Last week up until now the weather in Boulder has been so depressing! Crazy thunderstorms, sporadic rain showers and tornadoes have been common lately. It is time for some sun shine… because I want to get out and ride my new bike! The day finally came… I found the new bike! (I have been searching…. and searching….)

fuji team rc

fuji team rc

My mom will be taking my old bike, the Felt…. the more I think about that… the more I am going to miss her (the bike :) ) At least I can always go back home to see her… and of course I cannot wait to get out my new Fuji! I think I am going to name this bike hehe… any suggestions!?

bad pictures - I was in a hurry

Okay so now that I got that out of my system… it is on to my eats and treats. Last night we made a trip down to Denver – once down there we decided to eat at the restaurant Watercourse.  My roommate suggested it because it is a well-known vegetarian stop. We met up with a couple friends and enjoyed our meal there! Unfortunately I was camera-less!! So no pictures :(

I highly recommend it if you are in downtown Denver and looking for a great variety of veggie eats – the menu offers more than just the typical veggie sandwich. I could not resist ordering the Seitan Country Fried Steak with mashed potatoes….. :) one meat meal I miss. It was so damn good – it hit the spot!! Housemade seitan…. and wow… it was an indulgence but so worth it.

low fat banana bread

low fat banana bread

Last night I also popped this in the oven. Vegan chocolate chip banana bread! One of my favorite bread recipes from Veganomicon. It is so darn simple to and produces a moist bread – and the molasses gives it a distinct flavor. I made a couple loaves of this back in March for our road trip to Moab.

** Preheat oven to 350 and grease a 9 by 5 inch loaf pan OR

—> these can be made with muffin tins as well!

Ingredients:

*2 or 3 small very ripe bananas

– I always use 3 because I like the super banana-y taste :)

*1/4 cup applesauce

*1/4 cup canola oil

*1/2 cup sugar

*2 tbsp. molasses

*2 cups all purpose flour

*3/4 tsp baking soda

*1 tsp ground cinnamon

*1/4 tsp. grounf nutmeg

*1/2 tsp salt

FYI: Don’t use hand mixers with banana bread – use a wooden spoon!

Mash the bananas well in a bowl then add the sugar, applesauce, oil and molasses. Whisk for a few minutes to make sure they are all incorporated together. I like to put all the dry ingredients in a seperate bowl and briefly sift them together before mixing with the wet stuff.

So go ahead and grab a small bowl to put the dry ingredients in – then slowly mix them in with the wet ingredients. Do this until they are just combined then add chocolate chips if you would like. (I love the 365 brand vegan semi-sweet chocolate chips from Whole Foods)

Put the batter in the pan and cook for 45-50 minutes. If you are making muffins they only need to bake for 18 minutes.

yum

yum

AS you can tell the bread has a pretty big dent in it already… we must like it a little too much :) I hope you do too!