This is what goes into my food basket for what was to be a stay-at-home day designated for writing when, upon a chance outing, I find along my route, a roadside produce truck with fabulous local-grown fruit and vegetables for sale.  A rare site since summers end.  These pumpkin-like local squash, tomatoes; peppers, greens, melons, berries, and avocados, are foods with gusto enough to make an interesting turn-around to having no plans at all for food for the day.

I have been talking about food for a living for over 20 years and cooking elaborate meals around it even longer, so there’s no question of preparation-heavy meals considered today.  That’s work, not play.  Today, it seems, I have decided to forego catch-as-catch can food getting from the assorted ingredients in my pantry, and to skip the heavy preparation!  I vote for a full day of fresh, uncomplicated foods.  Let Mother Nature do the work!

‘People who eat breakfast have 25 percent less chance of obesity’

For a long time, I have heard this diet mantra and I buy it!   Therefore, before I start my journey, morning starts with a bowl of toasted organic quinoa, cooked like oatmeal, with fresh salsa stirred in and topped with sliced cherry tomatoes and scrambled egg whites.  On the side are fresh strawberries and the coffee will be ready it just a minute.  To cut down on caffeine, I am trying out the substitution for a full cup of coffee with 2/3 cup filled with unsweetened Almond Breeze almond milk and the remaining space left in the cup topped to the brim with my strongest brew.  I am on a quest, trying out the feasibility of ingredients for countering the high stress caffeine.  As a result, one other ‘better beverage than coffee’ is sipped, potassium-rich Trader Joe’s (TJs) Essential Greens juice, as I check the surf cam to see if the tide is low enough for a beach walk this morning.  The tide is low.  Off for a long walk at the beach, so much for staying at home today!

The Food Journey

Plenty of good early morning time is spent walking at the beach. On the route home, luck is with me as I come upon the aforementioned produce truck stand with its wonderful fruit and vegetables. I fill my market basket with a baker’s dozen ears of fresh non genetically modified-organisms (non-GMO) corn, avocados, Valencia oranges (not everyone in my household is low-glycemic), local melons (same), butternut and pumpkin-like squash, cilantro, jalapeno peppers, and non-spray greens and berries.  My food journey is completed at Trader Joes; with run in for 12 items or less it is an assembly of what’s missing.

With a figuratively filled cart, I am set to return home to continue my work at home day.  There is time for writing while drinking the coffee-topped almond milk. There is down time for reading and spending time outside.  It is wonderful to enjoy this free time today and to know meals bountiful with Mother Nature’s flavor fresh food supply are in the offing.

Snacks

Snacks for the daytime:  the morning snack is provided at the fruit stand and constitutes sliced jalapeno peppers with hefty samples from the local melon and tiny, sweet Valencia oranges.   Afternoon snacks are (TJs) Healthy 8 Chopped Veggie Mix (broccoli, red cabbage, green cabbage, jicama, green bell pepper, radish, celery, and carrots) and part of a can of TJs Sockeye Salmon (I’m a fish fan).

Lunch

When lunch comes along, salad with fish sounds good.  I prepare a salad with the fresh ingredients purchased this morning.  This is a salad of greens with fresh spinach, roasted fresh corn kernels, tomatoes, abundant slices of avocado, and smoked salmon; topped with red wine vinegar.

Dinner

The rest of the day is spent with outdoor activities, and when dinnertime arrives, something quick to fix is the objective.  I go with a spinach, cilantro and mushroom omelet; a salad with crisp yellow and orange peppers, cucumbers, red onion, and chopped tomatoes; and have as a side dish, roasted butternut squash with fresh oregano.  Dessert is crunchy homemade almond oats-topped warmed peaches and red berries served with Greek Yogurt.  Repetition abounds in today’s fare, and nothing requires a recipe; but it is so delicious.  Mother Nature certainly did her share of the work to provide abundant flavor today!

Some Items In My Cart

From the road-side vegetable truck:

peppers – jalapenos; yellow and orange bell peppers

Valencia oranges – local, very small, very sweet

 local melon

 cilantro

fresh corn in the husk (non-GMO)

local winter squash – butternut and others, pumpkin style

assorted non-spray greens and berries

From Trader Joes:

Healthy 8 Veggie Mix  (broccoli, red cabbage, green cabbage, jicama, green bell pepper, radish, celery, and carrots) is a great snack, it goes well in grain pilafs and sits neatly next to the computer keyboard without creating sticky fingers.

Essential Greens juice, juice made without any fruit

Portabella Mushrooms

Organic Strawberries, to me, these organics taste the best of all the strawberries at Trader Joes

Quinoa – (Keen-wah).  This grain has a history dating to the ancient Incans

Unsweetened Almond Breeze brand almond milk

It was an easy day, full of delicious, low effort meals, with fruit and vegetables for plenty of future meals in the refrigerator.

Please note the preceding information is not intended as nutritional advice.  Nor, can I guarantee the food items mentioned for this one day will be identical on any other day.