Vera Bradley and Banana Smoothies

As I was driving home from work today, my tummy was grumbling at me.  I was trying to decide what exactly I wanted for a mid-afternoon snack when I got home.  I realized I hadn’t gotten in a lot of fruit so far today, so that was a must, and a little protein wouldn’t hurt to help fill me up a bit either.  I decided on a banana smoothie.  Banana smoothies are one of my favorite summer snacks.  They’re simple, refreshing, nutritious, and yummy!  So when I got home, I got out my handy-dandy Magic Bullet.  If you’ve never seen or used one of these bad boys, I suggest trying it out!  It’s like a mini blender and is very convenient for making sauces, dressings, and of course, SMOOTHIES!  I got it for a Christmas present from my parents while I was in college (because they know my love for smoothies), and I’ve used it a ton ever since. 

 I took out a frozen banana from my stash in the freezer, measured out a 1/2 cup vanilla soy milk, dumped it into a Magic Bullet cup, added some ice cubes, blended it together, and viola!  Simple as that!  There I had myself a delicious banana smoothie.  I would definitely consider this a “snack size” smoothie as it was pretty small…perfect for what I wanted at the time though.  I’ve made it into more of a “meal size” smoothie by adding a scoop of vanilla protein powder and some more soy milk, and that tastes wonderful too!

Banana “Snack Size” Smoothie

Ingredients:

1 frozen banana

1/2 cup vanilla soy milk

A few ice cubes

Sweetener of choice (optional)

Directions:  Add all ingredients to a blender.  Blend until smooth.  Enjoy!

Ahh, my tummy felt better and my taste buds were satisfied, I was home from work, and it’s Friday!  I was a happy camper.  But then the day got even better!  I went out to get the mail, and there was a small package from my mom.  I opened it, and it was a wallet purse from Vera Bradley with a sweet card from her!  I probably had the biggest smile on my face.  It was such a nice little surprise.  The card made me miss her even more and I wanted to give her a big hug, but I suppose I’ll have to wait.  Isn’ t it cute?  (If you’ve never heard of Vera Bradley, go to www.verabradley.com.  They have some great stuff!)

Even the card is cute!

Thank you, Momma!  You did good!  I LOVE YOU!

And tonight I get to look forward to a laid back evening with my hubby, a yummy grilled chicken dinner, some froyo, and a movie rental!  Not a bad Friday if you ask me! 😉

• What’s your favorite Friday night activity?
• Are you more of a homebody or do you like to go out?  (or both like me…depends on the day! :)) 
• Do you have a favorite afternoon snack?

Motivation to Not Scrape the Bottom of the Peanut Butter Jar

I was so excited for breakfast this morning.  I decided to switch it up from my regular PB&J on wheat bread to a new idea I got from a fellow blogger.  It’s called “Oats in a Jar”, and let me tell you, uh-mazing!  

I woke up as the alarm clock went off and did not want to get out of bed.  I immediately started thinking about how I needed to go on my run this morning, and that made me not want to get out of bed even more.  But then I thought about my “Oats in a Jar” waiting for me for breakfast, and that got me right up.  The faster I got my run over with, the faster I got to eat my breakfast.  

I got my heiney out of bed, got dressed, threw my hair in a ponytail, and got Ryan (my running partner) ready to head out the door.  We walked outside, and it was just a beautiful morning!  The sun was shining, blue skies, it was cool, and there was a light breeze…perfect!  I got into my groove right away and had an awesome run.  The weather makes such a difference for me on how my runs go. 

I came home a sweaty, stinky mess ready to eat my “Oats in a Jar.”  You’re probably wondering what the heck “Oats in a Jar” even is…  I’ll fill you in!  As I said, I got this idea from a couple of my fellow bloggers, and I’m so glad I tried it!  First and foremost, you need a mostly empty jar of peanut butter (leave about 1-2 tablespoons peanut butter at the bottom). 

First, put 1/3-1/2 cup oats in the jar.  Add about 1/2 cup milk and any other “add-ins” you want in your “Oats in a Jar.”  Place in refrigerator overnight, and it’ll be waiting for you in the morning!  I made up my own version, and decided to call it “Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup Oats in a Jar”  because it tastes just like that!  Talk about heaven in a jar! 

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup Oats in a Jar

Ingredients:

Mostly empty peanut butter jar

1/3 – 1/2 cup oatmeal

1/4 – 1/2 cup milk (depends on how thick you want it)

1 tablespoon cocoa powder

1 teaspoon sweetener (sugar, brown sugar, Splenda, honey, Truvia)

Directions:  Put oatmeal in mostly empty peanut butter jar and add milk.  Add cocoa powder and sweetener and mix together.  Refrigerate overnight.  Enjoy for breakfast in the morning!

You can be creative with this by using flavored oatmeal or adding different toppings such as nuts, jam, chocolate chips, fruit, or protein powder.  It’s so fun and easy and yummy!  It was nice to have something cold with oats involved during the summer too.  I love oatmeal, but I have a hard time eating it during the summer months because it’s so warm outside.  Now I can get my oatmeal in more during the warm months of summer! 

Now I just need to work on NOT scraping out the bottom of the peanut butter jar when I get to the end of it.  If any of you know me well, you probably know I have an undying love for peanut butter.  I always make Cody save the peanut butter jars if he “finishes” them so that I can scrape out the bottom of them. 🙂  Hopefully this “Oats in a Jar” concept will give me motivation to not scrape out the bottom, because it might just be one of my new favorite breakfasts!

• What makes or breaks your runs?
• Do you scrape out the bottom of the peanut butter jar?