Too Much Candy, a Good Surprise, and a Bad Surprise

Sigh...I've done it again. I've eaten too much candy. I told myself that once I finished my Easter candy, I would practice some restraint, but apparently that didn't process, as I went out and bought myself more candy. So, to really motivate myself, I am vowing to eat cleanly for the next two weeks.

There. I said it. And since it's in the blog world, it's official. ;-)

Why two weeks, you say? Well, that's because that's when I'm going to do a crazy thing. Well, it's really not that crazy, just slightly crazy for me. Last week I spontaneously booked a flight to go visit my friend for the weekend. It was totally not planned, but it will be so nice to see him again because I haven't seen him since early August and he'll be in Germany through the summer and all next year. I had to book it using my mother's credit card, which leads me into my next dilemma.

I demagnetized my credit card. Stupid me. And I forgot the password to my online account, so I didn't want to use it because then I obviously couldn't pay the bill online. So I need to call the people to help me out. So...I better get on telling my mom that that $250 charge that I really can't afford is legit and will be coming her way in the very near future, haha. She probably won't be too thrilled.

So, those are my two updates. I hope that wasn't a bore!

Now for some of today's random eats:

The dining hall had BLUEBERRIES! Can you believe it? I was so elated that I took some back to my room, bowl and all. They were so delicious.

For a snack I had one of my favorites, banana slices dipped in carob powder. It's like chocolate, only not.

Step one: Slice the banana on the fancy schmancy banana peel plate.

Step two: Open the bag of carob and inhale its wonderful goodness.

Step three: Fork a banana slice, dip it in carob, and enjoy...

Between copious amounts of the aforementioned candy (I am giving the rest away so this does not happen again, haha...practice self control, Claire), I had this little rabbit that my aunt gave me. Apparently one of her neighbors made it.

I'm not sure you can even tell this is a rabbit anymore...

So, recap. I think I need to put this down. No more candy. I know I just gave it up for Lent, but I'm going to stick it out for two more weeks. Besides, I think I just ate two weeks' worth of candy.

Clean eats. Fruits and veggies are my friends for snacks, not candy. (Do you see a pattern here?)

Question: What's the one thing you can't get enough of?

The Best Breakfast Ever

Who doesn't love bananas and peanut butter? Not me, for sure. 

(Notice the lovely banana peel and my computer in the background...)

I pretty much re-discovered its deliciousness two weeks ago, and I think I'd had it everyday since then. I love slicing up the banana and spreading it up with creamy peanut butter. I would rather use almond butter or another nut butter, but I'll take what I can get here. (I didn't want to run out to the store with only a few days left until spring break) The cafeteria has these little packs of peanut butter that come in these adorable cups. I have a horrible sense of estimating sizes and amounts, so I naturally thought that each of these little cups was a tablespoon. Um...a few days ago I realized I was pretty much wrong. Whoops. Guess I shouldn't have eaten four of them... :-/


I know a lot of you are fans of oats in the morning, but I just can't get into them. Oatmeal has never been something I've liked. I would love to just eat the toppings that all of you garnish your oatmeal with, but I don't think it would keep me full, haha.


Today my friend and I are going to set up an appointment with one of the execs on campus to talk about a possible revamp of our dining system. We had written a proposal detailing how the hospitality students on campus would run the whole dining facility (getting credit for it) and presented it to the Hospitality dean, who surprisingly went for it! We were so happy. He suggested presenting it to the next level, so that's what we're going to do today. Hopefully the project works, because better dining would make college SO much better AND keep more money in my wallet, so I don't have to keep running to the grocery store for sustenance.


So, what's your normal breakfast? Anything you have to religiously have everyday?


It's almost Friday...hooray!

Enter this awesome giveaway for Funky Monkey freeze-dried fruit!

Mint Banana Ice Cream?

I have good news and bad news.

First off, the bad news: I don't have any pictures of Thanksgiving food, which consisted of baked sweet potatoes, baked acorn squash, a relish tray, raw cranberry sauce, and applesauce. It was delicious.

Now for the second piece of bad news: I won't be posting any more dessert recipes for a couple of weeks, as I am trying to clear out my system from excess sugar. I'm not sure how interesting I can make veggies and nuts, but I'll try!

And now for the good news: I have one more dessert recipe that I hadn't posted! With the last of my frozen naners, I decided to see how it would taste if I put my Amazing Grass superfoods in it. I threw a scoopful into the whipped bananas (no sweetener),

and it turned a disgusting lovely shade of green. I took a bite and...

Surprisingly, it tasted just like mint chip ice cream! I was amazed. The next time I'll add some cacao nibs or carob to make it really taste like mint chocolate chip ice cream; yum!

Stay tuned tomorrow for my improvisation of a lunch...

P.S. Be sure to enter Katie's fantastic giveaway for coconut oil!

Race Day

I did the Turkey Trot 5k on campus here today. The weather was perfect: sunny, but cloudy, not too warm, and thankfully, NOT raining. I rested up last night and wanted some quality fuel for the race, so I decided on some chia pudding with banana.

 If that's not a powerhouse, I don't know what is! I figured I needed all the help I could get, since I haven't run in two weeks, and even then it was barely jogging. I didn't have any almond milk, so I just used water, but it still turned out pretty tasty. I'll post the recipe below.


I finished in 24:21...definitely not my best time, considering in high school I could run 22:00. I'm sure if I really trained I could get there again, haha. After the race I was going to grab the proverbial banana and bottled water, but they only had pizza and Gatorade. So I stuck around for the prizes (sadly I didn't win) and then went to get a salad. When I got back to my room and started on some research, I sat down with some straight-up chai tea (no milk or sweetener), an orange, an apple, and some coconut.


So now I'm being productive; yay!


Banana Chia Breakfast Pudding


Serves 1
Ingredients:


1 small banana
1/4 cup raw chia seeds
2 TBL of water (more or less to your liking)
1/8 tsp. stevia or other sweetener


1. Mix chia seeds, water, and sweetener together. Add half the banana and mush up till the banana is mostly incorporated.
2. Refrigerate until ready to eat.
3. Take mixture out of fridge and add remaining half banana, mushing it up slightly so it incorporates but still is chunky.
4. Enjoy!

Finally; Banana Ice Cream...

Yay for another daily post! 


I just enjoyed some lovely cut up fruit and a green smoothie/sludge for lunch. Delicious! Oh, and I've found I have a "thing" for carob. I've been taking a tablespoon or so of carob and mixing it with a sprinkle of stevia and a splash of almond milk to a frosting-like consistency. It's probably an acquired taste, but I love it!


I realized I hadn't had banana ice cream since before the semester started, so I froze some naners and broke out the mini food processor. I really didn't expect it to work, but lo and behold, it did! I added a little carob and some agave for some extra sweetness, and it turned into this deliciousness:

In the mini food-processor; how cute!

What a spoonful of goodness right there...

Wonderful, right? Here's the super simple recipe.


Banana Ice Cream


Serves 1
Ingredients:
1 small to medium banana, cut up in chunks and frozen
1 TBL. carob powder
drizzle of raw agave to taste
optional: salt and vanilla (I would love to have added some, but I don't have any...boo.)


1. Throw frozen banana chunks in food processor and process until smooth.
2. Add in carob and agave and pulse.
3. Scoop out and enjoy!

The Impromtu Peach Banana Smoothie

Hmmm...I ate a lot of dates again today. They are so delicious when they are fresh. On my salad at lunch today, I had an amazing little salad of spinach, onion, grape tomatoes, and feta. It was very delicious; probably not completely raw, but pretty much there.


I wanted to share a smoothie that I made the other day after discovering that my last peach (before I bought more at the farmers' market...and unfortunately the last harvest) was pretty much frozen from my crazy fridge/freezer. So, I peeled off the skin (which was actually quite easy to do), chopped it up, and threw it in the Magic Bullet with a splash of almond milk and a frozen banana. I blended it up till it got frosty. The consistency was like a soft sorbet, and it was delicious!

Doesn't it look tempting?


I'm almost out of nuts, so this weekend I'll be getting some more and making a trip to the health foods store (and perhaps Wegmans, where they have the most delicious carob covered raisins in the organic bulk food section). I'll keep you posted on my purchases!

Banana Granita

I've decided that bananas are one of the most versatile fruits when it comes to roughing it raw. Not only are they delicious right out of hand, but they can be made into lots of desserts. Just thinking about it now, you can make puddings, ice cream, frozen pies, and little banana and nut butter sandwiches...but I'm sure there are many more things out there.


Last week when I made the banana butter cup pie, I also threw some bananas in the food processor with some agave and blended until they were liquid. I poured the mixture into a container and froze it to see how the texture would turn out. Well, my freezer doesn't freeze items rock-hard, which was great because then I probably wouldn't be able to get any of the ice cream out! The texture of the frozen bananas was like a granita; kind of icy but a little more smooth than a granita. It was scoop-able and made pretty little scoops in the bowl.


Here's a picture of the finished product:

Yum! Delicious bananas!


At home, using the VitaMix, I would make delicious banana ice cream using previously frozen and peeled bananas, a bit of raw honey or agave, Himalayan sea salt, vanilla, and maybe some carob or cacao powder. In the VitaMix, the bananas do get the consistency of real ice cream, not the kind of slimy mix you can get if you make it in the food processor.


I'm thinking that my next project will be pudding...but as for upcoming posts, a little hint: think cashews.

Banana Butter Cup Pie

Yum! This post is all about my foray into dessert making with my mini food processor. My mother sent me a raw recipe for Banana Butter Pie, which called for some ingredients that I didn't have. So, I improvised! I changed the recipe a little bit, as well. I added a chocolate layer and a garnish of banana slices. 


I wanted to add the chocolate flavor to channel the Reese's Peanut Butter Cup idea, so I spooned a little coconut oil into the food processor and threw in some cacao nibs and a drizzle of agave. The food processor doesn't do as great of a job as a coffee grinder does to grind the cacao nibs into powder, so the final result was a little grainier than I would have liked, but still delicious. The riper the bananas, the sweeter the banana butter layer. If your bananas aren't sweet enough, you can add a little agave or dates to sweeten additionally.


This is a perfect recipe for the dorm, since bananas are plentiful at the dining hall. The taste is terrific; creamy like a peanut butter cup. The chocolate layer is a bit firmer than the banana butter layer, but it's a nice textural contrast. The banana butter layer is so smooth and creamy; it has the texture of rich ice cream. You could really change the amounts of ingredients in the recipe to make a larger or smaller batch.


I hope you enjoy!

Banana Butter Cup Pie
Serves: 4 (or 2 very generously)


Ingredients:
3 ripe medium bananas
1/3 cup raw almond butter ( I used homemade)
1.5 TBL coconut oil (liquid)
3 TBL raw cacao nibs
2 TBL raw agave nectar
0.5 banana, sliced


Method:
1. Break up the 3 bananas into chunks and process them in the food processor until liquidy. Add the almond butter and process until incorporated.
2. Pour banana-almond butter mixture into container. I used a quart sized plastic container.
3. Combine the coconut oil, cacao nibs, and agave in the food processor and process until incorporated. If you have a coffee grinder, it's helpful to grind up the cacao beforehand.
4. Pour the cacao mixture on top of the banana-almond butter mixture and swirl with a knife. 
5. Arrange the banana slices attractively on top of the mixture.
6. Freeze for at least 3 hours or until firm.
7. Slice and enjoy!


Enjoy the deluge of pictures!