Have a great break, Magic! Gluck with that work stuff, Mihani.

Here my hummus is still gloopy, but it's lunch with veggies tomorrow whatev. Today I made my great Viva Veg Chili with loads of peppers, tomatoes, corn, spinach and beans - with a refreshing and not at all lawny salad. Nice and spicy, hits the spot.

Forgot the chia seeds in BlueGreen morning smoothie AGAIN! Dang. Note to self...

Spent a happy hour finding more food poems, thanks Austin, and came across one fun one new to me: Blackberry Eating by Galway Kinnell - https://www.poetrysociety.org/psa/poetry/poetry_in_motion/atlas/chicago/blackberry_eating/

Hit Sprouts this morning...bought two giant bunches of curly organic kale. Washed, stripped off middle thingy...torn into pieces...salad spinned...made a lot. Four Massaged kale salads worth. Added lemon, nutritional yeast aka nooch, a bit of Crack dressing, raisins. Really good.

I like my massaged kale salad better than a romaine veggie salad. Had the time this morning and went for it. I just need to do this twice a week. Massaged kale salad stays so well. And fun to change up ingredients. Tomorrow, adding fresh mango instead of raisins.

Hope everyone is having a great day. @Mihani dont work too hard.

Later, gang.

me: looking into audio books...think it would help me get stuff done in the house.

I do like that stir-fry recipe, Magic, especially with the raw red chilies and cilantro leaves at the end. I might combine it with Liz's zoodle thing, skip the noodles and accept the toasted sesame oil as the price I pay...

Definitely finding the ETL 6 week plan a bit easier. Getting used to keeping a bowl of salad by my side now that I'm not slavishly counting it. And I'm also quite happy eating the same main dish a couple of days in a row, so that does make life easier. More of my Viva Veg Chili today, with salad. BlueGreenMeanie smoothie again, but today I forgot the banana AND the Chia seeds! Dang. And didn't have time for lunch, so I don't know what state of solidification my hummus smoothie is in.

Happy foraging all.

haha! Magic, love the collapsible chopping board. We've got a water bowl for the dog like that, but never considered its dual functionality.

I'm down to one pack of sweetener in my black coffee of a morning, and it's enough already. Leftover veggies and cauli in a Curry for me today. Not great ETL as I didn't get much time for raw food - just some celery with my ever liquid hummus Had 3 bowls of the veg curry tho: one with a banana, one with an apple. I like the spicy sweet.

Glad you liked that poem, Austin. Have some foodie music - Booker T https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjgjoSsOvi4

Made it through a very busy work week and spent yesterday continuing to work on the house with my buddy helping. The kitchen is almost done. Still need to do some surface cleaning but the cabinets and drawers are all finished. Threw out SO much stuff, including half my spices because they were so old and seldom used. Now I'll be able to find the ones I use often more easily. It sure is nice to have things organized and get rid of clutter. Still a looong way to go, but the rest of the house will be a breeze compared to the kitchen and my home office. Glad those are done!

I ate some junk (crackers and blue corn chips) the past few days, and had a few beers last night, but today should be a good one. Started it off right with a breakfast salad. Planning soup for lunch, and a pita pizza for dinner.

Better get going, have to go to the office today. I hope eventually I will be taking entire weekends off.

I love my food processor Magic! Makes slicing up veggies for salads or making hummus a breeze. Mine is a cuisinart. I bet I've had it at least 15 years and still going strong. There's a small crack in the bowl and when I looked at replacing it the price was almost half what it costs to buy a brand new machine, so I'll probably just buy a new one at some point.

Stuck to my plan today. I ordered the Chef AJ bundle from Mamasezz which should arrive by Thursday or Friday. I'm interested to see how the food tastes and if it is worth the price. I've been considering it for a year, and decided to take the plunge. I just don't have it in me to prep lately and I'm throwing out a lot of food that never gets cooked. Too much going on at work and with the house. Between Mamasezz and my salad prepping friend, thinking I'll be all out of excuses. LOL

Coincidentally used our air fryer today for [slightly illegal in ETL 6week] spring rolls. But they were great! Bit crispier than normal fry, but that's not a bad thing. Put them on a big green salad and was very happy. BlueGreenMeanie smoothie for brekky [sans chia seeds grr] and the last bowl of veg curry for lunch = good ETL day for me, thank you very much Not too scared of the number crunch tomorrow - but you never know!

Hi ETLers - I hope you had a WONDERFUL weekend! Catching up on all your posts & responding below...

Magic - I love Apple Pie larabars! Keep them in a bowl in my office (along with chocolate) so no one gets hangry in meetings with me.
I like this concept of one's head being in "Healthy Retreat Mode." What does that look like in terms of activities?
That collapsable cutting board made my mind explode. Do you like it??? I live in a small apartment so this could be a godsend, er, a magic-send.
Good for you for doing all that de-cluttering and cleaning! Glad you are pain-free. Had to google baker's cyst. SO painful yikes.

Markw- I highly recommend City of Girls! Strong smart and interesting sexually liberated female protagonist set in NYC during/post WWII. If you like this theme you'll like it! -> "At some point in a woman's life, she just gets tired of being ashamed all the time, she muses. After that, she is free to become whoever she truly is."
I love chili! It's such a key go-to hearty meal that leaves little/nothing to be desired. Lots of beans really are the key for me.
Your hummus situation makes me sad. Why is it so gloopy/liquidy again? And can it be fixed/stopped? "not being a great mathematician" Lol
Finally, consider this a reminder to add chia to your smoothie lol! It does make it more filling plus you get your omega 3s

Mihani - Sorry you have to work late so much. That must make it more challenging to keep healthy habits on track.
Heard re: spices. There are some we use a lot (cinnamon, red pepper flakes, cumin, turmeric) and others which are definitely expired but I haven't made the time to check. Good for you for cleaning it out!

Austin - I hope you like it! It's not for everyone (esp those who wanted another type of Harry Potter - hence her nom de plume - because it is not that), but if you like detective novels then this should do the trick. Noted re: declare. LMK what you think when you've finished it as it sounds like you're giving it mixed reviews!

Canned beans save the day for me when we haven't batch cooked any. Black beans FTW!
RE BEANS: We are VERY into rancho gordo beans. I can't remember if I posted about them before - if so please forgive me - but we have been having fun getting into trying different kinds of beans. (Kind of like we used to do for meat, but no more of that for us!) Check out their heirloom bean options if you are looking for a treat. I recently bought this heirloom bean sampler for my husband as a present. They are special!