Tag Archives: Whole Foods

B.A.A. 5K & Playing Catch Up

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Hi guys! Ahh, I’ve been such a bad blogger as of late.

Things have been busy, busy – and I haven’t been on top of my game.

In March – I am aware we’re halfway through April…oy – I had the opportunity to go to this great event at Whole Foods in Wellesley, MA with Chef Chad Sarno. Katie at K is for Kale invited me, and it was so fun. We ate amazing food – all vegan – and learned some pretty cool stuff (like smoking mushrooms and that jack fruit can totally pass as pulled pork…so good!)

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Plus, we got Chad’s cookbook - and y’all know how I feel about cookbooks.

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Now….fast-foward to present. Today, I ran the B.A.A. 5K. It was a blast…a picture-perfect spring morning, and a great run for me.  As someone who really only recently ramped up her running game, I was happy with roughly 10.5 minutes per mile and 32 overall. I hit the pavement at 8:00am with about 5,600 other runners and walkers. I kinda wish I was further up in the pack as I got stuck behind some groups at certain points…but I can’t complain (plus, it’s my fault for running late in the morning!) It was nice to dominate the normally traffic-filled streets of Boston – plus the cowbells didn’t hurt either. :)

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Plus, I got to see the lovely Becki from Fighting for Wellness! :)

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I’m bummed I have to work Marathon Monday (technically it’s a “holiday” in Suffolk County)…with all of the road closures – getting to work in the a.m. will be interesting, but I’ll definitely be following the race from work!

If you’re in Boston – what’re your Marathon Monday plans?

Bundled Breakfast

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Yesterday’s 10+ inches of predicted snow came down as rain and ice.

While much less dramatic, it was still a messy, cold and dreary day out there, and I woke up with one thing on my mind:

Hot.Breakfast.

For some reason, eggs have been on my mind – I think mostly because I haven’t had them in my refrigerator for months. As one of my Whole Foods picks yesterday, I finally had a small carton, and I knew exactly what I wanted to do with them.

Breakfast Quesadilla.

An awesome combination of an egg, mozzarella, a veggie sausage (with a lil’ maple syrup scrambled in there) and hot sauce, all bundled up in a toasted tortilla, seriously made my morning.

Plus, breakfast is always better when it can be enjoyed while still in your pajamas (with no plans of getting out of them), with bed head, and knowing that you don’t have to rush out the door to school or work on a weekday.

Now, today…today is a different story! Rushin’ out the door!

  • If you had all the time in the world in the morning – what would you make for breakfast??

Snow Survival

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I don’t know about you…but I’m over the snow! This would be a lot of snow throughout the winter months as a whole, but man! it’s all come down in only a matter of weeks! I know I’m not the only one subject to these conditions so I won’t spend this post complaining, and at this point, it’s all about what you make of it! Right?

Thankfully, today my school canceled evening classes (which I was secretly hoping for!). It’s not that I dislike my class. In fact, I rather enjoy it. However, beginning in my first class of the day, I started planning a trip to Whole Foods for some much needed essentials. Some of them were pretty standard (plain yogurt for smoothies, etc), but some were definitely a part of my personal snow survival guide.

Okay, so maybe they weren’t originally intended for that, but after getting things home – I started realizing just how having those things in the house would make the storm more bearable…?

My Own Personal Snow Survival Guide – Foodie Edition (Warding off Cabin Fever Since ’11?)

  • Dark Chocolate - this goes without saying.

  • Larabars – simple, easy and delicious – and if something happened to the power, I’d at least have these to munch on!

  • Various flavors of hot chocolate (I may have a lifetime supply stashed away in my cupboards…) … hmmm are we noticing a chocolate theme here?

  • Breaking with that theme – some deeelicious flavors of Chobs! Even for some froyo on the fly…yes, even in snowstorms.

  • Also – popcorn. The do it yourself – on the stovetop – kind. Once you pop you just can’t stop! Seriously though, there’s something great about sitting in your bay window and watching the snow fall while snacking away on freshly popped corn.

These are just some of the goodies that I can depend on to lift up my spirits – or stave off stir-craziness. Regardless – all these foods, paired with a good book or just a good television show or movie…ahh, sublime survival. :)

  • What are some of your must haves for “emergencies”??

The Great Pumpkin

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Those are three words that definitely set my heart a-flutter. Fall meant the onslaught of pumpkin and squash related posts…and though I was easily able to find myself a good butternut squash .. a can of pure pumpkin is a little tougher to find these days!

I’d struck out in my previous attempts to find pumpkin…Whole Foods was the most logical place to look….if it was going to be anywhere, it’d be at Whole Foods. However, the first few times I’d looked all that I could find was pumpkin pie filling – not.the.same. Boo.

However, as I perused the aisles of my local Whole Foods hoping to strike it rich on Friday morning…I won the pumpkin lotto. I didn’t hoard all the cans for myself, but I picked up a couple (share the wealth, right?)…and a pumpkin chocolate chip muffin for the road (uhhhmazing).

Though I’d been hunting for it, I wasn’t really sure what I wanted to do with it. It just sort of sat on my counter staring at me all of Friday. However, Saturday I had found my inspiration in my favorite pumpkin chip muffin.

Pumpkin Dark Chocolate Chunk Oats.

It was definitely an experiment..and at MANY points in the process (though it’s not like it is intensive or anything…it’s oats) I thought…”Oh, geez…this is gonna be gross.”

However, happily…it was anything but. In fact, it was downright delicious…and chock full of good (for you) stuff!

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup of water
  • 1/2 cup of old fashioned rolled oats
  • 1.25 tsp of vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup of pure pumpkin
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • *sweeten to taste * I used Truvia…but agave, honey, etc. would be great, I’m sure
  • 1 Tbsp (15g) of mini dark chocolate chunks … 3/4 of them are swirled in and the rest reserved for the top.

After boiling the water and adding the oats for a little while, I added the vanilla extract. When my oats got to the consistency I preferred, I stirred in the pumpkin, sweetener and cinnamon. I pulled it off the heat for a bit and then swirled in most of the chocolate chunks (immediate melting, yummm!). …the pour into a bowl, top with the rest of the chunks, [in my case, you then take pictures], and then enjoy!!

In my opinion, it doesn’t get much better than that!

Simple&Delicious.

My Main Man

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Evening, loves. I’m so happy to see that some of you are still lurking out there. :)

It has been a heck of a week, but it feels really good to be able to sit down and blog again.

First off, I want you to know there is a new man in my life…his name is Justin.

I know, I know…I’ve professed my love for him before – in Maple Almond form…but this is love rekindled.

Now – we all know that I love Nutella…I have no issue with it (in fact, I adore it!!), but… it is sweet. It’s a treat…however, Justin’s makes my hazelnut and chocolate addiction acceptable for everyday life. haha Yay!! Who else is in love with Justin’s? I’m okay with sharing this one. haha

In other news, my life has been a jumble of classes, homework, gym (Rumor has it that CJ from the Real World is a trainer at my gym? I’ll keep an eye out), and time out with friends. My meals have been pretty much leftovers of all the stuff you saw me making a week-or-so ago!

However, not tonight. The weather has cooled down…and with the cool weather comes my craving for warm, toasty, comforting food. Trader Joe’s Channa Masala boxes take up a good 1/3 of my freezer. I’d love to try and make it myself…anyone know if Whole Foods carries Amchur powder (Mango Powder)?

Anyway, tonight I carried on the tradition of comfort eats with an experiment…that both worked and didn’t work. You’ll see.

Now, I’ve been obsessed with Laughing Cow’s Blue Cheese wedges ever since they appeared in my grocery store…and Chobani is a staple in my fridge. I thought of combining the two, with milk and a little pepper to make a blue cheese sauce and baking rice in it (reminiscent of my Mom’s green rice)…in my mind – WIN!

The sauce came out great…it smelled sooo delicious.

1/4 cup of milk, 2 Tbsp Greek Yogurt, 1 wedge of LC, pepper

I poured it over brown rice and a little cheese, stirred and stuck in a 375 degree oven for about 30 min. Forgive the orange cheese…I wanted cheddar…and it’s all they had when I went!!

Texturally, it was exactly what I wanted – SUCCESS.

However, somewhere in the baking process all traces of the blue cheese flavor went missing! Definitely something I’ll fiddle with…because it was super easy and really satisfying (even with the missing blue cheese!). The sauce will just have to be stronger in flavor next time around!

I hope you all are wonderful!!!