Sunday, January 22, 2012

One ingredient: That's Bananas!

Oh hey!  I'm Bre.  Remember me?  No?  Good, because I am not here for long today.  Just long enough to introduce my good pal, Jobin. 

Okay, her name is really Monica and she blogs over at The Painted Pisces.  We work together and bonded over I Love You, Man.  Hence, the nickname.  Jobin has been my go-to  for quite a while now and today she is leaving our office and transferring to a different department to pursue a career in cultural resources and use her antrhopology degree.  I am so excited for her, but sad for me.  From now on I may only get to see her every other Friday.  Congratulations Big Mack!  I wish you all the success in the world...okay, save some for me.  After you finish reading here, go visit her blog and leave her some love.  She is super crafty and likes to share her projects with the world!

Take it away, Jobin!

Did you know I am a Gwen Stefani/No Doubt fan? Well, see here:

That actually has nothing to do with this post though, haha!

Eric does 99.99999% of all food preparation in our house, and he is amazing for that. BUT, I don't want him to feel like he carries all of the weight and responsibility of feeding our family. I am getting interested in recipes so that I can relieve him of his (delicious!) duty. Don't worry, I CAN cook, so I doubt I will poison anyone when I'm in the kitchen, I've just never particularly enjoyed it. I actually really enjoy baking, but our oven is less than reliable, so that doesn't happen too often.

Recently, I found this sneaky little recipe for banana ice cream somewhere, and while I can't find where I originally saw it, it is on maaaaaaaaaaaany websites and is just so easy I don't think I'll need to site anyone. It's really only one ingredient: bananas! Der!

The recipe I found/forgot said to chop up bananas, then freeze, and when frozen, puree in a blender/food processor. The texture is so very similar to ice cream, its bananas! (Insert wah wah bad joke sound here.)
When I told Eric about it, he had an even BETTER idea: use the ice cream maker! If you have one of these, the recipe goes from a 1-2 hour process to about 30 minutes. Genius!
First, gather your ingredients and kitchen tools:
4-6 bananas (for our family of four, this gave us very generous helpings)
Food Processor
Ice Cream Maker



Break up your bananas, toss them in the food processor and hit "mush" (Really a setting! I swear!).




We added a few tablespoons of peanut butter once we had baby food consistency (I know that makes it now 2 ingredients... so sue me), then plopped it into the ice cream maker.
Within 20-30 minutes, we were ready!
We topped it with crushed cocoa-dusted almonds. Mmmmmmmmmmmm!
Hannah was not really feelin' it though. But that's okay, at least she tried it.
Elisa was very pleased!
If you do not have an ice cream maker, freeze cut-up pieces of banana for 1-2 hours, then throw the frozen bits in the food processor and hit "mush". It will look crumbly, but once you scoop it, it will get that nice "ice cream" look to it.
Enjoy!

Monday, January 9, 2012

Just Another Manic Monday...

Whoooooaaaaa Whooooooaaaaaa!

First off, I want to say hello to all the new faces around here!  It is still crazy to me that people I don't know care so much about what I have to ramble about, but I love you all the same!  Apologies in advance for the less than riveting post you are about to read.  I hope you'll stick around after this...

I have been in a serious blogging funk lately.  In case you haven't noticed I get this super amped up motivation and post every day for a WHOLE WEEK and then nothing for like 2 weeks....or a month...

Whateva, whateva, I do what I want!

To be honest, I am just not feelin' it right now.  I finally let happen what I swore I wouldn't.  I got sucked in and let another blogger get me down.  I have also spent the past couple of weeks reading Christmas recaps and New Year's Resolutions and I barely had the energy to read them, let alone recap my own.  I'm just not feelin' it folks.  I love you all and want to read about your holidays, but since I only get to read like once a week, a thousand recaps and resolutions posts in a row were a bit redundant and overwhelming.  It's pretty obvious why I follow the blogs I do though, because they are all very similar :)

Tax season has begun so I worked all weekend.  Seriously ALL WEEKEND.  7 hours on Saturday and 8 hours on Sunday.  So today doesn't even really feel like a Monday.  I have the next couple of weekends off for various reasons, but I am pretty much working all but one weekend in February.  The good thing about a seasonal job is that there is always a light at the end of the tunnel so it doesn't really seem so bad.  Plus, I'm making that money, YA HEARD?  If you know anyone in the Sacramento, CA area that is looking for a tax professional, send them my way!

I know we only had our honeymoon 6 months ago, but I am seriously having vacation withdrawals.  I think it's because we did Europe instead of sitting on the beach with a drink in our hand getting couples massages.  I'm not really complaining about going to Europe, but I am itching for a paradise fix in a bad way!  It doesn't really help that everyone is posting about their winter vacations to tropical destinations and cruises.  It also doesn't help that I don't see anything like that in our near or distant future.  Booooooo!

I have worked out a handful of times since the end of October.  I went from working out 6 days a week, to working out like 6 times in 2 months.  I don't know what it is, but I need to get my mojo back.  I really enjoy being able to head straight home after work, but I don't like feeling like a fitness slacker.  I keep saying I am going to get up and go in the morning, but my get up and go won't get out of bed.  Bitch.

I don't do resolutions, but I do to-do lists, so here's mine:

  • Finish wedding and honeymoon recaps before June.  If we have a year to get Thank You cards out, we should have a year to get the recap posts up too.
  • Get my fitness mojo back.  Before I know it, it will be bathing suit season.  Luckily my eating habits haven't changed from when I was working out, so I am not packing on the pounds that winter usually brings.
  • Remember why I started blogging in the first place, which was to keep friends and family updated on my life and keep a log of memories and milestones.
  • Work harder to avoid comparing myself to others.  I can only control myself and my situation, so none of the other stuff matters.

I hope your year is off to a stellar start!!!  Maybe I should use it as a reset button for the ol' bloggy blog.  Let's see what 2012 brings!!

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