About a month ago, The Fountain of Health for Plant Happy People (a blog I follow on facebook) asked me if I would like to participate in an A-Z Health Challenge. Each day on facebook would feature a letter and you would choose something with that letter and talk about the health benefits of that thing. Everyone participating would visit each others’ pages and we would learn a lot and make new friends.
It started out easy enough. I picked avocado, found an article about the health benefits of Avocado and shared a couple of my avocado recipes. The next day was basil, and then cilantro, and … somewhere around C or D is for Dill it occurred to me to ask my foodie friends to share their recipes that matched the theme of the day.
“E is for Egg” day turned out to be a huge extravaganza of egg recipes and thus began the party. Every day I would wake up, post the theme of the day, and then the recipes would start flooding in. Everyone (food bloggers and visitors alike) was so enjoying the alphabet challenge, eagerly waiting to see what the next day’s theme would be. My friend Russ sent me a picture of some egg cups he made and that was the most popular “recipe” of the whole challenge with 299 shares of the photo and a couple hundred more shares from my shared post.
I started a Pinterest board to collect all the articles and recipes, but it wasn’t long before I could no longer keep up with all the posts. A few of my friends volunteered to help with the pinning: Bobbi from Bobbi’s Kozy Kitchen, Michele from La Belle Cuisine and Sonali from The Foodie Physician.
I could really write 26 summary posts for this challenge: one for each day, and tell you what I learned that day and share a few recipes from each, but even then I couldn’t list all the wonderful recipes and fun that was shared.
My favorite day was the “U is for Unprocessed” day. It was one of the hardest letters to think of. Becca from It’s Yummilicious suggested “Unprocessed” and that theme sounded perfect to me! We had such a huge variety of home-cooked, whole food recipes that day. The “biggest hit” on Unprocessed Day I think was Fountain Avenue Kitchen’s Baked Egg Avocados.
The Daily Health Benefit Themes
Here are all the daily themes, with a link to their health benefit articles. I know I had an article for Italian food, but apparently I didn’t pin it. I want to thank everyone who participated … I can’t list everyone here … but thank you so much for joining in on the fun.
- A was Avocado
- B was Basil
- C was Cilantro
- D was Dill
- E was Eggs
- F was Flax
- G was Garlic
- H was Happiness
- I was Italian Food
- J was Jalapeno
- K was Kale
- L was Lime
- M was Mushrooms
- N was Nuts
- O was Onions
- P was Potato
- Q was Quinoa
- R was Rosemary
- S was Strawberry
- T was Tomato
- U was Unprocessed
- V was Vanilla
- W was Wine
- X was Xocolatl (Aztec word for Chocolate)
- Y was Yogurt
- Z was Zucchini
Visit the A-Z Health Challenge Pinterest board to see all (or rather, most of …) the wonderful recipes!
If I were to do this again, I think I would like to do this one day a week, rather than a new letter every day. It would just be more manageable and I would then have time to comment and share on all the wonderful things everyone shared, and still have a life.
11 comments
It was a huge undertaking and you kicked some serious butt! Thanks for the mention, pinning a couple of letters was the least I could do. It’s funny how similar the two most popular posts are. Speaking from personal experience, The Fountain Avenue Kitchen’s Baked Egg Avocados are delish and I’m sure swapping in some bacon wouldn’t be too shabby 🙂
Sonali you were so much help throughout! I loved all the recipes and the ingredient 911’s that you shared. Thank you my friend 🙂
Thank you for so many, many things dear Ann – your time, effort, talent, and your generous spirit! I looked forward to participating, but the entire experience far exceeded my high expectations. It was a genuine pleasure to be a part of your A-Z Health Challenge! 🙂 xoxo
This is awesome! Actually, it could be a blog in and of itself!! Great work, Ann, and I know it was a LOT of work!! xo
Really it could Ally! I could do two posts a month on this and then I could make it within a year, right?
Thanks so much for sharing everyone’s recipes each day and all the work you did! I looked forward to sharing with you, and seeing all the awesome recipes! Have a great weekend!! 🙂
Ann, Thank you so much for doing this challenge! I had so much fun, waking up each day to see what you’d chosen for the letter. The variety of recipes shared for each category were amazing and I made so many new friends. You showed all that just because something is healthy doesn’t mean it’s still not delicious!
Awesome project and great write up! I enjoyed all those great shares and the way you managed it all. You ROCK Ann!!
Ann, on your E is for Eggs it was my share of The Best Egg I Ever Ate that got my blog the most views ever and for that I love you!
Oh that is SO awesome … I really really love that recipe too. Sounds SO yummy 🙂
Great recap!