today has been lonnnng already and it is only 4 o’clock! you see, my mom had to stay up ‘til midnight last night (and wake up at 4 this morning) because she had to be “sleep deprived” for the testing she went in for today.
so, i did what any good daughter would do, i stayed up with her playing rummikub. my sister, marisa, is a sore loser.
i kid!
this morning was rough.. i was suuuper sleepy yet i somehow remembered to take some photos of my breakfast. this is what i have had EVERY day this week and figured i could show you at least once. i get in breakfast ruts and am perfectly fine with that.
1/2 serving kashi puffs, 1/2 serving TJ’s high fiber cereal, container of chobani 2% greek yogurt, a small banana and 1/2 cup of almond breeze.
everything is better when eaten with an owl spoon.
as i have mentioned before, this breakfast combo really keeps me full for hours, even though it only clocks in at 300 calories.
after a couple hours at the office getting things wrapped up for the week, i went to the neurology center with my mom. she had to get a few different tests done and i waited in the waiting room and played on twitter the whole time. thanks for those of you who kept me occupied! i had a simply bar to tide me over until our late lunch.
when all the tests were done, we headed to the new whole foods at trolley square—also known as 42,000 square feet of foodie heaven!
you can imagine my excitement—happier than a kid in a candy store.
we were incredibly hungry and momma b was already sleep deprived as it was, so first things first: the café section of the store. which was roughly three times the size of my whole house.
kombucha ON TAP!
marisa seriously considered eating gelato for lunch.. 
i don’t blame her since there was VANILLA BEAN (top right corner).
but we decided to explore our options. they were practically endless..
i am so indecisive, so i picked the salad & hot bar—a little of everything!
it was even hard to decide which items to pick from the bars. i eventually ended up with a bowl of amazing:
up top is a green salad with spinach, edamame, beets, mushrooms, bell pepper, tofu and cottage cheese. down below i have a vegan enchilada, some cracklin’ cauliflower, steamed veggies, channa masala and some other indian spiced veggie dish (totally spaced the name).
i can’t believe how many options the hot bar and salad bar had. if you live in utah, you NEED to get your butt to the trolley square whole foods right now!
marisa decided to order from the taqueria and had fried avocado tacos + chips & guac.
momma b ordered from the sandwich shop and got a turkey flatbread sandwich with the most amazing caramelized onions.
we all loved our lunches! can’t wait to go back. i think it needs to be a friday tradition.
we had a few items on our list for dinner tonight, so we hit the aisles of the grocery store part of the store, starting with the produce section.
pre-sliced veggies for those lazy folks! 
i have never seen such a huge selection of ‘shrooms.
edible flowers, anyone?
bulk bin heaven on your right.
pretty sure there was every type of nut butter available for fresh ground perfection.
including CHOCOLATE peanut butter.
we helped ourselves to that goodness.
whole foods has a step rating system for their meat—it goes from no rating—which means it is not allowed in whole foods—all the way up to a 5+, which is the very best.
i think this is a clever and simple way to educate people about the meat they buy.
we did some more wandering and shopping..
totally random and totally awesome—we ended up bumping into an xagave booth where stevie was giving out samples! you may remember i met with amy from xagave last friday—maybe i should change the this post title to xagave friday?
it was great to meet you, stevie, sorry we couldn’t stay and chat—we were kinda in a hurry.
momma b was fading fast, so we quickly checked out and she headed home to hit the sack. right now she is snoozing and i am about to do a bodyrock.tv workout before heading up to her house to make dinner. on the menu? scratch-made chicken & artichoke calzones! it’s a first for me and i don’t like the idea of yeast.. so wish me luck. if all else fails, we will just eat homemade vanilla bean ice cream for dinner AND for dessert.
this post was long, good job for making it this far. i will be back tomorrow. or the next day.
oh! the winner of the creaclip! i almost forgot. drumroll…
congrats! email me your mailing address. thanks to everyone who entered.
OKAY, i am leaving now. have a great weekend! love, love, love.
Qs~
1. do you love or do you loathe grocery stores? me=love. i would rather grocery shop than shop for clothes any day of the week.
2. how important is the origination of your groceries to you? this is something that has become a lot more important to me lately—the more i learn, the more i want to make a change. i am really trying to be more conscious about all the groceries i buy. i try to get local when i can and always go for organic where possible. i also always make sure my meat, poultry and eggs came from humane sources. i am also focusing on making more things from scratch and using fresh ingredients as much as i can.
xo. janetha g.
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OMG THAT’S ME!
Also, we have a giant Whole Foods near us, and man, I could get lost in there. But, I think it would be okay. I mean, there is a wine tasting bar inside.
Love grocery stores – that Whole Foods sounds absolutely amazing!
I love grocery stores! Grocery shopping is so much fun I think! :) Trader Joes and Whole Foods are like heaven for me. I wish that the closest ones weren’t 2-3 hours away!Origination is also growing in importance to me. I always buy organic when possible for all foods. I am also all about making things from scratch and making my own “frozen meals”. I just make a big batch and freeze stuff in individual portions for future use.
You’re such a sweetheart for staying up with your Mama! I know she appreciated that. That whole foods looks ridiculous! I love when places have SO many choices for lunch. avocado tacos? YUM! Hope dinner turns out well. I love food stores…I could spend hours in them :) Food origin has become increasingly important to me (due to pregnancy). I’m sure I’ll be a nut job about it once we have the baby!
That Whole Foods looks EPIC! Totally puts mine to shame!
AHH THAT PLACE IS LIKE DISNEYLAND FOR FOOD LOVERS!
I loveee grocery shopping! I am definitely like you, I will choose looking at food over clothes any day :)
I am truly jealous of that Whole Foods! Mine is probably 1/3 that size…. so sad haha
That looks like heaven.
I LOVE grocery stores – I love just wandering isles to see what is sold!
And I’m a vegetarian so I don’t buy meat, but I still care where it comes from! As for produce, I try to get it as close to home as possible but it’s not always an option
Where my food comes from is one of the most important things to me! I’m mindful of it even on those days when I can’t choose perfectly. Grocery shopping is my heaven. The Whole Foods you went to looks amazing! I could stay for hours! Kombucha on tap!!!! Yes please!
I love grocery shopping. I love it so much that I prefer to do it without my partner because he “ruins” the experience by not loving it as much as me!
As for the other question I think knowing the origin of your food is very important. I believe it’s necessary for people to become more aware of where your food comes from. This will lead to buying from local farmers for produce and more ethically treated meat. If everyone focused on this a little bit it would make such a big difference into make the world more sustainable! Support Local Produce yay!!!
i loooooove grocery shopping! i always spend way too much money, of course, but it’s one of my favorite things to do!
wow, what a day. But I think ending it at whole foods is totally worth it! I love their trolley station. Sushi station is my favorite.
Your sister is adorable, you gals are pretty lucky to have each other and mamma b!
Now go get some rest with those pups!
LC
i wanna go so bad! i live in utah county, so have to make a bit of a schlep to feed my whole foods cravings…but only for 9 more months, then we’re slc bound! and i will spend all of my money there! (seriously, it looks a.maze.ing.)
wow. i was “oohing” and “ahhing” throughout this entire post. i am soo jealous, i love grocery shopping and that looks like heaven~!!
Are you kidding me? I practically live for grocery stores, LOL. I wish we had a Whole Foods closer — our closest is 75 miles away, but I still manage to go now and then. It is like Disney World for a foodie. I am semi-drooling over the pictures of your visit. I want to go so badly!! :)
Love the owl spoon.
Can we just talk about how much I LOVE Whole Foods?? Oh so muchhhhh
that owl spoon is so cute! Owls are my favorite animal and I’m surprised that I don’t have something like that :)
oh, and give me grocery shopping over any other shopping any day!
I’m not even going to tell you what that chocolate PB looks like – I think you can figure it out!!! ;)
But in all seriousness, that looks amazing. I want a WF that big!!!
I would love to wander through that store! Looks like a good time to me.
I do my best to make my grocery purchases as local and sustainable as possible. Living in SoCal, we are pretty spoiled for produce year-round, so I can’t make excuses for not buying local, seasonal produce. I don’t eat meat or dairy, so I don’t have to deal with the complexities of buying those items.
Good luck with dinner! I need to get over my yeast anxiety. Homemade pizza sounds so good right now.
I seriously always wanted to visit you BUT now its a MUST!!!! Please can I come and visit for a weekend and have a whole foods date with you and momma b, have ice cream at your house, watch movies, and have sushi!!!!! I will sleep with Penny and Randy!!!!!!
Hope Momma B gets lots and lots of rest tonight after that long night of no sleep!
xoxo love you!
I remember seeing edible flowers when I was a kid- I really want to try them still :)
Wow, that Whole Foods is incredible! My local one is tiny…but my husband works there so I get a pretty rockin’ discount :p
I love grocery shopping IF I’m at WF, Trader Joe’s, or my local produce store. Most other places I find frustrating, limited, and over priced. WF is quite pricey (well, not so much with the discount) but I respect what they stand for and they treat their employees very well. I also sort of hate shopping there because I go in for one thing and always ALWAYS end up spending at least $60 and leaving with 2 bags stuffed full.
Love all kinds of grocery stores!!! We prefer it over shopping as well ;) My BF always gets mad at me because I do not always buy a lot of things but I tend to be in the store for hours. So he rarely joins me anymore for shopping for groceries, haha it is ok, just more time for me to explore ;)
WOW. Foodie heaven indeed. We’re supposed to get a Whole Foods in the next few years. I can’t wait!!
i seriously want to go there and live there. I could spend days looking around! OMG. we have nothing like that in Saskatoon thats forsure.
I love whole foods. I could spend DAYS in there. I dont usually buy meat there, but to know that they rate them and have the best quality (which I didnt know) might just change my mind!!
I adore grocery shopping like you wouldn’t believe. I get so excited in Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s but I think that’s mostly because we don’t have them in NH.
Whole Foods HEAVEN!!!!! I could spend weeks in that store. I could probably plan an entire vacation in a Whole Foods and be happy with that. ;)
mmmm that looks AMAZing! Maybe I should get my butt to trolley, eh? ;) Those nut butters and yogurts look divine….oh and your lunch = fabulous!
The Trolley Square Whole Foods is pretty much the closest thing to foodie-heaven that we have in Utah.I “have” to go tomorrow. I need nothing, want everything! Have a great weekend!
Hi Janetha,
I love grocery stores too and I totally agree with you on shopping for food is more fun than clothes. I am also becoming more aware of the food we choose to eat in our home. If you are ever in Cincinnati you _need_ to go to Jungle Jims (http://www.junglejims.com/). It isn’t all organic or natural, but it is everything you could ever imagine. Maybe you’ve already heard about it. I loved just walking down the aisles – especially the international aisles.
Tell you mom hi and we are praying everything goes well with the tests and they get to the bottom of all this.
Aimee (+ family)
What a great time! I wish I was there to have lunch with you! I made some more banana bread today and thought of you! Bake at 350 for about 35 min. :) send me your address so I can send you some mix!!
xoxo
Wow, that is a Whole Foods of ALL Whole Foods!
I’m with you–I’d rather grocery shop than do any other shopping.
I’ve got lots to say in response to this post:
1. Rumikub is one of the most fun games ever. My parents bought it around Christmas time last year and we played non-stop for about three days straight.
2. I would LOVE to grocery shop in a Whole Foods like that. It looks like they thought of everything. That freshly ground chocolate peanut butter looks amazing. Only problem is, I’d be tempted to skip the plastic container and just put my head under the spout :-)
3. It’s awesome that you’re able to spend some QT with your whole family!
4. Don’t worry about yeast. It seems a lot more intimidating that it actually is. I hope we get to see a recipe and the end results.
Have a great weekend!
I can’t even explain in words how badly i want to go to that Whole Foods, i can spend hours in grocery stores and that looks like the ultimate destination!!!! My closest Whole Foods is 1 hour away and its teeny tiny!
You are such a great daughter for staying up with your mum :o)
Holymoly, that whole foods eating area is ridiculous!!! And so is that row of mushrooms. And freshly ground peanut butter. Even though it looks like turd in a cup.
i just posted about big produce and gmo’ed food. yes, origins of food is very important to me, but i dont always buy what i ” should” buy b/c I have to buy on price, too. So…such a balancing act.
“kombucha ON TAP!”—YES please! I have an oak barrel at home w/ a tap but that is so cool to see it out in public!
sleep deprived…i stay up til 5am and sleep til about 930am daily. That’s it. I could have helped your mom out, no problem :)
Hope Momma B is doing well!!!
I’m heading to that WF this weekend. Goodness that looks UNREAL!
i so wish the trolley square store was open when i was in SLC! it was such a tease when i saw the COUNTDOWN at the front of the store after seeing it from the side street. tear! a taqueria bar?! kombucha on TAP? turd-like chocolate peanut butter? WHAT THE EFF?! i wanna go back! haha. i try to buy locally when i can, but realize i am sort of in a pinch financially and need to be choosy about what i buy. so it’s hard. but i do enjoy the taste of organic chicken and other meats more – i truly believe the higher quality yields a better taste.
glad ya’ll had a good time at WF. I don’t go there often (because it’s kind of pricey), but it’s always a good time
I might come visit JUST to go to that Whole Foods. Well, and to see your whole family, of course. Praying that Momma B’s tests went stellar today!!!
That is the Most Insane Whole Foods I’ve ever seen! Wow! You guys are great daughters to a wonderful Momma.
that’s how the whole foods in boulder on pearl street is like! ugh, i die.
i ADORE grocery stores! seriously, when i’m in the states, i am highly entertained by checking out the options available, wandering the aisles, getting jealous for what i can’t buy at home (canada)…esp if it was a whole foods!
hope the calzones turned out! yeast baking scares me and i avoid it!
so kind of you to stay up with your mom. families help each other get through the tough times…so glad you all have each other.
have a great weekend, j!
I love grocery stores. I would rather shop for food than anything else on the planet. Whole Foods is window shopping for me right now. There’s one in Dedham, MA that I can spend the whole day in. It’s HUGE!
Sounds like you had a good family-filled day! It’s never fun to have to deal with family health scares but it DOES bring people together for days like y’all have been having. Honestly, it’s an amazing bonding experience. I’ve gone through way too many but looking back they are very special memories!
There are about 6+/- WF’s near me and honestly, they are huge and intimidating yet I love them (: I can spend hours in there just wandering. Last time I actually had a meal there I had to have my friend pick it for me because I was freaking out….which is why unless I know exactly what I am getting (or very bored!) I avoid those huge stores! Love/hate…I tell ya!
As for where things come from…I would love to shop entirely locally but that gets hard so I am thankful for places like WF and TJ’s etc that at least minimize the environmental impact of their foods. At least I hope so….
OMG, the “blend your own nut butter machine” is amazing! Does every Whole Foods have that?!?! ( There isn’t a Whole Foods near my house. I have only been there once, but I was in heaven! )
I love grocery shopping! Whole foods is the best!
booch on tap? holy crap your WF is so much better than ours! i did eat there last night though, the salad bar was pretty stocked lots of salmon, chicken, seeds, interesting sweet potato salads nom. i’m just lucky to have one at all though since i had nothing even close to it before! i love grocery shopping, it’s sort of an adventure to try new things or what’s in season. i love it because i am anti food rut girl. i switch it up every week!
I bet Momma B was all over that turkey wrap. Let’s be real: WF is WAY > than yucky hospital food.
I’m glad you had a good day with your mama and that the tests went well. I’ve been thinking of you!
Please take me with you next time! That looks like food heaven. I want to make a trip out to Utah just for that place… Then I’d totally come hang out with you too!
I love grocery shopping. Some people stress about it, it calms me down :). Have a great weekend!
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