overnight oats & homemade chips

I am not a morning person. In fact, I'm a total night owl, finding that my most productive hours are between 10 pm and 1 am. Because of this, I find it incredibly helpful to pack my gym bag, lunch, and anything else I can the night before. Enter, overnight oats. I made this recipe a lot last summer, and it's absolutely one of my favorites. Healthy, sweet, filling, and the perfect chilled breakfast for these hot summer days. The original recipe idea comes from Lorna Sass' cookbook Short-Cut Vegan, but I've altered it a little as well.

Stuff you need: 1. 2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats 2. 1 8 oz can crushed pineapple 3. 1.5 cups milk- or a soy milk of some sort if you'd like to make it vegan 4. cinnamon 5. Nutmeg6. 1 Banana

Just before going to bed, combine the oats, pineapple, and milk into a large bowl. Spinkle with a dash of cinnamon and nutmeg, cover, and pop in the refrigerator while you sleep. In the morning, scoop about 1 cup of the oats into a bowl, top with 1/2 a sliced banana, and dig in. No really, that's it!

It's so nice to have such a tasty meal already made for me in the morning, while I'm rushing around trying to get to work at a decent hour.The original recipe suggests using cardarmom and topping with toasted nuts or flax seed, but I like my changes as well. It still needs a little tweaking, but I think flavor perfection is almost there.

Also, on another late night note, I'm pleased to say that as of this evening, I have successfully prepared breakfast, lunch, and a snack for tomorrow. Less chaos for me in the morning! Currently, my favorite snack is homemade tortilla chips. If you've never made them yourself, you must try it.

Stuff you need: 1. Whole wheat tortillas 2. Olive oil 3. Sea salt

This is so incredibly easy and delicious, I may have to start making these all the time! Take your whole wheat tortilla and slice it into little triangles. I simply continuously folded my tortilla until I had little bite sized pieces. Place these tortilla chunks into your toaster over- or on a baking sheet in a real oven. Lightly coat with olive oil and coarse seal salt, and pop them in the hot oven at 325 for 5-10 minutes. Check on them often, making sure they become golden, but not brown. When golden, flip them over and bake for an additional 5-10 minutes.

They are crispy, yet buttery, with just a hint of saltiness. You can serve them with salsa or guacamole, but I eat them plain cause I think they're that good. Mmm! Seriously. Bestest, most easiest snack EVER.

Oh! And one last thing-see how this late-night energy really kicks in? Tonight I also rummaged around in my craft bin, looking for something fun to make in honor of this festivity-filled weekend ahead of us. I found a tub of round beads in rainbow colors, popped in Julie & Julia, and 2 hours later, I'm filled with good-chick-flick vibes and half a dozen fun bracelets for my accessorizing pleasure. Pre-made meals, a heart-warming movie, and a little bit of crafting to boot. What a lovely Thursday evening, indeed!

basic miso soup

I think miso must be one of my favorite soups of all times. I love the unique, fresh, flavors, and it makes a perfect appetizer or light meal. I bought a tub of miso a while back, but kept forgetting it at my friend's house, so when I finally reacquired my miso paste, I was excited to make a big batch tonight. I mostly followed the recipe from The 30 Minute Vegan's Taste of the East, but tweaked it to my own liking a little bit too.

I won't give away all their published secrets, but I will tell you what I did differently. The book and most other recipes I found online call for dashi stock, but I'm poor and lazy, so I used vegetable broth, and I think it turned out just fine. I also used more tofu than it called for, and added strips of nori as well- hint: use scissors instead of a knife on nori sheets. It's way easier!

Maybe a little sodium-heavy, but honesty, I was craving it, and it was so worth it! In the book, the nori sheets were an optional addition, but it wouldn't have been as good without it. It was also nice that the recipe made a ton of soup, so I froze a little, and packed a portion or two for lunch this week. If I can figure out how to cut back on the salt a little, I will happily made this soup on a weekly basis. Not quite as good as the restaurants, but still tasty and satisfying! :)

lettuce wraps

Driving home tonight, I had a mad craving for Morningstar Farms' sausage patties. Omg if you've never tried them, stop everything you're doing and go buy a box right now. The taste is phenomenal, the texture is dead on,and they're good in everything- quiche, burritos, scrambles, breakfast sandwiches, and now apparently lettuce wraps. I definitely wanted some veggie sausage tonight, but I was in the mood for something light. Enter, lettuce wraps! Kind of like the ones you find at PF Chang's, but way better :)

Stuff you need: 1. Onion 2. Bell Pepper 3. 2 Veggie sausage patties 4. Lettuce- iceberg or romaine, either will do

First and foremost, gently defrost the sausage patties in the microwave, just enough so you can cut them up into bite-sized pieces. Meanwhile, dice the bell pepper and onion, and throw them into a skillet for a minute or two. When the sausage is ready, add it to the skillet as well, with some garlic salt and any other spice of your choosing.

When the veggies and sausage are warmed through, and spiced to your liking, take a piece of lettuce and spoon some of the mixture into the middle. Continue filling lettuce leaves until you're out of the veggie/sausage mix. Grab. Wrap. Consume.

Voila! That's all there is to it. The entire process took me less than 20 minutes, and the outcome was spectacular. It was exactly what I was craving, but better! Not only does this make a nice light meal, but I'm positive it'll be an awesome appetizer or snack too. Vegetarian lettuce wraps- total success.

quick & simple spring rolls

Ever since I went to Uoki last week with my friend Jenna, all I want to do is eat Asian food. I had the stone bi-bim-bob, and I'm totally hooked. All I can think about is reproducing that recipe and eating it every night! Instead of acting on my new obsession, purely because I'm too lazy to walk one block to the store, I dug in the pantry and made something that would satisfy my cravings for now.

Stuff you need: 1. Spring Roll Skins 2. Veggies for the inside 3. Your favorite Asian-themed sauce

Start by cutting all your vegetables into matchsticks- aka julienning. I used carrots and spinach since that's what I found in the fridge, but you can use anything you'd like. When all your vegetable filling is cut, fill a pie pan, or any large flat receptacle with warm water.

Take one of your spring roll skins- it'll be hard and brittle- and soak it in the warm water. When it's nice and soft, pull it out of the water bath, place your vegetables in the middle of the wrapper, and roll it up like a burrito. Don't forget to tuck in the ends!

Keep rolling until you're out of vegetables and your plate is full. I put my sauce directly into the rolls, but if you prefer, you can have it on the side for dipping- dealers choice. Soy sauce is great, hoisin is my favorite, but tonight I discovered this peanut sauce hiding behind the mustard.

They look all fancy and stuff at the restaurants, but seriously, these are so simple to make. Cutting included, this took me maybe 10 minutes. It's a great snack or appetizer, and it's ridiculously healthy to boot!

fried pickles & dip

Even though I know little to nothing about football, the Super Bowl is always a good time. Fun commercials, hanging out with great friends, the Puppy Bowl is on Animal planet, and most importantly,there's always binge eating tasty finger foods all day. Usually beer is on this list as well, but due to this morning's hangover, alcohol was substituted for Mountain Dew:)

Today's menu items included fried pickles and six layer dip. We got both the recipes from Food Network, and let me tell you, everything was delicious. Granted, I ate way too much, and now my stomach hurts, but it was so worth it.

It's also nice to know that there are great sporting event foods out there that are vegetarian. Wings and hotdogs are great and all, but have a couple fried pickles with ranch, and you won't even miss the meat.