snow day (kind of)

So glad I made the drive home last night rather than today!  We don't have crazy amounts of snow, but I'd rather not experience partially cleared roads with drifting.

Instead, we threw an impromptu staff breakfast party at our house!  Dave picked up some pastries from the Mexican bakery, I griddled up some scrambled eggs and sausage, we brewed a big pot of coffee, diced up a cantaloupe, and I got a large portion of oats rolling on the stovetop!  We ate, caffeinated, and watched Ice Age 3 together.  So fun!  And happily several people were loving the steel-cut oats!  The obsession spreads... bwa hahahaha!

Sandy brought an ice cream cake to celebrate Dave's birthday, so we cut into that late in the morning as well.

Dave's birthday is technically Friday, but the staff wanted to celebrate with him today!

Some of our "family" here in Goshen.  Amanda, Steve, Jeremy, Carrie, Sandy, and my birthday boy.

For lunch I roasted up some kale chips with olive oil and garlic salt.  Pre-oven:

Post-oven:

Yesterday I drove home without dinner (unless you counted some heavy snacking done pre-drive) and as I passed McDonalds I thought how long its been since I've had fries... but surprisingly, they didn't even sound that good.  I did stop and get a fruit and yogurt parfait though.  Love those!  These fries, on the other hand, always sound good!

The rest of the day is wide open.  I'm either taking a workout rest day or doing a circuit here at home.  Mosie is, thankfully, finally asleep.  She's in her second round of heat and last night she woke us up about 8 different times with her loud and throaty mating meow... needless to say we're feeling increasingly okay about getting her spayed.

And lastly, for my sister: HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Kelly!!!  Kel and I in 2008, being dorks.

Kel (age 6) and I (age 2) in 1986.  I love this picture.  (Apparently my love of ice cream started early.)

new veggies!

Let's not even talk about the football game, okay?  Yesterday was, however, redeemed by a wonderful run outside and in the sun.  It felt amazing!

This weekend I tried TWO veggies for the first time: Friday night was kale.  I loved it!  And when sauteed it got this delicious slightly crispy texture!  I had it with nutritional yeast gravy and sweet potato - yum!  Then last night I had turnip (raw).  The taste was really light and the crunch awesome.  I think it would be really great roasted with olive oil and garlic and some other veggies.  Hoping to pick some up this week from Kroger.

There is a big snow storm supposedly hitting late tonight/early tomorrow, so I get to head home TONIGHT after work!  HOORAY!!!  This makes Monday in the cubicle seem much more manageable.  Although I'm sad I'll miss swimming this week.

The taco soup tasted just like tacos, so I guess that makes it a success?  It was freakishly easy, which was awesome.  We topped it with cheese, sour cream, and tortilla chips, and paired it with cornbread.  It was great for a cold day and a football game!

Taco Soup
1 onion
1 green pepper
Saute together.  Add:
3 cans black beans (drained and rinsed)
1 can kidney beans
2 cans diced no-salt added toms
1c. frozen corn
2 packets taco mix
3c. water
Simmer together 20 minutes or so.

Random news: my new running shoes are awesome... except they are rubbing weird on my left pinky toe.  I'm pretty sure I'm on the fast track to losing that toenail this week.  This is reminiscent of my marathon training days back in 2006, when I lost two toenails.  Maybe you all will get lucky with some posted pictures later this week... I know my sisters would LOVE to see my toes again...

Superbowl, naturally

Kentucky successfully dismantled Louisiana State yesterday (81-55) and I am fully confident my boys the Colts will dismantle another certain Louisiana team later today.  We're having a small party at our house - just 5 other people.  Any more than that and we wouldn't all be able to fit in the living room... or have dishes to eat off.  I'm making taco soup (review to come - and maybe recipe, if it goes well) and cornbread for our dinner, and then everyone is bringing snacks/drinks to share.  Woohoo!!!

Until then I'm going to get a run in and spend some time with my book and the sun and Mosie.  Right now I'm reading Gabriel Garcia Marquez's autobio Living to Tell the Tale.  So far it's really good, not that I would expect anything less from Marquez.  One small pet peeve: the chapters are really really long.  I like when chapters are shorter... I think they encourage me to read faster.  Anyone else?

Did you know Indianapolis schools already have a 1 hour delay for Monday morning because of the Superbowl game?  Crazy, huh?  I don't think I'm going to be so lucky about my drive to Marion, but maybe there will be another snow storm or something to help me out.

Richele and I, fall 2007, on our way to a Colts game!

weekend eve!

Kelly helped me out:

Perfection.

It's been a fairly lazy Friday around these parts.  Dave and I tackled the house today and got it all de-cluttered, de-dusted, and de-littered (AKA: sweepered).  Mosie doesn't leave much hair but the sweetheart sure loves to take litter around the house in her many-toed paws.  Wonderful.  I spent some time this morning at the kindergarten classroom giving spelling tests and reading to a little boy.  Mosie is currently sleeping on my lap, which is preventing me from finishing the sweepering, getting more water, and going to the bathroom.  But she's so cute!

Look!  I went a whole post without talking about oats!  Ta-da!

2 posts, 1 day: still about oats

Yes, really.  More about oats!  I had a reader request for some of my favorite oat toppings, and I am only too happy to oblige!

Apple pie oats: plain yogurt (about 1/4 or 1/3c.), applesauce (same amount as yogurt), cinnamon, splash of vanilla, little ginger if you're feeling crazy!
Apple pie oats 2: diced apple (microwave for 30-40 seconds), cinnamon, vanilla
Pear oats: plain yogurt, diced up pear
PB oats: plain yogurt, big scoop of peanut butter (about a tablespoon or more)
Strawberry peach oats: plain yogurt, fruit puree (1 bag each frozen strawberries and peaches, thawed, pureed til still chunky)
Traditional oats: plain yogurt, cinnamon

Leftover desserts are also a good idea, like apple pie.  Chocolate chips and cinnamon.  I haven't tried it yet, but I'm pretty sure a splash of coffee in oats would be awesome.  We've also got some berries right now, but surprisingly I'm not loving them in my oats.  I've tried craisins but didn't enjoy the solidness of them in the middle of my oats.  I've also done banana in my oats, but I'm freakishly weird about bananas and didn't like them in there either.

Allow me to explain.  You might be freakishly weird about bananas if you:

• only buy 2 or 3 bananas at a time, preferring to return to the grocery store every 2-3 days to get new, slightly green bananas.
• anxiously watch how the grocer packs the bananas in the bag.
• feel actual anger at said grocer if they put ANYTHING on top of the bananas.  Bananas are a top-of-the-bag item, people!
• immediately repack your groceries as soon as you are outside the store.  Bananas on top.  Resume breathing.
• give top priority to the grocery sack with bananas.  This one does not get slung over the shoulder or gripped with three other bags.  It goes in the lone hand that can hold it out from the body so it does not bump against anything.
• compulsively tell your husband, "Careful.  The bananas are in there" about said grocery bag.
• want to throw up (and probably do gag) at the sight of over-ripe, bruised bananas.
• can't make banana bread because mashing said over-ripe, bruised bananas is above your gross-factor capacity.

Okay then.  I think I've proved my point.  If any of you doubt the actual truth of the above statements... just ask Dave.  Needless to say, I'm pretty specific about my banana preferences.  Love them alone or with peanut butter or apples.  Do not in oatmeal.  Moving on.

I'm pretty sure Dave and I need to buy these in order to embrace the full scope of my Kentucky-love.  Yes?

(source)

Unfortunately, I'm not photoshop-skilled enough to paste our faces in there.  That would be truly awesome.  I'm thinking these are worth $50 each since we could wear them for Colts AND Kentucky.  Right?

d.i.y. and f.y.i.

Recently we scored a huge bag of raw almonds from Sam's Club.  I was especially excited about this, since Kroger only carries tiny little bottles of almonds and they're expensive.  But I found I didn't enjoy the raw almonds as much as roasted.  So yesterday I roasted my own!  I was a little nervous since our oven tends to be a little picky and doesn't always cook even.  I spread the almonds over a cookie sheet and put them in at 425 for about 12 minutes.  I turned them halfway through because the back of our oven cooks faster than the front.  All done!

These were amazing!  I thought I liked roasted almonds but I absolutely ADORE fresh roasted almonds!  These tasted so good and so much better than the store-bought.  AH!  I'm very excited about them, obviously.

We had a delicious white pizza for dinner last night.  Wheat parmesan scone crust, olive oil/onion/garlic/herb sauce, broccoli, shrimp, and mozzarella.  Yum!

So, back to my favorite topic (which are currently cooking on the stove): oats!  You may be wondering (as I definitely did) what the difference is between steel-cut, old fashioned, quick, and instant oats.  The answers (source):

Steel-cut (sometimes called Irish Oats): The oat grain intact is called an oat groat.  Steel-cut oats are oat groats sliced by (you guessed it) steel blades.  Oat groats are very nutritious but take a long time to cook.  Steel-cut have all the same nutrition as the groat, but cook much faster.  They are often a little bit chewier and take longer to break down and digest.

Old Fashioned: Oat groats are steamed and then "rolled" into a flake (I'm not really sure how rolling them turns into flakes...).  Old-fashioned oats cook faster and have a more mushy or gelatinous texture.  These digest quicker than steel cut or oat groats, so they  might not tide you over quite as long.

Quick: These oats are steel-cut oats that are cut more, steamed, rolled, and made into smaller flakes.  They cook fast - under 3 minutes - but are digested faster since they are already thinner and smaller.  Compared to old-fashioned, quick oats are not quite as dense or chewy.

Instant: Instant oats are steel-cut oats that are cut very thin and steamed, then pre-cooked.  Instant oats are in the paper packages, often flavored.  They cook really fast (just add hot water).  In essence, they are similar to quick oats but cook faster.  And if they're packaged and flavored they're often full of sugar.

Hope that helps!  My pb/apple/cinnamon steel-cut oats:

Do you eat oats?  What kind is your favorite?  Do you like plain or do you add your own flavorings?

NEW oats!

My love/addiction/obsession of oats is well-documented here.  Yesterday my new case of steel-cut oats arrived!  Ta-da!

I was so excited to try them this morning.  When I opened the top though, I was surprised.  They were smaller than I expected.  For some reason I was expecting them to be granola-chunk size or something.  I was also a little worried that the serving size was a 1/4c.  I currently eat 1c. old fashioned oats (2 servings) every morning.  I wasn't sure 1/2c. steel-cut would be enough!

Cooking... my witch's brew:

The container said it would take 30 minutes.  Mine were ready in about 20.  This made me extra happy, since I'm impatient and even more impatient when it comes to hunger and breakfast.

Into the bowl!

Thankfully 1/2c. steel-cut bulked up to my normal oatmeal portion size.  Yay!

With my favorite apple pie toppings: yogurt, applesauce, cinnamon:

I loved how the oats were just slightly chewy.  YUM.  I wolfed them down.

An empty oats bowl is a sad, sad thing.  The old-fashioned oats I have left are being relegated to cooking... or when I need a speedster breakfast.  Steel-cut oats are my new oat love, for sure.

On deck for today: shower, kindergarten classroom, Kroger, deciding and making dinner, reading time, and hanging out with Dave!  Happy Wednesday!