Day 301 If I Keep Juicing I May Hit You With A Pumpkin

Even though I've lost another pound, I'm really glad this juicing fast is almost over! I really crave something warm right now. I'm super excited that I'm going to get to roast the turnips soon, anyone have any suggestions or recipes? Today, I spent about 45 minutes trying to get around the Halloween Broohaha going on down the street, to get to the grocery store and back. All of the parking spaces were taken and only one exit was available at both the regular grocery store and at Whole Foods, when I finally found an open space, some teenager in a stupid costume, waved her friend in, who went around me and stole it! This juice fast has made me seriously grumpy, because I then told a cop how stupid he was for shutting sown the entire street (I know it was his fault). For reasons of sanity and more, I will be thrilled to chew food again, I just don't think I can tolerate much more of this non-sense.
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Day 254 and 255 J-E-L-L-O

Woo hoo! I have my car back, and If I hadn't just handed over all of my money to the mechanic, I could drive to the grocery store anytime I want. I did actually go to Whole Foods on the way home and bought spring rolls and tofu for dinner. I love being free! I love my pre-set radio stations, I love my vanilla air fresheners, I love turning the key and actually rolling! Today is a good day, I was feeling lazy last night and had peanut butter and jelly for dinner, not too exciting. This morning, I went to my mom's and she made me a fried egg sandwich with the fresh eggs, my aunt collected, it was delicious and filling and got me through pretty much most of the day. Tonight, I'm contemplating Jello and the time it takes to set up in the fridge, two or three hours probably, I don't know if I have that kind of time, I'm kind of an instant gratification type of girl. Tomorrow is mucho busy, lots of stuff, all to be done before 9:00, probably no time for breakfast, unless it's the Jello, is that legal, jello for breakfast? I deem it so, Jello it is.
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Day 142 That's Not A Deal As Far As Deals Go

So, today is my grandmother's birthday and I was going to go all out and make her something special, unfortunately I woke up at 11:00 and made nada. Instead, I went to Whole Foods, where they had a special, if I bought an ice cream cake, I could get two large pizzas, two six packs of soda (which I don't drink), and a big container of baby spinach. This sounded like an awesome deal, since I had to buy a cake anyway, so I loaded up all of the free stuff, intending to give the soda to my brother, and bebopped on over to the cake section. How much could an ice cream cake really cost anyway, 12.99? Ha! The cakes were 28.00! What in the Samuel P. Johnson?!? What? Is it a freaking ruby filled ice cream cake? Oh, no, I rebopped, back over to where they had the free stuff, dumped it, and went in search of a regular cake, not made of platinum. I ended up paying 15.00 for a very tiny carrot cake, which my grandmother highly approved of. Really 15.00 is too much as well, but it was her birthday and I didn't get her a present. I have almost decided to revisit my Whole Foods boycott of a year ago, because it is beyond expensive and I always feel like I've been taken advantage of in an alley, when I leave with two items and twenty less in cash.
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Day 121 Manicotti And Pretend Soda

Well, I went a different direction today, instead of Thai food, I made manicotti and it was pretty darn good! It's been cold and rainy and just seemed like an Italian kind of day. I must say that I have a new favorite drink, it comes from Whole Foods, it's Sparkling mineral water with a touch of strawberry. It's like Perrier water, but instead of lemon or lime, they have strawberry or raspberry, it's not sweet at all, no sugar, just mineral water and an essence of fruit. I love it and it's just what I need to scare away the soda urges, it's just fizzy enough to trick my brain into thinking I'm drinking something bad. It also comes in a glass bottle, which I use for regular water, when I'm done over and over again.
From my chair, I can see a jar of peanut butter and a container of honey, wondering what I can make with those two things? I'm in the mood to make candy, maybe chocolate honey peanut butter balls with powdered sugar? Hmmm, sounds like a possibility, but would require a trip to the store for everything but the peanut butter and the honey, perhaps, I'll just sit right here and thumb through a cookbook for my next creation, I'm feeling a little lazy.
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Day 71 A Berry Berry Good Deal

Today was the Home and Garden show and I was solidly prepared for the day with healthy snacks and drinks, while away from home. I started off my morning at whole foods, in the fruit section, apples for everyone, bottled water, dried snap peas, and sesame spelt trail mix. I actually stepped outside of my healthful ideology and bought my mom and brother a couple of cans of Blue Sky. It is soda and I did buy it, but I did not partake, it was solely for them, knowing their thoughts on anything healthy. So, I have broken no promises in my attempt at good family relations. Needless to say, no one was impressed by my efforts and my brother promptly bought a foot long hot dog at the show, while my mom made faces at the snap peas. Oh my, who knew convincing the world to follow me, would be this difficult? Healthy snacks aside, I found blueberry bushes 2/10.00 in the garden section! I bought two to plant at my parent's house and we are going to have a blueberry planting good time tomorrow. I can't wait until they produce, I'm thinking blueberry jam, blueberry muffins, blueberry pie, cobbler, smoothies, I don't even know, I just know I'm excited! The herb show is in a couple of weeks also and I think I'm going to buy raspberry and blackberry bushes too, I'm ready to garden! As for my raw plans for the night, boring again, salad with portabellas and avocados, I think if I were to embrace the raw food diet, I would just end up eating guacamole every single night, I like to cook too much! I like to smell things in the oven, nope, not a good rawist.
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Day 65 Two Thumbs Down For Potato Eggrolls

Well, the vegetable fritters were not the miracle I had hoped for, the form was a ten but the taste was a five. First of all, there was way too much potato and not enough vegetable, so next time, I plan to shred the potatoes raw instead of forming them out of the smooshed kind and adding red and green bell peppers, more zucchini, and maybe mushrooms. Second, garlic and salt are a must, they were a little lacking in anything resembling flavor, blah, blah, bland, even with the curry! Today, I tried to redeem the leftover fritter mix, by inserting it into egg roll wrappers, brushing them with oil, and baking them, that was a big fat fail as well. My Grandmother didn't even finish her eggroll and I saw her sneak it into the trash later, good thing we had a big fat salad to save the day. I will keep working on the fritters until they're presentable and edible and I'll find other appropriate egg roll ingredients, because potatoes are not it. This is what happens when I do not follow a recipe and just make stuff up as it pops into my head......a house made of Rye bread, yep that sounds good, where's the yeast?
My amazing food discovery of the day was White Stilton cheese with cranberries at Whole foods, I LOVE CHEESE SAMPLES! I'm definitely going back to get some when I go grocery shopping next week. I'm not quite sure what to do with it except to eat it with crackers, so I'm going to look for recipes I can create around it. I love looking at cheese, smelling it, eating it, maybe someday I can be a cheese farmer...or a goat farmer, who makes cheese.
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Day 62 The Promised Land Has A Salad Bar

So, after 3 years on the lookout, I finally found my perfect grocery store, my search has been fraught with peril, disappointment, and inconvenience, but I never gave up the dream. Before I even begin to list everything that makes a good grocery store, let me just say what its not. A good grocery store does not have wilted lettuce, expired yogurt, dirty floors/employees, or an in store bank with bars on the teller window. A great food market will not require me to dodge gunshots or muggers in the parking lot and will have a full array of vegetable available for purchase, not just potatoes, onions, and the aforementioned wilted lettuce. On the other hand, the store should not be guilty of pandering to the upper crust, trendsetters, who pay 6.00 for a lb. of grapes (I'm looking at you Whole Foods). I don't need olives in Romanian apple brine, I just want the green ones, the black ones, and sometimes the purple ones, for less than I would pay for a new Mustang, I like choice, I just don't need the most expensive ones. I also have an issue with the grocery stores, located in small towns, who refuse to sell ANYTHING but white bread and Kraft in the blue box, would it kill you to sell hummus or tofu? These are not specialty items, like the grand olive bar, you will not be considered a traitor of the American dream if you sell these items. There has to be a balance between all of my expectations. So, let me recap, I want a grocery store, which falls into my route, on the side of the street, where traffic flows homeward, with a complete collection of vegetables and tofu, no muggers, and maybe a fresh salad bar. Tonight I found that holy place in Jenks, Oklahoma, America. The new Reasors is clean, so very clean, not one tweaker asked me for a ride in the parking lot, the produce was fresh and affordable, and there was....a salad bar. It's not too far off my route and when I left, the traffic was pleasant and the parking lot ample for maneuvering, I think we have a winner, I wish the whole world had a grocery store like mine!
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Day 58 Double Bonus Small Pants Day

I've been saying it for awhile, my pants are getting looser and I've been meaning to make a trip to Old Navy. I wanted to wait until the end of month two, just to be certain, so today, I went, I tried, I bought a size 14. This may not seem small to some of you, and honestly, I kind of like being rounded, but nonetheless, I have dropped a pant size. I have done this by dropping soda and fast food and adding more vegetable dishes to my life, that's it. I buy normal stuff at the grocery, but do try to go with fresh foods instead of processed, (I do not always stick to this). I ate what I wanted at the office potluck, including cupcakes, I do not feel deprived in any way, in fact I feel well fed and well nourished. When I feed myself well, I do not have a need for junko. Tonight, I am having vegetable and cream cheese stuffed portabella mushrooms and leftover homemade mac and cheese. I do not count calories, fat, or carbs, I'm just trying to keep everything I eat balanced and diverse and it seems to be working! Today, I went to Whole Foods and was lost in a sea of "trendy" people, looking for whatever trendy people look for in a grocery store, when I noticed the man in front of me in the check out line. The counter was piled with weight management bars, boxes of them, and nothing else. He had so many that the total came to 196.00 I'll give him the benefit of the doubt, maybe he was taking them to a third world country, where obesity is a problem? I don't know, but I did find it kind of strange, that here we were, in a store full of beautiful fresh fruit and vegetables, everything you needed to feed your body properly, and he was buying 196.00 worth of probably healthy but very one dimensional processed food. To each his own, I guess, I just find it frustrating to see willful ignorance regarding health and wellness in this country....then again, it was only two months ago, that I was one of them.
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Day 36 Monster Trucking To The Market

I have come down from the mountain and the world looks a mite different than it did a week ago. Thanks to global warming and the mayor's confusion over how to move snow from one place to another, there is still a lot of it and most of it is between me and the market. Today, my family drove 25 miles in their ginormous, snow slaying, pansy car squashing, monster truck to take me to the grocery store and once again I have enough food to keep myself kicking for another week. The shelves weren't fully stocked and there were limits on what one could buy, but I managed to get a few things, I'm looking forward to. Tonight, I'm making a favorite for myself; I really miss eating in my preferred Mexican restaurants during this year long challenge, so I'm making cheese enchiladas with guacamole and rice, YUM!  I'm hoping these avocados don't make me cry like the ones from last week, such a tragedy, they were moldy, when I cut them. I was so looking forward to them, I almost scraped the mold off, but my fear of Botulistic Shagalosous held me back and ration prevailed, no amount of lime was gonna freshen those precious, dead avocados. More snow is coming in the next few days and I am going to get creative with some beans, how creative you ask? Creative enough to blow your hair back, my friends, it's gonna be a windy week here on the plains! Also, this week, in honor of an old friend and a tragic break-up, I'm making dump cake, say so long to the past, eat some cake, and move on!
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Day 22 I Spy a Dirty Beet

I found them, I found the beets, I was secretly hoping that farmers had stopped growing them and I would not have to keep my promise to make nice with them. I did not buy them, because I'm not ready to make the Borscht yet and I wouldn't want them to go bad or anything, but I saw them and they were dirty and bulbous and well, beety. Tonight, I will secure the recipe and tomorrow, I will approach them again, maybe from a different angle. In other news, last night I watched the documentary, No Impact Man and I am super inspired to take my experiment a little further. I will not go as far as eliminating electricity or forgoing toilet paper, but I like the family's approach to food. They ate only fresh, unpackaged food, such as fruit, vegetables, and food from the bins at Whole Foods. I don't know that this will be a 100% possibility for me to do, but I would like to make at least 80% of my food from fresh ingredients, I think that's a great idea and very healthy to eliminate the processed junko. I agree with the thought that there are many things that people can do to help the environment but it's impossible to do everything. Picking several things that serve the purpose, still has an impact on the earth. I feel the same about food and health, most people won't cut out fast food for a year, but maybe someone will cut down to once a week and drink more water or think twice about taking the kids to McDonald's and instead make a picnic of fresh from home foods and  have an hour of quality time together in the grass. The more we pay attention to what we eat, the less likely we are to eat garbage, I'm not your mother and you don't have to listen to me, but don't eat garbage, a nice lasagna is so much more satisfying!

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Contest for Followers

Ok, Blog friends, for my 365th follower, I am giving away a 100.00 gift card to Whole Foods. It's easy, just hit the button, leave me a comment and you may be the one. You must be a public follower, otherwise I can't see that you have joined my little family.  http://www.fastfoodboycott.blogspot.com/

Day 7 and 8 This is getting easier

Soooo, yesterday I had a salad from Whole foods, is this considered fast food? I don't think it is, since it is a grocery store and I bought other groceries while I was there...and it was healthy. Today, I went searching for the fabled herb store and found only, an Asian market. I bought a box of 100 count Green tea bags, which will be my substitute throughout my anti-soda challenge. My mom and brother are also taking my lead on no fast food, as we declined to partake after our bookstore outing. My brother, who is only 17 suggested stopping for lunch and my mom talked him in to the buffet behind their refridgerator door. Maybe I will influence a movement! http://www.fastfoodboycott.blogspot.com/