Food Favorites (September)

Do y’all like to talk about food? I do, so I’m hoping you’ll enjoy this food favorites post! I’m hoping to do one at the end of every month with my favorite foodie products and/or dishes from the month. I am not a gourmet chef and find myself very pressed for time when it comes to food, so for the most part you’ll find that these posts include quick meal ideas and favorite healthy snacks. Without further ado, here are my September favorites:

Suja Cold-Pressed Juice. This stuff makes me feel amazing. I have so much more energy, and it’s a great option for those like me and Wes who are too busy/lazy to actually cook vegetables. This is the most reasonably priced cold-pressed raw juice we’ve found. Local juicers sell similar products for up to $12/bottle, and the least expensive grocery store alternative is twice as expensive. It’s still pricey, though, so hubs and I usually split one when we buy it (he has his half for breakfast, I have my half with lunch).

Daily Chef Wild Alaskan Salmon Burgers from Sam’s Club. Easy and delicious week night meal. Just heat for eight minutes and you’re done. My kind of dinner! The only problem: Wes and I just let our Sam’s Club membership expire, so I have no clue how we’ll buy more! Anyone know if other grocery stores carry this brand (or a comparable one?). We just didn’t use our Sam’s membership enough to make it worth our while to renew.

Larabars. These are hardly a new obsession for me, but I have especially been loving them this month. They’re such an easy snack to keep in my purse and are nutrient-dense with short, healthy ingredient lists. My favorite flavors are Blueberry Muffin, Lemon Bar, Apple Pie, and Key Lime Pie. I also enjoyed the Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough and Peanut Butter Cookie back when I could eat chocolate and peanuts. (Brief side note gripe: Why is it that there are several Larabar flavors that NO stores carry? Like, has anyone actually seen a Banana Bread or Peanut Butter & Jelly Larabar in a store?)

This Chickpea and Edamame Salad with Lemon and Mint. Mmmm. I made this to take as my lunch one week this month, and it was delicious! And so easy. I’m lazy, so I used bottled lemon juice, freeze dried chives instead of fresh scallions, and dried mint instead of fresh. And, on a side note…do y’all know the trick for taking the rather gaseous properties out of canned beans? One of my mother-in-love’s friends taught me a few weeks ago. After you open the can, soak the beans several times (as in, change the water they’re soaking in several times). The best way is to put the beans in a bowl while you soak so they can spread out some, but I do the soaking right in the can (again, lazy). It really helps to make them more easily digestible!

Build-Your-Own Taco Night. Supa easy but feels like a “real” meal. Wes likes to buy fresh tortillas and corn chips from the Latino market down the street. We usually have black beans, shredded cheese, tomatoes, guacamole, corn, salsa, and sometimes lettuce as filling options. This has been on regular rotation lately. After all, it’s a crime not to take advantage of the 88 cent avocados currently gracing the produce aisle of our local Kroger.

Nutiva Organic Cold-Pressed Hemp Oil. I use it in place of EVOO on my cold salads. Apparently this is one of the latest super foods (it has an ideal omega-3 to omega-6 ratio), so I had to try it. It’s tasty. And no, it does not make you high. While it’s true that hemp oil is derived from the same plant as everyone’s favorite cannabinoid (that’s marijuana for all you non-health care providers out there), it contains no THC (the chemical in marijuana that makes you high). (Is everyone annoyed yet by my excessive use of parentheses?)

So tell me, friends…what dishes/foods are y’all loving lately?

xoxo Laura