HI! Happy Thinking Out Loud Thursday! How’s your week going? Mine has been pretty good. And, honestly, the weeks go fast. I just started third year, but I’m also 20% done with the quarter. But with so much happening, there’s a lot to catch up on. First, in case you missed it, I posted a recipe for some seriously fantastic Brussels sprouts on Monday. You should go check that out. I’ll wait.
And now let’s talk about what’s happening in my life and mind this week. Thanks for the link-up, Amanda!
1.) So, I just said wrote, “I’ll wait.” Did you have teachers say that in grade school? Any time the class was too loud to talk over, my teachers would calmly say, “I’ll wait.” Obviously, they were annoyed, but they would just wait.
Well, it brings back memories of grade school for me. But it also brings back memories of Monday. During an 80-minute class, my professor spent 45 minutes refusing to move onto his next point of discussion until one of the 23 people in the class could give him the exact answer he was looking for. For 45 minutes, we were just told that we were wrong, that we were bullshitting him, and that we should know this. It’ll be an interesting quarter.
2.) Onto more fun things… we went apple picking this weekend! I did get some apples, but not as many as I’d have liked. See, they had a bunch of the fields closed. It made no sense, since there were clearly perfectly good apples on the trees there, but they were closed. So, if I want to do any good apple baking, it’ll be with store-bought apples.
3.) I did get a great apple-cinnamon donut, though.
{“So fall.” – One of my friends, when I set down all my apples and stood on a pumpkin to take this picture.}
4.) This week has been warmer than last, and my friend and I walked out of American Economic History yesterday talking about how it feels more like spring quarter than fall quarter. But last week, it was chilly in the mornings and I wanted a nice warm breakfast that wasn’t eggs.
I love eggs, but I wanted sweeter stuff. Kind of like oatmeal, but I’ve actually never been a huge oatmeal person. I just like the idea of it. So, I started looking for Paleo alternatives. What did I find? Cauli-oats. (I’ve also made this and love it a lot.) I was skeptical, but I’ll try anything once. I altered that recipe for cauli-oats quite a bit, but I really enjoyed what I made. Cauliflower has a very neutral flavor, so it tastes like whatever you cook it with. Am I going to tell all you oatmeal lovers it’s better? No, because you love oatmeal – but I don’t. I do love this. And who can argue with getting in veggies at breakfast? Look for a recipe… sometime.
5.) About that “sometime”: right now, I’m blogging pretty much 100% in real time. I’m hoping to have some time to get ahead this weekend. There are a few small changes I want to make to my posting schedule, but I need to get organized before I tell you all about them. Thanks for bearing with me. I love you.
6.) Over the last few weeks, I’ve been incorporating some dairy (Greek yogurt, Siggi’s, and cottage cheese, mostly) back into my diet to see if it bugs me. It doesn’t, as far as I can tell, and I’m so glad. I love meat and eggs, but it’s really nice to be able to get some protein elsewhere.
7.) Do you know how much it pains me that coffee shops all over the country turned into Luke’s Diner yesterday and I couldn’t make it to any of them? DO YOU?
Almost as much as the fact that I still don’t have wi-fi to watch Gilmore Girls over. Hopefully, they’re fixing that today. Hopefully.
8.) I took a barre class on Tuesday night because my school’s athletic center offers barre classes now and I’ve been curious about them for a while. That stuff is hard, guys. It makes teeny muscles you didn’t realize existed burn like crazy. I ran to the gym, but I walked back with a friend. I don’t think my legs would have moved much faster. I might start making the Thursday evening classes a more regular thing, but since I start yoga teacher training on Tuesdays next week (!), I think Tuesdays are out of the question.
9.) If you don’t know what to have for dinner, have a taco salad. When I mentioned yesterday that I didn’t know what to make, that’s what she said. I didn’t have perfectly traditional taco salad ingredients, but I used what I had and it was delicious. So, whatever taco salad means to you… have that.
10.) And now I want to leave you with some of my favorite recipes + reads from the week.
- I will take the entire loaf, please and thank you. Flourless Peanut Butter Coconut Cake
- This looks so cozy and flavorful. –> Crockpot West African Peanut Stew
- Minus the espresso for me. –> Vegan Pumpkin Spice Latte Truffles
- A lot of food for thought on self-soothing. –> How Do You Lick Your Forearms?
- Eyes on your own plate. –> A Word on Food Tolerances
Your turn:
Are you an oatmeal lover? What am I missing?
Have you ever taken a barre class?
Anything else I should know?
Personally, I love and adore oatmeal. But I don’t like it in the typical blogger fashion, with chia and flax and milk and all of that. NOPE. Give me it made with water and then with an eggwhite (if I want a more baked oats type of thing).
AND THANK GOD THAT THE WEATHER IS BEHAVING.
Until I go to Richmond for the wedding this weekend. And then we are screwed.
Hmm perhaps I should give your oats a shot.
Hope you’re having fun in VA!
Oatmeal —> i.e. quinoa flakes or buckwheat cereal…that’s where it’s AT!
Barre is a JOKE! Haha! For me it is FAR from a workout 😛
I respect that. I’d also add that the definition of workout is different to everyone. I don’t break a sweat doing barre or physical therapy, but I’m focusing on activating muscles I’m not used to working. Certainly not the same as chilling on the couch.
Ahhh I’m dying for some apple cider donuts now. My local grocery store has a giant machine they take ou on the weekends and make them fresh, and they usually have samples of hot donuts when I’m shopping. They’re irresistable
That sounds like heaven.
Ok, so I’ve never heard of Luke’s! What is it like? And those apple cinnamon donuts; now I want to go apple picking and get apple doughnuts.
I’ve been blogging in real time too, and I’m going to take a month break to write and schedule posts and then come back. 🙂
Blogging in real time is totally good too! 🙂
It’s a diner from Gilmore Girls 🙂 There were pop-up versions at coffee shops all across the country. As a huge Gilmore Girls fan, I’d loved to have gone!
Enjoy your break! I hope to still see you around 🙂
I’m a teacher and I HATE when I catch myself saying, “I’ll wait”. I usually count seconds and they owe that amount of time waiting quietly at the end of class instead. It’s just so hard not to say that. What an annoying class waiting around for the right answer though. I eat oats, egg whites, almond butter, an cinnamon every morning and LOVE it!
I’m starting to think I need to give this oats and egg whites thing a try. I’ve never done that before!
That apple cinnamon donut looks so good!
I am an oatmeal lover. I love adding egg whites to my oats to make them more fluffy. I also love the brand Love Grown’s little oat cups.
I haven’t tried barre! I am such a yoga gal, but maybe I’ll give it a shot some day!
I’m a yoga girl through and through! So excited to start teacher training next week 🙂
Oatmeal is my LIFE! I keep mine pretty simple with banana, protein powder, and nut butter, but what I love most about it is that if I ever get bored, there are literally hundreds of flavour combos I can turn to instead. It’s seriously probably my favourite food ever.
Maybe I just haven’t jazzed it up enough. Stay tuned. I’ll work on that this fall/winter!
I can’t eat oats due to celiac disease, but I’m definitely a fan of my oatless zoats (made with buckwheat flakes, rice flakes, chia seeds, grated zucchini and seasonings). I actually prefer plain oatless oatmeal cooked until its crunchy as a side to my smoothie bowls though!
Ooooh that crunchy side sounds tasty!
I love siggi’s but I haven’t tried that flavor! That looks so yummy and perfect for fall!
It’s delicious! Zingy and refreshing 🙂
I LOVE me some oatmeal! Maple brown sugar is my favorite, yum 😀
That flavor combo sounds fantastic!
Your professor sounds like a bit of a jerk! Hopefully we got his painful side out of the way so you have a good quarter?!
Whenever we go apple picking I find they close off a bunch of the fields with the perfect apples because those are what they sell to grocery stores/fresh food markets etc! I am always tempted to sneak my way in to eat the forbidden fruit, haha!
Yay for being able to eat dairy again! Here’s hoping your stomach sticks to loving it!
Haha… yeah, it definitely made him come across badly. I’m hoping that’s over with.
That explains so much! I was like, “Everything there looks perfectly good. Why can’t I go get those apples?!” But if you want pretty ones for the store… I guess that’s what you do. Lame.
First I was skeptical, but those cauli “oats” look really good!! How did you make them?
So was I! I’ve done a few different ones but this was ¾ c crumbled cauliflower, 1 c unsweetened almond milk, your fave protein powder, ⅓ c pumpkin, cinnamon, and a little vanilla, heated/simmered together. Then I topped it with a sliced banana, but it’s also good with banana caramelized in it!