veggie burgers

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Yesterday I had the pleasure of working from home, a rare and beloved occasion where I am quadruply as productive as I am in the office. I start early, there’s no commute or getting ready, and no distractions.

I started the day with a new product, Trader Joe’s Very Green powder.

Trader Joe's Very Green Powder

I have long been a fan of their Super Red Drink Powder, and I wanted to see how this green supplement would stack up. I mixed a couple scoops of this with Pom juice, banana, frozen pineapple, spinach, and a bit of almond milk. You couldn’t tell the green powder was in there at all, and the smoothie was delicious. I later tried a teaspoon of the Very Green powder in a glass of water with a shot of Pom juice, and it was just as easy to drink on its own. The powder is made up of all sorts of good greens like barley grass juice, alfalfa, spirulina, broccoli powder and other healthy stuff. It’s easy to drink and will likely last me awhile. Good deal.

Working from home also means a good lunch.

 

Dr. Praeger's burger with peach salsa and green beans

I whipped up a quick Dr. Praeger’s veggie burger and topped it with cheese and onion, then Trader Joe’s peach salsa and a bit of Greek yogurt with a side of green beans left over from the night before.

I should start doing before and after shots of my food. After I take a pretty picture of something like this, I usually smother it in hot sauce and more salsa. Messy 🙂

As the day turned into evening and I wrapped up my Marketing Communications real life job, I felt like making some homemade salsa for topping salads and eating with chips. Salsa, if you didn’t already know, is one of my favorite foods and would definitely be part of my last meal on earth.

This salsa started out with some frozen TJ’s pineapple and roasted peppers.

pineapple and roasted peppers

I gave them a good chop in the food processor, then added a can of Trader Joe’s fire roasted tomatoes and fire roasted green chiles.

roasted tomatoes and chiles

The spicier the better!

pineapple salsa

You can see that I also added in crushed red pepper flakes. 🙂 The sweetness of the pineapple balanced the spice out nicely, and the roasted tomatoes and peppers gave it a nice smoky quality.

After dinner, I dug into our wine collection and pulled out a bottle of Casa Zuliani Cabernet Franc.

Cabernet Franc

The second I opened it, I remembered why I bought it at the Bin Ends fine wine flea market. The nose on this wine is spicy and of dry leaves and tobacco. The flavor at first was almost TOO spicy, even for me. We let it breathe a little, then aerated it, and the flavors really opened up. It was still peppery but more in the sense of the white pith on the inside of a green bell pepper with a finish that brought more of a spicy black pepper. This wine is incredibly earthy. These are flavors that I really appreciate, and I am glad we have a second bottle of this Cab Franc.

So, now it is Thursday, the weekend is near, the World Cup starts tomorrow, and I get to go to Truro and Provincetown for an annual weekend with the girls.

Are you watching the World Cup? If so, who will you be supporting?

Salsa would be part of my last meal on earth (as would oysters, lobster with truffle butter, and wine). . . what would you choose for yours?

Tags: Cabernet Franc, Food, healthy recipes, Italian wine, Lunch, pineapple salsa, salsa, tomatoes, Trader Joe's, veggie burgers, Very Green powder, wine

Have a good Saturday? I hope so! I certainly did. It involved sleeping late, Mad Hectic overnight oats, dog walking at the MSPCA, lunch at Bukhara with an old friend, shopping at Trader Joe’s and Prosecco on the deck. Not too bad for a hot and sunny day, no?

Today I am up on the Cape in Truro attending the Coastal Wine Trail Kickoff event. I love local wine, and I have literally been looking forward to this event since last year.

So today’s post involves a little bit of this and a little bit of that. I hope you don’t mind 😉

First, a favorite, refreshing summer thirst quencher, strawberry-lemon water. Not lemonade, this spa-like drink is literally a pitcher of ice water with slices of strawberries and lemon. The flavors infuse the water, and then you get to eat the strawberries at the end. This is also delicious with cucumbers and lemons. Water infused with some natural flavor is a summer must-have in our house.

strawberries and lemons  

Speaking of summer beverages, I have so many summer wine recommendations that I thought the weekend before Memorial Day would be a perfect time to get started. There was of course my Duca del Frassino boxed wine from Wednesday’s post. I stand by my post in that I think that this is a perfect wine for your Memorial Day barbeque.

If you are looking for a good red that goes well with barbequed meats and the like, I love Zinfandel. I am a red wine drinker year round, and Zinfandels offer that ripe, jammy, fruit forward flavor that has some good body but is still light enough to have with summer dinner. My favorite Zinfandel is from Zichichi Vineyards in the Dry Creek Valley of Sonoma.

Here’s a not so great photo from our last visit to Zichichi. It is a great winery to visit if you are ever in the Dry Creek Valley of Sonoma. I don’t think Zichichi wines are available outside their winery, but I also like Rodney Strong Knotty Vine Zinfandel and DeLoach Forgotten Vine Zinfandel.

Zichichi Winery

2008 Zichichi Old Vine Zinfandel Dry Creek Valley Villa Carlotti Prosecco from Trader Joe's  

I also just discovered a value Prosecco, Villa Carlotti Prosecco, at Trader Joe’s last weekend. Yay for free samples! This Prosecco is about $5 a bottle, and while it is certainly no Veuve Cliquot, it is a yummy bubbly that pairs perfectly with chopped strawberries. It would be perfect for a girls’ night in or a summer brunch.

Prosecco and Strawberry Cocktails   Prosecco and Strawberry Cocktails

I have a bazillion other wine recommendations for summer wines, but I will spare you constant wine chatter. . . for now.

Back to food.

As I mentioned in Friday’s post, part of the Healthworks Blogger Bash swag bag of magic was a bag of Mad Hectic oatmeal, something I have seen around the blog world, and I was SO excited to try it. I am JUST back from an oatmeal hiatus. I really overdid it last year and couldn’t look at oatmeal for awhile! But right now I am loving cool, overnight oats. I mixed about 1/2 cup of my regular oats and grains with this Mad Hectic almond pecan oats mix, soaked it all in some organic milk, and the next morning had overnight oat perfection, which I topped with cacao nibs.

I love the flavor that the Mad Hectic oats brings to the mix! It was nutty and a little like butterscotch! Really yummy, and 840 mg Omega-3 per serving doesn’t hurt either! This kept me filled up through dog walking, all the way to lunch at Bukhara, and I am rarely full. Overnight oats it is!

Mad Hectic Oatmeal Mad Hectic Oatmeal nutrition stats

Finally, I present you with last night’s dinner. We thought about going out, but decided that Prosecco and strawberries went quite well with veggie burgers on “British Muffins” (Trader Joe’s name for them!) and salad topped with tomatoes sauteed in reduced balsamic. Sometimes a relaxing night at home is what a blogger needs.

veggie burgers and salad

After the Coastal Wine Trail kickoff, my night will be devoted to the final episode of Lost.

Who’s with me? What do you think will happen, or what do you want to happen?

Tags: easy meals, Food, oats, prosecco, salad, Sonoma, summer, veggie burgers, wine, Zichichi, Zinfandel

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