chocolate peanut butter smoothie & RIP trayvon

i had a post almost all ready to go challenging the low fat culture in society (as well as in the blogosphere) but then something much more important came up. george zimmerman was aquitted in florida. george zimmerman kills a child and gets away with it because trayvon martin was black. this is a tragedy.

however, my feed of food blogs has been completely silent on the issue. i realize i’m just now publishing this post but i’ve been a little busy organizing a rally calling for justice for trayvon that drew almost 1000 people. (more national and portland coverage here.) while i shouldn’t be surprised at the lack of response from food bloggers, i am still disappointed. after the shooting at sandy hook or the tornado in oklahoma i couldn’t escape post after post praying for the victims and expressing condolences. what makes this different is that it wasn’t a white child that was hurt or killed, it was a black child whose lives are not valued in the media and whose families apparently don’t warrant those same sentiments of support and sympathy.

spinach puffs

remember my lament last month about being so sick of the all-i-eat-for-breakfast-overnight-oats. not to bad mouth the oats, they’re really tasty and so easy to make. but man, it gets old after a few months. even after seeping your almond milk in lavender or adding nuts on top, there’s only so much you can change.

i first made these last month as an attempt to mix up my breakfast routine and it worked out great! it requires more prep than the oats, but it can all be done in one foul swoop on a sunday night. three of these constitutes breakfast but i prefer to round it out with two plus a piece of fruit.

cranberry walnut sourdough rolls

for the first three months of my job, that i still consider new but really isn’t any more, i have been eating overnight oats. they’re delicious, versatile, and cheap, not to mention the convenience of grabbing a jar out of the fridge in the morning, but it gets old after three months. this month i threw some new breakfast items into my routine that met the delicious and grabable criteria. it requires a bit more advance preparation but the variety is worth it.

last week i made spinach puffs that are essentially mini spanikopita bites without the hours of peeling filo dough and brushing butter. thank you, puff pastry. unfortunately, i forgot to take pictures of the final result, but don’t fret! i’ll be making them again soon.

this week breakfast is hard boiled eggs, fruit, cheese, and deliciously healthy rolls. i got the inspiration for these rolls from the portland chain of grocery stores, new seasons, that have a bakery that makes me not to want to bake my own bread. that takes a lot. but convenience has a price tag and i’m not willing to pay 12 bucks for the amount of rolls i could make myself for 6 bucks.

overnight oats with pear and brown sugar

so i’m now about two months into my new job that requires me to be at the bus stop before 7am. it was quite an adjustment at first: getting up before my cats, trying to stay awake on the hour commute now that i’m not biking, and not having a huge supply of food from which to create my breakfast and lunch.

this has meant that by the time i go to bed at 10:30 (!) i am showered, my outfit is laid out, and i have my breakfast and lunch ready to go in containers to throw in my purse. because who really wants to wake up more than 20 minutes before you have to run to the bus stop?

once i finally get around to updating this on a regular basis again i would like to have a series of easy lunch dishes. i made a delicious tabouli with veggies and lentils that has been the staple thus far this week along with an apple taken from my fruit drawer in my desk. (yes, i have a fruit drawer. i also keep lots of tea in there.) creativity is necessary when you want to get past weeks of leftovers for lunch and get past the grade school pb&j with carrots and fruit. (though i still have that about once a week.)

anyway, the day before i started my new job when i started my bed-at-10:30-breakfast-ready-to-go-routine i wasn’t sure what to prepare. when i have breakfast on the weekends its leisurely eggs and toast, sourdough pancakes, or egg sandwiches on jalapeño cheddar scones. not exactly grab and go food and with my routine, i seriously have no minutes to spare—i made bagels for one week and literally had to sprint to the bus every morning.

molasses nut granola

since we last spoke i started my new job and like i promised, i was busy in the kitchen beforehand making sure i would have a good breakfast as i have to run out the door at seven to catch the bus. unlike the last job i had, i need to get up more than 10 minutes before i run out the door because i’m finally in a professional environment! i am (ridiculously) excited about things like having my own extension, calendar, and getting to go to staff meetings.

all in all i ended up making about three quarts of two equally delicious types of granola. the evening before work i fill a jar halfway with plain yogurt and fruit and top it with granola the following morning. (i really optimize my awake time so i can sleep as long as possible.) for this granola i highly recommend roasted chopped pears with a little bit of cinnamon on them.