Bananas for Yonanas!

This past summer I visited a place in Delaware called, Annie's Banannies that was something I had never seen before. They took frozen bananas, put them into a machine, and it came out life soft serve. I thought the idea was crazy. Not only was I confused, but I had to try it! So I took my sister, boyfriend, and myself to this shop and it was delicious. I was satisfied just like I would be if I had some vanilla soft serve, but this was pure fruit, no additives!

This brings me to my new gadget, the Yonanas maker that I found at Bed Bath and Beyond. It does the same thing I saw at Annies Bannannies, which made me more than excited. So I bought it! I then picked up a bunch of bananas and got to peeling and freezing. You can also use any other kind of fruit as long as it's frozen for 24 hours. I froze bananas and strawberries and then the next day I tried my baby out. The frozen fruit needs to sit out for about 10-15 minutes or the machine will jam (yes, I was impatient and experienced this). I used 2 bananas and 4 strawberries and made a good serving for myself and my mom. I topped mine with granola (just a sprinkle) and my mom used chocolate syrup. The nice thing about this treat? It's a serving of fruit, no extra sugars, and is around 100 calories a serving. Who would turn that down? The picture of my first try is below! The possibilities are endless, I am going to use pineapple and mango next...yes please!

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Best workout for 2013

Hi Everyone! Hope you have been enjoying the New Year. As of 2013, I have been like the rest of society and I am trying to get in the best shape I can. I have increased my mileage from 3 miles to 3.6 and I have made my workouts more intense. If you are up for the challenge, follow this workout!

In my first posting, I showed an example interval workout, but I wanted to show another one and give more details about this workout. Interval training or HIIT (High intensity interval training), is a shorter workout that is more intense and burns more calories. I currently do HIIT 3 days a week (M,W,F) and then a light jog/walk/run 2 days a week (T,TH). My HIIT workout is about 38-40 minutes long and I complete 3.6 miles. I have already noticed within a week in a half my lower stomach becoming more toned. I expect it will take a month before I really see a major difference, so please be patient!

Minutes         Speed
0-4                 4.0
4-6                 6.0
6-7                 7.0
7-8                 4.0
8-10               6.0
10-11             8.0
11-12             4.0
13-15             6.0
15-16             7.0
16-17             4.0
17-19             6.0
20-21             8.0
22-23             4.0
23-25             6.0
26-27             7.0
28-29             6.0
30-31             8.0
31-32             4.0
33-35             6.0
35-36             7.0
37-40             4.0

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Cake Pops

Craving sweets, but have a New Years resolution? Cake pops are a great solution. It's basically a bite of cake on a stick. Did I mention moist cake covered in hardshell candy coating? Now I have your attention. I made these cake pops for our Hanukkah party this year, but they can be easily changed depending on the occasion. I will say they are tricky at first, so take your time!

What you will need: 

• Boxed cake mix, of your choice, I used french vanilla 
• Eggs 
• Vegetable Oil 
• 1 tub of vanilla icing 
• Wilton candy melts, color of your choice 
• Lollipop sticks 
• A block of styrofoam 
• Sprinkles of your choice 

Directions: 

• Bake cake as directed using specified amount of eggs, oil and water. 
• Once cake comes out use a knife to cut the cake into 4 even pieces, let it cool completely. 

• After the cake is finished cooling, take a large bowl and one chunk of the four pieces. Begin crumbling the cake into the bowl. Crumble very fine. Continue will all four pieces. 

• Once the cake is all crumbled, take 3/4 of the icing and use a spoon to mix it into the crumbled cake. Use the back side of the spoon to mix so that the mixture becomes smooth. 
• Use your hands to roll 1 1/2 inch cake balls. Place the rolled balls on a lined baking sheet and place them in the freezer for 10 mintues. You do not want the balls to freeze! 

• While the balls are in the freezer, set out your sprinkles into bowls and begin melting the candy melts into a bowl or cup. 
• When the 10 minutes is over, take the balls out and dip each lollipop stick into the melted chocolate and stick into the balls. This allows the stick to stay put inside the balls before you dip. This is very important! Or the balls will just fall into the icing.

• After all of the sticks are dipped and cooled take each cake pop and dip it into the icing, let the excess drip off, and then stick it into the styrofoam. 

• After it is stuck in the styrofoam, use sprinkles to decorate. You can either roll the cake pop in the sprinkles or just keep them in the styrofoam while you sprinkle. 

• Complete dipping and sprinkling the cake pops until all are placed in the styrofoam to cool. 
• Once all the cake pops are cool, place them in tupperware and store in the fridge. When you are ready to serve them take them out thirty minutes before and display in a fun way! 

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I'm back!

I am incredibly sorry for not posting recently! In short, I am now a college graduate from the University of Maryland, I traveled to Mexico where I enjoyed 80 degree weather and plenty of margaritas, and my computer crashed, womp, womp.  I just replaced my hard drive and re-installed everything, except for my pictures. Anyone ready for a posting about cake pops? Before I left for Mexico, I made some cake pops for the holidays and everyone raved about how moist they were. Stay tuned! Tomorrow I will post my cake pop recipe, as well as a new workout to burn calories and be fit and toned for spring.

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