Saturday, February 28, 2009

Some of my favorite things

Its the time of the year when I start to add different items to my grocery cart. Namely more frequent purchases of electrolyte drink mix, Fig Newtons, Clif bars, and the occasional 6-pack of PayDay bars for those really long days in the saddle. I'm burning more calories, I am working harder, and my body is just craving different things.

I am a very healthy eater- and this isn't an attempt to break my arm patting myself on the back, I just truly happen to enjoy my veggies. Blame it on my awesome mom who gave me only two choices as a child- broccoli or carrots? (Or you can just not eat dinner.....You get the idea). While others were allowed Trix and Cookie Crisp cereal, we would twist mom's arm for a mere box of Honey Nut Cheerios...and even that was a huge deal at the time. Nonetheless, I have steered clear of the bad stuff for most of my adulthood as a grocery store customer. While I dabble in the occasional burrito, hamburger, and serving of fries, I tend to crave these things only after an extremely hard effort, such as a race or a marathon day of training. I think I have trained my body to "not" crave many of these items on a regular basis, so its certainly helped keep me in check.

Some find it odd, but I really do not crave meat. EVER. I could definitely go the rest of my life without it. But chocolate, wine, bread, coffee. Now that's another story.

One of my guilty pleasures is searching other people's/friends fridge and pantries to find out WHAT I AM MISSING OUT ON in the world of food. I have some necessities and addictions that I can't live without. These are a few of my favorites:

Trader Joes
-organic creamy Peanut Butter (with Salt)- Good on just about anything
-Basmati Brown Rice
-Wild Rice (the black kind!)
-Mediterranean Hummus
-Natures Path Organic Pop Tarts (blueberry= the best, apple cinn., strawberry, brown sugar)
-Kashi Go Lean Crunch
-TJ's Roasted Vegetable Pizza
-Multi-Seed Corn Tortilla Flatbread (great with the hummus)
-Peanut Butter Pretzels (I go thru 1 bag/week)
-PURE energy bars
-LARABars (cashew cookie, apple cinn., cherry pie!)
-Clif ZBars (better than the original)
-Organic SOYcoutash (frozen blend of soybeans, corn, and peppers)
-Harvest Hodgepodge (frozen veggie mix)
-Wasabi Wow (trail mix)
-Blood Oranges
-Sweet Potatoes (lately I've been slicing thin, drizzling with olive oil, salt, pepper, and baking until crispy!)
-Mahi Mahi, Salmon, and Tuna steaks with seasoning (frozen)

What are some of your favorites?!?! Am I missing something good....Fill me in!

6 comments:

Jen said...

I just finished a 3hr ride and you list is making me drool! A payday bar on a long ride is a little slice of heaven...yum!

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that spring will bloom VERY soon for you :)

Jennifer Harrison said...

Let's see ...From Trader Joes:

1.) Dark chocolate covered pretels.
2.) whole wheat pretzels & their garlic hummus.
3.) Organic brown rice frozen.
4.) NAAN - (sp?) garlic one.
5.) Greek Yogurt - non-fat.
6.) Organic OJ - there is NOTHING better than real OJ.
7.) 2 buck chuck wine.
8.) Clif Peppermint chocolate bars...
9.) Stollen (during Xmas holidays)
10.) PB cups from Trader Joe's too
11.) Trail mix w/ nuts/cranberries
12.) dried bananas
13.) Granola Low Fat berry cereal

I mean, shall I go on??? ha

Ulyana said...

Haha, I'm the complete opposite. when I exercise, I don't crave any junk food, I get freaky healthy. It's when I'm not running, I start wanting all the bad stuff.

I love Trader Joe's!!!! I'm obsessed right now with their five cheese flat bread.

Angi Axmann said...

I crave salty all the time!!! I am not a sweet person I guess...your grocery list coul be mine:-) just minus the peanut butter...I DON'T LIKE PB!!!HUMMUS YUMMMMMM< NOW I AM GETTING HUNGRY AGAIN!!!

Eileen Swanson said...

Nice list ;-) Thanks for this. I would add, orange roughy, almonds, lentil soup ;-)

Jen Rife said...

My mom was the exact same way raising us. We were only allowed 3 cereals - Corn Flakes, Cheerios or Rice Krispies. For a "treat", every few months she would buy us Alphabets cereal, but NOT the one with the marshmallows.