Banana Goodness

I love bananas. The flavor, the texture, the smell, all of it. I prefer green bananas but brown ones are perfect for recipes. I only wish Ryan loved bananas as much as I do. So when I stumbled upon a recipe for a peanut butter banana smoothie I thought it was the perfect opportunity to get fruit into his meat and potato diet.

The recipe is four ingredients (FOUR!). Bananas, oats, peanut butter, and milk. To make the smoothie you'll need:

     - 2 bananas frozen and sliced
     - 3/4 cup of milk
     - 1/4 cup of oats
     - 1/4 cup of peanut butter

One word to the wise, slice your bananas first BEFORE throwing them in the freezer. I froze them first - mulling over whether or not I actually wanted to do smoothies - and then sliced them. Needless to say, my fingers were cold! And it's more difficult to cut them frozen solid. Another helpful hint: rinse your measuring cup with water before scooping out peanut butter - it doesn't stick (as much) and you don't have to spend minutes getting every last bit of peanut butter.

I used Quaker Oats, regular Skippy peanut butter, 1% milk, and two 6-8 inch bananas, which is what the calorie count at the bottom will reflect.

The original recipe called for the use of a blender. Well, I don't have one, so I used my food processor. First throw in your oats and turn on the processor until they're fine and small.

Once that's set, you dump everything else in and turn it on until the mixture is smooth and creamy.

 

It's thick and really cold from the frozen bananas. Delicious! You get a big banana taste with an after taste of peanut butter. So my husband, who I thought might like this because of the peanut butter, didn't like it. Boo! But that meant more for me. Yay! This simple recipe took all of five minutes to make. Since Ryan didn't want his, I threw the smoothie in the refrigerator to have for breakfast this morning. It was like a banana sorbet and heaven in my mouth. Even better!

Try out this recipe and let me know how it comes out for you. Do you have any fruit smoothie recipes that are delicious?

Recipe Makes: 2 Servings
Calories per serving: 394
Calories by ingredient:
     Bananas: ~250
    1% Milk: 82.5
     Quaker Oats: 75
     Skippy PB: 380
If you want more peanut butter flavor, I would suggest adding an additional 1/4 cup of peanut butter and up the milk from 3/4 cup to 1 full cup to ensure the smoothie isn't too thick. The calories based on the adjusted recipe is 598. Let me know if you tried the recipe with extra PB and milk.

Only you can be you

A long time ago, one of my friends showed me a video on youtube where a guy danced around and sang Katy Perry's "Peacock". It was hilarious. Mainly because he encountered a lot of men, and was dressed in various women's clothing including bikinis. Some were completely taken aback but others were good sports and laughed.

I had forgotten about him until someecards reminded me in my twitter feed. His newest video features more dancing and more women's clothing. This time the music is Carly Rae Jepsen's "Call Me Maybe". It's a song that I think most people have heard. Even if you haven't the repetitive lyrics and catchy music will have you humming along in no time.

For some reason I've been off lately and haven't felt much like myself. But his videos (seen under users SteveKardynal and SteveKardynal2) are pretty funny and can really change your mood. This guy marches to a different drum and doesn't care about the negative remarks and weird looks he might get. I wish I could be more like that - not being bothered by people's reaction or negative comments. It's kind of inspirational in a way. 

So I'm making a (short) list of things that motivate/inspire me. I'll use this as a reminder that if I do my best that day then it's been a pretty good day and that even if I feel disappointed, I tried and things will change.

1. No matter how slow you go, you're still lapping everyone on the couch (in fitness).

2. Enjoy the little things in life, for one day you'll look back and realize they were the big things (in experiences). 

3. You decide every moment of every day who you are and what you believe in. You get a second chance, every second (in decisions).

4. Even the darkest night will end and the sun will rise (it gets better). 

5. Let it go, this too shall pass (in life).

A celebration

Ryan and I just got back from doing an anniversary shoot with my favorite photographer Keith Hitlin. When I first emailed him and his wife Meghan...they were a little confused. So was my husband, truth be told. Why shoot an anniversary - especially the first one? Well, to me one year was big. We've done so much in one year - we moved out, got a few hair cuts, and lost a crap ton of weight. And just because we're a family of two, doesn't mean we can't (or shouldn't) have yearly (that might take some smooth talking) family photos.

Once I got my husband on board, the photographers were on board too. Megs came up with a great theme of a "where we are" kinda deal. We did a few shots around our apartment. On a side note: I absolutely love my husband for putting up with my craziness all day. We did some in the front hallway of the house and then outside. That concluded our Lansingburgh part. We changed up our outfits and headed down to downtown Troy.

Ryan and I go to River Street every single Saturday we're around (and not up visiting his family) for the Farmers' Market. I absolutely love it. Not only do we support local bakeries, farmers, and wineries (yum!), but we spend it together, holding hands enjoying one another's company, truly, utterly happy. Shooting in a place that reminds of that makes me truly, utterly happy. And I got to be a goof - which I'm sure will come out in pictures.

Keith and Meghan shot our wedding, a little over a year ago. I love, love, love their technique and the way they captured our day. Their dynamic teamwork produced amazing photos which I will treasure for the rest of my life. If you're engaged, getting married, having a baby, or just want some damn good photos go to the link above. You will not regret it. Seriously - check them out. Even if it's to browse the photos.

Have you done family photos for two? Or if you have a bigger family - how often do you get them done? Link up a picture of your latest photo. I'd love to see whoever reads this!

So for now, I sit. I wait. Hitting F5 until a teaser shows up on their Facebook feed. Pitiful? Maybe. Worth it? TOTALLY!

Another one lost

Internships at GE are coveted. A lot of students in the Capital District apply. A select few get in and generally they're pretty good. On my team we always have two interns - one for Pension support and one for S&SP and Family Services support. Unfortunately for us we only get to keep them for a year. Yesterday one of those years was up and we lost a terrific intern.

I had the pleasure of interviewing Nicole alongside my coworker Stephanie. Out of the three interns we interviewed, I thought she was the best. She had been in banking, went to school for accounting, and she seemed like she was ready to learn.A year later, she's made a great impact on our team: improving processes, making reconciliations more efficient, and really making my job a little easier because I NEVER have to worry.

Tuesday was her last day. I typically work from home on Tuesdays but when she texted me I knew I had to be there to see her off. I wanted to give her a token of my appreciation, so I used some Pinterest inspiration and on hand document frames to make her an inspirational white board. This one was black metal but it had some dings in it which made the silver shine through. Good thing I have my Martha Stewart paint!

 

Again, I covered my lap desk in plastic wrap (I swear I'll use more of it for that board than I will on food). I took the metallic Martha Stewart paint and using an "X" type brush stroke on leftover fabric from a previous project. I did a few layers to make sure the dings were covered. While that was drying (sorry, I apparently didn't take a picture of the painting step) I took out my button/string collection. This is just a collection of all the buttons/strings that any of mine or my husband's clothes come with. Typically if you buy a button up shirt it comes with extra button - so in the bag they go. 

I looked for white buttons because I thought they'd go well with the silver. I also had about 8 inches of silver ribbon from some random craft in college and a whole roll of white ribbon. I cut two pieces of white ribbon and used about half of the silver to tie three quick, cute bows. With 3 buttons I was set to go. Hot glue gun in hand - the ribbons and buttons were quickly attached.

I wanted to give Nicole something more than just a white board so I looked for a quote that was inspirational but not overdone. I found one by Pamela Vaull Starr that said "Reach high, for stars lie hidden in your soul. Dream deep, for every dream precedes the goal." I chose Artistamp Medium for the larger words and Appleberry for the others. Together I think they look really neat.

I know Nicole grew a lot in her role as an intern and I hope she continues to through her experiences in NYC. Best of luck!

Since I think my steps are generally straightforward I'll include just the cost of materials:

Supplies
1. Document Frame - $2.99
2. Martha Stewart  Metallic Paint (Polished Silver) - $5.48
3. Copy Paper (500 Sheets) -  $3.72
4. Hot Glue Gun - $5.97
5. Buttons - Free with purchase of any button up shirt!
6. Spool 'O 1/4" Ribbon - $1.99 (look at Hobby Lobby when their ribbon is 50% off)

Total cost for the project considering percentage of paint, paper, ribbon, etc used is probably close to $3.15.