Tag Archives: banana

Blog Reading for Cultural Expansion

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I was not very productive today.  Just ask the homework that has to be done this weekend and the run that has to be done tomorrow!  But I cuddled with my puppy, had a good class at school, and got my teeth fixed; so the day wasn’t a total wash.

It’s possible I even started the day off in poor form.  I had to give a presentation in class today so I headed in early.  Sidenote – don’t you love my semi-professional outfit?  I felt like fall!

On my drive to school I realized (for the first time in three weeks of making the same drive) that I pass a Wilson Farms.  WF has my favorite coffee so I knew a stop was in order.  Unfortunately I just kept acting dippier.  First, I got a pumpkin spice latte when it is still apple month!  Next, I walked past at least five signs proclaiming “free 16 ounce coffees for all,” and poured, and paid for, a 20 ounce coffee.  Frick!  The cashier thought I was nuts. 

At least it was delicious.  I did half pumpkin spice coffee (unsweet) and half pumpkin spice cappuccino (sweet) and it was perfection.

And minus my caffeine shakes, our presentation went great.  The class all had to evaluate each other and Janessa and I got nothing but good reviews.  It helps when you bribe them with food!

That’s marble halvah (a sweet, sesame based treat) that we brought in to showcase as one of the foods from our Jewish Food Habits presentation.  A few people found the aftertaste to be strange, but most of the class loved it.  Halvah is one of my very favorite sweets and I ate at least two servings.

During our 10:30 break I also wandered over to the campus Freshens for a smoothie.

I ordered the Maui Mango (Mango, Strawberries, Bananas, Passion Fruit, Juice Blend & Booster) but I think they gave me the wrong cup because all I could taste was peaches.

It wasn’t very good and probably ended up only drinking about half.  I looked up the nutritional info which stated ~300 calories per smoothie, so I still can’t figure out why it was so disgustingly sweet.

Our class today was a lot of fun.  In addition to Judaism there were presentations on 7th Day Adventist, Mormon, Greek Orthodox, Native American, Alaskan, and Rastafarian food selection and restrictions.  I didn’t really learn anything new, but it was all fun info to revisit.  It’s always interesting to me how much cultural background knowledge I seem to have compared to my friends (who know all sorts of things about other subjects that I know nothing about).  I’m not sure if it’s from my interest in Anthropology or from the diverse places I’ve gotten to live.  I grew up with Rastafarians and have read a lot about Native American cultures but my exposure to Mormons has been through blog friends.  Reading blogs has definitely been a factor in introducing me to new things!

Lunch was easy and soft to chew.

I don’t eat a ton of “diet food,” but I actually really enjoy some Lean Cuisine flavors.  The Roasted Turkey is a favorite.

Confession?  The stuffing in there is actually my very favorite of all the stuffings (homemade included) I’ve ever tried!

I also took several soft bites of Biscoff straight from the jar for dessert.

After my teeth were fixed I could finally move on to foods with chew and crunch factor for dinner.

Mango, pineapple, tiny piece of watermelon.

Udon noodles, a veggie eggroll, and more veggies – including some very tasty bok choy – hidden on the bottom.

Note – when I made this plate I still thought I was running or I probably wouldn’t have gone quite so heavy on the carbs.  But then in rolled a big storm and out rolled not being a big fatty.  At least I’m excited to get tackling my to-do’s tomorrow!

Mormon, 7th Day Adventist, Native American, or Rastafarian – do you follow any bloggers who have these backgrounds?

A Smart Breakfast

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“Breakfast is the most important meal of the day.”  Or so it’s been said.  I’m not sure I agree 100%, nachos are more of a dinner thing, but there are days when breakfast is crucial.  Like when you accidentally eat beef, get really sick, stay up late throwing up, and waste an entire day watching tv and napping.  Our class was cancelled yesterday and I did not use my time well.  And I’ve got an important test today.

Good thing I made time for a smart breakfast.

I don’t have the patience for stove top oatmeal most mornings, but they always reward me when I make time.

This bowl was coconut themed.

I boiled 2/3 cup light coconut milk (plus 1/4 cup of water) and stirred in 1/3 cup oats and 1 medium banana.

My oats didn’t taste as much like coconut as I would have liked, but my toppings more than made up for it.

2 Tbsp unsweet shredded coconut and 1.5 Tbsp Biscoff spread.  Yuuuum!

I hope everyone has good hump day!  Please think smart thoughts for me for my test!

Uncomfortably Full

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I love long weekends! And long weekends with trips are especially fun. It was great to visit with my grandparents, I don’t get to see them as often as I’d like.

Before we hit the road this morning we ate a final fancy breakfast.

Chicken sausage,

egg casserole leftovers, which I ate cold to my husband and grandma’s duress,

and a banana.

We were not as well provisioned for this trip as we were on Saturday. I did the best I could but still arrived home hungry. A low-fat string cheese,

and a Muscle Milk Light bar.

Yeeetch! I took two bites and decided I’d rather go hungry. At least with the dog we stop more often and I grabbed what I really wanted a bit later, candy.

I’ve been badly wanting Twizzlers for a few weeks and after a serving that craving was satisfied.

Webster slept most of our journey which meant I had time to finish the book I started on the drive over.

Hands of My Father is a memoir about a hearing boy’s childhood with two deaf parents. New addition to my top list of book favorites! I had to hold my breath to keep from crying at least once a chapter and I laughed just as often. The setting of a Jewish neighborhood in Brooklyn post Depression lent itself to some good stories.

When we did get home I spent my evening making chili.  And weighing chili, and pricing servings…

This was for a class assignment, and it was beef to boot so I couldn’t even taste it!  Instead Adam and I got take out for dinner.

Tuna melt on sourdough (no butter on the bread) with cheddar cheese and a side of fries.

Plus a slice of carrot cake.

Umm, plus the last two chocolates.

Can we so uncomfortably full?

Lemon Cookie Smoothie

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Good morning!

<– that’s my pucker face.  Two thoughts – 1) Dear God, no wonder Adam never wants to kiss me; 2) Don’t you want to know why I’m making my pucker face at you guys?

This is a pucker post because it’s all about the lemons, baby.

Thanks, Natalie Dee.  I disagree though, lemons are fantabulous.

Lemon chicken, lemonade, lemons in tea, lemon sorbet, lemon cookies… but especially lemon cookie smoothies.

Oh yeah, I went there.  And I’m so glad I did.

Who here knows about Kath Eats’ Dough Boy Smoothies?  Well once upon a time, a reader of hers asked about making a lemon cookie smoothie.  I didn’t know anything with the idea then, but I thought “hmmmn, that could be amazing,” so I bookmarked the page.

It was amazing, dear readers, it was, it was.

This had just enough sweetness and lemon sourness to be amazing instead of gross.  And just enough of a chew to make you think “cookie crumbles!” texturally.

Lemon Cookie Smoothie, serves 1

  • 1 medium frozen banana
  • 1 serving Oat Revolution cinnamon bun oatmeal, cooked  (you could substitute 1/2 cup cooked oats with a bit of cinnamon)
  • 1 6oz container of Non-fat Lemon Chobani Greek Yogurt
  • zest of 1 medium lemon
  • 1/2 cup unsweetened So Delicious Coconut Milk  (any vegan milk substitute would be fine here but I find that cows’ milk gets too frothy in smoothies)

Blenderize.  Sip.  Swoon.

Family and Froyo

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As you can probably guess from the title, we had a good Saturday. Of course Saturday got off to a ruff start when our neighbor’s dog parked from 1-2 am. No not a peep from Webster, he doesn’t bark, seriously. He did get us up at 4:30 for a quick pee walk though; good thing he’s so cute!

When we got up for real around 8 we took Webster on longer, 50 minute (round trip) walk to the lake.

He got a break in the middle while I tackled these –

I can tell you that there are 41 steps there because I counted while I ran up and down them. Actually, I walked down and sprinted up for 15 minutes of cardio, gasp, gasp! Good thing I had such a nice view.

I made some sludge for breakfast.

1 frozen banana, ~ 3/4 cup frozen spinach, 1 scoop chocolate protein powder, and ~ 1 cup So Delicious Vanilla Coconut Milk.

The flavor combo was good but the spinach didn’t blend all the way and I don’t like chewable smoothies! Sort of like chewable vitamins, which I swallowed whole for months before my parents realized I could switch to big girl vitamins.

After a quick shower we got on the road to Ohio for our niece’s sixth birthday party. Adam’s entire family made it for the festivities and I’m so grateful that our friends agreed to puppy-sit for the day so we could go.

Also exciting? They have froyo in their town!!!

I got ~ 1/2 cup of cake batter and dulce de leche swirl, topped with butterfinger, skore, coconut, sprinkles, and hot fudge.

Gah, froyo, we need you in Buffalo!

Sidenote – remember how I said I wish I was more preppy?  This outfit is like what would happen if that ambition threw up all over me.

It’s hard to top self-serve, but we had a wonderful time at the party. We don’t get to see Adam’s family (or mine) as much as we’d like.

I lunched on party food.

Fruit salad with tasty mango,

part of a turkey sandwich with l, t, m, and c (mayo and cheese),

and a small slice of pizza.

After presents and singing, we also had cake.

I split that piece with the husband; cake – Adam, icing – Emily.

A loooooong (not really, but it sure felt like it!) car ride later and we were kissing Webster.  He actually hasn’t pooped since we picked him up yesterday and I’m getting sort of worried.  He has one more day to drop some kids off at the pool before I’m calling the emergency vet.

It was after 9:30 when we got home and I might have had a bit of a mini meltdown about how hungry I was.  The situation was not helped by our exhausted puppy making us feel too guilty to use the microwave.  The situation was helped greatly by Adam’s announcement that his mom slipped him money for dinner.  He’s out picking up a feast while I blog.  Recap to come in the morning.

Does your town have self-serve froyo?

Pizza Party

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We had a mini pizza party for dinner but the rest of the day was sort of … strange.  I had a teaching nightmare last night and it left me feeling funky.  I basically never have nightmares, like ever, unless they are about teaching.  In fact, other than night-terrors that I had as a really young child, I had never even had a nightmare before I became a teacher.  I don’t get them often now, but when I do I’m always in a rowdy classroom (or fighting with Adam!).

I have no idea where my nightmare came from, maybe anxiety about going back to school or churning thoughts from not being that busy recently.  I’d like to pin it on “No Strings Attached,” but I guess being the worst movie ever (seriously) still doesn’t make it to blame for my bad dreams.

Breakfast was mocha(ish) smoothies.

For two, I blended – 2 packets of instant coffee, 2 scoops of chocolate whey protein powder, 1 frozen banana, 7 ice cubes, and 1.5 cups of skim milk.

Bleck; I’m not sure what was off about these but something sure was!  I drank about half and then passed the rest to Adam, the human trash compactor.

My snack to make up for breakfast was trail mix.

That bag was actually half spicy mix and half sweet mix; I like to mix things up.

Lunch was veggies from the hot bar,

and a buffalo chicken slice from Zettis.

Dinner was actually more pizza, ie (or ige!) Iowa Girl Eats Homemade Pizza Rolls.

Kristen wrote another recipe winner!  For our filling we chopped together spinach, mushrooms, extra sharp cheddar, black olives, and marinara sauce.

Pizza perfection.

Plus a side of roasted green beans.

At least I won’t be having nightmares about dinner.

Do you ever get nightmares about your job (or jobs past)?

Foster Finder

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Dear Crazy Drunk Dude Who Rang Our Buzzer Repeatedly at 5am –

I hate you.  I know we haven’t been officially introduced, but seriously, I hate you.  You scared me and ruined my awesome night of sleep.  I hope your girlfriend dumped you, because you seem like a douche.

xoxo,

Emily

The plan was to get up and run this morning – I even got myself int0 bed at 10:30 last night like a grown up – but somehow 7am felt really early.  So did 8, and 9, and 10; although by 10 I decided it was high time to get up regardless.

The heat made us push back our workout to this afternoon, but we did go on a nice 1+ mile walk around our neighborhood.  Including a stop at the Spot for a large iced coffee with skim milk.

The Spot uses a cold brew method for their iced coffee (sort of like French pressed if I understand correctly) and it give it a totally unique flavor.

I had gone to bed pretty hungry last night and I was just starting to get cranky on our walk when the clouds parted and we spotted this –

Banana Foster French Toast?!  Don’t mind if I do, JP Bullfeathers.

Thick slices of cinnamon bread topped with pillowy bananas and a rum caramel sauce,

plus a side of fruit.

My mind was pretty much blown.  Fact – Adam had to tell me to calm down because I was mmmning too enthusiastically.

I could only manage half of the plate because it was so rich but I left very satisfied.  I haven’t had the actual dish in at least a decade but bananas foster is my very favorite dessert!

Brunch felt extra festive because Adam and I both got $1 mimosas.

Way to go JP Bullfeathers.

Buffalo readers – I’m having a meet-up tomorrow at Saigon Cafe at 7:30!  Send me an e-mail if you’d like to come.  I’d love to see you there!