Thursday, November 10, 2011

Just Food.....

Today's post consist of a few things that I've been eating this past week.  First up is a new restaurant that we went to Tuesday night.  A Cheddars opened up here in Jackson a few months ago, and Tony has been dying to go.  Every time we go by there it's packed with like an hour or more wait.  We decided to go out to eat Tuesday night instead of cooking, so we thought we would try to get in at Cheddars.  It was our lucky night.  We walked right in with no wait.  I was a little disappointed at first, because I didn't see much that I could eat.  I really didn't want to eat just a salad, and I saw a Dijon Chicken Mushroom meal that I thought I could get, but ask them for more mushrooms in place of the chicken.  I asked the waitress if I could do that, but she recommended that I just get the salad and 4 vegetables deal for $6.99.  Mushrooms were not one of their vegetable sides, but she said I could order them any way.  So, I ended up getting a salad and veggie plate.  The salad was a perfect size and had lots of veggies in it.  Sorry, I devoured it before I even thought about taking a picture.  I did manage to take a picture of my vegetable plate though.   The mushrooms were fantastic.  I don't know what seasoning they used to cook them in, but I've never eaten any out that tasted that good.   The rice was great, the steamed broccoli was steamed perfectly, and the baby carrots were cooked perfect also.  I could handle eating that meal every day.  :o) 


Sunday night we had chili dogs.   I tried to find a can of veggie chili at my local grocery store, but all they had was chili with out beans (ugh).  I didn't have time to really make a pot of chili, so I just winged it in making a small pot for our hot dogs.  I used a can of chili beans, a small can of tomato sauce, half of an onion (chopped), 1 Roma tomato chopped up (that's all I had), chili powder, and pepper.  I whipped that up in like 15 minutes, and figured that it probably wouldn't be very edible.  Tony had already decided that he was just having hot dogs until he saw what the chili looked like.  I did a quick taste test to make sure that it wasn't horrible, and to my surprise it turned out pretty darn good for something just thrown together.  :o)

Monday night Tony grilled.  I had grilled BBQ Tofu, grilled asparagus, roasted brussel sprouts, and a sweet potato.  This was my first time to cook roasted brussel sprouts.  For some reason I've never big on roasting veggies.  I almost burned the little brussels, but they were still very good.  I think I'm beginning to get hooked on roasted veggies.

For most of my lunches this week I've been having a small side of the chili that was left over from our chili dogs, stuffed grape leaves, carrots or broccoli, hummus, and pretzel chips.   The grape leaves are so small so I thought I could eat three along with everything else.  Boy was I wrong.  I could only eat two, so I had to take one back home for the next day.  Those little stuffed grape leaves are very filling and very good!  Makes me think that their may be more frequent trips to Whole Foods, or maybe I should find a recipe for them and make my own....hmmmm

For some snacks I've been having a Honey Crisp apple with crunchy almond butter....YUM!

I also bought a couple of soy yogurts to try when we went to WF's last Friday.   I don't like the kind they sell at our local Kroger.  It's not very tasty at all.  The Whole Soy & Co was on sale, so I bought those this time.  I really wanted to try some SO Delicious Coconut milk yogurt, but it wasn't on sale.  I knew my husband was probably going to have a heart attack when we checked out, so I thought I better stop putting stuff in the buggy.  It's very easy to get drawn into everything, and to want to buy it right then...at least it is for me.   I'm sure it would be different if we had a WF's where I live.   I would really love to go to Nashville, which is two hours away, and go to Trader Joe's sometime.  Which do you like the best....Whole Foods or Trader Joe's.  Do you think it would be worth the drive to go check out TJ's?

~Peace~

10 comments:

  1. Looks like some great food! I'm glad you had a good restaurant experience! I wish I could get myself into those grape leaves but I just don't like them. TJ's is worth a trip I think! They have ALOT of frozen vegan foods.

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  2. I looooooove Trader Joe's. It is the bane of my existence that they don't have them in Canada. WF is a rip-off although I'm sure I'd shop there (if we had one--again).
    Good lookin' eats! Kind of ironic for a vegan to eat at a restaurant called "Cheddars" no?

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  3. Carissa - I need some good frozen foods, so I'm thinking I need to pack up a cooler and head that way before long.

    Stacy - Sounds like I most definitely need to go to Trader Joe's. Lol... My husband wanted to go Cheddars(he is not a vegan), so I suffered thru it...ha Seriously, what I ate was very good for a non vegan restaurant. I won't mind going back. We take turns on choosing places to go out to eat, so we can both be happy. :o)

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  4. You know, I used to be way more into Trader Joe's than I am now. They have great deals on nuts and dried fruits but I probably ate a lot more of those than I should have. Now if I really want some dried fruit, I get a small selection from the WF bulk bins. They are good for canned/prepared foodsif you are busy but I don't enjoy eating that stuff very often.
    Nice roasted brussels, they are so great that way! I actually like them a bit burnt.

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  5. That's strange that the store chili didn't have beans in it. It's not chili without beans, IMO!

    I'll have to look for those stuffed grape leaves. We're probably going to make a quick stop at Whole Foods before going to the co-op this weekend. :)

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  6. Looks like some great eats! I'm so with you, roasted veggies are so the way to go! Try eating them with hummus. It may be life changing ;) Your roasted veg plate looks delicious! So glad you liked the stuffed grape leaves too! Looks like a great lunch! And you know I love apples with almond butter!

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  7. The mushroom-only version of the Chicken dijon dish sounds like it was a good idea; too bad it didn't work out...probably other animal products in the sauce in addition to the chicken...great idea though. Glad you enjoyed the meal anyway, the mushrooms do look like tasty morsels.

    All your food looks great! I agree roasted veggies are soo good!

    As for WF v TJs...WF hands down. I've never really been a TJ fan...

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  8. I'm sure Krogers has Hormel Veggie Chili with Beans. In his single days, Mr. SV used to enjoy having parties for one with just a can of the Hormel and a bag of Tostidos in the microwave.

    Excellent blogging question: IMHO, it is not worth driving two hours to Trader Joes. They're small and you can't rely on them having things you're looking forward to.

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  9. Love Trader Joe's, but probably not for 2 hours each way!

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  10. I've been to Trader Joe's in California and St. Louis. I never think they are as vegan friendly as Whole Foods. Maybe they don't have as many prepared vegan foods, if you were just going into eat. I do love WF way more, however, I DO wish they had a Trader Joe's in Little Rock because I "think" they have a lot of things cheaper than WF.

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