Dr. Atkins' worst nightmare

That's me! I know I'm not alone, but sometimes I look at what I'm eating/cooking and think that Dr. Fadkins would have a heart attack (ironically, he did). Today was Carb Day in my home.

Breakfast: oatmeal
snack: slice of bread with Earth Balance
Lunch: PB sandwich
snack: pan-seared apple
Dinner: carbs cooked with carbs and covered in carbs (more details in a moment)

I remember, at the height of the Carbs-Are-Evil Craze, being in the middle of a grocery store and just getting all the things I normally got and suddenly noticing all of the absolutely horrified looks I was getting. Women were literally stopping in their tracks to stare at me. Naturally, I became a little nervous and self-conscious, but then I laughed inside my head when I realized the source of their horror. Inside my cart I had:
a few different kinds of pasta
a loaf of bread
burger buns
a bag of rice
a box of cereal
fruit

Obviously, there were various vegetables and other things, but those were the things my fellow shoppers were staring at in awe. They were then looking at me as if to say, "How can you eat carbs and still be thin? Don't you know carbs make you fat??" Of course, what seemed to escape the attention of all these carb-starved dieters was what was NOT in my cart: chips, cookies, ice cream, candy, and other crap. Newsflash! Those things are what really make you fat.

So, now that I have absolutely blown your mind, let's talk about my carbalicious dinner. Tonight, I subjected my husband to a feminist version of his favorite dinner: Shepherdess Pie from Veganomicon. I made a couple of substitutions, due to my husband's trouble with tempeh and distaste for mushrooms. I've mentioned "pet ingredients" before - Nava's is sundried tomatoes, Robin's is soy "meat" crumbles, and it seems to me that Isa's are mushrooms and tempeh - Mister's mortal enemies.
It was very tasty and extremely photo-friendly. I think one of the things I was happiest about was the mashed potato topping - it blows my mind that the creamiest, most spreadable mashed potatoes I have ever made from scratch are vegan. I think it was my secret ingredient.

You want to know what it is, don't you?
If I told you, it wouldn't be my secret ingredient.
Anyway, Mister compared it to a potpie but with a mashed potato topping. He stated quite bluntly that he prefers Sarah's Savoury Shepherd's Pie. I liked it, but I could think of a couple of variations I'd like to try, which would probably bring it more in line with Mister's preferences. He did agree that the mashed potatoes were awesome and he's a big mashed potato fan. We actually ate a tub of mashed potatoes for dinner one night of our honeymoon. Why not? It was our honeymoon.

So, 3 lbs of potatoes, 1 cup of peas (high starch vegetable), 1 cup of corn (same thing), and flour to thicken the gravy equals Atkins Apocalypse. You can keep your fatty corpses, sir. I still remember when a friend of mine fell victim to the hype. I watched him eat a combo plate of filet mignon and tilapia, nestled on a bed of really tasty looking risotto...which he scraped into the garbage.

I am firmly convinced that the reason the Atkins thing took off is because carbohydrate is an essential macronutrient and if you do not get enough of it, your brain does not function correctly.

Now we push the negativity into the corner and take a moment to be thankful:
1. I am thankful for this "3-day weekend" to spend time with my husband before my schedule turns upside down.

2. I'm grateful for the four walls that keep the sub-freezing cold out of my home (for the most part).

3. I am grateful the wind hasn't blown out the pilot on the heater or the oven. Yet.

4. I am grateful that my sister will be home in Pennsylvania for two weeks in ten days!