Hi everyone! Are you having a nice week so far?
Today I’m going to share some of the meals I enjoyed before school started… AKA the glorious days of freedom! These meals are from the second week of September 🙂
I feel like I always start my posts with peanut butter and banana, so here’s to keeping that tradition going! Here’s another (I think it’s my FOURTH this week!) grilled peanut butter and banana sandwich on multigrain bread, with a side of Earl Grey tea.
For this snack-style lunch, I packed…
- A whipped sweet potato and goat cheese hand pie/empanada (?) from the Uptown Waterloo farmers market
- Five organic wheat and flax crackers (Sobeys’s natural foods aisle)
- Cucumber strips
- Sweet potato hummus with black pepper
- Balderson (WordPress autocorrects that to Bladders! 😛 ) aged white cheddar cheese
- Red seedless grapes
- Valrhona milk chocolate from Paris
This dessert was Greek yogurt with flax and cinnamon topped with Speculoos (cinnamon cookie butter) and coconut chips. My go-to dessert! It’s so delicious. If you ever have the chance to try Speculoos butter, you MUST. It is the dreamiest nut butter I’ve ever had!
Breakfast: a cranberry kamut bagel topped with Maranatha roasted almond butter, banana slices, and cinnamon. Plus a big mug of steaming Earl Grey tea! I had this brekkie before hot yoga, one relaxing Saturday morning. These gamut bagels are so good. I’ll have to go back to Healthy Foods and More to pick up another bag and freeze half of them for quick future breakfasts.
This is the St. Jacob’s Farmers Market, which is open every Thursday and Saturday from 7:00 AM to 3:30 PM. You will see row after row of produce, shouting vendors, and massive buckets of peaches. There are also handcrafted goodies, baked desserts, bread, and prepared food. It is quite the scene!
One lady who made lots of gluten-free treats let me try a nibble of each of her squares and brownies! I am so lucky. These were made with all-natural ingredients (ie. real brown sugar, dates, no xanthan gum or protein powder) and are 100% gluten-free. I could hardly tell that she used oat flour. These were GOOD! I had a hard time deciding between the brownie and the date bar, so I bought both 🙂
Things I bought from the St. Jacob’s Farmers Market:
- Local baby brown mushrooms
- Thai green curry paste
- Delicata squash (local)
- Broccoli (local)
- European-style poppyseed cheesecake
- Gluten-free oatmeal date bar
- Gluten-free chocolate ganache brownie
- Organic sweet potato aioli
- Pesticide-free grape tomatoes
 
Yay for sweets! I froze half of the date bar and half the chocolate brownie so I can defrost them when I need a sweet fix 🙂
I had a bit of a headache (probably from doing yoga for the first time since before going to Paris) so I thought some chocolate would help me heal. Any excuse for brownie!
YUM. Do you like chocolate?
By the way, these are incredibly similar to my super-healthy black bean brownies. If you like moist, creamy and chewy brownies that are super rich and chocolatey, definitely take a look at my black bean brownie recipe! You will love them 🙂
After dinner, I tried this poppyseed cake!
The fluffy cheesecake part was my favourite. This tasted very fresh and didn’t have that refrigerator taste that some pre-made goods do. Awesome treat! 🙂
I enjoyed my cheesecake with a side of warm milk and Iowa Girl Eats 🙂 She has always been one of my favourite bloggers!
Alright, it’s about 9:30 in the morning here, and I just had a lovely pumpkin-ricotta stuffed French toast breakfast – I’m going to post a big breakfast compilation soon – and will head off to hot yoga in a little bit! Have a great weekend everyone!
These meals look perfect! I have to try your sweet potato hummus idea 🙂
And yes, I will try your black bean brownies!
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Thank you! I hope Grade 12 has been treating you well 🙂 You deserve some chocolatey, healthy goodness… definitely give those incredible desserts a try!
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Peanut butter and banana is a classic combination. You really can’t go wrong. (Well, I guess if you really made an effort, you could put it on fish or something.)
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Oh my goodness that sounds interesting but strangely delicious! I love fish too… I would eat it topped with anything!
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I’m not sure it’s strictly legal, but I won’t tell if you don’t. 😀
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I’ve had Thai peanut sauce noodles with salmon, which is similar to the whole illegal peanut butter on fish concept 😉 What are some of your favourite strange food combos?
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That’s an interesting combination. I don’t think I eat any particularly weird ones. Hmm… I do sometimes take cheese and banana sandwiches to work. I don’t think it’s odd at all but it always seems to provoke a lot of laughter from my coworkers. Someone told me that they have deep-fried chocolate bars in Scotland. I’m not sure if I believe it, though.
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WHOA! Cheese and banana sandwiches? That would make me giggle too 🙂
I like ricotta cheese and pumpkin though – or blueberries and brie. Cheese and fruit just work! I’ve never thought of using bananas though, but if you think about it, a banana cheesecake would be pretty dang delicious.
I’ve heard of deep-fried butter in Iowa via IGE’s blog!
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Deep fried butter? Do you hear all those thuds? That the noise of cardiologists all over the world fainting.
Bananas are also nice in toasted cheese. It sounds odd, but it tastes really great.
Blueberries and brie is something I’ve never tried, but it sounds good too.
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AHAHA yes! Apparently it is quite common at fairs and carnivals. I would stay about 10 metres away at all costs, though.
Bananas in grilled cheese with cheddar? Interesting! I can imagine how the banana’s mellow sweetness would contrast with sharp cheese. Great idea!
Blueberries and brie are a pretty classic combination. Have you tried grapes with brie?
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I think 10m is a good precaution. You might also want to wear a protective suit.
As for brie, I do like it, but the only grapes I’ve ever had with it have been in liquid form. 😀
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A protective suit sounds good!
OH AHAHA it took me a while to think of the wine thing LOL. At first I was thinking… “grape jam?”
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Grape jam would be interesting, though. If it contains alcohol, it might mean breakfast really would prepare me properly for my job every morning.
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The most important meal of the day! 🙂
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Absolutely!
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Looks like you have a really awesome farmers’ market! There’s one on over here today, so I’m thinking of popping over to pick up some goodies.
I love the idea of chocolate for headaches! I usually go for a couple shots of espresso, but I’m totally getting a brownie next time 😀
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Lucky you! I hope you are able to find some delicious produce and treats 🙂
I think I need to put up some sort of disclaimer: no scientific evidence behind this fact!
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Haha well no worries. I’m more than happy to experiment with this chocolate hypothesis. Like…every day 😀
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More like… after every meal 😉
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Wow, the cheesecake! It looked so so so yummy. I seldom make desserts since you have gone to Waterloo. I missed the time making desserts with you in the kitchen. Hopefully, I won’t wait too long to make Christmas cookies and desserts with you again in just 2 more months.
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I miss making desserts with you too! Those were my favourite Sunday afternoon memories. It was so much fun! When Christmas comes around, we have lots of baking to catch up on!
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