A Banana Type of Day

Please, Please, PLEASE tell me that you have tried over-ripe banana oats at some point in your life.

I’ve been neglecting my bananas lately. But it turns out that they like a little abuse. When they’re completely black and blue on the outside, they make an awesome oatmeal ingredient. So please, ignore your bananas. They will forgive you- I promise. My oats this morning tasted like dessert. I’m not usually a fan of very sweet things but this bowl was bursting with flavor. So much, in fact, that I added regular peanut butter to the top instead of my SPBCo Monkey Boy PB (Banana Raisin PB).

I’ve posted it before but here’s my standard oatmeal recipe again:

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup Oats
• 1/2-1 cup Vanilla Soy Milk (if I use a 1/2 cup, I add a little under 1/2 cup of water)
• 1/2-1 Banana (depending on my mood)
• Pinch of Flax Seed
• 2 or 3 generous shakes of Cinnamon

The key to this recipe is to add all of the ingredients to the pot (except for the milk) at the same time.  Top the end product with peanut butter and more cinnamon and enjoy. Sometimes I add dark chocolate chips to the top and they get all melty. Today I didn’t need to because my oatmeal was so sweet on its own.

Before breakfast, I spent some time on the treadmill at the gym. I ran for 30 minutes! Not in a row but it’s definitely a start. (Here is my post about trying to become a runner if you missed it: Not a Runner…Yet ).

My 40 minute, 3 mile workout on the treadmill looked like this:

Minutes 1-5- Walk at 3.8mph

Minutes 5-15- Run at 5.3mph

Minutes 15-18- Walk at 3.8mph

Minutes 18-30- Run at 5.3mph

Minutes 30-32- Walk at 4.2mph

Minutes 32-40- Run at 5.3mph

Like I said in my running post, I am starting out very slow. I did notice a pain in my inner,  right ankle around 15 minutes in. It got worse as I went on. It felt fine when I was walking but by the end of the 40 minutes, it was pretty bad. Any advice as to what this might be? I think it’s my shoes. Caitlin from Healthy Tipping Point gave me some pretty good advice and agreed that it’s probably because my sneakers are so old. I need new running shoes.

Anyway, back to food! I packed lunch and snacks today because when I left my apartment at 12:30, I knew I wasn’t going to be home until late tonight.

• Leftover Pasta from Sunday night and 1/2 an Arnold Select  Whole Wheat Sandwich Thin
• Stacy’s Whole Wheat Pita Chips and Tribe Hummus
• Celery Sticks
• PB Puffins Didn’t end up eating them

I stopped by the mall to pick something up and then I parked my butt in Uncommon Grounds for two and a half hours to do school work. While there, I ordered a vanilla soy iced coffee in my cool Uncommon Grounds mug. I felt special. When my mug was empty and my brain was full from reading, I headed to class. I had one from 4:15-5:35 and another that was supposed to run from 5:45 to 8:35. The second one got out early and Jeff and I decided to go to Uno Chicago Grill for dinner.

Unos just released a new menu and since Jeff and I are members of their Insider’s Club, we got a BOGO coupon. Since we’re Insiders (that sounds so official, doesn’t it?), we got to sample a couple things on the new menu for free!

Their new Housemade Guacamole Dip (Outstanding!)

Two of their new chicken wraps, plus their Roasted Veggie & Feta Wrap (which is always on their regular menu. I’ve gotten it a few times in the past), and a small piece of their new Wild Mushoom and White Cheddar Flatbread. I dominated the vegetarian options while Jeff at the chicken. Jeff’s not starting Vegetarian February until, well, February! I’m completely fine with that since he’s only doing it to support me anyway. I contemplated ordering the mushroom pizza because it was so good! I generally hate mushrooms but they tasted so good on this pizza. I might even order it the next time we go to Unos.

I ended up ordering the new Moroccan Curried Rice and Lentil Soup instead.

A Vegetarian Blend of Rice, Lentils, Celery, Carrots, Onions, Red Peppers, Leeks, Curry and Vegetable Broth.

I also ordered a side of Roasted Veggies.

The soup was perfect. The grainy texture was great and the flavor was delicious. All of the different flavors really popped out. I ate about half of the soup and all of the veggies and took the rest home.

For dessert, Jeff and I ordered the Mini Bananas Foster.

The only mini thing about this dessert was its price. It was only $1.99! I don’t even want to know what the regular size looks like. My stomach was pretty happy already so Jeff ate the majority of this. I had a couple bites and it was tasty- not amazing.

The best part about our dinner was the check. All of the food pictured above (plus Jeff’s unpictured entree) came out to $21.00. That’s it! How amazing is that? See, it pays to be an Insider sometimes. Unos is definitely our favorite chain restaurant; not only for the food and service but for the great deals as well. Plus they offer healthy (and vegetarian!) options. The only thing I wish they had is sweet potato fries! That would be perfect! If you have an Unos anywhere near you, I definitely recommend checking it out (And no, Unos did not pay me to write this post).

So I stated my day with a bowl of sweet bananas and ended it that way too!

What is your favorite way to use bananas?

Have a great Wednesday!!! <3