Hip Hooray it?s the Holidays

Hay hay HOLIDAYS!

It was a bit of a bittersweet beginning since the very last exam I wrote today was definitely one of the worse ones I?ve written and I felt pretty icky walking out of there? but it?s done, and they?re done, and I?m done and I can now breathe and smile and feel sane for the first time in ages?! Awesome.

I started the day off with some brain food aka AB&J Oats with cottage cheese ++coffee

Then I crammed for a bit. I guess not nearly enough judging by how my exam actually went but whatever?

I ate more brain food (and drank more coffee) in the form of a whole lotta veggies, tempeh, triscuits and quite possibly some spoonfuls of hummus straight from the container.

Then I went and wrote my exam which took me almost the whole three hours we were given to write. And I felt bummy nearly the whole last 1.5 hours of it.

At the end of it all I stepped out into the cold dark winter evening, feeling semi stupid and more than semi starving since it was past 6 and I usually eat dinner before 6. Plus that brain strain used up all my energy. So I floored it all the way home, devoured half a slice of pizza that was in the fridge since I didn?t have the patience to wait the 5 whole minutes it took to prep and cook my veggie burger, then devoured my finally ready veggie burger (with laughing cow, spinach and deli mustard) that I cut into cute little quarters and ate on a slice of the best doughy seedy multigrain bread ever.

This food massacre was followed by dainty little pieces of shortbread and this apple cranberry cake which I made for my mom?s staff luncheon today, 90% of which ended up coming home since there was a ton of food at the luncheon already and no one had room to stomach this 10 lb delicacy of pure flour, sugar, eggs and oil. I wasn?t too happy to see it back but my taste buds have been loving it. It?s okay if I mainly just pick out and eat the apple chunks right? And maybe only eat some of the cake crumbs that fall out when I pull out those little nutrient-rich fruit pieces?ehem.

So how have I celebrated my holiday beginnings so far aside from eating? Well, I put away all my study notes scattered throughout the house which I never want to look at again, cleaned my bathroom, had a phone discussion about the lovely citizens of Jersey Shore and how many fake tanning sessions it would take to become part of that clan and, well, blogged now? I?m still not quite ready for the outside world yet, the celebrating might begin later on in the weekend.

Anyway, to end this off, a quick recap of

I branched off from the oatmeal bowl basics this week.

Strawberry Banana Chai Oats ? oats cooked in steeped chai tea with banana and strawberries, then some strawberry yogurt stirred in at the end and almond butter spread on top

Carrot Cake Oat Bran ? oat bran cooked with water, shredded carrot, banana and SF maple syrup; topped with an almond butter/syrup/almond milk mix and a dollop of apple butter

Oat Bran Foam ? aka that fun egg white fluff addition that I?ve seen a few times recently and knew I had to try. I let the oat bran cook with water, banana and SF syrup while whipping the egg whites with an electric mixer, then just stirred the fluff in once the bran was done cooking. Topped with almond and apple butter, this was one unique bowl of oats. I think mine was a bit too heavy on the foam so I probably should have stirred it up better (or made more oat bran!) but it was strangely fun to eat and I?ll definitely be experimenting with this one again.

Non-oat foods have included:

Funny-shaped strawberries

Fluffy egg white omelettes

And fluffy egg white sandwiches with hummus, salsa and ketchup

Bowls full of vegetables

Bowls full of tomato red pepper soup dolled up with hot sauce, broccoli and polenta. The polenta-in-soup idea showed up the other day while I was browsing through some old recipes I had saved a long time ago (gotta love study procrastination). This page of Jenn?s turned up in my bookmarks and my dinner was born! So creative that Miss Bender is

Wraps full of steamed broccoli, spinach and hummus

And a holiday cookie or two

I hope you?re all doing well and getting ready to enjoy your holidays soon if you aren?t doing so already. Christmas is only a week away?!? Guess I better get out there and finish (/kind of start?) my shopping asap.
TGIF. TGIHolidays. TGIAlmostChristmas.
Happy Weekend!