Saturday: Take me out to the ball game!

...Just don't buy me any Cracker Jacks! I had such a lovely Saturday. And yes, I went to a baseball game today but I'll come back to the details in a bit.

I woke up early but I got a slow start, wallowing in bed for a few hours to watch a Netflix DVD and research recipes for this weekend's cooking plan. Too lazy to get in the kitchen to make a smoothie right away as I would most weekends, instead I just grabbed an apple.

Around noon I finally got going and headed straight for the blender to make a smoothie. I've had a taste for chocolate lately so earlier in the week I defrosted some frozen pineapple chunks and sprinkled cocoa powder on them for an after dinner dessert. Unfortunately that didn't quite do the trick so I decided to make the ETL chocolate smoothie with spinach, blueberries, cocoa powder and ground flaxeed. It was A-MAZING! Just the yummy chocolate flavor I was looking for. I could have gulped down all 30 ounces but I settled for half that.

I packed my chocolate smoothie in a reusable cup and was on my way to Trader Joe's and Whole Foods. I buy most of my groceries at these two place but I've been meaning to start exploring my produce options at one of the local farmers markets. Since I was recently transplanted back to the East Coast, I'm finding that most of the markets here won't start up until next month. Others were closed for the day by the time I got moving. I'll have to give it another shot next weekend.

My friend Nicholas (in Arizona) was apparently much more successful. He shared this picture with me of the staples he grabbed from the market today:

Such a beautiful medley of vegetables, right?! Tomatoes, carrots and what appears to be red leaf lettuce. I think I even see some fresh ginger. Oh how I loooove ginger! (Tastes great and helps with digestion.) Thank you to Nicholas for sharing! This was a great reminder of how important it is to buy from my local farmers. I will definitely make sure I'm on track to shop the markets next weekend.

Okay, back to baseball. I was super excited to get a last minute offer to see the Nationals play the Giants today. I love going to baseball games on a warm sunny day. Friends, sun rays and a cold beer. What more could I ask for?! Well, this time I was going to have to ask for a lot more. No beer for me today, no nachos and certainly no hot dogs. I was going to need to think creative. I got the invitation by phone while at Trader Joe's. It was just an hour before the game so I didn't have time to get a monster salad in my belly beforehand. I was going to have to wing it by either not eating at all or searching the concession stands for something remotely healthy and free of animal products...And there it was! To my surprise, Ben's Chili Bowl had a concession stand. And that concession stand was serving their vegetarian chili! So that's what I ate. A warm bowl of vegetarian chili with a ground soy meat base, tomatoes and kidney beans. Phew! I had a great lunch, good company and the Giants won! Woo hoo!

Now time to get some cruciferous green vegetables into me for dinner...