My Weekend in Pictures, 7/4-7/6

So, this is a somewhat sad compilation of photos from my weekend, however, I thought I’d update everyone on my life because I can. 🙂

The sky was being patriotic.

I made bruschetta burgers for the Fourth of July and paired it with some blue corn chips and creamy spinach dip for a red, white, and blue themed dinner.  My burger recipe will be up sometime in the near future is up now, so go check it out!

I drank some of the only type of beer I like: Lambic.  Nom.

I then went on a lot of adventures with Gabi and Michael.

On Saturday, we went to the NC Farmer’s Market and I had some fried shrimp from the N.C. Seafood Restaurant for lunch.  I miss having seafood whenever I want it.

 After the farmers market, we went to the flea market, where I bought Gabi a treat from the Bone Appetit Bakery.  She loved it!  I also got myself some Chocolate Pecan fudge, but you better believe I devoured that!  Actually, I just lied.  I didn’t…I still have a quarter of the bar left, I just never took a photo of it.

We also went Geocaching!

Sunday, I spent the majority of my day in the kitchen.  I cut up my watermelon, tried my hand at making French macarons (which turned out very well!!), and made, um, I guess I’ll call it ‘watermelon water.’

I hope everyone had an awesome Independence Day weekend, and I hope you have an equally awesome work week this week.

Stay tuned for my bruschetta burger recipe and my successful macaron attempt and recipe later this week!

Bows and Arrows,

Lynda

 

Ashley’s Trader Joe’s Haul

Well, guys..today is what I like to call “terrible Tuesday”. If anything bad is going to happen during the week it tends to happen for me on Tuesdays for whatever reason. This has also been true for others I know, but you guys will have to tell me if that is “a thing” in your life too or if I am just a crazy lady (which is more than likely the case). Anyway, everything was going alright and then, BAM!…terrible Tuesday struck again. Granted, I have had wayyy worse terrible Tuesdays in the past, but it was still not a great day at all. Long story short (because you guys came here for a Trader Joe’s haul and not a whiny pants rant), Rose got sick while I was at work. By sick I mean vomiting and diarrhea…all over the carpet and of course nothing on the other half of the house that is hard wood. Luckily, she was home with Blake, my boyfriend’s cousin, and he let me know what was going on. So, obviously I had to rush home to make sure she was alright. The story gets worse, but I’ll just end it there. There’s been no poop or vomit in the last hour or so, so hopefully she’s alright or else we will be making our second vet trip in the last week. Long story. Is this what it’s like to have kids? ahhhh! Anyway, let’s move on to the point of this post, shall we?

So, I went to Trader Joe’s yesterday and I bought some delicious food items, as well as these beautiful spring flowers. I may or may not have bought these flowers just to add some beauty to my pictures, which tend to be crappy because I have zero photography skills. Look at me, thinking ahead! Anyway, I love Trader joe’s! Who doesn’t love Trader Joe’s?? I don’t shop there regularly because there is not one very nearby where I live, but when I do go I love trying out new things.

Everything I bought, minus some organic half and half that I forgot to grab from the fridge.

Organic Virgin Coconut Oil

I am so late jumping on the coconut oil bandwagon, it is not even funny. I have been meaning to pick some up for a while and never did until yesterday. The health claims in favor of coconut oil are numerous. It is touted as being wonderful for hair, skin, and overall health. Coconut oil has strong anti-bacterial and anti-fungal properties due to the lauric acid in it. Because of this property, supposedly “oil pulling” using coconut oil is a good substitute for regular mouthwash. I was curious about that and also just wanted to use it for cooking, so I got myself some. I’ll let you know how I like it!

Kettle Corn

I think this is one of my favorite things I bought. I don’t have much to say about this kettle corn other than that it is perfectly delicious. It is the perfect blend of sweet and salty. A perfect snack in my opinion and maybe a little “healthier” than the scary microwave popcorn.

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

This is a must have item in my kitchen. I use olive oil for so many things and I was out, so I figured I better grab some.

Cinnamon Almonds

I love almonds and I love cinnamon, so this was a no-brainer. I also read another blogger say that they liked these, so I was sold. YUM!

Hearty Minestrone Soup

This was an impulse buy because I was getting hungry while shopping and I thought to myself, “self, you can eat this when you get home and it will be quick and easy and delicious”. Turns out it was some of those things. I also failed to read the nutrition facts while in the store, and only when I got home did I realize the enormous amount of sodium in this. I know it’s soup and that’s sort of typical, but still. To make matters worse, it wasn’t all that delicious. I mean, I will eat the other half of it, but I won’t buy it again.

Dark Chocolate Almonds (Sea Salt and Turbinado Sugar)

I put these in my basket before I found the cinnamon ones and I didn’t have the heart (or the willpower) to put them back. Chocolate covered anything is good from Trader Joe’s I think!

Balsamic Vinaigrette

I don’t know why I bought this?? I was just thinking the other day how I want to make my own salad dressings and then I go and buy this. The aisle this was on was very crowded and I was standing in front of the dressings and I guess I got overwhelmed by the Trader Joe’s regulars glaring at me wishing I would move out of the way of their usual dressing that they buy all the time because they are there everyday and they can sense that I am not a regular. (run-on sentence record?) They can tell from my indecisiveness, the overwhelmed look in my eyes…they want me to leave and go to Harris Teeter. I can tell. So, I grabbed this balsamic Vinaigrette like I knew what I was after all along. That’ll teach them! 😛

Organic Fair Trade Breakfast Blend Coffee

I tried this for the first time this morning and it was really good. Plus, it’s fair trade and organic so it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Every coffee I’ve ever tried from Trader Joe’s has been great, just FYI.

Tilapia

I’ve purchased this tilapia before and although I don’t know much about fish/seafood, I think this is good stuff.

Organic Kale

I guess this was the least exciting thing I bought because I forgot to get an up close picture of it. Oh well. I got some kale…it was green and delicious and in a bag.

Macarons

Before you turn your nose up and say that these aren’t REAL macarons, I know okay! But, I’ve never had the fancy pants real ones anyway, so I wouldn’t know. Lynda bought these a while back and I wanted to try them. I liked them. I wouldn’t say I loved them, but I’m glad I tried some fake macarons finally so I can join the cool club.

So that’s all of the things I bought from Trader Joe’s….well except for that half and half, but you guys know what half and half looks like I think. Hope you all survived terrible Tuesday and have a wonderful rest of the week! Thanks for reading!

Bows and Arrows,

Ashley

Lynda’s Trader Joes Mini Haul

I’m mainly doing this because I want to talk about all the awesome things I got at Trader Joe’s when I went the other day out of sheer boredom.  Yes, I grocery shop sometimes when I’m bored.  And no, these are not the healthiest things I could have purchased, but that’s ok because there are many, many more unhealthy things out there.  But they are awesome, and delicious, so I decided to share with you!

World’s Puffiest White Cheddar Corn Puffs

Can we say nom?  Yes we can.  I pretty much like white cheddar anything, and I grab these any time I go into Trader Joe’s.

Speculoo’s Cookie and Cocoa Swirl

Um, why am I only just now discovering this ish?!  It is my new favorite thing.  And I’m now going to come up with so many random recipes to use this with because I want to eat it all day, everyday.  You just wait and see!

 Trader Joe’s Organic Half & Half

Ok, this is the most boring thing on the list.  Mainly because it’s just a regular “I have to buy this because I’m at the grocery store” item.  But while it’s here, I’d just like to point out that organic half and half, as well as organic milk, actually lasts a lot longer than the regular stuff.  I used to always end up throwing some of it away, until I started buying the organic kind.

Pork Gyoza Potstickers

These are great as a quick lunch or dinner!  Or just as an appetizer if you’re serving a lot of people.  And they are under $4.00 for a bag.  I made them yesterday for lunch, and my boyfriend, roommate, and I all ate some, and still had a few left (we had fried rice as well though).  I personally think they are just as good as the ones I can get from the Asian market in my area.

 Dark Chocolate Roasted Pistachio Toffee

I love me some toffee!  And honestly, my reason for heading to Trader Joe’s out of boredom was to pick up their Milk Chocolate English Toffee, however, apparently all of Raleigh decided they were going there for that sole reason as well…so when I got there, they were sold out of them!  Not cool bro.  But that was ok, because I got to try these instead, and boy were they delicious!  My box is gone already, and now I want to go back and get lots more!

12 Macarons a la parisienne

I have this new-found obsession with macarons, and trying to hunt down some delicious ones in my area, but when I was in Trader Joe’s I saw these in the frozen section, so I decided to try them.  They are also delicious as well, and if I can’t find a good spot to get fresh ones, I’ll definitely be picking these up again!  I will say, however, that you have to know 30 minutes before your macaron craving begins, so you can let them thaw.

So yeah, those are the things I got when I went to Trader Joe’s, and now I’m sitting here eating my delicious macarons after letting them thaw for the 30 minutes it took me to write this post! 🙂

Bows and Arrows,

Lynda