Old habits are hard to break

My he-man husband and I decided that we would start eating healthier again.  I used to cook EVERYTHING from scratch.  Our children's after school snacks were home made bread, cookies or cinnamon rolls fresh from the oven.  All made from whole grains, farm fresh eggs, wheat germ and milk from the dairy on the hill.  In the hotter months it might be sliced apples or celery with peanut butter or a cucumber out of the garden.  I guess that wasn't what their friends were eating because when we went grocery shopping they would beg me to buy Oreos like Robin's mom.
 
I even went vegetarian on them for about four years.  Then one night, out of the blue, I served pork chops for dinner.  My six-year-old daughter asked me, "What is this mom?  Is it like meat or something?"  I began cooking more meat for our evening meals from then on, but still served lots of veggies and home made bread.

 Later, when I began working longer hours I gave in to the Oreos and a few boxes of mac and cheese.  Over time my grocery list grew to include snack crackers, seasoned noodles that only required water or frozen lasagna. Not only did I welcome the shorter time it took to prepare meals, I was giddy with appreciation that I did not have to think about what I would fix for dinner.  All I had to do was look over a grocery store shelf where several dinner menus were displayed directly at eye level.  I didn't even have to bend down or stretch high to fill our cart.

Now that I am retired and spending time at home once again, my love for cooking real food has returned.  But years of practicing the other has left an accumulation of boxes and bags in our pantry. So as not to be wasteful my husband and I have decided that we would eat very few boxed or bagged items (the grand children are helping us eliminate our stock) and eat more fresh fruit, vegetables, cheese, salmon, some chicken and whole grains on occasion. Our grocery shopping would now be limited to the produce and fresh fish isles.  No processed foods!

It was easy to go with more fruits and vegetables as we both love eating those..... but to give up the chips, crackers, cereal, canned soup, bagged pasta, ketchup, bottled dressings and sticky white rice has been a challenge.

Tonight I cooked salmon, butternut squash and a green salad with cranberries, almonds and oranges.  Sounds yummy, and healthy, doesn't it?  But all the while I was lovingly cubing the squash, a teeny little voice from the pantry was wafting through the kitchen, "What about me, your crunchy, peppered, rosemary friend? You know how you like to eat me with cream cheese.  I'm still here waiting to be served for happy hour." 

So what do you think?  Should I listen to the Cracked Pepper Triscut or plunge a celery stick in my Virgin Mary and call it sweet?