30 Day Challenge

We are just days away from finishing the 30 day vegetarian diet challenge. The kids never once asked "where's the meat?" I think I was able to get away with it because they are young enough, but had I implemented something like this among teenagers, I'm sure there would have been more griping :)

Here are a few things I've learned:

1) It's easy to be a vegetarian. You can eat pizza, fries, ice cream, cookies and cake all day long and still be a vegetarian. The challenge was feeding my family on a healthy "whole foods" diet. It was a great time of year to start because we got to enjoy tons fresh produce from our home garden.

2) Eating a vegetarian menu was great when we were eating at home, but more of a challenge when eating out. Restaurants just don't have a lot of veggie items that are also yummy...plus their veggies are usually under ripe and not very flavorful.

3) It's amazing what you don't miss. I never felt the craving to have a steak, or chicken. Not that I'm going to completely eliminate those items from my diet, but nice to know they don't have to be the main fare anymore.

4) I learned a TON about new foods. It opened a whole new world of food items I've never tried before. It was exciting to learn about these foods and how to cook with them. Although some things were removed from our grocery list for the month, so many more new foods were there to replace it, that i never felt we were missing out. Not all recipes were a success, but for the most part the kids enjoyed what I made.

4) For the first time in 5 years, since being pregnant and/or nursing, I've felt my hunger level maintain and regulate without going through huge dips of feeling starved, shaky, and sugar-low. I've also felt that my recovery period was quicker and my soreness level from working out and exercise was a lot less.

5) Making my own granola, granola bars, bread and healthy snacks is fulfilling to me. It's not too hard and the whole family enjoys them so much more than the store bought stuff. Plus it makes the kitchen smell good!

6) I challenged myself to pick a vegetable and prepare it in as many ways as possible. I chose a zucchini because we have it coming out our ears. Here is what we did:

Raw: Zucchini "pasta" salad. We loved the tomato, basil, garlic dressing and doubled it for the second time I made it.
 http://www.wholeliving.com/133487/zucchini-pasta?czone=eat-well/seasonal-foods/summer&center=136760&gallery=136699&slide=129181

Baked: Zucchini bread. This recipe came from the "Good to the grain" Cookbook (recommended!). There are a million different recipes of the same variation on zucchini bread. This was something I came across that was a new twist. It used rye flour and I LOVED it! The rye and zucchini flavors were like a match made in heaven! So good. Plus it didn't have a lot of spices that tried to hide the zucchini flavor, so it was a nice hearty blend. So good!

Sauteed, fried, grilled...we just did a ton of stir fry, risottos, savory bread puddings/casseroles, etc. They were all really good.

Other than zucchini, we made quinoa patties, stuffed squash, veggie tacos/quesadillas, different soups, gnocchi, salads, smoothies, just a ton of yummy food! It's been a great month in our kitchen!