It’s that time again. Most people shed pounds for a summer bod…I like to indulge in all that summer and its fantastic BBQ’s have to offer. But alas, I am not getting any younger so I am headed back to the land of healthy eating. And not just healthy, but clean eating. Because while my tastebuds love everything that resembles a carb, my body, not so much. A few bites of bread or sugar and I balloon out like I’m 6 ½ months prego. When I look back at all my endeavors to “restart”, the same one keeps coming back. The Whole 30.

Essentially, the Whole 30 retrains the way your brain looks at food and kicks off with 30 days of detox and elimination. What can I have? Mostly nothing. Kidding. There are a ton of options but basically…no carb in any form, no wheat or grain, no dairy, no alcohol, no caffeine, no processed foods, along with a handful of other no no’s. Did you want to join me? It sounds terrible I know, and don’t get me wrong, there are parts of it that make me want to quit on the spot. But when I am true to the Whole 30, a whole slough of ailments disappear. No bloating, no allergies, no sore joints. The list goes on. And while the first week without caffeine and three children tests every ounce of willpower I have, after about day 12 I actually have more energy than before. Without the 3 pm crash.  

The good news is I love to cook and so getting the chance to recreate some of my favorite high carb recipes is somewhat of a challenge which I look forward to, and now that I have proclaimed my Whole 30 commitment here, I have some serious accountability. As I am typing this, it’s day 2, my strong willed daughter had meltdowns of epic proportions today, and the only thing that kept me from popping the top to Mr. Tobin James was this recipe. I used the original mayo recipe from the Whole 30 cookbook. They call it the best mayo you’ve ever made…and while I wouldn’t go that far, the zesty ranch mayo recipes I found on pinterest, combined with their recipe, did make one amazing dip. I paired it with baked sweet potato fries and it was the perfect end to a pretty miserable mommy day. I didn’t even need to close my eyes and pretend they were Jack in the Box curly fries.

Click here to see the original Whole 30 mayo recipe I used.

Click here to see the original dry ranch seasoning I found from an adorable blog site called The Pinning Mama.

Basically I made the Whole 30 mayo, added the dry seasoning, and then threw in some fresh parsley, cilantro, and a clove of garlic to give it some extra flavor, along with a gorgeous green color. For the sweet potato fries, I just peeled and cut a sweet potato into sticks, coated them in olive oil, sprinkled them with salt and pepper, and then roasted them on a baking sheet for 25 minutes.

Now. I just need to figure out a way to make my ice water taste like champagne.