Day 2: Going Strong...Plant Strong!

It's Day 2 of the Engine 2 Diet 28 Day Challenge! I made it through the first day with no problems! Aaaaand made it through Day 2 as well! I DID make one mistake...I had a couple mints. I didn't even THINK about it until I was talking to my friend and spat out the mint mid-sentence. Whoops! They have sugar in them. But, you know, honest mistake. It's not like I intentionally went through the drive-thru for a cheesey burrito meal.

For breakfast, I enjoyed another hearty bowl of oatmeal. Still tasting good!

I had a Granny Smith apple for a snack, but was pretty hungry when I finally ate lunch. I'll remember to eat a bit more at snack time.

For lunch, I decided to eat my quinoa and black beans together topped with E2 traditional hummus, lime juice, half a chopped avocado, fresh cilantro and some of Heather Jean's Spicy Cashew Chipotle Aioli!  Pretty similar to what I ate yesterday, but pretty good. I added a few drops of liquid aminos to add a touch of saltiness.

Speaking of saltiness, I'm realizing that's what I crave the most. Fruit satisfies my sweet tooth but I'm having a harder time satisfying my salt craving. I was proud of myself though! We were sampling kettle cooked chips at the registers at Whole Foods today and I didn't sneak any! This also made me realize how often I'd sneak a sample here or a free cookie in the back there, etc. it can really add up after a while!

                   Refusing a chip

Now, I'm not the only team member participating in the Engine 2 Challenge! My good friend, Lisa, is also participating and gifted me with a bag of homemade E2 food!! Artichoke dip, avocado/pea guacamole, vinegar based cabbage slaw, veggie soup and a delicious veggie sushi roll! You'll see a pic of that tomorrow!

I heated up half of the artichoke dip and ate it with an Engine 2 Mutliseed Crispbread. Yum!!! 

             Half-eaten Artichoke Dip

                          Yum!!!

I still had half of the warm artichoke left so I made a sorta pizza. Let's call it Leftover Pizza. I cut an Engine 2 Sprouted Grains Tortilla in half and spread the artichoke dip and some of the avocado/pea guacamole on the tortilla, added chopped raw kale, and my leftover red bell peppers and onions from yesterday (warmed in the oven). I cut it into 4 slices and ate it open face like pizza. It was real good!!

I washed it down with a glass of unsweetened vanilla almond milk and a clementine.

As promised, here's the recipe for Heather's Spicy Chipotle Cashew Aioli!

1/2 cup cashews (soaked in water overnight)

One can chipotle peppers (soaked overnight)

1/2 raw seeded jalapeño

3/4 cup water

1 tbsp apple cider vinegar

A few squirts of liquid aminos

1 tsp cayenne pepper

1 tsp paprika

1 tsp chili powder

1 tsp garlic powder

Drain and rinse the soaked cashews and place in blender cup. Pour water over them. Blend on high until a fluffy cream is formed. Add chipotle peppers (with seeds removed) to blender cup. (This can did contain some added oil and salt but were more affordable than the dried chipotle peppers, so I soaked them overnight to try to remove as much as I could. It's kinda cheating but I did it for the sake of my wallet.) Add the other ingredients and blend. You can always add more of any ingredient to cater to your taste! It's so good!!!

It's appearing like the E2 Challenge won't get the best of me!

Here's my Day 2 Progress Pic!

                          Day 2!

Today I felt: Proud of my blog compliments, grateful for the gift of food and silly for accidentally eating a sugar mint

Thanks for reading!