What I got from the grocery store this week

You know those times when your kitchen is pretty much empty yet you have so many things you want to make so your grocery list is SUPER LONG????

This was one of those weeks for me which makes for a pretty interesting grocery haul.

With that said, I thought this would be a good week to share a grocery haul. This is not everything but I will share some highlights and how I'm using them.

Produce:
1. Kale. This is my absolute essential. I use kale as the base for all my salads and when I say "use it as the base", I really mean "I load my salads with kale because it's one of my favorite foods. I eat plenty of salads and that takes me through a lot of kale.

2. Spinach. I use spinach in my smoothies and juices because it gets my green in but blends much better than kale. I also use spinach as the backup for my kale, which I usually need because I eat so many salads.

3. Tomatoes. Tomatoes are big in our house. There's no such thing as too many tomatoes in our house because we all love them so much. On the Instagram, Jason from @jasoneatsitall DM'd me a salad dressing recipe to and one of the ingredients is tomato water. I still have yet to find all the ingredients (there are so many of them!) but in the meantime, every time I have used tomatoes, I have saved the seeds and juice in a container in the fridge to make the tomato water.

4. Bananas. Not only do I use them to make smoothies but they are also a key ingredient in the paleo muffins I make. My mom and I both really like these muffins and I don't even try to not make them too often because paleo muffins are so good for you.

5. Apples. These are the ultimate convenience food. One of my favorite snacks is apple slices with nut butter and that's an easy snack to have anywhere. I have a busy lifestyle and I love that this is a healthy food that also accommodates the need for convenience food and therefore keeps me from heading to McDonald's in between errands.

6. Tofu. This is my preferred meat substitute. What I usually do is cut it into bite size pieces and saute them in olive oil to put in a salad.

8. Hummus. Hummus is a high protein snack food that pairs perfectly with just about any produce or even with potato chips. I usually go for the classic but I have yet to meet a hummus flavor I don't like.

9. Almonds. I just get the Fisher brand big bag of raw sliced almonds. I usually roast them and run them through my Magic Bullet to make almond butter, which I primarily use with fruit and in my paleo muffins.

10. Pasta sauce. My favorite is the Bertolli Organic olive oil, garlic, and basil one. It's not only great as a pasta sauce but it's also great as a pizza sauce.

11. Potato chips. This is pretty much the only junk food I eat but I'm not sure I'd call it junk food. The only three ingredients are potatoes, peanut oil, and sea salt. Therefore, I love these chips and I do not feel guilty about eating them at all.

12. Ancient Harvest quinoa pasta. This is my go to gluten free pasta. Pasta is a go to meal when I am short on time or energy and want dinner to be quick and easy. This one is my favorite. It tastes exactly like traditional wheat pasta, is organic, and I highly recommend it. My family is not gluten free but I have yet to have someone in my family try it and not like it.

13. Silk unsweetened almond milk. Silk is my go to brand for non dairy milk, and almond milk is my go to non dairy milk. I recently came across a bagel recipe I want to try that calls for unsweetened plant milk so while I'd normally get the original one, I got the unsweetened one for this recipe so I have everything I need to do it once I can find a donut pan.

14. Chia seeds. I got the whole chia seeds from Bob's Red Mill so that I could use frozen blackberries I had in the freezer to make some two-ingredient blackberry jam. It's so easy and healthy and it only requires a couple tablespoons of chia seeds to make, so this one bag will make a lot of jam.

These are the highlights on my grocery list this week. I hope you enjoyed it and that it shed some light on what I like to have in the kitchen and how I use it.

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