Plain and simple

Scottish oatmeal. Ah, a breakfast to warm the heart and tummy.

1 c. stone-cut oats
3 c. water *(option: sub up to 1 c. water with "milk," but watch that it doesn't boil over)

After it boils, turn down the heat and stir.

Go away for a half hour. Stir again. Turn off the heat.

Let it sit or serve it. I forget about it for 1/2 hour. When I come back, it's soft and fabulous.

Add it to my favorite bowl (from Anthropologie) topped by a sprinkle of brown sugar and a puddle of soy milk. The bird painting barely peeks over breakfast. Practically perfect.

Rating: 5/5 You can't eat much better than this
Taste: hearty, hot.
Calories: 500
Time to prepare: 25-30 minutes
Tea: Jasmine black leaves. Rinsed, then steeped in a Christmas pot.

Just can't wait!

I'm so hungry at 11 am (no breakfast yet) that I toss together a great sandwich:
heated 30 sec in microwave: leftover tofu from a Bahn Mi at YehYeh's

tuck tofu into olive pannini bread slit in half, and microwave 10 sec.
open sandwich, add some bitter mesculine leaves with a dribble of O&V salad dressing.

Fabulous. Before I know it, it's almost gone!

Rating: 4/5
Taste: warm, filling, savory
Calories: 500
Preparation time: 2 min.
Tea: green Novi bag. Ok

Lovely fingerlings with raisins

W brings home some fingerling potatoes. The bag boasts a pesto recipe that has cheese. No no. I'm vegan, remember? I build the potatoes in salted water for 14 minutes after slicing the biggest ones in half lengthwise.

Meanwhile, I combine a tsp. of olive oil, a few dices of onion, and a knife-tip of minced garlic in a saucepan. The fragrance starts to fill the room as they saute... about 5 minutes on medium until the onion is translucent.

I've got some carrots, oranges, and raisins from a previous meal, so I add that to the onion mix and warm it for about 3 minutes.

I love my old Chinese strainer, that makes it easy to fish out potatoes when they're cooked. The steam rises off the hot potatoes.

Put everything together, stir, and serve. (No special plate today, just an everyday Royal Doulton Designs Parquet.)

The purple, red, and yellow potato skins burst open with every bite. The orange peel adds a hint of bitter along with tart and sour. The raisins and carrots add sweetness. Garlic, oranges, potatoes, onions. Who knew?

Rating: 4/5.
Taste: sweet, hearty, savory without being heavy.
Time to prepare: 15 minutes
Calories: 400 or less. The potatoes: 125; oil and onion, 175, carrots, oranges, raisins, maybe 100
Tea: black