What We Ate – Reading Terminal Market

 

Philadelphia was fun. It tasted good too.

I love spontaneous excursions especially when you don’t hold yourself too much to a plan and just go with the flow.

I hate stressful vacations that include strict time schedules and checklists of activities.

That’s not a good time if you ask me.

I didn’t rush us out the door but I was up early enough to get some work done and squeeze in a workout before we left around 8:00 am.

This Pure Barre thing from home is getting fun. We will discuss it more in-depth soon.

I packed my son a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on Cinnamon Raisin Ezekiel Bread for breakfast to eat in the car.

I was already on my second breakfast so it was the usual oatmeal in a cup with coffee for the road.

Eating oatmeal and yogurt while driving <– not easy or recommended unless you love it like I do and in that case, you do anything for love and spoon it into your mouth when you are stopped in traffic. Although, we never really had traffic so I am not sure how I ate it.

Snacks packed for the car which were never touched but necessary in case of a hunger emergency.

An apple, Quest Bar, Trader Joe’s Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies, popcorn cakes, Annie’s Cheddar Bunnies, Annie’s Chocolate Chip Granola Bar and a container of mixed cereals with raisins.

We made fabulous time to Philly with only one stop to use the bathroom.

We were both really excited to see a Roy Rogers (and couldn’t believe the line at like nine in the morning) because rest stops on the turnpike seem to be the only place to find a Roy Rogers these days.

I used to LOVE Roy Rogers fried chicken back in the day only I didn’t even eat the chicken part, I ate the fried part. Oh, and the pickles bar. Remember they had a pickles bar?

We were smart and saved ourselves for what we would find to eat at Reading Terminal Market.

If you haven’t been to Reading Terminal Market, let’s just say it is a jam-packed market place filled with every kind of food you can imagine.

Except sushi, I couldn’t find sushi.

I did seek out the bakeries first. Of course.

If I had it my way, I would eat dessert as lunch.

There must be some nutrition packed into a Monster Cookie, don’t you think? I mean, it’s flourless so that must count for something.

Since I am a parent trying to raise my son to understand the importance of a balanced diet, I made sure we had real food for lunch followed by a lunch dessert quickly after.

You can’t go to Philadelphia for lunch and not have a cheese steak unless, of course, you are a vegetarian like me. In that case, you get the cheese steak for your son and something else for yourself.

Rumor has it the cheese steak was amazing.

There were lots of meat-eater options at the market which is great if you eat meat. I did see the Mediterranean spot Tina told me to check out but I ended up at Tootsie’s making my own salad.

I don’t even know everything I loaded into my box. I recall a ton of chick peas, a black bean salad, a kale salad, quinoa, tomatoes and the  best sweet potatoes on top that reminded me of Thanksgiving.

I think I may need to replicate those sweet potatoes at home.

On to lunch dessert:

One Brownie Batter Truffle and one Vanilla Cake Truffle from The Flying Monkey. I figured I would go with two bites after lunch and then come back for more after we walked around the city.

There were so many cakes and cookies to choose from but my son wanted ice cream.

In a sprinkled cone.

This gigantic ice cream cone (peanut butter swirl ice cream) was so large that he required at least fifty napkins. And, by the time he gave me a bite, the napkins had sogged their way on to the cone so you didn’t know if you were eating the cone or the napkin or a little bit of both.

I would have been satisfied with the chocolate liberty bells but still took him to see the real thing.

I had a coffee from the market on our walk over to the Liberty Bell.

What’s nice about eating at the Reading Terminal Market is that it is super close to all the educational/historical stuff so you can walk off your indulgences while you learn something and then walk back for cookies.

The Bell.

We walked around the sites and picked up some water and apple slices in a random Subway.

The whole walk had me thinking of which afternoon dessert I would need back at the Market.

So many chocolates and candies and cookies to choose from and believe me, I took my time deciding.

I did not go with the chocolate onion.

Chocolate onion?! I don’t even understand but it was on Bizarre Foods because, well, it’s bizarre.

With so much to choose from, I usually end up with good-looking original chocolate chip cookies because they own my heart.

Especially covered in chocolate.

I couldn’t resist.

I wish it would have been bigger. That was my only complaint which really isn’t a complaint, it’s a compliment.

I asked my son to take a picture of me eating the cookie but instead he took my phone and took selfies.

So I took a piece of his peanut butter chocolate chip cookie before he could take the bag away from me as punishment.

Would you believe we had no traffic heading home either? I only stopped on the turnpike for gas simply because the price was so cheap that I could not resist.

If it made sense, I would drive to New Jersey every week to fill up my tank but that makes no sense although I wish that I did.

We arrived home hungry for dinner which didn’t involve much preparation since I was tired and had no patience or energy to deal with cooking.

Whole Wheat Pizza Bites for my son…

Steamfresh vegetables + Trader Joe’s Brown Rice Medley + Chick Peas + Avocado + Sweet Chili Sauce = five-minute delicious and healthy dinner for me…

We are already planning our next road-trip-for-lunch excursion. I have my sights set on Chicago for some shopping and Gino’s East pizza but that would involve flying rather than driving to do it all in one day.

Don’t put it past me.

Be sure to check out what everyone else is eating today!

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If you have been to Reading Terminal Market, what is your favorite food to order?

What are your emergency travel snacks?

If you had to pick just one, brownies or cookies?