The Universality of Oats and Sandwiches

As you may have heard, yesterday was National Oatmeal Day.

In homage to my dearly beloved, I ate my oats accordingly. And as a very oatriotic individual, I paid tribute on multiple occasions.

We’ll get to those oats eats in a bit.

Thursday morning started off on a good note.

(Yes, I get CNN texts…)

Economic growth? Greater likelihood of employment? Me gusta esto.

With the ring of the doorbell, Thursday got progressively better.

Sir UPS delivered the best Annie’s goodie bag ever!

A couple weeks ago, I won an Annie’s contest on Twitter (simply by guessing that one of the ingredients in their 5-Grain Elbows was spelt). The prize?

An Annie’s reusable shopping bag, cheddar bunnies, bunny graham friends, 2 boxes of mac & cheese and 2392389229 pouches of bunny fruit snacks!

Oh, and the best part…

An adorable Annie’s Homegrown tee!

This T-shirt is the antithesis of a standard company tee. You know those usual oversized, stiff cotton freebies? Annie’s company tee is perfectly fitted (how did they know I wasn’t an XL hombre?) and the softest thing I’ve ever felt (it’s a cotton-bamboo blend!).

I love the back ;).

I thought about modeling it for you guys–but ultimately decided against the whole MySpace webcam thing. So not my style… ;).

I can’t wait to rock this to yoga and/or pilates and make all my hippie classmates ridiculously jealous. Why am I such a nice person?

The morning continued on its upward curve of positivity when I learned that it was National Oatmeal Day.

To help explain why I believe this national holiday is one of utmost importance, I’m going to turn to some dialogue from last night’s episode of 30 Rock:

Liz Lemon: You want to paint me as this New York snob… Can I share with you my world view? All of humankind has one thing in common: the sandwich. I believe that all anyone really wants in this life is to sit in peace and eat a sandwich.

Jack: What a surprise. Your world view is food-based…

Amen, Lizzie. I don’t think I’ve ever wanted to be friends with a fictional character more so than with Liz Lemon.

I wholeheartedly agree with Lemon’s world view. But I think this principle of universality also applies to oatmeal. I believe that all of foodbloglandkind has one thing in common: oatmeal. I believe that all any food blogger really wants in this life is to sit in peace and eat a bowl of oats.

And so I did.

Remember when I discovered ice cream oats? Oddly enough, I haven’t recreated them since. And I figured N.O.D. was the perfection occasion for some celebratory hot n’ cold oats.

So, I recreated my Vanilla Bean Irish Oats.

 

1/4 cup Irish oats cooked in water, vanilla extract, brown sugar and cinnamon; topped with a generous scoop of vanilla bean ice cream

With a simple fruity addition, this indulgent bowl of oats reached a new level…

Apple Oats a La Mode

I “baked” one chopped honey crisp apple in a little almond milk, cinnamon and Truvia—and covered the vanilla bean oats in an extra layer of sweet warmth.

As you can see, this accelerated the melting process.

This was not a bad thing.

I truly, truly believe that oatmeal has the divine power to unify mankind and achieve world peace.

If not, perhaps Liz Lemon got it right: There are always sandwiches.

And so a sandwich I ate.

Around lunchtime, I was faced with dueling cream cheese & jelly and cream cheese & apple cravings.

I went with the whole sandwich unification theorem and allowed my cravings to become allies.

Cream Cheese & Jelly & Honeycrisp Sandwich 

It was truly harmonious. And ridiculously delicious.

Filling? Not so much.

I microwaved some green beans, melted my new favorite vegan cheese on top, and added garlic powder and sriracha.

I’d say cheese was another universal wonder; but, alas, there exist vegans who would quickly shoot that one down.

Lo siento for the less-than-glamorous and quite random lunch, but I threw it together as I was getting ready to do some Halloween costume shoppage.

I packed mall provisions—simply because if I get hungry mid-shopping, there’s nothing in the world that can come between me and an Auntie Anne’s pretzel. Nada.

And a new fruity gum flavor—in case the smoothie stands started calling to me.

(This was blech. The flavor lasted for .5 seconds. Luckily, the smoothie stands decided not to holler at me.)

After some quality brainstorming and mall scrounging with mi amiga mejor, I got a costume! Success!

I came home famished. So dinner came quickly, in two delicious divisions.

Part Uno: Ensalada

I was set on incorporating both honey maple turkey and FSTG lime tortilla chips into my dinner. The result:

In the mix: 3 cups baby spinach, orange baby pepper, sun-dried tomatoes, 3 slices honey maple turkey and crushed handful of FSTG lime chips.

I diverged from my standard honey balsamic dressing—and threw together a quick spicy mustard-balsamic combo. Aaaamazing. Could be my new favorite…

As always, the stars were front and center.

People, por favor, add lime FSTG chips to your next salad creation. It is indescribably life/salad-changing. My bag is nearing its end. But I will be purchasing another to ensure future ensalada greatness.

In the spirit of further milking N.O.D., I recreated my Double Cheesy Egg Scrambly Oats.

This time with one French Onion Laughing Cow wedge and one Original, and broccoli and roasted red peppers in place of spinach and tomatoes.

Spicy egg scramble piled high:

 

Ridiculous Laughing Cow infusion:

Messy, cheesy, eggy, srirachy gloriousness:

So incredibly satisfying and filling that no dessert was had. (Fine, a few bites of Vanilla Bean Ice Cream. But they were straight out of the carton, and there’s no proof. Soooo…)

And now, Halloween weekend commences. I will reveal this year’s costume in Monday’s weekend recap.

For now, a hint: my costume involves stealing something I’d never eat. Any guesses?

If it helps inform your speculation at all, my costumes are almost always embarrassing. And assuredly never sexy.

Case in point: last year’s costume.

Yes. We were troll dolls. This involved gallivanting las calles of downtown D.C. in nude unitards, wherein we learned that nude unitards are never socially acceptable. Not even on Halloween.

It was hilarious.

This is my first Halloween in 4 years without my orange and pink troll amigas, a.k.a Rachael and Hilary; I’m going to miss their willingness to partake in my penchant for self-deprecating dress-up. (They are being Doug Funnie and Patty Mayonnaise this year!)

However, I’m keeping my humiliating Halloween spirit alive in NYC, during what is sure to be a wild weekend.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

-Sarah

Uncategorized

30 rock, annie's homegrown, cream cheese, economy, egg oats, employment, halloween, honey crisp, ice cream oats, irish oats, jelly, liz lemon, national oatmeal day, oatmeal, sandwich, savory cheesy oats, scrambled eggs, tina fey, troll dolls, twitter contest, universality, vanilla bean

October 30, 2009

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