Wednesday: Mammogram Day, Trader Joe’s Stop & Barbacoa Beef
This morning we kept breakfast simple. The kids had a quick breakfast, and we did just a little bit of math before I dropped my younger kiddos off at my parents’ house. My teen stayed home to work while I headed to my yearly mammogram.
If you’re someone who keeps putting off scheduling yours, consider this your reminder: go schedule it.
Because I’m considered high risk, I rotate through yearly mammograms, ultrasounds, MRIs—the whole routine. It’s not necessarily my favorite way to spend a morning, but it’s important, and I’m thankful we have the technology to catch things early.
A couple of practical tips if you’ve never gone before:
- Wear a two-piece outfit. The very first time I went, I wore a dress and quickly realized that wasn’t my best decision. They ended up having to find me a different gown because otherwise I’d have been standing there with nothing on from the waist down.
- Wear something that makes you feel good. It sounds silly, but getting dressed in an outfit you like can make an appointment like that feel just a little bit easier.
On my way home I stopped at Trader Joe’s since it’s nearby.
Unfortunately, I have bad news.
The dairy-free chocolate ice cream I love still wasn’t there. This is now the second trip where it’s been missing, and I’m starting to worry they’ve discontinued it. I bought the dairy-free vanilla instead, but it’s just…not the same.
The good news is I restocked on all my dairy-free chocolate. Trader Joe’s is still hands-down my favorite place to buy it. It’s less expensive than most grocery stores and, in my opinion, tastes much better too.
Lunch
For lunch I skipped salad again because of the cyclospora concerns and instead made what was basically a cold roasted vegetable bowl.
I used:
- Cold roasted vegetables from last night’s dinner
- A splash of vinegar
- Avocado salsa
- Grilled chicken warmed with barbecue sauce
- Watermelon
- Fresh peaches (well washed!)
The warm barbecue chicken with the cold vegetables was surprisingly delicious.
Pool Snacks
We headed to the pool this afternoon.
The kids had:
- Cold leftover pizza my mom had sent home
- Cutie oranges
- some chip bags I bought at Costco last week
Cold pizza at the pool is always a hit.
Dinner
Dinner was one of our family favorites: barbacoa beef.
I cooked the chuck roast on Monday, so tonight all I had to do was remove the hardened layer of fat from the top, cut up the beef, and season about three pounds of it with my barbacoa seasoning.
I purposely leave some of the beef plain because a couple of my kids prefer it that way. I simply warm the plain beef with a little of the cooking juices while the rest becomes barbacoa.
We served everything family-style:
- Barbacoa beef
- Plain shredded chuck roast
- Rice
- Avocado salsa
- Fresh salsa
- Avocados
- Red onion
- Cheese
- Tortilla chips
Everyone built their own plates however they liked, and it was one of those dinners where everyone was happy.
It’s one of our favorites, especially because cooking the chuck roast ahead of time makes dinner night incredibly easy.
Looking Ahead
Tomorrow my husband will take the leftover barbacoa beef for lunch.
There’s probably one serving of plain chuck roast left that I’ll either use for a quick snack—maybe some chuck roast nachos—or tuck into someone’s lunch.
I also still have grilled chicken ready to use, and I need to finish the last of the steak from Sunday.