salad

Why You Should Grocery Shop at Lunchtime

/ foodsweatandbeers / 8 Comments

Hey there y’all, and thank goodness it’s Friday!

I’m blurrily celebrating No-Pants Friday, so excited that I clearly couldn’t even hold still!

Too fast, too furious for the camera!

And I have to say, I just enjoyed the most divine salad at lunchtime.

Festive Friday Fare!

Yesterday, I tossed 2 frozen chicken breasts, half a can of black beans and half a can of fire-roasted tomatoes and some salsa into the crockpot. By dinnertime last night, it was a wonderful shreddable chicken with a Mexican flavor. Though I wrapped it in a tortilla last night, today I bulked it up with some spinach, tomato, half an avocado, and cheese. Out of this world.

Now, you might be asking yourself, “How does Jordan afford all these avocados? She must be a zillionaire!” because avocados are notoriously pricey and that’s a bummer. But I’ll tell you how I get em.

Shop for groceries at lunchtime!

A beautiful bounty!

The aisles are almost empty and the food is ripe for the picking. Also, this is a PRIME time to pick up those battered and bruised veggies and fruits that are “priced for quick sale”. The losers of the produce aisle, these treats always finagle their way into my heart and, shortly after, into my grocery cart. And, honestly, if you’re planning on putting together food with the veggies in the not-too-distant future, what’s the problem?

Sure, maybe they’re not as beautiful as the beautiful bananas, the attractive avocados, and the perfect plums. But they’re delicious as all get out, and just made my day.

For $2.50, I picked up 4 avocados and 8 tomatoes. I’ll chalk that one up to a major WIN!

Plans for tonight include a very special (and RARE in NC!) beer!  Epic Brewing’s Brainless on Peaches will be tapped at Rockfish tonight, and I can’t wait to try a glass.  Yummy, yummy.

What’s

Before and After: Office Meals

/ foodsweatandbeers / 7 Comments

Hey hey there cool cats! (or hot dogs… whichever you choose)

It’s a sunny Tuesday here in Dirty Durham (at least it was earlier this morning….)  Ry has my car today until his car is fixed and working pretty again, so I brought my lunch to work.  And as I was packing it, I realized why I don’t normally do this.

I HATE prepping my lunch at the office!  And, more than that, I hate pre-prepping my lunch the night before, so I chose the lesser of two evils.  I jammed my bag full of the ingredients needed and walks outta the apartment with a grocery bag literally full to the top of stuff.  One day, I’m sure I’ll be a super-organized mom who packs her kids lunches in an adorable fashion:

Oh, this ol' thing? It only took me two and a half hours. I always keep rice pandas around.

But in the meantime, I’ll focus on “Ordo ab Chao” (Order from Chaos, if my memory Internet serves me correctly…)

I started this morning off with a little Attunes Food cereal mix up (which you may have seen in one of my secret hoarding cabinets yesterday…)  Finishing off a box of cereal that has dried blueberries in it results in this:

Not little critters, just blueberry dust!

Which is what my cereal looked like before I even took a bite.  What it looked like after, though, actually matched the color of my FR60 watch more than a cereal!

Violet! You're turning violet, Violet!! - Mr. Beauregarde, Willy Wonka

Regardless of my blue milk, I slurped it up like a little kitten.

But this was the real kicker.  Lunchtime.  Here’s my before:

Salad Ingredients or what a mother of 2 bought at the grocery store?

My haul included:

  • Two bags of spinach (one that I just opened, one that had about 12 leaves left so I polished it off!)
  • Tupperware full of thyme roasted veggies (eggplant, banana pepper, and red onion)
  • Avocado
  • Plum tomato
  • End of a GIANT green pepper
  • Leftover box with fajita veggies and a teensy bit of chicken
  • Trader Joe’s Salsa Authentico (arguably one of my favorite salsas… and I’m a salsa officianado)

The “after” was a lot more manageable.

Salad Beast: You are my lover.

The process took quite some time, but the result was more than worth it.

It sort of reminded me of the “blogging behind the scenes” by Chelsey this morning…. only taken with a cheaper camera and with no real trickery. Just blue milk and a counter full of bags!

Are you an ordered chef or baker?  Or does your counter look like chaos every time (like me!)?

What’d you have for lunch?