banana – Fervent Foodie

Lunches, lattes, and lust-worthy onion rings {the week in food}

February 14, 2013 12 Comments

Over the years, I’ve developed a bad habit of eating at my desk and working straight through lunch. Bypassing a midday break means more work gets done, and, all else equal, I get to leave an hour earlier than I would otherwise. It’s a horrible, horrible thing.

Lately, in an effort to maintain my sanity and some degree of happiness, I’ve been making a conscious effort to break away from my desk every day for lunch. Most days, this means me, my salad, and my iPad huddled next to the fireplace in the back of Caribou Coffee. It’s incredibly relaxing sitting next to the heat of the fire and feeling the buzz of the city whirling by. Though, I’m quickly developing and addiction to afternoon lattes. Good thing or bad thing, I’m not sure.

This week, I also squeezed in a lunch at Pure Pizza at the 7th Street Public Market, which I capped off with a delicious latte o’ love from Not Just Coffee. (See? Addicted!!)

Friday, I met my new friend Keia (check out her blog: the Sunnyside Up) at Harvest Moon Grille. Keia and I first met via phone when she interviewed me for her Creative Loafing article on what is means to be a foodie. This was our first official lunch date, and in true Mary fashion I started our convo off by awkwardly exclaiming “So… I want to be you!” I quickly followed our laughter with an explanation that I’d love to work as a freelance food writer and attend an abundance of fun food events as she does. And now you want to be her too, am I right?

Food Talk

There’s more than one way to slice a banana.

October 5, 2012 4 Comments

I haven’t cooked a thing in the last six months. That’s not true. I have cooked my weekly batch of oatmeal and my one-whole-egg-plus-three-egg-whites scramble every morning. I’ve also cooked at least fifty English muffins slathered in peanut butter and sliced bananas, and cooked a bazillion or so no-cook salads for lunch. But, I haven’t done any REAL cooking lately simply because I’ve been swamped with work (and life) and because it was just way too friggin hot this summer to bother with anything involving the oven. As I sit here eating my late night peanut butter toast that I slaved over a hot toaster for, it dawned on me that just because I’m not cooking doesn’t mean we can’t talk food!

A month or so ago, my mom came to visit, and since I was under the weather she cooked me one of those peanut butter and banana English muffins I mentioned earlier. My whole life, I’ve been making this little snack with strategically placed slices of banana perched atop the muffin halves, so you can imagine how baffled I was when my mom appeared with this:

Ramblings

The Banana Party (plus links to 7 great banana recipes)

July 31, 2012 10 Comments

Back in college, I would often carry a banana in the front pocket of my pea coat, like a yellow edible pocket square. This was back before energy bars were all the rage, and my banana was not only all-natural but also quirky and cute and totally college (trust me). I was always prepared with a snack on hand, should I have to miss lunch for a study date (or a nap in the student center). To this day, I still open my banana from the bottom (the end without the stem), just like my mom.

Try it. Thank me later.

Recently, my friend Vanessa and I received emails from Dole asking if we’d like to co-host a banana party. You heard me. A banana party.

Obviously, we said yes.

Features, Recipes

5 Easy Brunch Recipes that use Yogurt

March 25, 2012 5 Comments

Breakfast is arguably my favorite meal of the day, and lunch, well, I love that too. Brunch, though? I just don’t get it. Seriously, I need to know–is it breakfast or is it lunch? Do you eat eggs Benedict or do you eat egg salad? Pancakes or paninis? Brunch is a big fat grey area, and I don’t like it one bit. I’m just one of those people. In fact, I’m morally opposed to breakfast for dinner.

Don’t stone me.

Despite my aversion, this weekend I stepped out of my comfort zone and invited some friends over for a yogurt-inspired brunch.

Take a look at the spread!

When preparing the brunch menu, my goal was to cook up a variety of tasty nibblets that incorporated Activia yogurt (since I had some Foodbuzz freebies to use). Heavy emphasis on tasty, of course.

The mainstay of our meal was my Western Sausage Crustless Quiche:

Recipes

Bananas Foster Bread

February 15, 2011 11 Comments

So what do these have in common? Yesterday’s guesses gave me quite a few chuckles.

Maker’s Mark and bananas happen to be two of the BF’s FAVORITE things. Since we didn’t get to spend VD together, I decided to whip up a batch of Marker’s Mark Banana Bread over the weekend. I had a Cooking Light Recipe for Bananas Foster bread that I’d been DYING to try out, and Makers Mark seemed like a terrific substitute for the Cognac called for in the recipe.

Who drinks Cognac anyway? Emeril Lagasse, that’s who.

Lucky for this banana bread recipe, I’m not dating Emeril Lagasse. I’m dating Mr. Maker’s Mark.

Seriously…

Edible.

Canoodling:

This looks quite natural, actually.

First up: get your hands on some mushy brown bananas. Hopefully you planned ahead for this, because the base of ANY good banana bread recipe is some seriously overripe bananas.

These guys are actually on the under-ripe side, but they got the job done.