Trader Joe’s – Page 2 – Fervent Foodie

So fresh and so (not) clean

June 13, 2011 5 Comments

I’ve been in Charlotte for nearly 2 months now, yet my place is still in disarray. So, my primary goal for the weekend was to be OOBER productive. Looking back I’d say I did a fairly good job of meeting that goal—good enough that I may even be able to post some pics of the apt in the next week or so Smile

Amidst all my oober productivity, I squeezed in a Body Pump class Saturday morning and a “run” (Ah! more on that to come) Sunday morning.

After the Body Pump class, the instructor called me a “real regular”. I know it seems silly, but her little comment and acknowledgement that I’ve been body pumping on a regular basis gave me this sense of pride and accomplishment. I guess it’s because I’ve NEVER been able to stick with any sort of strength training program. I’ve tried. I’ve failed. Annnd repeat. I mean, you all remember my strength training powerpoint, right? Fail.

The hard part for me was finding something I could stick with, and something that I KNEW wasn’t a waste of time. I’m happy to report I’m four months in to Body Pump and going strong! So strong in fact, that today without thinking I flexed my biceps in the bathroom mirror at work. Who does that?! Luckily no one walked in on my “which way to the gym” routine Smile

Anyway, after body pump Saturday I headed home for a quick shower and scooted out to run some errands. I was about 5 centimeters down my street when I realized that I had not only forgotten to shave my armpits, BUT I’d also forgotten to put on deodorant. I slowed the car down to a crawl contemplating on whether or not I should turn around. On one hand I had my goals of oober productivity. On the other hand I had my newly formed goal of not ruining my chances of making new friends in Charlotte because I smell like B.O.. Now if it had been my cell phone I’d forgotten, you’re darn tootin I would have turned that car around. But hairy au naturale armpits? Not so much. I guess we all have our limits Be right back

I hit up Lowes, Target, and Trader Joes before rolling my famished self (neglected armpits included) into my first ever visit to Zoe’s!

Simple.Tasty.Fresh!
My strength training obsessed BF tells me I need to make sure I get bookoo protein in after body pump, so as I perused the menu for something meaty I giggled when I saw they had a dish called The Protein Power Plate. Really?

REALLY??

As unappetizing as the name sounded, the description really hit a special place in my heart. Flat-grilled chicken, caramelized onions, and slaw. Say it with me. CARAMELIZED ONIONSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS.

I was also pleasantly surprised that the dish was sprinkled with a bit of feta. You know what they say. Feta makes everything betta.

This was one DELICIOUS dish. One that I’d eat again regardless of my body’s protein replenishment needs. Zoe’s has a ton of other things on the menu that look worthy of a taste – several sandwiches, kabobs, salads… not to mention the hand-made chocolate cake and homemade cookies. Can’t wait to go back!

After lunch, I headed back to the apt where I unloaded my booty… as in all the goodies I scored shopping… not as in #2… ummmm moving on….

One thing I scored was this lamp shade from Lowes:

I love the color and pattern. Yes, I plan to take the plastic off. Please note the pile of crap on my nightstand. Now envision a 1,000 square foot apartment filled with similar piles of varying heights. That’s what I’m working with, folks.

Slowwwwllyyyy but surely Smile

What I ate

Waffles in mah belly

May 21, 2011 2 Comments

I woke up bright and early this lovely Saturday morning to head to Day #4 of Body Pump. Apparently, sometime between Thursday and today the Y got new weights, which are LB weights as opposed to kilograms… Needless to say, I was thrown off by this ABSOLUTELY INSANE change, but I managed through the class Smile

When I got home I wanted something a little special for breakfast. Something delicious but balanced…

After some foraging in the kitchen, here’s what I came up with:

That’s

2 Eggo Light Whole Grain Waffles
1/2 cup Trader Joe’s vanilla fat free Greek yogurt
3 sliced up strawberries
1/4 cup of blueberries
2 tbsp Smuckers Sugar Free Syrup

And that, my friends, was a whole heck of a lot of deliciousness.

This may be my new Saturday staple Smile

Mmmmmmmm…

Stats on breakfast: 286 calories, 54g carbs, 3g fat, 14g protein, 5g fiber

What’s on the agenda today? I’ll be running some errands, hopefully grabbing a tasty lunch, then spending some quality time with the condo *hopefully* making a dent in the pile of boxes I now call home Smile

Ramblings

Weekend Fail.

February 7, 2011 8 Comments

Going into the weekend, I had one goal: to find the new Luna Bar flavors and devour mass quantities of them. For those who aren’t maniacally obsessed with luna bars …. For those who have been living under a rock!!! … ahem… for those who aren’t aware, the new flavors are Chocolate Chunk and the highly coveted Chocolate Dipped Coconut.

Saturday afternoon I was out running errands when I got wind of a winter storm a brewing. So I decided to high tail it to Whole Foods in Cleveland so that I could snag the new Lunas. I even called the store ahead of time to make sure that they had the new flavors in stock. As an added bonus, I planned to swing by Trader Joes which is right down the road from Whole Foods. It’s not often I make this trip up to Cleveland, so I had already started mentally drafting a lengthy list of goodies to pick up.

About 20 minutes into my drive the freezing rain started. No worries I thought. I’ve got this. Zoom zoom Mazda, zoom zoom.

A few miles passed.

Ok Mazda, perhaps a little less zoom.

Let’s creep like a turtle instead, shall we?

The closer and closer I got the Cleveland the WORSE AND WORSE the weather got. At one point traffic was stuck at a dead stop for a good 15 minutes, which I soon realized was due to an accident that had resulted in a car completely flipped over on the snow embankment. I counted four accidents on my journey north. And I’m not talking fender benders. I’m talking the kind of accident you drive by and say “holy cow! how the heck did that happen!??!?”.

Perhaps this was a bad day to go to Cleveland…

When I finally arrived at Whole Foods, I was literally shaking. I bolted inside and headed for the Luna Bars. I quickly spied the Chocolate Chunk and grabbed two with gusto. As I reached victoriously into the Chocolate Dipped Coconut box I realized, to my utter horror, that the box was empty. They were sold out. They were sans coconut goodness, if you will.

I had just risked my life, and they were sold out.

I stood in front of the Luna Bars motionless as defeat washed over me.

As I turned to leave, I remembered that I was also super excited to try out the new blueberry muffin LaraBar. Just as I headed to grab one, an old lady swerved her cart into the aisle and picked up the ENTIRE last box of blueberry muffin Laras and dumped them into her cart.

I kid you not. It was like a scene from Walmart’s toy aisle on Black Friday.

I turned away concealing my internal rage, bought my 2 chocolate chunk bars, and headed to the car.

I immediately tore into the Chocolate Chunk Luna Bar.

This Luna Bar was definitely tasty, like a big chocolatey chewy graham. It reminded me of the smore Luna a little too much though….

After all that nonsense, I decided to just go home. No TJ’s shopping spree. That’s right. I drove all the way to Cleveland in an ice storm for 2 Chocolate Chunk Luna bars.

Fail.

Recipes

Hummus + Spaghetti Squash

September 28, 2010 6 Comments

Sometimes I have foodie visions. This is my term for the moment when a random collaboration of ingredients convene in my brain and its seems as though there is nothing I can do to regain control of my thoughts… except of course, try out the random concoction … all the while hoping it doesn’t make me ralph.

My most recent foodie vision consisted of some of this:

plus

What’s that, you ask? Good question! This lovely dinner concoction consisted of:

2 tbsp Trader Joe’s Original Hummus
2 ounces chopped grilled chicken
1 diced roma tomato
1 baby spaghetti squash
Some red pepper flakes

Repulsed? Don’t go all eggplant on me yet!

First, I baked the spaghetti squash in a 425 degree oven for 25 minutes (since this was just a lil guy). Then I used a fork to scrape out the squash noodles.

Meanwhile, I sprayed a skillet with some cooking spray and tossed in the hummus to get it heating up:

Then I added the tomatoes and chicken:

Once everything was warmed through, I added the spaghetti squash and some red pepper flakes.

Presto!

This was really tasty and simultaneously really weird 😯

Several times during the meal I got a faint reminder of macaroni and cheese which I found even weirder–but that gave me ANOTHER foodie vision I must try sometime soon…. Cheesy spaghetti squash! Stay tuned, folks!

Overall, I like this idea and I’m definitely going to play with it some more. I think wilted spinach would be a really nice addition and maybe a different flavor of hummus….. we shall see… we shall see.

Stats on the spaghetti squash/hummus concoction: 199 calories, 20g carbs, 6g fat, 14g protein, 5g fiber

CALL TO ACTION! Now that the weather is changing, I’ve been craving WARM lunches…. I am bored & I need inspiration for yummy/healthy WARM lunches to bring to work….. Any ideas?

What I ate

A sandwich BUILT for Hummus

August 26, 2010 4 Comments

It’s Thursday, and I am one happy lady. Thank you to those of you who commented on yesterday’s tell me something happy post. Each one of your comments resulted in a big smile on my face, and I thank you again and again for sharing your happy thoughts with me!

Breakfast #1

Today I planned on eating the last of the scrambled eggs I cooked up on Sunday, but I was in the mood for something a little different. Something with a little kick. And when I’m in such a mood, I turn to my friend Frank. Frank’s Red Hot that is 🙂

Come to think of it, I can’t leave out my good friends George and Mama Lupe either! Frank, George, and Mama Lupe all contributed to my yummy breakfast wrap.

Leftover scrambled eggs + several shakes of Franks atop a Mama Lupe low carb tortilla:

Then I wrapped it up burrito-style and grilled on the George for about 5 minutes, until the eggs were hot and the tortilla was crispy.

I also heated up the broccoli in the microwave… Unfortunately my microwave doesn’t have a human name… Frank, George, Mama Lupe, and Emerson (I guess Emerson could be a last name).

I swear the George Foreman grill is one of the most amazing kitchen gadgets on earth–or at least the most amazing one in my kitchen!

Stats on B#1: 208 Calories, 15 g carbs, 8g fat, 24g protein, 6g fiber

Breakfast #2

Overnight oaty goodness:

It’s getting cold in the mornings now… I have a feeling pretty soon I’ll be saying farewell to cold oats and heading back to the warmth the traditional hot oats. *Sigh*

Stats on B#2: 233 calories, 44g carbs, 5g fat, 6g protein, 7g fiber

Lunch

Ive blabbed my Trader Joe’s sob story on this blog many a time.. Sooooo far to drive (~1 hr away) to the nearest TJ’s… So sad. Luckily, my mom picked me up some Trader Joe’s Hummus on her last trip to TJ’s! WOOOOOOT!

The hummus was not an afterthought for today’s sandwich, not a mere condiment to go on the bun. No. Today’s sandwich was BUILT specifically for Trader Joe’s Cilantro Jalapeno Hummus.

This sandwich consisted of a Pepperidge Farm 7 grain deli flat & a four ounce grilled chicken breast:

That I topped off with sliced tomato, onion, and the STAR of the show: Trader Joe’s Cilantro Jalapeno Hummus

Then I added some fresh spinach and some sprouts. Excessive veggies? Perhaps.

Check out the height on this sucker:

I also had some leftover roasted cauliflower on the side. Cauliflower might looking boring, but trust me. It was fab.

Layers of FLAVOR.

Stats on Lunch: 364 calories, 35g carbs, 5g fat, 46g protein, 11g fiber

QUESTION: What did YOU have for lunch today? I’m always looking for ways to shake up my lunch routine!

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