Last summer I had the pleasure to start working with Amy. A Maryland girl who went to school in one of my favorite cities in the South...Charleston. (Was I just there recently...yes!) I was so excited when she started, because I could, although now "old", relate to her experience at The Academy since she started practically right out of school. I didn't know at the time though that I would be making another friend in the process and one who loves to bake. So, you know those people that are always, well mostly always, smiling, who bring laughter to the office, but still get there stuff done. Yeah so that's Amy. There have been many late working nights over the past year, but with them all it has been fun. When she mentioned she might have a guest post for this month I was excited; as I have been asking her to do a post for probably 10 months now.
Sometimes we just have to get dressed up for work...Amy is the cute one on the right.
From Amy:
Recently I have found that I have been over booking my weekends. It’s the summer so there always seems to be so much going on that I want to do it all. For the past two weekends, I have been pretty go go go doing different things each day which includes being in multiple cities in one weekend. I love doing things and spending quality time with others, so when I plan out my weekends it does not seem like a lot, but when the weekend gets closer I think I am a little crazy for all that I have going on. My weekends never seem to have time for me to do things around the house, but at the end of the day I love it that way.
The last weekend in June, I decided to go up to Ocean City, NJ to visit a friend who I have not seen in over a year. Even though she only lived 3.5 hours from me, it never seemed to happen over this past year to visit each other. In a split decision I decided going to her beach house for the weekend would be a great idea to get some quality time relaxing and catching up on life. But in the middle of this decision I totally forgot I had a wedding to go to on that Sunday in Southern Maryland. In the end, it turned out to be a great(busy) weekend!
A little beach time...
Then 4th of July week snuck up on me hard core. Once again I had so many things that I wanted to get done in this long weekend. I had two friends from high school that were going to be in town, figure out some sort of 4th of July plans, quick stop at the camp I used to work at and meet up with a friend for drinks that we have been missing each other for a good three weeks. Once again I felt crazy for wanting to do it all, but if you know me you know that I would rather be super busy then sit around. I ended up doing it all and was thankful for another great busy weekend. You know that feeling when you are genuinely really excited to see someone and the other person feels the same way? That’s the way I felt this weekend when seeing some of my best friends at camp. As crazy as this weekend was of being home for all of two hours on Sunday before going to bed, that feeling made the weekend totally worth it.
My “down” time recently has been baking, just like Lauren I love to bake. It is my time to just unwind and I can focus on just what I am baking rather than anything else that is going on in my life. It’s my “Amy” time, others like to read or whatnot but for me its baking or cleaning.
I have been so excited about writing a blog post for Lauren but I could never think of something to make that she has not already made. (Recently all of my baking adventures have come from a recipe that she has already done) Then when Lauren posted about healthy recipes I thought maybe I could think of something in that category. While I was in Ocean City, NJ to visit a friend I went to a place that had banana whip instead of soft serve ice cream. It was so good I wanted to create it myself and it would be perfect for the healthy recipe.
Now time for the Banana Whip! In the midst of creating this banana whip I had the Buttermilk Blueberry Breakfast Cake in the oven, so I would have breakfast for the week hehe.
Bananas pealed and halved, then into the freezer
Frozen bananas are the foundation of this recipe
A little ninja action for some chopping and puréeing.
in go the bananas...
Not just yet...we need this puréed with some peanut butter (I mean the peanut butter is optional, but what's better than peanut butter and banana?) and some water.
done!
You don't have to but I did...top with some chocolate chips. Yum!
Banana Whip:
2 Bananas1 tablespoon peanut butter
1/8 cup of water
Handful of mini chocolate chips*
*or whatever little treat that you love
1. Cut bananas in half and freeze for at least 4 hours, ideally 24 hours.
2. Add the frozen bananas to a ninja, food processor or anything that you have around the house like that. Beat the bananas up for about 30 seconds, it will be small pieces at this point.
3. Melt the peanut butter in the microwave and add to the chopped up banana.
4. Add about 1/8 cup of water to the ninja and pulse the mixture. The water will freeze with the bananas but smooth out the whip to have the consistency of soft serve ice cream.
5. Top with your favorite little treat, mine is mini chocolate chips.
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