Morning!
Someone forgot to tell central Iowa that it’s not nice to tease. After yesterday’s cozy, lounge-on-the-couch-and-watch-football weather, we’re supposed to be back up in the mid-80s today. Sheesh! I wish the weather would make up its mind already so I can put away my summer clothes and make room for fluffy sweaters and comfy hoodies. Have you switched your wardrobe over yet?
This morning I whipped up a quick & delightful Greek Yogurt, Fruit & Cereal Bowl for breakfast!
In the mix:
- 1 Pineapple Chobani Greek Yogurt
- 1 chopped nectarine
- handful of Kashi GoLean Crunch! cereal
Look at that thick yogurt – it’s like icing! Icing that’s ok to eat by the spoonful, that is. 
I always think Raspberry Chobani is my favorite flavor, but I think pineapple maaaay have it beat.
I’m still experimenting with morning photo shoots in the dark. Last week it was under the bright stove lights, this week it’s with a quick shutter under the warm-toned kitchen light. More experimentation to ensue.
I packed a HUGE Kitchen Sink Salad for lunch!
UGH, I haven’t had one of these babies in a GRIP! I made a couple for the week yesterday afternoon, and started by filling up my tupperware containers with lettuce & spinach…
then attacking them with a pizza cutter. You can fit so many more greens in when you chop it all up, plus it’s so much easier to eat when the lettuce isn’t smacking you in the face.
In the mix:
- Mixed greens
- Spinach
- Carrot chips
- Cucumber
- Tomato
- Pepperoni!
I loooove, love, love putting uncooked pepperoni (I actually hate hot pepperoni, like on pizza) in both lettuce AND pasta salads.
It adds a ton of flavor, because of all the spices that are in the ‘roni, and you don’t need to add a ton either. What are your favorite unusual salad toppers?
To be polished off with a HONEYCRISP APPLE.
They’re back, people!! I actually grabbed one to crunch on on my way up to Chicago last Friday, and grabbed one for the way back too, and it was like being reunited with a long lost friend. They are SO amazingly sweet and snappy!
I always think my Pink Lady Apples are uber-crunchy, but they can’t hold a candle to the ‘Crisp! 
Project Food Blog
In other news, thank you, thank you, thank you for your kind words of encouragement regarding Project Food Blog! It’s a long shot but, as with most things in life, you never know unless you try!
At any rate, voting for the first challenge (defining myself as a food blogger) is open NOW! All you have to do is click here then click on the red heart. You may be asked to log-in or join (which takes mere moments) but that’s it!
I would be eternally grateful, if you feel strongly, for your vote!
Well, I’m off to start my day – happy Monday to you!
~~~~~
After you’ve cast your vote for project food blog – cast your vote for your favorite apple variety!
a. Honey Crisp
b. Jazz
c. Pink Lady
d. Other – I’ll tell you below.
Honeycrisp by FAR! I love them so much.
i just got my first honeycrisp apple of the season at whole foods on saturday. it was honestly the best apple i have had in MONTHS! they are by far my favorite. good luck on foodbuzz! i’m entered too!
I just had my first honeycrisp of the season yesterday. It was pure heaven. Honeycrisp for sure!
I voted for you!
Other- Grannie Smith from the orchard down the road from my house(:
I voted!
And now, I vote Honey Crisp all the way! Just got my first last week too, and then my grocery store had them on sale for $1.99/ lb! I totally stocked up! Love ‘em.
Hands down, Honey Crisp for eating. (Granny Smith for baking.) If you ever go to England, be sure to try their king of all apples, the “Cox’s Orange Pippin.” http://www.orangepippin.com/apples/coxs-orange-pippin
I haven’t made myself a salad in weeks… may need to have one for lunch today, but they always look so much better when someone else puts them together! My favorite apple is the Honeycrisp. No other apple compares, although I do like a good fuji, pink lady or granny smith if the honeycrisp aren’t around.
Honey Crisp and the new Sweet Tango!
Zestar apples are the best. They are cheaper then Honey Crisps & an early apple. Honey Crisps have to be a close 2nd.
Honey Crisp!
I have to try using a pizza cutter for salads. Last week, when my son was in the hospital, I ate at Au Bon Pain every day. They have a restuarant in the hospital. I had a spinach or mixed greens salad every day-toppers were feta cheese, mandarin organes, walnuts or almonds, dried cranberries but my favorite topper is to add these whole wheat pita chips crushed over the top. Mmmm!
Off to drink my green smoothie now!
I voted! Good luck! And you should know, you’re already famous among my circle of friends. We all love your blog!!
Honey Crisp or Pink Lady. Ooohh and check out Kimmel Orchards in NE City… I went there on my way home Saturday after the tragic ISU loss in Kansas City. Lots of yummy Honey Crisps! And wine! I had waaay to much wine, especially since I had to run a 10K race on Sunday morning…
LOVE love love the pepperoni on my salads. Glad to see someone else does the same thing. Question for you though – do you have any salad dressing when you have salads like that? Seems like I always need a little extra “pow!” in my salads.
And no – I haven’t switched over my wardrobe yet. This is my LEAST favorite time of year. Right inbetween the end of summer and start of fall where each day is a new extreme.
Cortland apples!!! But I don’t really discriminate. I just dislike Granny’s, that’s the only one.
I’m pretty sure I spent $7 on honeycrisp apples yesterday. Whoops! But like you, I was just too excited when I saw them back at the store.
Other – I’m into Fuji’s!
My favorite apples are the new SweeTango! Hy-Vee has them on Hot Deals this week for a mere $2.88/lb. Boo-yow! They are a cross between Honey Crisp and Zestar. SweeTango came out last year and were developed by the U of M (who also created the Honey Crisp in 1991 and Zestar in 2004). They are crisp, sweet and JUICY!
By the way, I love that you showed us snapshots of your enitre gorcery purchase yesterday! Please keep doing that! You gave me some great ideas of products to try, AND you foreshadowed the ingredients your are using in the meals to come this week!
Do you budget $50/week every week to spend on groceries for you and your hubby?
There is a new apple called Sweet Tango and it maybe be beating the honeycrisp for me! It’s currently on sale at the WDM HyVee stores.
I finally tried a Honey Crisp apple a few weeks ago, and honestly? I wasn’t blown away. Don’t get me wrong; it was tasty, and had a faint pear-like flavor. But it’s not going to replace the Fuji for the top spot in my heart. Given the price tag on the Honey Crisp, I don’t think that’s a bad thing.
But my favorite apple is really just about anything fresh from the orchard. Right now we’ve got five half-pecks of Johnathans that we picked last weekend. I’ve been eating them with hot cereal and as part of a faux Waldorf salad with creamed cottage cheese, celery, walnuts, and raisins. But our plan is to turn most of them into applesauce and apple butter. The applesauce, in turn, will be used mostly as part of my homemade granola or in baked goods. Apple butter will glaze ham and pork chops, used to sweeten hot cereal, or just eaten on toast with butter or peanut butter!
Oh yum! You should start a food blog with all your great apple ideas!
ummm it’s a toss up between pink lady & granny smith! both are delicious in their own way.
Honeycrisp for sure! I am so jealous of your weather! I laughed when you said it’s supposed to be in the 80′s. I would be so HAPPY if it were in the 80′s down here! I live in the south, and today’s forcast is a humid 99!!! Yikes, summer’s not over here folks!
D – Fuji or Gala – I love their sweet flavor and crispy, but not too ‘hard’ consistency.
just voted
good luck!
my favorite apple is BY FAR a pinklady
Honeycrisp. Those things are amazing. My second favorite isn’t on your list–the Braeburn! Yum. I need to go crunch apples now.
My vote is D-Fuji! Keep trying others and like them all but my favorite always goes back to Fuji!
I love the pepperoni on salads too! Adds the salty flavor and just a little fills me up. Also, I was raised on antipasto salads so even add some olives, peppers to the mix if I have them.
ps….I voted!
Pink Ladies! Love, love, love them!! I love them by themselves, love them on sandwiches, love them in oatmeal…mmmm!!!
Don’t know if you know this, but you can get little diced pepperoni bits at the grocery store (in the vicinity of the lunch meats, I believe). Thought those might be a little easier to eat on your salads.
d. I’m from MN so I gotta say the SweeTango!!
Honey crisp apples followed closely by Pink Lady! I’m so excited to head to Center Grove Orchard in Cambridge. We buy a season pass every year; my daughter has so much fun at the Farmyard and nothing beats picking your own apples! Their homemade fudge may be a top buy, too
I cannot wait to switch over our wardrobe for the fall/winter. I loved wearing jeans and my fuzzy sweater yesterday!
Granny Smith apples for me! I LOVE them with a nice coating of peanut butter – mmmm!
Autumn may never get to Richmond. We’ve got temps of 91 scheduled for the entire week. Ugh.
Honeycrisp all the way!!! But fresh picked apples of any variety are almost always a hit!!!
Voted! Hope you win. And it’s definitely C for me. Pink ladies have it going on. They not only have an adorable name, but they also taste delicious!
I love honey crisp apples, especially when they are from the local orchard!
Oh, Pineapple is definitely my favorite! It’s just so yummy.
Voted love!
It’s definitely a toss-up between Pink Lady and Honeycrisp, but I’d have to say Honeycrisps are my absolute favorite! And they’re super special ’cause they’re only around for a little bit. I have NEVER heard of a Jazz apple!!
they’re like pink ladies but a little sweeter and less crisp(it’s as if they’re easier for eating out of hand, and might not hold up in a pie the way a pink lady would). they’re pretty good.
100% Honey Crisp!!!!
I had my first honeycrisp of the season last night! They are my favorite by far
I voted for you. I think you’re one of the awesomest (hehe!) and most real bloggers out there!
Pink lady!! You cut your salad right in the container? That would save me SO much time chopping!
Honeycrisp !!
Voted!!
I love pepperoni in salads!
My fave apple is the MacIntosh…perfect blend of tart and sweet, with an airy crunchiness…yuuuuum
Why do Honeycrisps have to be so expensive?! I just ate my first one of the season and throughout every delicious bite, tried to decide if it was worth $2….
I’m going to have to go with Pink Lady, but Honeycrisp is a close second.
OTHER! JONAGOLD apples rock my WORLD.
Pink Lady! Sooooo sweet and delicious!
I like Gala apples. They are a nice and crisp eating apple – less sweet than the honeycrisps.
I really like your blog – your menus are completely do-able and easy to incorporate into my life! I adore breakfast, and your oatmeal bowls with chiobani have changed up the too typical bkfsts I usually grab. Thanks and good luck with the project food blog contest.
Pink lady!!
I am soooooo excited for the honeycrisp to be back……I’ve so missed them. They are by far, my favorite!
gala…jersey’s best apple(when i was nine my family visited an orchard for the first time and i hid in a tree because i liked the galas so much and i didnt want to leave). jazz are pretty killer too. <3
I’ve got some pink ladies in the fridge…yum.