Daily Dish - Oatmeal in a jar

Before the holidays, I'd been on a pretty fantastic weight loss curve.  Then the holidays happened and I may have over-indulged just a little.  Time to get back on track though.  I've been looking for some healthy food hacks that are quick, simple, tasty, and don't take much time to prepare.  I think it's fair to say that Pinterest will always offer up something I've never heard of before that is just crazy enough to try....and that is how "oatmeal in a jar" happened.

The beauty of this is that they're quick to prepare, easy to make ahead, healthy, inexpensive, and the possibilities are endless!  I used an 8oz mason jar and filled it with:
 - 1/4 cup uncooked oats
 - 1/4 cup almond milk
 - 1/4 cup plain whole fat yogurt (which is what we have in the house for the little one but could obviously be substituted for a low fat or greek yogurt instead)
- a dash of vanilla extract
- half a pear (which is all that would fit into the container when I was done)

Give it a good shake, then leave it in the fridge to "cook".  By my calculations, before adding the fruit, this 8oz serving was only 136 calories, but more filling than a granola bar or similar breakfast item that you might grab while heading out the door. 

Seeing as these keep for several days, it's easy to make a few days at a time, mix and match what the fillings are, then grab and go in the morning on the way to work.  I would even say that these are kid friendly so could easily be made for the whole family to enjoy.  Here's a link with some flavor combinations to try.  Enjoy!

Daily Deuce - Breakfast time!

Deuce is a funny cat.  He loves hanging about while we are eating and has a particular love for fast food.  We don't have it in the house often, but when we do he will appear out of nowhere and wants to sniff everything, or will try to stick his nose in my mouth.  Having said that, the two times I have offered him a french fry, he has sniffed it, then looked at me as if to say "you call that food?"  He doesn't really beg though - unless he knows there's raw chicken available, in which case it's not so much begging as purring, headbutting your legs, flopping upside down on the floor and giving us the "look how cute I am...I'm so cute you will immediately feed me the tasty morsels in your hand."

This morning, I settled down in front of the computer with a bowl of cereal when Deuce popped up onto the desk and wanted to give it a sniff.  After pushing him away several times, he resigned to just staring at it wistfully while I ate for a little bit, but then walked away as if he had lost interest....or so I thought.

The second I was done eating and put the bowl back down, he popped up again and, before I could stop him, decided to dive in face first, in the hopes of licking up any last remains of milk.

I'm usually telling people how well behaved he is...