Hi all, how was your weekend?
Mine was so tasty! I usually do most of my splurging on the weekends, as Ben and I like to order take out or go to dinner on Friday and Saturday, but try and keep things relatively healthy during the day. That said, Saturday morning I woke up and blended a Banana-Berry Breakfast Smoothie to sip on while enjoying the season premier of The Pioneer Woman on the Food Network. Love her AND her adorable family!
(Still kicking myself for standing there like a psychopath with my eyes bulging and mouth wide open instead of saying, uh, HI!, after running into her a few years ago!)
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Banana-Berry Breakfast Smoothie
Description
Banana-Berry Breakfast Smoothie is a total superfood smoothie, and the perfect treat for starting your day out right!
Ingredients
- 1 frozen banana
- 1 cup frozen berries
- 2-3 cups baby spinach
- 1 teaspoon chia seeds
- 3/4 - 1 cup unsweetened vanilla almond breeze (or milk)
Directions
- Add all ingredients to bender then blend until smooth.
This recipe is courtesy of Iowa Girl Eats, http://iowagirleats.com.
The slightly-sweet and filling smoothie was perfect to ensure I wouldn’t turn into the cupcake monster when Ben and I made our way to the new cupcake joint in town later that morning, Scratch Cupcakery!
I started cracking up the minute we stepped inside the cute, bright shop. Women. Everywhere. Bahaha! Ben and another customer in front of us in line were the only two males in the entire place. What can I say, we women know what we want, and that’s CUPCAKES!
I am so thrilled to welcome Scratch Cupcakery to town. The company started in my college town of Cedar Falls, IA, and their new location here has already generated tons of positive buzz in the short time they’ve been open.
I knew at first sight of the creamy, fluffy icing dolloped on top of each cupcake that I was in for a treat. I walked away with Wedding Cake (almond flavored cake and icing) and Sully (aka monster cookie!) cupcakes and couldn’t wait to dig in later that afternoon.
I split the two in half, and devoured!
The icing was just as fluffy, soft and smooth as I was hoping, while the cake was dense and moist. Scratch totally knocked it out of the park with both of these flavors. YUMMM!!
The Sully cupcake was so unique with its monster cookie flavored frosting, and I couldn’t lick up the almond flavored frosting on the wedding cake cupcake fast enough. I am not a frosting girl, at all, but it was actually my favorite part! I can’t wait to try some more flavors!
After our cupcake adventure, Ben and I headed off for a day full of errands, including grocery shopping + lunch at Whole Foods. Ben had tried their Vegan Pizza with a friend a couple weeks ago and has been talking about it ever since (file that under things I never thought I’d say!)
While he enjoyed a couple slices of ‘za, I gobbled a big ol’ cup of Broccoli Cheddar Soup and iced tea. I really liked this soup! It was a bit overly-pureed for me (I like big hunks of broccoli in my BC soup,) but the flavor was stellar. I’d get it again.
Not wanting to go home after errands, we cruised around for a bit, looking at dream homes until the sun went down. We’re a year or two from moving out of our current place, but it’s so much fun to look and imagine. :) (Anyone else singing Wide Open Spaces a la the Dixie Chicks, btw?)
This morning, I whirred up another sipper to supplement breakfast – this time using my juicer – a Crimson Citrus Cleanser. This recipe comes courtesy of my sister-in-law. She and my brother make it most mornings, and I am telling you – their skin is gasp-worthy. So jealous! I made the recipe as written, except I added a knob of fresh ginger (obsessed with ginger in my fresh juice) and I think next time I’ll leave the celery out. For some reason I’m super sensitive to the taste of celery, and it’s just odd to drink the taste…
Other than that, I bought enough ingredients to make one every day this week. Looking forward to tomorrow’s juice already. It’s crazy just how GOOD it makes you feel!
It’s been a really crummy day out today, so Ben and I thought we’d beat Sunday boredom by taking a trip about 30 minutes north for a lunch feast at one of our favorite BBQ joints in Ames, IA – Hickory Park. Five minutes into the trip we realized the roads were too icy though, so we high-tailed to our favorite Mexican place instead – Monterrey.
Monterrey, and their salsa, complete me. Like, truly complete my soul. My salsa recipe is close, but nothing compares to the real thing. I can hardly control myself around it!
I always end up eating more chips & salsa than I should, so I attempt to reign it in by ordering a side of rice and a cheese enchilada for my meal. Too bad they’re big enough for two…
Good thing leftovers are just as good!
Back to gym tomorrow! ;)
Enjoy the rest of your weekend everyone, and have a great week!
~~~~~
What was the highlight of your weekend?
I absolutely LOVE that Scratch named their monster cupcake Sully! I dream about my future cupcakery every day and such a big part of my plan is really unique names that catch people’s attention. Sully is perfect! Way to go, Scratch!
Oh sweetie, sweetie, sweetie….THAT IS A CUPCAKE! Oh my gosh, when first glanced at the photos of the cupcakery I stared for a good 10 seconds. That frosting? Ohhh…..
Talk about a foodie’s dream weekend! Cupcakes, smoothies AND mexican! Heaveeennnn!
I’ve been in bed sick for the past three days with the flu. So the highlight of my weekend was you video from the morning news and surfing Pintrest. Although the real highlight was suppose to be my group fitness certification class yesterday. If you’ve never tried RIPPED you must find a class and go check it out. Burns 750-1000 cals in 50-60 minutes and is so much fun!!! I did go but was miserable the whole time. Hope moms pot of chicken noodle soup kicks in soon!
Hi Kristin! We’re new here and totally love your site. This looks like a great recipe to kick start a busy work week. Can’t wait to try it soon!
That juice looks amazing! We have been looking for a new one to start off our day…kind of getting tired of our same green smoothie recipe, so this will be perfect! And, UM!!! I love, love, love Monterrey! I have always said, that their salsa is the BEST. We moved to Columbia, MO last year and there is nothing here that compares to Monterrey. It is the first place I hit with my girlfriends when I come back into town! Their fajita burrito is my absolute fave! This post makes me want to drive back next weekend just for chips and salsa!!! :)
Wife of ISU alum here-I am having Hickory Park cravings now thanks to your post;) We will be there for a college visit with our son in another week so I’m thinking of a Saucy Southerner followed by some amazing ice cream concoction from their dessert menu. Have you ever had the pizza from Great Plains Sauce and Dough Company in Ames? When we lived there that was our favorite indulgence, and always with the whole wheat crust and little packages of honey to squeeze onto the crusty edges. Oh my-now I want that too!
I am SO glad Scratch came to town! I also graduated from UNI and was SO excited to see it in Des Moines. Between Scratch and the OP, it’s nice to always be able to get a little slice of Cedar Falls. Scratch is catering my wedding this summer, and “wedding cake” will definitely be on the docket. My mouth was watering just looking at your picture!
These juice recipes are totally convincing me to invest, enjoy, and get over my anything-juiced-will-taste-like-grass fear ;)
Wow.. You had some awesome eats!! You are giving me a major cupcake craving…those look amazing!
Ooh, we went to Scratch on Saturday, too! We went at 6:30 p.m. They were out of quite a few. I HIGHLY recommend the Samoa flavor!!! We also go Wedding Day – yummy! Funny enough, when we went, the line was still to the door, and I thought there was a huge amount of teenage/20-something boys there, along with some men. hahaha! They just wait until it’s dark out.
I’m with ya, sista, on the unhealthy splurging on Friday and Saturday nights!! Those cupcakes definitely look worth the splurge though. Monster cookie cupcakes??! Can they ship them to Minneapolis?? ;)
I know you get to Cedar Rapids every once in a while. You must go to NewBo Market and have a cupcake from That Cupcake Place. Delish!
So glad you tried Scratch! UNI alum here too, and I was still in school when they opened..I believe I stopped by the first week they opened and have loved them every since. So much that once I left a box of 6 on the back of my car and drove off, not realizing it until 6 miles out of town. I turned around, and miraculously found them still in the box in the middle of an intersection. None had actually touched the ground, so I took them home…and ate them all. No shame–Scratch is amazing.
That’s funny that you posted about Scratch b/c I just had lunch last week with a friend who is getting married in May and having Scratch cupcakes at her reception. The wedding/reception is near Cedar Rapids, but she is bringing them down from Cedar Falls. I was thinking that I need to try them if they are that good. The best part of the weekend was watching good movies (Pitch Perfect and Spiderman) and getting major cleaning done around the house.
My goodness, that monster cookie cupcake….I die! And I don’t even really like cupcakes. What a tasty weekend indeed! Glad you enjoyed yourself darling!
North Liberty here – we are having french dip sandwiches with provolone on this icy day. I put them under the broiler to get all hot and melty.
Do you have a recipe for french dip sandwiches? Didn’t see any when I searched “french.”
I so want to try one of those cupcakes next time I visit DM!
You have an absolute ton of great food/recipe ideas!!
I will def. be trying the banana berry smoothie. I am in the middle of the last week of a 30 day green smoothie challenge, so i’m all about smoothies lately. oh and I love chia seeds, love em!
Those cupcakes look SO good oh my gosh!
I don’t have a juicer -just a plain ole’ blender – but I’d LOVE to try the Crimson Citrus Cleanser, do you think it would still work? I’m guessing with all the veggies probably not but ya never know!
Also gonna have to try out your salsa recipe- i’m alwasy looking for good salsa!
p.s I had no idea Pioneer Woman has her own show now?? so cool!
It sounds to me like you had a fabulous foodie weekend!!
Those cupcakes look unbelievably delicious. A cupcake shop filled with women? I’d never guess! ;) I will absolutely be checking it out the next time that I am in Des Moines. I really want to try the Sully cupcake!
Ben likes VEGAN pizza? Impressive!! It is awesome that he realizes that vegan food IS good :). It is still pizza…but hey, that’s a start! ;)
That smoothie is SO purple! Looks yummy and so does that broccoli and cheese soup, definitely my fave kind of soup. My weekend will be ending with some Thai takeout, yay for weekend treats :D