Stonyfield Organic Greek Yogurt – The Cookie ChRUNicles

Before we get to last night’s Hanukkah dinner, I have a few random foodie things to discuss.

We went to Whole Foods the other day and I was really excited to get both Stonyfield Organic Greek Yogurt and Organic Pink Lady apples on sale.

In my opinion, Stonyfield Organic makes the best greek yogurt, especially when it comes to the plain.

I don’t always buy it because it can be pricey but I think it may be worth it going forward, not just for the taste but for the quality.

Plain greek yogurt really does take on the color and sweetness of the fruit-flavored yogurts when you add real fruit.

I really like Pink Lady apples. When it comes to apples in general though, I get really annoyed when I can’t find super big ones.

I make do by cutting up more than one at a time but still, it annoys me.

My son decided he wanted to try one of the green juices at Whole Foods too while we were there. He is working on the vegetable thing.

The juice he selected involved spinach, green apple, cucumber and I forget exactly what else (he told them to leave out the celery).

He didn’t like it and neither did I. We brought it back and they tried to adjust the flavor (too much parsley!) but it didn’t work for either of us. So we returned it.

There was absolutely no way that I was going to throw the juice in the garbage when I paid over six dollars for the cup.

Last week I mentioned taking a bit of break from fresh roasted vegetables.

That doesn’t mean I stopped eating vegetables completely, I just made some minor changes.

Wilted spinach in place of lettuce works really nice for me as a salad base.

I also bought Portobello mushrooms caps this week for a change too. Love them in a salad with avocado.

Roasted brussels sprouts aren’t causing me an issue (thank goodness since they are the best!) so I have been sticking to those along with roasted asparagus.

I decided it was the fresh roasted broccoli causing me the most discomfort so for now, I have only been eating the frozen variety and notice a major difference in how I feel.

Oh and I can’t forget to mention my favorite mashed chickpeas with avocado on Cinnamon Raisin Ezekiel toast. If you haven’t tried it yet, you really should.

On to Hanukkah dinner:

I will admit that I didn’t make the Matzo Ball soup.

But I did make the rest of the dinner, including lots of latkes (potato pancakes) of all sizes.

For the sweet potato latkes, I couldn’t find a new box of quinoa flakes so I bought this Quinoa & Flax blend instead.

I used a regular shredder and a mini food processor this year to make the latkes. I prefer the old-fashioned shredder even though it requires more work.

You must top your latkes off with apple sauce if you are going to do it right.

As luck would have it, yesterday was also National Chocolate Covered Anything Day.

I am a passive-aggressive hostess. I made chocolate-covered pineapple because my dad has arthritis in his knees and the bromelain in pineapple is a powerful anti-inflammatory known to help the pain and inflammation.

I served him the pineapple and told him the bromelain was his Hanukkah gift.