A Little Anecdote and A Recipe

After telling this little anecdote to my husband last night, and he told me I should share it on my blog. So here we are. :) When I run in the mornings, I listen to Pandora, and the latter half of this week, there was an ad for a free tall House Blend coffee at participating Starbucks on Friday before noon. So, I decided that I could treat myself to a free coffee yesterday, and because I felt bad about not spending any money (and because I've been craving chocolate haha), I'd also buy a brownie. 

I proceeded to carry out my morning routine as per usual, leaving for work a little bit earlier than normal for my Starbucks stop. As I stood by the bakery case looking for the brownies, I glanced at the cold case with sandwiches, parfaits, etc., wondering to myself if I wanted to buy anything else while I was there. Just as I was deciding not to buy anything else, I realized that I had made one big misstep in my morning. While I managed to grab the fixings for my lunch, I hadn't remembered to grab my apple for breakfast. No breakfast=bad plan, especially when drinking coffee. And so, I ended up not only buying my brownie but also buying a protein breakfast pack, therefore spending far more money than I'd planned to. At least the coffee was free!

Moral of the story: don't forget your breakfast when stopping for free coffee!

Earlier this week, I made Baked Oatmeal Squares from this recipe here. I really like them, although don't make them expecting something supper sweet, because while they do have some sugar in them, they don't taste like dessert. The dried cherries really are the best part. The next time I make these, I'll probably put more in than the recipe calls for.

We've lots to do today. Buying plants for my balcony garden, grocery shopping, laundry, cleaning around the house, buying a grill.....oh, yes, we're buying a grill. I'm so excited!! Hamburgers on the grill tomorrow for supper! :)

Have a lovely weekend!

Banana Almond Smoothie

Recently, my husband and I have begun to endeavor to eat a little healthier and to work out to lose a bit of weight and get into better shape. Towards this end, I decided to stop eating cereal for breakfast and to start making fruit smoothies. Which also means that I have to be a bit more motivated to get up and get things done in the morning; not a bad thing, even if my bed is incredibly comfy haha!

I have been enjoying my berry fruit smoothies in the morning, but that’s not what I’m going to be sharing in this post. While on Pinterest, I came across a pin for an Almond Energy Shake that looked de-lish! So, I picked up a couple extra ingredients when grocery shopping for the week and whipped it up. I can say that it lived up to expectations grandly! It has a fairly light flavor at first taste, but the more you drink, the better it gets. I think that I’m going to enjoy alternating this smoothie with my berry smoothies in the mornings!

(UPDATED 1/31/2013) Gather the ingredients:

     1 1/4 Cups Almond milk

     1 banana, sliced and frozen

     2 tablespoons almond butter

     ½ teaspoon (approx.) cinnamon
     1 scoop vanilla protein powder

     4 ice cubes

Place all the ingredients in a blender. Blend until smooth. This updated recipe makes 1 serving; pour it into a large mason jar and enjoy! Note: with the updated recipe, it won't fill a large mason jar to the brim like in the picture below. It's still yummy though!

Bananas for Banana Bread

I don’t mind saying it. My mother makes the absolute best banana bread in the whole world. Well, actually, all of her food is the best in the whole world, but this post is about banana bread. I know that we may disagree (your mother’s banana bread may be the best to you), and that’s ok. But I absolutely love my mother’s banana bread.

The thing about her banana bread is that it is exceptionally moist. It has the perfect balance in taste between banana, nuts, and creamy goodness. When I was a kid, I didn’t like nuts, so my mom would sometimes make special mini-loaves of her banana bread without the nuts just for me. Now, though, I’ve found that I do enjoy nuts after all, so when I make her banana bread, I add the nuts back in.

Fall is a wonderful time for sweet breads, especially when you warm them up and spread a little butter on top. And banana bread, in particular, is incredibly easy to make. So, gather your supplies, mix and mash the ingredients, bake, and then sit back and enjoy the results.

Gather the ingredients:

     2 Cups flour
     1 tsp baking soda
     1/2 tsp salt
     1/2 Cup shortening (a stick of Oleo, Crisco, etc.)
     1 1/2 Cups sugar
     2 eggs, slightly beaten
     1 Cup sour cream
     1 Cup mashed bananas (about 2 large)
     3/4 Cup finely chopped walnuts

Sift together flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside. In a medium bowl, cream shortening and sugar. Add eggs. Then add sour cream and bananas. Mix in sifted ingredients. When thoroughly combined, stir in nuts.

Pour batter into two greased loaf pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Enjoy!

Bites of Yumminess

It seems all the rage right now to be making (and eating) energy/protein bites, or balls. I came across a recipe via Pinterest that looked intriguing; of course, I accidently closed out my browser before I saved the website or repined….boo. So I decided to Google protein bites. Goodness, were there lots of results! Most have a fairly similar recipe with slight deviations, and while I never did find the original one that I liked, I found one that would do.

I initially told my husband that I would make these bites for us to eat for breakfast. However, I've made them twice now, and they don't last longer than a day and a half (they really are that good. And that easy to eat haha)! If I’m going to be serious about these being our breakfast, I’m going to have to double or triple the recipe.

Energy Bites

Gather the ingredients:
     1 Cup Oatmeal
     1/2 Cup coconut flakes
     1/2 Cup ground flaxseed
     1/2 Cup peanut butter (or other nut butter)
     1/4 Cup honey
     1/2 Cup chocolate chips/raisins/dried
                    cranberries/whatever suits your fancy

Mix it all together until thoroughly blended. Chill in the fridge for 1/2 an hour. Roll into 1" balls. Store leftovers (if there are any!) in the fridge.

Sit back and enjoy! Mmm-mmm, good :-)