Cinnamon and vanilla are two of the best things in the world

So it's been forever since I last blogged. I suck, I know. Even worse than that? I've posted no recipes. I suck even more now, I know. Still, what's worse than that is that way back in July, I promised the recipe for my beloved banana bread. Well, it never made it up here, obviously. That being said, before I move on to anything else, here's the banana bread, that way I'm not a total jerk-face liar...

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Nana bread!
(Tip: When bananas are too ripe to eat, freeze them. When you thaw them to use for baking, they're perfectly sweet and totally mushy! I never use fresh bananas)

1/2 c butter
1 c sugar (plus extra for dusting)
2 eggs
3/4 c mashed very ripe bananas (I usually just use how much I have on hand which is usually a bit more than that)
1 t baking soda
1 1/4 c flour
2 t cinnamon
2 t vanilla
Sliced almonds

(sidenote: I really have no idea how much cinnamon and vanilla I use. These are my favorite ingredients in just about everything so I always do them to taste. Thus, this is my best guess, which still probably isn't very good, haha)

Butter and flour a 9x5x3" loaf pan
  
Combine all dry ingredients.

Cream the butter and sugar. On medium speed, add eggs one at a time. Add bananas and mix well. Slowly incorporate the dry ingredients until batter comes together.

Pour batter into prepared pan. Sprinkle the top of the batter with sugar for a really nice, crunchy crust. On top of the sugar, add sliced almonds to taste. They look great and add a really nice texture to the crust, even after it's gone a little soft after a day or so.

Bake at 350 for about an hour or until the crust darkens and a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean.

I really don't have an idea of how many servings this doles out because I just slice off however much I feel like eating (bad habit, don't do this!) but, let's just say that you got 10 slices out of it. That's about 150cal for each slice. Aka, totally not good for you. Don't make this stuff. You won't be able to stop yourself at one slice, trust me. Fo real.
Adapted from here

Nom nom nom

I'm probably going to be late to work for taking the time to post this right now, but it was too awesome not to share.

This is me on a bad munchy day...

"What? Don't judge me."

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Honestly, that was my sole reason for making this post. Have a happy Monday :)

She's crafty, and she's just your type

Last night I went to a friend's house to make dinner and oh, did we have fun. We made some deliciousness that is absolutely out of this world (and totally not good for you...)

Let me introduce you to the Pioneer Woman.
  
We started off by making her bowtie lasagna

Once that was done, we moved on to the garlic cheese bread 

Oh. Em. Gee. So good and so easy! And yes, I know I'm a terrible person for showing you all this. But it's nice to have fun and eat some crazy good food, right?




Oh, and I think you all should head out to LA this weekend for the Renegade Craft Fair! Over 200 hip, indie crafters will be out there hocking their stuff. It's sponsored by Etsy so you know it has to be good. I'll be there and I think you should totally join me :)

8 healthy-ish snacks that actually taste good!

First of all, let me start by saying I have no clue what's up with the spacing on this post. I know it's all wonky in some spots, but oh well. That's life. Moving on...

Last Thursday I headed out with one of my best friends to go find bridesmaid dresses for her wedding. Little did I know that we would not only find the dress she wanted, but I would also do a fitting and buy the dress that day!

This is the dress. Nevermind the fact that the model looks pregnant for some retarded reason (that's honestly all I see when I look at this picture). It's actually a super cute dress and am so happy Nina's got good taste :)

Buuuuut anyway, how am I planning on looking the way that I want to in this without having to sacrifice the amazing food that I love? Here's one thing. Snacking smarter. Thus, the following are some of my favorite healthy-ish snacks (by healthy-ish I usually in no way mean that they're good for you, just lower in the bad stuff).

Cue music... These are a few of my favorite things

1.  Sugar free Jello cups



They come in so many different kinds. Pudding, jello, and these new mousse ones which look to die for. Best part? Each Pudding cup has only 40cal, the jello is 10cal, and the mousse is 60cal. They can taste a little diet-y at times, but for only 10cal a cup, I'm sold. Which brings me to my next treat...





2. Sugar free popsicles

Omg, so good. The popsicles are alright, but the fudgesicles and creamsicles are ah-mazing. The popsicles are 10cal each, the fudgesicles are 35cal, and creamsicles are 20cal. The weather finally figured out that it's supposed to be summer and is now trying to make up for lost time by being a billion degrees, so these are definitely some of my go-to's right now.


3. Fresh & Easy organic sea salt popcorn
I couldn't find a picture for you, nor do I remember how many calories are in it, but it's some crazy low amount. I love this stuff! So much better than the buttered alternative. If you're a salt fiend like I am, the simple saltiness of the F&E popcorn is amazing. If you're not an F&E shopper, I know that Trader Joe's has a similar one and I'm sure you can find something along the same lines at your grocery store.


4. Pirate's Booty or Trader Joe's Unburied Treasure (I opt for the TJ's brand. It's cheaper and you get more!)

 
Pirate's Booty is kind of like a flavored packing peanut. I'm not kidding. They're the weirdest texture, made from puffed corn and coated with a flavor. The little puff balls may not be for everyone, but I still have yet to come across a skeptical eater who didn't like them. For a 2.5 cup serving (which is a lot of this stuff) there are 140cal.







5. Edamame

 Edamame is definitely my favorite "good for you" snack. Coming from a girl who hates most veggies, these are heaven-sent! I get em from Trader Joe's (they're cheapest there) in the freezer section. Grab a handful of the little fuzzy pods, toss em in a bowl, then nuke em in the microwave for 20 seconds or so and you've got a snack your mom would be proud of. Just pop em out of the shells and enjoy. They're super high in protein and all sorts of vitamins or something. Though, I recently got some from Fresh & Easy and didn't really like them. I'd stick with Trader Joe's on this one.

6. Frozen grapes

Let it be known that this is one of the best summer snacks ever. Ever. I grew up on eating frozen grapes and frozen raisins at my grandma's house. She lives in Bakersfield which is notorious for being, like, a bajillion degrees in the summer. Thus, she always had frozen grapes on hand for us kids when it was just too freakin' hot. Besides, at only 62cal per cup, they're totally worth the inevitable brain freeze. 

7. Celery and hummus

It's funny how only some people know that celery actually contains negative calories. Yes, I said negative. They veggie is full of so much water and contains so few calories, that eating the stalk actually burns more calories than it has in it. A handful of celery plus a bit of hummus is just over 100cal. One of the best things about it is that hummus comes in so many different varieties that you can customize the snack to fit your mood! I happen to love the roasted red pepper kind. Yummm.


**Sidenote**
Has anyone else noticed that all the fruits and veggies are at the bottom of this list? This happens to be in the order in which I thought of them. ...and yet I wonder why I'm not skinny, hahaha.


8. Frozen banana pops

Um... bananas, peanut butter, and other deliciousness? Yes please. Simple and so good. Half a banana (with no green on it), put a stick in it, cover it in peanutbutter, roll it in some nuts or dried fruit, place on wax paper, and freeze for 3 hours. This is totally on my list for next week. Not too low in calories, but high in all that other stuff that's good for you.




Hope you guys try a couple of these and like em as much as I do.

Happy snacking!


P.S.
Anyone know how to not eat out of boredom? I'm super bad at that :/

A little inspiration

My dad was a chef and did some pretty saweet things in the kitchen. My favorite thing he always did with food? Definitely Mickey Mouse pancakes. I thought he was a freakin' genius because of these bad boys.

Check it.

No, this one wasn't done by him, but you get the idea.

In other food news...
No, I haven't been cooking lately. I have to confess, I probably won't till I have a job and start buying my own food again. Lame, I know. But that's life. Suck it up.

However, I do promise chocolate chip banana bread soon! And no, it's not healthy. I just love it so :)

If the Buddha Dated...

Hi, my name's Lauren and I seem to have all the time in the world right now.

That means lots of blog reading, book reading, magazine reading (get the picture?)

I recently borrowed a book from my soon to be sister-in-law (8 days! Woohoo!) called If the Buddha Dated by Charlotte Kasl.

The book's sort of mission is "how to find a partner without losing yourself." Now, I'm in no way the self-help, relationship, ooey gooey book type girl by any means. However, this one happened to peak my interest. In reading it the other night, chapter 7 Be Willing to Cook in the Spiritual Fire really stuck with me for some reason.

The chapter is all about being willing to give yourself over and really just surrender who you are to the other person and how we can actually find comfort and safety in that vulnerability. Kasl writes, "Surrender actually makes us feel safe, because there is nothing left to hide. We are open and unafraid, we cease being half-hearted with each other. [...]We release ourselves from the misery of holding back and playing it safe." She goes on to talk about how afraid we become of the shadows that lurk in our closet. However, "when the ego wants life in all its little compartments--predictable, neat, secure--smile and answer back, Oh, little child, let me rock you. I understand you are afraid, it's all right. I'm big, I can protect you. [...]Remember, love brings up anything that's hiding."

I dunno, I guess I just think the idea of safety in openness and vulnerability is a really interesting notion. But looking back, when in a relationship do we feel most at ease? For me, it's when that person knows everything and there's nothing left to hide. The constant hiding, guarding, and masking is exhausting and so distant. Love is meant to be ugly so that we can be beautiful together.

Quick, this just got way cheesy, divert attention elsewhere!

Oooo! Shiny!

How freakin' cool are these cupcake tattoos from Ace of Cakes?! I totally want these.

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And now, we're back to Lauren's Reading Rainbow

30min ago was the second time today that I came across When You Are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris.

I'm taking it as a sign that I should read this book. No, it's probably not a sign at all, but it's supposed to be a funny read and, since I no longer have to read to pass any classes, I might actually enjoy it. Anyone read it or anything else by Sedaris before?

How to be Optimistic and Crap

[I'd like to apologize in advance for how terrible this post is. I just realized that I hadn't written one in a while and did this on a whim. A bad whim, but a whim nonetheless, haha]

My dear friend Dianne is easily the most optimistic person I know and I absolutely adore her for it. She's actually pretty well known for her optimism, so much so that she's started her own blog about, yeah you guessed it, how to be optimistic.

Things have been putting me in some really funky moods lately, but I'm taking inspiration from Di and have decided to be more optimistic. I mean, it could always be worse, right? That being said, I'm turning over a new leaf, focusing on the good, and keeping high hopes for the not-so-good.

Moving right along, let's finally talk about food!

This is one of my most favoritest blogs in terms of recipes. Know why? Cheap, Healthy, Good focuses on just that; recipes that are low in cost, high in health, and taste oh, so good.

One of the first recipes I ever tried from them was for stuffed peppers with black beans and corn. However, if you've read my older posts, you know I don't like veggies. So, my best way of hiding them for this recipe is to mix em in with everything else. So here we go, stuffed peppers with black beans and corn, minus the stuffed pepper part and adding a bunch of other yummy things (aka, adapted from CHG).

1 cup uncooked rice

3-4 minced garlic cloves

1tsp olive oil

1 cup chuckwagon corn - I get mine from the freezer section. Don't have it? No worries. It's just a mixture of red and green peppers, onion, and corn

1 15oz can tomatoes - whatever kind of tomatoes you want. I opt for diced or stewed.

1 15oz can black beans, drained and rinsed - you can add whatever kind of beans you've got on hand. I usually go with black and/or kidney

4-8oz can diced green chiles - this is really however much you feel like putting in. I love em so I put a lot

Cook your rice according to the package. Toward the end of the rice's cooking time, in a separate pan, saute the garlic in the olive oil until it's fragrant. Add chuckwagon corn and allow to thaw, stirring occasionally. Add tomatoes (you can drain them, or add the juice to the pan and just reduce it a bit for a wetter dish) and remaining ingredients. I usually add chili powder to taste at this point. I like mine a little spicy! Heat through or until reduced to your liking.

Feel free to experiment with it! Add chicken, hotter peppers, different seasonings, cheese, etc. to make the dish how you want it. I usually eat it in a bowl by itself, but it would also be great in a tortilla, as a side dish for chicken, as a dressing for chicken, etc. Or if you actually like the whole stuffed pepper idea, you could always throw it in some peppers and bake it (yuck :p).

Oh, and if you make it like Cheap, Healthy, Good does, this is the final lineup...

PER SERVING (TOTAL/8): 320 calories, 4.7 g fat, 6.6 g fiber, $1.57

Happy cooking and I promise I'll get some more posts up here at some point. I'll be sure to post updates about my recent baking escapades. I've been commissioned to make my brother's wedding cake and reception desserts. Wish me luck!

P.S.

I've lost a whopping total of 15lbs since starting this whole charade! Yes, this is me tooting my own horn :)