Weekend Recap Based Around Salads, Pizza and Red Mango

Weekends sure fly by, don’t they? I am so glad I ran my errands on Friday as I had planned.

After we spoke on Friday, I met a friend for our weekly Panera coffee chat (I really need to cut down the coffee, I know I know) and then headed to Whole Foods because I was running low on steel-cut oatmeal which I buy from the bulk bins.

Of course I used the oatmeal as my excuse to grab my lunch from the food bar. I figured that reading the Whole Deal booklet while eating would balance everything out if I was able to score a few coupons for the items I needed to purchase.

I didn’t find a coupon worth using but my lunch was sure good.

Trader Joe’s became the next stop on my list.

• Organic Carrots
• Avocado
• Bananas
• Coconut Oil Cooking Spray
• Granny Smith Apples
• Plum Tomatoes
• Greek Yogurt
• Cage-Free Liquid Egg Whites
• Oat Bran – Comes in a new canister instead of in a bag; I use the oat bran to make breadcrumbs
• Frozen Blueberries – couldn’t find fresh at a decent price!
• Frozen Veggies
• Onion
• Sweet Potatoes
• Lemonade

Of course they were out of the popcorn we just talked about and I forgot to buy the frozen Wild Shrimp.

This week Trader Joe’s had a special five-pound bag of Granny Smith Apples for $4.49 which works out cheaper than buying apples individually.

Considering I eat at least one apple a day, this qualifies as excitement in my world.

If you aren’t eating your apples with some form of nut butter and chocolate chips, I don’t understand and ask that you explain to me your reasons as to why not.

I hate running to multiple grocery stores but I can’t pass up some of the deals at my local produce market.

This week’s sales:

• Cauliflower – 97 cents each
• Asparagus- 97 cents a pound
• Tropicana Orange Juice –  $1.97 each
• Strawberries – I forget exact price but when you are already saving so much money, you add them to your cart just because you need them.
• Pop Chips – $1.50 a bag

Errands out of the way is always a good feeling.

So is running in my Lulu Lemon Pace Setter skirt again. Saturday morning was my last long run before this Sunday’s half marathon.

I broke out the skirt and Pro Compression socks to test out my race outfit possibilities. I actually had a great run and attribute part of the reason to my legs feeling free and not overly bogged down with too many layers of clothing.

Coming home to my favorite post-run meal is almost as wonderful as locating Red Mango’s newest flavor, Oreo.

If you follow me on Instagram, you already knew that I was on mission to taste the new flavor.

The Oreo sample was served in a decent sized cup with a spoon. Based upon my high level frozen yogurt experience, Red Mango’s Oreo flavor tastes the most like an Oreo versus any other store I have tried.

I still went with original yogurt though in my parfait. Oreo is more for a dessert.

And since we are talking food, I have been finding myself craving pizza way more often than normal.

I like when you order pizza (the corner slice from a grandma pie) in a restaurant and it comes all fancy on a real dish rather than a paper plate.

Paired with a giant chopped greek salad, I could eat this meal every single day right now.

But I didn’t have it again yesterday. Nope. I had one of my other favorite meals instead.

Your are correct- this gigantic salad is from Maoz, my favorite vegetarian spot in Manhattan. I took the little boy into the city for the day to walk around…and so that I could get this salad.

Their roasted broccoli and cauliflower is just to die for. I layer it in the bowl with hummus, spinach, chick peas, carrots, cabbage, cole slaw, carrots and goodness knows what else. Some of the toppings available vary each time I go but they never disappoint.

My son gets the falafel sandwich but he doesn’t often let me take pictures of his food. In fact, he torments me over the whole taking pictures of meals and other things that I find of interest to share with you.

He had no issue playing around with the photo booth at the NHL store yesterday though.

He just won’t let me share the picture we took together so you just get to see my silly face instead.

Being that this is a taper week for me, running will be scaled back and alternated with light crosstraining in between. I will get more into my version of a taper plan tomorrow!

**************************************

Did you race over the weekend? How did it go?

What are you craving these days?

Favorite type of pizza? I love a good veggie slice but I also love a corner piece from a grandma pie – the extra crispy crust is the best!