Pictures are up! I think I’m going to switch them so the more detailed picture is closer to eye level – but I think they look pretty sharp! I am so glad I get to walk in the door everyday and be reminded of all the amazing memories I have of Japan. 
Thanks again to my wonderful parents for the gift!
Sooooo, my secret baking project last night was Chocolate Banana Bread!
For some reason the placement of my fruit basket/banana hanger in my kitchen, always causes my bananas to ripen in literally one day. I could bring home a bunch of green bananas on Sunday, and they’d be as yellow as the sun on Monday. So in my kitchen, the banana philosophy is “use ‘em or lose ‘em.”
I usually cut the bananas that I’m about to “lose” into slices and stash them in the freezer for Green Monsters. Last night I had other plans…
I used this Joy of Baking recipe, but left out the chocolate chips. The result was this decadent, moist, chocolatey banana bread – positively sinful tasting!
This recipe was easy as pie – er, banana bread – and was seriously amazing. I use real butter when I bake too – no subbing in applesauce for fats up in here. I just try to eat my baked creations in moderation. Sometime it works, sometimes it doesn’t. Today it did because this bread is RICH. SO GOOD!
For breakfast, I had a slice of the bread with a crispy Braeburn Apple. Bananas, apples & chocolate? Pretty delicious if I do say so myself!
Lunch today is – you guessed it – an exact repeat of last night’s dinner – Greek Turkey Burger Spinach Salad.
Today I added a sprinkling of dried cranberries for a little pop of sweet & tart in my salad.
The great thing about these burgers, like the frittata, is that they’re just as good cold, as they are hot!
I also packed some Midnight Grapes.
They taste like red grapes, but are a little bit bigger and of course, as the name suggests, a little bit darker!
Today’s Greatest Running Tips
Tips #16, 17 & 19 wrap up the “Starting Out” portion of the 101 Greatest Running Tips list and move into the “Basic Training” section. Again, these are tips from a list of 101 that I felt were particularly helpful for runners at all levels!
Tip #16. Listen up!: "You must listen to your body. Run through annoyance, but not through pain." –Dr. George Sheehan
- Last winter I ran into some terrible IT band issues that I tried to run through. Not good – it definitely got worse. I let myself rest and didn’t run for a couple weeks, and magically I have felt no pain ever since. I see absolutely no point in running through pain. Pain is your body’s way of telling you that something is wrong. Go see a doctor!
Tip #17. Create your own running creed: "My whole teaching in one sentence is: "Run slowly, run daily, drink moderately, and don’t eat like a pig." –Dr. Ernst van Aaken, renowned German coach
- I think this is really cool. The creed above is really a creed for life, not just for running. What would your life creed be? I’m going to steal the one above, I think it’s awesome!
Tip #19. Take what you can get: "So-called ‘junk miles’–those slow miles done on easy days or during warmups–do count. They burn calories as effectively as fast miles; it just takes longer. Regardless of pace, each mile you run burns about 100 calories." –Hal Higdon, runner/writer/coach
- This tip is from good ol’ Hal Higdon, so you know it’s good. It kind of goes along with Tip #10 from yesterday. ALL EXERCISE COUNTS. No matter how slow or how short – it counts, so lose the “all or nothing” mentality!
I am literally smiling from that banana bread – it is YUM-E. Definitely a dessert for breakfast kind of situation, but sometimes, that’s ok.
Don’t forget that the Food Should Taste Good Chip Giveaway ends today @ 1:00pm Central. Enter up to three times to enjoy these crunchy, flavorful, better for you chips!
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Do you like breads or loafs? Banana bread, zucchini bread, cinnamon swirl bread, poppy seed bread, lemon loaf, pumpkin loaf, etc.?
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