Tag Archives: banana

The Board Beard

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Adam is finished with his Step I Board Exam!!!  He won’t know his score for a while, but this means he has a free week to relax with absolutely nothing he should be studying.  This also means he’s finally going to shave.

That, my friends, is a “board beard.”  The husband has had a (normal, groomed) beard for several years now and I love it.  Much to my chagrin, he decided a month or so ago to grow a board beard.  Basically, he wasn’t going to shave again until after the exam.  I’ve been sharing a bed with Paul Bunyan, lovely.

But boards are done, so that thing’s got to go!

My day was a little more low-key than Adam’s obviously.  I did get up at 6am to make him a protein smoothie, but I’m the driver this evening so I crawled back into bed until 9:30 to make sure I was well rested.  Since I did the prep work last night, I awoke with breakfast waiting for me.

I dumped 1 sliced banana, 1/4 cup oats, and 3/4 Silk Light Vanilla Soy Milk into the 0% Plain Fage container with the last bits of yogurt.

This morning all I had to do was stir in some cinnamon sugar and move my overnight oats to my new mug.

I picked this kitchen addition up from Budala Pottery at the Allentown Art Festival and I’m loving it.  It has a nice round bottom (great for people who prefer to eat things out of their mugs than drink) and I love the look of the handle.

After breakfast I had planned to go to the gym but I’m starting to get nervous about driving all night (and moving all day!) so I decided to skip it.

Lunch.

One last serving of vegan pasta leftovers, deveganized with parmesan cheese.

It felt good to get some veggies into my system before I head on the vacation I’ve deemed “Frozen Yogurt Tour 2011!”

Plus the last of the soy milk with chocolate syrup.

If it looks frothy it’s because I shook the crap out of it.  I recently read in an issue of Cooking Light that if you aren’t shaking the sludge from the bottom of your soy milk you’re not getting the added calcium.

I spent the afternoon packing – both of our bags, car snacks – and as soon as Adam gets home and shaves we’ll be ready to hit the road.  We are reaching his parents’ house sometime in the middle of the night and spending all day Sunday helping them move.  There’s no internet at their house so I will see you guys on Monday!

Here, Here!

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It’s here, it’s here; I’m so glad to finally be writing this dinner post!  This specific meal has been on our meal plan for the longest time and I have kept pushing it back again and again.

One day we went out for sushi instead of cooking.

The next day we went out for Thai food instead of cooking.

Yesterday I read a book instead of cooking.

Today I was ready to get back in the kitchen.  First I had to get my gym on though.  I didn’t leave the house until near 10am (a solid 19 hours since yesterday’s lame dinner) so I split a Cliff Bar with Adam as I headed out.

Then I hit up the elliptical for a nice workout, with no leg pain!  45 minutes on the elliptical (included warm up and cool down) at level 6 random; with lots of sprint intervals.  Followed bya quick round of strength and stretching.  Sometimes it’s annoying that the gym is a 30+ minute walk away (it’s towards the back of campus), but it is nice that I’m forced to walk it out after every workout.

Once home I got to cooking, fueled by a chocolate protein smoothie.

For two (mine is the slightly larger one) – 1 frozen banana, 6 ice cubes, 1 packet of chocolate protein powder, 1/2 packet hot chocolate mix, and 1 cup of skim milk.

It was tasty and filling, but maybe a little too filling because it sort of gave me a tummy-ache.

On the cooking agenda were: These pumpkin muffins.

I halved the recipe and skipped the sugar on top.

A sauce recipe I’ve been mulling over for weeks, 1000 Island BBQ Sauce.

Recipe included at the bottom of this post.

Plus turkey sloppy joes made with the bbq sauce.

And steamed kale and zucchini sauteed in the bbq sauce.

All of the above made for a tasty dinner.

The sauce was sweet and tangy and perfect for joes and veggies.

1000 Island BBQ Sauce, yields ~ 2 cups

  • 1 can tomato sauce, 8 oz
  • 1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
  • 2 Tbsp molasses
  • 2 Tbsp dark brown sugar
  • 3 Tbsp ketchup
  • 2/3 cup sweet pickle relish
  • 1/3 cup Miracle Whip or reduced fat mayo

In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine all ingredients and bring to a boil.  Simmer for 15 minutes until beginning to thicken.  Store refrigerated.

They Were The Best Of Plans, They Were The Worst Of Plans

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I had such good intentions today and they all turned against me!  In spite of all my good ideas and plans nothing seemed to work out today.

Even though today is a rest day, I planned on heading to the gym this morning to make up for last week.  Great idea EXCEPT that I made it to the locked gym door before I remembered that it was Memorial Day.  I ended up walking home and doing 15 minutes of strength and stretch moves.

I was working the day shift today, so I planned on making a fun, protein-full breakfast before I headed out.

I whisked together 1/2 cup of 0% Fage with half a packet of cocoa mix,

and topped it with peanut butter banana soft serve (1.5 frozen bananas, food processed with 2 Tbsp Smuckers Natural PB with Honey and a splash of skim milk).

The combo was beyond delicious.

It would have been the perfect, filling meal EXCEPT I realized at the last minute that I had work at 10:30, not 11:00, and had to give the last 1/3 of my breakfast to Adam as I ran out the door.

I planned on bringing home the bacon (figuratively) from work today EXCEPT that no one knew we were open on the holiday and I only served two tables before I got sent home early.

Let’s hope I can pull off dinner without a hitch!

Workin’ Girl

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Yikes, my first real shift at work left me pretty tired!  Hopefully this job will force me to get my sleep schedule in order.

I had to skip another day at the gym and I haven’t been getting very good sleep lately so I spent most of the day napping, summer vacation-style.  That would have been all good except that I realized an hour before I had to head to work that eating would be good.  I did my very best to squeeze enough my needed calories and food groups.

First up, a protein packed yogurt bowl.

This guy was a fun, filling mix.

  • 1 sliced banana
  • 1/2 cup 0% Fage
  • 2 Tbsp raisins
  • 1/2 Tbsp maple syrup
  • 2.5 Tbsp Smuckers Natural PB with Honey

 The combination was great; I think I’m going to start adding raisins to all my yogurt bowls.

I also made a veggie plate.

Roasted brussels sprouts,

and roasted potatoes drizzled with truffle oil.

Thankfully I found that this held me through all 7 hours at work.  It helped that I was too busy to get hungry too.

I’m probably going to be working 4 night shifts a week and I’ll be doing a late, huge lunch on those days.  Hopefully, like tonight, I won’t be hungry for dinner when I get off work and I’ll be able to simply blog, shower, and get to bed.  I’m looking forward to seeing how it all works out.

Shower and sleep time!  P.S.  The giveaway winners are –

Pretty Good

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Hello there; I hope everyone’s having a nice weekend.  It’s been a good Saturday around here, I spent lots of time with the husband, I got to take a few walks, and I received some good news I’ll be sharing later.

Our plan this morning was to cash in a Groupon for brunch, so to kill time while the restaurant opened I headed out to the Farmer’s Market and the Co-op.

While I was up on that end of Elmwood I stopped in at Wilson Farms for my new favorite coffee.

Half Jamaican Me Crazy Coffee (regular) and half Jamaican Me Crazy Cappuccino (sweetened).

Adam and I also drove over to the lake to check out the crazy fog.

Spooky!

Then it was time for brunch at Empire Grill.

But apparently brunch is only a Sunday thing, boo.  And the bad news didn’t stop there, Adam and I hated our brunch lunch order.  I really don’t want the blame the restaurant (the food wasn’t great but it wasn’t terrible either), we just made really bad order choices for our preferences.

We split a Blue Point Toasted Ale,

the Caribbean Shrimp and Mango Salad with mixed greens, mango viniagrette marinated jumbo shrimp, black bean and pineapple salsa and a mango viniagrette,

and the California Turkey Wrap with coleslaw, spinach, sun-dried tomatoes, onions and a chipolte aioli.

I sort of hate raw spinach and I hate wraps so, again, it wasn’t really the restaurant’s fault.  Nonetheless, I ended up eating basically nothing for brunch.

Thank goodness for Banana Split Cupcakes!

Amid chowing down on two cupcakes, Adam and I took a trek to the post office and got to enjoy almost 2 miles of walking and talking, win!

Random sidenote (super random when you consider that this isn’t even a new top) – how awesome is it that this shirt has a bustle?!

I had fancy plans for dinner, but when Scrubs reruns are on you never turn down pizza.

Adam and I split another Buffalo chicken slice,

along with a big pile of baby carrots.

Yep, pretty good for a Saturday!

Make Like A Banana And Split

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Oh my goodness, I am just too excited!  My baking project turned out so well that I’m going to hurry through blogging dinner so I can tell you about it.

Dinner wasn’t bad.

It’s just that nothing can compare to cupcakes.

I made this lentil soup packet from Manischewitz.

And Adam and I split a slice of buffalo chicken pizza as our carb.

Done and done; now I can talk about dessert!

Do you see why I was excited?

It’s been forever since I’ve eaten an actual banana split, but once I got the idea of Banana Split Cupcakes into my head I couldn’t get it out!

Banana Split Cupcakes

  • 1 and 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 3 large bananas, well mashed
  • 3/4 cup white sugar
  • 1 large egg
  • 1/3 cup melted butter
  • 1/4 cup roughly chopped walnuts
  • 12 Tbsp hot fudge sauce
  • 3 cups powdered sugar
  • 1/2 cup butter, softened
  • 5 oz vanilla bean ice cream, fully melted
  • maraschino cherries
  • rainbow sprinkles
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Farenheit.  Line a cupcake tray with 12 paper liners.
  2. Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and set aside.
  3. In a large bowl combine mashed banana, white sugar, egg, and melted butter.  Stir to combine, then fold in flour mixture and mix just until smooth.  Fold in walnuts.
  4. Fill each cupcake liner halfway with batter.  Spoon 1 Tbsp fudge sauce into each cup.  Top with remaining batter.
  5. Bake for 25-30 minutes.  Allow cupcakes to completely cool before icing.
  6. While cupcakes are cooling, use an electric mixer to beat together softened butter, powdered sugar, and melted ice-cream.  (This icing will keep best if stored in the fridge rather than at room temperature).
  7. Ice cupcakes then top with cherries and sprinkles as desired.

I wasn’t sure how the ice cream icing would work, but it ended up being perfect.  And it goes without saying that a layer of fudge in the middle of a cupcake is pure joy.

I ate two cupcakes (and did lots of nibbling) and it’s definitely time for me to put in my retainers so I don’t eat a third one!

For your own good, I beg of you; make these yourself this weekend!

Still Feeling Thankful

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When I thanked Canadians for their great tv last night, I forgot the real reason we should all feel greatful to our friends up north:

Ryan Reynolds.  <– thank you, thank you, a thousand times thank you!

Now, I’m not going to say that looking at pictures of Ryan Rynolds made me hungry, but it was time for breakfast.

A toasted leftover serving of buttermilk pancakes pulled from the freezer, topped with a strawberry-banana mash.

We still haven’t gotten good summer fruit up here (plums, where are you?!), so I had to work with the frozen variety.  I threw half a frozen banana and a big handful of frozen strawberries into a skillet with a little bit of butter.  A few minutes of cooking and spoon-mashing later…

There’s a layer of maple syrup on there too, so you know this tasted good!

to enter to win today’s (Applegate Farms $-off coupons) giveaway:

Visit  http://www.facebook.com/applegatefarms and leave a comment saying you are visiting from EatingChalk.com.  Leave a comment on this post letting me know that you’ve done so.

Working (Against Me)

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Hello, again!  I realize I’ve been a blogging slacker, but I’m ready to recommit.  Just like I committed to a workout this morning.

I had a lot of things working against me for this run –

  • I’ve been eating nothing but junk the past few days
  • I have not been hydrating properly at all
  • I haven’t been getting enough sleep
  • I just came from the orthodontist and I got on the treadmill feeling like someone had kicked me in the teeth
  • I skipped two training days and hadn’t worked out since Friday!

It’s a good thing that I think even a terrible run is a good run, because it did end up being a terrible run!  And with all the things (listed above) working against me, ironically what ended up killing me was my tight calf muscles!  I don’t even know what was happening with my legs but the best way I can describe it is that my calf muscles felt like rubber bands that were about to snap.  It took me 20 minutes before I felt even remotely warmed up.

Before I got on the treadmill I did adress the fueling issue.  I slammed a tangerine PowerBar Gel,

and bought myself a grape G2 and a water.

All total I stayed on the treadmill for an hour, doing some running and mostly walking.  1 hour, for 5 miles on the nose.

I’ve been in such a crabby mood the last few days and even though my workout was terrible it totally lifted my mood!  Mother Nature was looking out for my happiness too –

After a quick errand and a crucial shower, I was ready for lunch.  My teeth, in brand new retainers, were not feeling as ready as my belly though.  I ended up doing fries and ice cream, healthy living blog style.

A big pile of oven-roasted green bean fries.

Cooked 30minutes at 450* with a bit of salt and cooking spray.

And a bowl of banana soft serve.

I food processed 1.5 frozen bananas, a splash of Silk Vanilla Almond Milk, and 2 Tbsp of Smucker’s Natural Peanut Butter with Honey.

Both items ended up being de-lish-us!  Hopefully they will help me fuel through my afternoon, since I’ve got a monster to-do list to tackle:

  • fold/put away my laundry
  • fold Adam’s laundry
  • finish putting away my school stuff
  • clean the bathroom
  • clean the kitchen
  • get set up for job hunting tomorrow
  • send some blog e-mails
  • backup my files from this school year
  • schedule some doctors’ appointments
  • fix my nail polish
  • start reading a new book
  • make dinner

What’s on your to-do list today?