As of Late
In the past week I have consumed wayyyy too much Starbucks.
Surprisingly, I’m more concerned about the consequence this habit has on my wallet than how much caffeine & sugar I’m taking in.
In the past week I have had zero formal exercise. I ran a whopping 6.2 total miles last week and have failed to run or do any sort of cardio since last Thursday!!
I have however stuck to my abs and arms challenge. This morning I did 63 push ups and 146 sits ups, boo-ya, cold!
In the past week I have fancied up my oats.
Eggnog Oats and now, Chocolate Oats.
Chocolate Oats:
- 1/2 cup almond milk
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/2 cup oats
- 1/2 banana
- 1T cocoa powder
- Mix almond milk, water, oats and banana in a pot over medium heat.
- Let cook 7 minutes then reduce heat to low and cook for an additional 5 minutes.
- Stir in cocoa powder and top away.
Topped with:
- pumpkin granola
- 1t peanut butter
- Crofter’s
- 1t honey to sweeten the oats up
Drool worthy.
In the past week I have developed my “typical cold” aka 3 days of sore throat —-> 2 weeks of coughing/sniffling/stuffiness. I actually prefer the 2 weeks of congestion to the sore throat. My body feels fine besides the occasional need to cough up a lung.
In the past week I have juggled school-related stress, a cold, and having to work till 2 A.M. while successfully getting enough sleep. I’m impressed!
In the past week I have realized how much I appreciate Joey during times when I’m stressed out.
I came home to find this tiny empty jar in our pantry.
I’m so glad I have a boyfriend who saves tiny jars because he knows his girlfriend will make some use of it or at least find it funny. Or maybe he kept it for himself…
I really am amused by the cuteness of something like a tiny jar.
It’s also nice to have someone who makes your lunch for you.
Those pimentos are definitely hiding in there.
It’s also nice (I guess) to have someone there to tell you no when you mention having Nyquil oats the next morning.
Despite some of the potentially dangerous habits I’ve been participating in, i.e. over-Starbucking, staying up till horrendous hours of the early morning, minimal exercising I have to admit I’ve been feeling great! I’m doing the best I can given my homework load, work schedule and current health and that makes me happy 🙂
It makes me happy that it’s Friday too!
Up till 2
I had been dreading Wednesday night for weeks but eventually I had to face the music. The music being me having to work at the library till 2 A.M.
Dear college students, please study at normal hours and stop cramming so I don’t have to watch over you during absurd hours of the morning. Thank you, Lauren.
To prepare for my late night extravaganza I did a few things.
#1 I powered up with a filling breakfast.
Thanks to Joey I woke up with a 4 pound bag of rolled oats and didn’t have to eat yesterday’s gloop again.
1/4 cup Silk Nog went into the oats and I could just barely taste it. I think I’ll save the rest for plain drinking purposes.
I haven’t had banana on top of my oats in a while, it was fun! Also on top was peanut butter, pumpkin granola (new!) and some cake crumbs. I’ll have to ask Hannah what kind of cake it was again but it sure was gooood 🙂
#2 Packed the rest of last night’s improv dinner.
We had soup on the menu but I was NOT feeling it so Joey went with leftovers and I made up a big ‘ol salad complete with spinach, dried cranberries, fig, apple and a honey and balsamic dressing.
Then I threw some pumpkin spice roasted chickpeas in the oven. Recipe from Mama Pea.
Joey was jealous. He told me so. About 4 times.
#3 Load up on caffeine.
Okay, this looks a little extreme but really it was only one grande soy salted hot chocolate + espresso that I divided in two and added milk to each. One for before work and one for later if I need it!
So delicious.
#4 Pack a nutricious dinner to make up for that sugary drink (refer to #3).
I may have squealed in delight when I read Angela’s post on vegan mac and cheese. This is a combination of my two favorite things: mac and cheese and a good vegan cooking challenge.
Let me just say this vegan cheese sauce is good. Really really good. I was semi disappointed because baking the mac and cheese dried it out significantly. Next time I don’t think I’ll bake it, although I’ll definitely miss the baked breadcrumbs…
Overall, it was still pretty darn good and I love the fact that it has not one, not two, but three veggies hidden in the sauce.
And as if that wasn’t enough we paired it with some broiled asparagus when I first made this dish on Monday night.
Word to the wise, if you double it your fridge will be exploding with mac and cheese leftovers for the next week and a half (or so I’m guessing).
#5 Pack enough snacks to feed the entire library.
In my bag:
- an entire jar of peanut butter — not because I plan on eating it all but because I was too lazy to portion it out 😛
- “Social Crackers” — purchased at TJ’s when we were in California in July
- 3 dates
- 1/2 a banana
- 3/4 honeycrisp apple
Yeah, I think I’m prepared.
Barista
I was my own barista yesterday morning.
Remember that soy chai I forced kindly asked Joey to pick up for me on Friday? Yeah well it was sweet. Like really sweet. I made it halfway through and have been hoarding the other half in the fridge ever since. I couldn’t just waste the rest, even if it was nauseating.
This morning I re-vamped the drink by microwaving 1/2 cup of almond milk then pouring it into the blender to froth it up then microwaved the leftover chai and pour the milk on top.
It looked Starbucks worthy to me.
Next to the remade chai went some oats, except they hardly deserved to be called oats. I had Joey pick up my last batch of oats and there were two bags of rolled oats; one took ten minutes to cook, the other fifteen. I couldn’t decide so we got both. 15-minute bag was great, 10-minute bag was like eating glue.
I had high hopes for this morning’s oats because I added this to the batch.
But I was too busy forcing down spoonfuls of gloop to notice any eggnoggy flavor.
Better luck next time tomorrow. But at least the pictures came out okay.
And the chai was delicious.
Crofters is gooood.
FYI, I’m still slurping down the minestrone soup I made last week. Is there a rule about how long you should keep leftovers?
I finally finished it though!
Alongside a mozzarella and tomato sandwich. I’m going to pretend I didn’t realize mozzarella was cheese and that I didn’t know I shouldn’t be eating dairy with a cold.
And now I’m going to pretend I enjoy doing homework 
Lauren Loves Good Food 