Hello everyone,
I hope you had a great week and are ready for the weekend! I know I am–I had a stressful week as my student teacher decided to quit after only a few weeks in. The resignation came out of nowhere, so I really had to scramble to make sure I was prepped to teach all of my classes each day. I was upset at first, but now I’m glad to have complete control of my class back as I don’t want someone who isn’t passionate about teaching running my classroom.
I decided to make ahead some breakfasts for the week as I knew my life was going to be crazier than usual. I honestly have a really tough time with breakfast and don’t eat it half of the time. I get to work around 6:30 or 6:45 a.m., and I’m usually very busy from then on. I will drink a lot of coffee, but sometimes I can’t make myself eat breakfast even if I bring it. I also try not to ever eat in front of my students, so if I don’t have time to eat before they arrive, I just forget about it.
I know it’s really important for me to eat breakfast if I want to be on top of my game, so I’m going to try my best to be organized enough to make that happen.
Something I used to do to “treat” myself in the morning was stop by Starbucks once a week and get a fancy specialty latte and their spinach feta wrap. But I was starting my day with a lot of sugar and sodium (not to mention $10+), so now that I don’t do that, I definitely feel better.
This week I decided to use some steel-cut oats I had forever (and just now expired) to make mason jar oatmeals. I wanted to customize them each day in order to entice me into eating them since I get bored so easily. I have a microwave in my classroom, so these were easy to heat up each day. I came up with so many combinations with items I already had in my pantry and need to use up. I did (left to right): apple pie (oats, almond milk, cinnamon applesauce, and fresh apples), raisin oatmeal cookie (oats, almond milk, cinnamon agave syrup, raisins, and toasted almonds), peanut butter chocolate banana (oats, almond milk, banana, cacao powder, peanut butter powder, and peanuts), cashew coconut banana (oats, almond milk, banana, cashews, unsweetened almond flakes), and berry delight (oats, almond milk, blueberries, blackberries, and toasted almonds).
Each one tasted great, but my favorites were the oatmeal cookie and cashew coconut banana. Since I am almost out of steel-cut oats, I think I will try it with regular oatmeal next week.
And even though I meal prepped pretty well this week, I needed something different tonight, so I made some mashed potato waffles. I have been craving potatoes lately, so I steamed some russets in my Instant Pot and mashed with sauteed onions and garlic. I then put in some almond milk, Earth Balance, and Daiya cream cheese and seasoned with a ton of smoked paprika, salt, pepper, and garlic powder. 
The result was even better than I imagined!It was honestly one of the best things I’ve ever eaten! I made enough for a few waffles, so I am really looking forward to eating them as leftovers!
365 Vegan 