Pleased as Punch, So To Speak or How to Put Kale in Foods and Not Have It Taste Like Kale

It's been a week and one day since I started my natural foods lifestyle change, and I'm really pleased with how things are going. I feel really good (often really superior, so say what you will about that) about the food-related choices I'm making, and I'm really happy about some subtle progress.

Bananas: Making me laugh for
inappropriate reasons since 1991. 

Cravings. I used to come home from school and crave a sugary, sweet snack - normally graham crackers with fluff and Nutella or cereal - but today I didn't. And today was a today that I should have. I had lunch at 10:00 a.m., left school at 2:30. Got to my doctor's office to pick up some paperwork about 3:00. That process took almost an hour. Went to Baystate to do a chest X-Ray and have, honest to goddess, six viles of blood drawn, and didn't get home until almost five. Know what I wanted more than anything? A banana and peanut butter. I love that that's what I'm craving.

Cooking. I'm doing it more. And not just popping some chicken patties in the oven and calling it dinner cooking - cooking over a stove. To be fair, I'm still a bit of a lazy chef, and, of course, have invented a new fallback: egg sandwiches. I don't know what the fuck my beef with eggs was prior to this, but I have been sorely mistaken for the majority of my life. I mean, I liked scrambled eggs as well as the next person, but other than that, I was ran the spectrum from eh to blech regarding eggs. Now, I love them. I cook them with kale - and you can't even taste the kale! - put some Cabot Horseradish Cheddar on them (or not, they're fine without, too), put some lettuce and some homemade mayonnaise on some delicious, wholesome bread, and voila! I would eat them in a box. I would eat them with a fox.

Which brings me to my next new love: soysage. That's soy sausage, for those of you not savvy enough to connect those dots. I'm overly enthusiastic about this meat substitute from Smart Deli, whose only wonky ingredient is cellulose gum. (The FDA says that cellulose gum in small quantities has no effect on humans, but I'm dubious about the FDA claims, and am more inclined to believe the numerous internet articles that say it "acts as a laxative.") My wonderful fiancé tried a bite and said, "Huh. That's interesting." But I think it's great! GREAT, I tell you! The only bummer is that, in a regular grocery store, it costs an arm and a leg. Or a meatless arm and a leg. I bought it for $1.00 at The Barn. Who's got two thumbs and doesn't mind checking the expiration dates on food and spends literally one third of the amount she would spend in a normal grocery store? This kid.