Simply smile

The other day I had a unique take on oatmeal for breakfast.

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It wasn’t really oatmeal.  Nor was it breakfast.  Nor was it intentional.

After night shift, I slept in ‘til noon and then woke up to spend my Friday with Kyle.  After lounging the morning away, I couldn’t decide if I wanted to go for a run or eat something.  I decided to put a pot of oats on the stove, but by the time they were done, I had changed my mind.  So I turned the stove off and left the oats while I jogged around the neighborhood.  As you’d imagine, by the time I had showered and returned to the kitchen, the oats were cold.

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Turns out?  Cold oats are basically overnight oats without the overnight factor.

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It popped right out of the pan and onto the plate, so I treated it like an oat pancake and set to work adding on the toppings.

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Now you see it, now you don’t.

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I played with the toppings a bit at first, making a smiley face with banana slices.  But really, I knew I wanted more than just nanners.

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Banana + Cinnamon + Peanut Butter

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Yum.  Note to self: neglected oats can lead to a happy ending.

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Of course peanut butter doesn’t exactly hurt in the equation either.

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In case anyone is keeping tabs on the matter, this held me over for a long time.  Me love you long time.  It’s a nice (yet rare) occurrence when this perfect storm happens and I manage to master the macronutrient ratio of a meal just right.  But my appetite is so inconsistent, it’s like a guessing game every time.  Sometimes the same meal that holds me over once will leave me wanting the next time I have it.

Between the above oat thang and heading to the hospital, I noshed on a pair of whole wheat pitas and a lot lot lot of Sabra hummus.

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For night shift, I threw together a bunch of the fridge’s contents.  Not amazingly inspired, but it did the trick.

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On the left, salad with spinach, sprouts, bell peppers, carrots, edamame, and Bragg’s liquid aminos.  On the right, vegan purple potato salad.  I will post the recipe soon because it is gooood.

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Snacks. 🙂  Is it weird that I like Lara minis more than the regular sized ones?  They are just so dang cute!  They could fit in the tiniest pocket.  Who still has to enter my Larabar giveaway?  Get on it already!

My second night shift was pretty rough.  I admitted a patient around 1 am and there’s no two ways about it – the phrase “pleasantly confused” is BS.  I’m sure fellow healthcare providers can relate to hearing this mentioned in report.  It was my kiss of death last night.  There is nothing pleasant about pulling NG tubes out.  There is nothing pleasant about restraints.  There is nothing pleasant about spending a shift in the room simply to watch your patient repeatedly swing his legs over the side rails to flee the hospital.  And there is definitely nothing pleasant about trying to give a bed bath to a patient who thinks you are trying to steal his sheets.  Really?  I mean, really?

Anyway.  I survived.  And I even managed to smile throughout the whole thing.

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Comments (19)

  1. megan @ the oatmeal diaries

    Ahh I love this! Definitely trying it out, smiley face and all 🙂

  2. Sarah

    Genius oats save! Nice.

    Pleasantly confused… know what you mean! It’s so frustrating! “Pleasantly confused” patients are often inappropriately placed on our ward, regardless of their medical condition. The joys.

  3. hippierunner

    Yikes. Kudos to you for smiling! We need some more of that in this world to overcome all the grumpypants.

  4. Averie (LoveVeggiesAndYoga)

    So sorry about your work. I could tell you some stories about mine, too. Belligerent people, restraints, the police, weekends are the worst. I feel you pain. Big time.

    Your oat cake plopping out..nice! I make them like that on purpose in the microwave. But not with the cute banana face. I mush the banana in the oats. I need to try the banana face for skylar 🙂

  5. Emma @ Namaste Everyday

    oats are like dogs – unconditional love for you!

  6. Gabriela @ Une Vie Saine

    Ugh that sounds rough. I volunteered in a hospital as a teenager and when you’re 14, hearing people yell nonsense at you is pretty intimidating. Luckily you had a Lara to make it better, right?

  7. oatsandspice

    What an awesome mistake! Looks delicious 🙂

  8. Pure2raw Twins

    my appetite is so inconsistent as well one day my green smoothie holds me for hours but then the very next day I am hungry 2 hours later. I guess I must have worked harder in my workouts haha

    Love it when a ‘mistake’ turns out to be brilliant!!

  9. actorsdiet

    love happy accidents like that! what can’t oats do!??

  10. Maryann (The Balanced Bean)

    Looks like a yummy breakfast! What kind of peanut butter is that? I never find any so runny (which is what I want!).

  11. Melissa

    Where do you find mini larabars? I love it!

  12. simplynutritiouskate

    I agree larabar minis are the cutest little bars ever!

  13. Jenny

    Who woulda thought that leaving cooked oats would turn into overnight? haha Wow what a great accident 😉 Looks amazing with the banana happy face 😀

  14. Salah

    that oatmeal looks soooo good!!!

  15. Heather @ kissmybroccoli

    Smile…sometimes I swear that’s all you CAN do! Ugh! My thoughts though…better to have restraints than to have a black eye, but I totally know where you’re coming from here. I had a patient the other day that came into the department fine, yet within 3 minutes, she thought I was trying to kill her! It.was.not.pretty! 🙁

    Aren’t purple potatoes the prettiest? I just bought some yesterday…bring on that potato salad recipe!

  16. Emily

    I SO admire what you do. As just being near a hospital makes me anxious, I have the utmost respect for people who can devote their lives to healing and caretaking.

    Looking forward to the potato salad recipe!

  17. Pingback: Purple Potato Eaters « hungry hungry hippie

  18. elise

    the minis are usually at races or events (thats where i got them), although i think they are starting to sell them in variety packs in whole foods.

  19. elise

    i actually thinned out the peanut butter with almond milk, thats why its so drizzly. but costco has a organic peanut butter that is reallllly runny. i think the trick is just where you store it (warmer places like a pantry will make it far more runny than keeping it int he fridge)

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