Dark Chocolate Cherry Pistachio Baked Oatmeal

My Great Grandpa always said “if you sleep in, you miss the best part of the day!” I couldn’t agree more.

My early rising (and, consequently, early bedtime) is a running joke with my friends and family. They’ve learned that text messages and phone calls after 8pm will not be returned until 5am the next morning and that dinner dates with me include the added perk of “early bird” specials and happy hour discounts.

Lucky for me, I found a mate with the same circadian rhythms. It certainly makes cohabiting much easier. It makes events like Valentine’s Day much easier too.

Typically romance is saved for when the sun goes down. Since the probability of one or both us finding ourselves asleep in a puddle of drool at 8:30PM is extremely high, we prefer to shift our romance to daylight hours. In fact, we like to play it really safe and “wine and dine” each other first thing- at breakfast.

Honestly, I am not a fan of heavily themed (and therefor heavily materialistic) holidays like Valentine’s Day. I realize this makes me sort of a scrooge in some peoples’ eyes, but since few people really know why we celebrate such holidays (Valentine’s Day, Halloween, St. Patrick’s Day), it seems to be just another dirty marketing trick coaxing us to fill our Target baskets with unnecessary junk. Well, you have to get up pretty early in the morning to trick me (haha).

Here’s a suggestion: celebrate, but celebrate the things that really matter to you. Don’t wait for the advertisers to tell you when to celebrate (and what theme colors you are supposed to wear to do so).

What am I celebrating? Mornings. How am I celebrating? With Dark Chocolate Cherry Pistachio Baked Oatmeal. They definitely don’t sell this at Target.

Make it for someone you love or make it for yourself because, well, loving yourself is definitely worth celebrating.