Rainy Days = Kitchen Days

I find it really hard to deal with days where it rains ALL DAY LONG.

Days like these just make you want to curl up in bed and not move.  Am I right?

Well, seeing as I had plans…

…and homework to tackle, I couldn’t just stay under the covers so I rolled out of bed and snacked on a sunbutter stuffed date to wake myself up.

After getting dressed I dashed to the car and drove myself to church to avoid being soaked.  Today was my second parish breakfast!  I had the job of taking orders from patrons.  A got a few more than last time but it is still a much smaller crowd than what I was used to at my old church back in my home state.  Still fun though.

After everyone had gone through and I was about to embark on clean up duty I had a slice of today’s special: swiss chard and roasted red pepper spanish omelette.  This was stellar.  Only six eggs in the whole thing so it is wayyyyy less eggy than your traditional omelette.

It was packed with chard and had the slightest awesome hint of onion and garlic too. My tummy thanked me for sure.

I finished up my duties in the kitchen and drove myself home.  When I arrived back at the apartment I got started on laundry and cooking up some of the components for my dinner plans.  Brown rice went into the rice cooker and a whole bunch of cannellini beans were brought to a slow simmer for an hour.  The whole apartment smelled awesome.

Any ideas why the rice comes out with little holes in it?? Weird I know but it was nice and sticky, just like I prefer it.  I made more than I needed for the recipe too so I have leftovers!  I did the same with the beans too.  You know how I love having extra, ready-made food in the fridge. =D

After I had some studying under my belt, I was hungry so I made lunch.  Smoked gouda, sweet hot mustard, and sundried tomato grilled cheese with a side of bold chex mix and honey twist pretzels.  Halloween double stuf Oreo for dessert.

The grilled cheese was really, really good.  Fairly sure gouda should be a part of all such sandwiches from here on out.  Indeed.

I continued to work on homework/study all afternoon.  I took a break around 3:30 (after a brief nap because I couldn’t keep my eyes open) to hit up the fitness center.  I did 30 minutes on the elliptical face to face with my genetics notes.  Not the nicest companion but it made me feel a bit better about taking some time out to exercise.  At least I was still getting stuff done.

When I got back to the apartment I was mildly wet not only from sweat but from the rain.  I dried off and made a bowl of cinnamon chai protein glazed pears topped with the awesome sunbutter + maple combo.

I may or may not have devoured half the topping straight from the bowl… I also added some chia for an extra ooomph.  This whole dish was fantastically sweet and satisfying.  I may need to have this again soon.  Plus, I should use up my pears because they are getting exceedingly soft.

I worked more (big surprise right?) and then started on the Santa Fe casserole prep.  I had found this recipe a while ago and finally got around to making it.  I made some small revisions based on what I had on hand.  Red beans and kidney beans became cannellini beans, milk was almond milk, and only a cup of cheese rather than a cup and a half.  Also, I cooked it for 25 minutes and it was still liquid-y so I put it in for another 5 minutes and it was still not set.  I pumped the temperature to 370 and baked it for another 10 minutes and finally it was firm.

I split it into four servings and scarfed down one.  Conclusions: it was a bit heavy on the chili powder (I might reduce it in half next time) and in need of garlic/onion powder and more salt (I would use 1/2-1 teaspoon instead of a pinch).  On the whole though it tasted nice and was very cheesy and stringy which is always fun and, to me at least, indicative of comfort food.

I’m sure with the use of red beans and kidney beans would make it slightly more colorful… I also had a glass of white merlot wine with my meal.  It’s been a while since I indulged like this so it felt really nice.

Guess what I did after dinner?

If you guessed worked more on homework and studying, you are CORRECT!  By the end of the night, or at least the portion of the night I set aside to do said work, I had 4/6 prenatal cases done, 4/5ths of my MedGen report finished, the first draft of my patient letter finished, and 5/6ths of my dysmorph presentation completed.  Not too shabby my dears.

While I finished up the last few slides of genetics I had some candy corn varieties.  Yes, that was plural.  I have three kinds.  =P

When that was all done and over with, it was time for the real deal.  A cookies and ice cream sundae was called for.  I broke up my uber-large sugar cookie from McAlisters to form the bottom layer.

I heated the base just a few seconds and then topped it with Birthday Cake and Kentucky Delight Blue Bell ice cream.  I also made a peanut butter chocolate sauce and drizzled that on top.

I hunkered down with this bowl in front of the TV and watched the series premiere of Revenge on my DVR.  I like the show so far.  I’ll admit I mostly wanted to watch it because I’ve liked the main actress since I saw her in Everwood.  Come to think of it, she played an Emily on that show too. Hmmm, interesting.

Alrighty, well it’s been a crazy long day but look at my list:

Much better right?  With that, I take my leave.  My bed is calling and I have dishes to do.  I wonder which will win.

Question: Do you push yourself homework-wise on the weekend or take a break?