Springtime Smoothie

Hello all!

It's been a long time between postings... again :( I apologize. Time is just flying though! Can you believe it's already May?? I have a few fun updates to give then have a refreshing and delicious smoothie recipe to share in celebration of the fantastic sunny weather that most of the country is experiencing, on and off at least.

Exciting news! I got my first (big) freelancing job last week! Redoing the site for an actor/comedian/musician who I'd met eons ago (as in during the summer) and just got into contact with me again asking if I'd still be interested in the job. Of course! I'm super excited for this chance not only because it's, like, a job but because New York is FULL of actors and dancers and bands and singers who will need sites at some point in their career and if I can get started and into that niche now... fantastic!

I met with the guy today (that sounds unprofessional... my client?) and got a starting plan and outline figured out, now I just need to buckle down and get to work! Which is really what I should be doing instead of blogging... but it's been too long since I've posted... so here I am :)

I went to pilates again on Monday. It was a rainy day, the type where you were too warm with a coat on but chilly without one. I woke up and wasn't sure I'd been going but after a perky text from Summer (having her as both my friend and my instructor works great for accountability!) I knew the class would be well worth the money and trip. Sure enough, it was a great time with Ebony and I being the only students that day. It was great with just two, although there's so much talk now in the restaurant about the classes I expect it to be blown up with people next time. Afterwards we went out for frozen yogurt, which may have cancelled out the workout, but was absolutely delicious!

I have some big events coming up that I'm also really looking forward to.  Next weekend, one of my closest friends from college is coming for a visit. One of the choirs from our college is coming out to perform at Carnegie Hall and she's coming out with them. Her dad is head of alumni relations and often travels with the choir, which works out really well for us not only in that she's able to come with them as well, but we get to tag along with them for a Broadway show and to watch their Carnegie Hall performance. Some sweet bonuses in addition to seeing my lovely Kara :)

The next weekend is my aunt's wedding so I'll be going home for that, just for a few days. I'm happy to be going back already though.

Now for this smoothie. It stemmed from a random seeming assortment of fruits I had lying around and turned into a lovely combination. This is a very sweet smoothie, I'll warn, but also refreshing light. To turn down the sweet, you could use water as the base and add some lemon juice, rather than the pre-made lemonade. I think it's a great springtime smoothie, since it's not tropical, and is aesthetically pleasing even before being blended up. It's perfect for sipping on while you're reading a book in the back yard to sneak in some outside-time.

 Grearberry Smoothie

(Grape, pear, strawberry)

1/2 cup prepared lemonade

6-7 strawberries

1/2 cup green grapes

4 oz Dole fruit cup of pears, drained (or about 1/3 cup chopped pears)

Place all ingredients in your blender in the order they're listed. Blend until smooth. You could also add ice if you prefer a slushier or colder smoothie. Pour into a pretty glass and enjoy in the sunshine! Or on a rainy day when you wish there was sunshine...

**I have a single-serving sized blender which is super handy since I'm just one person :) Just don't get thrown off by the blender being full of liquid and thinking this recipe makes a ton of drinkage. It seems to be right around 16 ounces.

7 Things To Do With Ripe Bananas

Ok, I'm kindof picky when it comes to bananas. I like them a little green, or just yellow. As soon as they have a couple brown spots, or are getting darker yellow, I don't eat them. Not unless they're in something. They have a totally different taste!

It's always been a bit of a problem, especially in the summer when bananas turn super fast. And since it's difficult for one person to eat a bunch of bananas in the two days that they're actually at their tastiest (in my opinion) I've had to come up with a lot of ideas of things to do with them when they're no longer in their prime.

Lucky for me, bananas are extremely versatile and can be used a lot of different ways. I'm sure I'm not the only one out there who doesn't like their bananas too ripe so I thought I'd share what I like to do with bananas when they're past the point of me just peeling and eating it.

Things to do with bananas when they're no longer green:

- Make banana-peanut butter toast! Just toast a piece of whole wheat bread, spread it with peanut butter and top with a sliced banana. A delicious, nutritious and filling breakfast that will stick with ya til lunch.

- Make a Chunky Monkey Smoothie!
1/4 cup milk, 1 banana, 2 TBSP chocolate milk mix, 2 TBSP peanut butter, 2-3 ice cubes and blend

- Make a banana-peanut butter-granola wrap! Take a whole wheat soft-shell tortilla, spread with peanut butter, sprinkle with granola then place banana in the middle, roll up and enjoy! This could also be for an on-the-go breakfast.

Things to do with bananas when they're ripe/overly ripe:

- Make banana pancakes
a) Mash up a banana and add it to you regular pancake recipe or mix

Happy food!

b) Healthy, gluten free banana pancakes
2 eggs, 1 mashed up banana, a little cinnamon, 1 teaspoon of vanilla - mix is all together and cook like you would a regular pancake. I was afraid these would be really eggy but they weren't actually, they cooked up just like regular pancakes! I topped them with a little cream cheese and cinnamon-sugar and they were quite delicious!

- Make banana bread! Or banana muffins which are easy to share with friends as I've been doing :)

- Make Peanut Butter-Oatmeal-Banana Cookies! For breakfast!!

These are soooo yummy! I made some last week and not only could I bake them in my lil toaster oven (!) they made my whole apartment smell like this delicious peanut butter-banana scent. The original recipe calls for vanilla protein powder and butter extract but also said it was optional so I didn't use them... I also didn't have any nuts to add so I just used crunchy peanut butter. And I only made a half recipe which made about 9 cookies.

Basically my recipe looked like this:

1 ripe banana, mashed

1/4 cup + 1/8 cup chunky peanut butter

1/3 cup applesauce

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup old fashioned oats

1/8 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350* (or don't if you're using a toaster oven like me). Combine the banana and peanut butter in a medium-sized bowl. Add applesauce and vanilla. Then add oatmeal and chocolate chips. Let dough stand for 10 minutes then drop by spoonfuls onto a greased cookie sheet (or greased piece of aluminum foil with cleverly folded sides in my case) and flatten. Bake for 20-30 minutes (depending on your oven and  how done you want the cookies. I went about 23 minutes.) 

These cookies can be eaten right away or stored for later. If you can only work in small batches like me then the dough can be kept in the refrigerator for later also :)

Clearly I'm a big fan of the peanut butter-banana combo hehe. I've also read that bananas can be mashed up and used as a moisturizing facial mask but I kindof don't want to waste a banana on my face when I can make one of these magical foods instead... I'll let you know if I try it one day though!

How do these sound? What do you do with old bananas?