Day 1

Day 1
 I stocked the pantry last night ( note to self : shopping on Sunday night is a feeding frenzy - don't do it again) and made kale and lentil soup from the Engine 2 Diet cookbook. The book says it feeds 10 hungry firemen and that's right- it will take us all week to eat this!
 The soup is good and hearty especially with a slice of Ezekiel bread or a whole wheat and no oil pita. The hardest part of shopping was checking on ingredients in packaged foods like stock, chips and bread in the middle of a crowded shopping aisle - Sorry folks, I tried to be fast! Anyhow Whole Foods small pita pockets are safe, no oils used. The big Whole Foods pitas have oil in them.
 Why no oil you ask?
 Well according to Rip Esselstyn, the author of the Engine 2 Diet, oils are plant extracts not whole foods and if you are trying to lose weight and lower bad cholesterol levels you need to eliminate oil or consume a miniscule amount. If you have to grease a pan he wants you to use Pam spray. So far this is my only complaint about the book.
 I REFUSE to use Pam. It's genetically modified canola oil and the propellant can be any combination of propane, food grade alcohol, butane, and/ or petroleum gas. Yuck! Why would you want that in your food??? I plan to get a Misto ( a pump oil spritzer) and use that with olive oil for the few times I really need any oil.  A little water in the pan or vegetable broth works fine in place of oil for many things.  The soup is lovely although the recipe calls for no seasoning except ground pepper. It tastes much better on the second day too ( and the third and the fourth...) I'm thinking maybe oregano and thyme and basil the next time I make this soup.