Cheaters! And Rule #13

Well, you could say that we cheated this week. But you could also say that we followed the rule 100%. Turns out, we didn't even go to the grocery store this week so it was pretty easy to avoid those middle aisles. This week we turned into social butterflies....eating at baseball games (thanks Tim and Rosanne), breweries, street fairs (thanks Cimone and Erin), and Ryan's parent's house! Tonight we are hoping to throw some meat on the grill and have some friends over. I must say, however, that I don't think I like this rule because baking supplies are usually on middle aisles. So, thank goodness for friends, family and sunshine.

Next week will be a challenge and we have not been challenged for a while: Rule #13 Eat only foods that will eventually rot. So, does anybody know if salt ever rots? Or any spices for that matter? How about oils and vinegars? We are hoping that the portland sunshine will continue and we can just have a week of grilling because we know veggies and meats rot most definitely.

Rule #12: Avoiding the Middle

I had my first work week post-graduation and was super bad about blogging. Ryan and I tried to watch some TV....The Bachelorette.....Wipe Out......random shows while working out on the elliptical. Our list of no-no foods remained virtually non-existent despite Papa Murphy's pizza and Yoplait yogurt (we were only writing down foods we might otherwise be eating and even these two foods we have not eaten since starting this challenge). How proud were we that this rule did not effect us in the slightest. Or have they just stopped advertising food on TV?

In other news: Purchase of the week:

A Pineapple Corer


Ryan grilled an amazing meal of braised beef in the middle of the week. Little did I know, or he know more importantly, that this meal had a prep time of like 8 hours. When you start cooking at 6pm please plan on having a VERY hungry (and grouchy) girlfriend by 10:30 pm (he actually started the prep during his lunch break...). I didn't get a very good picture but I can honestly say that it might have been worth the wait...



This upcoming week we are on Rule #12: Shop the peripheries of the supermarket and stay out of the middle. Hard to believe it will be 3 months down! Sorry this post is so boring. I have just been adjusting to normalcy with a Monday-Friday 9-5 job.

Zoe, MSW, and Rule #11

Biggest news of the week: I graduated!!!! After graduation we enjoyed drinks at Mint before heading to our family restaurant, Ciao Vito. We had an amazing dinner there and then I went to my best friend's birthday party and ended the night with dessert back at my parent's house. It was a perfect day with lots of excellent food and drink.












I intended to take more pictures of the food we ordered but only got the appetizers. Sorry! The alcohol kicked in and I was distracted.








Our rule did not affect us much this week. I am excited for our next rule: Avoid foods you see advertised on television, because it is more straight forward than our previous few rules. The one issue is that neither Ryan or I watch much television. So if our readers can help us out and let us know about advertised food to avoid that would be great. We have started a list to write down no-no foods. So far it's blank.

With all my free time that school used to consume I have started working in my garden again. Maybe you will see some homegrown produce in the hear future. We also bought more farm eggs today and went shopping for groceries for the week. I was alarmed when I returned to our shopping cart and found the following box inside:



This would be the work of Ryan. I refuse to eat any of this and hope to find it advertised on television so Ryan can't eat it either!

You want....WHAT?

Tonight, after dinner, Ryan proclaimed his craving for chocolate cupcakes. I bolted out of my chair and ran to get my baking book, excited to make him something delicious to show him how much I love him! Instead of telling me how sweet I am....Instead of giving me a hug and kiss.....Instead of mentioning what a wonderful girlfriend he has....He looked at me like I was crazy and said, "I meant I want the cupcakes that come from the box mix." "WHAT?!?!? WHAT DO YOU WANT?" "You know, the cupcake mix that comes from a box?" "We can't eat that, it doesn't fit with our rule!" I was completely outraged and could hardly believe my ears. He responded, "How does it not fit with our rule?" "Because we aren't supposed to eat foods trying to be something they are not?" "But what is box cupcake mix trying to be?" "Ummm....I don't know....Good?" Did my boyfriend seriously want some cupcakes made from powder? I was mortified. After arguing with him for several minutes about the obvious tastiness of homemade vs disgusting box mix he agreed to let me give the homemade cupcakes a try. I spent the next thirty minutes melting baking chocolate, creaming butter, sugar, and our fresh farm eggs, and heating the oven, while he made comments like, "That batter doesn't like as floury as the box stuff" and "I hope these will be as good as the box stuff." The timer went off. The cooling process began. The cupcakes were cool. Ryan took a bite and had two things to say: 1. I need milk. 2. These cupcakes are more dense than the box mix kind. The end. Ryan has yet to admit that box cupcake mix is gross and many people only dream about having a partner that would bake up a storm at the drop of a hat. Hmph.

Author's Note: After reading this post Ryan said, "I sound like such an ass." I wanted to point out that Ryan is the best boyfriend in the whole world and is rarely ever an ass, and was certainly not an ass during this incident. Instead he is suffering from serious misguidance about what a good cupcake tastes like.

Rule #10: Out with the Fakes

The most famous imitation butter.....We don't ever eat this stuff anyway, but this gives you an idea what won't be allowed this upcoming week.



Again, we were not incredibly challenged by the weekly rule. The only food we had an issue with, aside from milk/buttermilk, was popcorn. I always eat popcorn when I do overnights because the actual act of eating helps keep me awake. Popcorn is a logical choice because it takes a long time to eat, doesn't fill you up very quickly, and is pretty healthy. Luckily, I just did my last overnight (maybe and hopefully ever). For this overnight I couldn't eat my usual 94% fat free popcorn so movie theater butter was where it was at. Our rules lately have not helped our waistline (hello 15Ibs I thought I lost) and they are also not necessarily encouraging us to eat very healthily. Next week I am expecting this trend to continue and I am not anticipating a real challenge with Rule #10: Avoid foods that are pretending to be something they are not. Right now, I can only think of one food we currently eat that is pretending to be something it is not, Ryan's imitation salt, which every food rule seems to hate. Aside from this, the rules as of late are making me feel very confident about how we normally eat because we are having very little issue following them. Below are pictures of Ryan testing out our new immersion blender while he prepares some spinach soup. Amazing device!

Milk Crazy

Like previously predicted, the hardest part of this week's rule is avoiding non-fat milk. To substitute, we have stocked our fridge full of other types of milk. On Monday I made vanilla soy, banana, oat french toast. We topped it with fresh blueberries, strawberries and maple syrup. Then, last night I made blueberry muffins and used buttermilk. This was a little bit of a disaster because A) it's hard to find buttermilk that is not "light" or "reduced fat" and we ended up having to go to several stores! And B) The recipe said it made 12 muffins, which did not sound like enough to feed the people I intended to serve (my classmate's final day of school!) so I doubled the recipe. Eight cups of flour should have been a little hint (or a dead giveaway) that the recipe would make a TON of muffins...but I was tired and not paying attention (don't ask) and ended up with the biggest bowl of muffin batter that your mind can imagine. Ryan took a picture (see below) and my face is expressing, "WHAT did I DO?!?!?!" I also tried almond milk for the first time. Ryan described it best when he said, "This tastes exactly how you would imagine almond milk to taste!" I like it better than soy and I believe it is healthier. For breakfast Ryan has been covering berries with various types of milk. I am starting to see a berry and cream theme with this post. Are there any other types of milk we should try? Is almond milk the best alternative to cow?