Challenge Recipe

This week for my challenge recipe I decided to go to Trader Joes for my shopping extravaganza. They have a lot of healthy options (and I had a gift card). I tried to follow the My Plate example for my well balanced meal. I decided to go simple with a salad, some brown rice, chicken sausage, and some berries. Here is what I found as I went through the isles:

Blackberries $3.99 (only option)
      ~"Packed with antioxidants"

Regular baby spinach $1.95
Organic baby spinach $1.99 (went with this since it was only a few cents more)

All chicken sausages $3.99
     ~"All natural, minimally processed, no artificial ingredients"

Regular brown rice $2.99

Organic quick cook basmati rice $3.99 (I did this one because of time and organic)

Here's the cooking process...

Very filling meal and it was healthy, double points! I even used the dressing I made for my recipe this week. Overall, there was not a huge selection for my ingredients but the ones they did have were not that different from each other. The main claims I saw were "organic" and "natural", but there was also a health claim telling the consumer that berries are packed with antioxidants. I don't think there was much difference in quality between brown and white rice, or organic and not. But I still ended up buying the organic anyways (cooked faster). This assignment made me look more deeply into what corporations put on packaging and how much they care for the nutrition of their buyers.

My meal tasted great and I made extras for my roomies. I was surprised at how much brown rice fills you up, still full and I made it 6 hours ago =)