pumpkin pie oatmeal

Fall week continues on with my favorite recipe I have made. It is super easy and gives you that pumpkin pie experience literally in minutes! Everyone gobbled this up and my pumpkin pie hating husband! (seriously I think that is a cardinal sin!). I am so glad I woke up one morning wanting to oatmeal and having some canned organic pumpkin pie mix leftover. I just started throwing things together and this happened...magic in a bowl!

Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal

• 1 cup of rolled oatmeal
• 2 cups of milk (I used almond)
• 1 cup of canned pumpkin pie  (if you do just pumpkin puree, make sure to add some cinnamon, nutmeg, ground ginger, ground allspice and some salt to season it into a pumpkin pie taste!)
• 1 tablespoon of chia seeds
• Pepitas and Cranberries for toppings

In a saucepan heat up the oatmeal and milk over a medium high heat. Let it come to a boil and add pumpkin. Reduce heat to medium and let cook for about 7-10 minutes, stirring occasional. After about 5 minutes of cooking stir in your chia seeds and if you adding spices add them here.  Let cook a couple more minutes than serve. Top with Pepitas and cranberries, enjoy!

letting my body rest

We are the end of September and I have to say for running, September was a great month! I fell in love with doing my 15k, got lots of running in preparing for my half and kept up with my yoga routine.

Sadly this last week has not been productive at all. Every "time of the month", that makes me hate being a woman rolls around and I get in the dumps. I have zero desire to run, my body doesn't want to do anything and I always feel sick. This has happened since my very first women experience in junior high and nothing has seemed to help it. I wish I could just power through it but for some reason my body won't let me so I get bummed at the little progress I have made for the week. Than I realize maybe its just my recoup time and I accept it.

This weekend I should be able to jump out of this funk and get back to running. I plan to run a little bit of the half marathon course this weekend with a friend and get a yoga class in. My numbers for the week are way down but I think it will be okay, I know next week will be a good week! I know I can do it, I just need to go do it!

Any big plans this weekend? We just have a few soccer games and I have a huge paper I need to finish!

vegan butternut squash mac and cheese

I have had a butternut squash sitting on my counter for a long time. I decided it needed to be used and that I would try to make mac and cheese with some of my cashew cheese. I cant stop obsessing about the taste of cashew cheese, it is just so dang good! Thanks to Angela over at Oh She Glows, I was able to work with her recipe to create the mac and cheese. Since I didn't follow the directions very well, I think the only thing I would do next time is add a bit more almond milk but other than that I loved it! I also changed up the seasoning to mimic the great mac and cheese I make that has gruyere, brie and sharp cheddar cheese it. The flavor profile was so similar and the cashew cheese was good! Brian thought it was just okay but the girls seemed to like it!

Butternut Squash Mac and Cheese (adapted from Oh She Glows)

• 2 cups of butternut squash, raw, skinned and cut into cubes
• 1 cup of cashew cheese
• 1 cup non-dairy milk (I used unsweetened + unflavoured almond milk), or more to thin out
• 1/2 tbsp nutritional yeast
• 1/2 tsp Nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp Thyme
• Freshly ground black pepper and Salt, to taste
• 1 slice of bread
• 1/4 cup pepitas
• Your pasta of choice

Directions:

1. Heat over to 400 degrees.  Place butternut squash cubes on baking sheet, sprinkle with olive oil and salt and pepper. Roast for about 30 minutes, until squash is nice and tender. Reduce heat to 350 when you take out the butternut squash.

2. In a large saucepan, boil water for pasta according to directions. Once its boiling, add pasta, cook and drain, set aside

3. In a food processor, add cashew cheese, cooked butternut squash, milk, nutritional yeast, nutmeg and thyme. If its a little thick, add more milk until it gets to a creamy cheese sauce like texture. Add Salt and Pepper.

4. In a baking dish, add pasta, pour cheese sauce over the pasta and mix until well incorporated.

5. In a food processor add, bread and pepitas, pulse until a nice breadcrumb mixture is formed. Place on top of the pasta.

6. Place in 350 degree oven and cook for 20 minutes or until top is golden brown.

Note: if you want to make leftovers the next day, add a little more almond milk on top to help make it nice and creamy when you reheat!