You’ve got this in your fridge:
It appears I’ve replaced my cereal addiction with an addiction to Greek Yogurt. No one should have five tubs of Greek yogurt in their fridge at a time.
Just sayin.
You know you have a problem when…
You’ve got this in your fridge:
It appears I’ve replaced my cereal addiction with an addiction to Greek Yogurt. No one should have five tubs of Greek yogurt in their fridge at a time.
Just sayin.
Picnic in the Penthouse + #giveaway
Over the weekend, my mom, sister, and I made a trip to the Charlotte Farmer’s Market in search of delicious treats. It was my FIRST trip to the market since moving to Charlotte. What the heck have I been waiting for?!
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I was really impressed by the wide variety of goods for sale at the market. Yes, they had your standard fruit and veggie selection, but they also had a fab selection of local meats, cheeses, jams, and even local crafts, pottery, and jewelry. And a bunch of crazy vegetables I’ve never seen before.
Here are some pretty shots:
We did a lap around the market in search of dinner inspiration.
And ended up nabbing quite a few goodies including these fresh tomatoes and basil which we combined with fresh mozzarella from Trader Joe’s to make a fantastic caprese salad:
We opted (aka I demanded) to put olive oil, salt and pepper, and balsamic vinegar on top:
We also snagged some corn on the cob and some grass-fed beef for our burgers. I haven’t had corn on the cob in quite a while, and the cobs we picked up from the farmer’s market were so tasty and sweet and the kernels were just the perfect size to fit between the gap in my front teeth.
Makes me think I need to incorporate that veggie into my life more often 😉
We sandwiched our grass-fed beef burgers between brioche buns courtesy of Trader Joes, and topped everything off with more tomato and onion from the market and lotsa ketchup and mustard, of course.
I know these look like little baby burgers, but they were actually six ouncers dwarfed by those delicious brioche buns.
The only things missing from our picnic in the penthouse were potato chips and dip. In my family, we eat chips and dip as an appetizer, and as a first course, AND as a compliment to any summer meal. We will down 2 bags with gusto, especially if there’s some Lawson’s chip dip nearby for dunking 
My belly was still obsessing over the thought of chips and dip when I came home from work yesterday and was greeted by a large box of York’s Harvest Garden Chips from Charlotte-based Tropical Foods!
First off, coming home to a package of goodies to sample has to be THE BEST welcome home present EVER. I immediately tore into the package to check out the Garden Chips.
The chips are made from real vegetables (awesome), and they are completely natural, completely crunchy, and completely addicting
I was sent a few different varieties to try, including Okra, Green Beans, and the Mixed Vegetable chips (sweet potato, taro root, squash, carrots, and green beans). After trying each and every vegetable chip variety, I decided the carrots and the green beans are my fav
Have you guys tried these veggie chips yet?
More importantly, do you want to try them *for free*?! We all know I love freebies. I have no shame 😛
You can enter this giveaway for the York’s Harvest Garden Chips up to four times by leaving a comment on this post for each of the following:
1. Leave a comment and let me know your favorite cookout food (recipe links are always welcome!)
2. Add me to your RSS feed OR sign up for email subscription to my blog
3. Follow me on Twitter and tweet about this giveaway: 
4. Like the Fervent Foodie page on Facebook: 
Comments must be posted by midnight Thursday July 28, 2011. Then I’ll use a random number generator to select a winner 
So fresh and so (not) clean
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 
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
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 
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
Waffles in mah belly
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 
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
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
