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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Exercise on Vacation?

I have finally finished college and as a graduation present my boyfriend and I are headed to Mexico for a getaway. Many of my friends go away during winter break to escape the cold with their family. I was thinking about it though, am I really going to workout? I am the person that wakes up everyday by 6-7 AM to hit the gym for a run on the treadmill, but I will be in paradise, which will make getting up that early very hard. I am not sure how many of you plan on going away this winter, but even if you don't these are some exercises you can do while on vacation this winter or coming summer.

Walking on the beach: Walking in the sand burns more calories than walking on the flat ground. Some experts say you can burn twice the amount of calories! Be careful to not overdue it shin-splints can occur if you run.

Activities such as snorkeling, bike rides, or hiking: Put on the snorkeling gear and swim some laps to burn calories while enjoying the beautiful scene of the ocean. Bike rides are a great lower body workout. The legs get the most out of this workout. The more you peddle and the more calories you will burn. Hiking is a great full body workout where you can use your upper body and lower body strength to push yourself to keep climbing!

If the hotel has a gym: I think it is best to keep your physical fitness up while on vacation, so if you enjoy the gym like I do, I would suggest going every other day while on vacation. It is not fair to let yourself not relax while on vacation. Keep your fitness up while still sleeping in and getting your tan on!

It comes down to what works best for yourself while your on vacation. Use the activities at the hotel and the beach as your gym and fitness equipment. Don't push yourself to go to the gym if you know you will be staying active in other ways. The bottom line is, have fun!

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Walnut and Brown Sugar Rugelach

Happy holiday's everyone! Sorry I haven't posted in a couple days. I have been running around finishing up my semester and getting ready for Hanukkah. For those of you that do not celebrate Hanukkah, it started this past Saturday, December 8th. We always do a traditional dinner of latkes, roast, apple sauce and much, much more. Needless to say, I am glad I wore leggings during the meal. I was in charge of making dessert, so I tested my baking ability with homemade Rugelach. Rugelach is a a pastry that is rolled up like a crescent and filled with almost anything. I have had chocolate, jelly, nuts, and a mixture.

For this dessert I followed a recipe by Martha Stewart. Before I list the directions I would like to say, this dough is extremely sticky! It says to chill for a minimum of 2 hours to 3 months, what a range huh? I did 2 hours because I was on a time crunch, but next time I am going to do 4-5 hours. If you decide to make this dessert give yourself enough time for the refrigeration process.

Ingredients 

• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 bar (8 ounces) cream cheese, room temperature
• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled), plus more for rolling
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 1 cup walnuts, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup packed light-brown sugar

Directions 

1. In a food processor, blend butter, cream cheese, granulated sugar, and salt until well combined. Add flour, and pulse just until a dough forms. Divide dough in half; flatten into disks, and wrap each in plastic. Refrigerate until firm, at least 2 hours and up to 2 days, or freeze up to 3 months (thaw before baking).

2.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees, with racks set in upper and lower thirds. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper; set aside. In a small bowl, combine egg with 1 teaspoon water to make an egg wash.

3. Working with one disk at a time, place dough on lightly floured parchment paper, and roll out into an 11-inch circle (about 1/4 inch thick), dusting lightly with flour as needed. Using a large dinner plate as a guide, cut around dough to make a perfect circle; trim off and discard scraps. Brush circles with egg wash; dividing evenly, sprinkle with walnuts and brown sugar.

4. Using a sharp knife or pizza cutter, cut each circle into 16 equal triangles. Starting from the wide end, roll up each triangle of dough; place on lined baking sheets, seam side down. Brush rolls with egg wash.

5. Bake until golden brown, 30 to 32 minutes. Transfer rugelach to a wire rack to cool completely. 

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Holiday Burn

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and stuffed themselves into a food-coma. After eating so many mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, rolls, turkey and pie it's time to work it all off with a great thanksgiving workout brought to you by Amanda Russell. I tend to use a lot of her videos on my blog because she has fast workouts that really let you feel the burn. I did this workout the day after Thanksgiving and my legs felt like jello the next day. Make sure to give yourself plenty of room to do this workout. At the end you will defiantly feel like you burned off all of the calories from the Thanksgiving day meal.

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