A 30th Birthday and Green Hummus

We celebrated a 30th Birthday this last weekend.

Not me, silly, of course not. I'm still enjoying my youth, comfortably cruising through my 20s.

Matt on the other hand, well, he is getting old.

As we neared his Birthday, I tried to suggest lots of activities he might be interested in participating in to celebrate this momentous occasion. A Haunted Pub Crawl, a boat party, a 90s themed murder mystery party, a Boy Meets World marathon...

He chose the Renaissance Faire. And a diet.

Now, both of these things need a little clarification.

The Renaissance Faire.

Matt is a nerd. Always has been. Always will be. I just wasn't entirely aware of how far his nerd-dom went. Throughout this past year where we have transitioned from being engaged to married, he's let a few more skeletons out of his closet:

-He has a pretty healthy obsession with Disney World. i.e. we've gone every year we've been together (that's 5 times...4 times more than I had been in my life up until our relationship).
-He watches two shows with obsessive fervor: Dr. Who and Boy Meets World.
-He loves comic books
-He's obsessed with Harry Potter (I know this is pop culture, not necessarily a nerd alert level, but combine it with everything else, it needs to be noted).
-And recently, I've learned that he has a strange affinity for the Renaissance and Medeival times. Faires and dinner and tournaments to be exact.

I was starting to get a little worried that I had been blind-sighted by all of these things, but Matt has informed me that because he is now in his 30s, he no longer needs to HIDE his nerdy tendencies, but rather, is going to let his freak flag fly. Loud and proud.

Now, the diet.

It's no secret that Matt and I have had quite an eventful summer. And most couples would diet furiously prior to their wedding to look svelte and slim for the big day and also to offset the imbibing that takes place on a honeymoon. Matt and I are not those people.

So, Matt thought that along with quitting smoking for this 30th (PRAISE THE LORD), we should go on a diet.

I immediately panicked. I hate diets. Disagree with them fundamentally. And had no idea what I would do on this blog. So I googled.

And found a diet I could be ok with. At least temporarily.

Enter Engine 2 Diet.

I had read about this book before and heard that the author of the China Study had endorsed this, so I had already wanted to do a little research into what the big deal was, so I looked at this diet as blog research. And the book came with a recipe section. So, with that being said....

WELCOME TO THE ENGINE 2 DIET RECIPE REVIEW...for the next few weeks at least.

Ok, this is getting to be a long entry, but I decided that I needed to start out with something simple to get my feet wet. The Engine 2 Diet does not use oil, so this was quite frightening to me. Hummus seemed like an easy option. And in reality, this hummus turned out pretty great (despite this awful picture).

Here's the recipe for "Rip's Oil-free Low Fat Hummus Recipe" with a few alterations from your's truly:

Ingredients:

2 cans chickpeas, rinsed and drained
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons Bragg Liquid Aminos (this is a soy sauce alternative that the author swears by)
6 tablespoons water
2 handfuls of spinach
1 jalapeno, chopped

Put it all in the food processor and blend until it reaches the consistency you like. Add more water to make it creamier if desired.


The moral of this story? I'd say wait until AFTER a mid-life crisis to make any huge life-altering decisions. Otherwise, you find yourself looking at this scene on a Sunday afternoon (that's Matt throwing the axe - while a group of Live Action Role Player "LARPers" watch).