What I Ate [When I Quit My Job] Wednesday
If you follow me on Twitter (and you should because you’ll get to hear about hilarious things, like when a lady told me I remind her of her half Japanese niece — wait what??), you know that I’ve been kind of unhappy at my job. And by “kind of unhappy,” I mean I’m sick of coming home angry, stressed, annoyed, dirty, exhausted and unable to properly function for the rest of the night.
After much encouragement from friends, family and Twitter followers (seeee, if you followed me on Twitter, you could have been one of those encouraging people!), I finally gave my boss my two weeks notice yesterday. Now I don’t have a job I hate. I just don’t have a job at all.
But I’m trying to stay positive. And what better way to stay positive than to eat tasty food and blog about it? Plus a foodie party always makes me happy.
Thanks to Jenn of Peas and Crayons for hosting the link-up and here’s to a new year of WIAW parties!
Breakfast:
Cornmeal pancakes topped with melted Justin’s Chocolate Hazelnut Butter, dried cranberries and a drizzle of maple syrup.
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to eat cornbread doused in chocolate and maple? Me too. And now I know it’s delicious.
I’ll perfect that recipe and have it to you by 2013.
Lunch:
Pumpkin Mac and Cheese, plus kale and peas.
I get the mac and cheese + peas thing from my mom.
She also eats mac and cheese mixed with Chinese food leftovers…
Dinner:
Chickpea Potpie with Cornbread Crust.
One of my favorite recipes!
Nighttime Snack:
Half a banana, plus peanut butter and maybe a few chocolate chips.
A bite of a raspberry truffle cake pop, courtesy of Starbucks might have snuck in there too.
Happy Wednesday!
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Have you ever spontaneously quit your job?
Do you have a weird food combination you love?
Have you ever had a cake pop?
Eggnog Nutmeg Pancakes + Nog-Spiked Nut Butter Sauce
Long recipe titles make for extra tasty dishes, right?
Remember months ago when I said I made eggnog pancakes and promised to share the recipe and then never did? I just wanted to leave you all hanging in extended suspense. What can I say, I’m awesome at torturing others. Joey can vouch for that one, I’m sure.
My favorite flavor combinations change with the seasons and look something like this:
October = pumpkin.
November = chocolate and mint.
December through January = eggnog.
(Sidenote: February is clearly a month for chocolate and candy overloading. If someone just happens to give you Kit Kat bars and conversation hearts as a Valentine’s Day gift, you’re required to eat it, right? Right.)
I blame my mom for endowing me with strong love for eggnog. There are those that hate nog and those that love it. There’s no in between, and I’m a happy member of that second camp. So while I’m still eating pumpkin, chocolate and mint like it’s not already January, I needed a new noggy pancake for post-Christmas cheer and the one I came up with is a total winner.
Eggnog Nutmeg Pancakes + Nog-Spiked Nut Butter Sauce
For the pancakes:
- 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/4 cup eggnog*
- 1/4 cup milk*
For the nut butter sauce:
- 3/4 cup natural almond butter*
- 3/4 cup eggnog*
- 1 teaspoon nutmeg
- In a small bowl mix flour, baking powder and nutmeg together.
- Add eggnog and milk and mix until combined.
- Heat a skillet and drop batter to make 4 pancakes.
- Cook until batter begins to bubble on sides, then flip and cook until golden on the other side.
- While pancakes are cooking, make your nut butter sauce by combining eggnog, then almond butter and nutmeg in a blender. Blend until combined, then drizzle over pancakes.
*You can use regular eggnog or soy nog. Real nog tends to be rather thick, hence the milk to thin in out.
*Use whatever milk you have on hand.
*For the love of nog, use natural creamy almond butter. If you use roasted almond butter, you’ll have a sauce that just tastes like roasted almonds.
*And do not put the almond butter in the blender first. It’ll just clog up your blender. I would know.
Simple ingredients.
Mix the dry.
Add the wet.
The bubbles mean it’s time to flip.
That’s the golden I was talking about.
Make your nut butter sauce.
By adding milk, you basically slice the nutritional profile in half.
Which just means I eat twice the amount of nut butter I would usually eat.
Top pancakes with your sauce and whatever holiday goodies you have on hand.
I’m slightly obsessed with dried cranberries come winter.
Drink with a mug of tea.
Spiked with eggnog, obviously.
The best part is that although you’ll have to make more pancakes if you want them another day, you’ll have a big batch of nog-spiked nut butter sauce on hand already! Perfect for oatmeal, ice cream, yogurt, toast, etc. I’m even thinking of using some for granola…
Enjoy!
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Are you for or against eggnog?
What’s your favorite holiday food/flavor?
In 2012
I’ve heard that what you do on New Year’s Day sets the tone for the rest of the year.
In that case, in 2012 I will be as sarcastic, clumsy and grandmotherly as ever.
Last night, Joey and I got all dressed up, then realized standing in line in the freezing cold, paying a cover charge and being shoulder to shoulder in a bar hardly seemed worth it. Especially when you work at 8:30 the next morning. Being hungover on the first day of the new year is one thing, being hungover at a job where you have to deal with rude impatient customers on the first day of the new year is entirely different.
Instead, we swapped our dress shoes and heels for slippers and watched Lady Gaga perform dressed as… an Angry Bird?
I might be lame and stay in but at least I look classy in 2012.
So here’s to 2012…
A year when Joey hopefully gives up his Coke addiction.
I mean Coke, not coke. But I don’t really see a difference.
A year where I will take embarrassing pictures of myself and shamelessly post them for the world to see.
But I also did that last year, so again, I don’t really see a difference.
A year where I will drink amaretto on the rocks and champagne from margarita glasses.
Classy.
A year where I will feel lucky to be dating such a stud.
And to have good friends to laugh over silly things with.
Seriously?
A year when I will wake up at 7 AM, attempt to make pancakes that end up in the trash, burn one English muffin and slice my thumb open on a second English muffin and call it a relatively good morning.
Will 2012 be the year I finally lose a finger?
A year where my mom cooks a great New Year’s Day feast for dinner.
A year where we have to remind my dad that you aren’t supposed to eat the legs and shell on shrimp and where 4 family members will clear the platter.
So either I lost too much blood from my English muffin-cutting incident this morning or I’m in a family, friend and buttery lobster-induced state of euphoria or this year is off to a good start.
I don’t really see a difference.
Happy New Year!
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How did you ring in the New Year?
What are you looking forward to most this year?
Did you celebrate actual New Year’s Day or just New Year’s Eve?
Lauren Loves Good Food 