcoming year. The new year means no more holiday excuses when it comes to food, not working out, and just being straight lazy.

Two years ago I did Whole 30 for the first time and it was amazing. I learned a lot about myself like a. I have very little self control and b. it’s a lot harder to teach an old dog new tricks than I thought. But two years ago, I did a lot better than I had expected. Last January I did Whole 30 again but I went on a trip home in the middle of the month and when you only get to eat your Italian mom’s cooking a few times a year, you eat as much pasta and cheese you can.

This December I indulged more than I have in the past. My job was slow, the cookies seemed to be endless and the wine was often. And hello an extra 10 pounds.

I am two weeks into Whole 30 and just like with anything, there are things I am winning at and things I am sucking at.

Biggest changes since the first time I did it

The biggest change that I have made since the first time I did Whole 30 is something that definitely affects me every day, and something that I didn’t really know ever affected me before. I have cut a lot of dairy out of my daily diet. I drank creamer in my coffee and now I like it black. I cut back a lot on ice cream, which is a big difference in my life. (Ice cream was really the only dessert I was allowed growing up and I worked at an ice cream shop while in high school. Ice cream was like a religion before.)

Since cutting back on dairy I’ve switched solely to almond milk for everything I need milk for. My protein shakes and even my Kraft Mac and Cheese gets almond milk. (I said I cut out most dairy… cheese is still in my life.) It makes me feel 100 times better. I never realized the way dairy slows me down and really just makes me feel like crap. Now cheese doesn’t affect me at all, which I am beyond grateful for. (Have you ever had non-dairy cheese? Yuck!)

What I’m buying

I do most of my grocery shopping at Trader Joes which is a great spot to pick up ingredients for quick and easy meals on Whole 30. Most of my lunches are salads with a protein. I love topping TJ’s turkey burger on a salad or chicken. Here are some of my other go tos:

Proteins: chicken sausage, chicken, ground turkey, salmon, shrimp, eggs
Veggies: zoodles, riced cauliflower/broccoli, brussel sprouts, mushrooms, butternut squash, avocado, broccoli slaw
Snacks: dehydrated fruits, almond butter, rice thins, Larabars, salsa verde, apples

Where I’m cheating and where I’m not

Okay, if I am completely honest I would have to say I am 85% complaint on Whole 30. I have cheated a few times when it comes to small ingredients. If I’m out getting dinner with friends or having dinner at my parents I use real salad dressing. I try my hardest to keep the main part of my meal complaint but a restaurant has a oil and vinegar based dressing, I’m going to go for it. I’m not about eating romaine lettuce with some lemon and calling it a day.

I also have cheated with dairy based butters. I was at my mom’s and she only had yogurt butter spread. Girls got to do what a girls got to do. And I figured that’s already better than real butter so it’s only halfway cheating. Right?

But there are some parts of Whole 30 that I am not even walking the line of cheating. My biggest problems, for sure, are cheese, carbs, and alcohol. So far two weeks in I haven’t touched any of them. I mean what I would do for a dish of pasta and a good glass of wine, but I’m halfway done with my 30 days so it’s all up from here.

The key is introducing these back into my diet in moderation. It’s been pretty easy for the alcohol. It has been beyond cold here so instead of a glass of wine, I’ve been opting for some hot tea. And not many people do much in the winter in New England as far as going out to dinners or bars, so meal prepping has been my best friend.

There are a few staples that are at all of my family’s gatherings. One thing is stuffed hot cherry peppers. I just can’t do it! I don’t know, maybe I’m being too hard on my self but my cousin makes them perfect every time and mine just don’t taste the same.

Well one part of making stuffed hot cherry peppers is marinating the peppers in olive oil. Well now that I have tried to make the peppers a few times, I have a pretty good amount of olive oil that has been soaking in hot peppers for a few months. YUM!

So because I hate to waste anything, especially food, I have been finding recipes that I could use the hot oil. Pizza is a big one. Amazing! But then I thought it would be just as good in pasta with hot sausage. So yep, the hot oil at least has been good for something.

So what you have to do to make the hot oil is buy a jar of hot cherry peppers and drain the marinade that comes with them. Then you fill the jar up with olive oil, salt and pepper and I add a few hot pepper flakes because I like spice. Then you let it sit in the refrigerator. For a long time. Like a month a long time. The olive oil will coagulate, but I think it’s fine. (I mean I don’t actually know if that’s ok, but hey, I’m not dead.)

Then you eat the peppers (obvi) or just toss them if they are too spicy for your liking. I put the actual peppers on homemade pizza and that was amazing. Spicy peppers with spicy oil, a little bit of cheese and pizza dough! Perfection.

Check out the recipe below for what I did with the hot oil to make this perfect pasta.

4-6 Tablespoons of hot oil (see above for directions)
1 lb linguine
2 hot Italian sausage links
2 cups of arugula
Red pepper, black pepper and salt to taste

1. Boil pasta per directions on the box.
2. Heat saucepan to medium high temperature. While pan is heating up, remove the sausage from the casing and discard the casing. Add the sausage to the hot pan and cook thoroughly, chopping sausage into small sizes.
3. Once sausage is cooked all the way through add hot oil and red pepper flakes to taste.
4. Drain pasta and add to sauce pan, lowering the heat to medium. Mix pasta in with oil.
5. Allow flavors to cook together for 5 minutes.
6. Add arugula, mix and enjoy. 
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