Chance to Win, Banana Bread & News

I just entered to win a "Private Surf Safari for Two" on the Athleta website and I thought I would let you all know about it also.

• Round-Trip Airfare to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
• Four Nights Accommodation in an Oceanfront Villa
• Daily Private Surf Lessons
• Daily Meals (Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner)
• Daily Yoga Sessions
• Las Olas Rashguard and Water Bottle
• Athleta Wardrobe Valued at $1500

You only have until the end of today - 11:59pm (pacific time), so get to it. (ENTER HERE)


The only rule is that if you WIN - you have to take me with you as a "thank you" for me telling you about it. Sound good? cool. I trust you. We will both be winners.


I am wondering if anyone out there have ever bought any of their clothes? I haven't due to the expensiveness, but I get the catalog and always wish I had a couple thousand dollars sitting around for me to buy a new wardrobe from there. Seriously - everything looks so comfortable and awesome.If you are interested, click on the photo above to ready more about the company. I loved what they said and also was wondering if the six pack abs show up when you start wearing the clothes. ;)
Oh yeah and this picture pretty much "had me at hello" - cool clothes/adventure/travel - in Costa Rica? I will take it!


My only suggestion for them is to rename the company to Athleata, so they could start selling performance bars, trail mix, and other great sports-minded food products!


Anyways, while I was daydreaming about vacations and fun new clothes, I had a scrumptious banana-banana bread baking in the oven.
I used this simple recipe from Allrecipes.com, but substituted whole wheat pastry flour for the all-purpose, added a little cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla extract and then added walnuts to the top.
It turned out great. Dense, moist, with great banana flavor. I had to try it immediately with a schmear of PB.


Some happy news - I got a job! I officially start July 7th and since I wont have vacation for the first few months, Kevin and I are planning a long trip to the beach starting next week through July 4th weekend. I cant wait.


What are your summer vacation plans?

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Monday - hopefully not getting sick...

Today I woke up and just didnt feel quite right. It wasnt a cold sickness, but I just felt sort of out of it. And my neck glands on my left side were swollen. Please dont let me get sick!

Breakfast was huevos rancheros. 2 corn tortillas were heated in a dry pan and stuffed with egg beaters, green chiles, shredded cheddar, and some cholula. By the way, these corn tortillas are awesome - I love the taste and 2 of them are only 90 calories, 1g of fat, 2g of protein and barely any sodium!I also had half of a banana.Mid-morning snack was a juicy, ripe pear - it was perfect!I was craving soda and felt like I needed some caffeine, so even thought I brought lunch - i ran out and got a Diet Dr. Pepper to go with everything. I hadnt had one in awhile and just really wanted one!

I made my sandwich with WW soft bread, garlic and herb laughing cow, pickles, and boars head BBQ chicken.Dessert was a slice of my pineapple/banana bread from yesterday. It is extremely moist and I think it tastes great, considering there is no butter or oil! You can see the chunks of pineapple throughout the bread...Afternoon snack was French Vanilla Stoneyfield yogurt with Go Lean Kashi Crunch and almonds mixed in. I love this snack and actually look forward to eating it!After work, I stopped off at my grandmom's house and had a few bites of pork tenderloin and noodles, but didnt eat alot since I was planning to run. Had to have a quick bite though! :)

The run just wasnt in the cards tonight - i had the worst headache and couldnt knock it, so Kevin and I walked oscar around the park and into Fell's Point for over an hour long walk! Probably around 3.5 - 4 miles, it was a beautiful night. The sky had turned into pinks and purples by the time we made it back to the house. My right hamstring was still pretty tight from the 20-miler on saturday, so I stretched out for a good 5 mins after the walk. Will plan to get a 30 min run in tomorrow.

Ever had those nights where nothing sounds appetizing? Tonight was one of those for me - I just didnt feel like having/making anything I had. So, I had a small bowl of leftover pasta, chicken, and green beans mixed together with a sliced apple and water.Dessert was a piece of WW toast with reduced-fat peanut butter and dark chocolate covered raisins on top! this was very good.I still have my frozen chobani for later, so we shall see if I get to eat it. I hope this isnt a big sickness coming on - I want to go to bed early and get lots of rest!

On a side note to show how weird (awesome) my dog is...he will only eat his food if people are nearby. Basically, he is a social eater. So I have started bringing his food into the living room so he can eat while I am on the couch relaxing instead of sitting in the kitchen on an uncomfortable bench. Here he is being extremely lazy - eating his dinner while laying down! :)

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Relaxing Sunday (Pineapple/Banana Bread)

Today has been an extremely relaxing day and I have been cleaning! I feel like cleaning CAN be relaxing - especially if you are taking your time and dont have that much to do. After spending all morning cleaning up around the house and doing some laundry - lunch was a new, healthier version of a chicken parm sub.

I took soft whole wheat bread and toasted it for few minutes with some light whipped butter. Meanwhile, I mixed together grilled chicken (sliced and torn apart), tomato sauce, oregano, and garlic/parsley mix. I pulled the toast out of the toaster, placed it on my baking stone, and topped with my chicken mixture and mozzarella cheese. I had pre-heated the oven at 400 degrees and then baked the chicken parm open-faced sandwiches for about 10 mins.

These toasts were great! Also had some raw zucchini "fries" and carrots with hummus on the side. This was a very filling lunch.Later this afternoon I tried this new yogurt, Chocolate Underground, which was vanilla yogurt with chocolate sauce on the bottom. I mixed it all together with some sliced almonds and it was soooo good. A great healthy alternative to satisfy the chocolate cravings.I was feeling ambitious and had 5 overripe (rotten) bananas, so I decided to try and make a healthy version of banana bread. Basically, I kept everything the same in my normal recipe, except I substituted crushed pineapple for the butter. It came out great - extremely moist, but definitely more of a pineapple/banana bread flavor! Here is the recipe below:

Pineapple-Banana Bread

Ingredients:

• 2 cups all purpose flour (could probably substitute wheat, but I didnt have any)
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 8oz can crushed pineapple (orig. recipe called for 1/2 cup butter)
  
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 2 1/2 cups mashed overripe banana
• optional: 1 cup chopped nuts (i didnt have any)

Pre-heat oven to 350. Mix flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon together. Mix pineapple, sugar together in separate bowl. Add eggs and banana to pineapple/brown sugar mixture. Pour wet ingredients into flour mixture and mix well. Spray 9x5 inch loaf pan lightly with PAM and then pour in batter. Bake 60-65 mins or until toothpick comes out clean. ENJOY!

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