Strawberry-Banana Muffins

I finished up my last assignment this evening for my summer program, Semester in Detroit. I didn't know what to do with myself, so naturally I decided to bake. I followed this recipe for "seriously healthy banana muffins" loosely. I had to bake the seriously healthy ones because I ran for a good six minutes tonight, and well you know, I'd hate to ruin that. The muffins turned out good, I'm excited to scarf one or two down tomorrow morning for breakfast.

Here are a few notes:
- I used 2/3 C sugar instead of 1 C.
- 3 Bananas and 5 Large Strawberries instead of 4 Bananas.
- 1 C flour and 1/2 C oat bran, instead of 1 1/2 C flour.
- I got 13 muffins out of the recipe, which I cooked for 20 minutes (although they could have used 2 minutes).

Look for a best of Detroit post coming this weekend. 

Cupcakes

Check out the cupcake display my sister Molly, Dad and Mom made for my Molly's graduation open house last weekend. Molly baked all of the cupcakes over the past week (550 mini cupcakes to be exact). Her cupcakes are so delicious. Top tier: Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting, middle tier: Chocolate Cupcakes with Mocha Buttercream, bottom tier: Red Velvet with Cream Cheese Frosting. 

So.many.cupcakes. . .

Dequindre Cut

I feel like I am always saying I have a new favorite place, food, etc. Whatever, I like a lot of stuff - ok?

Anyways my latest favorite place in Detroit is the Dequindre Cut, a walker/runner/biker friendly trail that runs from the area near Eastern Market to the riverfront in Detroit. A former railroad line, the path is currently only 1.35 miles but there are plans for minor expansion. Nevertheless it is completely awesome. On Tuesday night my trusty bike riding buddy B-Rad, my roommate Maureen and I rode about twelve minutes over to the path and hopped on the "on-ramp" to the path towards the riverfront (Detroit's riverfront is an equally gorgeous and vibrant area to bike, walk, run and relax). We snapped some photos and then extended our bike ride through downtown and arrived back at our apartment two hours later. Here are a few photos from our ride:

The entrance to the path near Eastern Market. 

Path. 

We're nearing the riverfront. 

Riverfront. Maureen and B-Rad. Maureen picked up some mad bike skills on Mackinaw Island - no hands.  

Mid-ride snack break. Black Cherry ice cream at Mootown Creamery in Eastern Market district.

Safari Supper Three (and a few thoughts on Protein)

Last night was our third progressive dinner in Detroit (and good news, I think we are having one more). The fourth floor boys kicked off dinner with venison sausage/cheese/cracker plate, guacamole and chips, and bacon wrapped water chestnuts. Everything was great - I don't have a favorite, they were all my favorite.

Special thanks to Tyler for sacrificing the deer. 

The eighth floor girls made tandoori chicken, rice and a tasty lentil salad. I loved the flavor of the chicken and the lentil salad and rice were both light but delicious.

Finally, down on the sixth floor we made strawberry shortcakes and served with vanilla ice cream. I used this Bisquick recipe to make the shortcakes and one of my other roommates cooked down the strawberries with sugar and honey. This dessert made me super excited for Michigan strawberries. I really want go pick strawberries soon and make lots of jams, but I think I will have to wait until my Detroit program is over to do this.

Thoughts on Protein

On to protein. My first month in Detroit I ate almost no meat, which is a good thing but I wasn't being smart about it like I have in the past when I cut down significantly on my meat consumption. I wasn't consciously incorporating vegetarian protein sources into my diet and a few results of this seem to be loss of muscle mass as well as eating more fatty foods. Last week one of my coworkers brought up something similar when she said she needed to start eating more protein because she noticed when she was running her lungs could go for a long time but not her legs. I felt the exact same way yesterday when I was running. 


Nonetheless, I will still continue to eat small amounts of meat but there are a lot of things I hate about the meat industry so I really need to focus on where my meat is coming from. Most importantly though I need to start eating more balanced meals that include protein. I am still hoping to run a half marathon this year and need to prep my body to start formally training in a month and half or so.

If you suffered through those last two paragraphs of rambling - thanks! It was probably much more helpful for me than for you.

Hope your having a good week!