Good morning everyone! I feel SO much better today – I went to bed at 9:00 last night (yes, that G in IGE occasionally stands for Grandma) and awoke feeling like a million bucks. Thanks for your well wishes!
Story! Yesterday afternoon during lunch, Ben and I paid a visit to our local Great Harvest Bread Co. – how Kath of us, no?
I had never been and wasn’t sure what to expect, so you can imagine how delighted I was to find racks of freshly baked, uniquely flavored breads, sweet cookies and chewy fruit bars, locally made peanut and almond butters…and FREE SAMPLES! 
I chose to sample the Cranberry Orange bread. Note: Great Harvest’s “sample” = a thick, chewy, massive slice. Topped with some freshly whipped vanilla butter – I was in HEAVEN.
I ended up buying a loaf of the Cranberry Orange bread (which, bonus – is whole wheat!) and Ben picked out a loaf of White Bread.
Bread-head!
Here’s Ben’s White Bread. It’s got that moist “squish” and melts in your mouth.
And my Orange Cranberry whole wheat bread. Slightly sweet with whole, dried cranberries and orange peel studding the entire loaf.
I’ve said before that I am not much of a “bread person” – but throw a specialty loaf in my direction, and I’ll love you forever 
Just look at that!
I sliced my loaf in half – one half to munch on throughout the week and the other half to keep in the freezer so I can enjoy at another time! Later gator!
I used a slice of my new bread as a dipper in today’s breakfast: Warm Brown Rice Pudding.
Based off of Betheeny Frankel’s recipe (via Vitamin G!) my rice pudding had:
- 3/4 cup cooked, brown rice
- 1/4 cup skim milk
- 1 mashed banana
- splash of vanilla
- sprinkle of sliced almonds
- sprinkle of cinnamon
I heated the rice, milk and banana in a small pan until they were warm and then added my vanilla, almonds and cinnamon.
Served with a slice of my new bread – this was a breakfast dream come true!
The rice was so creamy and chewy, and I honestly thought it would need a sprinkling of brown sugar, but the sweet banana got the job done. Love this breakfast!
Lunch today will be a Sweet & Crunchy Salad.
In the mix:
- Mixed greens
- Carrots
- Pomegranate seeds
- White peach
I just can’t get over those pomegranate seeds! I think Anne K said it best when she described them as beautiful pink pearls…gorgey
I also packed a snack of some White Popcorn from last weekend. I highly recommend this brand – it does not taste light at all!
Have a great Thursday everyone. One more day until the weekend – keep on keepin’ on!
~~~~~
It’s Thursday, which means it’s Three Question Thursday time! Said in my best Joel McHale voice 
Questions:
1. Where did you go on your last vacation?
2. What’s your favorite Fall/Winter holiday?
3. What was your first job?
My answers:
1. Vegas! Read the re-caps here, here and here!
2. I’m going to have to go with Thanksgiving. From drinking mimosas while watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, to playing cards and board games while we wait for the Turkey to roast, to all the traditional Thanksgiving Day dishes – the whole day is heartwarming!
3. This is hard to re-visit in my mind…my first job was a grocery sacker at the local grocery store. It was awful! They wouldn’t promote me to checker because I looked too young so I quit!
Related posts:
great loaves!!! And love the brown rice pudding idea! i need to try that!
1. Argentina
2. Christmas
3. translator at a law firm.
Wow that bread looks awesome! And I love that it’s whole wheat.
Gah, FL needs to get the memo – I need a Great Harvest and I need a Trader Joe’s. That’s all – really, quite simple requests I’d think. 
I am having major bread envy! I love your salad and rice pudding, they look delicious!
AH I love great harvest!!! There was one not far from me when I was growing up, and we’d go get bread samples there and coffee samples at the coffee shop and voila! Free lunch!
1. Eugene, OR to visit my dad
2. Thanksgiving, soon to be replaced with my anniversary!
3. junior counselor at a JCC day camp
1. Lake George, NY
2. Definitely Christmas!
3. Score keeper at basketball tournaments
Those Pomegranate seeds are beautiful! I’ve never seen them before!
1.) NYC
2.) Halloween
3.) Retail
Dang! Now I want a loaf of bread!
1. Michigan
2. I am going to be cliche and predictable here and say Christmas.
I love the decorations, the songs, the FOOD, extra family time, and did I mention the yummy food? But Halloween is a close 2nd!
3. Dry cleaners, baby! We got free dry cleaning, which of course means nothing when you’re 14, but it came in handy with coats.
1) Georgia
2) Thanksgiving
3) Filing
I’m so jealous, I wish we had a great harvest. Your breakfast looks better than a Thanksgiving dessert table!
that bread sounds awesome! I want a Great Harvest here.
1. Honduras
2. Thanksgiving, all the way.
3. Babysitter, if that counts. If not, then hostess at a restaurant.
1. Major vacation: Kauai, Hawaii in April.
Minor vacation: Holland, MI the end of July to visit fun friends
2. Hands down, Christmas. But I love celebrating harvest with pie, squash, turkey … So maybe this is an indication that I just love to cook and I love fall comfort foods.
3. First job was at a t-shirt, skateboard shop called The Mark-It.
I have never been to Great Harvest before and am jealous of your purchases!
1. Spain (Madrid & Seville)
2. CHRISTMAS! The day after Thanksgiving I play Christmas music around the clock
3. In high school I worked at a retirement home serving food. It was dreadful!
That bread looks amazing along with the rice pudding!
1. Carribean cruise starting in Galveston and going to Jamaica, Grand Cayman and Cozumel.
2. Definetely Christmas for family reason and the true celebration of it.
3. Lifeguard and Water Aerobics Instructor. I was hired at 14 and still work there today even though I live 4 hours from it!
I wish we had a Great Harvest around here! AHH!
1. Beach!
2. Thanksgiving, Halloween, my anniversary!
3. Cashier
1. Portland with my girls! (if you don’t count all my trips to Ames!)
2. Thanksgiving! I miss our traditional t-gives in Mn because we have spent the last few years in grand cayman. I can’t complain watching the Macys parade from the pool bar tho
3. My dads wine store! Still work there too!
Questions:
1. Where did you go on your last vacation? OHIO!! We went on a roadtrip to see all our family in many Ohio cities!
2. What’s your favorite Fall/Winter holiday? My favorite holiday is Thanksgiving! I love the smell of all the food, playing Blurt with the family, cards, ping-pong matches and watching a movie on dvd together before everyone leaves or falls asleep from too much food consumption;0
3. What was your first job? I worked one day as a 14yo at the Islay Dairy store – was suppose to be a waitress and ended up washing dishes in the backroom sink for 5 hours! I quit that night:(
1. cruise to the Bahamas
2. Christmas
3. babysitter
1. Where did you go on your last vacation? Barcelona with 3 of my favorite girls!
2. What’s your favorite Fall/Winter holiday? does oktober fest count?
3. What was your first job? I’m not quite sure.. i think my first job was one summer, when I did admin work for an elementary school, then worked for a golf course.
I don’t like bread. I like pitas and tortillas but not much bread. But I love going to get specialty loaves. I have to avoid it to often though because they taste like a treat and I’m more likely to eat a bunch.
Questions:
1. Where did you go on your last vacation? We went on a trip to a bunch of weddings with some DC and home time thrown in during June. Every other trip has something work related.
2. What’s your favorite Fall/Winter holiday? I love Christmas day. For us it is the end of a very busy holiday season. We just like to sleep in, watch some old Christmas movies, eat dinner and go to a movie in the theatre for our present. Its our new tradition.
3. What was your first job?
1. Lake Tahoe – just for a weekend for my birthday. I am in need of a full week (at least) vacation.
2. Thanksgiving. It is all about fall which is my favorite season and is a more relaxed holiday than XMAS. Football, friends and family!
3. Babysitting was my first job but my first “real” job was a salad maker at a local cafe. It was fun!
1. Just got back from a vacation where we drove up the California coast from San Diego to San Francisco. It was amazing!
2. I love Thanksgiving. It always ends up being a weekend filled with quality family time and lots of good food! it doesn’t get any better.
3. For my first job I was a “Sandwich artist” at Subway.
1. Kentucky (our lake house)
2. Def. Christmas! It’s my birthday too:)
2. I worked at TCBY and ate loads of free frozen yogurt!
That bread looks fantastic! I love pieces of cranberry throughout bread like that.
Chicago. My Mom lives there so visiting her is always a great excuse for a vacation.
I love Christmas. It’s always such a cozy day with my family.
My first job was at a video store. I thought it would be a fun job but thanks to a psycho boss it wasn’t that great.
1) “Mother/Daughters(I’m one of the daughters!) Trip” to Bedford,Ia. Stayed in The Clendening Cottage which is adorable! 2)Halloween! 3) waitress at Mr. Steak in Des Moines, IA. I was 14 years old, almost 15.
There’s a Great Harvest near me and I’m always tempted to stop in. I guess it’s time!
Glad to hear you’re feeling better!
Glad you are feeling better!
1- Ireland. Stopped there after my 6 weeks studying in England over the summer.
2- Christmas! I love having my whole family around. Not a fan of decorating, but I love seeing them up. I’m a Christmas music junky too (listening right now because our weather has gotten colder!). And of course, the yummy food!
3- Babysitting… haha. But my first REAL job was being a delivery girl for a local grill. With no A/C in my car. In the boiling summer. Yeah, I had fun!
Wow the rice pudding looks good! As does the bread, of course
1. Where did you go on your last vacation? Oh wow, last real vacation was to London/Paris in ’07. I’m in need of another one so my sister and I are going to Dallas in January!
2. What’s your favorite Fall/Winter holiday? Halloween!
3. What was your first job? First job ever was working at a bakery…I was going into high school and wanted my own money. It sucked!! I hated it with a passion…all day I dipped strawberries in chocolate and sliced them up for cakes. I dreaded going there.
1. Glacier National Park in Montana. Highly recommended.
2. Christmas
3. First paid job was in the band office at my school. I think I made a whopping $2.50/hr.
Hi Kristin; I love Great Harvest. We had one close to us when we lived in the city, but now it’s like an hour away. Boo! :\ And those samples are amazing aren’t they? I love their cookies AND their breads!!
Well we went to California to see my parents in 05.
Probably Thanksgiving; it’s very heartwarming and there’s lots of good food!
I worked with my dad in a knife store. We sold everything from kitchen knives to big, dangerous swords! I made a whopping $5 per hour! (That was back in the 90s when the minimum wage was like $4 lol)
Have a great day!
i am LOVING that brown rice pudding. dee-lish! and freshly baked bread is pretty heavenly too
last vacation? cabin weekend in WI. last real vacay? NYC last november.
CHRISTMAS! mostly because its 4 days after my birthday
my first job? i dressed up like a yellow chiquita banana and handed out inflatable bananas in a grocery store as part of its grand opening. i don’t lie.
I want some Great Harvest bread too! Too bad I can’t find any around here..
1. This would technically be Bonnaroo in June in Manchester, TN. The year before, we went to Charlottesville, VA.
2. I love Christmas, no matter what anyone says. I just love the mood and the feeling and the way everyone loves each other so much and expresses it through meaningful gifts and hugs
3. Ice cream girl at a place called “The Buckhorn.” I’m from Western PA, and the owner was a huge hunter…enough said
I love great harvest! it is the best!! we used to go there in high school and they would give us a slice of bread for free, it go so popular that they had to start charging. People would go get a big slice of bread for lunch and then never buy anything! ha ha
That bread looks great! We don’t have Great Harvest where I live but we have something called Wildflower Bread Co. They make a Red, White and Blue bread in July that has cranberries and blueberries in it. It’s SO good.
1. Last vacation was in Southern California.
2. My favorite holiday is Christmas! It doesn’t get any better than Christmas!
3. My first real job was at Target. It was a fun place to work and the discount was great.
Ok, I am totally doing a little dance in my cube, because that breakfast looks a-mazing! I need to try that recipe ASAP!
And I am the bread QUEEN, I could live off of bread alone. And your loaf looks fab.
1. Washington D.C.
2. I would have to say Christmas. Mostly because it is the holiday that I am for sure with my mom and brother.
3. I was a ‘tanning consultant’ at a tanning salon, lol.
I love pomegranate!
1. Kansas City…but my last “cool” vacation was Vegas last year
2. Christmas! I love the holidays minus the snow.
3. I was a grocery store sacker, too! I quit because they wouldn’t let me take Homecoming off. Oh well
1. Virginia Beach
2. Christmas – love the holidays!
3. Market Researcher (really just a phone monkey)
That bread looks awesome
last Vacation.. L.A.. but it was more so for work.
favorite vacay.. Dominican Republic, 2007 with the fam. beautiful.
Dream vacay.. Thailand. (not a question.. i know
)
first job.. gas station. whaaa. and house cleaner.
1. Where did you go on your last vacation? – - – Colorado & Utah, in April 2009 to visit family…….great trip, want to go back again next year hopefully!
2. What’s your favorite Fall/Winter holiday? – - – I love the FALL and all the holidays in it, October is my favorite month but I love Christmas! =)
3. What was your first job? – - – I worked at a Drug Store as a stocker and cashier.
Yum that breakfast looks soooo good! And the bread sounds amazing. I wish there was a Great Harvest near me.
1. The Bahamas was the last real vaca, but I went to Hawaii for my bro’s wedding after that. Loved them both!
2. New Year’s!
3. Sno cone maker at my friend’s sno cone stand
1. Where did you go on your last vacation?
We went to a wedding in Canton, OH and then made a 2 day stop in Cincinatti.
2. What’s your favorite Fall/Winter holiday? Fall-Thanksgiving Winter-XMAS Pretty normal answers
3. What was your first job?
My dad owns a landscaping business as a side job from being a fireman. I started cutting grass when I was 13.
Great Harvest is Awesome! I went there earlier this week and bought myself a loaf of honey wheat. It’s so dense, thick and yummy!
Someday, for a treat, you must get apple cinnamon crunch. It is really more of a dessert bread w/ brown sugar topping and apples and cinnamon inside, but it is SOOOO worth it.
1. Where did you go on your last vacation?
I went to visit my Mom who moved to Texas. We had so much fun together that we extended my stay, I got to spend 10 days with my favorite lady!
2. What’s your favorite Fall/Winter holiday?
Thanksgiving is really big in my family, I look forward to it every year.
3. What was your first job?
I worked the counter at a frozen yogurt shop called ‘I <3 Yogurt.' I started a week before I turned 16 and stayed almost a year before it closed down.
i always look forward to 3 question thursday!
1-California last March for my spring break with my friend Caitlyn! I miss it!
2-i think it would have to be christmas. my family has this tradition, that we only have shrimp cocktail once a year, and christmas day is when we get to have it, and every year i am ITCHING to get my hands on some!
3-my first job was a sales girl at a womens shoe store! i miss that job!
Bread-head! I’m laughing by myself in a hotel in Merced, CA because I’ve recently adopted insomnia.
[...] was pretty good – nay, great! Aside from my brush with a little bug on Wednesday, I feasted on fresh bread, reflected on my goals, and even saw a dope [...]
I thought Great Harvest Bread was only in Ann Arbor! lol, I love that place
Chocolade goodness, niam niam like it very much