Move Over Oatmeal

So you know how I rarely show pictures of anything breakfast-related? It’s mostly because I eat the same thing everyday. I may be a food blogger, but I’m actually quite boring when it comes to my breakfast and lunch meals. If I showed you what I ate in its entirety each day, you’d be bored out of your gourds. As far as b-fast goes, I’m an oatmeal lover (i.e. one of those folks who dreams about oatmeal when they go to bed at time and bounds out of bed in the morning all for the love of oats), but a lucky combination of events allowed me to break out of my oatmeal rut. We might call it the “perfect breakfast storm.”

First off, today’s a Sunday, and because I didn’t have to rush off to work, I pondered the notion of spending some time making something that’s not oatmeal. Based on that logic, you might imagine that I would make something non-oatmeal related every Sunday, but that’s just not the case.

Here’s where the second component of today’s non-oatmeal breakfast came in: I wasn’t hungry when I woke up! Gasp! That’s a fairly rare occurrence for me. When the hunger does strike (as it does 95% of the time in the mornings for yours truly), I revert to my oatmeal tendencies because it’s what I know, love, and make best. There’s no thought involved in its making, and I get to eat something that’s truly delicious. Gosh oatmeal, you rock.

So…back to my non-hunger. The lack of hunger this morning inspired me to try out something a skosh more time-intensive, so I decided to make a healthified Caramelized Banana French Toastwich

I’m almost positive this has been done a gazillion times before in the blog world. I know I’m not nearly as original as I’d like to think, but it was the first time I’ve ever made this….and it rocked my socks off. Mover over oatmeal, a new sheriff’s in town. For today anyway…

I made this bad boy by sauteing a sliced nanner in a tsp of canola oil. Once it had sufficiently caramelized on both sides (and trust me, you can tell because your kitchen will smell like heaven), I removed the nanner from the hot pan and set it aside till later.

Meanwhile, I beat an egg with a bit of soymilk, cinnamon, ginger, and allspice. I dredged two slices of whole wheat toast (Rudi’s Organic Cracked Colorado wheat bread) in the egg mixture and slapped ‘em on the skillet. I let each side cook for a few minutes before removing from the pan, adding the banana slices, and sprinkling a bit of powdered sugar on top just for aesthetic purposes.

Actually, the powdered sugar was solely done for photographic purposes. It adds a bit of contrast to the beige/brown/narsty color scheme going on in the sandwich.

This was so delicious, and it kept me full for HOURS. I could scarcely imagine that something lacking PB would hold me for 5-6 hours, but this little beast did. I think it must have been the egg. Eggs have a special power over my stomach; they sit like stones in there. Happy stones, of course. Not the ones that make you feel like you have a food baby.

And my dinner tonight was also amazing!

I based it off of this Stuffed Moroccan Acorn Squash recipe that mi madre found on the internet on my behalf. I called her this afternoon begging for some ideas on how to get an acorn squash I have had in my possession for a couple weeks now out of kitchen and into my stomach. Luckily, she always comes through when it comes to awesome recipes. The woman knows her food.

I modified the recipe only slightly by using dates instead of raisins, chopped red bell pepper instead of carrots, and whole wheat couscous instead of regular couscous. I followed the rest of the recipe word for word, and boy am I glad I did. This was delicious!

And sadly, my photography does not do it justice. Curse you, lack of sunlight!

The best part of the dinner was the brown sugar/butter sauce that you spread over the acorn squash after it’s done roasting. It smells heavenly and adds such amazing taste to the squash.

This was my first time doing battle with an acorn squash, and it certainly won’t be the last. Especially if brown sugar and butter is involved somewhere in the process.

The stuffing was also tasty, but it made waaaaaaay more than the my little squash halves could possibly fit. I piled that stuffing sky high, and there was still gallons of the stuff leftover.

I highly recommend the recipe if you have an acorn squash lying around. It’s very satisfying and comforting on these crisp fall evenings.

And finally, I’d like to let you know that I’m back into my running groove. After an extended absence from running, it came back into my life full force this weekend! I ran 6 miles on Saturday and a lovely 8 miles today. I even ran my first mile of today’s run in my Vibrams, and it felt great! It felt so good to enjoy the a relaxed run on a couple of beautiful fall afternoons. Pure running perfection.

Happy Halloween!

P.S. Tomorrow is the first day of my 30 Day Yoga Challenge, and I’m pumped to begin! Bring on the yoga!

Question: When you went trick or treating as a youngster, what was your favorite candy to receive?

Once I got back to my house from an evening of trick or treating, I would go gaga over the Reese Peanut Butter Cups. Wait a sec, I might still do that….