What’s your guilty food pleasure?

>Most people have some type of food or specific food that they know is bad for them or too expensive but they eat it anyway because they love it too much! I agree with this philosophy…you have to live your life the way you want and eat what you want because if food can’t be enjoyable then that would really put a damper on my day!

Other than Dr. Pepper (I know, it’s not a food but in my mind it is still a guilty pleasure) and red velvet cupcakes, my guilty pleasure is an entire grocery store. I am secretly addicted to Whole Foods. I have heard they have bad policies and are a not-s0-good corporation but I just don’t care! If you can make organic spinach and black beans look good I give you props! Just walking into Whole Foods I am taken aback by how nice everything is displayed and everything looks good…even some of the more questionably “fancy” organic food that shall go unmentioned.

My guilty pleasures are specifically in four sections of the store. I wish I had the type of money to spend $11.99 per pound on chicken and buy the really prettily displayed seafood but I am a college student with a budget! My first guilty pleasure are the free samples in the produce department! You have to go between 11am and 12:30ish (or until they run out) and usually only on weekends. They give you whole strawberries, half of a banana, chunks of mango, different prepared dips and salsas, and if you really look…there are free cheese samples in the back by the cheese counter. The other secret is that if you really look like your trying to decide between different deli-counter options they will inevitably offer you a sample! LOVE IT!

My second guilty pleasure is the olive bar. At $12 a pound…I usually get 8 or 9 dollars worth and absolutely love it! They have traditional green and black olives but they also have marinated artichoke hearts, marinated feta cheese, spicy green olives, blue cheese stuffed olives (these are kind of nasty!), garlic stuffed olives, and (my favorite) marinated mega white beans! Sometimes you can go on a lucky day and they have toothpicks to try everything…that’s the best! Everything is pretty good on the olive bar even though I stick to the marinated feta, marinated artichokes, spicy and garlic stuffed olives, and the white beans! However, beware of the wrinkly black olive…my mom and I were trying everything when we first went to Whole Foods and I asked her to try that one…she said it tasted like vomit…BEWARE!

My third guilty pleasure is the cheese counter. I (being a true Sconnie!) love the artisan Wisconsin cheese they feature at their cheese counter. I don’t like mushy cheese or goat cheese but for less than $10 I can usually get a pretty decent sized wedge of fancy cheese! There’s nothing better than a fancy cheese to spice up a can of soup or a generic salad!

My fourth guilty pleasure is the deli counter…not only do they give you free samples like I mentioned but they will also give you the recipe if you ask. I don’t like asking for recipes unless I have bought something so after I’ve sample something and I decide I really like it I buy a small container of it and ask for the recipe. I have gotten some of my favorite cold salad recipes from them! It is great to be able to get the recipes off of them because I can make a full batch for the price of 6 ounces at the store! My favorite salad from them has corn, asparagus, artichoke hearts, tomatoes, and random other vegetables if you have them. Then you just toss it in a dressing made from cider vinegar, dijon mustard, garlic, olive oil, and salt and pepper…it is so refreshing!

So my guilty food pleasure is definitely the expensive guilty part but it is totally worth it! Do you have a guilty pleasure?