Potato and Squash Salad

There is no reasoning behind my madness. One of these days I'll have a plan, but for now I'm still making dinner based upon what is left in the fridge. Today I needed to use up a butternut squash half, some fresh spinach, and a couple of red potatoes. Thanks to the beauty of the internet, I found this recipe on the Better Homes and Gardens site. It sounded a little strange, but I thought I'd give it a try. I'm so glad I did--it was awesome. The recipe said to boil the squash and potatoes, but I roasted them instead because I'm on a roasting kick. Nate thought it tasted like something you'd eat up at Sundance, and I agreed. Camden gagged on the squash (she has a problem with certain textures) and Riley took FOREVER to finish, but Nate and I thought it was the best meal we've had in a long time. Nate said, "This is the only way to eat spinach!" So it's a keeper. I served it with Buckwheat crepes w/ swiss cheese.


Potato and Squash Salad
1 1-1/4- to 1-1/2-lb. butternut squash, peeled, halved, seeded, and cubed (about 4 cups)
2 cups peeled, cubed sweet and/or white potatoes (2 medium)
1/2 cup chopped red sweet pepper
1 small yellow onion, sliced in thin wedges
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp. packed brown sugar (I used a little more)
1 tsp. snipped fresh thyme (I used 1/2 tsp dried)
1 tsp. snipped fresh basil (I used 1/2 tsp dried)
1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper (I didn't use, but would be great)
1/4 tsp. ground black pepper
5 cups spinach leaves

1. Preheat oven 425 degrees. Toss squash and potatoes with olive oil, salt and pepper. Roast on a nonstick pan for 30 minuets until browned.

2. In skillet cook sweet pepper, onion, and garlic in olive oil over medium heat until onion is tender, stirring occasionally. Stir in brown sugar. Remove from heat. Stir in thyme, basil, 1/2 tsp. salt, and peppers.

3. Combine sweet pepper and potato mixtures in skillet. Place spinach in bowl or on individual plates. Top with potato mixture. (Or, let potato mixture stand at room temperature, covered, up to 2 hours before serving over spinach.)

Roasted Veggie Spaghetti

I didn't really have a plan for dinner tonight but I needed to use the eggplant in the fridge. Hmmmm, eggplant... dinner... thinking... I can always come up with some sort of sauce that goes on spaghetti--that's how my famous Cowboy Spaghetti came to be. So I thought I'd try something new, something eggplant-ey. Here's what I came up with, and it was fairly well received (which means Nate liked it, Camden tolerated it, and Riley actually ate it in under an hour):

Roasted Veggie Spaghetti
1 eggplant, peeled and 3/4 inch diced
1 red pepper, diced (I only used a half)
1 red onion, diced (I only used a half)
1 can diced tomatoes, italian style with basil, garlic and oregano
mushrooms
olive oil
salt & pepper
basil
spaghetti, (I used Barilla multigrain pasta)

1. Preheat oven 400 degrees.
2. Toss eggplant, pepper and onion with olive oil, salt and pepper. Roast for 25-30 minutes.
3. Saute mushrooms in olive oil. Add tomatoes, undrained. Simmer to reduce liquid.
4. Add roasted vegetables to tomato sauce.
5. Serve over spaghetti

Spanish Rice with Vegetables

I found this recipe on almostvegetarian.blogspot.com. I used a can of petite diced tomatoes instead of the tomato sauce and Roma tomatoes. I had to cook it more like 50 mins (which is what the package of Basmati rice recommended) and I used a little less water. I served it with sour cream and all natural "Wholly Guacamole" on top, with "Flatout Wrap" bread cut into chip-size and oven toasted on the side. It was our favorite meal so far.

The almost vegetarian meal for the almost vegetarian toddler
by Noel Boehm from Pretty by Nature

"One of my son's favorite is Spanish rice with vegetables. It changes almost every time I make and is a good "clean out the fridge" meal. Basically whatever veggies I have left over go into the dish which makes it a great quick Friday night or weekend dinner.

Spanish rice with vegetables
2 cups brown Basmati rice
1 red pepper
1 medium yellow or red onion
1 cup carrots, small diced
3 Roma tomatoes
1 can organic red beans(drained and rinsed)
2 cups homemade or store bought low -sodium vegetable broth
2 cups water
1 can organic tomato or marinara sauce
Salt and pepper to taste
Garlic powder, cumin and fresh thyme
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

I start by dicing all of the vegetables into 1/2" pieces. Add them one at a time to a heated pot( I use a dutch over) with the olive oil. Cook until veggies are softened( about 3-5 minutes), adding spices and herbs along the way to make sure that the flavors are layered. I then add the rice and let it cook for about 3 minutes so it can get a nice toasted flavor.

Add the tomato sauce and stir until it has all be incorporated and the rice is coated. At this point add the beans, seeded and diced tomatoes and the water and broth mixture and bring to a boil. Once it has come to a boil, cover and lower to a simmer.

Cook for 25 minutes or until most of the liquid has been absorbed and let stand uncovered for about 10 minutes. You can tweak the amount of liquid, we like our rice ever so slightly al dente so this comes out perfect. You can serve it with diced avocado on top and voila.

I can't speak for all kids but mine can't get enough of this. I have made it with mushrooms and (a big hit with the bug) once with chilies and plantains. The sky's the limit. I hope it will be a hit at your table!"

Spinach and Mushroom Salad

This is my "go-to" salad that I usually make when I'm asked to bring a salad. It seems to compliment anything you serve with it and it's one of my favorites:

Spinach and Mushroom Salad
1 lb. fresh spinach
1/2 head lettuce
1/2 lb. fresh mushrooms
1 cup cottage cheese
1 c swiss cheese, grated
1/2 purple onion, thinly sliced

dressing:
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
2 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp minced purple onion
3/4 cup olive oil (I use 1/2 cup--I like the 1:1 ratio with the vinegar)
2 tsp poppyseed (optional)

Slow-Cooker Vegetable Curry

I was looking at the vegetarian recipes on the Better Homes & Gardens website (www.bhg.com/recipes). They have quite a few I'd like to try, but today I decided on the Slow-Cooker Vegetable Curry. This recipe is more of an Indian curry, but they do have a Thai-style curry that I'll try another day. It was super quick and easy and made the house smell like curry (that's usually a good thing). I served it with brown rice and Nate and I liked that it was a nice, hearty meal. Camden and Riley ate it well enough, but Sidney loved it! We're thinking of changing her name to Chickpea, because she couldn't get enough! (I'm preparing myself for some pretty awesome curry diapers tomorrow, but I was glad she liked it.)



Slow-Cooker Vegetable Curry
4 medium carrots, sliced
2 medium potatoes, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 15-ounce can garbanzo beans (chickpeas), rinsed and drained
8 ounces fresh green beans, cut into 1-inch pieces (I used canned green beans, drained)
1 cup coarsely chopped onion
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons quick-cooking tapioca
2 teaspoons curry powder
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper (I barely did 1/4 tsp because I didn't want it too spicy for the kids)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 14-ounce can vegetable broth or chicken broth
1 14-1/2-ounce can diced tomatoes, undrained
Hot cooked rice (I used brown rice)

1. In a 3-1/2- to 5-quart slow cooker, combine carrots, potatoes, garbanzo beans, green beans (if using fresh), onion, garlic, tapioca, curry powder, coriander, crushed red pepper, salt, and cinnamon. Pour broth over all.
2. Cover and cook on low-heat setting for 7 to 9 hours or on high-heat setting for 3-1/2 to 4-1/2 hours.
3. Add tomatoes (and green beans, if using canned) for the last 30 mins to 1 hour. Serve over hot cooked rice. Makes 4 servings.

Mandarin Salad w/ Sweet-Sour Dressing

Since it was Sunday, we went over to the Taylor's for dinner--my favorite dinner of the week (always delicious, and I didn't have to make it)! My mom made chili and corn bread which is one of the girls' most favorite dinners, except they know Grandma puts tomatoes in her chili, which is why I put tomatoes in my chili--because we Taylors love tomatoes. They just need to accept and embrace the fact that as long as Taylors are involved, dinner will probably contain some sort of tomato. I asked my mom if I could bring a salad because we needed to use up our lettuce before it went bad. I love buying those big containers of Spring Greens from Costco, but we can never use it all unless we have a big dinner. I also needed to use up some celery so I found this salad recipe in the Betty Crocker Sunday Dinner Cookbook (appropriately titled, I thought).

Mandarin Salad and Sweet-Sour Dressing
1/4 cup sliced almonds
1/2 small head lettuce, torn into bite-size pieces
1/2 bunch romaine, torn into bite-size pieces (I just used the spring greens for all the lettuce)
2 medium stalks celery, chopped (1 cup)
2 medium green onions, thinly sliced
1 can (11 oz) mandarin orange segments, drained

Sweet-Sour Dressing:
1/4 olive oil
2 Tblsp sugar
2 Tblsp white or cider vinegar
1 Tblsp chopped fresh parsley
1/2 tsp salt
freshly ground pepper
dash of red pepper sauce (I didn't use this, but it would be good I think)

Lightly toast almonds in saute pan. Cool.
Toss almonds, dressing and remaining ingredients.

It was a nice refreshing salad with a bit of tang. It probably had a bit more sugar with the dressing and mandarin oranges than a true heart-healthy salad should, but what kid doesn't like mandarin oranges? So we all liked it.

Orzo with Roasted Vegetables

Another good day in veggie land. We had buckwheat pancakes for breakfast, and they were pretty good--next time I'll add some cinnamon, and they would definitely be great with fresh fruit. For dinner we had a very summery meal, since it was actually sunny outside--hooray! I got the recipe from one of my all-time favorite cookbooks, "Barefoot Contessa Parties!" I used wild rice instead of orzo, and it worked I think.

Orzo with Roasted Vegetables:

1 small eggplant, peeled and 3/4 inch diced (again, I didn't have eggplant, so I used zucchini instead)

1 red bell pepper, 1-inch diced

1 yellow pepper, 1-inch diced

1 red onion, peeled and 1-inch diced (I always end up just using half an onion)

1 garlic clove, minced

2 Tblsp olive oil

salt

freshly groud pepper

1/2 pound orzo

2 scallions, minced

1/4 cup pignolis, toasted (I didn't have these, but I wished I had--they would have been yummy)

3/4 pound good feta, 1/2 inch diced (again, I didn't have, so I used diced grilled chicken instead)

for dressing:

1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

1/4 cup good olive oil

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp ground pepper

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Toss eggplant, bell peppers, onion, and galic with olive oil, salt and pepper. Roast for 30-40 minutes until browned.

Meanwhile, cook orzo (or wild rice). Drain and transfer to large serving bowl.

Add the roasted vegetables. Pour dressing on pasta and vegetables. Let cool. Add the scallions, pignolis, feta and fresh basil. Serve at room temperature.

oh, I also topped it with some roasted grape tomatoes, which I roasted with the other vegetables. I needed to use up the rest of the tomatoes, and two of us won't eat tomatoes unless they're cooked (that's you, Nate and Riley).

Now we just need summer...

Mini Revolt

I've been waiting for someone to freak out around here with regard to our change in diet. Everyone has been taking this veggie/whole grain thing way too well. Nate is actually enjoying his veggies (he even ate some tomatoes and drank a few glasses of V8), and the girls have eaten their dinners without any complaints. Camden loved the cracked wheat cereal we had yesterday and requested I make it again this morning. I was happy to oblige, but when Riley found out what I was making, she finally cracked. "I'm not eating it! I don't want that breakfast! I'm not eating it!" I tried to remind her how yummy it was with honey and milk, but she was not to be distracted from her moment of revolt. "I want to choose MY cereal! I AM going to choose MY cereal!" (the sugar-laden--but fortified!--cereal she has lived on her whole life). She was standing in the pantry with a defiant look on her face and her hands on her hips. A good show--but she wasn't going to win this one, and she kind of knew it. She just wanted to see how far her mini-revolt would take her. I told her she will be able to choose HER cereal on Saturday, but today we were have the oh-so-delicious cracked wheat. Camden ate hers in about 3 seconds (a girl after my own heart), and though it took Riley a little longer, she did eat it all. I'll take a mini-revolt over a major meltdown any day.

As a sort-of reward for everyone's good attitude this week, I made pizza for dinner--half canadian bacon with pineapple and mushrooms/half barbeque chicken with onions and mushrooms. Plus a salad, of course. (I will try to lay off the corn/lima bean/kidney bean mixture I've been putting on all the salads--Camden's said she's had enough of that, and the others agree I think. But I think it's yumm-o.) Sidney always enjoy pizza--both eating it, and wearing it.

An Awakening

Robyn wrote this on her blog last year and it has stayed with me ever since. When I had Nate read it, he was really struck by some of the points. The fact that "every person has cancer cells in the body" and "an effective way to battle cancer is to starve the cancer cells by not feeding it with the foods it needs to multiply" really struck a chord with both of us. I think this is ultimately why we decided to change our diet, so I wanted to copy part of her post here so we could remind ourselves.

August 2007:
"I recently got an email update that contained health information from JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY. It blew me away. I have read a lot of books about whole food diets, raw food, vegetarianism, etc. I was vegetarian for 7 years until my first pregnancy. I am not currently vegetarian but I am still not a big fan of meat. I also worked as a nutrition counselor for a holistic doctor who promoted a vegetarian diet and treated people with cancer, MS, diabetes, and other degenerative diseases, by putting them on a strict vegetarian diet. I saw phenomenal results in very sick people while I worked there. It's right in line with what DEAN ORNISH teaches, if you are familiar with him. Anyway, everything I have read/learned was confirmed in this email. My parents recently recommended a book to me called THE CHINA STUDY by T. Colin Campbell. The facts outlined here are directly in line with everything taught in that book as well. It was pretty powerful to me. When you start hearing the same things from credible sources, it's time to listen.

1. Every person has cancer cells in the body. These cancer cells do not show up in the standard tests until they have multiplied to a few billion. When doctors tell cancer patients that there are no more cancer cells in their bodies after treatment, it just means the tests are unable to detect the cancer cells because they have not reached the detectable size.

2. Cancer cells occur between 6 to more than 10 times in a person's lifetime.

3. When the person's immune system is strong the cancer cells will be destroyed and prevented from multiplying and forming tumors.

4. When a person has cancer it indicates the person has multiple nutritional deficiencies. These could be due to genetic, environmental, food and lifestyle factors.

5. To overcome the multiple nutritional deficiencies, changing diet and including supplements will strengthen the immune system.


6. An effective way to battle cancer is to starve the cancer cells by not feeding it with the foods it needs to multiply.

CANCER CELLS FEED ON:

a. Sugar is a cancer-feeder. By cutting off sugar it cuts off one important food supply to the cancer cells. Sugar substitutes like NutraSweet, Equal, Spoonful, etc are made with Aspartame and it is harmful. A better natural substitute would be Manuka honey or molasses but only in very small amounts. Table salt has a chemical added to make it white in color. Better alternative is Bragg's aminos or sea salt.

b. Milk causes the body to produce mucus, especially in the gastro-intestinal tract. Cancer feeds on mucus. By cutting off milk and substituting with unsweetened soya milk cancer cells are being starved.

c. Cancer cells thrive in an acid environment. A meat-based diet is acidic and it is best to eat fish, and a little chicken rather than beef or pork. Meat also contains livestock antibiotics, growth hormones and parasites, which are all harmful, especially to people with cancer.

d. A diet made of 80% fresh vegetables and juice, whole grains,seeds, nuts and a little fruits help put the body into an alkaline environment. About 20% can be from cooked food including beans. Fresh vegetable juices provide live enzymes that are easily absorbed and reach down to cellular levels within 15 minutes to nourish and enhance growth of healthy cells. To obtain live enzymes for building healthy cells try and drink fresh vegetable juice (most vegetables including bean sprouts)and eat some raw vegetables 2 or 3 times a day. Enzymes are destroyed at temperatures of 104 degrees F (40 degrees C).

e. Avoid coffee, tea, and chocolate, which have high caffeine.Green tea is a better alternative and has cancer-fighting properties. Water-best to drink purified water, or filtered, to avoid known toxins and heavy metals in tap water. Distilled water is acidic, avoid it.


12. Meat protein is difficult to digest and requires a lot of digestive enzymes. Undigested meat remaining in the intestines become purified and leads to more toxic buildup.

13. Cancer cell walls have a tough protein covering. By refraining from or eating less meat it frees more enzymes to attack the protein walls of cancer cells and allows the body's killer cells to destroy the cancer cells.

14. Some supplements build up the immune system (IP6, Flor-ssence, Essiac, anti -oxidants, vitamins, minerals, EFAs etc.) to enable the body's own killer cells to destroy cancer cells. Other supplements like vitamin E are known to cause apoptosis, or programmed cell death, the body's normal method of disposing of damaged, unwanted, or unneeded cells.

15. Cancer is a disease of the mind, body, and spirit. A proactive and positive spirit will help the cancer warrior be a survivor. Anger, unforgiveness and bitterness put the body into a stressful and acidic environment. Learn to have a loving and forgiving spirit. Learn to relax and enjoy life.

16. Cancer cells cannot thrive in an oxygenated environment. Exercising daily, and deep breathing help to get more oxygen down to the cellular level. Oxygen therapy is another means employed to destroy cancer cells.

I truly believe in these statements. I believe that each one of us is in a 'state' of disease at any given point, it's just a question of how bad it is. We can choose to prevent it and do something about it, or we can let it progress and accept it and live with the consequences- bad health. I think that when the body develops diabetes, arthritis, acid reflux, cancer, chronic fatigue, whatever... it's not just a coincidence. It's not something you catch like chicken pox or a common cold. It's because your body is sending out a warning signal. A red flag. It's saying, "Hello, anyone there? Things aren't quite right in here. Are you going to pay attention now?" Ok, that's just my interpretation..."

We appreciated this information and your thoughts, Robyn. Thanks for sharing--I hope it is okay that I posted them here.

Bean Burgers

Day 3: My friend Robyn, who is all-knowing in the realm of health and fitness, posted this recipe for bean burgers a few months ago and I was excited to try them. I cooked them on a griddle, but I think they would have done better pan-frying. Nate and I liked them with Sweet Chili Sauce (Nate probably couldn't have eaten it without the sauce) and the girls, of course, put ketchup on top. Sidney liked the burgers best of everyone--probably because they were a little mushy, just as she likes :) I served them with a salad and grilled pita bread--yummy.

Bean Burgers
1 can Cannellini Beans – rinsed and drained
Oil Spray
1 Onion – finely chopped
2 Cloves Garlic – finely chopped
1 Tsp Ground Cumin
1 Zucchini – grated
1 Carrot – grated
1 ½ Cups Bread Crumbs
2 Tsp Olive Oil

Method:
1. Mash beans
2. Cook garlic and onion in frypan until soft, stir through cumin
3. Add zucchini, carrot and breadcrumbs. Mix with beans and form into balls.
4. Refrigerate for about an hour
5. Cook in oil for 3 mins on each side until heated through.
6. EAT ME!!

Serve with:
Turkish Bread, wholegrain bun, toasted bread, pita, wrap
Mixed Salad Leaves, arugula, spinach
Tomatoes
Ketchup, or Sweet Chilli Sauce (which is also good added to the mix)

Ratatouille & Crepes

Day 2: There was a recipe for Ratatouille in Dr. Dean Ornish's Program for Reversing Heart Disease that I wanted to try--and the girls love the movie Ratatouille so I knew they would be intrigued enough to try it. But I was wanting to serve it with buckwheat crepes and since that recipe was more stew-like, I decided to use a recipe for Summer Vegetable Ratatouille that has been buried in my recipe binder for years. (I made it once when Nate and I were first married and were having "crepe night" with his brother and sister-in-law. Little did I know that both Barrett boys were morbidly adverse to tomatoes and the sister-in-law hated green and red peppers. Needless to say, it wasn't a hit back then--but I thought it was worth another try.)

Summer Vegetable Ratatouille (again, it's not summer, I recognize that, but please don't disturb my bubble of denial)
1 small onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 medium eggplant, cubed (I didn't have eggplant on hand)
1 zucchini, cubed
1 yellow squash, cubed
1 green pepper, seeded and diced
1 red pepper, seeded and diced
2 Roma tomoatoes (I used a handful of grape tomatoes)
1 Tblsp olive oil
1 bay leaf
2 sprigs fresh thyme (I used a small amount of dried thyme, crushed)
2 Tblsp chopped fresh parsley
salt and pepper to taste

Cook onions and garlic in oil until soft. Add peppers. Saute. Add zucchini and squash (and eggplant). Saute until slightly browned. Add bay leaf, thyme and seasonings. Cover and cook over medium heat for 15 stirring occasionally. Add tomatoes and cook for 5-10 more mins. Add parsley at end. Serves 4.

Buckwheat Crepes:
1-1/4 cups buckwheat flour
pinch of salt
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1-1/4 cup milk

I served with Buckwheat Crepes and a little Swiss cheese. Nate and I loved it. Camden ate it, but gagged a few times. Riley ate it surprisingly. So, a success I think.

Zesty Succotash Salad

Day 1: I love edamame and keep a bag of frozen edamame in the freezer, so I was excited to try this recipe from my "All Heart Family Cookbook" even though it is more of a summer recipe--but at this point we are in winter-denial, so it worked. I served it with grilled chicken with bbq sauce. It is almost as good as my favorite black bean and corn salsa, but is probably better for you without all the salt from the italian seasoning.

Zesty Succotash Salad
1 cup frozen edamame
1-1/2 cups frozen corn kernels
1 cup frozen lima beans
1 Tblsp extra-virgin olive oil
3 Tblsp red wine vinegar
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil (I just used a small palm of dried basil, crushed)
1 can kidney beans
1/2 red onion, chopped

Place edamame in a medium saucepan and cover with 2" water. Bring to boil over medium-high heat. Cook 2 minutes. Add the corn and lima beans and cook for 3 minutes longer, or until tender. Drain, rinse under cold water, and drain completely.
In a large serving bowl, whisk together oil, vinegar, garlic and basil. Stir in the drained vegetables, kidney beans and onion.
(I let sit in the refrigerator for 30 mins to let the flavors "marry")

Revamping Breakfast

My main focus of changing our diet is on dinner and snack foods--but I recognize our breakfast routine needs a total overhaul too. Breakfast is Riley's favorite meal of the day because it involves mostly sugar--sugar cereal (but it's fortified!), sugar yogurt, sugar on waffles, sugar juice. She will seriously eat three or four breakfasts because she knows it's all about sugar. My problem in breaking this habit is that our lovely children get up at 6:00 every morning which all but kills me. Nate saves my life by getting up with them, letting them watch tv, and holding them off for breakfast until 7:00. Then it's all about a quick bowl of cereal, yogurt and then off to baths. Quick and easy...and full of sugar. But to change this habit will involve major effort on my part--lots of effort. I am determined, though, that four days a week we will have a warm breakfast--"real" oatmeal, cream of wheat, buckwheat pancakes, cracked wheat--something other than cold cereal. This morning we had Irish oatmeal with raisins and the girls loved it. I can do this...

The Produce Aisle

My usual grocery shopping trips involved a quick swing by the produce aisle to pick up bananas, apples, and baby carrots. Once in a while, I grabbed some onions and a bag of lettuce. Everything else in the produce aisle was considered a "special ingredient" to be used only if I had a specific recipe planned--which only happened on special occasions. The rest of my shopping trip was spent in the cereal, cracker, soda, frozen food and dairy aisles. My meals were about being fast and efficient and containing items with a long shelf-life.
That was then...this is now.
I went to the grocery store and loaded up the usual bananas, apples and carrots PLUS celery, green peppers, red peppers, zucchini, cucumbers, mushrooms, grape tomatoes and spring greens. I also visited a new aisle--the whole grain side of the baking aisle where I found buckwheat flour, cracked wheat, brown rice and all sorts of fun stuff. I visited the juice aisle instead of the soda aisle and came home with lots of cranberry blends and, of course, low sodium V8. I love V8, but Nate is going to have to put forth more of an effort for that one. I'm excited to plan some new meals this week--we'll see how it goes.

The Beginning

This winter has been a rough one--snowstorm after snowstorm, sickness after sickness. Our family has passed colds, strep throat, the flu, sinus infections, and other various diseases back and forth for all of January and February. This last time around I thought, "Enough is enough. Something has got to change around here." Nate had reached his breaking point too, and after watching the news about the huge meat recall in California and seeing dieing cows pushed around by bulldozers, we decided to start with changing our diet. Something just clicked in both of us and we were ready to be serious about what we are feeding our family--not only in hope of boosting our immune systems, but also preventing future heart disease and cancers (which are pretty much genetically inevitable), boosting energy (by something other than caffeine) and gaining better health overall. I'm pretty sure we could never be hard-core vegans, or strictly-organic junkies, but our goal is to be more conscious of what we are putting into our bodies. It is too easy in this fast-paced world to merely survive on processed food full of salt, sugar, and additives--it takes much more effort to prepare meals centered on vegetables and whole grains. But we need to start somewhere, so let the veggie adventures (or misadventures) begin!