Stonyfield Farms, & Chipotle Peanut Noodles

I completed Day 5 as a Vegetarian today. Yesterday was pretty uneventful, which is why I didn't blog. Today I woke up and had a banana and some strawberry Stonyfield Organic Yogurt. After looking at the yogurt's foil top I entered the "Win a trip to Stonyfield Farms" Sweepstakes. Then I checked out the rest of Stonyfield's website and I really like what they stand for... plain and simple- organic farming, healthy living, and a healthy planet. I'm happy buying products from a company like this.

For Lunch today I had a really wonderful Portobello Mushroom Quesadilla with Peppers and onions. It was so good I could swear there was meat in it! For dinner I made a recipe from my Betty Crocker cookbook. I made the Chipotle Peanut Noodles that had red peppers and carrots in it (sorry I forgot to take a photo tonight). I wasn't very hungry since I had a late lunch, but it was good. They were pretty much like typical sesame noodles that you get at a chinese restaurant with a chipotle kick. The hubby liked it, another success!

I'm now watching Jaime Oliver's Food Revolution and loved his flash mob dance in tonight's episode!! I "heart" Jaime Oliver!!! I really hope his food revolution will be as successful here in the U.S. as it was in England.

Tomorrow night I'm planning to make a Curried Sweet Potato and Lentil Stew.

Day 1 as a Vegetarian

Day 1 as a Vegetarian is completed.

This morning I woke up and had a glass of orange juice. While at a Brunch get-together in the park I had a bagel with cream cheese, strawberries, and a garden salad. Later on, after doing some yard work, I had one of my favorite Ellie Kreiger pasta salads for lunch, it has whole wheat pasta, walnuts, red onions, feta cheese, garlic, and spinach in it... it's delish!! Recipe here: Whole Wheat Pasta Salad with Feta & Walnuts.

Now, Drumroll please! {drumroll} For my first day of Vegetarian eating, I made Eggplant Parmesan for dinner with steamed artichokes and Penne Pasta. It was great!

I also spent some time in my day being an activist. I began by looking up Alice Waters after a friend's recommendation. I was very impressed with Alice, and her foundation, The Chez Panisse Foundation. The foundation promotes School Lunch Reform and Gardening & Nutrition Curriculums in schools. I would love to do something like this in my own community, so I decided to research further.

I went back to Jaime Oliver's Food Revolution website to look if he had any tips on how to start something in my own community. I was led to LunchBoxAdvocates.Org where I was able to write to our local government officials to request that action be done about this Food & Obesity epidemic. So, I became an activist today... I wrote to Senator Chuck Schumer and Senator Kristen Gilibrand, as well as President Barack Obama. I then posted on my Facebook, Twitter, and sent emails for my friends and family to do the same. I feel very accomplished that I began my own revolution today.

If you are reading this blog and haven't done so yet, PLEASE SIGN THE PETITIONS & WRITE TO YOUR LOCAL OFFICIALS HERE:

Lunch Box Advocates - Write Your Officials for improvement in Children's School Lunches

and here Healthy Schools Campaign

You CAN make a difference!

Let's start a Food Revolution!

Tonight I wasn't feeling very well, and hey it's Friday... so I hope you all will forgive me that I did not cook dinner tonight. We had leftover Lasagna from "Ciao Lasagna" night... so perhaps tonight was really Ciao Lasagna night. Oh well! (Luckily this isn't a cooking blog... although I do plan to post vegetarian recipes in the future).

After eating my leftovers, I sat down to watch Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution on ABC. I felt like I was destined to be doing this whole vegetarian-diet-change thing right now, because Food Revolution was very pertinent to this blog, and my own mission.

Jamie is on a mission to bring change to America's diet. He is promoting fresh, healthy, wholesome food as well as promoting local farms. He wants to improve what children are eating in school and at home. The future is in our children.

Please go to http://www.jamieoliver.com/campaigns/jamies-food-revolution to sign the petition to bring healthy foods to American schools and to improve America's cooking skills. The Health of America needs YOU!!

"I believe that every child in America has the right to fresh, nutritious school meals, and that every family deserves real, honest, wholesome food. Too many people are being affected by what they eat. It's time for a national revolution. America needs to stand up for better food! " - Jamie Oliver

Tune into ABC on Fridays at 9pm to watch the Food Revolution.

Jamie's website also has tons of Vegetarian recipes: http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/vegetarian-recipes