Call me crazy but I love grocery shopping! If I’m driving down the road and I see a sign for a grocery store, you can bet I’m going in.
Browsing the aisles, looking at all the products and wondering if there are any new ones I want to try feels oddly therapeutic to me. Crazy, right?
I think my fascination with grocery shopping started almost 20 years ago when I eliminated gluten and dairy from my diet. Giving up my two favorite food groups was really hard and I found myself endlessly searching the grocery store aisles, hoping to find something that could replace them.
Back then there was not a lot to choose from but thankfully that has changed. There are so many great products on the market today (and I’ve probably tried most of them) so I thought it would be fun to share the ones I’m loving right now.
Let’s start with my new favorite beverage. Living in the desert, staying hydrated is always at the top of my “to do” list. In fact, my water bottles have become like my reading glasses – there’s one in every room!
As much as I love drinking water, sometimes plain old water gets a little boring. I’ve tried lots of different flavored waters but either they don’t taste that great or they’re loaded with sugar.
Finally, my search ended when I spotted a bottle of Goldthread Plant Based Tonics at Natural Grocers. One sip and I was doing a happy dance!
These tonics are made with filtered water along with a variety of organic herbs and spices making them a great way to hydrate as well as nourish your body. And with flavors like Honey Rose, Turmeric Radiance, Elderberry Defense and Berry Power, staying hydrated never tasted so good!
These tonics definitely taste great on their own but they’re even better with a splash of sparkling water….sooooo refreshing!
Moving on, my next great find is O’dang Hummus Dressing. That’s right, a dressing that’s made from chickpeas….I love it!
Typically, store bought dressings are notorious for containing lots of sugar but not this one. There is less than 1 gram of sugar, 1.5 grams of fat and only 25 calories in 2 tablespoons.
I tried the Roasted Red Pepper flavor which has a combination of garlic, paprika, cumin, black pepper, tahini, extra virgin olive oil, chickpeas and red peppers.
Of course this is a wonderful dressing for salads, but I’ve also used it as a sauce for stir fry’s, veggie burgers and pasta dishes. It even makes a great dip for chips! Honestly, there’s no end to the possibilities of what you can do with this dressing!
In general, I eat a mostly plant based diet so I like to find different ways to add plant proteins to my meals. When I spotted Pumfu, I was intrigued.
Initially it was the name that got my attention but I quickly learned that it’s called pumfu because it looks like tofu but it’s made with organic pumpkin seeds. Get it….pum for pumpkin and fu for tofu 😉
There’s only 2 ingredients in Pumfu – organic pumpkin seeds and filtered water….that’s it! Not only is pumfu incredibly versatile but it has a whopping 17 grams of protein in a 4 oz. serving. Trust me….you definitely want to give this one a try!
As I mentioned earlier, I eat a gluten free diet and one of the things I love as a bread replacement is tortillas. I’ve tried lots of tortillas and Siete has been my favorite brand so far but recently I tried the untortilla. Without a doubt the “untortilla” has now taken over the #1 spot. They’re that good!
These tortillas are a combination of almond flour, coconut flour and pumpkin seed protein along with some chia seed and flax seed making them nutritious and delicious!
What I really love about these tortillas is the fact that they are so pliable. No need to steam these babies….just roll them up with your favorite fillings and you are good to go.
Last weekend I made fajitas with some pumfu and lots of sauteed onions and peppers. I loaded the fajitas into an untortilla, drizzled some hummus dressing on it and topped it with sliced avocado…..delicious!
Now my last grocery store find is not edible. It’s actually a pack of reusable produce bags I found a couple days ago at Natural Grocers. If you’re wondering why I love these produce bags, look closely and you’ll see that each bag has an adorable lotus flower on it.
I’m a sucker for anything with lotus flowers so these beauties went into my cart asap!
The other thing I love about these produce bags is that they come in a pack of 3 and each one is a different size – small, medium and large. It doesn’t get much better than that!
Well, my friend, that’s all I have for you today. But don’t worry, you can be sure I’ll continue to find many more grocery store gems and when I do, you’ll be the first to know!
Have fun shopping!
