My Grocery Store Staples

Good morning!

I think I need another weekend from the weekend. It was a really fun weekend with lots of good friends, super yummy food, and adventure but one of those weekends where Sunday comes and you’re like….is it already almost Monday??

But that’s okay! My friend Whitney is coming to town this weekend and I am SO excited!

This weekend began with wine tasting downtown at the Market Street Wine Shop and then dinner at The Local on Friday. Saturday was dinner at MAS…my favorite restaurant in all of Charlottesville…and then afterwards we went to a bar with lots of dancing. So much fun.

Whit had never been to MAS, the horror, so we had been planning to go for a while. The kicker is they don’t take reservations so on a Saturday night you usually have to wait at least an hour for a table. So what do you do? Get there early, around 6:30, and order a pitcher of sangria while you wait.

The menu is all Spanish tapas, which I love because you get to taste lots of things, so we ordered several and sipped sangria for the next couple hours.

Grilled artichokes with some sort of aioli, fire roasted roma tomatoes, oven potatoes with a garlic butter cream sauce, bread and the best hummus ever, scallops, local carne asada [best steak ever], and bacon wrapped dates which are the best thing I’ve ever eaten, hands down.

Everything was amazing as always, and after we danced until way past my bedtime.

Sunday was nothing like I expected. Long story short, things started off all good and dandy with a 6 mile, very slow walk/run which was so refreshing and then things went a little south. I don’t have a washer/dryer in my tiny apartment so I usually just do it at a friend’s house. Well, I hadn’t done laundry in a month and had like 4 loads to do so I figured I’d go to the laundromat to get it all done at once. Two and a half hours later I left with sopping wet, soapy clothes and on the verge of a breakdown. The washers weren’t working and my clothes got locked in them for TWO hours. So I called Clare and Kelli and they were so, so sweet and let me use their washers and dryers so I could get home since at this point it was 8pm. So grateful for those two!

Upwards and onwards! I did get to the grocery store yesterday to pick up some nutrients! My body was begging for ’em.

My grocery cart can vary from week to week based on what’s on sale and in season, but there are a few things that are always in my cart.

Leafy greens. In addition to about two pounds of baby organic spinach I go through a week between salads and green smoothies, I always pick up a dark leafy green. Usually either chard, kale or collards depending what’s on sale. This week Whole Foods had chard for $2, jackpot. Calcium, protein, iron…nutrition powerhouse.

Frozen berries. For green smoothie and oatmeal, unless they’re on super sale during the summer I always buy them frozen. Hayyyyyy antioxidants!

Frozen broccoli. Another money saver. I discovered the wonderfulness of frozen broccoli last year after I got fed up with the little beady bits getting everywhere when I cut it and it being so $$$ in the off season. I throw it in stir fry, in salads, and even roast it. Better yet, it never goes bad on ya.

Organic, local eggs. Probably my favorite easy dinner or weekend breakfast, these eggs have the brightest, prettiest yolks and they’re the perfect package of protein, healthy fats and natural vitamin D!

Avocados. I probably eat one a day so I typically get two or three ripe ones and 3 or 4 unripe ones that I can eat later in the week when they ripen. So many healthy, anti-inflammatory monounsaturated fats to keep you full, your hair shiny and skin glowing!

Almond milk. Two half gallons, sometimes three. I drink so much almond milk between smoothies, baking, night time hot chocolate and just chugging straight from the carton.

Spaghetti squash. Unless it’s not in season it’s always in my cart. It’s a great base for all kinds of recipes from stir fry to spaghetti sauce to peanut noodles to simply mixing it with seasonal veggies and olive oil for a simple supper. Plus you’ll be getting loads of vitamin A! I snagged this one at Whole Foods for 99 cents a pound!