Fervent Foodie

Just Fresh!

August 30, 2011 9 Comments

There are handful of things I’d consider myself pretty amazing at. For example, parallel parking, closing drawers three-quarters of the way, and crunching numbers in excel… I am a self-proclaimed excel visionary, after all. I am also pretty darn good at finding an excuse to treat myself to a tasty lunch every Saturday… ok… and every Sunday too. Last Sunday, after my insane 8 mile run I had a totally valid no-justification-needed excuse for wanting to grab a bite out. I was craving something light and fresh but oober tasty. Working with just those three criteria I knew exactly where to head. Just Fresh in Dilworth.

Just Fresh is one of the restaurants I visit most in Charlotte, yet I’ve never mentioned it on the blog. I guess that’s life for ya. We tend to focus on what’s shiny and new in our lives and often overlook those tried and true good ole standbys.

What first drew me to Just Fresh, besides the fact that it’s a bakery and a cafe mashed into one, was their mission of providing convenient, fresh, nutritionally balanced options for people on the go.

Soul mates, perhaps?!

One of the things that’s really cool about Just Fresh is the big variety of options on the menu. They’ve got what you’d expect from a cafe–sandwiches, soups, salads, and an absurd amount of baked goodies–but they’ve also got a ton of heartier options like chicken and beef quesadillas, fajitas, and turkey burgers!

Just Fresh has five locations in Charlotte, but the Dilworth location is my favorite due to the ample patio seating.

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Every time I’m at Just Fresh I opt for the 1/2 sandwich 1/2 salad combo. It’s less than $7 and you get a good sized salad, large half of a sandwich, PLUS a side of your choice. And you aren’t stuck with a giant piece of bread or boring potato chips or a red apple either. Who even eats red apples, anyway? Granny Smith, all the way baby. All the way. At Just Fresh you’ve got a big list of sides to choose from ranging from fresh fruit salad to cucumber dill pasta salad and coleslaw.

Another thing I adore about Just Fresh is that they post their nutritional data on their website. For only having 5 locations, that’s pretty awesome. Usually, when I go out to eat I don’t obsess about finding something healthy to eat. To be honest, it’s just too dang hard. And if I’m shelling out a pretty penny to dine at a restaurant the food on my plate had better be pretty darn delicious. Despite this, it’s really nice to have a go-to restaurant with healthy options for those times when I’m on the run or just feeling too lazy to cook.

My two favorite sandwiches at Just Fresh are the turkey franita and the oven roasted turkey breast. I’m a turkey gal, what can I say?

Seriously, tell me you wouldn’t love to have this for lunch today:

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If you’re wondering what the heck a franita is, trust me you are not alone. I was skeptical at first thinking it might have something to do with eggs given that “Franita” sounds like she’d be Frittata’s prude older sister. Just me??

On my fourth visit to Just Fresh I decided to give Franita a shot, and thank I thank the heavens I did. The turkey franita comes with turkey, a creamy artichoke parmesan spread, tomato, and cucumber on a toasty french roll. This sandwich is ALL ABOUT the artichoke spread. It’s slightly tangy, oh so creamy, and full of flavor.

The WHOLE franita sandwich is only 370 calories, which scores it extra brownie points. Now I recommend you change those brownie points in for one of the delicious looking brownies in the dessert case. Stat.

The sandwich/salad combo comes with your choice of a half ceaser salad or half garden salad. I always opt for the garden salad with balsamic dressing:

For those days when I’m feeling CRAZY and craving something totally off the wall, I get the EXACT same combo but sub in the oven roasted turkey breast sandwich instead:

I’m a creature of habit. What else can I say?

This sandwich is served cold and has the most delicious creamy dill spread slathered on the honey wheat bread:

As an aspiring bread connoisseur, this wheat bread holds a very special place in my heart. It has a hint of sweetness and is incredibly fluffy and soft but still has a slight chew to it. So good! I’m always surprised at how big this half sandwich is. What’s even more surprising is that a whole one of these guys only comes in at 410 calories.

Since I kicked major booty on my Sunday run, I decided it was time to finally try out one of the MANY goodies Just Fresh has in the dessert case.

A little toffee and chocolate chip cookie for the lady please 🙂

And by little, I mean ginormous, of course. The nutritionals for their baked goods are not provided on the website…. I’m guessing they aren’t as nutritionally well rounded as the rest of their menu.

But let’s not think about that right now….. Let’s think about the ooey bits of melty toffee and delicious hunks of milk chocolateeeeeeee…..

Fitness

A rogue toenail.

August 29, 2011 21 Comments

Well if that title didn’t furrow your brow then you my friend read with unshakable candor.

I survived the Great Attack of the Rogue Toenail and all I got was this lousy Band-Aid.

Perhaps we should back up a few steps….

Sunday morning I snuck out of bed early to make myself breakfast, drink excessive amounts of black coffee, and sprawl out on the couch to catch up on blog reading and a good hour of budget reconciling. Ahhhh nothing brings me more joy than a nice breakfast and a nicely balanced budget 😉

I absolutely adore those peaceful morning hours when the rest of the sane world is still cuddled up with their blankies sucking their thumbs while I’m off doing whatever my little heart desires. It kind of reminds me of sneaking out of the house as a teenager. Something about being awake when no one else is feels rebellious and thrilling to me. *Perhaps* I’ve traded in sneaking out to meet my friends for sneaking out to play with excel. But that’s ok. This is a judgment free zone. Sadly these special hours seem to only present themselves on Sundays and this is precisely the reason for which I dutifully savor ever ounce of every Sunday morning.

Once my breakfast settled and I started to feel the caffeine from my coffee IV kick in, I decided to head out on my Sunday long run. I hadn’t been on a long run for two weeks–since the day I ran a whopping six miles—the *ahem* farthest *ahem* I had EVER run. Yesterday as I set out, I was motivated by Lindsay’s post about reaching her new 8 mile long distance running record. So I got my butt off the couch and laced up my sneakers. As soon as I stepped outside I realized it was kinda hot out. As in I’d been outside 3 seconds and I was already starting to perspire. The mental games immediately started. I began to talk myself down and lower my expectations. It’s hot. Just go for a quick run and get your butt back inside. If you’re too tired, you can always stop. Etc. etc. Mind games to keep myself from heading back in. Maybe I would make a good salesman…

After pretending to stretch for a minute or two, I was off. Miles started to tick by. I ran to the pizza shop, to Target, to the coffee shop, to the grocery store… Everywhere I could think of. Each time I reached my destination I gave myself a new one. Toward the end of mile 4 I seriously contemplated calling a cab to come get me. I had taken an unfortunate turn that put me at the foot of a rather steep hill, and I actually had to clasp my hand against my chest as I weased my way upward right past a Two Men and a Truck Van with unloading in process. They looked concerned, but they didn’t try to stop me and I kept going. And going. And going. And finally, after an eternity of running, when my Runkeeper ap declared that I’d reached and unfathomable 8 miles I said “mmmmmmkay yeah that’s enough.” And I stopped.

8 miles. Absolute ridiculousness.

How’s that for blogosphere motivation?!

If I’m going to keep doing this long run business, I really need to look into getting one of those little runner’s fanny packs to carry a bottle of water. Dehydration is no friend of mine. I’m thinking something along the lines of this Fuel Belt:

Any recommendations?

I was RIPE after the run. You know it’s bad when you can smell your own stank. When I undressed to hit the showers I was shocked to see that one of my toes was completely covered in blood! At first glance I thought the entire side of my toe had sliced open! After a momentary freak out moment that included me hobbling out to the patio to show the BF my war wound, I took a closer look and realized the toe was still one solid appendage, but rather my crazy pinky toenail had stabbed the one next to it in an apparent angry rage! What the heck?! I’ve always had squirrely pinky toenails. I mean, when I paint my nails I basically have to paint my whole pinky toe and then wipe off the excess because the nail is so small and peculiar shaped. I just never realized that thing was locked and loaded!

Lesson learned: Always be on the lookout for rogue toenails, especially before long runs.

Fitness

The crazy things I get myself into.

August 25, 2011 19 Comments

For weeks and WEEKS I’ve been talking about getting a bike. I just kept talking and talking about it. And himming and hawing. Then I texted. I emailed. I tweeted.

Still no bike.

At the beginning of summer, I saw this bike at Target and was immediately in love.

The Schwinn Gateway City Bike:

So many factors contributed to my love: the vintage look & color, the adorable little luggage rack, and especially the big comfy cushiony seat for my old lady bootay.

The other day, when I randomly checked Target’s website for the bike and found that it was gloriously on SALE I knew it was fate (am I the only one who interprets “sale” to mean “fate”?). I quickly checked the store inventory, and found the bike was SOLD OUT at all but one Target in the Charlotte metro…

Crap!

After work I sped-walked (speed-walked? Hmmm… how bout walked at an embarrassingly fast pace?) the 1.25 miles to the nearest target. I was hot and sweaty by the time I got there, probably due to the giant bag of work crap and lunch tupperwares I was carrying on my shoulder. I felt like a Black Friday shopper as I did the excited half run/half walk to the bike aisle… And there she was. The LAST bike of this model and color in the Charlotte Metro area. As I wheeled the beautiful bike triumphantly to the front of the store I realized that not only was I going to have to ride the bike 2 miles home, but I’d have to do it while carrying this GIANT bag of work crap on my shoulder.

Awesome planning. Awesome.

Once outside it dawned on me that I’d have to do something about all the tags if I was going to have any sort of street cred. I tried ripping them off, then sawing them off with my keys, and finally managed to remove everything BUT the manual, which I left dangling on the side of the bike.

I’m so cool.

About 7 minutes into the ride home as I was awkwardly fumbling with my giant bag o’ crap, I noticed I had forgotten to remove the big bright green paper display signs in the wheel spokes of the bike. Soooo classy.

Two minutes later while riding on a particularly narrow patch of sidewalk on a particularly busy street I managed to side swipe a brick wall. Whose idea was this?!

It seemed like it took entirely too long to ride the two miles home. Google maps must have miscalculated the distance… Or, (more appropriately said) holy cow bike riding is hard.

Once home, I tried to finangle getting the bike through the condo entrance whilst holding my giant bag of crap by backstepping as I held the door with one hand and the bike with the other. Did I mention I was wearing flipflops during this excursion? Oh yes, flipfops. Well, as I was back stepping, my flipflop flipped backward, I stumbled and then proceeded to do a 20 second tightrope teetering act until my fight or flight instincts kicked in and I realized I needed to either save myself or the bike. So, the bike went crashing to the ground as I stumbled backwards recovering my balance. Lucky for me I had an audience during this whole fiasco.

Well hellooooooo there. I’m Hot Mess Mary. Nice to meet you!

After refusing to get on the elevator with the innocent bystanders and waiting for a solo ride, I wheeled my bike onto the elevator. When the doors opened at my floor, there were two new bystanders waiting to get on. At the site of them, I got all flustered and proceeded to try and turn the bike around IN the elevator. I gave it three good attempts, wheels bumping into either side of the elevator, before realizing the bike was clearly too large to maneuver in the elevator, verbally declaring the whole situation “AWKWARDDDDD” and proceeding to ever so carefully backstep my way off the elevator.

After all that, I made it home. I have my bike, which I have already received two compliments on I might add Smile