Epic Banana Smoothie

Good morning!

So, just about every morning I have a smoothie for breakfast.  Every smoothie contains the use of many bananas whether it's just plain bananas, or mixed with other kinds of fruits.  I wanted to make mention of one certain time I ate the most bananas at one time I have ever consumed.  15 bananas!  Many people think it's crazy that I eat more than one a day.  Well how about 15?!  And one of the coolest parts about it was that I didn't feel that it took me a crazy amount of time to drink it and I didn't feel overly full from it.  Not to mention how much energy I had afterwards.  It was amazing!

The reason I had that many bananas at one time was because I buy a box of bananas at a time.  That's 40 pounds of bananas!  Well, they were all very ripe at the same time and I had to consume them all before they went bad.  It seemed a lot easier than trying to freeze them.  That requires peeling, stuffing in a bag, labeling, then putting them away.  :p  Way easier to just eat them!  On the last day I only had 15 left so I figured I would just stuff them in the blender and be done with it.  It was so amazing.

Since trying to work with the 80/10/10 lifestyle I always knew that I'm supposed to eat as much as I want.  And I think, the more the better.  However, it seems that what I was doing before wasn't working because even though I was full, I wasn't consuming enough.  I believe that day with the banana smoothie I had over 4000 calories.  And I felt the best that day.  Where I used to strive for 2500 calories per day and got excited about getting up to 3000 or more I now am striving for 3500 and will get excited about having more than that.

That banana smoothie changed me.  Sounds cheesy, right?  (Or maybe I should say it sounds fruity?)  It really did change me though.  I am really looking forward to my next fruity meal and veggies at the end of the night.

What's the most banana's or other fruit you have eaten at one time?  Have you ever had the same feeling I had?  Leave me comments below!  I want to hear about it!

Have a great Friday everyone!

Murphy's Irish Pub in South Lake Tahoe

Hey everyone!  I wanted to share about this restaurant my husband and I came across on our way home from vacation.  It's called Murphy's Irish Pub.  It's a bar/restaurant with a great environment.  You could eat inside or outside and was family friendly.  In the inside there was a pool table in the back corner, but also near the tables.  Not so close you could get hit though, of course.  Except...one girl almost got hit because she was sitting on the outside of the booth.  Ya, I don't think you're supposed to do that!

The food was amazing.  It could have been because we were starving.  We thought about it and decided, no, it's amazing!  I got a portabella mushroom sandwich on sourdough bread.  The mushroom was marinated in balsamic vinegar and oil.  It also had avocado and lettuce on it.  For a side I got a salad which was also impressive for it's greens, but tasted a bit on the bitter side.

Service was also mentionable.  Our waiter was so nice.  He even gave my husband a free beer.  He was funny, always had a smile, and kept us up to date on how it was going in the kitchen.  For example, he let us know that it was busy in there so it might take a little longer for our food to come out and updated us later when it was being cooked.

Next time we drive through South Lake Tahoe we will be sure to hit that place up again!

Unfortunately I was so hungry that I didn't even think about getting pictures.  

Bounty from the Garden

This is a picture of last weeks bounty.  We try to get out to the garden about every other day and this is about what we come out with every time.  Not counting the cucumbers.  Lots of tomatoes, egg plant, and peppers.  The peppers are sweet and we like to put them in pretty much every thing we eat.  The tomatoes we either turn into tomato sauce or fresh salsa.  I used some egg plant in a pasta dish that consisted of a zucchini (also from garden), yellow squash, noodles, and tomato sauce (which we made, of course).

We sure do have a lot of fun picking stuff out of the garden.  Also growing is grapes, potatoes, sunflowers, watermelon, cantaloupe, and more.

Also today, my son managed to find a lot more cucumbers in the garden!  We can't believe how fast they grow!  I had to pick up more jars from the store to make sure we can pickle them.  Next up is relish :)

Jarring Pickles

Hello everyone!  Today I wanted to share about the pickles my husband and I jarred this past Sunday evening.  It has been so much fun being able to do things like this.  Aside from the pickles, we have also jarred about 40 jars of nectarine jam and 4 jars of tomato sauce.  That's just this year!  And we have only just begun!  As we keep jarring, I'll keep posting.  At least, as long as it is new.  :)

So these are our most recent pickles!  We made bread and butter, spicy dill, and regular dill.  There were a bunch of extra pepperoncinis so we made a spicy version of those too.  We still have a lot of cucumbers that need processing so next on the list we will make up some relish.  I am really excited to see how it turns out!

It's funny how easy jarring foods can be.  It can be a lot of work, but at the same time, it's pretty simple when you get some good recipes and get the hang of things.  It's also a lot more fun when you're doing it with someone you love!

Until next time!

School's out!!

Woohoo!  So excited that I'm FINALLY done with school!  I now have my bachelor's degree in nutrition science.  It sure does feel good to have that done.  Since I've been done I have been taking a big long vacation with the kids since they are out for summer.

Now that things are settling down a little bit, I plan to have more time for the blog.  Yay!  In the past I would get so caught up in all other things.  Mostly school, of course.  It really is such a relief to have that done. ( The kids were so excited too.  They didn't have to hear about how I had homework to do, class time, or tests anymore).  I will have to look for a job as well, but there is going to be plenty of time for the blog and I'm really excited about it.

If there is anything that anyone wants to read about, just let me know in the comments!

Happy Monday!