What I’ve Eaten Recently!

Since I missed last Wednesday’s post, I included some extra meals and things to make up for it!

I was very happy to see that Trader Joe’s had Ginger Turmeric Tea back in stock.

I bought three boxes as well as my other necessities like chocolate chips, frozen blueberries for my daily oatmeal, and salad ingredients.

Trader Joe’s is still out of cinnamon raison Ezekiel bread but I found it at Whole Food’s. I had to pay more for it, but at least I have some in the house again!

My friend and I were having Chopt salads together for lunch at her store. She told me in advance of me picking up our salad orders that Chopt now had pickled spicy vegetables on the menu. I quickly changed my usual salad order within my Chopt app to include the new vegetables on the menu — very good choice!

I so rarely share photos of the salads I make at home but here’s one that looks a lot like what I make to eat every day for lunch. My salads are always thrown together while working. Like literally, while working. Depending upon who it is I am speaking to on a call, I am likely making my lunch at the same time.

This salad contained:

• Romaine
• Grape Tomatoes
• Person Cucumbers
• Onion (just a little!)
• Chickpeas
• Feta Cheese
• Roasted Brussels Sprouts
• Avocado
• Vegan Dill Dressing

I had this beautiful chopped salad from Town Bagel over the weekend but I don’t remember specifically what was in it.

Here’s a glimpse inside the bagel case at Town Bagel. I was lucky that my favorite maple raisin multigrain bagel was still left for me to take home with my salad.

One night for dinner after work last week, I was very hungry and needed something quick to eat.

I made this quick “stir fry” but didn’t actually stir fry it or use a pan. To make this quick dinner, I heated up a steam fresh bag of vegetables and Trader Joe’s frozen grain blend. Once everything was combined, I added chickpeas, Trader Joe’s Sweet Chili Sauce, and avocado.

This non-recipe recipe reminds me of the quick and easy stir fry recipe I shared several years ago.

I thought slightly ahead another night to roasting sweet potato wedges while finishing up the workday. Once I was off my last call, the potatoes were ready. I added a steam bag of broccoli, chickpeas, and guacamole to complete my dinner.

I can’t begin to tell you how BASIC yet perfect and delicious this dinner was for me. My plan is to make it more often!

When I had more time, I made my vegan cacciatore with chickpea pasta shells which lasted a few nights for dinner.

Of course, I’ve had whole wheat margarita pizza recently. I walk in and they box it up for me before I even place the order and pay.

It’s a good thing that I don’t deviate from my usual order too often. I would throw off the staff at Mario’s!

Last but not least, I had a salad from Plant Wise.

I created my own which included a bunch of vegetables and their “veggie tuna” which is made with chickpeas.

 

A Story On Measuring Food (plus recent meals)

 

I have a few recent meals to share with you today. But first, a story.

I don’t discuss it every week but I think you already know that I like to eat chocolate chips. And while I’m still devastated that Trader Joe’s changed the recipe for their semi-sweet chocolate chips (even if they say they didn’t – they did), I do still eat Trader Joe’s chocolate chips every day.

I don’t track my chocolate or count my chips. What I like to do is pop them into my mouth mindlessly to eat as a snack or dessert.

I don’t track or measure anything that I eat. I’m completely against such a concept.

My son, however, thought it would be a fun experiment to put my put chocolate chips into a measuring cup to see how many chips  I typically eat at a time.

I didn’t think that would be fun. Not fun at all! I quickly told him that I would not take part in his “fun experiment” and that he was making me uncomfortable.

Now of course he found me funny and although it sounded funny when I said that I was getting uncomfortable, I don’t think I was kidding.

I would not eat my chocolate from a measuring cup. It would remove all of the joy from my mindless chocolate chip eating.

I don’t want to know how many chocolate chips I eat. I’ve never wanted to know exactly how much of anything I eat. I prefer to just eat.

Measuring food and especially my chocolate feels like pressure, and also feels limiting. While some people may thrive from tracking their food, such an approach is not right for me.

And as I said to my son — I do just fine eating my chocolate this way so please leave me alone.

Recent Meals:

I ordered my usual Chopt salad order from the Chopt app. And while I like this salad, I do wish Plant Wise was opened on the weekend. I would likely go there to grab lunch while running errands instead if I had the option.

I haven’t had the whole wheat vegetable pizza from Villa Monte in a few months.

It’s like this — I want to love this beautiful vegetable slice like used to but I just don’t. However, sometimes I want to eat it like old times because it’s such an easy dinner decision. It’s so big and so complete with so many vegetables.

I tried it again (with a side of sauce) and did like it. But I don’t OMG love it. It’s good enough on occasion.

I made this stir fry for dinner and really enjoyed it. I had leftover roasted sweet potatoes which I added to a pan of broccoli, chickpeas, Trader Joe’s multigrain blend (from the frozen section), and sweet chili sauce.

I had never tried the multigrain blend from Trader Joe’s but I think it’s excellent! I had originally bought it for my son but I think it’s going to be something I eat on a regular basis.

Surprise, surprise. More pizza.

We decided on La Piazza over the weekend and I chose two grandma slices. One traditional, one with vegetables.

I restocked our supply of the cute little chocolate-covered strawberry and banana bites from Trader Joe’s. I can totally make these bites myself but why bother — Trader Joe’s does a good job.

First Iced Coffee of Season + Recent Meals + Pizza Superstition

I had my first iced coffee of the season. Decaf iced coffee, actually.

I’ve been drinking less coffee over the last few months and surprisingly, I don’t miss the extra cup that I cut out of my daily routine. I also don’t notice that I subbed one regular cup of coffee for decaf in the morning.

I’m now on a regular coffee routine of one cup regular, one cup decaf…and that’s it for the day.

Except of course, when I stop for iced coffee (regular or decaf) this time of year. It won’t be a daily habit.

Since using the Chopt app to order my salads, I stopped knowing exactly which ingredients are involved. I just click “reorder” each week so I’m not paying attention to remembering specifically what I am eating.

I do know, however, that roasted chickpeas and avocado are always in the mix.

La Piazza is one of my favorites pizza places because of the sauce. It’s SO good.

I still, of course, adore the whole wheat margarita pizza from Mario’s. I wonder when this phase will end, if ever.

I want to still love the whole wheat vegetable pizza from Villa Monte but I don’t think that I do. I’ve been saying this for quite a while too.

I don’t even know what it is, but it’s just not my favorite anymore. It looks so pretty though, doesn’t it? The vegetables are packed so high! You can’t even tell that there’s pizza crust under all of those vegetables!

I’ve been eating the below stir fry on repeat for dinner every single night that I make dinner at home for the last two weeks or so.

It’s just SO EASY to throw together which makes me glad that I’ve returned to being in the mood for stir fry bowls for dinner once again.

In the mix:

• Whatever Frozen Vegetables I have in the freezer (usually broccoli, cauliflower, and/or Brussel sprouts)
• Organic Chickpeas
• Trader Joe’s organic brown rice (I buy the steam bags)
• Trader Joe’s Island Soyaki
• Trader Joe’s Sweet Chili Sauce
• Avocado

Last but not least, I needed Chinese food for dinner the other night. Steamed vegetable dumplings are my favorite.

Oh, and it’s important to note that I will have La Piazza for dinner tonight. You see, I’m convinced that the Islanders lost (and lost big) on Monday because I didn’t have La Piazza. It’s my fault. I had La Piazza both game days during this series with Tampa when the Islanders won. I didn’t have it Monday night and they lost. I will fix that tonight.

Have I created a pizza superstition? I guess we will find out tonight! If the Islanders should win, I will have to eat La Piazza pizza every time they play for the rest of my life. Or at least, every game day during the playoffs.

Recent Meals + Trader Joe’s Chocolate Chips Issues

 

Wednesday already! Who else is ready for a long holiday weekend?

 

Another week, another Chopt salad.

My son and I are in a good place with ordering from Chopt in that he trusts me to place his order along with mine and pick it up for him. For a while there he was insisting that he needed to place his own order and pick it up himself for it to be correct. Need for independence at 17, I guess? 

Give me all of the hydrating fruits this time of year! There’s nothing better than fresh pineapple, watermelon, and cantaloupe right now.

I’m always eating berries but I love all the fruits and need them in the house at all times once it’s warm outside.

I’m on a stir-fry kick as of late, especially when I don’t know what to make for dinner.

I hadn’t had sushi in a while.

Okay so let’s discuss something very important.

Trader Joe’s changed the packaging for my favorite semi-sweet chocolate chips. Well, at least I think they did? I could be wrong.

Here’s what happened.

I grabbed a few bags of semi-sweet chocolate chips from the shelf even though I saw that the packaging was different. I just assumed in that quick moment that they changed the original packaging since I didn’t see my usual chocolate chips on the shelf.

Packaging shouldn’t be a big deal but I decided while eating the chocolate chips that they might taste a little bit different too. At times I thought it was because I was looking at the package which made me think I was eating something different so I literally put the package away (I like to eat them straight from the bag) to try to determine if the chocolate tastes the same.

It was a real issue I was having until I read gluten-free AND dairy-free listed on the package. The original Trader Joe’s semi-sweet chocolate chips are not dairy-free. In fact, there was a debate a few years ago about Trader Joe’s semi-sweet chocolate chips being dairy-free and considered Kosher Pareve — but they weren’t. So the label was changed.

Anyway, I need to go to Trader Joe’s today or tomorrow to see if my regular semi-sweet chocolate chips are back on the shelf or if these dairy-free chocolate chips have replaced them.

I’m not sure what is going on but I miss my chocolate.

 

 

Recent Meal Highlights From The Last Few Days

I’ve had some problems with my site this week in terms of logging in so if you have experienced issues loading the blog too, I do apologize.

Just a few food photos to share but really, is any week that different from the week before? I mean, maybe just a little this time around as I don’t have a slice of pizza to showcase today.

I do have last night’s pizza bagel that I made on a bialy though.

I chose to do take out from The Cheesecake Factory the other evening even though we can now dine both indoors and outdoors at the location in my area. However, I did walk into The Cheesecake Factory to place the order. And then I waited by the mall (which is open now too!) until it was ready for me to walk back in to pick it up. This entire statement seems so weird but it’s totally normal right now. Like, if I read what I just said last year or even six months ago, I would be wondering WTF is she talking about. Why are you saying I walked in to place an order and walked back in to pick it up? Who knew such a simple task would become the biggest deal?!

Here’s one of my at-home salad creations. I eat a variation of this salad basically every day.

This salad involved lettuce, tomatoes, carrots, cucumbers, and onions with roasted sweet potatoes and a chopped up Dr. Praeger’s veggie burger. Oh, and I added asparagus too.

Last week I mentioned that I have been enjoying the Trader Joe’s miso vegetable and brown rice kit. I had it again the other night but I think I’m slightly moved on from the stir fry and salt craving I was having last week. That’s what’s nice about cravings. You eat what you are in the mood for and then the feeling passes.

I cut up my first watermelon of the season just in time for my boardwalk run over the weekend. Normally I would be on my tenth watermelon to cut by now but I’m SO OVER cutting up fruit. I just don’t have the process in me anymore, or at least not on a weekly basis.

In fact, I thought who I was cutting up a watermelon and minimizing the mess from the rinds and watermelon juice on the counter…until the pyrex I was going to put the watermelon in cracked all over the kitchen floor. I then had the glass from the broken container to clean up too.

I need to buy new travel food containers. I’m pretty sure the last time I did a kitchen clean out, I got rid of all containers I wasn’t using and now look for them to use.

Salt Cravings + Stir Fry Bowls + Levain Bakery!

 

Okay, so first, here’s a picture of my cold oatmeal that I had post-run on the boardwalk on Sunday. There’s nothing pretty about it but it’s what I eat every single morning for years. Oatmeal (steel-cut and rolled oats cooked together) with cinnamon, sea salt, blueberries, and peanut butter. When I have other berries in the house, I add them. I should probably start saving the empty peanut butter jars again for toting my cold oatmeal to the beach this summer. Do people still eat their oatmeal in almost empty peanut butter jars? I don’t see it too often anymore.

All I had was this container which was too big and the only spoon I could find to bring was my son’s Bob The Builder spoon from when he was little– I used to save the colorful plastic spoons from the yogurt stores just for this oatmeal eating purpose. My, how things change.

Here’s a surprise, I only have one pizza picture to share this week. It’s the whole wheat vegetable slice from Villa Monte with a salad. I added some extra sauce on top because this vegetable slice doesn’t come with much sauce to the pizza.

Lately, I find myself in a sushi or a stir fry mood. I think it’s the salt craving that has been taking over which makes sense given the sweaty summer running. I’m not craving watermelon which I used to do when running in the summer, right now it’s just about salt.

This sushi plus a salad really hit the spot for what I was craving.

Not a great picture below but it was certainly perfect for what I was in the mood to eat for dinner. I cooked a frozen vegetable mix with Trader Joe’s Island Soyaki along with quinoa, lentils, and avocado. I added Trader Joe’s Sweet Chili Sauce too.

I’ve been going to Trader Joe’s once a week since I started food shopping again in person. Each week lately I grab a Miso Vegetable and Brown Rice Saute Kit from the refrigerated section and typically make it that same evening for dinner.

I really like the miso sauce that comes in the kit. In the bowl below is a portion of the saute kit with the addition of chickpeas, avocado, and some shredded lettuce that I had to use up in the house.

Quick recipe link! Quick & Easy Plant-Based Stir Fry

I’m still eating salads for lunch when I’m home which hi, is basically every day for months. This lunch salad contained romaine, tomatoes, roasted sweet potatoes, feta cheese, chickpeas, avocado, and asparagus with balsamic vinaigrette. I quickly heat the frozen asparagus from Trader Joe’s to add to salads. It just needs like 30 seconds in the microwave.

Saving the best picture for last! We stopped at Levain Bakery on the way home from the Hamptons over the weekend to bring home some chocolate chip cookies. I know a whole lot about chocolate chip cookies and can say with certainty that Levain Bakery chocolate chip cookies are indeed the best.

It’s weird to think that the last time I posted about having Levain Bakery cookies was during the winter – before knowing we were about to be living through a pandemic!

Easy Recipes To Make Right Now While Stuck At Home

Now is a really good time to share some of my easy-to-make recipes from past years on the blog.

Obviously, we know that I don’t create new recipes these days (unless you want to learn how I make a pizza bagel) but I feel that I did put in my time in the kitchen during the early years of my blog. While never a true recipe blogger (zero interest in the photography aspect), I do know what I’m doing in the kitchen when it comes to easy vegetarian recipes, baking, and goodies.

So maybe you are a new reader who never knew I had recipes up my sleeve. Or maybe you are a longtime reader who totally forgot about some of the recipes I’ve shared in the past. Perhaps you are looking for something different to cook or a new angle for what you already make regularly. Maybe you have some pantry staples and didn’t think to combine them in the way I’m listing below. Or even better, maybe you are looking to try more vegetarian recipes and didn’t know how easy it was to do.

Let’s start with a treat. My Cold S’mores. 

I call the recipe mine although I owe it to my son’s cooking class from when he was barely three years old.  Gosh, I miss taking him to those little classes at that age! We had so much fun. Anyway, the summer before my son turned three, we would go weekly to a cooking class for his age group. The first recipe we made was, in fact, Cold S’mores! Easy for kids to make, only requires four ingredients, and there’s no need for an oven. PERFECT.

This has to be the most perfect easy dessert recipe for right now. You likely have the ingredients in the house and you can make so many Cold S’mores from one recipe which you can freeze in bulk.

• Chocolate Chips
• Cool Whip
• Mini Marshmallows
• Graham Crackers

I’m all about food in bulk right now because I hate the fact that I can’t go food shopping whenever I want. This whole experience is leaving me feeling as though I need to stock up and fill my fridge, freezer, and pantry like never before.

How To Roast Frozen Vegetables

As a vegetarian, I live on vegetables. Right now, it’s an issue to live on fresh vegetables because it does require me to order from the grocery store or dash on through a store once a week like an episode of supermarket sweep to grab what I need while praying I don’t catch the virus.

I do love frozen vegetables though. In fact, I find frozen vegetables much easier to digest than fresh vegetables most of the time. Years ago I came up with the idea to roast frozen vegetables. I had no idea it was a thing so I wrote about it, and well, How To Roast Frozen Vegetables  has become my most popular searched post to date. If you are stocked with frozen vegetables right now, you can definitely roast them!

Plant-Based Stir Fry

Talk about the easiest meal to make from the pantry and freezer! I created this plant-based stir fry recipe (if we can even call it a recipe?) using a bag of steam fresh vegetables, chickpeas, and brown rice. You can cook the brown rice you have in your pantry OR go with Trader Joe’s brown rice packs from their frozen section. The EASIEST and QUICKEST healthy meal there is, and it’s quite tasty too.

Vegetarian Power Bowls

I’ve written about power bowls so many times over the last seven years. I’ve even revamped my How To Make A Power Bowl post in recent years but the original infographic below is really useful as it lists ingredients ideas which are great ingredients for stocking up, with many able to store in the pantry (and freezer!).

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Pancakes 

How about some pancakes? I created this recipe for Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Pancakes and immediately shared it because my son loved the pancakes, and he is not always so easy to please when it comes to my cooking.

6 Healthy Recipes Using Oatmeal

I rounded up some of my favorite recipes that I’ve shared on the blog in this post for 6 healthy recipes using oatmeal. I live on oatmeal even though I don’t speak about it as often anymore. This oatmeal recipe round-up includes my amazing oatmeal raisin chocolate chip cookies, protein balls, and oatmeal recipes for breakfast.

And one more recipe round up! A few easier to make vegetarian recipes including delicious veggie burgers, power salads, and yummy cookies.

Please let me know which recipe(s) you decide to try and if you have any questions! I secretly hope that your first choice is Cold S’mores. 🙂

 

 

Running When Stressed + Recent Meals + Cauliflower Stir Fry

So I have a few meals to share today but I also wanted to chime in with a short little section about running when stressed. It is definitely not easy to run during mentally stressful times in life.

I read Hungry Runner Girl’s post from yesterday (I feel like you probably did too?) and wanted to not only share the link (in case you missed it) but also give my opinion in agreement.

It’s not discussed enough that emotional stress can affect running. Usually, you just hear about physical injuries and ailments affecting a person’s ability to run, not the emotional stress that might be taking place behind the scenes.

I, for one, cannot run if I am upset. Running with emotional stress just doesn’t work well for me. You would think the opposite, right? Because running should always make you feel better? Well, I think that is situational and really depends on the person, day, what’s going on, and how bad you feel.

But walking! I can always walk. If you don’t have the head to run, you should ALWAYS choose a good walk.

During my divorce (which, when at its height and worst emotionally, was now about 10 years ago!), I really could not run. Heck, I could barely make it to the gym some of those days. But I always kept up my routine, even if it meant walking really slow on the treadmill or going for a walk around my neighborhood.

I think I shared this story a long time ago on the blog but I will share it again because I will never forget it.

There was this one super emotional time 10 years ago that I dragged myself to the gym, and as I was walking as slow as a snail on the treadmill, I noticed the lady in front of me on the elliptical.

She was wearing a bright pink nightgown, in the gym, while pedaling the elliptical.

In my darkest of moments, I laughed to myself and even said out loud — well, at least I was able to get dressed to be here.

So the point of my story is, it’s okay if stress keeps you from running. It happens to the best of us. Choose to walk if you can’t run. Walking is so very good for the mind and body. People Runners don’t give walking enough credit. It will make you feel better, even when you think you can’t feel better, and I also think it’s a nice place holder in a routine for those days you mentally can’t run.

Of Interest: Feelings And Life Lessons After My Divorce

Moving on to some food!

I’ve been using the mug that my son bought me for Mother’s Day every morning since Sunday. In fact, on the days that I use my new Islanders mug for tea, I use it all day long, because I refill my mug of hot water for tea over and over. And over.

Let’s look at my Mother’s Day pancakes again because they were so delicious. This plate of pancakes was also the first breakfast for me that wasn’t oatmeal in, well, a really long time. So long of a time that I am not sure when I had something other than oatmeal for breakfast.

Oatmeal Recipes of Interest:

6 Healthy Recipes Using Oatmeal To Try Today

Blueberry Pie Protein Oatmeal

Autumn Oatmeal

Bagels. I have been eating a lot of bagels again lately. Here’s half of a toasted maple raisin multigrain (So good! Local readers, I get the maple raisin multigrain bagels from Town Bagel!) with melted mozzarella cheese and a salad.

This salad below excited me for lunch on Monday because I remembered I had a leftover salad from dinner the night before. I added roasted sweet potatoes, chickpeas, avocado, and feta cheese to the mix.

Our favorite grandma pie from La Piazza. I usually have two (corner) slices but Sunday night, I was still hungry so I had half of another slice which totally put me over the edge. I’m telling you, I cannot eat like I used to. My stomach just doesn’t have the room it did when I ran 40 miles a week.

Here’s a take out version of the barbecue ranch salad from The Cheesecake Factory. It’s rare we take out from The Cheesecake Factory but sometimes it’s a nice option.

And finally, I recently bought the Trader Joe’s Cauliflower Stir Fry in my effort to eat/cook something different. My initial thoughts? It’s good. It’s fine. It’s worth throwing in your freezer.

The stir fry is mildly seasoned (and has corn, peas, and peppers mixed in) but I added broccoli, chickpeas, and avocado. I will keep playing with it and report other ways I eat the stir fry in the next few weeks.

Are you able to run when dealing with emotional stress?

Have you tried the cauliflower stir fry yet from Trader Joe’s?

 

Former Favorite Meal + Good Salads + Links

 

Another Nor’Easter here in New York today! Bleh. I’m trying not to care too much as we are inching closer to spring (and summer!) every day now. Schools are closed and I’m watching the weather on the news at the moment. The rain/snow line is really confusing. How much snow and/or rain we are actually going to get today remains to be seen. More snow than rain? More rain than snow? No idea.

Now that you are caught up on the New York area weather, I have a few meals worth sharing from the last couple of days!

Monday I experienced a random craving for melted mozzarella and tomato, also known as my former favorite meal. I toasted a Food For Life Ezekiel roll (thankfully stored in my freezer), diced up the only tomatoes I had in the house (grape tomatoes) and melted mozzarella cheese on top. Oh! I added a layer of cruciferous crunch under the cheese too.

Such a perfect meal, I really should get back to eating it every day for lunch as I once did for YEARS. Seriously. This melted mozzarella and tomato combo is my former favorite meal. It was my lunch as often as English muffins with peanut butter were my breakfast once upon a time. I’m surprised I ever broke out of either of those favorite meal habits!

A Chopt salad in the late afternoon ended up being dinner. Not complaining! I love a good Chopt salad, especially with the spicy tahini dressing. 🙂

The Chopt salad ingredients that I chose were my usual combination of romaine, spinach, quinoa, avocado, spicy peppers, charred onions, and tomatoes. Spicy tahini on the side.

I worked from Panera yesterday morning which meant free refills on coffee. Decaf coffee though, I mostly can’t drink more than two cups of caffeinated coffee these days. It makes me feel weird when I attempt a sip beyond my caffeine limit.

With two dollars off a salad (!!), I knew I would be staying at Panera for lunch. I customized my usual Panera salad which is the seasonal greens with the addition of avocado and hummus. I love Panera’s hummus!

Last night for dinner, I thought we were going to go out for pizza but we ended up home. My son had baseball practice and he was so tired that I made him a pizza bagel and I threw together my plant based stir fry recipe using quinoa in place of rice.

Dessert lately has been boring in terms of reporting it f you want to know the truth. I just go with handfuls of semi-sweet chocolate chips from Trader Joe’s. 

Links of Interest:

What To Cook This March

15 High Protein Vegan Meals

8 Foods To Prep Each Week For Super Easy Meals

11 Modifications You Didn’t Know You Could Make At Starbucks

And Sprinkles Cupcakes has a COOKIE CUPCAKE this month so I must get to the Sprinkles location in the city to try it!

“Inspired by a delicious recipe in The Sprinkles Baking Book, this chocolate chip studded yellow cake is lined with cookie crust and topped with brown sugar frosting. Dusted with crunchy cookie pieces… that’s the way the cupcake crumbles!”

[bctt tweet=”Talking recent meals on the blog today including some former favorites, salads, and a stir fry. Food links and recipes too! #ontheblog #salads #Panera #Chopt #recipes #sprinkles” username=”cookiechrunicle”]

What are your former favorite meals? Do you ever bring them back from time to time? Who else used to eat an English muffin with peanut butter every single morning for breakfast like I did?!

Do you have a standing order at Starbucks? What is it?

 

 

Friday Favorites! (1.5.18)

 

 

Woah. Big blizzard yesterday! I’m telling you – I am so very lucky that I dropped that shampoo bottle on the top of my foot during this time of the year. There really hasn’t been a better week to be told not to run between the completely frigid temps and piles of snow! Funny how things work out. I mean, yes it’s unfortunate that I dropped something on my foot but at least it’s not really injured and at least being told not to run happened at an opportune time, you know? #brightside

Favorite Fitness:

As we know, the theme this week has been rest more than anything else. I’m actually enjoying this rest period from running and looking forward to the renewed sense of energy when I am able to start again next week. The foot doctor said I could do Pure Barre workouts so I did that yesterday morning, while modifying anything I thought might affect my foot. It’s sort of weird babying something that doesn’t hurt but I know I am doing the right thing.

Once again, I’m thankful for Pure Barre On Demand. The blizzard yesterday meant nothing to me since I could work out from home!

Favorite Food:

Um. Um. Um. I can’t say there was much of an interesting favorite food taking place this week. Usually I eat at out at some point but the super cold weather and storm kept me home I think for all of my meals since Sunday night!

Actually, I really enjoyed this stir fry that I made for dinner last night. I had made my very basic pot of quinoa and lentils earlier in the week to have on hand for lunches and dinners so I added that to the pan filled with veggies and Trader Joe’s Island Soyaki. Topped with avocado, it was actually delicious and really easy to make.

Favorite Fashion:

I bought a few new things since we last talked fashion! I needed a new pair of black gloves for one of my winter coats and found these Pop Top Mittens on sale at Bloomingdale’s. Love them! They are a bit long up the arm so they nicely cover my wrist and I like that I have the option to pop out my fingers or cover them up with the flap.

Also, I bought these Gap jogger pants. Not sure what I will wear them with yet but I will figure it out.

Favorite Find:

I’ve taken a liking to ELF Cosmetics! Elf opened two stores near me and after some research, their products are free from the harmful ingredients that I try to avoid in my makeup. Not to mention, the price is SO CHEAP that you have to question if it’s too good to be true!

I picked up this Rose Gold Palette (for $10!!!!). The nice girl at the Elf Cosmetics store helped me to make my decision based upon which eye shadows stay on better than others. This Rose Gold palette so far is perfect! The shadow go on really well, you can see the colors, AND they don’t fade. That’s usually the problem with cheaper eye shadows but I haven’t experienced it yet which means this palette is a great option. I also picked up this shimmer highlight powder.

This ELF Cosmetics thing could be life changing for me I tell you! I am not ready at all to switch my skin care or foundation but eye shadows and highlighters and things like that could be awesome at this price point, saving me a lot of money during the year.

Have a great weekend. 🙂

[bctt tweet=”Friday Favorites! #elfcosmetics #makeup #favorites #fridayfavorites #stirfry #blizzard #purebarreondemand @pure_barre #rewardstyle” username=”cookiechrunicle”]

Did you need to shovel yesterday? How much snow did you get?

Every try Elf Cosmetics? What do you think of it?

Any fun plans this weekend?