I am officially a college instructor! I taught my first nutrition course last night and it went really, really, really well! My class only has one open spot and all of the students seem eager to learn and cooperative. Oh, and VERY talkative. I feel like they asked wonderful questions and I can tell they are all fully engaged. Or at least most of them 😉 It should be a busy, fun quarter! I think I will learn just as much about myself and teaching as my students will about nutrition…or at least that’s my hope! Thank you for all of your kind comments and emails of encouragement – muah! I never imagined being so nervous about teaching a subject I am so educated and passionate about, but my anxiety just melted away as the lecture went on and I felt completely comfortable leading the class; with one class behind me, I am feeling much more at ease. And I will feel even more at easy when I have the next 2 chapters read and ready to lecture on for Wednesday’s class 😉
Anyhoodles, I hope you all had a wonderful weekend ringing in 2011. I enjoyed some Prosecco – delicious! It is going to take a long time for me to quit signing the date as 2010, how about you? I think I finally got over signing ’09 by ohhh…September 😉
Mr. Prevention and I had a very relaxing weekend. I stayed in my PJ’s until 5pm on Saturday and 2pm on Sunday. Now THAT is what I call a weekend! While in my PJ’s, I was rather productive, however. The Christmas decorations are down and packed away, I meal planned for the busy week ahead, I made breakfast for the week, I made bread for a new co-worker of Mr. P’s, I developed my course syllabus and class schedule, etc…productive! 😀 And on a less productive note, The Fighter was fabulous — love, love, loved it!
The breakfast I made for the week was probably the highlight of my PJ time. It was so impressive that I made the same recipe for Mr. P to give to his new co-worker who just moved to town. Yep, impressive recipe it was!
Oatmeal Banana Nut Bread adapted from Joy the Baker, as seen on The Healthy Apron
1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 Tbsp canola oil
1 large egg, beaten
2 medium egg whites, beaten
4 medium over-ripe bananas
1 cup uncooked old fashioned oats
1/3 cup chopped walnuts
Directions:
Preheat the oven 350° F and spray 1 loaf pan with cooking spray. Combine all dry ingredients including the oats and cinnamon. Mash bananas in a separate bowl, adding the oil and eggs. Mix thoroughly. Add the wet ingredients into the dry flour mixture; mix until combined (do not over-mix). Fold in chopped walnuts last. Pour into prepared loaf pan and bake 45-50 mins. Allow to cool 5 minutes and then flip out onto a wire rack. Yield: 10 slices.
Nutrition Information (1/10th of loaf): 208 calories; 4.9 g. fat; 22 mg. cholesterol; 179 mg. sodium; 37.6 g. carbohydrate; 3.8 g. fiber; 15.5 g. sugar; 3.3 g. protein
Result: This was deeeelicious! I love the addition of oats for added fiber and the use of LOTS of bananas makes the wet ingredients lighter than lots of oil, butter, milk, eggs, etc. Erin described this bread as one of her favorite recipes in 2009 and that sealed the deal and I had to make it. Very glad I did — you will love this bread, too. I also simplified the directions…by not reading them — oops! The original recipe called for a hand mixer and beating the egg whites to peaks and folding them in to the mixture. I simply mixed the wet ingredients: eggs, bananas, and oil together and combined with the dry ingredients. The bread was not overly dense and so I saw no reason for the added steps and kitchen mess 😉 Sometimes not following directions ends up in disaster, sometimes it’s a time saver! Enjoy!
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And because my readers love Lily and she was so darn cute this weekend…
What dog spends so much time flat on her back creating endless funny photo ops? LILY!
Question: What’s something you want to accomplish in 2011? Health-related or otherwise!
P.S. Don’t forget to enter the LARABAR giveaway I’m hosting! It ends Thursday! There will be TEN lucky winners!!!
Lots of love,
Congrats on being a college professor! That’s awesome! As a fellow teacher (even though I have the little guys) don’t be nervous, just talk about what you know and they’ll be engaged! Your bread looks awesome as well.
congrats on having your first class under your belt! It’s all downhill from here. I’m sure you rocked it!
That bread sounds delicious and I’m amazed that it only has 1 tbsp of oil in it! it’s practically health food!
congrats! that is so exciting!!! it will go well- do not fret
LOVE that bread!
Congrats on your teaching gig! So exciting 🙂
I’m sure you’re a great teacher!!! awesome!!
I was waiting for a post to hear about your class. So happy for you that it went well!!
Congrats on getting the first lecture behind you! That’s always the toughest – I taught school (for only one year), but it was 9th grade Science! I then heard nursing school calling my name 😉 Much better fit for me!
P.S – GFC is Google Friend Connect. There is a button on my blog where you can become a “follower”. Sorry for the confusion! Thanks for entering 🙂
Congrats on teaching your first course-that’s awesome! My goal for 2011 is to get off the baby weight!
That’s GREAT to hear that your class went so well!
Do you think you’ll be mentioning your blog to your students?
Glad you class went so well! Enjoy the quarter!!! 🙂 I know teaching is a lot of work and things often get hectic, but if you enjoy your time in the classroom and the interactions with your students, it’s all worth it!
I’m glad your class went well! I taught a writing class one year in grad school and it really is cool to be able to be up in front of a class. Not sure if I’d want to do it EVERY day…. but it was an experience for sure!
Nicole – I wish I got to comment more often but I do read every post!!!
I am so glad for you that the teaching is less intimidating now. I used to feel that way about public speaking or lectures – but once I got in front of people I realized, hey I know what I’m talking about! And it all flowed from there.
Love the Lily photos! We got a cute video of Rupert with his Christmas present (a big rawhide chicken drumstick) that makes me laugh every time I play it. I love all the photo work you’ve been ding lately, with the cropping/pairing/subtitling…they look great!
Glad all is well 🙂
Georgie
so glad to read it went well for you!!
I saw that bread on Erin’s blog too, and I am familiar with Joy the Baker, so I think it’s on my “to bake” list!! Good to know you can skip the egg white beating and folding and still get a good end result!!
Congratulations! You must be an excellent teacher because it’s not easy to get a class of students to be talkative. Knock ’em dead 🙂
Yay, I’m so happy that your first class went so well — a huge congrats, Nicole! The bread really looks amazing, I love the oats in there!
Such cute Lily pics! You’re right, her adorable little face would brighten up anyone’s day!
I’m so glad your first class went so well!!!! 🙂
Congrats on a successful first class! Oh, and I can’t wait to see The Fighter. Glad to hear it’s as good as it looks in previews.
Congrats on your first class – glad it went well!
So glad your first classes went well!! I’m always super nervous at the beginning of a semester– and I’ve been doing it for going on six years now! (guf)
Congrats on the first class – sounds like fun!
Your banana bread looks amazing – and healthy too! I have been craving some banana bread – I need to buy a few extra bananas this weekend!
Congrats on teaching your first college class! Your dog is adorable 🙂
Health/fitness wise I want to do a sprint triathlon and run a sub 2-hour half-marathon this year!
Congrats on your first successful class, Nicole! Way to start out the year. 🙂 And that BB looks DELICIOUS. I’d like some, fresh out of the oven, with melty almond butter, please.
Hmmm…one thing I want to accomplish this year? Find a job I LIKE. I don’t even have to “love” it, but actually liking it would be a step up from where i am now! I’d also really, really like to do a half marathon and possibly another full – IF my body doesn’t decide to get all crazy and injured again.
That’s so exciting! I took a nutrition course last year in college and loved it. Me and a lot of my fellow classmates definitely had tons of questions because nutrition is so interesting and multiplexed. I definitely wish my school offered more nutrition classes, and am certainly thinking about future education in the subject. Good luck with the rest of your course! I’m sure your students will love you.
And I gave some Prosecco from Italy to my boy for New Years…love it!
Congratulations on your class going so well. You are going to make a great instructor. I can tell because the way you said you are going to learn just as much about yourself as your students will learn about nutrition.
I have so many things I want to accomplish in 2011. The one thing that all my goals are leading towards is for me to be truly happy. I’m not unhappy but I know I have room to be even happier in my life 🙂
I am going to steal your dog 🙂
Congrats on your first class- that’s AMAZING! How fun 🙂
Congratulations on teaching your first class!!!! I send a virtual apple to the teacher! The bread looks amazing, and I just cracked up at the photos of Lily!! She’s adorable.
Have a great day.
Anyhoodles? I laughed out loud at that one! I might need to borrow it! =) I have wrote 2010 3 times today and once 2012. At this rate I won’t ever write 2011.
Your blog is inspiring! Congratulations on teaching.
YAY!! Glad your first class went so well. 🙂
Lily is adorable. I love her smile.
I often just throw ingredients together but this recipe looks very similar to what I do so I’ll have to print it out to keep!
Congrats on a successful first class!!!
I always love Lily pics 🙂
What did I tell you about the teaching!? Once you start, it really does just melt away!
Lily is so DANG cute!! I love puppies!
Teacher.. I hope your students learn a ton.
Lew
Congrats nicole…
Congrats in the new class! Did you ever see yourself teaching after becoming an RD?
The recipe looks tasty. I’m a big fan of substituting with whole wheat pastry flour. So fluffy.
And, as always, that Lily is adorable! Laying on her back does not even look comfortable. Ha. Pups.
That is so exciting that you are a college prof! I would love it if you would come teach a class at my university, I would be front and center for sure 🙂
Happy New Year Nicole! Gongrats on being a college prof! I haven’t been around but been catching the odd thing on FB 🙂 I was confident you’d do well at it as I think you do a great job here! I love banana bread and yours looks awesome!
Congratulations on your teaching sucess 🙂 I’m sure you’re an amazing teacher!!
A couple of things:
Love productive PJ days (my faves),
Congrats on being a college instructor- awesome!
And that banana bread looks amazing!!!!
Hope the rest of your week and classes have gone well x
awhhh that puppy is too cute! thank you for the sweet comment on my blog! I definitely want to do something prevention oriented. ideally-eventually private practice with a focus on sports nutrition as well as vegan/vegetarian nutrition. Thanks for helping pave the way for more “alternative” parts of dietetics!