+NOTE: This post has been updated since I originally published it and now includes some additional info as obtained from the WHOLE30 Forums.

WHOLE30 Day #25 –The final week of April has begun, which is particularly noteworthy because it marks the last full week of our first WHOLE30 journey. You’ll notice that I’m referring to it now as our “first” adventure with WHOLE30. It’s easy to envision oneself repeating this admittedly difficult process when there are only 6 days left to endure.

It’s also easier to envision repeating WHOLE30 when you can point to several specific rewards gained from the program. Both my husband and I have noticed positive physical changes in the last few weeks. Hubs has lost inches off his waist which was his primary physical goal entering WHOLE30 and is, according to multiple studies an important health marker, especially as we age. To read more about Hubs’ experiences and results, check out “I’m at a Loss,” at Functional Dad.net.

I didn’t use measurements for my pre-WHOLE30 goal-setting. I probably should have, but I developed a significant aversion to that yellow measuring tape while I was pregnant. The trauma of seeing those ever-increasing numbers of my girth was just too much for me. My goal has, for many months now, been quite simply to fit into my pre-pregnancy clothes. So for me, a major accomplishment was comfortably fitting into several pair of my pre-pregnancy work pants and – drumroll please – getting into a pair of my pre-pregnancy jeans. True, they don’t fit like they used to, but I got them on. And that’s a huge deal for me! Huge.

Despite these significant and tangible achievements, we’ve still got 6 days and nights worth of meals to get through. According to the handy, dandy official WHOLE30 Timeline (which if you’ve been following this blog, you’ve seen repeatedly by now), we should have been pretty tired of eggs in all iterations by about day 10 or 11. So you can imagine that by days 24 or 25, we need something to jazz up our stand-by omelets. Here’s where my years as a vegan came in handy. I remembered a recipe I’d made a long time ago using cashews and nutrient yeast to make a kind of cheese-ish sauce. Full disclosure here, I’m not 100% sure if the WHOLE30 authors would technically approve of nutrient yeast (I couldn’t find it on any approved or disapproved food list so I’m making a judgement call. +++UPDATE: I was finally able to find some additional info regarding nutrient yeast in the fabulous WHOLE30 Forums. See additional comments at bottom of post.). And as I’ve discussed before, I’ve intentionally decided to avoid my natural predilection toward perfectionism in order to increase my own likelihood of completing the “whole” WHOLE30 days (pun intended). The recipe below was just what we needed to add a little punch to our egg meals. As a bonus the “cheez-ish” sauce goes great on just about any protein dish (try it on plain baked chicken, turkey, pork or beef); adds zing to baked or roasted potatoes and livens up any salad. Hope your family enjoys it as much as we did!

Cheez-ish Sauce – Delicious Topper for Omelets, Potatoes, and All Manner of Assorted WHOLE30 Goodies!!!

WHOLE30-ish Cheez-Ish Sauce
Ingredients:
• 1 cup “raw” cashews
• 1 whole red bell pepper
• 1/3 cup nutrient yeast
• ½ tsp. prepared Dijon mustard
• 1 tsp. iodized sea salt
• 1/8 tsp. turmeric

Hardware:
• distilled or filtered water
• high-powered blender (e.g. Nutribullet, Vitamixer, etc.) or food processor

Process:
1. Place cashews in canister of blender or food processor and cover with enough distilled or filtered water to completely cover cashews.
Soak cashews for at least 1 hour and up to 4 hours.
2. While the cashews soak, wash and core the bell pepper, cutting into large chunks so it will puree more easily.
3. Strain cashews and retain some of the soaking liquid.
4. Place cashews, about 2 Tbsp. soaking liquid, chopped pepper and remaining ingredients in canister and puree until very smooth.
You may have to add more soaking liquid but do so very carefully, adding only about 1 tsp. at a time to avoid breaking the mixture.
5. Blend or process until very smooth and no pieces of original ingredients are visible. Store mixture in the refrigerator. NOTE: It’s best to allow mixture to “rest” in the fridge for at least an hour before serving.
Serve & Enjoy
~ Makes a whole bunch, about 12 (2 Tbsp.) servings

Verse of the Day:
You satisfy me as with rich food; my mouth will praise You with joyful lips..
~Psalm 63:5 (Holman Christian Standard Bible)
Read more here.

Resources of the Day:
1. If you lack my particular aversion to having your measurements taken, you’ll find this article from Weight Watchers extremely helpful and informative!
2. Here’s a quick video tutorial on taking women’s measurements in case you prefer to gain new skills from You Tube…

If you’re like me, you’ll rely on old school measures of weight loss!
Just remember, Pretty Mommies, sometimes the jeans are just too skinny!

+++ For those of you who are interested in following this program according to the letter of the WHOLE30 law, I highly recommend you check out the Forums page on the main WHOLE30 site and specifically that bookmark the “Can I Have” page which contains a wealth of info on practically every topic you could think of. By doing a quick search, I was able to find the following discussion regarding nutrient yeast from 2012. While this is not a definitive approval, it seems the general consensus is that “nooch” (as the vegans call it) is a far better option than dairy or soy-based cheeses and therefor approved if used in moderation. Yippee!