spiced milk + a wintry breakfast.

It's finally here.  The time I planned for, worked for, paid in tears and student loans for, dreamed of, thought would never come is here.  I'm officially finished with college.  Six and a half years, 3 apartments, 2 dorms, 1 house, 1 cottage, 1 Bachelor's and 1 Master's degree later and I'm finally finished.

And I'm exhausted.

This last semester has been a big one.  August seems like it was years ago and looking back I have trouble believing all that has happened these last few months.

A few weeks ago, I accepted a job with the company I interned with this summer.  I'm so excited and relieved to know that there is a light at the end of this dark tunnel - a light called a paycheck.  I start on January 2nd, which means that I have one last, long Christmas vacation.  I plan to spend my days sleeping in, reading all of the books I've been meaning to, knitting, watching Christmas movies and How I Met Your Mother from season 1 and unpacking all of those pesky boxes in storage that apparently aren't going to unpack themselves.

Oh, and eating breakfast.  I'm planning to make time for breakfast again, rather than drinking coffee while driving.  That doesn't count.

I like to use spiced milk in my morning oats, but it's also perfect warmed up in the place of cider or cocoa.  I will say, though, that this recipe is only the tiniest bit sweet, as I'm trying to wean myself off of too much sugar at breakfast.  So if you're going to drink it alone, you might want to sweeten it up.

(Ps.  Next week is wedding week!  Wedding pictures on the blog all week -- come back on Monday to see the first batch!)

spiced milk
recipe slightly adapted from this one
4 cups almond milk (or whole milk)
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon or 1 whole cinnamon stick
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1 tablespoon pure maple syrup
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon orange zest
>>In a small saucepan, combine all ingredients and heat until steaming, stirring occasionally to make sure all of the spices are well incorporated.  Remove from heat, cover and let milk steep for 1 hour.  Store in refrigerator for 1 week.

oatmeal with spiced milk
1 cup spiced milk
1/2 cup rolled oats
>>In a small saucepan, bring milk to a boil.  Add oats, reduce heat to medium-low and cook for 5 minutes.  Serve warm and top with nuts or seeds of your choice.

With a little forethought, you could also use this milk to make steel cut oats or quinoa.