Yesterday Was An Adventure in Shopping and in the Kitchen

Yesterday's swim was marvelous, I lost track of time and swam for a full 45 minutes, about ten minutes more than usual. It was just such fun. I just lost myself in my audio book and moved in the water while the rain clouds thinned and the sun rose above the horizon. At this time of the year it's fairly dark when we start swimming, but the sun rises while we're in the water, and sunrise is my favorite time of the day - so all is totally wonderful. 

It was lovely to just swim - not worry about the time. I ran 
a bit over my usual, but that was fine. If I had people 
waiting for my lane, I would have left a bit earlier, but 
that wasn't a problem. 

I decided to make a meat loaf for my dinners, and it called for 1-1/2 pounds of ground meat. I had a pound of ground beef in the freezer, but decided to hop back to the store to get the amount I needed instead of defrosting what I had. There, I found a lovely pack of 1/2 pound each of ground beef, pork and veal. Hard to resist, so I grabbed that, knowing it would be tasty. 

I love Sooay's bread and bagels. I try to 
alternate them - a loaf of bread, followed by 
a pack of bagels, and back to bread again. 
I always toast them - grain-free breads aren't 
very tasty if not toasted. But their flavor 
profile is the best of the many brands 
I've tried. 

While at the store, I took a bit of time to talk to the Manager about some food items that I adore, that I wish they would carry. Whole Foods is clearing out my brand of bread and bagels, much to my disappointment. I've picked up about eight packages of bagels and my freezer is stocked, because although I've tried their other grain-free options, they all have tasted like sawdust to me. My local grocer, on the other hand, has been expanding its' specialty foods, so I talked to them about my bread and bagels, and also my Almond Flour tortillas - still available at Whole Foods, but it's silly to take a trip down there for a single product. 

I don't eat iced cream any more (no dairy), but 
I do eat chocolate and vanilla "Nada Moo" which 
uses agave syrup for their sweetener. It's very 
tasty and fits within WildFit parameters. 

My grocery store has been super good about expanding their unique selection. They've brought it a bunch of non-grain items throughout the store. They carry my "Nada Moo" iced dessert product which I adore, they also carry my Pam brand gluten-free brownie mix. They also carry Pam's bread mix, but I would need a mixer with a bread hook to deal with those, and my mixer is 50+ years old and doesn't have any fancy attachments. I would love a new mixer, but DH won't hear of it. *sigh*

I also like Pamela's Brownie Mix. When 
I can't get this brand, I use Bob's which is 
also good, but when Whole Foods discontinued 
carrying Pamela's products, my local grocery 
store added them. No problem! 

I returned home, made and baked my meat loaf, and got six portions from it. Absolutely perfect. I had one portion for dinner last night and yes - very tasty. One of the fun things I did for this was make my own Worcestershire sauce. That was a lot of fun - lots of ingredients all mixed up together, then mixed thoroughly and put into a small container in my refrigerator. I needed some of this for the meat loaf, so it made a simple recipe an adventure in the kitchen. I'm pretty happy with the flavor profile of my substitute sauce, so all things considered, it was a successful day in the kitchen. 

On that note, it's time to wrap this up. I hope all of you have a wonderful weekend. I'll be watching the first game of the Stanley Cup tonight, of course. We'll probably watch either an "Inspector Lewis" or a "Vera" tomorrow after spending the day in the garden. So, it'll be a predicable but hopefully lovely two days. I hope yours is equally good, and I'll be back on Monday. Slava Ukraini.