“How can something so gross turn into something so good”

No, that’s not what the hubby said yesterday morning even though I did feel like I got hit by the ugly stick.  Ever have one of those days?  I blame it on having to arrive at work at 645a to prepare for my 7a meeting and 10 hour day.  This girl needs her beauty sleep…and a lot of it!

But in reality, the title is actually what the hubby said when I turned some pretty nasty looking bananas into these:

Banana butterscotch muffins

Recently I was reading Becca at I heart eggs and she shared a recipe from her grandmother for banana bread and it was just too good to pass up.  Besides, what else do you do with nasty looking bananas?

3 is a normal serving right?

The recipe is really quite simple and I followed in nearly to a T, well, except for I made muffins.  And added butterscotch chips

Bananas do a body good

Becca’s Nanny’s Banana Bread / Muffins (only slightly adapted by Shanna)

• In large bowl, mix 1 cup white sugar, 1/2 cup shortening (I used Crisco butter sticks)
• Add in 2 large eggs and 1/2 cup cold water
• Mash 3 bananas in small bowl and add to above bowl
• In separate bowl combine the following dry ingredients: 1 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp baking soda, 1 tsp salt, 2 1/2 cups flour, 1 tsp cinnamon (cinn is my add-in)
• Slowly mix flour mixture into ‘wet ingredients’
• Mix in 1 cup of butterscotch chips (my add-in)
• Divide batter into 18 muffin lined muffin tins
• Bake at 350deg for 24 min

Plenty to share

What you get is a pretty tasty slightly sweet banana muffin.  Quite good I must say.  I also have to note that I can resist nearly every single baked item I create, but for some reason, I really wanted to devour these.  Dare I say I may have eaten 4 or 5 of them!

Another great recipe for PB Banana Bread can be found here.

Show me your favorite banana recipe (provide a link!)

What do you do to feel better when you’re having a blah day?

Making do

Good morning bloggers!  I’m back in Denver once again for another week of work.  Definitely going to be racking up the United miles this year.  I’m already day dreaming about how I want to cash in my miles: Greece?  Argentina?  Spain (again)?

I don’t know about the way you eat with your S.O. (significant other), but if you’re me, you often tailor your meals to be healthier and lower cals than your male counterpart.

Case in point, on Thursday  night, I wanted to make a ratatouille of sorts.  I knew that a plate full of vegetables would not make do for Zach, so I made sure to whip a batch of whole wheat spaghetti for him, adding at least 400+ cals to the meal.

As for me, I made do with my La Tortilla Factory 50 cal tortilla baked in the oven for 5 min on 375 deg, layered with half of a sundried tomato / mozzerlla Laughing Cow cheese, topped with my veggies.

Healthy pizza for one

To make the ratatouille, I lightly sauteed a large bunch of chopped up asparagus, 4 mini-zucchinis sliced, 1 small red onion coarsely chopped in a skillet.  For the first 10 minutes, I kept the lid on to bring out the color of the asparagus via steaming.  Add a heft amount of black peppa, garlic salt, and Hunt’s tomato sauce and you have a super light, super tasty ratatouille.

I ate this x2

I gotta tell you asparagus with marinara is de-licious! 

Friday night I was on my own since the hubby went to NH for a Bachelor party.  I had been craving pancakes, but never ever seem to make them at home.  In a moment of weakness at Target, I bought some mix for a rainy day.  Enter Friday.  We didn’t have any fresh berries, which would have made the ‘cakes rock, so I made do with a banana on it’s last leg that I mixed into the batter.  Also into the batter, I added a hefty dash of cinnamon and also 1 tsp of vanilla.

Two lovely, dense pancakes just for moi!

(Shanna) Banana pancakes

And as I was sitting catching up on DVRed shows (Pregnant in Heels –> hilarious!), I wanted an afternoon drink but didn’t want to open a bottle of vino.  Again, I made do with some leftover Bailey’s (from these cookies), and added it to Diet A&W Root Beer?  If you’re wondering if this tastes like a root beer float, it does!  Nom!

Saturday I spent the day wine tasting with my buddy Kurt from Chicago, his wife Jess, and friends Justin and Karen.  Once I snag some pics from Kurt, I’ll post a recap, but for now you’ll have to make do with these:

Wine tasting outfit: Banana Repuplic cardi, Paris Blues skinny jeans, Forever 21 tank, Charles David wedges

Snackage

If there is one thing that is a necessity is adequate snackage when wine tasting.  In my bag was a liter of sparkling lemon water, macadamia cookies (from Kauai), Trader Joe’s honey wheat pretzels, and TJ’s wasabi peas.  Wouldn’t you know we (read: I) only broke into the wasabi peas?

So there ya go, that’s how I made do in the last few days.

In what ways do you make do?

Have you ever been wine tasting?  If so, where?

Are you a vino or hard alcohol type of person? (or nay altogether?)

How am I doing?

Happy Thursday!  I started my rainy morning by burning my forward with my 2.5″ big barrel curling iron.  I know have an awesome mark front and center.  Sweet!

Before I fill you in on my goal status I must share a smoothie recipe I made on Tues:

• 1 very ripe banana cut up
• 1 cup almond milk
• 1 tbsp maple-pumpkin butter (or just pumpkin butter)
• Dash of cinnamon

Holy moly this was the best smoothie that has ever been created.  Ever.  No, seriously.  Try it.  If you’re disappointed, well, then get your taste buds fixed

Alright, let’s see if I’ve been passing my own test.

You can see the full post on my 2011 goals here:

1. Better the ol’ blog. Hmmm, haven’t really done much either.  Although I have been more diligent about posting every weekday.  And I finally got on the Google Reader bandwagon.
2. Practice patience. I’m definitely more aware, which I think is the first step in making progress.  I try to catch myself when I’m getting antsy or impatient and evaluate whether it truly is a big deal.  Usually it’s not.  Go figure.
3. Explore new exercises. Poop.  Haven’t done this one at all.  Work was crazy busy so I couldn’t really expand on any other interests.  But I did get a borrowed copy of P90X.
4. Pick up the phone! I’m still not doing a great job at initiating phone calls.  However, I am actually answering the phone when people call instead of letting it go to voicemail.  Seems silly but this is a major step for me.
5. Relax my no-eating-past-8p rule. I still pretty much don’t eat past 8p, but I am not down to the minute about it.  And 2 days ago, I had a bite of my sweet quinoa a 903p.  Little victories, my friends.
6. Reign in the crazy weekend eating. Other than this past weekend, I’ve done a really good job at this.  I’m much more aware of overeating out of boredom.  And I’m trying to identify  my triggers, like drinking too much wine makes me snack. So, duh, stop gettin’ tipsy!
7. Work ??? Mum’s still this word on this one. Stay tuned.
8. Family expansion. Truth be told, I wouldn’t broadcast this on my blog one way or another until I was well into..um..er…expanding…

And I’ve decided to add a few more less-serious goals for this year:

Can we shape these suckers? (photo circa 2007)

• Get my eyebrows professionally shaped.  I’ve never had them waxed or plucked and want to see if it makes a difference.
• Challenge someone to an eating contest.  Because I’m pretty sure I could win.  Bring it!
• Surf again.  This could be taken care of next week in Kauai.
• Bake a pie from scratch… that means the crust too!
• Go without makeup for a week. Oh wait, already did that.
• Try nutritional yeast.
• Lay in bed or on the couch all day.  It’s harder than you think

Not so hard for this guy to laze around

What silly/less-serious  goal do you have for this year?

What is one key ingredient for making an awesome smoothie?