A shepherd to follow

I haven't been blogging daily on this challenge and was surprised to realize I'm on day 16 of the March Engine 2 28 day challenge already. This time around has been harder because it isn't new, so it's not preoccupying as much of my time or mind. I'm still seeing great results including losing 7 pounds. It's harder to imagine sticking to this way of eating year round though. My mind keeps wandering to how much easier it would be if I didn't care about what I ate.

 My birthday is coming up next week, and it took me awhile to come up with something to do to celebrate since eating out or even having people over would be difficult to navigate and food would seemingly take center stage of the conversation.  I finally settled on going to see a new exhibit at an art museum which should be fun and not food-focused. It's possible to eat this way all or most of the time and have things not be about food all the time. It's just about getting comfortable with a new way of doing things. I'm working on it.

Tonight, I'm trying a new recipe from Engine 2: Shepherd's pie. I was never crazy about the traditional shepherds pie because it was greasy, mushy and kind of bland. With no oil and lentils instead of meat, this version is definitely not greasy. I added onions, garlic, peas, carrots and thyme to the recipe and it definitely wasn't bland. The recipe they listed on facebook that I followed should have called for pre-cooked lentils, but I didn't know that and added dry lentils.  By adding some water and cooking them with the rest of the ingredients, the lentils gave it some texture (so not mushy.) Most who know me know I hate gravy, but this quick brown gravy version worked well with the dish.