The City Mouse in the Country

If you have been following this blog, or our Facebook page , for a while, then you know that I'm trying to eat healthier not only for my health, but for the health of the planet as well.   I believe that we have a moral obligation to do so. The whole reason behind this "Trendy" series is to introduce you, the gentle reader; to something you may not be familiar with...in the hope that you'll try it.   So when I buy a "plant based meat" I'm really not that interested if it tastes like chicken or steak.  I won't lie, it helps, but for the most part I'm concerned about three things. 1)  Is it healthy?  If I am being completely honest with myself it's probably not.  Any time you buy a prepackaged meal it's most likely going to be highly processed and preserved food we're buying and as such may contain a variety of chemicals and preservatives. It's not something I've grown and made myself.  Thanks to advertising companie...

I had a health scare that started me down the Meatless Monday path.  It scared me enough to look at my diet and determine what I had to change.  While I figured a plant based diet was good for my health, the more I learned; the more I realized it was better for the planet too.  I became a bigger environmentalist than I was previously.  However, I am a realist and know that most of us are not going to go vegan or vegetarian.  We are to set in our ways and that the beef and dairy industries are just to powerful; that we are just happy having that good steak.   We all know that somehow we have to change.  We all know we have to start somewhere. Going meatless at least one day a week is what got me started on a healthier path, although I do try to eat vegan/vegetarian at least one meal everyday currently.  No, I'm not giving up chicken or steak but I've cut back, and that helps in some small, small way. You and I maybe " spitting in the ocean ...

I'm not a vegan.  I'm not even a vegetarian.   I am, for lack of a better word, "Plant based food curious." Like most people today, I got worried about my health.   A lifetime of bacon and cheesy poofs along with the traditional American hobbies of laying around on the couch pushed me close to the diabetic  range.  Heart disease runs in my family and after seeing what my wife has gone through with her diabetes and losing my mother to a heart attack...I started to seriously think about what I could do to improve my health.  Living through a pandemic didn't help either. The more I learned about diets and where food comes from, the more I realized that I could do lots of little things to help the planet too .  I'm proud to say that generally speaking I go at least two days out of week eating a vegan or vegetarian diet.    My interest in this type of food was sparked by my interest in cheese making , a hobby I picked up during the epidem...

     I broke my own unwritten rule the other day.  Within the last year or so I decided that I was going to embrace a plant based diet because of health reasons.   Heart disease and high blood pressure runs in my family and, roughly two years ago, swelling in one of my legs put the fear of God into me.       As it happened it ended up being nothing but it did concern me.        So I gave up the sugary drinks for the most part and made other changes that I thought were needed, and that lead to my current semi plant based diet..  One of those changes was a pact that I made with myself.  If a restaurant offered a vegan or vegetarian option then I would order it.           Not only would I be doing something that (hopefully) was healthier but I would also be supporting the bottom line for those options.  We live in a world where the bottom line...

      I'm done with this series after this.   I'm still trying to eat more plant based items and I do have a few more products stored in the fridge and freezer, but I find that I'm limited on what's available to me here in the country.   The only supermarket that sells vegan/vegetarian items near me regularly is Aldi's and the selection varies week to week.      While I enjoy Aldi's items I really don't want this series to turn into just being about the products of one store.   That being said, I've been able to find items from Beyond Meat, Impossible foods, the Jackfruit Company,  and other products at other stores, but not on a regular basis.     So I'm trying to eat healthier and plant based where ever and when ever I can.   It's simply a matter of being able to do what I can do and when I can do it, for example the other night I stopped at Burger King and ordered their impossible burge...

     Thanks to the wonders of algorithms if I try to eat a little healthier or try to eat a bit more plant based, my social media feeds (have you checked out our Facebook page yet) explodes in a variety of articles and recipes.  Which I don't mind so much in that I like to learn about different things that interest me.   What I do mind is that I have more than one interest and my feed is full of nothing but vegan and plant based info now.        For example, Kentucky Fried Chicken's new plant based nuggets.  No, I've not tried them yet but I'm planning on it.  My social media feeds are full of stories, reviews and general information about this one product right now.      Any company that is offering plant based foods I think deserves kudo's and our cash; because if they see it's a profitable market, they will continue to support it.   It's not a bad thing as such, although please note that ...

    For as long as I've kept a blog or a journal of some sort, I've always taken a few minutes to look back over the last year to see what I was thinking and feeling at any one time.   What worked and didn't work for me as a blogger...and as a human being.     This was our first full Calendar year in Western Pennsylvania.  I can honestly say that 2021 was a year of firsts, of disappointments, and at times felt like we were on a roller coaster without the safety bar in place.   It was also one of joy and laughter.     In some ways it was full of setbacks - for example we never did get our garden planted in the spring, which was something that I was hoping to do.   We realized however that we had planned was simply to much for what we needed and by the time we made adjustments, the growing season was over.      However we did do "little things" like replace our drainage ditch with stones and such to make...