What's Cooking?

A few weeks ago I mentioned that I've started the Cinch diet. Well, I'm still on it, and it's completely changed the way I think about eating and how I enjoy food. Really, it's been great.

Tonight I made a Cinch dinner with spaghetti squash, my first time cooking with it. It's strange, because it looks like spaghetti (hence the name), but tastes nothing like it. This combination of spaghetti squash, whole wheat pasta (penne and rigatoni), garlic, pesto, spinach and shrimp worked really well. It took a little bit to prepare - the squash needed to be hacked in half, placed cut side down in a glass pan with a little bit of water and microwaved for 6 minutes. I could only fit one half in the microwave at a time, and then my timing got a little wonky with the other ingredients. But, I'd call this dinner a success!



Then after dinner I allowed myself a rare indulgence off the Cinch plan (I've really been surprisingly good about not venturing off the plan.. I've even surprised myself!). I baked some Pumpkin Pie Banana Chunk Oatmeal Cookies from ohsheglows.com. I'm not usually a vegan baker, but these looked healthy, and full of roughage.. and, of course, my favorite things (pumpkin + bananas + oats!).



I'm interested to see how they do overnight, but fresh out of the oven they were great. It doesn't taste like a non-vegan cookie, so if you can get over the lack of crispy texture, and you like moist, wheaty cookies, give them a try!