Abundance Diet, Day 16

Another day of yummy eats on Somer McCowan's 28-day Abundance Diet! For the month of January, I'm following this whole foods-based, low-oil, white sugar-free, gluten-free diet to reset my eating habits after the holidays. And I'm exclusively using the recipes from The Abundance Diet cookbook (with the exception of a few eating out trips).

Day 16 started with a short 25-minute Yoga with Adriene Yoga Camp video and a glass of the Australian Carrot Refresher Juice from the book. I've been exploring the juice chapter for pre-workout snacks before light workouts. This is made with carrots, apples, and celery.

Every week day on the Abundance Diet starts with a green smoothie, so after yoga, I had the Poppy's Jaffa Cake Green Smoothie. "Jaffa" means chocolate-orange, so this smoothie is a blend of cocoa powder, fresh orange slices, banana, kale, and hemp seeds. Chocolate and orange is a winning combo, and this was delicious.

Every day for lunch, you get a big ole salad and a giant bowl of soup. Today's salad was the Chipotle Knock-Off Chopped Salad, which is supposed to be a way healthier version of the fast-casual restaurant chain's chopped salad. To be honest, I've never had Chipotle's salad because, when I'm there, I can't resist the siren song of a tofu sofritas burrito (or tacos). But this actually reminded me of the Taco Bell Cantina Bowls, which I've ordered vegan-style a few times. This has pinto beans, corn, cilantro, brown rice, romaine, cashew sour cream, salsa, and a Southwestern-style creamy cashew-based dressing. I love a good Tex-Mex salad!

For my soup today, I had the Moroccan Lentil Soup made with red lentils, tomatoes, and carrots. It has a generous squeeze of lemon juice that really adds a bright, complex flavor. Plus, it's loaded with spices, like cinnamon and coriander. 

The lunches on this plan so filling that I'm rarely hungry for my afternoon snack. But I always eat it anyway because I like to eat. Today was another batch of Somer's oil-free hummus, but this time, I tried her Spicy Peanut Hummus variation by adding peanut butter and Yellowbird Habanero Sauce. I don't think I added enough habanero though because the end result wasn't spicy at all. It did have a slight peanutty hint though, which was a fun change from my usual tahini. I snacked on this before a board meeting after work.

After my meeting, I came home and got dinner in the oven. I'd prepped everything the night before, so baking this Healthier Shepherd's Pie was a breeze. Just assemble and pop in the oven. The base is lentils, mushrooms, and walnuts, and the "mashed potato" layer is actually made with mashed cauliflower. It's totally potato-free! Not that there's anything wrong with potatoes, but you can eat about twice as much cauliflower for the same calories.

And I did! The portions on this diet are HUGE! I halved the recipe to make two servings and it totally filled this 6-inch casserole dish. And the pie is pretty deep. I ate half of the casserole tonight, and I'll have the other half later on this week.

That's it for Day 16! I'm hoping that I get to run early in the morning, but the weather is calling for rain. And while I love running in warm rain, I'm not a fan of running 20-degree rain.