What I Ate (On My Fake College Break)

My new teaching job doesn’t officially begin until January 2nd, but I left Austin in November so that I could be with my family for Thanksgiving (and for the early hire interview I have on Thursday). Thus, I have found myself hanging out at my mom and dad’s respective homes, spending the month of December on an unofficial winter vacation from ‘college’…the college of life, that is.

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How quickly I have fallen into a ‘winter break’ routine…and for today’s What I Ate Wednesday post (for the party hosted each week by the lovely Jenn @ Peas and Crayons), I’ll give you a peek into just what I do (or at least what I eat) all day.My day starts at the Y. My hometown coincidentally is also home to the #1 YMCA in the country, so I immediately bought myself a one-month membership upon returning home. Every morning I watch The Today Show while ellipticalizing my heart out.* Workouts are followed by whatever delicious free flavored coffee offering they’ve got for me (with a side of the middle-aged mom magazines I love).

*OK, I’m actually quite lazy lately…but I at least make some effort.That little Styrofoam cup of coffee, is, of course, insufficient for my ritualistic hot beverage-drinking needs, so once home, I make another cup (or three) of coffee, from the package of Houston Blend HEB coffee I brought from Texas.

[Please note the interesting juxtaposition of my former and future home with the one I just left.]

Breakfast is always a big bowl of oatmeal…oats and oat bran, apple pie-spiced and slowly simmered on the stove* with extra water and almond milk for extra creaminess, with the occasionally odd tablespoon of ground flax or wheat germ stirred in.

*Where she sells seashells by the seashore?By the time I’m finished choosing and preparing toppings (on this day, apples and McCutcheon’s Pumpkin Butter) and then photographing my oats, they are usually cold and have to be reheated.I love them all the same.

I’ve got a bunch of stuff going on blogwise [have you voted for me to be one of the next Love Grown Foods love bloggers yet? ], including some freelance work (!), so I’ve been writing and cooking and undertaking a number of other projects, whether it’s baking, packaging, and mailing my vegan cookies for Love and Olive Oil‘s Great Cookie Swap…

…or perfecting recipes that have been haunting my brain* (Rosemary & Thyme Olive Oil Cookies, anyone?)

*Yes, most of the recipes lately seem to involve the word “cookie.” Lunch is usually some form of leftover something or other, like this Acorn Squash Bulgur Riso-faux that I made for a freelance assignment.I try to take at least one field trip a day. This is not as exciting (or as educational) as it seems, as we might be talking about going shopping at TJ Maxx…or going to the post office. But sometimes I stumble up surprises!Cookie Butter? Thank you Trader Joe’s! And even though it pretty much tastes just like Biscoff, the fact that the trader is coming right out and calling it Cookie Butter…well, as you can tell from the photos above, I’m all about the cookies lately, and I appreciate the forthrightness.I also couldn’t resist the flashing (in my mind) “NEW” sign by the coconut oil. I swear y’all…I only went in for some raw almond butter!Because the initial solution to my current status as a “vegan with benefits” was to offer me the sauce surrounding the meatball…

…which resulted (sadly) in the need for some of my favorite pink chewable wafers……I’ve started spending a good portion of the afternoon cooking dinner––either for myself, in the case of my Black Bean-and-Rice Burgers…

…or for the whole family, as when I made the INSANELY delicious Sweet Potato Groundnut Stew I came up with yesterday.Chopping and dicing requires some company in the kitchen. I prefer my company in the form of Chuck Bass and Nate Archibald, while catching up on this season of Gossip Girl.An afternoon Pennsylvania Dutch Diet Birch Beer? Also a good idea.*
*When in Pennsylvania, do as William Penn’s ancestors would do?
Because I tend to eat less early, so I can eat more later, I always have a nighttime snack…usually beginning with some grapes or an apple, followed by a small(ish) bowl of random cereal.And I try not to do it every night, but my spoon does quite often find it’s way into the Costco-sized almond butter that Mama Smart keeps on hand.*

*Or on the Stickies App on my phone. Whatever.