Look at my basil!

In just 9 days it’s gone from this:

to this!

I shall be enjoying pesto, caprese salads and more homemade fresh spring rolls in no time! Do you grow any of your own herbs or vegetables?

I usually grow a variety of herbs every summer, and some tomatoes too, although I didn’t plant any this year. My Mom has a great garden chock full of cucumbers, zucchini and tomatoes though, so I’ll just swipe some from her.

In other news, I have oodles of varieties of food today which I am pumped for! First up, breakfast:

Kashi Honey Almond Flax Crunch.

Ex-tremely crunchy, sweet and just plain fun to eat. Sometimes I feel like I might crack a tooth on it though…

Fat-Free Raspberry Vanilla AE Yogurt. AE is a local dairy that makes top-notch products. Their cottage cheese tastes like ice cream!

And a banana. Pretty standard…and brown!!

Fun Fact: a banana + raspberry yogurt is one of my favorite combos ever.

Lunch contains a plethora of goodies as well!

Spinach, carrot & green onion salad. I know – kind of random – but I had all the ingredients right in front of me in the fridge last night, so into the pool they went.

Special K Italian Herb & Tomato Crackers and Summertime Salsa Goat Cheese.

Normally I don’t love eating Special K branded products – they have a ton of weird ingredients in them – but I was looking for something that would be tasty with the goat cheese salsa I picked up at the Farmer’s Market this weekend, and these fit the bill!

They’ve got a great, zesty flavor and are nice little dippers for my goat cheese.

Which I mixed with some of my homemade salsa to extend the dippeage! YUM!

Rounding it all out we’ve got a Pink Lady Apple and Colby Jack Cheese Stick. I never buy cheese sticks and I’m not sure why… They’re a great, portion-controlled snack and really great with apples!

All in all, a great little day of eats!

In other news, I wanted to announce the four winners of the Subway $5 Gift Card Giveaway! Congrats to:

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Meghan M: Posted giveaway on my blog!

Corinne: my favorite turkey sandwich on honey wheat toppings include cucumbers, tomatoes, and spinach. sometimes i throw in red onions or pickles for pizzaz. just had subway on sunday for lunch…craving it again. thats usually how that goes 

Crystal: Just tweeted about your giveaway @CCJade23

Casey: I have to have tomatoes and banana peppers! The only time I actually eat banana peppers is at Subway, for some reason.

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Congrats! Email your mailing address to IowaGirlEats@hotmail.com so you can get to enjoying your sammies!

With that, it is my pleasure to say, happy hump day…already! Viva short weeks!

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How do you feel about “fake” sugar – splenda, nutrisweet, stevia, etc?

My Father-in-law is off fake sugars at the moments and says he feels great. It kind of makes me want to jump on the bandwagon and give it a try…