I woke up this morning feeling mostly tired, but I was also ready to tackle the day. Sunday mornings (during the winter) are usually when I head to the gym to squeeze in a morning run. My runs during the winter feel much tougher than my runs during the spring or summer. For some reason, I feel especially energized during the spring and summer to work out, but I have the complete opposite feelings during the winter. Winter makes me want to curl up with a fleece blanket into my favorite corner of my couch, watch movies, and veg out. Cooking, baking and the occasional bathroom break are the only activities which keep me from sitting in my corner of the couch all day long.

Lately, I’ve been experimenting with developing both savory and sweet vegan recipes. One of these recipes is a savory vegan breakfast wrap I developed based on my love of tofu and vegetables. I ended up making a skillet full of tofu, mushrooms, and vegetables. I didn’t specifically indicate to Kevin I had made vegan tofu scramble wraps for breakfast, but he must have detected something was off when he didn’t smell meat browning in a skillet. Imagine the disappointment on Kevin’s face when he realized it was a meatless breakfast wrap.

I love long weekends. Today is Sunday, but it feels like Saturday. Kevin is still recovering from his visit to urgent care yesterday. I started the morning by heading to the gym to get in my weekly run. It has been extremely cold in Ohio this weekend and we are feeling the effects of Winter Storm Harper. Yesterday, we experienced rain and some sleet, but late last night, the snow starting falling. At around 3:00 a.m. in the morning, I was awakened by the sound of plow trucks working to clear the roads outside. I peeked out the window and saw a fair amount of snow already accumulated on the ground.

Many years ago, when I first started working (actually interning), I started packing my own lunch for work. A typical lunch box meal for me was a wrap (usually chicken salad or some deli combination), a sweet treat (mostly Rice Krispies treats, Gushers, Fruit by the Foot, gummies, or granola), a savory treat (always a bag of my favorite chips), and a drink (could be a smoothie, tea, coffee, or a bottle of water). I packed a variation of the lunch combinations for work every day over the course of two months. Today, I was reminiscing about the first lunches I’ve ever packed and suddenly wanted a wrap.

It’s no secret I love pizza. I often crave pizza at least once a week usually on Fridays, but I can eat pizza any time throughout the week. Out of everything I make, pizza is probably the most versatile. Then again, it’s easy to make a case for anything you love with a passion. I like to eat pizza for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. My family knows how much I love pizza and have been getting me pizza gifts throughout the years. During the holidays last month, Yu and Audrey got me a pizza stone, pizza peel, and pizza cutter for Christmas. A couple Christmases ago, Yu got me a gummy pizza pie.

Today was my first day back to school. Last year, I decided to go back to school to take baking classes so I could improve my baking skills. I’ve been out of school for quite a few years now, so it felt a bit strange to go back to school. The first class was a standard intro class. The professor walked us through the syllabus and the importance of learning the science behind baking. Since I knew today would be a long day, I packed one of my high protein tofu rice bowls.

Cold winter days call for warm delicious meals. Over the weekend, I whipped up a very quick pork cubes and vegetable fried rice dish. Pork cubes is a spin on my mom’s signature pork chops. Her favorite all-purpose sauce, which she uses to marinade all types of meats and seafood is made up of only three ingredients – oyster sauce, soy sauce, and sugar. That’s all. The meat sits in the all-purpose sauce for at least 30 minutes. Then, you take the meat with the sauce and sear it in a hot skillet for a couple minutes until the meat is nicely browned and cooked through.