Dinner is Served

Homemade veggie patty--made with SooFoo, lentils, and oat flour--open face with spinach on spelt toast, with leftover Mediterranean kale salad.

I haven't been perfect with the Engine 2 diet, in fact the other night I had cheese pizza for dinner (oops), but for the most part I check myself before I put random food in my mouth, and am enjoying eating more whole foods.

I also bought the Everyday Happy Herbivore cookbook by Lindsay Nixon. I love her blog, even have used her recipes, so it's about time I bought a book of hers. What I love about this book is not only is it mostly Engine 2 compliant (although not with the salt), is that the recipes are super fast, easy, simple and CHEAP. Lindsay developed them living in St. Maarten, where she didn't have access to, say, a Whole Foods. So the ingredients aren't too exotic, and are more accessible for everyone.

Her veggie burger recipe inspired the one pictured here. (I promise to try to follow recipes more closely--but as usual, I get inspired and segue off in my own direction.)

Environmentally-Friendly Oven Cleaning

My healthy eating challenge has been going well, and today on my day off I felt inspired to deep clean my kitchen. While I don't think any natural cleaner replaces bleach for things like red wine spills on our white countertops, I didn't feel like contaminating our home with caustic and toxic oven cleaner. After researching natural oven cleaner recipes online, most of which involve borax and letting the mixture sit overnight, I decided to give it a go with a cup of baking soda, lemon juice, and apple cider vinegar. Wow--I was surprised that this combination actually worked really well! I used a soft scrubber and used it on the interior of the oven door and glass. After only about ten minutes, it was clean. No toxic fumes, no waiting, just a lot of dipping a washcloth in water and wiping over and over to get the residue off. Voila... Clean sparkling oven, naturally. Next project is the bottom of the oven. I didn't tackle that today because it's not nearly as dirty as the door was, and was much improved with simply a wipe down with a wet paper towel. Yay!

28 Day Challenge

I've been offered a challenge, and I accepted.

Today begins the 28 Day Challenge featuring the dietary stylings of Rip Esselstyn, author of the Engine 2 Diet. I have done Engine 2 before, a couple years ago, and stuck with it pretty hardcore for about 4 months. The lingerings of what I learned about plant-based eating formed the basis of how I think about food today... although I am sorely in need of a reboot.

This morning I ordered a book by one of my favorite plant-based bloggers, Lyndsay Nixon of Happy Herbivore. I've found the recipes she posts are tasty and simple, and align with E-2 in their no-oil-ality. E-2 can get a little complex, so having cookbooks like Everyday Happy Herbivore and Appetite for Reduction will be welcome departures.

Speaking of AFR, allow me a minute to sing the praises of Isa Chandra Moskowitz. I love every single one of the books I own by her (I think I have all but 2 or 3, as she has a Vegan with a Vengeance empire by now), and AFR is hugely recommended for anyone trying to get healthy. Girl can cook, for sure.

Alright. Enough talk, let's do this.