Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins

The other day, my husband and I were talking about bananas.

Yes, bananas.

He brought up banana nut bread that his mom used to make when they were growing up, I talked about chocolate chip banana bread that we made in treatment one time- and he was in awe that he'd never thought to combine banana bread and chocolate chips. So, when my former dietitian from that treatment center just happened to post the recipe on her Facebook page, I knew that we'd have to store up some bananas so that we could try this out and my husband could experience the gloriousness of chocolate chip banana muffins.

It took some time to store up the bananas. You see, we both rather like to eat this particular fruit- and so do our puppies. I like them before they ripen too much, he likes them super ripe, the puppies just like whatever we give them. So, having bananas stick around long enough to ripen enough to make banana bread isn't a common thing. But, we bought some extra bananas last time around, I told T that he wasn't allowed to eat two of them, and it all worked out- we had ripened brown bananas and we could make some muffins.

Since they are so so yummy, I thought that today I'd share the recipe on the blog. 

This recipe makes 12 muffins. 12 yummy delicious muffins.

You will need:

• 2 mashed bananas
• 4 T melted butter
• 2 T sour cream
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 t vanilla
• 3/4 cup flour
• 1/2 t baking soda
• 3/4 t baking powder
• Pinch of salt
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips

These are literally the easiest thing ever to make- combine all the ingredients in a bowl and mix them up. I just mashed my bananas up in the bowl as I mixed everything up- pregnancy can make a girl pretty lazy, you know. :)

The original recipe called for 1/4 cup of chocolate chips, but that just didn't seem like enough for me (Baby likes chocolate). So, I used 1/2 cup...and then poured some more in until Baby seemed happy (very scientific and precise, I know).

Once everything is mixed, spray or grease your muffin ban and bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes.

And then- EAT! As you can tell, I was a little enthusiastic to dig in, so a muffin is missing from the pan...oh well. Baby likes muffins, what can I say?

I'm currently over here trying to convince myself that I can eat these things for every single meal (hey- they have bananas in them, they have to be healthy, right?). I'm honestly not sure how much longer these will be sticking around between a hungry preggo (there's just something about these last few weeks of pregnancy- I'm hungry hangry all the time), a hungry Baby, and a husband that is a garbage disposal. As easy as these are to make though, I'm not complaining! :)

3 Minutes to Save a Life

Looking back, I can see that there were many times during my eating disorder that I "should have" known that something was wrong.

• I should have known that freaking out about a 100 calorie granola bar wasn't "normal eating".
• I should have known that throwing up after I ate wasn't "normal eating".
• I should have recognized that something was up when I suddenly decided to go gluten free for a month.

There are so many more examples I could provide of instances over the years that I "should have" known that something was up. I mean, maybe I was really great at hiding my monsters from others- but I should have known myself, right? How could I have convinced myself for five years (at least...) that everything was okay...when I am the one that knows myself the very best? Maybe it was because my weight stayed in what is considered a generally "healthy" range, maybe it's because I'd "always" been a picky eater, maybe it's because I didn't want to admit that something was up. Maybe it's because I'd always had anxiety and had struggled with body image and self esteem issues since preschool. Maybe it's because we live in a society that has such a perverted way of thinking about food and weight. Disordered eating is even seen as, might I say...normal? Society jumps from fad diet to fad diet. Juicing. Cleanses. Constant battles with the scale and numbers on the inside of our clothing. It's kind of hard to see the line between dieting and disorder when the line is so blurred. 

I remember one specific instance during college when the thought passed through my head that something wasn't right. It was right after my gluten-free "adventure. I was frustrated because I felt terrible and sick and tired all of the time, no matter what I ate. I had taken to eating every meal in my dorm room alone, because I was throwing up most of the time after eating- and that's just "embarrassing". I mean, someone might catch me elsewhere and think I had an "eating disorder" or something. I vaguely remember grabbing my laptop and consulting Dr. Google with my symptoms- I think it came up with either some deadly kind of colon cancer or an eating disorder. I chose to believe that I was most likely dying of terminal cancer, but that I might should do some research on this eating disorder thing. I took one of those self test things on the internet and it told me that I probably did have a problem with eating and that I should consult a professional. I thought about it for about five minutes and then put my laptop away, not to think of it again for several months. I didn't reach out for help, I didn't mention it to anyone, I didn't do anything...after all, I had a degree to complete, an internship to do that summer, and I didn't really believe that I had a problem. 

This week is National Eating Disorders Awareness Week, and the theme is "3 Minutes to Save a Life". The goal is not only to raise awareness for this issue, but to also encourage people to complete a self screening online if they are thinking that they might have an issue with disordered eating or exercise. Eating disorders are potentially life-threatening illnesses and early detection of the signs and symptoms of disordered eating and eating disorders increases a person’s chance for successful recovery.

In addition to encouraging you to take the step to complete the "simple three minute screening"- I'd also like to encourage you to not let it stop there like I did. In reality, the screening is simple- it's confidential, nobody will ever know, and after it's all said and done- you have the choice to deny reality and not act on it. In reality, these three minutes aren't what saves lives- it's the hours and weeks and months and years that come after. It's the reaching out for help, admitting that you are powerless and that you need help. Sometimes I think back and I wonder if I had gone to our campus nurse during the Spring semester when I did the screening instead of waiting until the Fall semester when my life was completely falling apart- would things have turned out differently? Would I have been able to deal with my issues outpatient? Would we have been able to prevent the downhill spiral that happened? I don't know. Shoulding on myself, woulding on myself, and coulding on myself don't help me...I can only live in the present, living moment by moment, doing what I can right now to pursue a life of recovery. But, I can encourage others to reach out for help. I can use my story to possibly prevent someone else from going down the path that I did, and I might can convince someone to take the three minutes to save a life to start them on a journey to recovery.

Please remember,

You don't have to be underweight to seek help.

You don't have to be on your death bed to seek help.

You might not even be totally convinced that you have a problem, but you still can seek help.

You deserve to live a life of freedom.

Three minutes...Click here to get screened.

2015: Year in Review

Yes, I know- it's February. I know that this post comes about a month late (I'm blaming THAT on pregnancy brain), but in an effort to try and maintain some semblance of the blog that I'm imagining in my head that I want this to be, I'm doing my "annual" year-in-review post where I share pictures of the big events from the past year in an attempt to be able to look back later when I'm old and gray and remember the happy memories.

In February, we celebrated our first Valentine's Day, and I spent a few days in the hospital trying to figure out what my body was doing.

In March, we got MARRIED and went on our Honeymoon in Atlanta (speaking of which....did I ever blog THAT either??!).

In April, Easter happened.

I don't think anything happened in May, but lots happened in June!

We put our house on the market (and it still hasn't sold....)

And we took a trip to Texas to visit T's family!

In July, we visited Ohio for the first time and looked for a place to live.

And we adopted Yoda and I turned 25...

And we found out that we were pregnant!

August continued the theme of busy....we MOVED to Ohio!

In September, we visited the Air Force Museum at Wright-Patt...

and then we saw Taylor Swift in Columbus! 

In October, we found out that we were having a baby GIRL!

In November, we decided that pregnancy and one puppy weren't enough...so we added our somewhat-sweet Lucy to the family!

And in December, we celebrated our first married Christmas!

When I look back at all of these pictures, I realize that we had quite the busy year in 2015! Lots of adventures, fun, and laughter...and lots more to come in the rest of 2016! Marriage, travels, a puppy, a pregnancy, a move, another puppy....it was a busy year. If you made it through all of these pictures and ramblings, congrats- it was a lot, even for me! Here's to 2016!

Preparing for Baby: Freezer Meal Prep

One of the big things that I've read on Pinterest to do before baby was to prepare some freezer meals for after baby decides to come. To be totally honest, we've been using some of the meals I prepared already- I definitely think that it would be good to get an early start on these meals, the third trimester is tiring enough and it seems like the last thing that I want to do is cook a meal- yet it is still important to me that I get nutrients in for my baby, so "healthy" meals are a must!

After we got married and before I got pregnant, I was doing really good at meal planning and fixing dinner and trying to get a variety of foods, new and old, into our dinner rotation. Then, we got pregnant, morning sickness hit and it all went downhill from there. Cooking was no longer something I enjoyed, frankly, it made me nauseous most of the time with the smells and all of the standing. For the first 20 weeks of pregnancy, it seemed like all I wanted to eat was potatoes- especially the fried variety. T was in charge of most of the cooking, which meant we had freezer pizza quite often, or we went out to eat. Budgeting and couponing went out the window- it was more of a "let's try to survive this thing". Now that I'm in "nesting" mode though, I suddenly want to cook all of the foods- or at least do some prep work so that we have yummy food to eat after baby. Trying to find meal ideas that appeal to my particularly picky appetite, that can somewhat fit various exchanges, and still fill my husband up can be quite difficult- but we've found a few recipes that "work" for us and our situation.

For my first freezer meal prep, I fixed four different meals: Lemon-Pesto Chicken, Creamy Italian Chicken, Chicken Fajitas, and Asian Chicken Quesadillas. T cooked up a couple pounds of ground beef for us to freeze (so it would be easy to pull out, thaw, and make tacos/spaghetti sauce/whatever out of). A few notes from my prep:

• Sam's Club had an awesome deal on boneless, skinless chicken breasts- so we bought that there- everything else we gathered from Meijer or we already had around the apartment (I have a bit of an obsession with stocking up on Cream of Chicken soup...). 
• The Asian Chicken Quesadillas were the only recipe that used cooked chicken- everything else was a "dump all the ingredients in a plastic bag, label, and freeze". 
• I split each of the meals between three gallon sized ziplock bags (except for the Lemon-Pesto chicken...that one made four), which seems to have worked well for us- we usually have a serving left over (I'd say that each bag is equivalent to three or four servings, it seems as if the hubs eats for two).  
• Label BEFORE putting stuff in baggies. I make sure to write what the recipe is, the date it was prepared, and instructions (I also have a file on my computer with info, since some of it does rub off). 
• We ended up spending about $50 for 13 freezer meals.

And now for the recipes! To be totally honest, I'm not sure that the amount of chicken in these recipes is exactly what we used- we bought about 15 pounds of chicken total and didn't use it all. I didn't weigh things out, I just kind of looked at the amount of stuff in the bag and added chicken- hubs likes his meals meat-heavy. :) I'm including how much the original recipe recommends below, just for suggestion. Also, I'm giving our opinion on the meal! 

Lemon-Pesto Chicken:

This one wasn't my favorite- I probably won't eat it again. But, hubs liked it. It just didn't have enough flavor for me.

Ingredients: 5 lbs chicken breasts (uncooked), 2 cups pesto, 1/2 cup lemon juice, will need 1/2 cup of shredded mozzarella cheese when you cook

Split between 4 bags, and mush everything together, "mush" everything together to get all of the spices incorporated into the chicken.

To prepare: Thaw overnight. Place in 9x13 dish, cover with foil, and cook for 25-30 min. Sprinkle 1/2 cup of shredded mozzarella cheese on top of chicken and bake for 5-10 more min. Serve with rice or pasta.

Creamy Italian Chicken:

Yes, yes, YES! We BOTH loved this one! Served with rice, its a pretty good chicken and rice and was super easy due to it being a crockpot meal. We will definitely have this again. I've come across a version that was exactly the same except they used a ranch packet- we might try that next time!

Ingredients: 8 chicken breasts (uncooked), 16 oz cream cheese (softened), 2 cans cream of chicken soup, 2 Italian dressing packets (the dry mix kind)

Split between 3 bags, and mush everything together, "mush" everything together to get all of the spices incorporated into the chicken.

To prepare: Pour contents into crockpot and cook for 4-6 hours on low, or place in baking dish and cook at 350 for 30 min. Serve over rice.

Chicken Fajitas:

We've been making this for ages, so I knew we'd like it. Sometimes we add onions, sometimes we don't- it just depends what we have available. I thought we had half an onion that was still good, but it was growing something, so we didn't add it.

Ingredients: 4 chicken breasts (uncooked), 2 green peppers, 1 cup chicken broth, 1 taco seasoning packet, 1 fajita seasoning packet

Split between 3 bags, and mush everything together, "mush" everything together to get all of the spices incorporated into the chicken.

To prepare: Pour contents into crockpot and cook on high for 3-4 hours or low for 6-8 hours. Serve with tortillas.

Asian Chicken Quesadillas:

Another one of our old favorites! This recipe was one I learned to make in treatment and it's not a freezer meal, so I wasn't sure how it would convert- but I'm pleased to report that it freezes wonderfully! It's a great, healthy meal that meets lots of exchanges and has yummy veggies, too!

Ingredients: 2 lbs diced or shredded chicken (cooked), 3/4 cup shredded carrots, 3/4 cup snow peas, 3 cups shredded Colby Jack cheese, 1 cup Asian Sesame dressing (I always add extra- it makes it easier to mix).

Mix all of ingredients in a large bowl and split between 3-4 smaller ziplock bags (quart). I normally freeze all of these bags in a larger bag with the instructions and information.

To prepare: Thaw overnight. Place mixture into the center of tortilla. Fold and brush with oil. Bake for 10 min at 400.