Thursday, April 19, 2012

Peace & Happiness in the Grocery Isles

What a lovely day. Sunny and a bit warm. We had a nice visit and lunch with Carm's mom. I brought mine as I'm Trying to really stick to the diet - I even said no to CAKE (this is something for me).

After lunch we started our grocery shopping. First stop, MidEast Market - such an interesting place to visit. We were there for another huge bag of lentils, but picked up a few other things to try: preserved lemons, jumbo chickpeas, tomato paste in a tube, spelt flour gnocchi and tofu. It is almost impossible to come out of there without something interesting (note to self, remember all the exotic flours).

Then we went next door to St. Laurent Fruit & Vegetable to load our cart up with... just guess... fruit & vegetables. I love seeing our cart fill with all that healthy produce. And walking around the store passing fragrant stands of mint (oh that smell is so lovely), towering piles of orange oranges and purple eggplants, is so satisfying. I left the store with a profound sense of peace and happiness. Some day's I'm easily made happy - I hang onto those days like crazy.

Costco was another stop - their produce can be super nice. Luckily for me the sampling people were few and far between - I only tasted a tiny amount of granola, but found it too sweet. It wasn't long before we were home and trying to stuff all that food into the fridge. Produce takes up a lot of room! It's a good thing we don't have to fit soft drinks and beer in the fridge anymore.

A few days ago I created a new recipe for my morning smoothie. I was finding that just the blueberries, banana, flax & water didn't leave me with enough energy, and I'd be starving my lunchtime. So, I investigated the nutrition of some other ingredients and ended up with: 1 cup frozen blueberries, 2 cups spinach, 40 g soft tofu, 2 T ground flax, and 1T blackstrap molasses. I know, it sounds really gross, but it tastes great and powered me for an hour on the treadmill. I think the recipe is a keeper. The surprise ingredient is the molasses but it is full of iron and calcium!

Little Spike hasn't been feeling well on and off the last few weeks. It's nothing wildly noticeable - you'd have to know him really well to notice, he just doesn't want his breakfast, and this morning had trouble with our little walk. We'd take a trip to the vet, but have nothing to tell them.

Happy Tails/Trails!

2 comments:

Merikay said...

I like to shop at a couple of International Markets. I find their produce, while not as perfect, is often somewhat less expensive. Do you know what to do with chick pea flour? I bought some for a recipe and now don't quite know what to do with the rest.

Bananas are not the best choice for calories, carbs and fiber. No fruit is really bad, but strawberries or pears have a higher fiber to calorie ratio.

Laura said...

I've never used chickpea flour, but I wonder if some could replace the flour you use in your pizza dough? It doesn't have gluten (I think) though. How about muffins? If I come across anything I'll let you know.

I hear what you are saying about bananas. I've been eating them sometimes cause they are here, but they also have a lot of potassium which I always seem to be low on. It makes me wonder if the nutrient levels they have on caloriecounter are based on current knowledge?