Picking Pumpkins, Picking Healthy Eats
Between Karen’s post yesterday and this muffin-in-a-mug recipe, we sure are obsessed with pumpkin lately. And I’m going to go ahead and continue the obsession by sharing my eats from a recent Saturday trip to the — you guessed it —pumpkin patch! Going to the pumpkin patch is seriously one of my favorite fall activities, but, alas I’m getting ahead of myself.
Breakfast! A cup of dark roast coffee and a green smoothie (kale, strawberries, blueberries, protein powder) that I was apparently very excited about.
And then we were off to Lawrence, Kansas. We were meeting some friends for our annual trip to Free State Brewing Company for lunch followed by pumpkin-picking, but head out an hour or so early to shop Mass Street and, maybe stop for a bite at Global Cafe.
Okay, definitely stop for a bite at Global Cafe. An Arepa Perico bite (or 10) to be exact. Ryan and I split this one! Pretty plain but delicious.
More shopping and walking around, and then it was time to meet everyone at Free State. I skipped the beer (damn gluten and I do not get along), but did enjoy the heck out of this Beet Nicoise Salad. With locally grown beets that are sliced, then pickled, placed atop sugar snap peas, steamed baby potatoes and mixed greens tossed with white balsamic lemon and local basil vinaigrette and garnished with shaved Vella Dry Jack cheese and sliced local radishes, it was pretty much the best salad ever. Beets!
With good eats in our bellies, it was Schaake’s Pumpkin Patch time!
There’s a fine art to finding the perfect pumpkins. And, over the years, Ryan and I have honed our pumpkin-picking skills.
Or, at least, our pumpkin-posing skills.
Not to mention that carrying these is quite the workout. Balance! Focus! Strength!
A little chilly out, we stopped for a cup of hot apple cider to share. I mean, how can you not at the pumpkin patch?!
And we left with a cute little loot of pumpkin. (I’m glad I have photographic evidence of the green one; it’s sadly now been totally eaten by bastard neighborhood squirrels who apparently have more of a need to survive the winter than appreciate our well-crafted outdoor fall home display.)
A few hours later, back at home, I noshed on a ThinkThin Crunch bar to tide me over. These are seriously so tasty and have enough protein to keep me full.
We ended up hitting a 9 p.m. showing of Gravity at a theater Karen recently reviewed and that I’ve since fallen in love with: Standees! They have a great bar and menu — including a gluten-free one! We had the tasty Sashimi Tuna Crudo with sweet potato chips. (Pardon the to-go containers — we thought we might have to take these into the theater to eat if the line for the movie got too long!)
And the Spicy Blue Crab Hand Roll that was so light and refreshing, with just a hint of spicy Sriracha.
Once in the theater, I had a glass of this.
Oh, yeah. That’s how you see a movie. And how you spend a fall Saturday!
What special eats and activities do you enjoy during the fall? Do you go pumpkin-picking, too? —Jenn