Would you believe that before this week came, I had never experienced fresh cherries before?
Abels jaw just about dropped when I mentioned it to him in the grocery store.... Recently we've been buying the frozen ones which are great for our smoothies but not once have I questioned why I've never bought them fresh.
Growing up, my mother only ever kept jarred maraschino cherries in the fridge for her pineapple upside down cakes. Thats what I knew cherries to be for the majority of my life.
Is that sad? Well perhaps it is.... but at the end there was still a pineapple upside down cake so don't feel too bad for me ;0)
Needless to say when I saw them on display in all of their loveliness I had to pencil them onto our grocery list. I havent incorporated them into any recipes yet because Im truly just enjoying them as they are right now. Dee-licious!
In other news, tomorrow marks day 60 of our new eating lifestyle and I must admit I'm very surprised at myself for being able to stay so consistent. I know much of it has to do with the fact that we are just now on the verge of finding a world of recipes to tinker with and plug into the 5 piece puzzle regimen. It definitely helps stay on top of things...
Don't get me wrong, the health benefits are a HUGE factor and should be the #1 reason for sticking to cleaner eating but lets be real.. if my health was always top priority for me in my life I wouldn't at one point in my life have been 100+ pounds overweight. It takes a long time to re-prioritize a lifestyle change...
Also the fact that Abel and I are doing this together plays a huge role. If I were doing this alone my attention span would have probably fallen by the wayside by now ... 60 days... my how they've flown!
Last night we experimented with Martha Stewarts Spicy Enchiladas in a Pumpkin Sauce.
I've seen different variations on this recipe from other bloggers and for our version, I kinda took them all and combined what worked for us to fit it into our 5 piece puzzle. Once I get the chance to, I will post the recipe for our version accrediting those sites who helped steer us in the right direction of course. First though, we had to make a test run of it to see if we were even going to like it.
Funny thing is, I have never been a huge fan of pumpkin anything, yet all I could think about yesterday was coming home from work and giving this recipe a go.
It was a little more time consuming but I have to admit it was very much worth it. I tried to capture a nice inviting picture of the meal but when you think about it, enchiladas oftentimes look like a hot mess:
But believe you me, this hot mess was damn delicious.
You may not be able to tell, but there is no cheese on these enchiladas. In keeping with the 5 piece puzzle strategy, cheese falls as a protein so we had a decision to make. Either make them all veggie with cheese or throw in some meat and/or beans. In the end, we decided we had to use up the blackbeans that had been sitting in the refrigerator and because it wasn't enough black beans, we made up the rest with some chicken.
As deep as my love for cheese runs, I can honestly say I didn't even miss it in this recipe. The consistency of the pumpkin gave it an added dimension of texture for us that was perfect. Abel loved it just as much as I did. The only thing that was missing in our meal was the "healthy fat" aspect of the dish. By the time I realized we had left it out I was too ready to tear into my meal to even care.
We do have a little tweaking to do with the recipe because I feel the amount of sauce I made could be cut down a bit, but as soon as we get it just right, I guarantee we will share it with a few variation options soon!
Happy Wednesday Bloggville.
