Happy first day of school to me! The first day always goes by extremely quick, and the rest of the afternoon (it’s a half day for the kids) is spent in meetings and running around like a chicken with my head cut off trying to prepare things for the next upcoming days. Because of that, I wanted to keep things nice and light/fun this morning. A few weeks ago, I saw this fun survey over by Ashley’s blog, and I thought it would be fun to answer the same questions she did all about food preferences!
Mexican or Italian?
That’s a no brainer — Mexican food! I do love Italian, but since going gluten free I’ve found eating Mexican food is one of the easiest cuisines to eat when I go out. Bring on the guacamole and refried beans. Authentic = the best!
Chips or Fries?
Any kind of potato is a good thing in my book. If given the choice though, I’d probably go for fries — especially oven baked sweet potato fries!
Almond Butter or Peanut Butter?
If you would have asked me that eight months ago, I would have said hands down peanut butter. I used to be an almond butter hater, which makes me sad for my all time favorite nut. However, I’ve found that some almond butters just aren’t for me. I like making my own almond butter to get the perfect roasted flavor for me (not too dark!) and process it to my desired smoothness (not too drippy, but drippy enough — did that even make sense?).
I’m an almond butter convert. I make a jar a week!
Cake or Brownie?
I’d probably pick cake just because I love frosting. My all time favorite cake is red velvet with cream cheese frosting. I’ve never attempted to make that one gluten free/dairy free before, and I don’t think I could ever perfect it. If anyone thinks they can, please tell me and send me one.
Strawberries or Blueberries?
Blueberries. I’ll definitely eat strawberries if they’re there, but it’s the one berry I’m not really too fond of. I couldn’t tell you why.
Thin crust pizza or Deep Dish Pizza?
I’m going to turn away all of my Chicago readers right now and say thin crust. I like my crust thin so I can load on the toppings — the crust is really just a vehicle to get the veggies/sauce into my mouth anyway.
Coffee or Tea?
Ugh. Can we stop reminding me about coffee? I <3 coffee. Love it. Don’t know what I would do without it. We’ve been trying to break up for the last two years and it’s just not working. I just love a good cup of joe!!!
Chicken or Steak?
Neither.
Milk Chocolate or Dark Chocolate?
I am a definite dark chocolate lover, but I certainly do not discriminate!
Apple or Orange?
Apple — there’s nothing like biting into a perfectly ripened crisp apple in the fall. They’re the best!
Question: You pick one!
{ 101 comments… read them below or add one }
Happy first day back! Hope you have an awesome school year!!!
Thanks, you too!
Good luck on the first day back to school! I love these this or that surveys! I would totally pick apples over oranges too! Apples are my favorite fruit!
Mine too – but only when they’re good!
Almond Butter all the way. Maranatha no stir almond butter and Justin’s Maple Almond are both incredible!
I’m a fan of Justin’s, but not really of Maranatha – it’s too dark of a roast for me!
Happy first day! I wish I was a thin crust girl, but I love the gooey goodness of thick n’ chewy pizza. Mmmmm
touche!
It’s my first day back too! …I don’t know to smile or frown- starting off this year is just so different- and hard. But, I love my kids and am SO excited to see them and hear all about their summers!
….I make a mean cookie dough almond butter- ahhhh, heaven!
…..I am loving making my own almond butter now too!
yay!!! You’re not going to be there for that long! At least you got to start out the year with them though!
there is a gluten free bakery in pittsburgh that sells red velvet cupcakes with a dairy free cream cheese icing!
Aaaand you’re going to send me one, right?
Have a great first day, friend!
Thanks! It definitely was!
Thin crust pizza and dark chocolate all the way!!! I love these surveys.
I have recently fallen for a new love- Justin’s Nut Butters, specifically Maple Almond Butter. I totally get you about not too drippy but drippy enough! The squeezy packs are perfect, and drip over a banana to make such an awesome snack.
I do love the squeeze packets for traveling!
Sounds like it’ll be a crazy but fun day! enjoy
the only ones I disagree with you on here are cake vs. brownies and apples vs. oranges. I used to be a little allergic to apples so I’ll take oranges any day! And I prefer the density of brownies to the texture of cake. Wouldn’t exactly say no to either though!
haha I’m the same way – I sure wouldn’t turn either down!
Lovin’ that survey! In fact I loved it so much I translated it into German to use it on my own blog! Of course I gave you credit for it!
Have a great first day at school!
haha that’s awesome! Give Ashley credit for it!
Hey There! Do you have a recipe for the almond butter you make? I searched your recipes and could not find it. Thanks!
I do – I forgot to link it up, but I’m going to ASAP!
I definitely always choose coffee over tea. I can never really get into tea but I’ve always wanted to. Coffee always sounds so much more intense than a nice cup of tea.
This is why we’re friends!
Good luck on your first day back!! Strange question for you — I always used to have trouble sleeping before the first day of school, and ALWAYS wondered if teachers ever had trouble sleeping before the first day too … How did you sleep last night?
Also – I second your thoughts on every single one of your This or That choices, and for many of the same reasons. Love it!!
I slept perfectly fine! Like a rock!
Mmm I’m with you on the oven baked sweet potato fries! Love those things. I can relate when it comes to almond butter too. Now I have a tough time choosing which I like better!
OH! And red velvet + cream cheese frosting is easily my favorite cake too. It was our wedding cake!
I wish Iwas at your wedding!!!
uhh Mexican I could eat it all day everyday, burritos and guac get in my belly! and coffee all the way
Hope you have a great day of school!
Mexican hands down, brownie, dark chocolate and apples are my picks!
Thanks! It was a great day!
I am a teacher as well, but in Canada…..Enjoy your first day back! Here in Toronto, Canada we don’t start back until the first Tuesday after Labour Day. However, I will be in to work this week and next getting my space all ready for the students!!! I love your blog….I am glad I stumbled upon it as I have been gluten free (celiac) for years now…..
I used to be peanut butter only as well. Now, I like almost every type of nut butter. It’s out of control!
haha I also love cashew butter -yum!
Happy 1st day of school! I’m so excited to start my first day next week (I’m student teaching!). It’s going to be such an adjustment transitioning in to packed lunches / snacks / dinners. I’d love to see a post on how you plan / prep your meals for work!
Oh good luck! You’ll love it! I actually have two posts for you!
http://cleaneatingchelsey.com/2010/10/10/how-i-prep-for-the-work-week/
http://cleaneatingchelsey.com/2011/08/18/serious-lunch-packer/
This Chicago native prefers thin crust too!
glad we’re on the same page!
I love strawberries and blueberries! I’m going to be sad when they go out of season!
I will be too!
PB over AB, any day. And homemade PB trumps all others, too. Coffee over tea, dark over milk (actually never milk – only dark choc!), and you can put frosting on brownies. Gives you the best of all worlds….I do it all the time
Cream cheese frosting on uber fudgy brownies is divine!
I actually have never made homemade pb!
Cake or Brownie: As much as I love cake, I so prefer brownies, especially with walnuts. So fantastic!
PB or AB: PB all the way. I think I might have gotten a bad almond butter the time I tried it, so I bought almonds to make my own, and we’ll see.
I don’t like a lot of almond butters in the store – it tastes so muchbetter when you make your own!
Thank you so much for your awesome blog! I am a fellow gluten free eater and recent convert to a meat free diet. I have been looking everywhere for real, easy and yummy recipes….and here you are!!! I also really enjoy the authenticity of your posts, comments and anecdotes!! Thank you , thank you, thank you!!!!!
First day of school for us too. Oh how did I want to sleep in today…:)
Tea is for me, many cups per day, all kind of teas: green, white, oolong (my second favorite), herbal, rooibos, and my all time favorite: aged pu-erh tea. I stopped drinking coffee a few years ago, I just came to coffee maker with my cup and realized I don’t want any…
Love the way your blog looks now. I think I haven’t been here the whole summer (shame on me, I know!)
I wish I could give up coffee the way you did. Won’t ever happen.
And thanks! I love the redesign!
After I dropped drinking coffee, I am more careful with word “never”…
Definitely almond butter for me! Recently discovered it after YEARS (like since birth) of enjoying and loving peanut butter. My fave treat now for sure is almond butter spread on a rice cake with semi-sweet chocolate morsels. The thing is that it’s hard to stop with just 1!
Oh yum – I just go straight for the almond butter spoon with chocolate chips – haha!
best of luck on your first day! have so much fun:) and i’m definitely an Almond Butter convert too! But even more – cashew butter!!!!
Oh cashew butter is the BEST!!
I’m with you on the almond butter.. I used to be totally into peanut butter, but lately it’s been all about the almond butter for me
Do you have an almond butter recipe on your site? My husband’s been beggin’ me to make some!
DaNelle recently posted…Why I changed my mind about Homeschooling
I do! I forgot to link up to it, but it should be there now!
Hope the first day goes well!
I feel the same way about strawberries!
Happy first day back! It’s crazy for me to see you guys going back to school – In Canada we don’t go back until September (I think September 4th?)
I’ve never tried a gluten free cake, but there’s a vegan/gluten free bakery at my farmers market that I’m kind of obsessed with. Their whoopie pie kind of makes my life.
Some schools in IL go back before labor day and others go back after – it’s odd!
Hope your first day at school goes fabulously. My first day with kids is the 27th. I keep saying this, but I’ve got to try making my own almond butter. These are all so hard…except “coffee/tea”…..coffee all the way! I love surveys….I may have to steal this one!
Making your own almond butter is SO easy if you’ve got a processor!
Ohh I love Mexican food too – and let’s face it, it’s mostly because the chips and salsa! And I can’t help you with the dairy free part, but Sprinkles cupcakes (they have a Chicago location!) has the absolute best red velvet cupcakes I’ve ever had, and they sell a GF Red Velvet too! For some reason they don’t promote it, but you just have to ask for it!
They do!?!?! I’ve been in there before and they told me they didn’t have any GF cupcakes! What the heck!
Strawberries are my least favorite too… and I mean, they’re fine but just not that special. On the other hand, if you were to try wild strawberries from Poland, where organic is the standard (or was ,when I lived there anyway) that would be a different story!
Those sound great!
I knew I loved you…Red Velvet cake with cream cheese frosting is HANDS DOWN my favorite!!!
We were destined to be friends!
Nope – you won’t offend this Chicago dweller by saying you don’t like deep dish! I’m a thin crust chica all the way. Deep dish has too high a ratio of cheese to crust! I’d rather focus on lots of dee-lish toppings and not as much cheese.
I’m there with you! Plus the fact that I can’t eat cheese without my stomach hating me.
Haha I guess I’m not really a Chicago local, but thin crust all the way! Hope you had a good first day! P.s. guess what city I’m in now?
CHICAGOOOO
Milk chocolate! I do not understand how people like dark chocolate, I think it’s disgusting!
hahaha! That’s too funny – maybe you tried too dark of a chocolate!
First day of school already?! My kids still have 2 more weeks of vacation left. Hope the first day wasn’t too cray cray for you!
We go back before Labor Day here!
Oh! I am a huge fan of coffee………and dark chocolate.
I can’t start my morning without a good cup of coffee. 
I love how much we bloggers love a good survey!!!
It is loads of fun for us, isn’t it?
I don’t drink coffee or tea- I’m one of those that caffeine doesn’t have an effect on!
Quick frosting tip I read the other day- if you’re running short on time and don’t want to make and frost cupcakes, place a marshmallow on top of each on for the last 5 minutes in the oven and you have instant frosting!
Have a wonderful semester lady- I don’t know how you teachers do it- much respect goes out to you!
I love the marshmallow trick! So cool!!!
And not that caffeine doesn’t have any effect on me, but I just loooove the taste of coffee!
from a fellow teacher: happy first day back and good luck with your year!!!!!!!!!
I am almost afraid to admit it now, but I love strawberries. Fresh strawberries are my favorite.
How do you get your baked sweet potato fries to look like that? I have to cook them for twelve years and they still aren’t exactly what I was going for.
haha don’t be afraid!!!!
haha I think those fries were made on the grill!
Ahh back to school! I love this time of the year, but it always feels so strange now that I’m not going to school anymore. At least I can still look forward to the seasons changing though
Definitely with you on the blueberries front – I think they’re my favourite berry at the moment, and I’m trying to eat my weight in them before they’re only available frozen!
Ugh, I’m dreading that day!
I’m the same way about strawberries – I’ll eat them, but I don’t love them. I much prefer other berries! And I prefer apples too. I can’t wait until fall for all the fresh local apples!
You and me both! I can’t wait for apples!!!
I’d pick a brownie over cake even though I’m not a fan of chocolate. I just really love the texture of a good brownie. Oh and I totally disagree on pizza
“thin crust” is code for a cracker with toppings. If I’m eating pizza I want PIZZA not a cracker.
hahahaha!
red velvet is my favorite too! really anything with cream cheese icing!
Me too! And congrats on the house!!!!!!
I’ve recently been converted to almond butter as well. I haven’t started making my own though. I’m tempted.
It’s super easy! Give it a try!
Tea over coffee
Hope your first day of school went well!
Thanks! It was definitely a good day!
YAY for dark chocolate!
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