Rule #22...bring on the leaves!

Rule #21 I did not like and I did not seem to pay much attention to. Really, what it boils down to is that I did not understand this rule. Is there any food that is pronounced the same in EVERY language? When I was in India they had Subway but the sandwiches were all changed around to incorporate Indian specialties. And I am pretty sure they did not call them sandwiches.

This upcoming Rule #22 I am much more excited about: Rule 22: Eat mostly plants, especially leaves. . For this week we are going to try and eat a leafy dish every day. Also, we will have all our main courses be plant based. When discussing this rule with Ryan he seemed to think it would be easy for us, saying "I think we eat mostly vegetarian anyway." I have to disagree. Ever since I moved in with Ryan I have found myself eating a lot more meat. I attribute this to Ryan's willingness to touch/cut up/clean all the dead animals. When I lived by myself I really only ate meat when I went out to dinner or if it was pre-prepared (not saying that makes eating meat better....just saying I rarely ate it). These upcoming rules will limit our meat consumption considerably so it will be interesting to see if Ryan objects.

Rule #21

This past week was pretty easy. We drove to Bend for the weekend, and YES, it would have been more convenient to stop at a fast food joint to fill our tummies and keep us awake. However, doing so would have caused us to miss out on the excellent fry bread we had in Deschutes Crossing. And the homemade ice cream in Sunriver was better than a bizzard. All in all, this was a great rule to have this past week.

This upcoming week, Rule 21: It's not food if it's called by the same name in every language (Think Big Mac, Cheetos, or Pringles.), will force us to do some research. I am guessing mostly food served by big food cooperations will go against the rule. I am also pretty sure that hamburgers and pizza are universal terms. Can you think of any others that we might accidently not think about?

Rule #20

Rule #20: It's not food if it arrived through the window of your car will be incredibly easy for us. We rarely eat fast food aside from a yearly (or so) trip to Burgerville to get pumpkin milkshakes, sweet potato fries, spicy black bean garden burgers or their sweet walla walla onion rings! I still hold the claim to fame that I have never eaten at a McDonalds (Yes, I am that girl, and yes, my mother is so proud!). Although, when I was daydreaming about making it to this rule as we were driving a few days ago, I stated to Ryan, "I can't wait for this rule because I will be able to eat anything....and the first thing I want to eat is a DQ cookie dough blizzard!" Ryan was like, "Dear, that is the one thing you will not be able to eat it." Damn, my dreams were dashed. Store bought ice cream will have to suffice for the heat wave.

Last week's rule (#19) Ryan hated. Note to Margot: we ended up agreeing with you and decided that wine could not be considered as being made in a plant, but we decided against big cheese companies, which equally killed him. Also, we could not drink beer because apparently our friend who works at Deschutes informed us that the place where their beer is brewed is called "The Plant."

This week we anticipate eating a lot of salads because our food bin arrived with HUGE heads (yes, plural) of lettuce. Also, who wants to cook in this heat???? Another thing I just realized, thanks to a visit with Ryan's dad and step-mom, is that we have not been making enough/any smoothies for breakfast. A perfect alternative to hot oatmeal when you are trying to stay cool on a summer morning. Ryan's dad even puts ground up walnuts in his smoothie concoction!

Rule #19, Take Three

Late. The days are going so fast, it's hard to keep up with them. Rule #19: If it came from a plant, eat it; if it was made in a plant, don't, is very similar to the last two rules. Bottom line: Don't eat foods that are processed in factory settings. The confusing thing about this weeks particular rule is that some things are made from plants and come from plants. The big question in Ryan's mind: Can we drink wine? Answer: Undetermined. Wine is made from grapes (plant) but it is processed with preservatives (made in a plant). Oh the dilemma. Also, do bakeries count as plants? In my mind, a local bakery is not a plant, whereas I am sure that Wonder Bread has an impressive plant.

In other news, Ryan got the urge to cook "Cornish Game Hens" in 80+ degree weather. I don't know who cooks "Cornish Game Hens" in the first place and much less in the summer!

"Why would anyone think to eat this?!?!"

Ryan thought I was trying to poison him last night when I gave him a raw red dandelion green to try (picture of his face after eating below!). The greens showed up in our food bin and I almost put them in a salad. Luckily, I tasted one first and realized how bitter they were (quite the kick!). I did some research and realized that if you saute them in bacon fat it takes out a lot of the bitterness.


We also cooked the vegetable that we had no idea what it was. We cut it open and sure enough, no seeds, and yellow rings. It was a GIANT beet (Allison, I think the picture looked deceiving but I appreciate the research you did....now I want to try one of those crazy squash!).


Aside from the two veggies I made homemade foccacia bread topped with roasted garlic. Ryan loved it evidenced by the fact that we have NONE left.


The next night we had a meal of ALL veggies. This was pretty new to us because we usually always have some type of meat or bread-like substance (rice, noodles, etc). The meal included grilled corn on the cob, portabello mushrooms (which were cheaper than regular mushrooms! Not sure what was up with that but we took advantage!), sweet potatoes, and kale with caramelized onion.

The Prettiest Carrot in all of the World!

Wouldn't you agree?



Also, wish us luck. I am going to cook with these tonight.

Red Dandelion Greens. Super bitter.


***I must apologize because I have not yet cut open the mystery food pictured a few posts ago. Giant beet or crazy squash yet to be determined......maybe I will figure it out tomorrow......

Hello August, and Rule #18

I felt very healthy following last week's rule. It made you forgo things like the ice cream at the company picnic, the non-stop starbucks desserts at work, and the candy from the occasional candy dish. When I was hungry I would often find myself eating an orange, some watermelon, or a handful of cherries, and surprisingly (only if you know me) I was okay with it. This upcoming week our rule is very similar but perhaps a little harder because the "cooked" catch is not included. Rule 18: Don't ingest foods made in places where everyone is required to wear a surgical cap. This will mean basically anything that is made in a plant. We are taking the "made" part of this rule very literally because many foods go through a processing plant where people are required to wear surgical caps, but these places do not make things such as apples, which we think are okay (obviously we always try to buy locally so this issue may not even come up....but just in case we want to make our rule clear).