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No Longer Fruitless {My Super Fun Shopping Trip This Week}

May 2, 2013 by Laura 19 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

If you recall from my menu plan this week, we were pretty low on our supply of fruits and vegetables. Yesterday, Malachi and I had appointments in Lincoln. Therefore, we made our way to two fun stores that we don’t get to go to very often:  Natural Grocers and Traders Joes.

Fact:  I am so in love with food, it’s not even funny. (Don’t worry, Matt. I still love you most.)  Grocery shopping makes me very happy. Spreading my purchases out and gazing at all the food once I get home offers me long moments of joy. (Don’t worry, kids. I do truly love your handsome faces more than I love staring at zucchini.)

I mean, we all knew this about me already, right? But really. Who else gets so excited when putting food into a grocery cart? How many people are energized just by looking at a package of mushrooms and a big bag of broccoli? What 39 year old lady jumps up and down in the produce department when she finds a four-pound carton of strawberries (while sending her 8 year old back to the other shelf to put away the measly 2-pound carton)? Why get 2 pounds when you can get 4 pounds!!?! After all, at my house, they’ll be gone in two days.

Confession:  I didn’t really jump up and down…very high. Although I may have shrieked a little bit (and startled a baby in a cart by the kiwi).

Here’s what I was able to get:

trader_joes

Clementines (5 pounds), strawberries (4 pounds), pears (4 pounds), gold potatoes (4 pounds), sweet potatoes (6 pounds), cherry tomatoes (1 pound), kiwi (2 pounds), sweet peppers (3-pack), apples (3 pounds), avocados (4-pack), broccoli (three bunches), green leaf lettuce (2 heads), baby carrots (2 pounds), mushrooms (1 pound)…and three small zucchini

I just geeked out and did the math on that. I couldn’t resist. That’s around 35 pounds of fruits and vegetables. You know you were tempted to add it up too. Yeah, and some of you are looking at it right now, double-checking my math. Don’t think I can’t see you.

When I got home, after the boys unloaded the van and grocery bags, and exclaimed loudly over what I had brought home – I decided that “who cares what was originally on the menu plan for tonight – we are soooo having Stir-Fry.”

I cooked up some rice, then filled a cast iron skillet with carrots, broccoli, zucchini, mushrooms, and pineapple – along with olive oil, garlic, and sea salt. I would have thrown in some of the sweet peppers, but I was hoarding them for another meal. :)

stir_fry

Fess up:  Does food make you yawn, or do you love food like I do?  (My heart-felt apologies, once again, for startling the baby in the cart by the kiwi.)

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Menu Plan for the Week and My Trip to Trader Joes

April 14, 2013 by Laura 21 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

I knew this weekend was going to be a busy one. As Matt rattled off our boys’ soccer game schedule late last week, and I decided that if we were going to eat well, I’d need to plan ahead. For each meal, we had a very small window of time before we’d need to leave the house again for another game. And so, I spent part of Friday getting ready.

cooking_ahead

This worked out perfectly. I made a Lasagna Casserole and a Hearty Green Bean Casserole to put into the oven as soon as we got home from games. I also made Chicken Salad for sandwiches or pitas on the run. I wish I was always able to make time to prep food ahead like this. It sure does make game days go more smoothly, as well as fill hungry soccer players who run several miles each day playing games!

I was excited that since we had to head to Lincoln for games on Saturday, and because we had a little bit of time to kill between games, I was able to run into Trader Joes for a few minutes. I spent a lot of time in the produce department, and as you can see, I had quite a bit of fun there!

trader_joes

I was able to get pears, plums, kiwi, sweet potatoes, mandarins, avocados, and sweet peppers. I love having such a yummy variety of fresh produce on hand. (We’ll see if this stash even lasts us one week…)  :)

Here’s what our menu looks like for this week:

Sunday, April 14
Breakfast cake muffins, clementines
Hearty green bean casserole (recipe in my Oh, For Real cookbook), applesauce
High school huddle at our friend’s house

Monday, April 15
Almond flour muffins (recipe coming this week), apple slices
Calico Beans, tossed salad, plums
Chicken salad on whole wheat pitas, tomatoes, fresh pineapple

Tuesday, April 16
Quick mix pancakes, blueberries
Easy noodle stir fry with broccoli, carrots, peppers, and asparagus
Chicken fried steak strips, mashed potatoes, gravy, peas

Wednesday, April 17
Honey cinnamon muffins, kiwi
Pizza boats, pears
Easy chicken pot pie, tossed salad

Thursday, April 18
Scrambled eggs, oranges
Chicken and cheese burritos, fruit salad
Cheeseburger macaroni, steamed broccoli and carrots, tossed salad

Friday, April 19
Quick mix biscuits, fruit-kefir smoothies
Calzones, apples and/or plums
Crock pot barbecue chicken breasts, baked potatoes, green beans, asparagus

Saturday, April 20
Fried eggs on toast, oranges and pears
Leftovers
Lamb chops, sweet potato fries, steamed broccoli and carrots

Do you have a Trader Joes nearby? I wish ours was closer, but it sure is fun to hop in every few months!

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