ugly banana bread

i don't think banana bread ever really looks that appetizing. it's usually a light brown color with little brown specks (from the middle of part of ripened bananas) and sometimes studded with toasted walnuts, also brown. but holy heck, when it's baking, does your kitchen smell good!

i actually took the time to make banana bread today. already, and it's only 11:30am. it was mostly a procrastination strategy against working on the accounting case problem on activity-based costing. and since i don't want to "waste" time by just sitting on the couch, i made the world's ugliest banana bread (so no pics, also b/c i don't really know where the camera is and even if i could find it, it probably doesn't have space for new pics and then i'd have to download the current content and blah blah blah).

my own personal ugly banana bread:

1 1/2 cups mashed banana (i only had 1 cup from two small bananas, and so had to use 1/2 cup of pumpkin puree, only adding to the ugly color thing)

3 tbsp melted butter

2 tbsp milk

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour

1/3 cup white four

1/4 cup bran flakes or oatmeal or whatever you had on had to give this recipe a fiber boost

optional: 3 tbsp cocoa powder + extra tbsp milk (again, adds to the ugly color thing, but gives it a nice, not too powerful chocolaty taste)

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/8 tsp salt

cinnamon and/or nutmeg

preheat oven to 375

dump everything into your lovely standmixer

turn on standmixer and let it do it's job (on low) for about 30 sec or until JUST combined.

banana bread is essentially a muffin - so don't overmix!!!

at this point, you can stir in toasted walnuts or chocolate chips. i chose chocolate chips. you should put in about 1/2 to 3/4 cup of whatever you choose. me, on the other hand, as a busy graduate student, have not bought chocolate chips in a while and had only about 1/3 cup left to mix in. totally not enough.

pour mixture into pre-greased loaf pan.

takes about 40-45 min in the oven, but do a toothpick check at 40 min.

after it comes out of the oven, wait a good 10 minutes before diving in.

10 minutes . . . make some coffee (not only does it go wonderfully with banana bread, but it will ensure i can power through the accounting case AND the operations case)

cut a piece of banana bread and shove in mouth.

cut another piece, slather with nutella, and shove in mouth.

contemplate going to gym and putting off homework . . .

day in the life of an MBA at Ross

I've been at the Stephen M. Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan for a full semester now. I've completed 1/4 of an MBA degree.

and what a trip/adventure/wacky ride it has been!

it's like they set it up so that there is no way you can do everything you want. class, studying, recruiting, networking, hanging out with friends, spending time with hubby . . . no way to do it all. spending time with hubby however, comes a little easier than hanging out with friends. we're BOTH at Ross together.

and yes, we pay a boatload every semester for tuition. but we just keep saying to ourselves, it's an investment, it's an investment, it's an investment.

so what's a typical day like for me? what's my schedule like that prevents me from blogging (b/c i barely have time to cook!)?

6:15 am Wake up, get ready for the day

7:15 Leave house to catch shuttle

7:30 Shuttle to Ross, read NYTimes on my phone

8:00 MO 503 - Leading People & Organizations

10:20 FIN503 - Financial Management

12:40pm Grab a really quick lunch

1:00 Cover letter review, Resume review or Mock Interview

2:00 Finance group meeting

4:00 Marketing reading

5:00 Head home

6:00 Dinner, then head back to Ross

7:00 MO group meeting

9:00 Head home again, do some chores to clean up apartment

10:00 Continue Marketing HW

11:00 Sleep and start over again the next day

this would be a not-so-bad day. probably even some minutes to chat with friends or call my parents here and there.

when hubby and i were visiting campuses during application season, we received a brochure from another school that had a student's "typical day" outline. we thought they must have been exaggerating. i mean, nobody can be this busy ALL the time. we were very wrong. we really are this busy ALL the time. i'm tired just thinking about it

but it's currently winter break. no academic assignments. just the other responsibilities that we signed up for. i will be spending the next two weeks on vacation and working on:

- grant process for Orchards Children's Services, i'm their Board Fellow

- market information for next round of Michigan Business Challenge for WestView Education Institute, a new company I am working on with a kick-ass team

- cover letters so that i can land a summer internship that i will love and that will love me

- holiday cookies b/c we didn't get gifts for anyone other than immediate family this year (that double-tuition payment!)

so, with a little luck and slightly more sleep than i've been getting this past semester, i'll hopefully get everything done and even check back to blog about it. hmm . . .

crunchy granola

Really good granola costs anywhere from 4-7 dollars for a few servings at the store. But most of us actually have the ingredients for granola just sitting in the pantry. No extra cost. And, it’s actually a really simple process to make granola.

Preheat oven to 350

2 cups oatmeal (any kind of oatmeal will do, just not the instant kind)

1/4 cup oil

1/4 cup water

1/2 cup honey

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/8 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp salt

Mix it all together. Spread onto a baking sheet and bake for 10 min.

Then sprinkle on about 1/3 cup almonds. Bake for another 5-7 min.

Take out of oven, let it cool down for about 30 min and then break it up.

I like to mix in 1/2 cup of dried cranberries. Or mix in whatever you want. Enjoy!

i realize it's getting cold

but the back-to-school thing has me craving classic things like pb&j, except i have it in the form of ice cream.

right, peanut butter and jelly ice cream.

you can eat it for lunch.

it contains healthy fats. and NO cream. just milk. and peanut butter. and strawberry (or any flavor you'd like) jelly.

1 cup peanut butter

2 cups whole milk

1/3 cup sugar (i like less sweet, so use 1/2 if you like things sweet)

1/2 cup grape jelly or strawberry jam or raspberry preserves, whatever you'd like

that's the whole ingredient list.

blend the pb with the milk in a blender. add the sugar. blend again. stick in fridge to cool.

freeze according to your ice cream maker's instructions. it takes mine about 20 minutes.

layer peanut butter ice cream with the jelly. freeze for a few hours to get the "swirl" effect when you scoop.

no need to cut crusts, so much better than a sandwich.

once upon a time, i used to bake

and waayyyy back then (all the way back to august, oh my!), i made a coconut cake with my sister. it was for my dad's birthday. we tried to make it really pretty. tried to see if we could trick my dad into thinking we bought it. i think it might have worked.

new title for "case of the mondays"

so here's the thing, i'm no longer working and am no longer susceptible to a "case of the mondays." i LIKE mondays. it's the beginning of a whole new week with endless possibilities (and endless recruiting events, endless group meetings, endless coursework . . .)!

but i'm loving it.

it's great to be a michigan wolverine (again)

being a ross mba is an adventure and i'm glad hubby and i are traveling down this road together.

we actually drove across country this summer. the cadotte's very own m-trek.

so in case you're having a case of the monday's, take a cross-country trip and visit our beautiful national parks, even if it's just visually.

driving "across" the country from west to east: Yosemite National Park

Arches National Park

Canyonlands National Park

Pike's Peak (Colorad0)

Badlands National Park

Hope you enjoyed the short tour of our beautiful nation!

another late case of the mondays

beautiful utah

a couple weeks ago, hubby and i went to st. george, utah for his sixth ironman.

that's right, his sixth!

in case you are unfamiliar, an ironman consists of:

2.4 mile swim

112 mile bike

26.2 run

swim, bike, run for a long, long time.

hubby can be a little intense.

(that jacket, btw, is from a 50 mile ultramarathon that hubby completed)

in the past for races, we've gone to florida, idaho, arizona, etc.

but utah is by far, the most gorgeous place out of all his race sites.

here's some proof . . .

view of the the lake where the swim portion of the race was held

the area behind our hotel, with a trail in a lava field

view of a canyon nearby

wildflowers growing in the lava field

beautiful utah