A Double Chocolate Peanut Butter Breakfast!

Mmm!  Look at my messy bowl of double chocolate peanut butter porridge! It sure did the trick for me this morning.

Yesterday my husband fed the dogs their dinner early, for whatever reason, so this morning they began barking for their breakfast at 5:20 a.m.! I let them bark for a few minutes, but when one is the default parent/spouse, i.e. the one whose schedule is more flexible, one realizes the selfishness of languid relaxation in times like these. So I rallied, popped out of bed, let the dogs out and gave them breakfast so my loved ones could continue in their slumber for just a little while longer. As such, I did enjoy my solitude over coffee and my early morning routine, but by the time everyone was up and about, I realized I was going to need a bit more than my usual piece of toast to continue with my day. I immediately began thinking in terms of nutritional elements. I needed protein, whole grains, a touch more caffeine and a little sugar. I seriously cannot handle caffeine or sugar after about 10:00 a.m. (messes with my sleep) but since it was so early, I decided to indulge.

I poured half a cup of quaker oats into a bowl with half a cup of silk light chocolate soy milk and microwaved it for a couple of minutes, then topped it off with a little spoonful of vegan chocolate peanut butter (I am so excited to find products at WalMart with the vegan symbol!)

This literally took two minutes of my time and I had such an amazing, decadent breakfast! I won't do this every day, mainly because of the sugars, I don't mind the fats so much, but today it fit the bill.  In case you are interested, I did the math on some nutritional elements of the breakfast:

1/2 c. Silk chocolate soymilk
45 calories
.75 g. fat
7 g. sugars

1 Tbsp. Peanut Butter and Co.'s chocolate peanut butter
85 calories
6.5 g. fat
3.5 g. sugars

1/2 c. dry oatmeal
150 calories
3 g. fat
1 g. sugars

For a grand total of:
280 calories
10.25 g. fat
11.5 g. sugars

Not bad. I did get my whole grains and protein, and the lovely euphoria that is afforded from a little bit of chocolate. I'm enjoying my morning so far. Grocery shopping, laundry, vacuuming and dishes are done, and next on tap is pulling out dead begonias and planting pansies. I also got broccoli, cauliflower, collards (yay!) and cabbage for my veggie garden, which likely won't go in today since there is so much cleanup to do first, but we'll see. It's a gorgeous, sunny, cool day.

A side note -- I have really been enjoying the "stats" feature of this blog which was likely always available, but only just discovered by me. It is so interesting to see where you, dear readers, are -- all over the world -- and which posts interest you the most. There's no surprise you like the brownies -- everyone gets a kick out of chocolate, I guess, but I was amused and surprised to see that the most viewed post in the history of "A Midlife Vegan" is "Trees in My Pantry"!  Why is this? Are folks just finding me? Are you just curious about the subject matter? Did you think I said "Panties"? Minds out of the gutter, people!  Just kidding.  It is a source of enjoyment for me though.  I am very interested in what you like and will keep this in mind as I write future posts.