Spin, Snow, Soup and Sandwiches

Tuesday night, I took an hour spin class at the gym.  The entire class was full and as a late arriver, I got the older model "reject" bike in the back corner.  Little did I know that I was also seated behind the class spirit queen.  The instructor was great, she had the best music, my old bike worked fine, and it was an awesome workout.  But, the girl in front of me felt the need to scream "Wahooooo" or "Yeaahhhh" each time a new song started.  I mean...seriously?  I just don't get it.

It was a snowy night and neither Kevin or I felt like cooking.  Soup and sandwiches to the rescue.

Lately, I have been obsessed with V8 soups.  So good.

I love the texture of this soup.  Much heartier than other tomato soups I have tried.

Grilled Turkey and Provolone on Rye for dunking.

Rye bread is my new obsession.  

Warm, filling and deliciously easy dinner.  


Fellow East Coasters: Stay warm during the "big snow" that is coming.  I plan to make french onion soup, drink my new favorite beer (Flying Dog In-Heat Wheat), shower my dog and cat with attention, watch too much TV, and hopefully do some sledding in the park. :)

Read more...

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!

Read more...