Weekday vegetarian

So, it's been a little while since my last post. Apologies. I'm going to try and cover a few points that I've run across recently here in one post, so here we go.

1. Weekday vegetarian.
-Unfortunately I have been cheating on my juice diet more than I would like, and while most of the time my cheats are still healthy and vegetarian, there have been a few occasions where I snuck in some chicken, fish, or occasionally a burger (shhh!). The thing that I can't figure out really is why. Sure, I enjoy the taste of these foods, but I don't think I'm really craving them. Nor do I feel good about eating them before, during or after. I feel much better when I stick to the fruits and vegetables. So why? I think it's just a matter of think that in some way, I have to eat meat to stay healthy. As a member of modern American society, I was raised on the contemporary diet that has each meal being "meat & sides". Without meat you feel like you're missing out. I don't crave the taste of a big juicy steak that much, nor do I crave fried chicken or fish. But I feel like they should be a part of my diet somehow so what ends up happening is I will buy some fish or chicken, and then I have it in the house and it's there for me to use, tempting me. Making a salad? Add some salmon. Cucumber, lettuce, and tomato Sandwich? Sounds better with chicken. So what to do? One answer may be to plan my meat eating. I recently watched the TED talks on food and found Graham Hill talking about his decision to become a vegetarian. Like many people, he was turned of by the all or nothing mentality that typically comes with being a vegetarian. Here's his solution: as the name implies, nothing with a face Monday through Friday, and your choice on weekends. I'm going to give it a go. If you're interested, here's his article. http://www.treehugger.com/green-food/try-a-weekday-vegetarian-diet-eat-green-food-without-taking-the-plunge.html

2. Are all greens created equal?
-When I make my weekly trip to the grocery store, I try to catch any deals I can on something I may not normally use. Among these items I've tried are zucchini, yellow squash, various peppers, butternut squash, and a variety of greens. I'll get to the winners in a minute but first to the bad ideas. So far, I would say if you have a recipe you like, don't mess with it. I tried adding green peppers to the mean green juice, not good. After reading online that many people juice various leaf lettuces, I tried red leaf lettuce instead of kale in the mean green, blech. So if you want to try some new produce, I'd find a recipe instead of modifying an existing one. Fruit may be the exception to this as I don't know that you can really mess up fruit juice. Which brings me to...


3. A new standard recipe
My go-to recipes are "Apple Carrot" for breakfast (with ginger, pear, or pineapple for variety), and "Mean Green" (occasionally with zucchini) or "Tomato Red Pepper" (with sweet potato, carrot, and Tabasco) for lunch and dinner. I've added a new regular to the mix thanks to a sale on butternut squash. 


"Spiced Apple and Butternut Squash Juice"

• 4 apples
• 1/2 butternut squash
• 1 carrot
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

I believe I used more squash and less apple but it was quite delicious, and a good mix from my others. I may try to come up with a juice in every color, so I have green, orange, red, and yellowish (apple) for now. 

That's about it for now. I'll try and add posts more frequently as I think of something useful to add...