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 love The Pioneer Woman’s show too! Actually I love the entire Saturday morning lineup on foodnetwork. I’m currently reading her book, ‘Black Heels to Tractor Wheels’ and it’s so good so far. her & the Marlboro man have a great love story.
I went to Whole Food for the first time on Saturday. I wanted to see if they had a non dairy cheese that I wanted to try. I am now totally in love. If I could just figure out how to get ice cream back to Carroll without it melting it would be even better. They had so many non diary options, I was in heaven.
I live in Cedar Falls and I adore Scratch. I am so glad the business is a success! Her cupcakes are amazing. It is hard to resist when I am running or running errands.
Awe, shucks maybe Hickory Park another day, man I love that place! Nice recipes for KCCI this week!
I feel the same way about celery in my juice…it overwhelms! I do love ginger though!
Those cupcakes look delicious!! I will have to try one next time we are in DSM! Where is Scratch located?
Omg a monster cupcake! I’m not even a cupcake person (more of a cookie monster) but that looks absolutely delicious!
UNI grad and now a CF resident…you MUST try the salted caramel cupcake at Scratch. I. die. It used to be seasonal but is now available on Thursdays. Also, while I’m not a big chocolate person…all their chocolate cupcakes have mini-chocolate chips in them. I’m nearly delirious over them.
I am loving smoothies lately and yours looks delicious! I love the banana-berry combo. Have a great Monday!
Yay… a new smoothie recipe!I drink your green smoothie at least twice a week. And you can go head and tell Scratch to come on over to Denver. M’kay? Thanks!
We began our love affair with Hickory Park in Ames, IA over 10 years ago when our son attended ISU and was a member of Phi Gamma Delta Fraternity. It was a rite of passage for all students (and as many friends as could fit in the car) to be taken to HP by their parents anytime they visited. Especially at Freshman Orientation. But the waiting to have your number called to be seated was nothing compared to the goodness being served inside. Our oldest two have long graduated but whenever we’re down in that neck of the woods (our daughter resides in Perry, IA) we always try and stop at Hickory Park!!
Thanks for sharing all the juice links last week. Made a huge batch of the Crimson Citrus Cleanser this morning. (I feel the same way about celery in my juice so I cut it down significantly.) It was delish! High five to the sister in law on that one! =)
My hightlight was seeing Papa Roach in concert Friday night!! Awesome show!
Those cupcakes are making me hungry! :) the highlight of my weekend was making your cheesy taco soup for a Friday night dinner(so yummy by the way!) and celebrating Australia Day with friends Saturday and Sunday!
I’m headed to WF tomorrow so I’ll have to give the vegan pizza a whirl. The cupcakes, well I’ll just pretend that I didn’t see them. :-p Yum!
I love your approach to the weekend as far as eating out and just being more relaxed! I drink thus smoother almost everyday – it’s amazing!
The highlight of my weekend was our 5th Annual “Soup Group” Potluck–12 people at my house with 5 pots of homemade soup, snacks, adult beverages, German Chocolate Trifle (made from the the cupcakes that refused to come out of the pans) and homemade ice cream. Good food and great friends. We discussed juicing, Scratch (UNI parents) AND the absence of a Trader Joe’s/Whole Foods in the Quad Cities! Your blog (and recipes) came up in the conversation! Have a great week–ice is gone!
I have a quick question. Any ideas for substitutions for spinach or kale in a smoothie? I love them but I am not supposed to eat them raw. Love all your posts. I am a hawkeye and lived in Des Moines too. Sounds like a lot has changed since I was there.
My husband and I (Iowa natives) drove north from Overland Park, Kansas to visit our daughter and her friends at ISU. We ate at Oddfellow Burger in Ames and later visited a fun neighborhood bar called Mother’s Pub. On Saturday, we saw a great basketball game win against K-State complete with the Sweet Caroline song after the victory. Then it was a quick drive by Drake and my huband’s old dorm after stopping by a few antique stores in downtown Des Moines. Dinner was at Bonefish Grill and Caribou Coffee for our three hour drive on I-35 back home to Kansas. We enjoyed our visit to Iowa!
The monster cookie cupcake looks amazing! Never heard of that one before.
There is a great pizza place here in northern Cali called Zachary’s and they have vegan pizza. Chicago-style deep dish, too! Sooo good.