Natural Food Store Review +WIAW

Yesterday, I fell in love. With a store.

To be fair, it was a cute little store, stuffed to the brim with organic and vegetarian products. I had never seen anything like it near me- the closest I'd come was the giant Whole Foods monolith an hour away in West Hartford. But this was in my very town! Sadly, my new crush and I did not have much time together, since my mom had to go to the bathroom and kept reminding me to 'make my choices and get out'. But I could have stayed for an hour. Maybe two. Just LOOKING at all the possibilities. It was my new health food dream come true.

Maybe if you live down in shoreline CT you should stop by. It's called, quite literally, 'The Natural Food Store' in downtown Niantic. But that's enough of that. Here are some of my new finds, which I'm excited to try out:


Arctic Zero Ice Cream- High Protein and looks sooo good. (If you can't tell, this is the coffee flavor.)

Nutritional Yeast. I've been searching and searching and FINALLY found it!



The Uber-cool bag....



Ultra Energy Bar- with 22 grams protein. You know me and protein. It's good stuff! And look at this! Cookies and Cream! I can't wait to sample all my new goodies!

  On to WIAW. The theme is 'FALL into good habits'. What's my good habit? Well, mine is pretty simple, actually. It's...eating. For those who don't know my story, check out the food philosophy page. In short, though, my eating habits these past few weeks have fallen apart. I've really been giving in to restricting urges and it's time that I took control back. My body deserves to be fed, and it deserves a healthy, balanced diet that can fuel my running and daily activities and not leave me an emotional wreck. So the goal for me this Wednesday, and days to come, is to EAT. More. More calories, more often, more nutritionally-concious. It will be good for me.
 

Today's breakfast started off nice and hearty with some Creamy yOATgurt on the stove (recipe to follow). The flavor I settled on was strawberries and cream, topped generously with some peanut butter to make a little PBandJ yOATgurt.



I may also have had some ah-mazing coffee. Another new obsession. It's fall and pumpkin is everywhere, what can I say? It's simply delicious, and the smell just makes you want to hug someone. Spread the love, won't you?



Lunch included a veggie burger on toasted whole wheat bread, Spicy Pizza Hummus and cauliflower for dipping, and some cocoa roasted almonds to snack on before practice.

Haven't gotten to dinner and evening snack yet, but I'm pretty sure the agenda will include some fresh roasted spaghetti squash and Spinach N Veggie Wraps.



And dessert? Well, I'm thinking that coffee ice cream looks pretty good ;)

Sunday Spinach N' Veggie Rollups

Hello world! I have not totally begun to neglect my blog due to the immense stress of Junior year (yet.) I've been studying away for the flood of tests that has come to greet me this first week of school, and let me say it was quite a shock to the system. Luckily, since I had some free time this Sunday (and it's a blessed rest day...my legs are sighing with relief), it was back to the kitchen for me.

I've been busy pinning away on Pinterest, which is also an addiction of mine, looking for special things to adapt and create. Some of the most intriguing pins I found involved making tofu frittatas and scrambles, as though it were eggs.

Huh.

I couldn't just let that go by without trying something similar, so here's what I came up with to please my picky palate:

Wrap it up!

VEGAN SPINACH 'N VEGGIE WRAPS (with tofu!)

8 whole wheat wraps (you can make your own even!)

1 16oz package frozen microwaveable spinach

1 16oz package firm tofu, drained but not pressed

1 tsp. basil

1 T. lemon juice

1/2 tsp. onion powder

1/4 tsp. celery salt

S+P, to taste

1 red pepper, chopped

3-4 stalks celery, chopped

1-2 tomatoes, chopped

Any veggies you want!

1. Preheat oven to 350F and lightly spray or grease a cookie sheet
2. Microwave spinach according to package directions
3. In blender, combine tofu with spices and lemon juice. Puree for 1-2 minutes, then blend an additional 1-2 minutes until the entire mixture is creamy and there are no tofu chunks.
4. Combine cooked spinach with tofu mixture until spinach is completely coated.

5. Lay out wraps and spread with a large scoop of spinach mixture. Sprinkle with desired veggies, and then roll up and lay side by side on baking sheet. Bake in oven for 20 minutes until spinach mixture starts to set and veggies get nice and tender. Serve warm or cold, but of course, ENJOY!

Little Pizzas?

DONE!

Each Wrap, depending on the tortilla/wraps that you use, has 200 calories, 10 grams protein, 5 grams fiber, 26 grams carbohydrates, and 6 grams of fat. Delicious and nutritious here I come!

QUESTION OF THE DAY: What do you do on your rest days? Do you flop on the couch and watch TV, or are you more the type who begins to get that itch to exercise anyway? I think for me it depends on the day. Often I have a really hard time NOT doing anything, so I'll go on a walk or a bike ride just to get out of the house, but today I was EXHAUSTED. Flopping on the couch (even with a textbook as my reading material) felt great!