My First Food Bank Volunteering Gig

And, we’re back!  Thanks for all the Anniversary wishes ~  We had a completely fun and relaxing two days celebrating ~ I almost continued but, I couldn’t wait to share my Thursday recap Volunteering at The Napa Food Bank with you all.  I think I’ll skip Photo Friday and count this post as good 🙂

I started off my day with a “caramel marshmallow” latte.  Grande FF Decaf latte with a caramel drizzle on top.  (2.5 pts0

A little caramel on top goes a LONG way and makes your latte taste just like a marshmallow.

I boosted my protein with a perfectly hard boiled egg (2 pts)

With a Southern Side of Grits with Agave (2 pts).  Did you know that all of my breakfast is CORE/simply filling?  So cool, huh?!

Mid morning snackage ~ 1 pt Low Fat Cabot with 4 cups of popcorn (1 pt).

I had just enough time to for lunch before we headed off to volunteer.  I whipped up another Curried Chicken Salad plus 1/8 AVOCADO (another CORE/simply filling food!) (8 pts).

I really think this salad is even better the next day because the curry soaks in.

I couldn’t resist the HUGE bin of Annie’s Chocolate Bunnies so I counted out a points worth and moved on.  I LOVE these little bunnies but I can easily eat way more than a serving.

I have to admit I LOVE that our company let’s us Volunteer to help out the community a few times a year.  I have always wanted to volunteer for a Food Bank ever since I saw them do it on The Biggest Loser :D 

I LOVE the Napa Valley Food Bank cause and that they help everyone in need from low income families, to the elderly, Meals on Wheels, to the homeless…the list goes on ~ there are a TON of agencies that they support.

Who knew that Napa Valley has the highest Senior Citizen age group requesting assistance ~ I think it’s all the WINE 😉

Here are some of the barrels they received from their Spring Food drive that we were going to be sorting.

We also sorted a BIG crate.  I thought it was so cool that they gave us re-usable bags to pack full and use to carry/distribute the food to the bins ~ Earth friendly!!!

I LOVED listening to the Director talk ~ she is so passionate about her work and it was really inspiring ~ how awesome would that be to LOVE going to your job EVERY DAY and feel so rewarded.

She explained to us the process from bank to table of how the food gets to everyone, then explained how we could help by sorting the food.

We had a bunch of bins lined up with the “product staples” that we placed in each bin.  They re-use the bins that you see at companies asking you to donate – GO GREEN effort! Love it!

Certain items get set aside into boxes because they could break.

Some of my FAVORITE BINS…..

Can you guess why?!

Although, I have to admit Mac N Cheese is probably the BEST!

It was SO COOL to see that someone donated Annie’s and it wasn’t us ~ LOVE that 😀

We had a lot of jokes about we could get in on all  the GOOD THINGS that people donated! Look at all the Amy’s soups ~ LOVE Amy’s too!

The bins are really deep so we sort had a group effort going on.  One my TALL co-workers dug deep and handed us the cans while we ran them to the bins.

We did come across a FEW not so pretty “surprises”.

Like CRAZY growing potatoes!

Seriously, did you all know that potatoes could grow a purple root?! So nasty!

Tadah!!! Here are all the BINS we put together with all the foods sorted.  It is really a great workout because you are constantly moving the entire time.  Plus, you move the bins from the sorting room to here too.

We also got the grand tour of the facility after all our sorting was complete. 

These are the bags they were putting together to go out that day to the Senior Citizens ~ so cool!

They have an entire fridge loaded with milk, cheese, and Wallaby’s Organic Yogurts.

Mangoes!!!

California Sweet Potatoes!!! I think she said they pay like $0.12/lb – WOW!

We also left our Bunny Footprint by making sure there was some Annie’s to add to the mix.

It was such an AMAZING experience and so much more than I ever imagined it would be.  I wish I could describe it all to you in words, but, really, it’s something you just have to get out and do. 

If you have a local food bank near year, go volunteer, I guarantee it will make an impact on your life, you will have some fun and you will leave feeling good about yourself for the good deed you did ~ Win, Win!

I was starving when I got home, but, I didn’t want to spoil the dinner The Husband was planning on taking me out to for our Anniversary Eve.

For snack, I pulled out these Pre—Cooked Spicy Buffalo Chicken Meatballs that I picked up at Trader Joe’s.

1 point each!

I had 2 plus a cutie (2.5 pts)

The people at Wiseman Tea Co know I LOVE TEA and offered up to send some of their delicious teas for me to try out.  I LOVE their slogan.

I really like that their tea is 100% Natural Whole Leaf Tea that even includes pieces of fruits and flowers.  They do not use any additives or preservatives.

I am SO EXCITED to try their teas and check out the cool Miracle Tea Maker!

REVIEWS & A GIVEAWAY coming soon…..however, if you don’t wanna wait, they are offering up all my readers 15% off your ENTIRE order, just enter the code “danicasdaily” in all lower case.

Our Anniversary Eve Dinner was at Buckhorn Steakhouse in Winters!  This place is AMAZING ~ we both think it’s on our top 3 list of the BEST STEAKS we’ve ever eaten.

I had a slice of their San Francisco Style Warm Sour Dough Bread.  I think I could’ve eaten this for my meal and called it good 🙂

Salad with their house creamy dill dressing that I dipped my fork in with each bite.  This method lets you eat about 1 Tbsp of dressing versus 1/4 cup.

I ordered the Beef Brochette ~ “Teriyaki marinated "STEAKHOUSE THICK" sirloin beef with peppers, onions and pineapple”

It was the BIG pieces of peppers and pineapple that sold me on it.  This was the BEST kabob I’ve ever eaten – everything just melted in your mouth.

I used my potato to soak up all the teriyaki sauce.

Perfectly crisp asparagus!

I actually ate “almost” all of it ~ I didn’t eat the sour cream and shared 1/3 of my Kabob with The Husband.  He managed to eat that plus a 24 oz Rib Eye  🙂

MMMM ~ I want to have it all over again!

After dinner we headed out to Cache Creek where we were treated to a night plus our spa treatments by our FREAKIN’ FANTASTIC FRIENDS ~ Wayne & Brenna. 

Thanks ~ you all rock in more ways than we could ever tell you!

I pretty much wanted to crawl into bed after dinner….but, I resisted LOL

Instead I took a nice long bath to get rejuvenated before we had some gambling fun 😀

With my EO Bubble Bath Rose & Chamomile.  I got this sample at the FoodBuzz Festival and this is the first chance I’ve had to try it.  I LOVE that it’s organic and I can recognize the ingredients.

The BEST part is that it’s so relaxing and super bubbly :D 

Today, I woke up and worked out on the Elliptical before heading down to breakfast and our spa treatments.

I got the “Just Desserts” package which included a facial, massage and a bowl of berries….It was as relaxing as it sounds and I kept thinking, ahhhhh, I could do this ALL the time 😀

Tomorrow is the BAY AREA BLOGGER MEET UP!!! I am so excited to meet everyone!

Night all!