Ce Que Je Mange

By request, here is what one can normally find in my grocery cart:

• A loaf of bread - I prefer Granny Whosit's with sunflowers. No, I can't remember the name, but I know exactly where it is on the shelf and what the package looks like.
• Milk - skim, usually 1/2 gallon unless I'm planning on cooking lots of recipes that require lots of milk.
• Eggs - lately, I try to eat one egg a day; usually at breakfast, and usually hard-boiled.
• Cereal - during the warmer months, I tend to eat a lot of cold cereal; Frosted Cheerios and Vanilla Mini Shredded Wheat are the two most common purchases. During colder months, I may buy the fruit variety pack of instant oatmeal. In fact, it's in my cupboard right now.
• Hot chocolate - this is a colder months purchase, too. Last year, Cardine got me hooked on Stephen's Dark Chocolate, so that's what I have now. Yummy!
• Spaghetti - I like to make the whole bag of spaghetti at once so I can easily heat up the leftovers on subsequent nights. (I love leftovers!) I also make my own sauce, since I've never found a brand that I really love. Every time I make the sauce, I put in different spices, sometimes with meat, sometimes without. Mmmm. It's what I'm having for dinner tonight. Can't wait!
• Baguette and chevre - my french teacher once offered this treat as an hors d'oeuvre at a party she threw for my class, and I've been hooked ever since. (chevre = goat cheese, baguette = long, thin loaf of bread - just in case you didn't know) What you do is slice the baguette any way you like, then spread a bit of chevre on each slice. Place under the broiler for a few minutes - watch carefully so you don't burn the cheese/bread. I've also tried topping the cheese with slices of avocado or green olives, and both turned out quite yummy.
• Hummus and pita chips - got hooked on this treat on my mission and must buy it at least once a month. Tomorrow, some friends and I are having a dip party. We'll be enjoying homemade pumpkin hummus (Cardine), tzatziki (Warnser), and baba ghanoush (me) with homemade pita chips. Mmmmm. Can't wait!
• Chicken - I know a lot of chicken recipes, so I tend to buy/eat a lot of chicken. I love Booklogged's Ritz cracker recipe, and I make it often. I also enjoy my sister-in-law's chicken and pasta salad.
• Fruit - I buy lots of fruits; apples, bananas, kiwis, pears, plums, grapes, and clementines (not oranges), and will sometimes experiment with new fruits, like star fruit. When I'm feeling in a particularly splurgy mood, and when they're in season, I buy fresh strawberries, blackberries, or raspberries.
• Vegetables - I lack variety in my veggies; I buy baby carrots every week, no matter what. I'll also buy one of the following, depending on the mood I'm in: basket of grape tomatoes, English cucumbers, or green/red bell peppers. Every so often, I'll get asparagus or corn on the cob or something else, but rarely. I like a lot of veggies, but I'm often too lazy to prepare them, so baby carrots are really handy.
• Hot dogs - yes, I admit it. The family I lived with in New York introduced me to all-beef hot dogs that actually taste pretty good. I don't buy hot dog buns; I just slather mustard (not ketchup!) on a slice of the aforementioned bread. I freeze the hot dogs, because I can only handle one every so often.
• Popsicles - not just for warmer months, these tasty frozen treats satisfy my sweet tooth all year round! I like the bag of popsicles (can't remember the brand) that has apricot, lime, cherry, and purple grape. In a pinch, I like the box (brand???) with root beer, lime, and banana.
• Chocolate - my latest chocolate fix comes in the form of dark chocolate plain M&M's. A small handful will cure even the most severe chocolate craving.

Wow, this list is getting long, so I'm going to stop it. There are other things I buy on occasion, and I don't always buy the items on the above list, but they tend to be in my cart on a fairly regular basis. I probably missed fairly significant items, but I'm getting hungry (go figure!) and need to go home and make spaghetti!