Fun evening with my friend Lauri! She’s up from Columbia, SC for the R.D. review course and spending the night to save herself a long drive. We made a girls’ night out of it 
Once back at home (after a looooong afternoon of foodservice management and learning theory review) we unwound for a few before heading back out because we had a house showing!
I snacked on a mini apple and a Vega Vibrancy bar while in class. I LOVE these bars!!! I thought the flavor was a bit funky at first, but now I am in love with them. The texture – with chia seeds and almonds – is just amazingly crunchy. And they are chewy like dates. They are packed with nutrients, protein, fiber and are low in sugar. My favorite as of late! This one is a sample the company sent me a while back, but you can buy them online. They are pricey though!
We had some time to kill before dinner and weren’t quite hungry so we went to the Greenway for a walk!
We walked for about 40 minutes – I don’t think my legs were quite ready to be back on the Greenway!! I could still feel that run pretty deep and were glad when we got back to the car.
It was past 6 when we got back (one good thing about DST!) and we headed out for dinner at Dean + Deluca!
I feasted on this amazing salad!
Spinach, mixed greens, broc, cucs, mushrooms, sprouts, carrots, sun-dried tomatoes (AMAZING), chickpeas, goat cheese, kalamata olives and sesame dressing.
I ate about 3/4 of it and saved the rest for lunch tomorrow, which I’m already excited about!
Plus a Pellegrino!
By saving some of my salad for lunch, I also saved room for dessert!! TASTY-YO!!
But to our utter sadness, it was CLOSED!!!
So we came back home and made the most delicious banana soft serve sundaes imaginable!!
Bananas (frozen) about 2.5 of them – into the food processor. (It only works with a FP, I think)
5 minutes of whirring around – and some scraping of the sides – ice cream is born!
omg…
Lauri brought over a peanut butter that I had YET to try…..
And we melted it in the microwave a bit….heavenly! Like a liquid Resee’s cup!
Poured overtop with a few cacao nibs
Highlight of my day.
***
In other blended news, Rush Bowls are now available online here!
There are still Pilar Totes available
And I put the Spiralizer in my Open Sky store
***
A no-so-highlight of my day? The fact that our INTERNET is OUT again!! What the heck is AT&T doing updating the server systems during the evening!?! When I called to troubleshoot I got a message that that’s what they were doing. SO NOT COOL! Thankfully I was able to get on a faint signal from a neighbor. THANK YOU NEIGHBOR!! Hoping this post goes up ok…
Tomorrow is Day II of Jean Inman class. Today was all the boring foodservice stuff – tomorrow is all nutrition! I’m planning to work out in the afternoon with Emily, so I get to sleep in a bit again tomorrow. And make Lauri oatmeal!
Nite.
{ 85 comments… read them below or add one }
Yum! Your dessert sounds delicious. Off to make my own soft-serve concoction!
love banana soft serve! i always make mine in my blender (its not a fancy one, just standard) & its amazing!
oh my word, frozen banana softserve with peanut butter sounds like heaven to me…my mouth is watering just looking at it!!!
Your salad looks delish – and I heart banana soft serve.
I always walk through Dean and Deluca like it’s the Queen’s palace or something–everything is so perfectly placed and high class. I’ve made banana froyo in my blender! I just have to nudge at it with a spoon (and be careful not to let it touch the blades).
FINALLY got the Naturally Nutty 30 min. ago….and took a spoon to the jar…many many times.
Oh my goodness. I need to make that ASAP! I’m talkin about the banana soft serve. I just made some the other night, but it looks so good!!
So does your salad! I’m currently craving sun dried tomatoes and I have no idea why. I hate them! haha…
Have a fun girls night!
That peanut butter is one of my favorites! Too bad I’m allergic to bananas, what a great idea for a faux ice-cream!
I had a sundae this monday, too! And one on friday
That may be the best banana soft serve I’ve ever seen!
All I wanted was banana ice cream tonight! So sad I was out of bananas
Yummmm…that would definitely be the highlight of my day too! I just bought the cinnamon raisin pb from that company, but I’ve yet to try it!
I just bought that peanut butter last week! Hubby dipped a spoon into as soon as I walked through the door. His first thought? This needs bananas! I am making that soft serve ASAP!
wow…what an incredible sounding sundae. and I LOVE Tasty Yo! bummer that they’re aren’t open on mondays. I usually frequent their NoDa location and they have the most generous sized servings at a reasonable price.
What a beautiful day for a walk! And I’m drooling over that soft serve… awesome idea for the toppings.
Augh, sorry to hear about the internet again! Hope that gets solved for you soon.
i need to buy a food processor just to make the banana soft serve! that dark chocolate pb is seriously so good – it was the first “different” than regular pb i ever tried and i fell immediately in love
the combo of this with the naner soft serve sounds amazingggggg
Wow, your banana soft serve looks SO good – love the idea of melted Dark Chocolate Dreams over top, yum.
Check out that melting sundae! That is some serious food porn overload!
I wish we had a Dean and Deluca in Gainesville… I need to check out their Web site!
I just made banana muffins, but I could just reach through my screen for a bite of that sundae. Holy frijoles, those look good! I’m earmarking my new bunch of bananas for the freezer when they are ripe–I need some ice cream.
I love banana soft serve
Oh wow! That looks delicious!!!
I want to try banana soft serve but I eat so many bananas that I never reserve enough to make some!!
Ahhhh! That sundae looks amazing!!! I’m going to freeze some bananas and make this!!!
I need to try that banana soft serve for myself! I looks sooo good!
That’s too bad about the fro-yo but Dark Chocolate Dreams is some AMAZING stuff!!! I love PB & Co.’s whole line though. Their Mighty Maple will change your life!
Your salad sounds delicious!!!!
ok. that is the last straw. i must get a blender/food processor.
that sundae looks ABSOLUTELY DIVINE.
im green with envy right now.
can’t believe you’ve never tried dark choc dreams!!! It’s my fav food invention ever. i’m totally trying the banana soft serve, it looks awesome!
Banana soft serve looks/sounds/probably is amazing!!! I need to try it!
& Looks like you had a fun day!
Oh my gosh, that soft serve looks heavenly!!!!
Did you add anything to your bananas to make them smooth? We made banana soft serve the other night and it was incredible but we ended up have to add a tablespoon or two of water because it got so cold it kept stopping up in the FP.
BTW, I just recently discovered your blog and LOVE it. My husband and I live in south Charlotte, and I spent quite a few weekends at Davidson during college. So fun to read about someone local making such a huge difference!!!
http://lifelite10.blogspot.com/
Just bananas!!!
We should be friends!
my mouth is watering. Great lookin sundaes!
your soft serve looks great! i always have to put some form of peanut/almond butter and/or chocolate into it. every single time. sooo delicious!!! and i do mine in the blender, works great as well!
oh! and i received my naturally nutty cinammon vanilla sunflower butter a couple days ago. omgggggggg it tastes like cookie dough or batter or something. it is amazing! LOVE
Your salad, and sundaes looks SO yummy!!
You just can’t call anything from Dean & Deluca a Hugh Jass, can you?
I swear to you, I was thinking of doing a sundae bar for a party with banana soft serve. So fun!
Holy delicious bananas!
Two posts from two bloggers on banana soft serve means this will be my dessert tomorrow for LOST!
oooh that melted pb is dripping over!!! delicious. i’ve been having internet issues all day too. is mercury in retrograde?!
You can make banana soft serve in a Vita Mix (thank goodness!).
I love making variations, and my favorite variation is frozen bananas with frozen dark sweet cherries. SOOO Good!!
Wow, your internship is flying by! When will you be taking the exam? I was on the same course as you were but decided to get an MPH instead. The food service classes were pretty boring, I can imagine your review session was a little long and dry.
That banana dessert looks so yummy and healthy! Must try that.
I’m not even halfway through – they just scheduled this review really early. But it is flying!
What great eats! I LOVE th look of that ‘soft serve’
I need to get some banas frozen ASAP!
Hands down the best thing I’ve seen from food bloggies all week- Thanks for sharing!!!!
thats the best lookin banana soft serve i’ve seen yet! yummm
Seriously, you have perfected the healthy ice cream. I’m so tempted to make this right now but given the hour, I’m going to have to save that for tomorrow. Delicious!!
Yum, I love making banana ice cream. It is hard to believe something so simple and healthy can taste so decadent. Love the melted peanut butter!
Man those sundaes are drool-worthy!!
I am DYING, just dying over that dessert.
Gahhh I need a food processor soooo badly–need to try that banana soft serve now!!
I really need to try that banana soft serve I’ve been reading about on the blogs! It looks sooo good.
And Dark Chocolate Dreams peanut butter– another thing I have heard so much about, yet haven’t found.
The Greenway looks like such a pretty place.
Oh my god! Your sundaes look amaaaaaaaaaaaaaaazing
Ooooh Banana Soft Serve looks so good! I do the same type of sauce with Justin’s Chocolate Nut Butter. Yummy!
And Rush Bowls are so good, I get them fresh at the Rush shop in Boulder. Triple Yummy!
banana + chocoloate + pb is such a great combo. my mama just bought be a jar of that pb&co, so i’m going to go put some naners in the freezer stat!
Ohmygoodnessohmygoodness. Kath, that’s it. I’m going out and buying a food processor ~tomorrow~ just so I can make this. Seriously. I’ve been watching everybody in the whole world except for me blog about how unreal banana soft serve is and I have a freezerfull of the 1/2 bananas I use in my oatmeal so I am SO ready to go.
That picture with the two sundaes side by side.. *meltswoon*
The salad looks fantastic but the soft serve frozen banana looks even better! YUM! I love Peanut Butter & Co. Dark chocolate dreams, it’s heavenly.
Jenn
That sundae looks amazing, and I don’t even like bananas. Dark Chocolate Dreams is delicious, maybe I’ll try and get over my banana phobia if I can make something that looks that good! Also, you should try Peanut Butter & Co.’s White Chocolate Wonderful- its pretty darn delicious as well! Great with apples, or on oats!
Oh my gosh….that banana ice cream! That looks SO sinful and delicious, yes it’s healthy! I am SO making me some of that
genius!
i love sundried tomatoes too…….i could eat them by the jar. soooo good. and nice to have when real tomatoes arent in season
a bientot!
I did the Inman home study guide and found it SO useful, I can only imagine how helpful the course would be! good luck!
Oh dear lord, I thought that salad looked good, but that sundae? OMG. NEED. ARGH. Oh well, I’ll have to content myself with macarons and pastry here in Paris
YUMMMO..Dark Chocolate Dreams is my favorite..it tastes like dessert
Uck. I’m in Foodservice and it IS boring!!!! My mind always wanders when I am reading my textbook.
Oh YUM those sundaes look good! I have GOT to remember to make banana soft serve! Definitely one of those blogworld gems.
I can’t believe last night was your first time trying the dark chocolate dreams! So good! My husband loves the white chocolate one.
That soft serve looks amazing. I have never heard of doing such a thing with frozen bananas before! Hope your internet is back up and running soon.
I have picked up that choc p-butter several times and debated buying it. But now that it has the KERF seal of approval,
I will get it! Love the sundae idea too!!!
what a yummy day.
Oh my god, those banana soft serves look infinitely more delicious than any frozen yogurt I’ve ever seen. That’s it, I have to just break down and buy a food processor.
Your salad looks gorgeous! Love Dean and Deluca, not such a huge fan of their prices though. It is fine-quality are though!
i FINALLY received my nutbutter from your open sky deal and let me say OMG.. SOOOO worth the wait.. i could literally sit down with a spoon and eat it all in one sitting.. what amazing flavor!!
I would be so sad the fro-yo place was closed
Good alternative though!!
We use frozen berries in the FP to make a sorbet…you should give that a whirl (haha)
Oh that salad does look amazing!
Oh my word. Banana soft serve? Sheer brilliance! That may be the final straw that convinces me to get a food processor. Looks delish!
When I see you and others make that banana soft serve, I get so jealous… I can’t stand the flavor of bananas, so I can’t make it! If only there were another fruit on earth with a similar consistency!
My banana soft serve never looks like that!! I think it must be becuase I make it in the blender?? It’s only ever been liquid goo
Yours looks FABULOUS though!
Speaking of food porn…
That Dark Chocolate dreams/banana soft serve deliciousness dripping over the side of the bowl prompted me to order a VitaMix ON THE SPOT! I have been waiting for an excuse to spend the money and get one – now I have to wait 14 days for it to get to me. Finally I can make my own Green Monsters and banana soft serve!
Ohhh…my goodness.
Oh my gosh! The banana ice cream looks SO good!
OH MY GOSH!!!! Those are 2 of my favorite things – Banana softserve and Dark Choco Dreams PB! I will need to try them together next time!!
I really want to try that banana soft serve. Mmmm.
OMG PB and co’s dark chocolate dreams
is a staple in my house!!!
soooooo yummy…
although i really love the sunland dark chocolate PB too.
like reeses pieces but
waaaaaaaaaay better!
I LOVE Rush bowls!! They are the best!!!
I make these for my daughter & her friends (& me) and they love them just as much as the real thing.
You can also make banana soft serve in a blender with an ice crunch feature. You just have to stop and stir every once in awhile. Add the nibs at the end of blending and it tastes like a blizzard. LOVE the chocolate dreams PB!!! You can also add protein powder for even more nutrition.
It actually does work with a blender, you just have to keep scooping it away from the blade. I also had to add like little bit of milk (soy) to get it to blend in the beginning. it still turned out delicious though!!!! ( http://foodie-bloggie.blogspot.com/2010/03/just-banana.html )
You’re version with the chocolate peanut butter looks soooo yumm. I can’t wait to try all the endless possibilites!!!
Those sundaes look great! Have you tried the white chocolate wonderful variety? That’s my favorite
I think it’s even better than the dark chocolate one! I have also tried their the Heat is On peanut butter – which is peanuts and hot and fiery spices. It’s delicious! I have wanted to try their other maple, honey and raisin versions, but just haven’t gotten around to it. This banana ice cream idea has been in my “do list” of blog recipes and your post is just a sad reminder of what I have not yet accomplished!!
I’m totally drooling over your sundae.
I love that banana “ice cream” but broke my blade a while ago. This spurred me to order a new one and a six pack of that Dark Chocolate PB ($3.80 a container on Amazon). Yum, I can’t wait to try it, looks SO good!
Thank you for posting this!!! I tried it last night and it was delicious, I wrote my own blog post about it, and mentioned you in it
http://wants2bfit.wordpress.com/2010/03/18/try-this-tonight-healthy-ice-cream/
I finally got a FP so maybe I’ll try this soon.
Banana soft serve was amazing!!! Came out perfect. Thanks for the tips.