Farmers Market Finds and More HG Makeovers!

Well, today was the first official farmers market of the season so me and Munchkin popped out of bed bright and early to get first dibs on all the goodies. First off, we stopped at the VG's Bakery booth to snag our breakfast: a cinnamon roll for her and a chocolate chip espresso scone for me. No, there is nothing lo-cal, lo-fat, or lo-carb about anything there, but it's our once-a-week splurge to fortify us for our morning of market shopping.
There were tons of yummy local goodies to be had and I ended up spending way more than I intended to, but it was so worth it to have healthy farm-fresh food in the kitchen and support local farmers and producers.

Here's our haul for the day: Strawberry jam from Organicism Farms, milk from Cruze Farm, cheese from Sweetwater Valley Farm, pear honey jelly from Honeyberry Farm, pretzel sticks from Cheesecakes & Breads by Rick, eggs from Wisner Farm, strawberries from King's Hydrofarm, goat cheese from Kira's Kids Dairy, and cat treats from K&B Gourmet Pet Treats.

Yummy!

Now, onward to chapter 3 of the "300 Under 300" cookbook. This chapter is "Breakfast Plates" and, I must say, there aren't too many culprits here, and the few that do crop up are repeat offenders from the previous two chapters. So this time around, I'm going to make it short and sweet by listing each recipe, any RED FLAG or YELLOW FLAG ingredients and their substitutions. RED FLAG ingredients are those you absolutely want to avoid at all costs, while YELLOW FLAGs are those ingredients that you can use if you like, but do so sparingly. Obviously if an ingredient comes up that we haven't dealt with in the previous chapters, I'll give you the full 411 on it. Let's go!

• SAUSAGE, EGG & CHEESE CHICKGRIDDLE
• RED FLAGS:
• Sugar-free pancake syrup (Substitute: Real maple syrup...and check this article out to see why!)
• Fat-free American cheese (Substitute: Cheddar cheese)
• YELLOW FLAG:
• Light buttery spread. Why? Margarine (a.k.a "buttery spreads") are essentially oil and artificial colors and....hold on to your seats folks...butter is actually BETTER FOR YOU! Yup, you heard that right. Just don't eat a whole stick at a time..that's not good for you. :-P
• ROCKIN' RED VELVET PANCAKES
• RED FLAGS: 
• Cool Whip Free Why? Holy cow...this stuff is like one big chemical cocktail in a tub. Even the Reddi-Whip is better than this...if only marginally. So do your body a huge favor and go buy some light whipping cream and give your arm muscles a workout while those pancakes cook.
• No-calorie sweetener packets (Substitute: Stevia or real sugar)
• Hot cocoa mix (Substitute: an all-natural mix or blend sugar and cocoa powder)
• YELLOW FLAGS:
• Light vanilla soymilk (Substitute: rice, almond or coconut milk)
• Red food coloring (Substitute: beet, strawberry or raspberry juice - for more natural food coloring ideas, look here)
• Fat-free cream cheese (Substitute: neufachel or whipped cottage cheese)

That's it for today because I got interrupted while writing this last night and never finished...and I have a new all-natural HG breakfast makeover to share with you! Be on the lookout!