Reveling in the Joys of Cold Food.

I pet my new refrigerator like it's a living thing.  I'm also realizing how lucky I was not to actually get sick from a year of improperly stored food!  Frozen stuff is frozen, cold stuff is cold, and ice cubes are actually individual cubes, that don't make themselves into a freeform ice sculpture in the bin.  Every time I hear the new load of cubes clatter into the bin, I get a warm, happy feeling.  I just ate a lovely crisp apple! It was cold!

I had drifted off my healthy plant based diet out of necessity - I tried to eat as veggie as I could, but as I couldn't store food for more than a day, single servings of ready-made stuff from the Publix deli had to replace my own big homemade salads, etc.  I threw out so much food in the last two weeks, I wanted to weep at the money wasted.  All the half-frozen, ice-crystal coated frozen food alone - ARRRGH!

I am now back in Salad Heaven. The first thing I made after restocking the fridge with fresh produce -  a lovely big burrito bowl!   I also have the ingredients for this kale salad. 

The holidays are nearly here, and I'm once again torn between going full-on plant based in my holiday menus, or reverting to the traditional.   I've found so many intriguing and delicious-sounding substitutes for the traditional menu, I'm leaning toward skipping the indulgence in meat, dairy and sugar.  I gained three pounds in the last few weeks, entirely due to letting my eating habits drift back to "normal", and my joints have been slightly more achy too.  I am finally getting back to what works for me, and I don't think I want to derail it in my own house.  I'm not going to bring my own food to parties, etc. - I'm not that hardcore - but I think that this year I will master vegan holiday foods.