(Super)Fun Friday: Kickball and Cooking

So tomorrow I jet off to New Orleans to play for the National Kickball Title (I know how absurd that sounds but there's actually a lot of strategy and athletic ability that goes into an adult kickball game, and I've really missed having a team to belong to and something to REALLY play for in a sport).  My team, OSC, is actually quite good, in fact we won the WAKA World (National) Championship tournament in Vegas last month.

(OSC at the Harrisburg, PA tournament in June 2012)

It's also SUPERFUN because my sisters and I all play for the same team and when we get together and get competitive, it's impossible not to have a fun time!

uuber presh-to-the-ish, no?

And what also makes this (Super)Fun Friday is that I took a break from job applications this week to splice together my very own audition for The Next Food Network Star! Well, not really, but the way the job search is going, I'm not ruling it out as an alternative.  Anyways, here's a video where I show you how to make Jerk Chicken Chili! The recipe is included in the info-doobly-doo beneath the video on YouTube if you want to make some yourself.  It's SUPER sencillo (easy), and RIDICULOUSLY DELICIOUS. 

 It's one of the first big dishes I discovered and made entirely on my own so it will always be a special recipe in the filing-cabinet of my heart.

Anyways, hope you have a Fabulously Fun Friday and see you for the next Musical Monday!!

Banana Bread w/ Wheat and Honey!

So the following is my attempt at a recipe-sharing blog post (a'la Susie Horn) based on what I've seen on a lot of other blogs.  I chose to document my first attempt to make a "healthy" banana bread.  Basically it was the start of Spring Break and I was itchin' to bake something and one roommate had left like 6 bananas and the other roommate had given up processed sugar for lent... hmm the perfect solution: Banana Bread w/ honey! I found a recipe using wheat flour here and I decided since I love the taste of honey-wheat bread and I love banana bread I'd get the remaining necessities and make the recipe.  Here's how you can do it too!

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup vegetable oil

• 1/2 cup honey

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 2 eggs

• 1 cup mashed bananas

• 1 3/4 cups whole wheat flour

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 1 teaspoon baking soda

• 1/4 cup hot water

• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts (I used pecans)

My Ingredients. I doubled everything to make two loaves to use as many bananas as possible

Directions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).

In a large bowl, beat oil and honey together. 

Add eggs, and mix well.  

Stir in bananas and vanilla:

Stir in flour and salt: 

Add baking soda to hot water, stir to mix, and then add to batter. 

Blend in chopped nuts. 

Spread batter into a greased 9x5 inch loaf pan. Bake for 55 to 60 minutes:

While baking, clean up the mess/damage:

Also, watch the end of a chick flick on TBS (View from the Top was on, love me some Mark Ruffalo)

Lastly, make nachos and a salad for dinner (These last three are obvi my own suggestions and will not affect the taste of the bread)

Check it:

Cool on wire rack for 1/2 hour before slicing:

Basically it's SUPER SIMPLE! The only new thing for me was this was the first time I used whole wheat flour and also the first time I tried the baking soda + hot water trick.  It seemed to work pretty well.

I made one leaf with nuts and one without and both were DELICIOUS!

Let me know if you decide to try the recipe, and how yours comes out!