Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Crazy Cravings

Food cravings are so strange. Typically, I crave healthy, wholesome foods. Tonight, however, I was in the mood for fatty, unhealthy carbs. Vegetables were not at all appetizing to me... unless they were deep fried, breaded, and covered in cheese. Honestly, I wanted a huge, cheesy plate of nachos! Unfortunately (or fortunately?), we didn't have the ingredients to make a loaded plate of nachos, so I made myself a grilled cheese with buffalo sauce instead.


I coated the bread with olive oil instead of butter/margarine, and used extra cheddar cheese and extra buffalo sauce inside. It wasn't nachos, but this sandwich satisfied my fatty carb craving.
 

I was feeling tense (from work?) when I got home, so I decided some baking would sooth my mood. (Baking is one of my "go-to" relaxing activities.) I made a small batch of banana muffins: 4 with walnuts, 2 with peanut butter and chocolate chips, and 2 plain banana. FYI-- to make the different varieties of muffins, I poured the plain batter into the tins, then stirred the walnuts/chips evenly into the batter with a spoon-- worked great. 


Banana Muffins
Makes 8

2 ripe bananas, mashed
1/3 cup canola oil
1/3 cup water
2/3 cup whole wheat flour
1/3 cup sugar
2 tbsp wheat germ
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
walnuts, chocolate chips, etc. (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray muffin tin with nonstick spray or line tin with paper muffin cups. Set aside.
2. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl; mix well until batter is smooth. 
3. Spoon batter into muffin tins, distributing evenly to make 8 muffins. 
4. Optional: Add chopped walnuts, chocolate chips, etc. to muffin tins as desired. Use spoon to evenly distribute throughout batter in muffin cup. 
5. Bake for 25-30 minutes until center of muffins is firm. Let cool for 5 minutes, then gently lift each muffin from tin. Cool on wire rack. 

I ate one of the peanut butter chocolate chip banana muffins for dessert. Yum! 


My afternoon snack was strawberry-flavored Stonyfield yogurt with 1/2 cup Kashi Go Lean... as well as 5 Hershey Kisses from the office candy bowl. My cravings have been out of control! I wanted chocolate in a bad way! Like I mentioned before-- cravings are strange!


10 Comments:

Aimee said...

Carby-cheesy goodness was my craving yesterday! I ate grilled cheese too.

I hate when I feel controlled by my cravings.. usually around that time of the month is the worst!

Anonymous said...

Not to worry, seems like you managed and dealt with your cravings in the best way, with control and balance- all look and sound great :) hope the tension eases, this boston rain is yucky!

LizNoVeggieGirl said...

No worries, just enjoy your cravings and savor each bite of food you take!! Those muffins sound FABULOUS.

Anonymous said...

hahaha i only crave carby-bad-for-you things! Today i have an awful craving for brownies while I was taking a midterm! So the second I finished my midterm I ran back and devoured brownies.
Love your blog!

Anonymous said...

your baking looks delish as always! and totally know what you mean about the carb cravings! i love veggies and the other day i just didn't even want a taste! so weird!

Kristen @ frostingandfroth.com said...

Ah, I've missed your blog, Tina! Just got married on May 24th and have been out of the blog loop for a bit. So glad to be able to read yours regularly again. :-) Loved your wedding hair, by the way. I like low, loose, whispy bridal styles. Mine was that way, only half up instead of entirely up. Yours looked great!

Anonymous said...

I have those craving days too. But mine usually are for greasy yet satisfying Chinese food.. ugh! But those muffins look so good! I'm eyeing that pb one :)

Erica said...

We had a random mix of foods last night for dinner and before I cooked everything up, I was checking out your blog. The result? I ended up making hot sauce grilled cheese for my husband and he LOVED it. I don't think he'll ever want regular grilled cheese again!

Anonymous said...

I have those craving days too. And I like to bake to destress...unfortunately I then eat the baked goods to destress and I am not as good as you are about limiting how much I eat. Good for you!

Allison

Anonymous said...

Those muffins sound yummy! I think I'll make a batch tonight (baking is my favorite way to relax, too) I like how you added diff "toppings" to the muffins--that'll keep me from getting bored with the leftovers =P
Your grilled cheese looked soooo good, too!