Abundance Diet, Day 19-21

I'm in the home stretch! Only one more week left in the 28-day Abundance Diet. I'm really looking forward to eating sugar again. And GLUTEN! God, I miss gluten. But I do love the way I'm feeling on this whole foods-based, processed food-free, gluten-free, sugar-free diet. I have more energy, and things are moving through nicely if you get my drift.

By the way, if you haven't been following along, I'm working my way through Somer McCowan's Abundance Diet cookbook by using the 28-day meal plan from the book.

This past weekend was a delicious one. As always, Friday's meals consisted of leftovers from earlier in the week. It snowed Friday morning, so I went for a snowy run in Overton Park just as the sun was coming up. And I saw a fox in the snow-covered woods!! He didn't see me coming until he was quite close, and then he froze when he heard my feet fall on the paved trail around the forest. I stopped. He stopped. We stared at one another — him probably in fright, me in awe. And then he hopped over a snow-covered log and disappeared deep into the forest.

We had a snow day from work on Friday, even though we only got a light dusting. Everyone in the South freaks out when a few flakes fall, and everything shuts down. But I still had lots of work to do, so I enjoyed my meals for the day while working from home. There was another Jaffa Cake Green Smoothie, a Chipotle Knock-off Salad, Moroccan Lentil Soup, and Shepherd's Pie with cauliflower mash. But after dinner on Friday, I got to try a new dessert from the book — Peach & Blueberry Tart with Apricot Crumble.

This was definitely my favorite dessert so far on the cleanse! It has a crust and crumble topping made from dates, dried apricots, and gluten-free flour, and I loved the soft and sweet texture. It's baked with fresh peaches and frozen blueberries. I made half the recipe (two servings) and ate them both. Cold, snowy nights are perfect for crumbles.

Saturday morning started with a fun savory breakfast, a nice change from the usual weekday green smoothies on this diet. This was the Apple & Chai Spice Muesli — overnight oats mixed with chai spice (I used Blue Lotus chai powder), grated apple, and almonds. I served mine with extra cashew milk. I would definitely make this for breakfast again when I'm not cleansing. So good!

The rest of the day was more leftovers, including my favorite BBQ Tofu & Avocado Spring Rolls. The Abundance Diet allows for desserts on both weekend days, so there was another dessert on Saturday night. It was more soft serve! Last weekend, I had cherry-banana soft serve. And this time I had Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup Soft Serve, again made with a frozen banana base. Also, cocoa powder, cashew milk, and grain-sweetened carob chips.

I got another fun, solid good breakfast on Sunday morning. I had these Bananas Foster Pancakes with Date Paste while watching Making a Murderer this morning (omg, I'm so obsessed with that show!!). The date paste, made from medjool dates and water, was a fun alternative to maple syrup. And the gluten-free pancakes were light and fluffy and didn't taste at all gluten-free. I used the Bob's Red Mill gluten-free flour mix rather than Somer's blend from the cookbook because I'm lazy.

When I started this 28-day plan, I told myself that I'd eat out every Sunday for brunch and every Thursday for dinner. But I'd try my best to stay within the cleanse guidelines when ordering at restaurants. On Sunday around lunch, I met my brunch buds at our usual spot — Imagine Vegan Cafe — and I ordered the Veggie Plate with red beans & rice, sweet potatoes, green beans, and garlic kale. It wasn't as decadent as Stephanie's biscuits & gravy or Megan's vegan fried shrimp po'boy. But it was still damn tasty. And I felt good after eating it.

I had more leftovers for dinner Sunday night — the cheesy potato & cauliflower casserole. And that's it for the weekend. I'm looking forward to my last week on the cleanse. I have a few fun outings and cheats planned for mid-week and the weekend, so the time should pass quickly.