Being Healthier

Top o the morning to ya!

I am feeling better in the stomach so a big thank you to all of you kind, talented bloggers out there that wished me well! I really appreciate it! I think it was a combination of the beer, burger and fries on Friday and the wine and cheese saturday plus the fried fish and fries sunday! I think it hit my system harder than the average person because I typically eat much cleaner and those things are usually spread out more instead of day after day!

Breakfast:

Smoothie ( organic milk, vanilla protein, pineapple, cherry, blueberries, banana)

I had a little leftover banana with naturally more and..

Pumpkin Banana Bread!

I made a “loaf” this morning in a coffee cake pan because I couldn’t find my loaf pan for whatever reason. I needed to make it because all of the bananas I had were ready to go!
Up close:

Hmm, I love the big soft spots of bananas. Here is my usual recipe, based off of Veganomican ( I found a recipe forever ago, I have made it several times on the blog- you can find it under the search for “banana bread”)

Today’s Recipe:
3.5 very ripe bananas, mashed ( If I have more, I add more! )
1/4 cup pumpkin puree ( greek yogurt and applesauce also work well!)
1/8 cup Smart Balance Oil
1/3 cup brown sugar ( I used white, out of brown) ** I prefer this amount because I prefer less sweet, original recipe uses 1/2 cup and molasses as well **
2 cups flour (I used whole wheat pastry flour)
¼ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
dash of nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt

I just started with the wet ingredients (first three) mixing and mashing then added the sugar. Mix the reaminder of  ingredients ( dry) and added those to the wet, which is “The Muffin Mix Method” but I also did a “rapid” method because I just added it all to the same pan I cooked it in. Save on dishes and time!

I baked for about 35 minutes at 325. Some notes: I added extra bananas than the original recipe calls for ( over twice as many) so I didn’t miss the refined sugar one bit. The extra bananas and the pumpkin lend to its moistness and sweetness. It tasted much more like a “breakfast bread” should be versus a dessert loaf kind of bread. The lower refined sugar will also help keep your blood glucose more stable. I really liked the chunky soft bits of banana too!

I just had the last of the mini flying biscuits ( I had frozen it) with some strawberry preserves and green tea. I am testing this as pre-run fuel!

Off to workout!

Super Dark Chocolate Over The Hump Day

I had about 3 pieces of this bar and Jeff helped me too.

I think my favorite was the Espresso Dark Chocolate that I gave to Jeff’s stepdad. It was this dark chocolate but had little espresso bits inside. It was delicious and had a fantastic aroma! The little bits were so tiny so they weren’t as unappealing large or chewy as say, chocolate covered espresso beans can be!

Here are the stats from The Newman’s Own Organics site:

Ingredients:
Super Dark Chocolate:
Organic Dark Chocolate (organic chocolate liquor*, organic evaporated cane juice, organic cocoa butter*, soy lecithin [an emulsifier], organic vanilla).

Nutrition:

Super Dark Chocolate ( for entire 64 g bar): Calories 330, Calories from Fat 250, Total Fat 28g (Saturated Fat 16g), Cholesterol 0mg, Sodium 0mg, Total Carb. 30g (Fiber 6g, Sugars 16g), Protein 5g

Banana Sundae

My version of a banana sundae: a scoop of frozen yogurt ( half baked B&J), A scoop of whip cream, A scoop of Blueberry Greek Yogurt, Banana, Awesome Almonds’ Cinnamon Almonds.

Organic Whole Grain Peanut Butter Cookie Brownies…

I made these for a guest post on Love of Oats and  put a bunch into the freezer. If they are in the freezer, I tend to not eat them as fast and I can have one whenever really. Here is my recipe link, I used organic chocolate, organic pb sandwich cookies, natural peanut butter and whole grain pastry flour… Very delicious and quite nutritious! ( Tuesday) 

Also nutrient rich and delicious and in the freezer, A Vitalicious Vitatop.

Double Chocolate Dream

Hope you guys enjoyed the dessert post! Like I said, I have a huge sweet tooth which I tie into my ideals for healthy living and happy eating.  Now that I have gotten into making healthier desserts, I often find myself preffering mine over a restaurants. Although, the dessert from one particular meal has been hard to beat… Check it out HERE

Body:
I got up early and my stomach was still bothering me today! Blah, I really had no appetite and I figured I would go to the gym to get my blood pumpin and maybe brew up my lost hunger.

Elliptical: 35 minutes
Treadmill: 1 mile

Alas, no hunger brewed. I had to get going on the studying so I came home and eventually made a really late breakfast:

Whole wheat wrap spread with hummus ( of course, Sabra!) and then filled with egg whites, spinach and pepper and onion mix…
 

all wrapped up with a bowl of fruit on the side

Green Tea

It was delicious but hard to finish. I have no idea why because I know calorie-wise it was much smaller than what I normally eat. I barely finished. 

Mind:

Studied for the exam for a good 2 hours. I do small bits of really focused studying and then just completely switch gears pre-test. If I glance at material before the test, I always get flustered!

I studied and then headed to class. Can you believe this, we had a lecture BEFORE our test ?  It doesn’t bother me  ( read just above) however, it would be nicer to get the test over with first so we can switch gears and pay attention ? There were so many people NOT listening to the lecture and still studying through it!

Anyhow, our lecture was about cakes! We will make an Angel Food Cake and a Pound Cake ( and potentially a sponge cake as well). So look for that thursday!
 
Started Metabolism Project~ Yikes! Sarah and I have two weeks to get it done but I think we were incredibly efficient in breaking up the questions and planned our next few meetings . I feel very confident now. Hey Sarah- let me know what you think of the almonds!

After metabolism, I spent all evening working on a presentation for tomorrow’s class at a cafe with my vitamins group… phew, about 3 hours!

Lunch:
I had a balance bar ( no photo) and an apple…

I really don’t know what’s up with my stomach but its not fun. I felt hungry for lunch but as soon as I ate, my esophagus hurt.

Dinner:

I had to meet with a group for class after class so Jeff said he would be happy to cook me some dinner. He headed out with our friend who had got box seat tickets to the NHL game! Unfortunately I had to meet with my group AND they only had 1 ticket. Oh well, I am excited Jeff has the chance to go! I hope it was a good game!

I heated up some veggies and pasta salad when I got home.

and added the lemon pepper tilapia he had cooked for me on top. Hmm Delicious, I really  like when jeff cooks!

I forgot to post dinner last night.  I shouldn’t say forgot but I was tired in addition to not feeling well. Today was just way more hectic than I had thought it would be!

It was Salad Squared: a little leftover salad (with hummus at 12 oclock) and some pasta salad I made earlier yesterday

Okay now you are all up to date with me, my turn!