Banana bread is one of my favorite things to bake. Way back in college, it was one of the first things I ever tried to bake from scratch (and my roommate seemed to love eating it!).  I had some bananas that I left too close to a window last week and they browned over really quickly. Perfect for baking banana bread!

Browned bananas, perfect for baking!

Banana Bread Recipe – very slightly adapted from the Food Network:

Prep time: 30 minutes (for some reason the Food Network says 2 hours but that seriously must be a mistake)

Cook time: 1 hour and 10 minutes

• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 2 large eggs
• 3 ripe bananas
• 1 tablespoon milk
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt

(Carly’s additions: 1 teaspoon nutmeg, 1 extra teaspoon of cinnamon, chocolate chips)

I was baking a double batch so I did half regular and half chocolate chip.

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Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Butter a 9 x 5 x 3 inch loaf pan. (my oven runs a little cool so I baked my bread at 350.  A lot of reviews on the Food Network site said that the bread wasn’t done after an hour and 10 minutes at 325 – but 350 worked perfectly for me!)

Cream the sugar and butter in a large mixing bowl until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.

In a small bowl, mash the bananas with a fork (don’t over mash them, you’ll be mixing them in with the other ingredients later). Mix in the milk and cinnamon (and nutmeg). In another bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

Add the banana mixture to the creamed mixture and stir until combined. Add dry ingredients, mixing just until flour disappears.

Pour batter into prepared pan and bake 1 hour to 1 hour 10 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean (and until your house smells delicious). Set aside to cool on a rack for 15 minutes. Remove bread from pan, invert onto rack and cool completely before slicing.

Plain and chocolate chip banana bread.

perfect banana bread!

This was the easiest recipe to follow! The banana bread was really moist and flavorful. I really liked that addition of nutmeg and the additional bit of cinnamon (and it doesn’t overwhelm the banana flavor).  I put 2 of the little guys in the freezer and we’re snacking on the other loaves now.

What’s your favorite thing to bake?

The post Super Simple Banana Bread Recipe appeared first on CarlyBananas.

 I just want to take a quick minute to express my relief that the suspects in the Boston bombing are off the streets. Last week was a terrible week but I was so impressed by the strength of the people of Boston, law enforcement, and runners & bloggers. I hope everyone affected is healing. xoxo.

I’ve been loving to read about my friend Erin’s trips to Trader Joes and all of her great foodie finds. One of the most exciting parts about my recent move is the fact that we’re fairly close to a Wegmans - less than 10 miles, which still takes forever in traffic but it’s totally worth it. I thought it would be fun to do a post like Erin’s and show some of the foods I snag.

Of course, today I made a rookie mistake and went at lunch time.  I grabbed a Diet Vanilla Coke to hold me over while I shopped and grabbed some sushi to eat as soon as I got home. Let me tell you… I inhaled this. I love Philly rolls because I’m pretty obsessed with cream cheese. I also grabbed steamed pork dumplings. Yum.

This food was inhaled about 30 seconds after the picture was taken.

Out of all of these items…2 were on my grocery list – the bacon and guacamole. We eat a lot of tacos and I thought the fajita marinade would be a good addition to the panty.  I saw the Greek turkey burgers – 94% fat free turkey with feta and spinach and knew that was what I had to have for dinner. I grabbed the Alexia sweet potato tots to make with them. Yum!

Fajita marinade, Wholly guacamole 100 calorie packs, bacon, Alexia sweet potato tots and Greek turkey burgers.

Wegmans has the best produce. Seriously, the Fairfax produce section is bigger than some grocery stores I’ve visited.  I have not been eating so healthy lately so I stocked up on apples, bananas, berries and salad.

Gala apples, raspberries, red potatoes, garlic, tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, salad, and bananas. YUM.

I was fascinated by the dragon fruit display. I have never seen them before and was really tempted to get one. I’m pretty glad I didn’t because I just googled what they look like inside and I think I would have freaked when I realized it’s totally white and seedy inside!

Has anyone ever tried a dragon fruit?

I’m a serious carb addict. I love buying fresh bagels and then slicing them and throwing them in the freezer so I can grab one and take it to work with me. I also grabbed some pretzel rolls and cornbread. I’m a big fan of the cornbread because it’s low in sugar. Some corn bread is so sweet

Pretzel rolls, bagels and corn bread.

This week, I didn’t need any meats because I stocked up big time last week. They have a lot of meats and fish portioned for two, which is really helpful. There’s nothing worse, in my super dramatic opinion, than buying chicken that comes with 3 pieces. Fresh caught fish and pre-marinated chicken will get us through the week!

Fresh caught Mahi and salmon, teriyaki chicken and barbecue chicken.

Do you have any good finds at the grocery store this week? Do you try to get enough food for a full week or do you go back and forth to the grocery store a lot? We used to live across the street from a grocery store and were there constantly. It’s nice to stock up and only go once week!

The post What’d Ya Get at Wegmans? appeared first on CarlyBananas.

I have been struggling to clear my thoughts since yesterday’s horrible attack in Boston.  I can’t compose my thoughts enough for a post and I can’t bear the thought of turning this tragedy into something about myself.

So instead, I’m going to focus on the running community and how strong we are as a group.  And how much I’ve come to realize in the last 24 hours that these are some of the best people on the planet. I’m proud to join with the members of the RunChat community and wear a race shirt today as a sign of solidarity.

Today, we stand with Boston.

And try to focus on the acts of kindness that came in the aftermath.

via buzzfeed

I am so thankful that my friends in Boston are safe and I pray that whoever is responsible for yesterday’s tragedy is caught.  I hope the city of Boston, the marathon, and our community stay strong and through this all grow better and tougher than ever.

The post Today We Stand With Boston appeared first on CarlyBananas.

I swore that I learned a valuable lesson after the Hot Chocolate 5k/15k fiasco in 2011…No more races that aren’t managed by a local company or a well known/well researched national group (Nike, Competitor Group, etc.). But I’m a sucker for all things vampire – it’s an obsession that goes back way before Twilight to my days at sleep away summer camp (tell me someone else read the NightWorld books by LJ Smith) and when I got a free entry on Active.com for the Vampire 5k I was pumped.  It was near-ish a friend’s house in Silver Spring and she was going to join me for her first 5k.

Shortly after I registered I got an email from the race organizers asking me to promote the race and they offered a free entry to a reader. Sounded great so I did a giveaway.

Of course, then the curse of the out of town race company monster started to rear it’s head and they changed venues to basically hold the race in the parking lot of RFK (which is better than the initial change to what appeared to be underneath the metro tracks along the Anacostia River).  They said they outgrew the space in Silver Spring and I’m not going to outwardly disagree with that (though they were still giving out discount registrations on Active) but I have a feeling it had more to with how the park’s no alcohol rule would impact the post race events than numbers.  Long story short, I really don’t have any desire to run 3.1 miles of parking lots on a Friday night so I emailed them and told them I wasn’t interested in participating anymore but I’d leave my post advertising the event up.

Not surprisingly, they were hit with another snag and the race is now postponed to October (though they haven’t updated their website to reflect that yet).

The bummer in this is that it was supposed to be my friend’s first race and now she thinks all races are run like garbage.  I feel like I should have known better but being totally out of serious running mentality I thought it would be fun. And while I’m disappointed, it was a valuable lesson in why I should really focus any money I’m going to spend racing on local companies (or at least companies that know what they’re doing).  DC is a difficult race market to break into if you’re not from the area or at least a company that knows it well.

What’s your favorite DC race? What are your thoughts on local races vs. theme races?

The post Another Lesson in Why You Should Only Run Races Put on by Local Companies appeared first on CarlyBananas.

I’m finally able to get back into a kind of normal routine and it feels so nice. After 2 weeks of having a cold, moving, traveling, figuring out my new commute (the traffic. my god, the traffic!) I’m finally starting to feel normal again. Last night, I headed to my new gym to finally get to work on the Best Body Bootcamp and it was actually the most fun I’ve had in a gym for a long time.

Let’s rewind a little – the bootcamp is a series of workouts put together by Tina and includes both strength and cardio. I’ve done a few of the cardio workouts as outdoor runs now that the weather’s nice but this was my first go at the strength. Each week, Tina sends the participants new series of workouts and a proposed schedule. It’s really a great program for people who tend to go to the gym and do all the same things…I love the prescribed variety!

Just hanging int he weight room with my plan and my stuff!

I’ve had a tough time in the last few years walking into the weight room and not being intimidated by the guys working out.  I’m happy that my new gym is gigantic and I felt ok being in there because I wasn’t right on top of someone lifting really heavy stuff.  It’s been a long time since I’ve done a full body workout all in one session and it felt great.  I followed it up with another one of the cardio workouts on the elliptical. I’m seriously digging the fact that the cardio machines are Polar enabled and they communicate with my heart rate monitor. It’s nice when a machine shows the right heart rate and calorie burn!

What a workout!

And just because, I really need to show a closer up picture of my awesome new shirt.  Please, please someone understand it and love it as much as I do.

Just because… I needed to show off my awesome Game of Thrones direwolf shirt.

I think I’m heading back for another set of fun workouts tonight. I know the weather is beautiful and I should take advantage of it and go outside…but that DC pollen is just already ridiculous.

Are you taking advantage of the nice weather on the east coast or sticking indoors?

The post Hitting the Weight Room appeared first on CarlyBananas.

This weekend, I headed out to Wisconsin for my cousin’s super fun and awesome wedding. I had such an amazing time – the only way to show what a blast we had is to post a bunch of pictures:

We clean up real nice.

My mom/twin/bestie.

Neither my dad or boyfriend like smiling in pictures. That’s ok. I’m happy enough for everyone

Best. Wedding. Venue. Ever.

I repeat – best venue ever.

Switched into my beloved Tieks for a trip to the hamster wheel.

It went really well for me haha. Thankfully my cousin Dave stepped in and helped me run in circles for awhile!

Cousin to the rescue.

Madison at night. Gorgeous.

It takes approximately this many bobby pins to get my hair up into a fun style for the night.

One of the best parts of the trip was brunching with Kelly the morning after the wedding!

Marigold Kitchen in Madison was delicious. 2 eggs over easy with potatoes, bacon and sour dough toast. Perfection.

It was so good to spend time with my family (and Kelly – who has officially convinced my boyfriend that everyone is Madison is really nice and knows great places to eat!) but after a week of moving…it’s good to be back to a nice normal week.  As soon as I finish up at work today, I’m heading home to go out for a run around my new neighborhood! Can’t wait!

How was your weekend? Did you do anything fun? 

The post A Weekend in Wisconsin appeared first on CarlyBananas.

Whew, it’s been quite awhile since I’ve posted.  I had a terrible cold that turned into bronchitis and it was so tiring.  I spent more than a week just going to work, coughing my face off, coming home and coughing all night. I actually slept in a chair for like 5 consecutive nights and STILL was up coughing for hours at a time. It was so much fun.  Speaking of sickness and rest, I’m so incredibly thankful for all of the support and kind words on my post about the #NoExcuses trend. I was without internet for the last week or so and responding has been tough but I have read and LOVED seeing everyone’s opinions on the topic, even those who disagreed with me.

So about that no internet thing… we ended up having our internet shut off in our old place earlier than planned and then the Verizon guy showed up late at our new place. And by late, I mean like 3 days late. On Thursday, we moved from Arlington out to Falls Church so my dog and Gretchen‘s dogs can FINALLY become besties…Ok, I’m kidding. We moved because we needed more space. And we’re so happy with the new place but it was tough to coordinate everything and I’m really happy the move is done.  We unpacked nonstop for 3 full days and now have a real place to live, with 2 bathrooms and 2 bedrooms and a little upstairs area.

View of the upstairs

A really strange panoramic of the bedroom that makes the room look like it’s not a normal shape (it is). Our curtains are tan, almost the same color as the wall.

Tired puppy after a weekend at doggy day care.

Now that we’re fairly settled, I’m hoping to join a gym tomorrow night.  I’m basically going to end up being a full week behind on the Best Body Bootcamp and I think I’m just going to have to be ok with that.  I really thought we’d have time go join the gym yesterday but I forgot it was Easter so it, of course, wasn’t open.  We’re traveling on Friday out to Wisconsin for my cousin’s wedding and I just have a lot happening this week with a new commute and our first baseball game of 2013 on Wednesday night (woohoo, I can’t wait for that!).  It was definitely overly ambitious of me to think I’d be able to hop back into a normal workout routine this week but I’m ready to get back into the swing of things. I had to say hop back there so I had a lead in for my favorite Easter kitty picture of all time:

I can’t stop laughing when I look at that picture. So funny!

How was your weekend? I keep seeing people mention 3 day weekends but have never heard of that for Easter!

The post Three Things… Monday Edition: All Moved! appeared first on CarlyBananas.

I’m going to come right out with it: I hate hate hate the #NoExcuses trend.  I’m sure you’ve seen the tweets and pins:

• “I have a terrible sore throat but going to boot camp before getting a strep test! #noexcuses”
• “Baby was up all night. I slept 45 minutes but went to the gym for an hour before work – hope I don’t crash my car on the way in! #noexcuses”
• “I was mauled by a rabid raccoon on my run but I kept going! #noexcuses”

How cute is this kid? I bet he never takes a day off!

I really get the concept behind it, I know I could make an excuse to get out of any workout and if I gave into all of them I’d be a lazy bum, but really guys… the whole NO EXCUSES OMG EVER is so silly.

I used to work myself into this panic every time I’d miss a run on my training schedule. I wasn’t just skipping them because I didn’t feel like going and I wasn’t skipping all the long runs or all the speedwork – I’d have work events or trips…or a migraine…or any other valid excuse for not going out to run. I’d feel so bad about myself because I’d see a bunch of tweets that led me to believe that the majority of people exercising don’t believe in any excuses ever (“I think I have food poisoning but that’s not contagious so I can still go to body pump, right?” I seriously actually saw that tweet. Ew.) They just go. And I compared myself and felt guilty and it got so obnoxious that I burnt out on both working out and social media.

Sometimes:

• Sometimes, while I recognize that a one hour workout is 4% of my day, I also recognize using that 4% of my day to sleep might be better for me.
• Sometimes, I just won’t workout if I’m sick. That’s not even a sometimes…that’s an all the time. You can tell me all day long that there’s a 4 year old with cheetah blades out running laps on a track and I should get my wimpy sniffly butt to the gym but guess what, I still won’t do it.
• Sometimes, I just know that no amount of working out is going to fix the mood I’m in. Those “I never regret a workout” tweets are equally annoying because you know what, I have.  When I had pneumonia last year and I tried to get back out to run too soon – I regret that…I had to use an inhaler for months because of that.  When I had a horrible day at work and I just wanted to go home and eat ice cream but instead I went to the gym and worked out with my trainer who made some off the cuff less than perfect comment and I started crying…I regretted that too.
• Sometimes, it’s totally ok to skip a workout for no reason at all. Really, try asking one of your friends who isn’t active on social media and doesn’t have a health and fitness blog.
• Sometimes, it’s really easy to cross from a healthy love of running and fitness to an unhealthy obsession. Life doesn’t have to be so absolute!

Everyone wants to do their best come race day…and in life.  But your best doesn’t have to be the same best as your friends’ best. Look, I’m never going to win a race, or place in my age group, or be some kind of acclaimed athlete.  And maybe if I practiced more of a #NOEXCUSES plan I could be a few minutes faster or a little bit stronger. But when I decide what I do, or don’t do, it’s all about me. The whole #noexcuses thing spends too much time focusing on what other people have overcome and making yourself feel guilty for not being as awesome. 

Just because this guy is able to persevere in the face of serious hardship doesn’t mean you have no excuse to ever skip a workout. That’s ridiculous. No one applies that logic to other parts of life. Could you imagine living your entire life by that standard? It would be so rigid and depressing… someone else did something better than you and you have no excuse not to do the same thing, just as well. Live your life for you and if you find yourself making excuses to get out of every workout you have planned think about what you can do to make it better for you, because we’re not all the same and we can like different things. 

What do you think? What are your thoughts on the whole #NOEXCUSES thing?

The post Why Your #NoExcuses Posts Make Me Crazy appeared first on CarlyBananas.

The NBC Health and Fitness Expo has come and gone, and like all things in life there were good parts and less than good parts. Let’s start with the good.

The company was amazing. I already know and adore both Ashley and Sana and I knew seeing them would be a great treat. I also got to meet Allison from Wicked Healthy Washingtonian and that was equally awesome. She has a great blog that I was totally unfamiliar with before this weekend.

L-R  Sana, Allison, Chef Allie, Rebecca, me and Ashley.  Picture via Ashley @ CoffeeCakeandCardio.com

Bloggers at the NBC Health Expo

I love, love, love this picture of me and Sana

The events for the bloggers were…disorganized though.  Our parts at the booth were basically cut because there wasn’t room for both us and the Diet to Go sales team and our panel was cut way back on time (and it was at a really bad time – it was happening basically as the expo was closing).  I really did enjoy participating in the discussion and I loved hearing what the other girls had to say – we all had really different stories and journeys to a healthier way of living – and I wish we got to share those stories with more people.  I know that some of the things were out of Diet to Go’s hands but some wasn’t and it was a bit of a bummer. On the bright side, I did get a lot more of my weekend to myself and that was welcomed because I have had a sore throat off and on since Friday.  Rest is my friend.

More pics from over the weekend:

This was only like 1/3 of the Expo. It was massive and a bit overwhelming!

My bestie, Sara X. from MomSoHardUniversity.com stopped by with her beautiful family on Sunday. It was so great to see them!

These deer at the Lyme Disease booth freaked me out a little.

They’re called Newtons now (not Fig Newtons) and they’re delicious. I couldn’t find a way to snag the whole basket though. Wah.

All in all, it was a fine weekend but it could have been pretty awesome had a little more planning went into it.  I have a rule about not running inaugural races and I think I should probably apply it to more areas of my life – sometimes the best intentions just can’t come together on the first try.

Did you attend the NBC Health Expo? What did you think?

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The post NBC Health and Fitness Expo 2013 appeared first on CarlyBananas.

When I was visiting my brother in Florida a few weeks ago, I had fish tacos. They were really simple but so tasty and I decided I’d have to try to make them again when I got home.  So the other night, I stopped at the grocery store and grabbed some Mahi Mahi and made the easiest fish tacos ever.

I wanted to pan fry the fish but I was really hungry and I knew it would take awhile since it was a thick cut so I threw it in the broiler and planned to put a sear on it after.

Step one: Broil your Mahi. Set aside a small pan with a little oil and cilantro for searing later.

While the fish cooked, I got out the rest of the ingredients and arranged them. It’s really hard to put a hard time on how long it takes fish to cook because it really depends on how it’s cut – so just keep an eye on it. The piece I had took 10-15 minutes.

Step two: Grab your shells and toppings and arrange them while your fish cooks.

These Mission Artisan Corn & Wheat Blend soft taco shells were incredible! They were just big enough to load up with toppings and sturdy enough not to fall apart. And, of course they tasted great.

Wholly Guacamole 100 calorie spicy guacamole. Need I say more. I know it’s easy to make guacamole at home but when I don’t have time, I love this stuff. There are only 8 ingredients in this and I can pronounce all of them.  It’s perfectly portioned. I can’t say enough good stuff about adding it to my meals – plus, with the small pouches you don’t have left overs.

Also in the mix: a spoonful of fat free sour cream, peppers, onions, a pinch of Sargento low fat Mexican cheese, and a  spoonful of salsa.

Step 3: Once your fish is done broiling, heat your oil and cilantro. Don’t use more than a tablespoon of oil and a pinch of cilantro or your oil will start splashing.

Step 4: Quick put your fish in the oil and let it get a nice sear. Turn over to sear the other side and remove from heat.

Step 5: Grab 2 forks and pull your fish apart into little bite side pieces.  

Step 6: Add to tacos and eat. 

There you have it, Mahi Mahi tacos.

 The tacos were really tasty and filling. I almost went with making a third taco for me but two ended up being just right with the side of rice and beans.  Quick math says the tacos come out to about 450 calories for 2 (there’s about 2 ounces of mahi mahi in each).

Have a quick meal you’d like to share? Add it to the comments below!

The post Healthy, Quick & Easy Mahi Soft Tacos appeared first on CarlyBananas.