It’s my new favorite combo!
For some reason PB& banana doesn’t seem so appealing to me lately…maybe I have PB&B burnout? I put frozen banana + strained plain yogurt in my oatmeal instead now!

And I took a break from bread baking this week due to having to volunteer at COR and run participants at the sleep lab!

I did my first run this morning and I nearly died…got about 1 hour of sleep in between coming home, eating a huge breakfast [I have to food deprive my subjects because I'm studying water intake!], grocery shopping, and running off at 11 a.m. to run practice sessions for my other participants!

I was actually late for my 11 a.m. appointment And anyone who has ever had an appointment with me can tell you that I’m always the one who’s 10 minutes early for everything! Rawr.

Anyway, so I didn’t get around to lunch til 2: 30…but man this makes up for all the sleep loss!

PB&A served over crunchy whole wheat toast and cinnamon!

And to prove to you of my new love for PB&A:

This is what I had for breakfast on Nov 16 [Monday]! I guess in this case it was PB&A&F [fig!]

0.5 cup oats, water, milk
1 tbsp wheat germ, 1 tbsp flax
1 gala apple, 1 chopped dried fig
cocoa, dollop yogurt
sunflower & pumpkin seeds, PB

It was good!

Semester countdown: one month until winter vacation!

This is what I do when I have to stay up all night:

Baking, cooking things, and trying not to set off fire alarms!
I’m a volunteer for the Campus Observation Room this year and I had an on-call shift from 12 – 4 a.m. on Saturday night, so instead of using this extra time to study, I dirty up the kitchen counter!

This is my second attempt at sweet potato bread, and I used a modified version of my Oatmeal Bread recipe, subbing sweet potatoes for the wheat germ and flax!

Spiced Sweet Potato Bread – 12 slices
1 packet or 1 tsp sweetener of choice [I used Sweet&Low]
1.5 cup lukewarm water
1.0 tsp instant yeast
3 cups ww flour
0.75 cup quick oats
1 medium sweet potato, mashed
0.25 tsp salt
1 tsp ground ginger [I used 0.75 tsp--but the flavor doesn't show up much with this amount!]
1 tbsp flax for sprinkling

About half an hour before, microwave or cook the sweet potato. I nuked it for 4 minutes, then cubed it.
Once the potato has cooled, mix all ingredients together, except the flax.

Let sit for 1 hour.

Fold dough after 1 hour.
Shape dough and put into bread pan or baking pan. Brush top of the dough with water or milk and sprinkle flax on top.

Let sit for 3-4 hours. [I let it sit for 2 hours, but the addition of sweet potatoes seem to slow the yeast down, so I'd recommend letting it sit longer]

Preheat oven to 350F.
Bake 20-30 minutes.

Yay! I actually got more servings this time because I waited longer before baking. Next time I’m going to wait even longer before popping into the oven!

The bread was slightly sweet and has a chewy center, and crunchy crust! Definitely a bread that tastes good after a good toasting. I think next time I’m going to add more ginger, ’cause I could barely taste it.

School semester is almost over! 2 weeks left! 5 weeks and 6 days til I get to go home!

My breakfast invites you in:

I had this breakfast two days in a row because grapes were on sale and I want to eat them before they go bad! And also because I like grapes and don’t eat them often enough

0.33 cup oats, water, milk
flax, wheat germ
7 grapes, 0.5 small banana, 1 fig!
sunflower seeds
1 tbsp PB

This is what I had the day before [nov 8]

Same thing, but with goji berries, cocoa powder,  chopped up grapes instead of halved ones, and no sunflower seeds! I chop the grapes up because: 1. easier to eat 2. there are seeds in them and I don’t want to be spitting out seeds while I’m supposed to be enjoying breakfast!

And then I got camera happy:

The weather was so nice and warm the entire weekend! Lots of good light for photog-ing

Yummehhh!
I also had a huge cup of tea [green tea?] with my meal but my cup is too big and would ruin the composition of the photo! I can’t wait to go home for the holidays because I would have nice bowls and cups to play with instead of all these white ones!

And here’s what I’ve been eating for lunch ever since Friday [? or Saturday?]:

Coleslaw, frozen spinach, corn, tofu, bell peppers, grape tomatoes
parm, curry powder, mustard
apple
green tea

But I bought feta cheese [$0.99 per tub!] I can add that to the mix as well! Whooo!

AND MIDTERMS ARE FINALLY OVER! 6 weeks and 6 days til I go home for the holidays!

Oh what is this, an update 2 days in a row?

Look what I made 2 days ago!

My first loaf of bread everrrr!
This is actually my second attempt at bread baking, but the first time I baked sweet potato buns!

I’m so glad I decided to buy yeast at the grocery store–I think I have enough yeast to last me through the year, which means I never have to buy bread again! And I get to procrastinate bake some more!

This loaf turned out crunchy on the outside, and chewy and soft on the inside. And the smell was nutty and sweet! Too bad I didn’t have a bread pan, because otherwise this could have been sandwich bread!

Whole Wheat Oatmeal Bread
makes 12 thick slices

1 packet sweet & low [or 2 tsp sweetener of choice]
1.75 cup lukewarm water
1 tsp instant yeast
3 cups ww flour
0.75 cup quick oats [or ground rolled oats/oat flour]
0.25 cup flax
0.25 cup wheat germ
0.25 tsp salt

Mix everything together until it forms a dough.
Let sit for about 2 hours.
Fold the dough and let it sit for another hour.
Fold again. Wait another hour.

If you haven’t already, transfer the dough to a baking pan or pour it into a bread pan.
Shape the dough to your liking.

Sprinkle some oats or seeds on top of the loaf if you like. Might be helpful to brush a bit of eggs or water on top to help the toppings stick [I didn't do that, but I should have!]
Let the dough sit another hour.
Preheat oven to 350F.
Bake for 30-40 minutes.

Ta da!

Finally found a good time of the day to take pictures!

Today’s breakfast:

0.33 cup oats, water
1 tbsp flax + 1 tbsp wheat germ
1 kiwi, 0.5 small banana
1 tbsp PB, drizzled
1 tsp sunflower seeds
1 dried fig, chopped

The fig kinda got hidden under the oat explosion during the microwave process But it was good! I’ve never had figs before, and once warmed up, they get even softer and chewier and SO GOOD with peanut butter!

Check out the gooeyness! I also had a cup of green tea, but forgot to make it til after the food photog-ing was done!

One last picture:

Taking pictures is fun!

And today’s lunch:

coleslaw, frozen spinach & corn, 5 grape tomatoes, 1 slice tofu, 1/4 of a red bell pepper
topped with: curry powder [my new favorite condiment! ], parmesan, tiny bit mustard, pepper, worcestershire sauce

A bit on the small side, but held me over til dinner. It’s been a while since I had a lunch so full of different kinds of vegetables!

It’s very orange!
And also very yummeh

0.25 cup oatmeal, 0.5 banana, pumpkin, flax, milk, cinnamon, ginger, yogurt, 1 broken up carrot spice muffin, almonds

Baked things with yogurt in my oatmeal is my new favorite thing!
All that’s missing is some good ol’ nut butter

-drool-
I had this same thing for the entire week. [oct 13 - 17]

Oh oh and this is what’s on sale this week:

Nature’s Path granola! 3 boxes for $10! [I got $1 off 'cause I got a coupon ] These things are usually like…$6 per box. I got these in three flavors: PB, pumpkin, and hemp. LOVE the PB flavor…OMFG.

Other awesome recipes I’ve tried out lately:

Sept 24

Egg casserole! First one I ever made–baked it in the toaster oven and it took forever. Was good though!

It contained: 2 eggs, parsley & oregano, bit of milk, black pepper, mushrooms, 1 artichoke heart

AWESOMENESS.

Sept 27

Eggplants!!!! Haven’t had baked eggplants in ages. Made this during Homecoming weekend when I was all sick with the cold and all my housemates had gone back home. 4 eggplant pizzas! Topped with Classico’s Mushrooms & Ripe Olives sauce, ground chicken, mushrooms, cheese, and parsley!

And lastly:

Oct 1

TOFU!!
I was really craving asian food for about 2 weeks so I broke out the soy sauce and rice vinegar for some stir-fry! I flavored the slices with ~2 tsp soy sauce, dash sugar, ~0.5 tsp ground ginger, a few squirts of lemon juice, ~0.5 tsp rice vinegar, and ~1 tbsp water.

FOOD IS AWESOME, YEAH?

Thanksgiving = incentive to buy sweet potatoes <3

Today’s lunch:

0.5 sweet potato and golden delicious apple sprinkled with TONS of cinnamon,  6 grape tomatoes, and a huge cup of chai tea!

I ate the sweet potatoes with cream cheese as well…new favorite combo? I think so!

Lots of closeups:

Most colorful lunch ever! Table top decorations courtesy of my housemate’s parents–who visited yesterday! As soon as I saw the mini pumpkins and flowers I knew at least one of those things will be under the mercy of my camera lens

I also did some baking this morning!

Carrot spice muffins from SusanV! They were more like muffin tops, because I don’t have cupcake molds! Can’t wait to have these with my oatmeal tomorrow morning–it tastes very cinnamony & gingery!

>

I halved the recipe and used a mashed avocado because I don’t have butter! I also used 2 packets of Splenda and 2 packets of raw sugar …because I haven’t bought any sugar yet! I keep meaning buy some honey at least, but I keep putting it off

Unfortunately I don’t have my pumpkin oatmeal from this morning because my sleep schedule’s all screwed up, and my camera isn’t high tech enough to take pictures in the dark But it was awesome anyway! I soaked some oats and goji berries in milk and yogurt over night, then added pumpkin, flax, ground pecans, and a little granola this morning!

However, I have oatmeal pictures from several days before!

Oct 10 – Cocoa & apple oatmeal

oats, apples, cocoa, cinnamon sugar, flax

All nuked in the microwave for 2 minutes!

Sept 20 – Chocolate Banana Oatmeal

I can’t tell you how many times I had this for breakfast last year!

0.5 cup oats, water & milk, banana, cinnamon, ground ginger, cocoa

Also made with the microwave! I’m really getting the hang of microwave cooking~

It’s awesome that my housemate Sarah likes to decorate things~because otherwise this picture would be a lot more boring!

I should really be studying for a midterm I have tomorrow at 8: 30…but I don’t wanna

It’s cheap, easy to make, and AWESOME Best. Study. Snacks. Ever. So crunchy and nutty and -drool-

I made these over the past weekend while all my housemates were out of town and I had the whole kitchen to myself–so instead of studying, I made a ton of stuff!

Recipe
1 can chickpeas
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
dill weed and black pepper [as much as you want]

Preheat oven to 450F.
Mix everything together
Bake until they turn brown [30-40 minutes]

Mine turned out chewier than I wanted ’cause I thought they were getting burned so I didn’t want to leave them in there any longer!
And I only used half a can ’cause I only had one can of chickpeas and I really wanted to make hummus as well:

Yayuh!
The hummus didn’t turn out that great though…not enough flavor to be used as a dip…I think I’ll add some parmesan cheese to it next time.

[Nooooo firefox quit on me just as I was finishing my post! ]

Yay!!

Monday – first breakfast of the school year!

• 1/4 cup oatmeal
• 1 gala apple
• cinnamon & ground ginger
• ~1/2 cup water
• 1/4 cup almond milk

I know this almond milk thing has been going on for a while now, but I’ve been missing out due to my overwhelming unwillingness to spend money! So imagine my joy when I saw that this stuff was on sale for $2.00 a carton at Loblaws!

I bought 4 cartons [2 original, 2 vanilla] and have already finished one! The original one has a milder taste than I expected and the almond flavor isn’t very prominent. But it smells like rice milk and it wasn’t too sweet–so I really like it! The vanilla one was wayyy too sweet to drink by itself, though. But it serves a double function as creme and sweetener in my coffee–so it’s all good!

With the milk:

I think I’ll probably need to add the vanilla flavor if I actually want to taste the milk with the oats~

Going back to Sunday’s lunch:

Quaker’s Tomato & Basil rice cakes, soup, veggies & ground turkey with worcestershire and black pepper

I’m addicted to rice crackers! SO GOOD!

Going forward to Monday!

Whole wheat bread + cheese + chicken breast, banana, peach yogurt & fiber1 cereal.

Not sure if I tried it that day or if it was later in the week, but I ate the banana with my ham & cheese. And it wasn’t gross at all! Although instead of the flavors mixing together in my mouth, the banana flavor stood out by itself and the ham & cheese was by itself–weird!

Dinner:

Ground turkey, baby carrots, corn, black beans, mushrooms, onions with parmesan cheese, and soup on the side.

I like saving the boiled water from my cooking and then adding some chicken bouillon to make soup! Saves me from having to dump the water out at the end!

More food to come! Am so behind on this blogging thing–just like how I’m already behind in my school work!

Argh can’t believe school starts tomorrow! Not looking forward to this at all…

Yesterday’s lunch, part one:

Whole wheat bread with turkey breast and cheese, along with Campbell’s Red Lentils & Vegetable soup [with black beans added to it]

Lunch part two:

Peach yogurt with Fiber1 cereal! I ate it straight out of the 650mL container
I’ve seen this type of cereal on so many blogs and wanted to try it–but it’s always so expensive! But this summer it finally went on sale and so I bought some~it is very fiber-y!

Dinner:

pasta!
With mushrooms, baby carrots, onions, and ground turkey.
I was going to make tomato sauce, but people from Bell messed up and we were stuck waiting for them to come back to fix the problem so there was no time to go grocery shopping! So for “sauce”, I just used:

- 1 tsp worchestershire
- ~1/4 tsp chicken bouillon
- oregano
- pepper

And it turned out pretty nicely so yay! But I still want tomatoes so I can make sauce and chilli! My life is so exciting!