Do you want to lose weight? Are your skinny jeans just a wee bit skinny for you? Has all that pre-gaming and post-eating packed on the pudge?

Time to eat some ‘nanas.

There is a crazy new diet fad sweeping Japan and making it impossible to keep bananas on store shelves. What is the secret? It starts with a banana and some water for breakfast, followed by a healthy lunch and healthy dinner. And no snacks. Oh, and go to bed by midnight.

Amazing, isn’t it? Eating 3 healthy meals will help you lose weight! Cutting out high calorie beverages and excessive snacking could get you back into shape just in time to squeeze into that slutty Halloween costume!

How dumb are people? Don’t they realize that the same results could be had by starting your day with an apple, or a slice of cheese? It is not the combination of warm water and a banana that makes the pounds slip away - it’s cutting out calories and eating healthy foods!

This is yet another stupid diet for stupid people, which we - college ladies, are not. Although, bananas are still a great way to start the day.

We all get the munchies from time to time. No, not just the “It’s 2 AM on a Friday, I’m seven drinks deep, how much does that pizza cost?” munchies, I’m talking about the “It’s 8 AM on a Tuesday and everyone in my lecture hall just looked at my stomach because it made a noise reminiscent of the MGM Lion” munchies.

So, how do you feed the in-class hunger? You’re in college, so no one is going to reprimand you for eating, but that doesn’t mean you should go buckwild and order pizza to the lecture hall, Spicoli-style.

Here are the best and worst snacks for those mid-class munchies.

THE BEST

Cereal Bars, protein bars, PowerBars, you know, the edible bars that don’t serve alcohol: These are lightweight, filling and easy for on-the-go. If you have a long day of classes, throw a couple of these suckers in your bag and you should be set for the day. If you’re heading to the dead silent section of your library, stay away from the extra-crunchy bars, as you might receive dirty looks from people trying to study.

Nuts!: Almonds, peanuts, cashews, whatever your nut of choice is, throw a handful in a baggie and bring ‘em! They’re great protein and fill you up, fast.

Bananas: If this snack isn’t annihilated courtesy of your twenty pound Calculus book, bananas are one of the best mid-class snacks. Sure, you might look a little ridiculous eating it, but bananas are quiet and not stinky, two very irritating factors of the “in class snack.” Read More »

I’m sure I am not the only one who knows how frustrating it is to find the perfect recipe, start making it, and then realize that I am out of a crucial ingredient. (What’s that? You don’t make recipes without double-checking that you have all the ingredients on hand? Well, aren’t you special.)

Because there is nothing more annoying than having to run to the grocery store and leave your raw cookie batter sitting on the counter, I took the liberty of putting together a handy-dandy substitution cheat sheet of things you can use when you find yourself without the genuine article.

For self-rising flour, substitute flour with baking powder and salt. Self-rising flour is really just a fancy name for flour that already has baking powder and salt added, so you can cheat the system by adding those things yourself. For each cup of flour, just throw in 1 ½ tsp baking powder and about ½ tsp salt.

For cream/half-and-half, substitute milk. Keep in mind that this will only work sometimes. Milk is a lot thinner than cream and has a lot less fat (added health bonus), but that also means that it doesn’t behave the same way. For a recipe in which you’re mixing everything together anyway (quiche), it will work fine, but it’s not going to get you anywhere if you pour it in a bowl and try to whip it into real fluffy cream. If you don’t have regular milk, try using buttermilk, yogurt, or sour cream. Read More »

This past weekend I made hummingbird cake, and I still start to drool whenever I think about it. Oops… I better get a cloth for my keyboard.

Anyway, the cake disappeared almost immediately, and for once my final product actually came out looking exactly the same as the snazzy cookbook picture (yes!).

It’s a lot healthier than most other cakes out there, and it has a pleasant fruity and nutty flavor that I hadn’t tasted before. Basically, it was awesome. Want to make it? Read on.

Here’s what you’ll need to assemble:

• 2 bananas
• ½ cup plus 2 tablespoons of crushed pineapple (I used fresh-cut pineapple, which I threw in the food processor for a few seconds, but canned is OK as well) Read More »

Have you ever thought to yourself, self, I REALLY want something sweet and impressive tonight…what ever could that be?

Well, even if you don’t think out loud like some of us, no doubt you’ve run into a predicament that includes you needing to make something on the fly to impress someone, or just simply feeling a keen desire to impress your own stomach. But, if you’re anything like me, you’re A) a little lazy and B) too busy to make some kind of complicated recipe that will take hours and then be eaten in minutes.

That’s why this bananas in brown sugar with rum sauce dessert is like the Best. Idea. EVER. It’s fancy, it’s easy, it’s pretty healthy, and who doesn’t like cooking with a healthy dose of rum??

Ingredients: Read More »

You’ve been trying to stick to that New Year’s resolution like it is your job. You are going to eat healthy if it kills you, damn it. So, instead of stocking your fridge with beer and baked goods, you loaded up on fruits, vegetables…and beer. But, no matter how hard you try, bananas just aren’t as appetizing post-bar as, say, a giant pizza.

And where does that leave you? With some over-priced brown ‘nanas, that’s where. What is a college-girl on a budget to do? How do super low-fat, super tasty banana muffins sound? Too good to be true? Try again: Read More »