The Report: Tuesday, January 1, 2008

Like so much of the rest of America, I started the year very slightly hung over, getting home this morning after crashing on a friend’s couch in the wake of a fruitless 1:30 AM search for a cab. I was the slightly dizzy kind of hung over, not the sick kind of hung over, but it still felt like it would be tempting fate — to say the least — to start with eggs. I didn’t want to put in the effort involved in pancakes or waffles, so hilariously, I hadn’t even had one meal this year before wondering if I should start tomorrow. Laughing off that pitiful example of just how entrenched some of my not-so-great habits actually are, I settled on the idea of cooking up some oatmeal.

BREAKFAST
Just-Right Oatmeal For A Delicate Constitution

What’s In It: 1 cup skim milk; 1/2 cup old-fashioned Quaker oats; 2 tbsp. raisins; 2 tsp. packed brown sugar; sprinkles of cinnamon.

What I Did: I was skeptical of the package directions telling me to boil the milk, but I did, disliking only the fact that the milk develops that nasty skin that you have to peel off if you take your eyes off it for a minute. Once it boiled, I added the oats and cooked them for ten minutes — the directions said five minutes, but that didn’t come anywhere close to absorbing the liquid. When they were cooked, I stirred in the raisins (this is a good way to get rid of raisins that have started to turn the corner to drying out, because they sort of plump up nicely from being cooked in the oatmeal), brown sugar, and cinnamon. Gave it a minute to come together, and it was done. I ate this in a FiestaWare mug, because my bowls are a little too big for it, and I was afraid the amount would look puny in a bowl.

The Verdict:  It was really good, for something I improvised (admittedly from pretty classic combinations; I’m not reinventing the wheel with cinnamon and raisins together). It’s absolutely amazing how little this kind of oatmeal — real oats cooked in milk — resembles the instant kind, that’s just kind of a smooth slop. This results in discernible individual oats, actually feeling more similar to a big-grained rice than to mush. It was actually really good. I guessed on the amount of sweetener, and it was more than enough; I’d probably prefer it a little less sweet next time, maybe with one teaspoon of brown sugar. I’m thinking about trying it another day this week with cranberry and almonds, maybe with a little orange peel. I think I’m a slave to cereal conventions. Maybe I need to branch out.

LUNCH
Champagne-Shallot Tuna Pitas

What’s In It: 1/2 whole-wheat pita; 1/2 of a 6-oz. can tuna in water, drained; 2 tsp. champagne-shallot mustard; handful of salad greens; splash of balsamic vinaigrette.

What I Did: Mixed the tuna, mustard, and vinaigrette, stuffed it in the pita along with the greens. Saved 1/2 a can of tuna for later.

The Verdict: I gave these the fanciest name I could think of, but it’s basically the tuna salad my mom made when I was a kid, with mustard instead of (or in addition to) mayonnaise, which was a trick I know she learned at Weight Watchers. I happened to have this fancy mustard around, and I admit — it was pretty good. I don’t think it really needed the vinaigrette, which I think was overpowered by the mustard anyway. It was just a thought. You know, I don’t know if I’m the only person who finds pitas really hard to eat sometimes, because they tend to fall apart on me, but I soldiered on, you know, because I am a pro. I would definitely have put in a little bit of apple or celery or both if I’d had any, but of course…I didn’t. I’m getting my first order of groceries on Thursday night, which will give me more flexibility, since right now, I’m putting together what I can with what I have — even more true today, when most stores weren’t open. Not that I was going to run out for celery, because I wasn’t.

DINNER
Sausage And Eggs

What’s In It: 2 apple-flavored chicken sausage links (totaling around 3.75 ounces); 2 eggs.

What I Did: I really didn’t know how to cook the chicken sausages. I cooked them in a nonstick skillet, and they turned out all right, but really dried out. I definitely need to prepare the rest of those a little bit differently, because…that was not the right way, quite. Like I said, plenty edible, but not great.  When the sausages were cooked, I moved them aside and fried (dry in the skillet) a couple of eggs in the pan.

The Verdict: I should have added a little butter, which I didn’t, because I apparently still haven’t learned that even in a nonstick skillet, eggs with no fat in the pan do not fry well or release well. This was an example of a dinner that turned out passable and I ate it and I enjoyed it, but I could have done much better if I’d known what I was doing. That sausage might do better crumbled up and used in an omelet or something. Tasty, but I have to learn to cook it without drying it out so much.

OTHER

About a half-ounce of cashews for a morning snack; a slice of double-fiber bread and an ounce of sheep’s-milk manchego cheese for an afternoon snack; a small Vitamin Water (12 ounces); two mini-cookies (macadamia nut-white chocolate) for dessert; a small-sized margarita for an evening treat; the other half-can of tuna eaten plain with a dab of mustard to ward off extreme nighttime hunger.

How Things Went Today: Hey, for a first day, I’m giving myself lots of credit. I made it through the day, cooked all three meals, ate things I don’t usually bother with, had a good balance of fat/carbs/protein (if not enough fruits and vegetables, which is logical given that I haven’t had produce in since I got back from Christmas break), and controlled the nibbling. The big problem that worries me is that I was hungry ALL DAY, and in fact, as I write this (at the moment, it’s about 9:15 at night), I’m kind of…extremely hungry, even though I had sausage and eggs about three hours ago. I thought the protein-heavy dinner would  keep me from being so hungry, but…here we are. I mean, yes, I could have bulked it up with a few more servings of fruits and vegetables, but that doesn’t tend to have a huge ability to ward off hunger, so I’m a little daunted by the fact that I ate plenty (theoretically) and still was hungry ALL DAY. Hopefully, when I get to incorporating exercise, that will allow me to eat a little bit more, but…right now, that part is very discouraging.