What I Ate Wednesday #6

What I Ate WednesdayLooks like I’m keeping up the regular schedule of blogging every four months about what I ate on a Wednesday.

Keep reading until the end of the post because I’ll be showing you a bit of a grocery haul and a giveaway for you guys!

daily-choresThings are pretty low key around here today. I’m going to start off by doing my daily chores, and maybe finish the rest of the chores for the week. I have this thing stuck to my fridge, so I can keep myself on a schedule with regards to upkeep on the house. Not everything is marked, but it gives me an idea of what I should do each day. Does anyone else do this sort of thing? I mean, if I don’t keep a list for myself, some parts of the house become dustier or messier than the rest.

Onto What I Ate Wednesday (except, it’s what I ate on Tuesday).

WIAW-EggBagel8:30 // A toasted everything bagel with 1 egg scrambled with fresh mushrooms and tomatoes topped with spinach, cheese and mayo. On the side I added some fresh grapes, a banana and a glass of orange juice.

WIAW-January11:40 // Lately I have been on a hot water with lemon kick. At first I thought it would taste disgusting, but for someone who loves a lot of sugar in her cup of tea in the morning, I have to say — the hot lemon water is good enough to have more than once! Oh, and more grapes. Gotta eat them while they’re fresh man!

WIAW-snackwater3:15 // It’s midday snack time! I tend to gravitate to raw nuts, and whatever else is on hand. This time being snap peas and homemade cheese crackers that taste like goldfish crackers, so that’s what you see on the side. They’re pretty good, but a little annoying to make as my food processor is tiny.

WIAW-Stir-Fry8:00 // Ever since moving to the USA I have been on the hunt for VH Sauces, apparently it’s Canadian. I love a good sweet ‘n sour chicken stir fry, so while I was home in Newfoundland I asked my Mom for her recipe. Of course homemade tastes better, is cheaper and much healthier for you. The stir fry isn’t all that colourful, thinking back I should have added a different coloured bell pepper, and added in some broccoli. Next time.

I have a specific time that I like to grocery shop, it’s around 10-11am, after the morning commuter rush and right before lunch time. I tend to hit up a couple of my favourite grocery stores rather than doing all my shop at one. I mean, the deals are everywhere and never at the same one store. Trader Joes, Sprouts, and Smart & Final are my go-to. Mainly because they’re all in the same plaza and I feel like the larger chains (Safeway or Lucky) are more expensive. So, I did my weekly grocery shop yesterday and picked up a bunch of stuff. Most of it was from Sprouts because I was supposed to go to one of their store’s grand openings up in Daly City. But I was still ‘stuck’ in Canada with the weather when it was going on.

Jessica introduced me to Sprouts when I first moved to California in February. Since I was tagging along with her on a daily basis for over a week while she was driving me around looking for places to live, it was inevitable we’d go grocery shopping together. Sprouts is basically the place where I grab the freshest produce. At times, it can be fresher and cheaper than the bargain bin grocery store that I frequent. Cha-ching.

I was given a $25 Sprouts gift card to spend there, and here’s what I got (for $39 in total): Sprouts-haul

What I picked up at Trader Joes:Trader-Joes-Haul

Do you have a Sprouts Farmers Market near you? If so, enter to win a $25 gift card below!

 $25-Sprouts-Giveaway

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Just in time for our visitors!

Chex-headerI was invited to a Holiday Entertaining Event with Chexâ„¢ Party Mix and DIY Expert, Brit Morin. It was yesterday morning and I received the utmost royal treatment as they arranged for a limo to pick me up, and drive me both ways to MakeShop which is located in ‘The City‘ as Californian’s like to call San Francisco.

Make-Shop-San-FranciscoMakeShop is a fun little spot owned by Brit + Co., where you can make things, and buy things. There are laser printers, 3D printers, and supplies to make jewellery and other fun creative things. It’s a great spot!

First I’m going to talk about the sweet ride, then jump into the blogger event.

CadillacI have never felt so fancy.

Palm-trees-and-CadillacsI documented it all.

Selfie-in-limoMy driver told me it was a fully loaded 2015 (3 weeks old) Cadillac SUV. Sure felt fully-loaded with all the gadgets I had to play with, while getting chauffeured.

selfie-rainbowIt’s been pouring this entire week, which is what California desperately needs. So the drive up was a little foggy and wet, but I spotted a rainbow! A rare treat, in California.

Brit-and-Co-HQ

As a creative individual (I’m a Graphic Designer and I love to paint!) I had a blast hanging out with all the bloggers, making Chex Mix. Which I mean, hello — just in time for our visitors! My parents-in-law will be arriving later this afternoon, my sister-in-law the day tomorrow, and this is only the beginning of our December visitors. I’m super excited to entertain!

Decorating-tinsWe learned how to prepare easy-to-make delicious Chex™ Party Mix recipes. I know Muddy Buddies are popular, but my favourite type of mix we made was the peppermint. SO GOOD. We also decorated tins to put the Chex Mix in.

I-heart-ChexI’m not entirely sure Chex is available in Canada, so this was all new to me. Well, I love you now Chex.

Brit-and-Co-Chex-PartyIt’s starting to look a lot like Christmas!

ChexMagic

Snacks-with-Chex

Carla-and-Nancy

Chex

Christmas-place-setting

Photo-booth-and-decor

Chex-Mix

Brit-+-Co-exclusiv

Chex-SpoonCheck that out!, It’s the spiffykerms logo is laser cut into the Chex spoon. Side note do you like my miniature Ikea Christmas tree hanging out on the kitchen counter? I think it’s adorable.

Holiday-tins

Carla-and-I

Chex-Oatmeal

spiffykerms-spoon

Chex-Oatmeal-boxes

sbux-and-cadHuge thanks to Chex and Brit + Co for hosting a fun Christmas event!

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Our first American thanksgiving

Thxgiving-headerWe enjoyed our first Thanksgiving as a married couple, and our first Thanksgiving celebrated in the USA this weekend. We invited our other Canadian friends over to celebrate too, since they also recently moved to California. As Canadians, we were dyin’ for a bit of Thanksgiving grub as ours usually falls during the middle of October. We were overdue for a feast!

Thxgiving-food-prepI had the chance to order food at no cost to me, thanks to Walmart Grocery once again, so I took full advantage of that and placed my order over a week ahead a time so we would be prepared. It was delivered last Wednesday and we had our Thanksgiving planned for Black Friday. Unfortunately my order was a bit of a flop, as chicken wings arrived in replacement of two whole chickens. Walmart assured me that I should always check the box that allows substitutions which in any case they run out of food, they will give you an upgrade. However, I’m thinkin’ chicken wings are a total downgrade from whole chickens. They also didn’t include my chicken stuffing for the birds. In a panic I had to rush out before any of the stores closed early due to Thanksgiving the next day. Not something I had planned to do! I was disappointed in that, and of course had to go on a wild goose chase to find fresh not frozen, chickens. In the end, it all worked out and everything else arrived perfectly fine. Just not those dang chickens and stuffing! While my delivery did have a mishap, I’m still really pleased with the service and still recommend it to people. Especially those who live a busy lifestyle, don’t want to grocery shop on their time off or those who have newborns at home. Imagine diapers being dropped off at your door at a moments notice! Perfect, right?

Since our friends have a young child, we had our Thanksgiving meal earlier in the evening since the lil’ bud had to go to bed at an early hour. We had a really nice evening with loads of good food and wine. I made two whole chickens, mashed potatoes, baked asparagus with feta, carrots and cauliflower puff (which I still have to post a recipe on).

Over the course of a few weeks, I picked up some decorations from all over, and put together a nice spread for ourselves, and our guests. The only true decorating I did was these fancy looking but super easy to recreate napkins that I saw on Pinterest. But I picked up some flame less candles for the table which I totally forgot to turn on, and I also made a Christmas Ball wreath from a coat hanger, which is more like a triangle wreath, but hey — it at least definitely looks homemade, haha!

Now, I’ll let the photos do the rest of the talking :)
Thanksgiving-table

Snack-plate

Thanksgiving-2014

MP-and-I

napkins2

Alfie-on-shag-rug

Thanksgiving-plates

Old-fashioned-apple-pie

Alfie-snoozin

Roast-Chickens

Cutting-roast-chicken

Roasted-asparagus

Thanksgiving-feast

Thanksgiving-meal

Relaxing-on-Thanksgiving

Jenga-and-Pies

Thanksgiving-dessert

Napkins

Relaxing

What are some of your Thanksgiving traditions?

What’s your favourite part about Thanksgiving?

Favourite: Turkey, Ham, Beef or Chicken?

I’m really looking forward to continuing these traditions over the course of the years.

Are you wanting to try out Walmart’s grocery delivery service? Your first order delivery is for free – and if you want an additional 15 bucks off you can use my referral link.  I’ll get $15 for each friend who tries out their service, and YOU will save $15 too. Why not share, right?

Disclaimer: Walmart-to-go provided me with a gift card to try out their delivery service.

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