We got home from Philadelphia after midnight on Monday and Tuesday morning definitely felt a little rough.  I had clinical practice all day so I had to solider through, but I became pretty much worthless the minute I got home.  Same story this evening.  However, I promise that if you make it through this post there will be two tasty peanut-y recipes waiting for you at the end!

Caffeine was a necessity Tuesday morning.  My friend and I shared this Silk Dark Chocolate Pure Almond milk in our coffees.

My other hospital eats included… An Apple Cinnamon GoGo Squeez.

An Enjoy Life Rice Milk Chocolate bar.

And a KIND Almond & Apricot Bar.

The KIND bar was the best.  The name only references almonds and apricots but the base was pure coconut!  It reminded me of a macaroon.  I bought another one at the store today and I’m pretty jazzed about it.

When I got home I had a serving of Cascadian Farms Dark Chocolate Almond Granola with Blue Diamond Almond/Coconut Milk and fresh blackberries.

Plus a serving of Rice Divine Mud Pie Ice Cream with peanuts on top.

My 2nd tasting of this ice cream left me with the same impression as my first; it’s awesome.

Dinner was awesomely quick and easy.

A microwaveable Punjab Eggplant dish from Trader Joe’s (I ate the whole package),

with a serving of pita chips for crunch.

I ate another serving’s worth of chip crumbles straight from the bag.

Wednesday’s meals were even better than Tuesday’s, but they did get off to a late start.  I’ll skip a long story about my unsuccessful breakfast and just say that I didn’t get to eat today until I got home from school.  And I got home after class, lab, and several hours working on a group project.

I was hungry as hell and thrilled that my dinner plans could come together in under 15 minutes.

I updated my Easy Peasy Peanut Noodles recipe (shared at the end of this post) and was pleased with the results.

If we call that my “3pm breakfast,” then the food I ate from the hot bar while we were grocery shopping was lunch.

Farro with mushroom and spinach,

and sautéed green beans.

Both were quite tasty.  This may have been the first time I’ve ever eaten farro and I enjoyed how creamy it was.

Dinner was snacks and beer.  I got out my food processor for some peanut grinding took several taste tests at every stage of peanut butter production.

This honey roasted peanut butter comes together in a snap but it is one of Adam’s favorite things that I make (recipe is shared below).  I also made Webster some pupsicles; if I have to clean the food processor I’m going to make sure I really use it first!  <– let’s be real; I’ve never cleaned the food processor, Adam always does it

We split a Wolaver’s Pumpkin Ale that was the perfect blend of sweet and spice.

Then we started a Dogfish Head Punkin Ale that I didn’t enjoy and passed off to Adam.

You would not even believe how many pumpkin beers I still have left!

As promised, recipes…

Easy Peasy Peanut Noodles, serves 2

• 4 oz dry linguine
• 1 cup frozen peas
• 2 cups frozen broccoli
• 2 tsp canola oil
• 4 Tbsp peanut butter
• 2 Tbsp tamari
• 2 Tbsp  rice vinegar
• 2.5 tsp sugar
• (optional) dash red pepper flakes
• (optional) 1-2 Tbsp peanuts

1. In a small bowl, whisk together peanut butter, tamari, vinegar, sugar, and red pepper flakes if using.  You may want to microwave the bowl for 30 seconds or so to help loosen the peanut butter.
2. Cook pasta according to package directions.  When 5 minutes of cooking time remain, add frozen veggies to the boiling water and stir.  Drain and set aside when pasta is finished.
3. Once pasta is cooked, heat canola oil in a large pan over medium heat.  Add cooked pasta and veggies to the pan.  Cook 3 – 5 minutes, until the noodles start to get a bit crispy.
4. Pour sauce over pasta and toss to combine.  Continue cooking for 5 – 7 minutes, until desired consistency is reached.  My family likes to cook it until the sauce starts to form a crust on the pasta, but this dish is ready to serve as soon as everything is tossed together.
5. Serve and top with peanuts if desired.

Honey Roasted Peanut Butter

• 1 lb honey roasted peanuts (I highly recommend Trader Joe’s if you can get them)
• 2 Tbsp canola oil
• 2 Tbsp honey
• 1/4 tsp salt

1. Put peanuts into food processor and process 1 – 3 minutes until mostly smooth.
2. Add remaining ingredients and process until fully combined.