Mother's Market and a Horrible Day

I have made it pretty clear that Southern California is not my favorite place in the world. Concrete and traffic and heat and I just don’t play nice. But even I must admit, it does have some redeeming qualities, and one of them is Mother’s Market.

It’s like a whole foods, but even better! They have an awesome deli, burrito bar, pizza station, and hot and cold bar where I can always find healthy and fast food when I’m travelling. I was mightily tempted by the soy chicken with mushrooms on the hot bar last night, but I really was craving a giant salad (since I’m back on track with my New Year’s Resolutions).  I got 2 prepared salads from the deli: a kale salad with cherry tomatoes, craisins and almonds in a light citrus vinaigrette, and a spicy snap-pea salad. I mixed these with some spinach, corn, carrots, bean sprouts and tuna from the salad bar and topped it off with an awesome ginger soy dressing. My salad was absolutely massive. The whole thing cost me about $10, which is not the cheapest take out option out there, but it sure is the healthiest. I am learning to balance my inner thriftiness with my desire to eat healthy, whole foods. I am hoping my willpower will not be tested too much today. I’m flying home and there is supposed to be a big snow storm that will affect both Chicago (where I have a connection) and Portland. So there’s a good chance I may get stuck in an airport for a loooong time.

 What grocery stores or restaurants do you rely on to help you eat better??

**update** I wrote this early yesterday morning, but never got a chance to post. Because yes, the snow did wreak havoc on my trip home. I got to Chicago to find that all flights to Portland for the day were cancelled. They wanted to send me to Newark and then to Portland. But I had a feeling that flight would be cancelled too. So, I did a sprint through the airport (thanking my lucky stars for all my marathon training, but remind me never to race with a briefcase and suitcase) and talked my way onto a flight from Boston. So glad I did because I heard after we left that we were the last flight allowed out of Chicago. And then I had a car pick me up in Boston to drive me home. It took almost 4 hours instead of the usual 2 because of the snow and a tractor trailer roll-over. I managed not to resort to junk food, but did allow myself a small hot chocolate at 8 pm when we stopped for gas. So loooooon day yesterday, but at least I made it home to sleep in my own bed, unlike a lot of people.