Cooking Through The Trim Healthy Mama Cookbook

Join me on a journey of what are sure to be ups and downs while cooking through the Trim Healthy Mama Cookbook. 

As mid-December approached, I started to look past the Christmas festivities and start thinking about the new year and resolutions. 

So as you can tell from the title my goal is officially set. I will be cooking through the Trim Healthy Mama Cookbook in 2020. Every single recipe, made in my kitchen. 

Things I like. Things I don’t. Easy and more difficult. Special ingredients and NSI. I am doing it all THM style. 

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Why Am I Cooking Through the Trim Healthy Mama Cookbook? 

Well that is a complicated question. Aside from maybe hoping (ok dreaming) that Pearl and Serene might see me out there in blog land and invite me to come see them…. I mean I am only just a couple hours south of them in Memphis!

Anyway, aside from that, I have some other more reasonable and practical motivators for working through this cookbook. 

Burnout 

Ready for some straight up honesty? I have not been doing well on plan for probably the last month or two. Even though a big part of my blog is devoted to THM, it certainly doesn’t mean I am perfect or always on plan. 

Lately I have had quite a few recipes that I had dreams of creating a THM version of  that have just flopped. They are not blog worthy to share with ya’ll and to be honest a lot of them were not even family table worthy (because none of us in my house liked them). 

And it is so frustrating to cook and not enjoy your creations. 

And then vacations and holidays have occurred and I have been using the “well it is the holidays” excuse to eat poorly a lot. So I’ve gained a few pounds and I’m not happy with that. 

A New Challenge

Originally, I was thinking of trying out one new THM project to test every month that I had not done before during 2020.

I was thinking homemade sourdough bread, maybe a new dessert recipe, possibly roasting a turkey. Just new things that I had not done before to challenge me in the kitchen and make the plan more exciting for me personally. 

But then as I was researching what to pick, I got this crazy idea to start cooking through the Trim Healthy Mama Cookbook. The whole thing! 

So now instead of just a loaf of bread, I will be tackling all kinds of new recipes and some oldies but goodies. 

Demonstrating That THM Doesn’t Have to Be Expensive

The last reason that I thought about doing this was because of a post I saw on Facebook recently (and to be honest, one that I see pretty often). 

It went something like this: 

I am about to start THM and I’m on a budget. I am going to buy $100 in special ingredients and that may put me over my food budget for the week/month etc. 

I am very adamant about the fact that you don’t have to buy special ingredients to do this plan. And to be honest, at first this was my one reservation about cooking through the Trim Healthy Mama cookbook. 

While the cookbook has plenty of NSI recipes, the books also freely use things that you might not have easy access to at a grocery store or that cost a lot more than a similar item. 

So as I am cooking these recipes, I will share with you the cost to make the recipe, money saving ideas and any tips/tricks that I come across. 

I will probably try out a few special ingredients in this project that I don’t typically use but will also likely modify some recipes to omit certain items. 

Challenges That Scare Me on This Journey Of Cooking Through The Trim Healthy Mama Cookbook

If you have followed my journey of losing 60 lbs on THM since my last baby, you know that I started and quit THM after a month or two the first time around. 

I largely attributed my failure to trying to incorporate a million new things into my daily routine (I am usually an all or nothing kinda girl). So with that being said, I am going to try and take this challenge of cooking through the Trim Healthy Mama cookbook at a leisurely pace. You know and not try and cook 393 new recipes in a month. 

I have been on plan for about 2 years now but I don’t want to burnout or wear myself too thin. 

Aside from that, I have a few reservations that come with cooking every single item in a cookbook. Think about it, normally you see something you don’t like in a cookbook and you skip right over it. But if I am going to prepare and try every item in the book, that means making some things that I don’t think  I like. 

But if THM has taught me nothing else, it has taught me to give things a try. I lived for 33 years not liking cottage cheese. And then I tried it because everyone in the THM community was doing it. 

And I kinda love it. I make these cottage cheese bowls for breakfast/snack all the time. And I’m looking forward to trying a Cottage Berry Whip again for the first time in about 3 years (whenever I get to that recipe)

Other Scary THM Cookbook Things That I Am Sort of Dreading

• Beets – I once got talked into a juice cleanse by a friend. I lasted for a day or two but when I got to the beet juice, I quit immediately. First, I am so thankful THM is not gimmicky with cleanses and other fads, just good, clean food. And I hope THM beets are better than normal beets because I really hate them! 
• Okra in Smoothies – If you read the 5 THM things I don’t do, hidden okra is in there. Don’t get me wrong – I love Okra. Fried, crunchy delicious okra made by my Grandma every Sunday. But stuck in my chocolate smoothie. I just can’t. But I guess I will if I am cooking through the Trim Healthy Mama Cookbook. 
• Tofu – No. No. No. 
• Cauliflower – I love some cauliflower things, like this Cheesy Salsa Verde Chicken with Cauli Rice. But sometimes it is just not my favorite (especially if it is not covered well). We shall see. 
• “Feeding” Yeast – So I really want to make bread but feeding this creature that will be living and growing on my counter for my starter kind of freaks me out. 
• Anything that has “Purist” in the Title – I’m not a Drive Thru Sue but I am definitely not a purist either. And I’m not sure I’m worthy! HA
• Double Fermented Kefir – I don’t feel like I need to say anything else. Kefir is terrifying and I don’t even know what double fermenting entails but I am sure I don’t want to do it! 

I will be documenting the journey here on the blog and also on Facebook and Instagram! I hope you will join me in a quest to be healthier in 2020! 

The Cooking Starts 

I’ve started the project! Find the links to each week as they are posted here!

Week 1 – Cashew Chicken, Winter Wonderland Sip, Cheeseburger Pie and More!

Week 2 – (Scary) Secret Big Boys, Pearl’s Chili, Smarty Pants Stroganoff and More!

Week 3 – Deviled Eggs, BAM Cake and Wicked White Chili

Week 4 – Peanut Junkie Butter, Cabb & Saus and Chicken Pot Pie

Week 5 – Skinny Chocolate, Cry No More Brownies, Creamy Creamless Chicken, Cowboy Grub