I’d forgotten how lovely it is to wake up early and have nowhere to be.

Instead of scurrying out for a run as soon as my feet hit the floor, I decided to make a nice first meal of the year. We talked about making pancakes, but since we’re trying to get back to much healthier eating today, I decided to make a Giant Upside Down Apple Pancake. It’s vegan and oil free, and it was so moist and delicious that it didn’t need any butter or syrup.

I’ll definitely be making this again. We both loved it, and I think the least healthy ingredient was 2 tablespoons of brown sugar. I can live with that!

After breakfast, we were off on our first run of the year.

I was surprised that I wasn’t sluggish due to the few ounces of rum last night. Pink sparkly nail polish courtesy of my favorite sister-in-law. Thanks Becca!

Tonight we tried another new recipe for dinner: Breaded Baked Tofu.

Served with roasted brussels sprouts and sweet potatoes. Just for fun, I also breaded a few brussels sprouts (see upper right of plate). The recipe uses Rice Chex for the breading. It works great and has a really excellent texture. Now I want to bread everything I eat with Rice Chex.

I’m having so much fun being on vacation. I never want it to end. It’s so nice to be able to have no schedule, spend hours reading, try new recipes and spend extra time in the kitchen, and just hang out with Greg.

How was your first day of 2013? I hope it was filled with good food and good company!