To make up for the lack of recipes these past few weeks, here’s an embarrassing back-to-school story:

It’s my last year of middle school and I’m in the mini gym with my pod, waiting for the class lists to be announced. All my best friends got put together in Green but somehow I was left stranded in Purple. It was unfair but since there was nothing I could do about it, I learnt to accept it.

My last glimmer of hope lay in the fact that my then-band-acquaintance-now-best-friend Jaimie could possibly be in my class. Possibly.

As students started trailing out of the gym towards their new class, my excitement grew as I sat among the last thirty students; we would be in the same class! I remember doing the jumping-on-my-bum thing and clapping our hands together in glee. Until the teacher asked if any of our names have yet to be called. Come to think of it, yeah I don’t recall hearing my name. Turns out I missed my name and was actually part of a class that left several minutes ago. Our loud celebration was no longer justified… With flushed cheeks I shot Jaimie a disappointed face, slipped out out the doors, and scurried through two buildings to the classroom where I belonged.

And as if that wasn’t enough embarrassment for first day, I walked into my classroom to realize the entire class was seated in silence waiting for me to arrive. You know that feeling when you run and show up flustered at the door while every just stares at you? All 29 of them. Shy ol’ middle-schooler me really couldn’t take that kind of attention very well.

An empty desk, the last empty desk, waited for me with a stack of textbooks. All my classmates’ eyes continued to trail after me as I zig zagged my way to the middle of the room. With my last name starting with L, of course it would have to be in the centre of the room.

Grade 8 was quite possibly my most rough first day back at school ever. Septembers are always rough though; I have to recover from post-vacation depression syndrome and try and get a grip on real life again. The last three weeks have been busy busy busy for both Rachels and we feel bad that Radiant Rachels has been so quiet. We have so many recipe ideas that we want to try and share, but have been swamped with readings, homework, retreats, and work, leaving us with not much daylight or energy to do kitchen work.

The two weekend retreats I went on got me super pumped up about the people I’ll be working with this year. You’ll probably hear about them in upcoming posts; they make good ‘back to school’ stories too!

Since starting university, I’ve gotten a lot of questions about college-friendly meals. “What do you eat for breakfast when you’re in a hurry?” “What kind of lunches do you pack to campus?” “What are easy dinners that students with limited kitchen access can make?” Chew and I thought it would be both fun and beneficial to shed light on the types of meals we actually make and eat. Yes, we don’t eat glamorous Insta-ready meals every day. We’re both students, on student budgets, that can get pretty darn lazy at times.

This upcoming Healthy College Meals series will feature a handful of recipes for each meal: breakfast, lunch, snack, and dinner. While some will be more like ideas than recipes, all will use minimal equipment (stove, blender, oven, food processor, or none) and be super doable, even for the novice cook.

I’ve been eating a lot of oatmeal for breakfast these days because it keeps me warm, cozy, and full until the afternoon! By replacing half of the liquid with coconut milk, you get one dreamy, creamy bowl of oatmeal. Cooking the oats low and slow (okay, it’s just 5 minutes) will be worth it once you taste the fluffy oatmeal. If you’re usually in a hurry out the door, I’ve included an overnight option. Overnight oats are especially convenient when you need to get up at 4:30am for a 6am shift (yuh, insanity). Although overnight oats are usually enjoyed chilled, it can be microwaved for about 1 minute. Paired with summer’s juicy berries (from the freezer) and some crunchy almonds, this oatmeal is anything but boring!

To emphasize how affordable prepping food from scratch is, we will include a price estimate per serving so you can see how much money you’re saving! After all, we spend enough on textbooks already.

*estimates given in Canadian Dollars

1/2 cup oats = $0.14
1/2 cup almond milk = $0.23
1/2 cup canned coconut milk = $0.47
A splash of pure vanilla extract = $0.01
5 drops of liquid stevia = $0.03
1 handful frozen berries = $0.70
1 tbsp chopped or sliced almonds = $0.11
1 tbsp shredded coconut, if desired = $0.03
1 tbsp chia seeds = $0.33

Price Per Serving = $2.05