Well, this week I challenged myself to not eat bread.  This, by far, was incredibly harder for me than giving up the meat.  I managed to make it through the time I was traveling and stay away from it, but once I got home...look out.  Last night, was Dining Out for Life in Denver, so Dan and I went for a quick bite at Delite.
(hey that rhymes).  It was so good...ah gluten how I missed you!  Chicken Pesto Pizza, potato chips with truffle and bleu cheese, black beans sopes, and pork sliders.  I don't know if it was just because I was starving or because I hadn't had any bread for days, but everything was so delicious. 

I have to mention dinner last Saturday night at Potager.  Potager is a cool little restaurant on Ogden St. in Denver.  Their menu changes constantly, and is based on what is fresh and available at any given time.  I had the spaghetti with the peekytoe crab, pea shoots and parmesan.....heavenly.  (As a side note, I have to thank my fabulous friend,  Barb for telling me about this place)!!  They have a great wine selection and their desserts sounded wonderful as well.  We skipped dessert because we were headed to D Bar...here's a hint...make a reservation at D Bar (if you can).  So we headed to the Avenue Grill for dessert (tiramisu and a chocolate martini)....ah what a great way to spend a Saturday night.  I'm inspired by my Pesto Pizza last night, so I'm headed off to the grocery store to come up with something.  I'll post the results later....

So, the no meat thing has, for no real reason, continued and as of today, I have had the equivalent of a sausage patty over the past two weeks.  It's almost like a game for me now.  What can I find to satisfy my appetite that doesn't have meat in it?  I drove right past the In N Out Burger in St. George this week, didn't even have to talk myself out of it.  I was telling Dan about it this morning and I told him that it can't last forever.  I mean, over Memorial Day we'll be in New York and I can't exactly pass up a filet on toast at Bobby Van's.  So, when the urge strikes, I'll give in.  I'm excited, I've been doing some cooking for people and have some "gigs" scheduled for later in the year.  It's so great to be able to share your passion with others and for people to appreciate your talents.  My magazine "debut" has started hitting mailboxes across the country...if you live near a Furniture Row Shopping Center, stop in and pick up a copy of "Home is Here" Magazine.  There is a great brunch story, including "yours truly"....check it out.  Tomorrow night I'm going to a fabulous dinner...I'll report back about that later.

I've decided to start giving myself some mini challenges while I'm on the road.  This week I decided that for the week I would try to give up eating meat...(let's not get crazy, it was just for the time I was gone, not forever...)  I thought it would be fairly simple, and in reality it was.  I wasn't longing for meat, but what struck me was how difficult it was to find something to eat at many of the places I stopped.  I ate lots of veggie sandwiches, steamed vegetables and rice, cheese, potato chips and salad.  The good news is that I survived, 4 days, no meat and I'm still alive.  I think I decided to do that to sort of challenge myself a little on a mental level.  Sometimes I need that reminder that I can do ANYTHING I put my mind to.  Having said all that about celebrating the vegetables, I created a vegetable pizza over the weekend, based on my favorite veggie sandwich.  I thought about those vegetable pizzas that graced many a church or office potluck with the broccoli and ranch dressing...this one is an updated version, a little more sophisticated and it would be the perfect complement to my Cucumber 5 Spice Cooler I made as well.  Check the recipe and drink sections for the recipes. 

The Colorado Rockies kicked off their season yesterday in Denver, and I kicked off what is one of my favorite things to do in the summer as well.  The weather was beautiful in Denver yesterday and mid afternoon I knew there was something I had to do....it had been taunting me all winter, and finally my chance arrived.  The patio at Lime.  I was first introduced to Lime last summer when Dan's friend, Jason was in town for a visit.  Immediately it was one of those places that I knew I would visit again and again.  It's one of those places where you can spend hours lingering on the patio, talking with friends, sipping margaritas or mojitos.  They have an amazing appetizer called the Scorpion...The menu describes the Scorpion like this...." 4 jumbo shrimp layered on jalapeno halves, stuffed with chipotle cheese filling then flash fried in a crispy wrapper.  Served over red chile with guacamole".  They are so delicious.  It's something that I will definitely be working on recreating this summer, but I might have to make several visits back to Lime...just for comparison sake.