Des Moines Eats + How Whole Foods Amazed Me

I cannot even begin to tell you how excited I was Saturday morning, despite having to roll out of bed at around 5 a.m.  Why was I so excited, you ask?  Well, after months of anticipation I was finally heading on a day-long road trip to Des Moines.  Was I most excited about going to the mall?  Nope (though I did stop there for about an hour or so 😉 )!  I was most excited about eating at the two restaurants that my boyfriend and I had picked out and checking out Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods, and the new Urbandale Hy-Vee Health Market.  Let’s just say it was a very successful,  fun-filled, yummy, and food-focused day!

First stop (after Old Navy and the mall, of course!)….Trader Joe’s:

where I purchased:

Ezekiel Organic Sprouted 100% Whole Grain Bread (this is normally $5.69 at Hy-Vee and was only 3.99 at TJ’s..crazy!)*
Trader Joe’s Sprouted 7 Grain Bread*
Trader Joe’s White Corn Tortillas*
Trader Joe’s Almond Butter (creamy w/ sea salt)- I have heard great things about this!
Trader Joe’s 21 Seasoning Salute- for roasting veggies!

*Trader Joe’s breads and tortillas are made without any preservatives so you should keep these products in the freezer or fridge.

Next, we headed to lunch at:

I had heard great things about this market/cafe on another food blog and after looking at the menu saw that it was both meat-eater and vegetarian/vegan friendly.  Let me tell you, we were not disappointed!  My boyfriend got lobster mac & cheese and I got the vegetarian burger.

The vegetarian burger was served on a ciabatta bun and topped with lettuce, tomatoes, onion rings (which I shared with my boyfriend), and chipotle ranch dressing (on the side, for me!).  The sandwich was served with a pickle.

I have had a lot of veggie burgers since becoming vegetarian, but this is definitely one of the best I have eaten.  And the chipotle ranch dressing?  Um….to die for!

I also split a cup of vegetarian potato pepperjack soup with my boyfriend.

Creamy, warm, and spicy!  Perfection.

Next, we headed to the new Hy-Vee in Urbandale…which, by the way, is ridiculous!  My boyfriend was excited to check out the Wine & Spirits department and I was eager to shop their Health Market…..oh, and we had plans to get some freshly-made gelato (yes, they have a gelato bar) after we shopped!

My food finds at Hy-Vee included:

LaTortilla Factory Soft Wraps Tortillas in the Fiesta flavor
Tasty Bite Cooking Sauce in the Good Korma flavor
Better’n Peanut Butter- Low Sodium
Bragg’s Nutritional Yeast Seasoning
Better Than Bouillon Vegetarian No Chicken Base (getting ready for soup season!)
Enjoy Life Plentils- Crunchy lentil chips in garlic & parmesan flavor
Larabars (Peanut Butter Cookie, Peanut Butter & Jelly, Carrot Cake, and Blueberry Muffin flavors)

And the highly anticipated gelato…

I chose Butterfinger gelato and my boyfriend enjoyed the Cookies & Cream flavor…both of which were delicious!

Our next stop was Whole Foods.  Whole Foods just recently opened in West Des Moines and ever since I have been beyond excited to visit!  At Whole Foods I purchased:

La Victoria Mild Enchilada Sauce (you can expect a vegetarian enchilada recipe soon!)
Salpica Totally Natural Salsa- Tomato Jalapeno flavor
CLIF Kit’s Organic Fruit + Nut Bars (Peanut Butter and Berry Almond varieties)
Peanut Butter & Co. White Chocolate Wonderful (peanut butter blended with sweet white chocolate)- This was highly recommended on a food blog that I read and just screams yummy goodness on warm toast this winter!
Pop Chips- Thai Sweet Chili Potato flavor (a flavor I have not seen in my area)
Road’s End Organics Dairy Free Mac & Cheese- Cheddar Style

Whole Foods amazed me for two reasons:
1. I always thought the prices at Whole Foods would be outrageous, but was pleasantly surprised.  Sure, some products can get a bit pricey, but many of the prices for the products I bought were comparable to the prices I have found in my area and some were even cheaper!  Perfect example: the CLIF Kit’s Organic Fruit + Nut Bars were .99 each and buy one get one free with a coupon!  And those Enjoy Life Plentils chips that I bought at Hy-Vee?  I paid around $4.00 at Hy-Vee and was disappointed when I saw that I could have purchased them for 2/$3.00 at Whole Foods!

2. My boyfriend and I were checking out the mac & cheese area in Whole Foods and I commented on the dairy-free (vegan) mac and cheese asking him whether or not he thought it would taste good.  An employee of Whole Foods was next to us and asked me which variety I thought looked the best.  She explained that the reason she was asking was because she wanted to give me a box for free (yes, FREE!) to try.  Seriously?  I was shocked and oh-so pleasantly surprised!  At this point, Whole Foods had won me over even more!

Our final destination was:

My boyfriend chose this location and I happily obliged as they had a vegetarian-friendly menu.  He ordered a burger and fries and I got a seriously delicious vegetarian burrito.

The burrito contained falafel (made from chickpeas), black beans, and spanish rice wrapped in a tomato basil tortilla.  I dipped the burrito in fresh salsa and southwestern ranch.  It was delicious!  Unfortunately (or fortunately? 😉 ), it was also HUGE.  Luckily for my boyfriend, he got to try some too!  Though he may not admit it, I think he was a bit jealous of the dinner I had chosen.

YUM!

If you have made it this far through the post and are still reading (yes, it has been a long one!), I will soon be letting you know how many of these food products taste.  I will be including several of the ingredients in my recipes in the near future, and will review the (hopefully) yummy snacks so that you can have a better idea of whether or not you would like to try them.

Lastly, I will leave you with a very important lesson from my trip:  bring a cooler!  There were so many frozen and refrigerated items that I was dying to try but was unable to transport the 3 hour-long drive home.  Then again, for my credit card’s sake, it was probably a good thing that I did not bring one! 😉

Do you have any favorite restaurants to eat at in the Des Moines area?