Best Friend Friday No. 36: Whole Foods

Last month, Lauren and I each won Whole Foods gift cards in a Mother's Day Instagram contest. We were ecstatic to say the least. We don't go out to eat often and whenever we make the long walk to Whole Foods, we always find ourselves eying their prepared foods. So, we decided to treat ourselves to an elaborate vegan feast! We also thought that this would be a good way to celebrate Lauren finishing her first year of graduate school.

I walked into Whole Foods not caring how much food I picked out. I wanted to try literally everything that looked good to me. The past few times we found ourselves at Whole Foods, we were surprised at how many vegan cheeses there were. Before becoming vegan, I was a huge dairy cheese fiend. So, these vegan fancy cheeses have been tempting me for a while. We decided to start our huge meal off with shredded wheat crackers and Treeline's herb-garlic flavored tree nut cheese. The cashew-based cheese ended up being more of a spread and tangier than I expected. However, it's a great vegan cheese alternative and I would definitely eat it again.

It's no surprise that we then quickly walked over to the dessert area. Lauren chose a chocolate chip cookie bar, and I picked a chocolate frosted brownie.
We then made our way through the cold and hot prepared food counters where everything looked appetizing. I love how they label exactly what is vegan, and include a complete list of ingredients for each item. I used a separate box for my hot and cold selections, but didn't have any issue filling both boxes up!

There just happened to be more desserts on our way to the register, so of course we had to pick a few treats from the cookie bar as well. We both chose miniature gingerbread cookie sandwiches; Lauren also got maple pecan cookies (that we sampled at Veg Fest last week), and I picked out a raspberry thumbprint cookie.

This particular Whole Foods recently updated their dining area which made enjoying our feast even better! As usual, our eyes were way bigger than our stomachs and we had plenty of leftovers to take home (I actually ate my hot food items for lunch today!). The cold noodle salad with tofu, and the seitan over rice were my absolute favorites! Lauren and I decided to split our desserts so that we could try even more things. My favorite dessert by far was the chocolate chip cookie bar. It tasted like a normal baked cookie on the outside and cookie dough on the inside.

A day of best friend activities is never complete without food, in my opinion. Thankfully, Lauren agrees! I'm already dreaming of another Whole Foods raid!