Cook, Eat, Blog

The description for this evenings event read as follows…

Whole Foods is celebrating food bloggers with a night of food and fun at our South Loop location. Come to taste some great holiday treats and hear from a few of Chicago’s most famous food bloggers. You do not need to be a food blogger to attend this event.

Cook, eat, blog event at Whole Foods in the South Loop of Chicago

This was the first blogging event I had ever attended, so I had zero expectations, but was very excited to hear from others who LOVE food as much as I do and about how and why they started their blogs. When I got to the event there were many drinks and food samples that Whole Foods sells to try out. I learned later that the 4 blogs that were going to be discussed this evening each choose their favorite product as Whole Foods for all of us to try. I got to try some great products, specifically many vegan products, that I would have never bought off the shelves and tried by myself.

Everything on my plate, minus the pasta, was vegan.

Enjoying myself with a non-alcoholic cranberry sparkler, thanks mom for taking the pic!

Once everybody enjoyed their grub we all settled down to listen to 5 people, speak about 4 different food related blogs.

The blogs were…

1. Bake and Destroy
2. The Paupered Chef
3. The Kitchen Sink
4. Chicago Marathon Val

I loved listening to each of these bloggers explain why they decided to start blogging and why they continue to blog. Each had very different passions and reasons to blogs and each was as inspiring as the rest. I am sure to be daily readers of each of their blogs now.

At one point Natalie from Bake and Destroy said she pretty much could not live without Dandies air-puffed vegan marshmallows, made here in Chicago. After her explanation of these little guys I had to try atleast one… and it was delicious. I would have never known it was vegan it she had not told me…

One vegan baby marshmallow and a peanut butter chocolate chip cookie.

After all the questions were answered everybody was treated to an AMAZING swag bag thanks to Whole Foods, South Loop. Here are some shots of what I was lucky enough to take home with me.

Snazzy reuseable bag with lots of goodies inside

All the goods

I am most excited to try the Gala apple salsa by Frontera and the Larabar, can you believe I have NEVER had one?

Somebody liked the bag more than the swag

While at Whole Foods Mom and I HAD to take advantage of being in the presence of such glorious grocery options. I exited the Whole Foods with only spending $20, what great restraint I showed today! These are the items I had to invest in…

Only the essentials

• Milk & Honey Granola (It is the best granola I have stumbled upon yet, and it was on sale!)
• Chobani, Plain Greek Yogurt (had to purchase it since I found out it has a NuVal score of  90 something as opposed to my Stoneyfield Organic with a score of 60-ish)
• Mediterranean Salad
• Firm Tofu
• Red Pepper Tomato Soup
• and two different Wheat Grass packets to try. I know I should be getting more greens in my diet but my tummy does not always agree, I figured a shot of this jazz each morning should help me out a bit.

Overall I had a magnanimous evening with my partner in crime (read Mom) and Whole Foods. Thanks you Whole Foods for hosting such a great evening! I can not wait to meet more passionate bloggers in the future.