Road Trip: Shopping and a Concert

Last weekend my family and I took a final summer road trip before my classes started. We headed out to Minneapolis MN for shopping and a Taylor Swift concert, as well as a relaxing weekend away.

The drive takes 6-7 hours so before heading out we made sure to have some snacks on hand. I took a nectarine and some raspberries from home and we stopped at a gas station to pick up some nuts and trail mix. I am obsessed with nuts and trail mix, if they were a food group they would be my favourite food group! When travelling longer distances it really isn't difficult to eat healthy as long as you prepare and chose the healthy option. 

For lunch we stopped at a Super Target and picked up some salads with chicken and some celery with peanut butter. 

Once we arrived in Minneapolis, I had somewhere I needed to go, Trader Joes! As I stated in my last post I love grocery shopping so of course I had to do so while on my trip. Here I picked up a few things which included some UDI's Gluten Free Bread,  peas to snack on and Speculoos Crunchy Cookie Butter. Now let me tell you... this cookie butter is unbelievable, it is so good, I 100% recommend it, I could probably eat the whole jar in 1 day thats how good it is. So my experience at Trader Joes was a success!

Right beside Trader Joes was a frozen yogurt place so my family and I decided to stop by and get a little treat! I got cake batter, peanut butter and pistachio frozen yogurt and topped with with blueberries, yogurt chips, peanut butter chips, coconut and rainbow sprinkles, mmm. 

After enjoying our treat we went to our hotel, rested for a few minutes then headed out shopping. We shopped for hours so when dinner came around we were all starving! We decided to go to this lovely Italian restaurant we had been to before called Pazzaluna. It is an urban italian restaurant, that not only provides great food but great options for us gluten free folks, they have the biggest gluten free menu I've ever seen. My mom and I shared an appetizer which was tomato, mozzarella cheese, basil, topped with balsamic vinegar, and it was delish! Next, came our meals, I order the gluten free pasta, with a fresh tomato sauce and again, another excellent dish. 

The next day consisted of more shopping at the Mall of America and a great lunch at a restaurant called Good Earth Cafe. I ordered a orange and wheatgrass juice, which was pretty tasty and a heirloom tomato and brown rice salad  with a tomato salsa which was also very good ( I don't have a picture of my salad because for some reason the picture I took turned out super blurry :( ). 

Later that night was the concert. Just my sister and I went and it was a blast! She put on a great show and it is a memory my sister and I will always share. Thanks mom and dad for the tickets!

Mini Summer Road Trip Eats

Over the past weekend my family and I went on a mini road trip to Duluth Minnesota, so I decided to somewhat document my travels and the foods I ate along the way. 

To begin our trip we stopped at a gas station and picked up some snacks to nibble on for the drive, I chose my favourite candy, black licorise and a little pack of almonds. When on road trips I try to limit the junk food I eat and eat nuts and fruit instead, although I do allow myself to eat more junk food then normal since I am on vacation. Just a warning licorise does contain wheat so if you are celiac I would stay away from it, for me if I limit the amount I eat it does not hurt my stomach but just be careful. 

Once we arrived we decided it was time to go grab some lunch so as a group we decided on a restaurant we had never been to The Duluth Grill. This restaurant was featured on the television show Diners, Drive- Ins, Dives with Guy Fieri. The menu is great at providing many options for people with gluten allergies as well as vegetarians & vegans. The menu also has a wide range of food, from breakfast options and burgers, to fresh salads and smoothies. As for my mini review, the menu is great but I wouldn't kill to go back. The food was okay, nothing fabulous, and the environment was not my style, it was diner style. Overall I would say try it out but it was not for me. 

That was my meal, I believe it was called the big veggie salad, it was good but definitely something I could of made myself. 

For dinner we went to one of my favourite restaurants of all time, The Olive Garden. It always provides tasty, good quality Italian food for a good price. I order the gluten free penne pomodoro every single time. 

The next day we were driving and I spotted a Whole Food grocery store, this was probably one of my favourite things about the trip. We don't have a Whole Foods in my home town so having the opportunity to go in one was exciting. Me, my sister and my boyfriend all agreed that we should try the Chunks of Energy 100% Raw Cacao Goji and they were excellent, a clean, healthy afternoon snack. I highly recommend them!

Continuing on with our day we did some more shopping then went for a nice lunch in Canal Park. We stopped at a little restaurant called Amazing Grace Cafe, which is also a new restaurant for me and I was very impressed. Me and my boyfriend chose to do the "create your own sandwich" option, you choose your bread, a base ( we both chose turkey), 4 veggies and a sauce, then they create your sandwich for you. They had a gluten free bread option which was great, I wasn't expecting them to, the quality of the turkey, and veggies was great and the sandwiches were huge! They also had an outdoor seating area which is ideal in the summer! This is a lunch restaurant that I highly recommend :)

Shortly after my sister, boyfriend and I decided to get gelato for dessert, I got the cherry cheesecake flavour!

For dinner that night we went on over to The Red Lobster for some fish. I got the Maui Maui and it was great!

The next day our little weekend  getaway came to a close, before leaving we stopped at Subway and grabbed some lunch. The best part is that the subway in Duluth offers a gluten free bread so I can enjoy a sub too! I got the turkey sub with some veggies and yellow mustard, I love subway because it is clean fast food that you do not have to feel guilty about.

Overall the trip went great. Did some good shopping, and had some good food. Even when travelling I like to do my best to continue eating clean and healthy but I do not forget to allow myself to have a few extra treats. Hope you all enjoyed your weekend!