From the monthly archives:

May 2012

May Foodie Penpals

by Destini on May 31, 2012

Hey Everyone!! Hope everyone is having a wonderful Thursday! I am really loving how short my week has been due to my vacation!

I have been getting quite a few emails from some of you lovely folks that are having trouble subscribing to my blog, I am trying to fix this and will update you all when it’s done! <3

This post isn’t a new recipe but something that I look forward to every month since I joined! FOODIE PENPALS!!

The Lean Green Bean

This month my package came from Bonnie @ Sitting on the Moon! And with much restraint I managed to take some photos of the awesome items she sent me. With the weather warming up she sent me some items for BBQ!! My husband was very excited.

I forgot to include a picture but she also included lipgloss! I felt spoiled!! Thank You Bonnie for such a wonderful package! Loved every bit of it. This month I had Sarah @ The Laughing Medusa! If you would like to see what I sent her, she made an awesome little video.

This post is rather short as I have some more work to get done still from my vacation….love vacations, but apparently my work just piles up while I am away 🙁 hehe.

Question: What are your plans this weekend? My old trainer/friend Kim and my friend Brian are competing in the MABBA Provincials Bodybuilding competition! I can’t wait to see them kill it! They have also both requested some special baked goodies! I will be baking all evening tomorrow to get ready for them!!

Have a great night 🙂

 

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A Trader Joe’s Vacation!!

by Destini on May 30, 2012

Well, I suppose that really wasn’t the theme of our vacation to Minneapolis, but it sure is my lasting memory. This past weekend my husband and two of my good friends, packed our bags, grabbed our passports and jumped in the car for a 7.5 hour drive to Minneapolis.

Our hotel! The Weston in downtown Minneapolis. That bed and shower = AMMMAAZZING.

My husbands birthday was last Thursday and all he wanted was Fogo de Chao. Now for my vegan/vegetarian friends….this would be the first place on your list not to go to. Those of you that enjoy meat…will really enjoy it. It’s a Brazilian steakhouse and they do this well.

Saturday we did WAY too much shopping in Mall of America, Ikea, Golfsmith(my husbands choice) annnnnnd TRADER JOES!!!!

When I first started blogging I soon quickly heard about Trader Joes, being a girl from Canada….not many of us know about them or maybe I just didn’t. I soon learned it had tons of natural organic food choices. What I DIDN’T know was the prices are unbelievable. I knew healthy food options were more affordable in the states as I make many trips up to Grand Forks to restock my pantry……but TJ’s was just awesome. The below bag was only $42!!! I am still in shock and envy.

I also was able to meet Whole Foods!!

And fully understand why it is called ‘Whole Paycheck’. I didn’t get as much, but that Almond Breeze with coconut? Say what? Yes pllleeeeaassee!! When I try it I will let you all know.

After an embarrassing amount of hours shopping, our exhausted crew all dragged our bums to the hotel and took a relaxing hour to gather, shower and get ready for a night on the town. As it was my husbands birthday he decided we would enjoy some Minneapolis Pubs.

It was fantastic but also lead to a hard Sunday morning.

Sunday the boys took off to a baseball game and I went for a walk around downtown Minneapolis to enjoy the heat. The boys didn’t last very long at the game(it was humid and hot) and we met up at another pub called The Local for some lunch with some Target shopping.

Top left was Crave at the mall, I had sushi.. Top right was Fogo de Chao’s salad bar..yes that was salmon. Bottom left was Solera which is a Spanish Tapas restaurant. For vegans they had a wonderful vegan choice! Expensive but well worth it. And bottom right is probably one of my favorite meals, which was my lunch on Sunday at a pub called The Local. That was a humus, avocado, cucumber and tomato pita with a field greens salad. SOOOO good!

Being the last evening of our trip we wanted to check out something a little special, Spanish tapas at Solera. Fantastic atmosphere, great staff and a perfect way to end our trip. This was my first experience with tapas and it won’t be my last!!

That flourless chocolate cake…OMG sooo good.

After a weekend of this much craziness I really needed yesterday off to just relax…which I did.  Now back to the grind of life and to remove a weekend of good food and maybe a drink or too many. Hey! It was vacation 🙂 Well enough blabbing! I want to go watch Sundays Game of Thrones with the hubby!!

Question: Have you ever been to Trader Joe’s? If so, what is your favorite thing from them? AND have you ever tried Tapas??

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Lime Cilantro Black Bean Quinoa Salad

May 21, 2012

Look at me? Mrs. Poster this weekend! Must be a record for how many recipes I have pushed out this weekend. My long weekend has been pretty much spent in the kitchen. We are going to Minneapolis, MN next weekend for my husbands birthday and he was on call this weekend, so we kept it rather low key. Which was fine with me! Look what I got done!! This is a rather special post, recently a NEW local blogger friend Courtney from The Fig Tree Blog invited me to join in a virtual potluck. How nifty blogging and the internet are! I was extremely excited to join. Even more so to meet more […]

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Ancho Chili Chocolate Brownies – Busy Sunday

May 20, 2012

Sunday’s always seem to be a very busy day for me. I rather relax. But I usually meal plan, grocery shop, meal prep, do laundry and finish any tidying up needed for the week to come. Today is a lucky day for me, It is a long weekend and apparently stores are open tomorrow! Though I meal plan from Sunday through Saturday……so I still need to go to the grocery store. In fact I better write this quick as it’s 3:35(stores close at 6) and I still haven’t written my grocery list! I am obsessed with lists, I spend less and am able to get in and out of the […]

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Whole Wheat Apple Pancakes – In Memory of a lovely lady

May 19, 2012

This post is a little delayed and I do apologize. But I will keep the wording from when I wrote it on Monday. Hey friends. It was a sad week last week, a women very close to my cousin and a wonderful lady that was always so warm and welcoming to my family passed away. She went peacefully, but it was still a sad loss. I have fond memories of her making my cousin and I apple pancakes and teaching me inappropriate words in German. My cousin lost her Oma, I lost a caregiver.  As I got older, I wasn’t in touch as often, but she was always so full of […]

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Rosemary Hash browns – Healthy can be my bliss

May 1, 2012

One of my favorite meals of the day is breakfast. Craziest part is that during the week I often have some oatmeal, cereal or something that can be quickly made. I wake up at the very last moment every morning, roll outta bed and try to get ready as quickly as possible. I wish I could slow it down, but mornings must not be in my genes. Because this girl just can’t do it! That being said, making breakfast on the weekends is something my husband looks forward to. So much so that he will starve himself till I make it! How crazy is he? And how unhealthy is that? […]

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