Serious food post!

If you remember from Thursday I was really craving a whole foods run but alas here in East Texas we don't have whole foods. I thought about running to Brookshire's Fresh but decided Kroger was fine and lately they have had some great finds and offer more healthy options and "trendy foodies" food! As you can see... I was hungry when I went haha

I found some things I hadn't seen before here are my finds that I am pretty excited about.

I'm not sure why I am jumping onto the natural sweetener thing but apparently its healthier for you and this is an all natural zero calorie sweetener. I don't think it really matters but I felt healthier buying it!

We have been grilling a lot lately and were craving bratwurst or sausage but obviously there is a ton of fat in that. I saw these at Kroger - Jalapeno Chicken Sausages YES I immediately threw that in the cart!

They have carried ground turkey for a long time and I love to use it for spaghetti, burgers, tacos, etc. but I hadn't seen turkey breast chunks before! I am thinking of soup or something with this I haven't decided yet.

My husband has decided he likes chocolate almond or soy milk and I found the SILK Almond milk in DARK chocolate. AH yummy. I also got the SILK almond milk this time because its lower in calories than the almond breeze I got before and I read on a fellow blog that SILKs texture of almond milk was creamier.

A ginger man haha - the cashiers were sharing my little guy while I checked out it was fun. I am adding this to my ice water. Ginger is good for your health and has been said by some to be a plant directly from the Garden of Eden. I like the flavor but it also really helps with any tummy troubles.

YUM mandarin orange slices! Make sure you get them in natural juice not syrup! 80 calories for 1/2 a cup and they are great alone or on a salad. MMMM

Double fiber wheat english muffins. I love these for sandwiches or with peanut butter for breakfast. With 120 calories and 8 grams of fiber they are filling and a better choice for me than the sandwich thins. A sandwich thin is 100 calories and only 5 grams of fiber AND its really thin. These english muffins are THICK and delicious.

7 prunes for 100 calories. Really sweet like chewy candy and a great source of fiber and vitamin A. A new favorite snack.

180 calories, 6 g. of fiber, 14 g. of protein

Inside Benefit: Eat one kiwi a day to bolster your immunity. Just one kiwi provides you with more than the 100% of the vitamin C you need daily. Vitamin C may help reduce levels of stress hormones, according to studies, as prolonged periods of stress deplete levels of vitamin C in the adrenal glands. Stress can negatively impact your immune system. Be proactive by consuming appropriate amounts of vitamin C and improve your body’s ability to fight off colds and infection. Outside Benefit: To improve a tired appearance, try kiwis instead of cucumbers. Kiwi is loaded with vitamin K, which is know to reduce puffiness and dark circles around your eyes. Place chilled slices of kiwi on your eyes for 15 minutes.

Walden Farms has a ton of calorie free items like syrups, sauces, dips etc. You can check out their products HERE. I wanted to try this because we were grilling ribs and I knew that I didn't want to add more calories than were already going on with the meat. Survey says DELICIOUS. Kroger had several of their products and I want to try some more. They have a pomegranate mayo... YUM. Tons of things to try.

FIBER ONE - 180 calories, 11g fiber, 4g protein AND delicious. Anything with almonds is going to taste good! KASHI - 200 calories, 4g fiber, 6 g protein and tons of antioxidants with the blueberries. I haven't tasted it yet but I love blueberry cereal! NOW before I go a few things I have made and eaten since said shopping trip!

The veggie burger and english muffin combo is FABULOUS. A 300 calorie burger is not that low I get that but we are talking 14 grams of fiber and 19 grams of protein! Its super filling, high in whole grains and veggies! A whataburger is more than twice that at 640 calories! I also ate carrots with homemade hummus. I didn't take a picture but it was easy I dumped a can of chickpeas in the food processor with chipotles in adobo. There are 15 calories in a can of chipotles in adobo and I only used maybe 1/3 of the can in my hummus. The can of chickpeas is 300 calories. It made a TON of hummus. I only had about 2 tbs. and it made around 2 cups of hummus. Sabra hummus has 70 calories for 2 TBS and my homemade version of that had about 20-30. YAY

For dinner that night I used the rest of my chipotles to season chicken breasts for the grill. I made an avocado salsa/relish to go on top of the chicken. Mine had cilantro and my husbands had tomato. Then as a side I made corn with cumin, chili powder and lime juice with a little queso fresco and roasted it in the oven.

THEN last night we had my parents and Oma over for swimming and grill out. Hubby wanted to make ribs but our smoker was a little small so we decided to bake them in the oven and then at the end finish them on our grill with the walden farms zero calorie bbq sauce. We had sweet potatoes and brussel sprouts as a side and watermelon for dessert. I still ate healthy even though we had company and were grilling. Usually we would do burgers and chips and dip and baked beans etc. BUT everyone loved the food just as much it was great and we had a TON of ribs left over OOPS.

We baked the ribs in the oven at 225 for 2 1/2 hours in a pan with 2 beers poured over the top and then tightly covered in foil. We took them out and put them on the grill for about 30 minutes basting with bbq sauce.

WOW they were awesome.

I forked the potatoes and put them on a foil lined baking sheet, quickly sprayed the outside with olive oil spray and baked them at 350 for an hour. They were very tender and sweet. I LOVE you sweet potatoes.

I halved the brussel sprouts and put them in a pan with onions, olive oil, salt and pepper. I roasted them at 350 with the potatoes for about 30 minutes then I added water and covered it with foil so that they would get steamed and turn tender.

AND don't ruin the evening with a huge piece of chocolate cake ok EAT SOME FRUIT! This watermelon was a gift from our fabulous friend and neighbor and it was SO sweet and juicy. PERFECT

Eating healthy is becoming a habit. It is fun and makes you feel good about yourself.Today for lunch we went to Golden Corral on request of my Oma. You can find some horrible foods there but I didn't even make eye contact with those options and I didn't feel deprived. I wasn't sad I didn't eat them I was proud. I had a salad with salsa no creamy fatty dressings to ruin it! And dessert - a ton of fresh fruit. Mentally I think I am changing. When I used to diet I would always be pissed I couldn't eat certain things but now I really crave the healthy option and I am not sad I don't eat the friend chicken or chocolate pie. When I want to eat something thats not as good for me then I can do that in moderation because this isn't a PHASE its a forever change and now that I realize that and know its possible and I can do it, I will and it makes it feel natural and not hard or impossible to stick with.