Since we have been sans kitchen we have tried many variations of oats.

• Overnight oats-not bad but yogurt is just okay in my book and it upsets Bill’s stomach
• Vegan overnight oats-does not warm me up enough for a winter breakfast
• Quick cooking oats-mushy
• Microwaved steel-cut oats-not quite right
• Old fashioned oats-will do but we so prefer some crunch

And yet they all had some problems until we found this gem at TJ’s:

Oh thank goodness Bill found this the other day.  The convenience of a quick cooking oat but without the mush factor.

What we do is we warm up the water with this guy:

While that is heating up, I add the oats, cinnamon, pinch of sea salt, and raisins to the Tupperware (we looked long and hard for approximately the same size as Starbucks Perfect Oats container):

And then we add the water and enjoy with mixins.  My favs lately are these babies:

Sometimes I do have to pop the whole mix in the microwave for about a minute and then it is perfection.

I wonder once the kitchen is done if I will remember how to really cook

Really how can you go wrong with good wine, good food, and great people?

Today I used my runmeter again and ran another 5 mile loop.

Then I decided to take Pepsi to a local park that has an extensive trail system.

It is also very dog friendly!

I am not sure why I don’t take her here more.  It is only about a 5 minute drive from our house and she loves it!

Today I kept an extra eye on her because these signs were posted everywhere:

Scary! 

This is what I call her “puppy bear” pose:

After our outdoor adventures, we ventured to Trader Joe’s.  Not a good idea on Super Bowl Sunday when everyone is picking up snacks for their parties.  Actually, any Sunday at TJ’s is a mess.  I wish we had some other stores in this town!  We don’t have Whole Foods, Sprouts, or anything!  Grrrrrrr…….

Anyway, I picked up a new item to try:

So far I have not tried it but I did use it in my vegan energy bars instead of normal almond butter.

I doubled the recipe and made half of the bars in a cupcake tin.  I have finally tried the reusable cupcake liners my sis bought me a long while back-thanks sis!:

They are cooking now as I type and boy does the house smell divine!

Hope you are all having a lovely Sunday.

Thanks for reading and enjoy the Super Bowl if you are watching!