A Mid-Week Update...After the "Challenge" is Over

Wine, Pie...and Poo

OK, I'm going to admit that - in spite of LG's best efforts to guild this turd with tasteful staging - my acorn squash and whole wheat gnocchi with pesto could stand in for any sophomoric comedy movie scene in need of an excremental prop. I know this, because sophomoric comedy movies are my very favorite genre. Some, however, feel the need to include gratuitous female nudity and sexual content. Now those are the really good ones!

The meal was wonderful, accompanied by a  celebratory glass of Maryhill '07 zinfandel and a pie of our fresh-from-the-garden rhubarb and last year's local strawberries. LG made a wonderful crust with light olive oil, coconut oil and whole wheat pastry flour. The pie (containing a full cup of sugar) and wine are our first non-Engine 2 Diet food products in a month. We indulged Sunday evening, but are now happily back to the same dietary choices we'd been making during the past 28 days. Please notice that I didn't say, "dietary restrictions." We are both enjoying the foods we're eating and neither of us is feeling the urge to add back the meat, butter, half-and-half, constantly added sugar and salt that were a big part of our old dietary choices. The rest of the pie (MY pie...LG only had a little bite, I ate 1/3 of it Sunday evening) is divided between two containers in the freezer for the next time I feel like a sweet, fruity diversion...other than LG, this is...

Vegan-licious Garlic Soup

We had this soup for dinner last night. It's been one of our favorite soups for a long time. It's purely vegan, made now without olive oil - or any other added oil - and contains a full bulb (head) of garlic, orzo pasta, a can of San Marzano tomatoes and fresh basil. The mass atop this bowlful is our faux parmesan cheese (cashews, nutritional yeast,etc.) We did have a [smaller than Sunday's] glass of Willamette Valley pinot noir with our soup, a concession I'm making to my otherwise Engine 2 Diet.

This morning, we're enjoying big bowlfuls of LG's cooked cereals and fruit again. She insists that she loves preparing it. That's cool, because I'm equally jazzed about eating it. This has been a big change from past "low-carb diets" we've tried - with breakfasts crammed with egg yolks and bacon...glad I didn't have my cholesterol checked after that one! I do intend - maybe - to try some our hens' eggs one of these days. I'm just not feeling the urge at this point.

So, that's a quick update on our post-28 day challenge. We're still [mostly] at it and enjoying our food. We figure, "If you don't miss it, don't eat it!"