Return of the Oats

I am singing that title in my head, like, "Return of the Mack," just so you know.

GOODBYE, PESACH!  HELLO, OATS!

Oat bran, to be exact.  I got so excited that I actually forgot that I have fresh fruit in the house and ended up putting some dried cherries on top, and a spoon of almond butter.  Until I remembered my favorite topping.

BITTMAN GRANOLA!  Yumyum.  Then halfway through I remembered the blackberries that I bought myself as a treat for keeping Passover, and I sprinkled some of those on too.  Then I went for a double whammy and added some chocolate PB from Peanut Butter & Co.  Has that been photographed yet?  I feel like maybe not.  I have a few food adventures to post, actually.  Coming up soon, for sure.  Anyway, my return to carbs was nothing short of heaven.

I'm not going to back to posting all my meals, but I thought this lunch was funny.  My first post-Passover lunch, packed to go back to the office:

Why is this funny?  Because it's entirely kosher for Passover.  Ummmm, what?  How?  WHY?  I asked myself all of these questions, and then answered them by bringing along a baggie of cereal for the yogurt, just out of principle. And a cookie that Allison baked over the weekend.  Despite being entertainingly kosher, this salad was actually great.  Spinach, roasted beets, carrots, and onions, walnuts, and a splash of balsamic.  Could have used some mustard mixed in too.

Moving backward in time now, in the final days of Passover, I reached a point of desperation/boredom.  So I got creative.  I know it's over and I said I wouldn't "dwell," but I was actually pleased with the outcome of creativity meeting hunger meeting Passover:

Ants on a log, of course!  And something I was reluctant to try...

Sweet potato with cottage cheese.  Ultimately, my suspicions were correct... that I'm not crazy about the idea of warm yogurt/cottage cheese/milk.  Flavor-wise it totally worked, like sour cream on a baked potato, I guess (I added raisins too, so that it would feel more like a dessert... or a kugel?), but unless it's being baked, I want my dairy cold.  I may take this back when someone reminds of something I really love, like a cappuccino or something.  But I will maintain that it's different.

One of my mom's go-to Passover meals is spaghetti squash with meatballs, so I opted for an easier version of that, since I'm just serving one and I got lazy on the protein front.

I found a baby spaghetti squash at in the Fairway organics section, literally the size of a mini Nerf football.  It was adorable.  So I nuked it for 4 minutes, scooped out the insides, mixed it with some frozen/thawed tomato sauce, and then melted some reduced fat mozzarella cheese on top in the microwave.  Sort of reminded me of something I would have made in college (mostly because the microwave was my main source of heat), but it was delicious, and that's all that matters.  How come gooey melty cheese is so ugly?

The foodie events, as promised, coming up next.