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Tag Archives: 5 ingredients or less
Caramel Apple Oatmeal Parfait
For my readers who have been around since the beginning: can you tell I’m not as into apples as I used to be?
I used to love them so much. They were the first “health food” I hooked myself on when I started weaning myself off processed foods. I would honestly eat two or three apples a day to keep myself from eating crap like Doritos or ice cream. When I started buying organic food, apples and bananas were pretty much the only produce I could afford. When I fell in love with peanut butter, I would eat sliced apple with peanut butter every afternoon when I came home from my last class of the day during my junior and senior year in college.
You can see that obsession in my early recipes. So. Many. Apples. I’m not sure when it happened, but during my year in Newark, the love affair ended. I started having stomach issues (mainly bloating) after eating apples, and I found bananas and oranges to be less abrasive. The apple recipes faded away. (more…)
Blackberry Thyme Oatmeal
Remember less than a week ago when I said that my rosemary plant was the only one still thriving?
Joke’s on me! It’s dead now.
Shortly after making the Grape Rosemary Oatmeal (which was delicious!), my rosemary plant went from green and robust to brown and brittle. I don’t even know…
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Grape Rosemary Oatmeal
Ugh, you guys… I suck so much at taking care of herbs.
I bought four different herbs from the farmers’ market: basil, cilantro, thyme, and rosemary. The basil looked beautiful for nearly two weeks, and then it turned a sad yellow color. The thyme turned brittle after a few days. The tall bush of cilantro collapsed into a yellow pile within hours. All three of them never fully recovered. I believe the basil and thyme improve a little bit every day, but the cilantro had to be removed from the pot and tossed. The only plant that still looks functional is the rosemary.
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Mango-Coconut Overnight Oatmeal with Puffed Wild Rice
Before I share the beautiful recipe pictured below, let me just declare my love and commitment to New York City. I love you, NYC, and there’s nobody else for me than you. Please don’t be jealous at what I’m about to say. At the end of the day, my rent money goes to you, and it’s your beautiful bridges and skylines I drool over.
That being said, there’s another city I adore: MSP, better known to the rest of the world as “Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota.”
Peach Almond Oatmeal with Pomegranates
Mmkay. Time to be vulnerable.
I’ve been somber lately. Maybe even a little hopeless.
My apartment does not offer great lighting. My window faces almost directly south, meaning the sun never fully shines inside, despite our big windows. I cannot take pictures outside without walking straight onto the bustling sidewalks of New York and lookin’ like a fool. I try taking pictures near my bedroom window during the brightest time of the day, but they still turn out grainy and discolored.
I have a pretty great camera (the top-rated point-and-shoot on the market), but it functions best in natural lighting. It’s not ready for indoor, dimly-lit food photography. Having just signed a lease on my first how-the-heck-does-it-possibly-cost-this-much NYC apartment, I can’t even fathom buying a fancy camera at this point.
Peach Banana Muesli
Week 6 of not having a stove. ?
It’s becoming painful, yo. When so much of your happiness relies on your ability to cook and prepare food, not having a functioning stove is a terrible blow. We’ve been dealing with our electronic company for weeks trying to convince them to turn on our gas. Every time, it’s “You need to do X.” So then we do X. We wait. We call back. They say, “You did X, but you still need to do Y.” We say, “You never told us that, but okay.” We do Y. We wait. We call back. Etc.
FOR SIX WEEKS. ??
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Grape and Dark Chocolate Chunk Muesli
. . . Because chocolate chunks are just plain better than chocolate chips.
Although most of my favorite food blogs are vegan (or at least vegetarian), I take inspiration from all food lifestyles. I check FoodGawker at least twice every day and browse until I have viewed each new recipe, and I know the times of the day that the site is usually updated. It might be an addiction…
Ever since I “met” Haley from Cheap Recipe Blog, hers is one of the sites that I often find inspiration. Recently, she shared a cheap and easy entertaining idea of serving frozen grapes, dark chocolate, and wine for dessert. Um, I love all three of those things, so YES.
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Root Beer Float Overnight Oatmeal
I have so many recipe ideas. Unfortunately, some of them require obscure ingredients that I couldn’t imagine myself using regularly (or, in the case of macadamia nuts, I can’t afford to use them regularly!). This was my problem with root beer extract. Wouldn’t it be cool to have a root beer float oatmeal? But what else could I possibly do with it?
Thus, I was pretty freakin’ pleased when I perused my mom’s baking cupboard and discovered root beer concentrate. You see, my mom’s quite special. She may appear to be your standard accountant, but when she comes home, she transforms into a cake decorator. She used to just do average sheet cakes and basic wedding tier cakes, but when the cupcake trend blossomed, so did her repertoire.
She now pumps out all sorts of “hip” cupcakes: Oreo, dreamsicle, red velvet (of course), lemon, salted caramel, etc. If you’ve seen it on Pinterest, she’s probably tried it. Anyway, sometime during her experiments, she must have done a root beer cupcake, and thanks to her, I can give you this recipe today.
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Grape and Orange Marmalade Oatmeal
I must share a story with you.
This is my last day of school as a first-year teacher. On one of the days earlier this week, a student (whom I love, of course) brought goodies for the teachers. My colleague came into our workroom holding a bag of cookies and encouraged me to check out my mailbox because the student had left treats for each of us, along with personalized drawings for gift tags. Like every time a student brings gifts, I felt the same mixed feelings: flattered, but disappointed. Nine times out of ten, I end up giving away the non-vegan food item to a coworker (but appreciate the thought nevertheless).
I hustled to my mailbox anyway, eager to see the drawing this student left me. What did I find?
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Salted (or not) Caramel Apple Oatmeal
One week remains of my first year of teaching! Each year, as my life and career become increasingly more demanding, I worry about how my blog will fit into my schedule. This year, I consistently worked 70-80 hours a week, yet I somehow managed to squeeze in a few hours each weekend to manage this blog . . . So if you’re wondering why I’m not so great at responding to blog comments anymore, that’s why. I’m sorry! I read and appreciate all of them!
Despite my long hours of classroom prep, I remained loyal to this blog. I think that’s quite telling. No matter how stressful my life was, I made this blog a priority. Why? I enjoy it. Yes, it’s a LOT of (more) work, but it’s also gratifying and therapeutic.
This recipe, like many others, has been stumping me for at least a year. How could I make a VEGAN caramel sauce? It’s not that I didn’t know how–there are tons of recipes out there. I just didn’t feel like making it (see above re: 70-80 hours a week)!
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