Tag Archives: beans

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!

Way Back Wednesday, Wk 4

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With any luck, my morning will have started with coffee and a trip to the gym (I’ll blog about that in tonight’s recap).  With a little bit more luck, I won’t be currently curled up in the fetal position and bawling.  Hopefully, while you are reading this I’ll be eating the following lunch.

A nice juicy pear.

1.5 servings of Tribe’s roasted garlic hummus with 1.5 servings of pretzels.

I took a few tastes of this while I was packing my lunch last night and I’m pretty darn excited about this combo.

Bumps on a log.

Who doesn’t love bumps on a log?  The only thing better is apple smiles.

I’m meeting up with a group of friends to study from 10am until our 3:30 – 5:40 double exam (a final exam and a comprehensive final of two courses) so hopefully this lunch while carry me through.  “See” you guys on the other side tonight!

Way Back Wednesday is a new blog series.  Since I have to pre-blog lunch on my long days, I’m throwing in pictures from life BB (life before blogging) for fun.  (week 1, week 2, week 3)

This week’s WBW, The Long and the Short of It.  You guys have mostly seen me with long brown hair (in a ponytail, natch), but my head has lived through a lot of changes.  I was blonde most of high school, even dying my hair with Kool Aide once, a red hed with bangs at the start of college, and I’ve gone up and down with long hair and short cuts over the past 7 years.  Just for funsies, here are a few shots of some of the short times –

Fall, 2003.

Summer, 2008.

Fall, 2009.

Summer, 2009.

How do you wear your hair?  Do you change your look often, or still match your senior yearbook photo?

Blah, Blah, Blah.

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Blah, blah, blah.  Today was just blah.  My mood was blah, my food was blah, my workout was blah, my photos today basically redefine the word blah…

We started our morning by pulling the pre-made chia seed and banana buttermilk pancakes out of the freezer.

I topped mine with a smear of Smart Balance Light and drizzle of maple syrup.

They were good, not boring and blurry like the picture suggests.

Adam drove me to school – a high point in the day because the wind here is ca-razy! – so I could attend my final Biochem lab, my last science lab ever in my degree!  That last lab bit would be a lot more exciting if we didn’t have a huge lab final next week that is totally throwing off my study plans for my other finals.

In the afternoon I also attended a study session for another exam that is making me want to curl up in a ball and cry.  When I take my Metabolism final two weeks from now we will have a 5minute break after the test and then we’ll be sitting for a comprehensive exam that spans the material from a course two semesters ago through now.  Yay.  <– can you see why I’m in a blah mood?!

In between test bad news #1 and test bad news #2 I did manage to go to the gym.  My half marathon training schedule (which I promise to share on Monday) had me slated for three miles, so I hopped on the treadmill.  Aaaaaand I confirmed that I can’t run three miles without having to stop for breaks.  Ugh!  I ran 3 frustrating miles, followed by a 10minute cool down for a total of 3.5 miles and 40 minutes.  With a 5-minute strength/stretch session afterward.

For lunch I packed overnight made in the morning oats.  I combined and let stew –

  • 1/3 cup raw oatmeal
  • 2/3 cup skim milk
  • a 0% Plain Stonyfield yogurt
  • 1/2 a sliced banana
  • 1 Tbsp brown sugar
  • 2 Tbsp raisins

Tasted delicious, but looked as brown and boring as my breakfast –

Plus some greens in the form of roasted green beans.

Still tasty cold, and two days later, ps.

I was feeling seriously blah when I got home, and felt myself heading toward Crankypalooza.  So I did the not-being-a-psycho-wife thing and took a long shower, scrapped our dinner plans, ordered nachos with extra black beans and sour cream, and cuddled on the couch with Adam to watch some Scrubs.

A serving (weighed out because if you don’t weigh it you’ll seriously just eat the entire bag) of mini Reeses was also consumed.

I’m not sure if it was the cheese, the cuddling, or my Zach Braff crush, but my bad mood lifted!  And I knuckled down and finished off all of my remaining work for one of my classes; which further helped to lift my mood.  Bring it on finals week!

Are you having the crazy weather and winds in your neck of the woods?  Keep dry readers!

Marys, Monkeys, and Magnums

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As the title implies, it’s been a fun day!  Also, in case the title leads to any confusion, mary = an upcoming half marathon and magnum is not referring to condoms!

Yep, I said it, I’ve got another half marathon in my sights!  I’ve been agitated ever since my 6-week illness killed my training for the Buffalo Half Marathon and I finally found one to take its place.  My goal is to run in the Presque Isle Half Marathon on July 17th.  I say goal instead of plan because I’m mindful of the fact that I have a history of injuries and pushing through pain isn’t worth the risk.  I’m going to wait until I’ve made it to at least 7 miles without incident before I put money down on entry fee.

I do however have a training plan (which I’ll share sometime soon) that had me slated for 3miles this morning.  The husband and I ran a nice loop around our neighborhood, 3miles and 30minutes.  Since I don’t have a Garmin I can’t really track my pacing, but I use MapMyRun as best I can.

When we got home I had to run through my shower since Katie was picking me up for a brunch date at Betty’s.

I’d never been before but I’ll definitely be going back to Betty’s soon, the place was adorable and the food was delicious!

I ordered off the specials menu, the Portobello Benedict –

Hashbrowns,

fruit,

and two English muffins topped with roasted Portobello mushroom, spinach, two poached eggs, and smoked gouda.

Mmmmmmn!  It shouldn’t be called a Benedict without Hollandaise (I would have gotten it on the side though so I probably shouldn’t quibble..) but this meal was not lacking for flavor.  The egg yolks melted perfectly into the bread and it was great to get some veggies into my morning.

Katie was kind enough to drive me back to school and I snagged a “mocha” (half coffee, half hot chocolate) along the way.

I don’t have classes on Tuesday but I was headed to an Anthropology-sponsored speaker on the topic of primates.  Ever since I attended the Body Farm lecture (love!) my name has been on an e-mail list and when I saw “live primates in attendance” I jumped on the opportunity!  I recruited a few friends to come with me and we all had a ton of fun –

Where else can you see a man diaper a monkey?

We’ve been putting grocery shopping off and are running out of food so Adam picked me up from the lecture for a trip to Wegmans.

I had to show off my primate pictures so we had to get hot bar for lunch.

Tons of grilled/steamed veggies with a little bit of sesame chicken,

with fruit for dessert.

Tastes like summer, the mango was definitely swoon-worthy!

While we were out, I cashed in a coupon from the Foodbuzz Tastemakers’ Program for some Magnum Ice Cream.

I grabbed a box of Double Caramel Bars.

I am so glad that I was given the opportunity to taste this for free because it’s not it’s not a product I would have bought on my own and now I might be obsessed!

Holy double layer of chocolate, Batman; this was good!  It’s (surprisingly good for vanilla) vanilla ice cream, wrapped in chocolate, wrapped in caramel, wrapped in a second chocolate shell.  The premise reminds me of this SNL skit, but the execution was perfection!

http://www.hulu.com/embed/umxmTijZLcnMhDPJjmYd5g

I also snacked on baby carrots with blue cheese,

and shared a few tastes of the husband’s new fancy cheese.

Dinner was a Cooking Light find, Quick White Bean, Asparagus and Mushroom Cassoulet.

Per usual, my changes included –

  • using baby Portobellos for half of my mushrooms
  • skipping the wine and oregano entirely
  • subbing in chicken broth for veggie broth
  • roasting the asparagus instead of boiling it
  • putting the cassoulet into the oven instead of the broiler (I don’t have a single broiler safe vessel!)

Even with my changes it was still pretty delicious though.

I ate my serving with some chips for scooping purposes.

Delicious.

Ok, this has been a very long post, time to wrap things up.  Hope everyone had a good day!

Smoothie Sucker

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At least once a week I put “smoothies!” on our meal plan for breakfast.  I would say the ratio of smoothies made to smoothies listed is something like 1:10.  Why am I such a sucker for the allure of morning smoothies?!  They sound so refreshing and tasty, but I never actually have time to make one, leaving me breakfastless and cranky.

Thankfully today I packed a pretty breakfast-y lunch, so I pulled that out a few hours early.

A berry flavored Revolution Foods squeeze packet,

and a 2% Mango Chobani.

With a small coffee (that large cup is half full) with two creamers.

I loved the new fruit packet flavor (on sale at Buffalo Tops!) but I wasn’t thrilled by the new-to-me Chobani.  I was expecting to love it because Pineapple is so good, but the texture just seemed strange to me.

Speaking of fruit, we had a fun lab today – finding the ascorbic acid (Vitamin C) content of different food items.  It was an interesting lab; always nice to practice something that actually relates to my profession.  P.S. Tang has .023mg of vitamin C per mL.

I was a busy bee after lab, with work to complete, a trip to the health center, a date with the gym, and finally an impromptu lunch date with Adam.  I was at the health center for a required physical before I begin working in the hospitals during the Coordinated Program next year.  After I get a PPD test next week there will be nothing between me and clinical work!

Next up was the gym.  I’m not going to lie to you guys, this visit was hard!  I did interval sets on the treadmill, 1minute walking/3minutes jogging.  I hit 3miles just around my 9th set.  With a quick cool down for a total of 3.25miles and 35minutes.

Since I ate my lunch for breakfast, I made an impromptu lunch date with the husband.  Adam was my savior and drove my drippingly sweaty self home for a much-needed shower.  We set a timer as I got out of the car (he had to sit out in front of the house) and getting upstairs, undressed, showered, ready to go, and back downstairs took me 11minutes and 5seconds.  And I even made an outfit change!

Go speedy!

Yes, that picture is at Wegmans.  Yes, we do have a hot bar problem!

I know we should try someplace new, but we love all the options and the price is right.  I’d much rather take a bunch of little different bites than have one choice in bulk.  Today I got a random mix of tofu, chicken, and slaw,

with pretty much every kind of roasted veggie.

The veggies were fantabulous as usual, but I ended up leaving behind most of the other side; my slaw had ham in it!

It was great to spend some mid-day time with Adam, and even better to get to head back to school with some yogurt pretzels to munch on during my night class.

Having a snack definitely made the time go faster.

In no time at all we were home eating burritos.

It helped that I pre-made the filling yesterday so the burritos came together in a cinch.

We topped whole wheat tortillas with sautéed mushrooms and onions, black beans, corn relish, sliced jalopenos, and some shredded 2% sharp cheddar.

Then we pressed them in the George Foreman like what we see them do at Moe’s.

Plus a side of scoops tortilla chips with spicy salsa for authenticity.

Perhaps I should have saved this meal for May 5th?

And since I’m a bottomless pit, I’ve got a mug waiting for dessert.

I stirred hot cocoa mix into some 0% Plain Oikos, then topped with brownie crumbles and toasted coconut.  I haven’t tasted it yet, but I can pretty well guess that it’s going to be amazing.

I hope this means I’m all set up for sweet dreams!  But first, some reruns of “Iron Chef” on Hulu.

How often do you make smoothies?  How often do you purchase them out?

She Ain’t Messing With No Court Jester

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No one could accuse me of being a gold-digger.  I started dating Adam when we were still in high school.  I will stay with him through countless years of undergrad, Teach for America, medical school, residency, and grunt work before he becomes a wealthy doctor (my Jewish grandma would be so proud!).  But sometimes, like when he calls me in a tizzy, shouting “the radio says there’s a BOGO special at Medieval Times!,” I close my eyes and think “he’s going to be rich someday.”

And then I open them, and get busy buying tickets to Medieval Times and mapping out the drive to Toronto.  And I feel so lucky to get to spend 4 hours in the car with my funny, handsome husband, who also happens to be a total dork.

Seriously though, Adam has wanted to go to Medieval Times since he watched “Cable Guy,” and I was thrilled to help his dream come true.

First though, we had to clean up from the poker party and get in a grocery trip.  While we were at Wegman’s we picked up hot bar for the road.

I grabbed a random spread, including several veggies plucked from their meat dish counterparts (think chicken and mushrooms, not beef and broccoli).

In total, I ended up with kale, carrots, mushrooms, celery, broccoli, butternut squash, and green beans.

I also munched on half a leftover turkey reuben.

And then, we were at Medieval Times!

I don’t have any pictures of the show (the mood lighting was a little rough on my food photos as well), but I did take a few shots around the castle.

We had a great time walking around, although the blatant commercialism was a little frustrating; it would have been nice to see an exhibit that wasn’t trying to sell us something.

The show was a lot of fun though, packing with jousting and ceremony.  The best part was definitely the horses though.  And dinner was surprisingly good.  No silverware, metal plates, and huge pieces of meat –

None for me though, I actually pre-ordered the vegetarian meal (which p.s., was even tastier!).  We started with tomato bisque,

and garlic bread,

both of which were only ok.

And then my meal blew me out of the water.

Hummus with pita chips, rice pilaf, and a grilled veggie skewer (I got a fork!), all of which were delicious.

Dessert was an apple tart.

It was good, but I only took a few bites because I knew Adam and I were going to share some Canada candy on the car ride home.

Smarties make the drive go so much faster!

We were served dinner at 5, so unsurprisingly I was ready for a snack when we got home.  I snacked on spinach and artichoke dip with a serving of chips while I blogged.

I don’t think we’d ever go back (holy price tag, Batman!!), but it was a pretty fabulous day!

Have you ever been to Medieval Times?

It’s Rebecca Black’s Favorite Day

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Minus starting any homework yet, my afternoon has gone according to plan.  Class – gym – nachos – Missing.  Once you add a shower and doing the dishes into that list I don’t feel too bad that I’m a bit behind schedule.

I’m not sure that pushing the gym back to after class will be a regular thing; when we got there today all of the ellipticals were occupied.  Not a big deal, but I don’t like to run two days in a row.  I still ended up having a good workout –

  • 20(+ish) minutes jogging on the treadmill.  I didn’t take any breaks this time and I covered 2.5miles, booyah!
  • 20minutes on the elliptical, level 6 random.  I did a mix of backwards, forwards, sprint intervals (and dying).
  • quick session of abs work and stretching

By the time I got home and got myself and the dishes clean, it was after 3o’clock and I was just sitting down for lunch.  Good thing I made a lunch worth waiting for –

2 oz of corn chips + 2 oz of extra sharp cheddar + a big handful of arugula + black beans + jalopenos

+ tomatillo salsa stolen from Moes + Oikos 0% plain Greek yogurt

Oh baby!

I swear I can’t taste the difference in the 50% reduced cheese when eaten on salads (so why not eat one with a little less fat?!), but for melting full fat is the way to go.  This dish blew the other day’s baked nachos out of the water.

If things go according to plan again, we’ve got a fun(ish) evening planned.  Hope everyone has a great afternoon!

What are your nacho topping must-haves?  I always go with black beans and jalopenos are essential.

Skipped But Not Forgotten

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I was gone last night, but the blog was not forgotten!  Actually, what didn’t happen was dinner 😦  Our plan was to get Wegman’s hot bar then do some grocery shopping, but unfortunately my class ran until the very last minute and by the time we reached Wegman’s the hot bar was bare.  When we finished getting groceries – Adam’s hosting poker night this weekend so this was a quick but essential trip – it was almost 10 and I determined bedtime made more sense than dinner. 

Thank goodness I had it together enough to make breakfast before we left this morning.

Sludge smoothies for all!

For two smoothies I blended –

  • 1+ cup frozen blueberries
  • 2+ cups frozen spinach
  • 2 cups orange juice w. calcium and vitamin d
  • approx. 2 Tbsp honey

Yumtastic!  The way our mornings have been running this year smoothies have seemed impossible, but they really are one of my favorite breakfasts.

Adam dropped me off at campus and once I swallowed my sludge I headed to the gym.  Unfortunately I forgot my water bottle, and I’d look a little funny rehydrating with my sludge, so I ended up buying a G2.

I managed to get in a nice treadmill workout before my Biochem lab; 20minutes of jogging with a short warm up and cool down.

I still had to pause the machine to die a couple of times, but my overall running speed was faster than last time.

Lab went by quickly and easily, I finished off an assignment in the break, and then I headed to a final meeting for the service club I’m a part of.  Easy peasy.  And lunch was good.

A salad base of arugula with 1oz of 50% reduced sharp cheddar and black beans,

topped with 1oz of crunched up tortilla chips and Stubbs bbq sauce.

BBQ sauce on salad is where it’s at!  Seriously kids, try this.

Adam came to pick me up and we headed to Moes to get him lunch – I packed him a salad too but forgot to pack him dressing or a fork, whoops! – where I stole a few of his chips.

Now we’re home for what looks like a fun and easy afternoon 🙂

How often do you skip dinner; once a week, once a month, never?  Why do you skip it?