Worst. Blogger. EVER!

This might not be my dog, but his face seems to convey exactly what needs to be said about my blogging efforts of late. Pathetic.

I know, I know guys! My only excuse for my lack of posting is really . . . lack of posting material. I have found that making interesting / insightful commentary on eating freeze-dried space food every day is a lot more challenging than expected. I guess this sheds some light onto one of the many reasons why "dieting" is hard, and most "diets" fail -- dieting is boring. It gets boring, eating the same thing (or limited variety of things) every day. It gets boring having to puzzle over what to order when dining out with friends, or whether I should suck it up and skip the next round of drinks. One light beer is simply not potent enough for me to get up and do karaoke at my favorite local dive bar!

I think perhaps I have been too limited in what I imagined this blog to be about -- weird Nutrisystem food. Yeh, the food is kinda whack, and it was a total novelty to open up that big cardboard box for the first time and see my whole month's menu neatly packaged in color-coded containers. But honestly . . . there's a lot more to life than the 3 meals and 2 snacks I eat every day. I'm thinking the blog needs to become more about that -- with some fun meal-plan reports mixed in, of course!

That said -- I'm hanging in here with the Nutri-food! Aside from a few weekend social lapses . . . and an unfortunately hormonal evening where I binged on several chocolatey Nutrisystem desserts . . . I am pretty much sticking to it. Mama G has also been pretty darn good about following the plan, and is rapidly approaching a 20 lb loss!! Woohoo!! I have not been nearly so dramatic in my scale results, but I am not doing too badly. I wouldn't mind losing another couple of pounds this month before I say a fond farewell to Dining By Cardboard box and embark on the real adventure -- healthy cooking for one!

In the meantime, because I know you are starving for your daily dose of Nutri-goodness, here are a few new food items I've enjoyed from the latest shipment:

Lunch
Cheesy Homestyle Mashed-Potatoes

These potatoes, while tasting much like what you'd expect instant mashed potatoes to taste like, were still pretty yummy, and a welcome change from the usual "saucy, soupy" lunch entrees.

Dinner
Chicken with Almonds, Vegetables and Rice


Tonite's dinner in all its glory . . .

This meal, while very good, is a prime example of something I am eager to try cooking from scratch. Yes, the chicken was good, the brown rice and sliced almonds a perfect touch . . . but the sauce was still obviously a "frozen dinner entree" sauce, with a pathetic sprinkling of wilted red and green bits that I think were supposed to be peppers. The broccoli I added made all the difference -- but if I had made this from scratch, I could have played around with the flavors for the sauce and added waaaay more veggies. Just sayin'.

In other news . . . it's hard to believe we are halfway through September! I have always loved the fall. Something about this time of year always fills me with energy. I think my brain is still wired to think of this as "Back to School" time -- a clean slate, bursting with possibility and new adventures. This year, I think my Autumn Energy is being channeled into this whole, "making peace with body and mind" vibe -- discovering new ways to celebrate and exercise my body and my spirit. Its exciting -- and definitely helping to spark my creativity, too. So as I transition from "Nutrition in a Box" to "Nutrition for my Body", expect a lot more of my wacky hippie poetics on life and love and learning . . . trust me, as we get closer to October and my Inner Wiccan starts rearing her head, its gonna get wiiiiild up in here! :)

Talk to you soon -- I promise!