Five Foods To Consider For Friday

YAY! It's finally Friday. After eating healthy all week (yeah, right), it's time to pig out on my favorite foods all weekend! Hoorah! :) Here are five things I'm looking forward to enjoying during my two days of … more working. 

Yeah. Unfortunately, I have to work this weekend. Oh well. Even more of a reason to enjoy my favorite foods! #yolo

1. Brookside Crunchy Clusters (buy)

Crowdtap sent me a sample of these delicious, fruity, crunchy chocolates and I can't get enough. They are perfect snacking size and oh-so-good! Pair it with some organic fat-free non-homogenized milk, and I am in heaven!

(note: I drink fat free milk, because I don't like the excess fat that floats to the top. YUCK! It's not because I'm worried about having excess "fat" in my diet. Oh - and non-homogenized milk just tastes better. Trust me on this.)

image from Birch

2. Olive Oil + Balsamic Vinegar

These are the best when they come straight from Italy, but they aren't necessarily terrible when bought from a fancy Olive Oil and Balsamic Vinegar store. Plus, you get to try it there as well!

I'm not sure how I love this combination best. It goes great on salads, tastes delicious when you dip bread into it, and I'm ALWAYS a fan of caprese salad and bruschetta! Yum!

3. Baked Brie (buy) + Pink Lady Apples Or Pretzel Crisps (buy)

My first real experience with this concoction was over Christmas break. We got a huge brie for $10 and we took it to multiple get-togethers before it was all gone. Pretzel chips give it a bit of an extra salty flavor while pink lady and green apples add a bit of sweet.

Other options include serving fondue instead of brie OR you could go the healthier route serving delicious, roasted pine nut hummus with your pretzels and apples. All are delicious and addicting. :)

(I'm also a huge fan of President camembert which I haven't been able to find since my flight last year on AirFrance. Anyone know where to get it stateside? This seems a bit expensive.)

4. Jeni's Ice Cream

I have tried nearly every kind of ice cream available in the states, and I can say with utmost certainty that homemade Jeni's ice cream (or buying it online or at the Atlanta stores) is the best ice cream I have ever had, up to this point that is.

• Blue Bell is too sweet.
• Edy's is good, but it contains high fructose corn syrup.
• Mayfield is eh.
• Turkey Hill is good AND it only contains approx. 5 ingredients on the package. (I'm not looking at the package right now, but the number is low.)

Of course there are other options as well. Paolo's Gelato, if you live in Atlanta (or Charleston), is delicious. I also got to try Kroger's raspberry sorbet recently which is very good. (Actually come to think of it, it's a "frozen dessert" rather than sorbet, so you might want to stay away from it. Clearly more research is needed in the field of frozen deliciousness.)

But back to Jeni's. It's thick, it's creamy, and most of all … it's dreamy. I've only had the chocolate, vanilla, and a caramel, but I look forward to trying some of the many other flavors found in her cookbook. :)

5. Deerpark Raspberry Lime Sparkling Water

I'm particular when it comes to sparkling water. Really, any water. I'm comfortable with tap water from where I live and that's about it. If I have the choice I always go for Aquafina, a pepsi product, even though I pretty much hate all of the other pepsi products in existence. When it comes to sparkling water, I'm just as particular. We usually make sparkling water at home. (At less than 50¢ a cartridge for a liter of sparkling water, it's a pretty cheap beverage to make AND it encourages me to drink more water!) San Pellegrino and Perrier are ok when we are on the run. Recently Justin introduced me to Polar Springs which was pretty good … not too carbonated and the water was good.  But, one of my current favorites is Deerpark Raspberry Lime Sparkling Water. There is no added sugar listed on the label, it contains "natural flavors" (whatever that means), and at 0 calories a pop, I drink them like they are a dessert! Yum! (note: Deerpark regular bottled water is also on my bad side, so I recommend giving it a try even if you are finicky about water like I am.)

Have you tried any delicious foods recently? Do you have strong opinions on water, ice cream, or cheese? Share with me! I'd love to hear about new and exciting foods I may not have tried yet!

* 80% of these foods I tried without being offered free samples; however, for the 20% I was offered a free trial for, I can assure you that all opinions are my own. I was not asked or coerced into writing this blog post, and I will only be paid if you click on my links to buy the products I highly recommend.