I Love The Ice Cream Man

Well, the ice cream man sure did come for ME today!!!

Can you even believe it?? The folks over at Turtle Mountain were MORE than generous in sending me “samples” review for the blog. I absolutely cannot wait to delve into all this coconuty goodness and I’ll be reviewing each product as I try it. So far, I have previously tried the oh-so-cute coconut milk ice cream sammies, which I adore because they are SO delish, all natural and only have 100 calories each! THANK YOU, TURTLE MOUNTAIN!!!!! This totally made my day, obviously!

Now, to back-up, before work I had the same snack as yesterday because it just doesn’t let me down.

A fantastic slice of Ezekiel sesame bread with raw almond butter and raspberry preserves. And a big fuji!

And then for breakfast, I jumped on the oat groats bandwagon with Heather and Gina!

If you can recall, I made groats for breakfast earlier last month. This morning I tried again with the same approach. I soaked 1/4 cup oat groats in water overnight and then (early!) this morning I blended them with a banana, 1/2 scoop Sun Warrior, cinnamon and a splash of almond milk in the Vita Mix until they were creamy and delicious. Then, when it was time for breakfast, I slathered the concoction with nothing but raw almond butter. Obviously.

They were really yummy! You have to look past the ugly color, though. They are sort of the same color as the almond butter, which doesn’t make for most aesthetically pleasing bowl. I’m going to have to work on that somehow. This actually is a great breakfast for me to take to work because I can make it all beforehand and then don’t have to stand and wait at the microwave in the break room. The only problem was that it was cold 🙁 I also had my daily dose of greens! It wasn’t pretty enough for a picture though…

However, the groats proved once again to be very filling and I was set for the rest of my morning! On the way home, I snacked on two raw almond butter stuffed dates for a pre-bike snack:

The best snack ever. Hands down. Each bite is like heaven to me. Please try this combo if you haven’t already!

As for biking, I had a great ride! Rode a little over 10 miles and really pushed myself over some hills (aka bridges–gotta get my legs ready for San Fran!). It was hot and sunny and I made sure to sip from the Camel Bak every 10-15 minutes. When I got home I needed a serious snack to refuel!

I used half of a thai coconut, 1 mango, 1 scoop Sun Warrior, 1 cup water and a splash of almond milk. It turned out very very thick and creamy, sort of like a mango milk shake. I have to say though, it wasn’t my favorite combination. Maybe the mango was a little too ripe……or maybe I really expected the frozen coconut meat to make the shake super coconuty and amazing….it did not! I’ll have to try again later this week with the frozen coconut meat. I’m blaming the mango for right now!

Not even an hour later I was starving again! Biking and running are the two activities that reallyyyy rev up my metabolic engine, that’s for sure! So, I ate “dinner” at an ungodly early hour. I had this soup:

LOVE it. The thickest split pea I have found outside of my own and that’s why I love it so much. They don’t call it “country style” for nothin’!

And this salad that my mama made. It has spinach, romaine, avocado, red onion, bell pepper, cucumber, dried cranberries and goat cheese in it and I drizzled on some raspberry balsamic vinegar to finish it. On the side, a toasted Ezekiel english muffin to dip in the thick, thick soup.

Perfect dinner!

Since I ate again, at an ungodly early hour, I had some extra time this evening. I am forever trying to perfect the art of whole wheat banana bread so tonight I gave it another round and here’s what I came up with:

Whole Wheat Banana Bread

Makes 1 loaf

• 3 large ripe bananas
• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 cup organic cane sugar
• 1/4 cup canola oil or melted coconut oil
• 2 tbsp molasses
• 1.5 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp sea salt

Preheat oven to 350. Peel bananas and mash them thoroughly in a medium sized bowl. Add the sugar, oil and molasses and stir well. In a separate bowl, sift together the dry ingredients then gently fold into the banana mixture. Pour into a prepared loaf pan (sprayed with non-stick spray) and bake for 40 minutes or until golden.

I wasn’t incredibly hungry for dessert tonight (gasp!) because my dinner was quite filling, but of course I HAD to try a thin end slice to see if it was edible 😉

MMmmmmm……I was pleasantly surprised at how well this came out! The bread is dense, yet not too dense, and sweet but not overly so. It has a great crumb and would be perfect for peanut butter toast! I like this the best out of the banana bread recipes that I have formulated and would definitely make it again…but add nuts or chocolate next time ’cause my brother and I both agreed it needed “something” more! I hope yall make it and let me know what you think! If you cut 15 thin slices (which is what I do), each slice is approximately 145 calories and full of fiber from that whole wheat! 🙂

Another note……

If you haven’t heard, we are planning a party!

Kath, Caitlin, Meghann, Tina, Heather and I have been secretly plotting the ultimate blogger weekend for months now. Think late night phone calls, tons of emails, crunching numbers……….we really have high hopes for this and think it’ll be awesome! The idea is to have the weekend long event in a totally awesome city this summer and  we are inviting everyone who wants to attend to come, hang out with all of us and eat some great food! More details to come soon! 😉

Now……time to read! Be sure to tune in right when you wake up tomorrow for something exciting!