For the past two months or so, I’ve had a serious banana bread problem.

Every week I end up with a few overripe bananas. I’m a person who really prefers my bananas on the green side, and once they start to get brown spots, I’m just not interested. So what do I do with the ripe bananas? Well I used to just let them sit around until they got REALLY brown, and then I felt bad about tossing them. Then in early December, I decided to try something new. A whole wheat banana bread recipe from my awesome (but underused) King Arthur 200th Anniversary Cookbook.

The first time I made this bread, I thought it was good. The second time I made it, I took it to share with some friends at a brunch and I knew I had a winner. Like a signature baked good. And since that brunch in mid-December, I’ve made this bread at least 4 times. Yes, we really can’t get enough of it and for good reason–it’s moist, the banana taste is perfect, and it is ridiculously easy to make. Always a crowd pleaser!

Whole Wheat Banana Bread
Adapted from King Arthur 200th Anniversary Cookbook

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter, melted
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 cup mashed ripe banana (I always use three ripe bananas)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups white whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
raw sugar, for sprinkling

Directions:

Combine meted butter and sugar. Add eggs, bananas and vanilla a mix well.

Add the flour, baking soda and salt. Mix until well combined. Spread into a greased 9×5 loaf pan. Sprinkle top of the loaf with raw sugar. Baked in a 350 degree oven for 60 minutes.

Hope you’re all enjoying your Super Bowl weekend! I’m still bitter about the Ravens, but enjoying some good company for the game!

Time to check another one off the list!

It’s a very badly kept secret among my friends that I wasn’t such a fan after my first encounter with Brian Voltaggio. In fact, I didn’t even mention Volt on the blog because I was so underwhelmed. Maybe foam just isn’t my thing, or I didn’t love what I paid for it. Either way, others seem to have much better experiences with Brian than I did, so I vowed to go back.

Unfortunately though, I didn’t quite make room in my food budget for another visit to Volt this year. So enter Lunchbox, Voltaggio’s new lunch spot in Frederick. Super affordable. Within easy walking distance of my friend Elizabeth’s. We both ended up with a free afternoon last Friday, so a trip to Frederick was in order!

Elizabeth had been to Lunchbox a few times since it’s opening last month–it’s in her backyard, who could blame her–so she gave me some tips on ordering. I felt like I ordered everything on the menu, but since I had driven all the way to Frederick (that’s practially WESTERN MARYLAND, folks) I wanted to make it count. And so we did.

I started off with the butternut squash soup, which was delightful. It took one of my favorite types of soup and married it with cinnamon sugar croutons. It’s like they designed this soup for me! It was a not too sweet squash soup, which was also nice since it balanced well with the rest of the meal. Elizabeth had the celeriac and chicken dumpling soup, which she also said was quite tasty.

For our mains, we opted not to go for salads (which are not well reviewed) and instead headed straight for the sandwiches. I had a Pilgrim, which came very highly recommended. Overall, I really enjoyed this sandwich. The turkey was sliced so thin it was perfect, and the cream cheese mushed in to it giving the whole thing a delicious creamy texture. I could have used a bit more relish on my sandwich, but the delightful crustyness of the bread, which was almost like a grilled cheese bread was wonderful, even if it did have sunflower seeds on it. Overall, very good!

Elizabeth had the pressed cuban, which she thought looked a little smaller than her last time around. The bite I had of her sandwich was good, but the pickle was definitely the star, and there didn’t seem to be quite enough of them to go around on the sandwich.

We enjoyed our sandwiches with some Cheerwine, which honestly I had never heard of before but it was delicious. It was my first soda in almost 2 years, but it felt so wholesome, it doesn’t count right?

And then we came to dessert (it took as a long time to get here in real life too!). Since I was all about splurging, I ordered two, the chocolate chip cookies and the oatmeal cookies.

Similar to my experience at Volt a year ago, the baked goods in the baggies were REALLY good. The chocolate chip was crispy on the outside and chewy in the middle, and had a nice mix of white and semi sweet chips. But that oatmeal cookies stole my heart, and I’ve been googling the recipe since last Friday nights. It was perfect.

All in all a great trip, and I feel like Brian and I are okay again. Maybe I’ll even go back to Volt!

A (drinking) day in St. Michael’s

So remember two weeks ago when I was all excited about the Ravens playoff win and those cranberry muffins? Well now I’m not so excited about the Ravens–it’s been nearly a week and I’m STILL in shock at that missed field goal. Seriously, how do you miss that? Le sigh.

But I am still excited about oat based quick breads–and I made this one that night of the football excitement. Oats just make everything so warm and delicious. Like a big thick, snuggly blanket turned into bread. And the apples allow this quick bread to be low on sugar, but still big on taste. And thanks to the oatmeal, this bread stays nice and moist…and dare I say it, even better the second day than the first?

But the bread wasn’t the only thing I was excited about that weekend–my cousin Christi was also up to visit! Christi deserves a special shout out, because I’m pretty sure she’s one of the longest regular readers of the blog, even if she isn’t a big commenter. We all grew up together, but had fallen out of touch for a few years, and I’m so happy to have her back in my life! We had a great weekend together–girl talk, Once Upon a Time, Beauty and the Beast in 3D (my favorite Disney animated movie EVER, even with an unfortunate interruption for a power surge) and sushi happy hour! And I’ve seen her three times in the last year, which means I get to cross another one off the list!

Apple Oat Bread

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2/3 cup brown sugar
1 cup rolled oats
1-1/2 cups (about 2 medium) chopped apple
2 large eggs
1 cup milk
1/4 cup vegetable oil

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a loaf pan with cooking spray.

Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, brown sugar, and oats in a large bowl. Add apple, eggs, milk, and oil. Mix until dry ingredients are moistened. Mixture will be stiff.

Put mixture into prepared pan and bake for 55 to 60 minutes, or until done. Let sit for 20 minutes. Remove from pan and continue cooling on a wire rack.

Drinking around the World makes you do funny things…

Are you ready for some football?!

I know we are! The Ravens are in the AFC Championship game this weekend and the whole town is painted purple. All of the buildings downtown, all of the folks at work. I’m even watching Sportscenter at the gym. CAW!

Do not judge these wings by the camera phone picture…they were too good to stop and photograph!

And since these chicken wings were SUCH a hit last week, and they’re so easy, I think they’ll be on this Sunday’s menu. Because if it’s not broke, don’t fix it. It may even be lucky! Along with my purple stick on Fu Manchu.

Easy Chicken Wings

Ingredients:
As many wings as you want to cook (I usually make 3 packs) Try to buy the ones that are separated
Good Barbecue Sauce, like Bone Sucking Sauce

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425 and line two cookie sheets (for two packs of wings) with foil.

Spread wings out on cookie sheets. Spoon sauce over them. Bake, in preheated oven, for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, remove sheets, flip wings over with tongs, and spread remaining sauce on the wings. Bake for another 20 minutes, or until wings are crispy. Serve hot, with lots and lots of paper towels and beer!

And GO RAVENS!! BALL SO HARD U!

It’s freezing. Like literally. I tried to go out for a long long run this morning and I ended up cutting it to a medium long run, because 5 miles in my legs were so frozen that they weren’t moving. No good.

So for the rest of the day, I’ve been cocooning in the house. Cuddling on the couch, watching football, and of course, baking. Okay, that sounds way more blissful and relaxing than our afternoon actually was. We were really stressed out watching the Ravens game and trying to keep Noel from breaking things at the Broadkill Beach Club. Yikes!

But there was baking! And what better thing to make on a cold day than some warm and hearty muffins so keep you warm and satisfied on a cold January day? And these muffins are so easy, you can whip them up during a commercial break from the football game!

Cranberry Oat Muffins

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup regular oatmeal
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup fresh or frozen cranberries
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/2 stick melted butter
1 cup milk
1 egg

Toss cranberries in granulated sugar to coat.

Combine dry ingredients well. Stir together milk, egg, and melted butter. Combine liquid ingredients with dry mixture. Add cranberries. Bake 15 to 20 minutes in 12 well greased muffin cups at 425°F.

When I think about this past weekend and the races there is just so much in my brain. I think I’m still a little bit in shock that I actually ran two half marathons in 24 hours and did it with shockingly low levels of pain. Maybe this means that I’m ready to knock that fist goal off my list?

But let’s back up, and start at the very beginning. I apologize in advance for one LONG post!

I actually arrived in Florida on Wednesday morning, a whole three days before the race. This was a good thing, because it gave me some serious relaxation time before the onset of pre-race freak out mode (does anyone else get this?). The tendonitis in my lower right leg had been bothering me so I had taken about a week off of running so I was REALLY well rested. Which meant I was able to really enjoy some time with my sister and Larry, a visit to Islands of Adventure, and some bumming around time. Which was really needed.

The Donald

But I suppose perhaps I was too chill, because before I knew it was Friday night and I was climbing in bed at 8.30 to get ready for that big 3am wake up call. Amazingly, I had the BEST night’s sleep I’ve ever had before a half. Unfortunately, I don’t think Noel (who also ran the half!) was quite so lucky. Before we knew it we were on the monorail headed to Epcot with one of my teammates, and then soon after we were headed into the corrals. As we dropped off each runner at their corral, my excitment built just a little bit more. I had never been worried about this half–after 4 I know I can finish one–but it really started to build! I was in the A corral so I headed up to the front, hoping that I would be able to hold my pace back with all of those fast people in A!

Before I knew it, we were over the start and heading towards the Magic Kingdom. I remember loving the quiet right after the start at the Disney half last year, and this year was no different. It’s calm and quiet, and you’re surrounded by runners. It’s really a running zen out moment. The miles seemed to fly by–soon we were under the Magic Kingdom gate, then in the parking lot, and very quickly in front of the Contemporary, where a good portion of Team Peacock was waiting to cheer me on! After that we were into the Magic Kingdom proper–always my favorite part of this race! It was still dark (last year the sun was rising as I was in MK) but it was still wonderful, especially because it wasn’t as crowded as during last year’s race, thanks to my first corral position.

As we wound our way out of the back of MK, I was feeling good and I was right where I wanted to be for pacing. I knew the hardest part of the race was in front of me–the “boring” stretch of World Drive back to Epcot, followed by those horrible overpasses between miles 10 and 12. I got a serious pick me up from seeing Mary Poppins in front of the Grand Floridian, although I could have killed someone because she had NO LINE and I was sans camera! It figures!

The overpasses were just as horrible as I remembered them being, which just proves that even though I’m in much better shape this year, running up a banked surface is never fun! I felt so much stronger than I did last year as we turned into Epcot and headed towards the finish–no deaths doorstep pictures this year! Soon I was crossing the finish, feeling good and knowing that my journey was halfway over. Knowing that recovery was a top priority, I made it to the medical tent and had them ice my quads and left knee, before heading out to meet up with the team. I had a bagel with almond butter waiting, and I patiently ate it while we waited for Noel to come in. I was so happy to see him at the finish–I think he was just happy to be done!

The Chip and Dale

My preparation for Chip and Dale continued on Saturday afternoon after Noel finished the half. I didn’t want to sit around all afternoon and let my muscles tighten up, so after a quick nap we headed out to the Magic Kingdom, where we rode the Jungle Cruise and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad :-) I was pretty much starving all day, so I was happy to head our friends Robyn and Scott’s for some wonderful homemade lasagna for dinner! I was in bed and passed out by 9.15 or so–that early wake up call for the first race sure did make it easy to sleep for the second!

Friend and Usual Suspect Carlos was running the first leg of the relay, so I got up with him at 3am to see him off. I knew he was in good hands meeting the team at the race start, so I planned to go straight to the exchange zone (thank goodness it was in the Magic Kingdom parking lot, which was easily accessible from the monorail!) and enjoy a much needed extra hour or so of sleep. I was back up at 5 to do the normal pre-race routine, plus destress a bit by joking around with Noel and Eileen. My legs were a little bit sore, but I could tell the ice had helped.

Soon we were off, Eileen to wait for Carlos in front of the Contemporary, which was mile 10 in the full marathon, and Noel and I to the exchange zone. In a happy surprise, the exchange area was only a few hundred feet away from mile 8 on the course, so we were able to watch the runners stream through for a bit and actually see Carlos before I settled in the exchange zone and waited for Carlos to finish. Before too long I saw him turning off the marathon course and coming down the chute. And then I was off!

I had done a good number of back to back long runs, but nothing quite prepares you for being out there on race day. Although I wasn’t in a ton of pain from Saturday, my quads did hurt almost immediately, but not so bad that I couldn’t keep chugging along. I think it helped that the back half of the marathon course was totally new to me–and I LOVED seeing all of the backstage areas! About 8 miles in my quads really started to hurt, so I did stop and apply some Biofreeze, which was a real life saver.

After a particularly horrible stretch on Osceola Parkway, we were coming into Hollywood Studios. From the Studios to the end there were a TON of people cheering, which really helped me to power through those last couple of miles when I was starting to feel the time on my legs and the heat of the day. I got seriously emotional as I went around the Boardwalk and into Epcot. I also started cursing any sort of rise in the course (even if it was just a baby bridge between England and France!) The last mile around the World Showcase seemed to last forever, but soon I could hear the gospel choir that always hangs out just before the finish. I did it. I was done! And I pushed myself right out of my comfort zone!

And not only did I have a great weekend of racing, I also had an amazing weekend with some wonderful friends. I have a very supportive group of running friends online, and most of them were at Disney for the race. It was wonderful to be surrounded by friends and sharing such a big accomplishment with them. I always get a little bit emotional at Disney, but this trip was one for the special books!