I tell you--I obviously go around with blinders on because I constantly discover neat awareness campaigns when they are already happening, instead of when I can actually plan to capitalize on them. For example, did you know today is "World Vegetarian Day?" Me neither. However, since it is just the first day of Vegetarian Awareness Month, I guess it isn't a catastrophe.Today is also Day One of the October Unprocessed challenge. For this month, the challenge is to try to eat unprocessed food. In other words, make it yourself. That should be relatively easy if you also tend to eat toward the vegetarian end of the food chain. I am not a vegetarian, although I eat mostly fruits, veggies, grains and dairy. My husband eats very few fruits or vegetables, and I doubt that will change--he had a heart attack about 13 years ago, and it didn't affect his lifestyle a bit. However, he doesn't get a lot of unprocessed food, because I cook most things from scratch.
However, I did take the October Unprocessed Challenge. I don't buy much processed food anyway--we'll just see if I can cut it back even further. Before I knew about the challenge this morning though, I did eat some toasted cheese sandwiches (not grilled cheese) for breakfast using store bought bread and American cheese slices (so, I'm not a saint)--even though there was fresh baked bread right next to it on the counter. I made anadama sourdough bread yesterday. Pretty good, but not going to be one of my favorites. I had been thinking about having baked potatoes for dinner, so I guess that will be a go. It's one of the few vegetarian meals I can get hubby to eat. I like to saute some peppers and onions together and add some butter, cheese and diced tomatoes. I might just throw in some broccoli tonight (my husband won't eat it, but my daughter and her husband will.) I also still have a fresh pineapple from my last Bountiful Baskets pickup, so we'll have that as well. Sounds yum to me!
The point of these campaigns is to make people aware of alternatives and to get people to think about healthier lifestyle choices. Will I probably break down and eat some processed food this month? Most likely. And the world won't come to an end because of it. But if I can continue to add more unprocessed food to our diet, that will be great. I hope to find more recipes for things I buy I can make myself. I am not likely to become a vegetarian either. However, if I eat a little less meat and a little more veggies, that surely can't hurt me or the environment. Being a little more conscious of our food choices is a good thing for all of us.
Bon appetit!
