One of the worst things about my addiction to food blogs is that when I see something that looks delicious on one of them, I MUST make it. The problem is that I try to make it too fast to fulfill my craving and end up messing it up and today my waffle came out in chunks. The next two waffles came out a lot better.
I did nail my main waffle requirement…they MUST be crispy. I like my cereal soggy but if a waffle is soggy I go as far as to not even smile while I am eating it.
I don’t know why I feel the need to pose with whatever product I am reviewing. I think this habit stemmed from watching, ‘The Price Is Right’ with my mother every morning at 9 a.m. as she walked on the treadmill for the first 6 years of my life. I am extremely good at guessing the price of any item from the late 1980s early 1990s.
A few people have asked for me to do a review on my spin bike that I got in December. Of course you can go out and spend thousands of dollars on a spin bike and have zero issues and absolutely love it but it is a little more difficult when you are on a teacher’s salary and already overspent your money that year on Subway and race registrations. So since our budget for it was below $300, Billy really did his research on the best bike for that price. Knowing Billy he probably read about 1,000 user reviews and researched every bike out there….one more reason I love him.
He chose the the Sunny Health and Fitness Indoor Cycling Bike. I also added it to my GEAR PAGE, it is under the Biking section.
Pros:
-It is incredibly sturdy…I hate it when a bike wobbles around and the handlebars move back and forth or the seat jiggles. You don’t have to worry about any of those things with this bike. This is the biggest plus for me.
-The bike is very quiet and smooth so that I can bike really early or really late without my neighbors hating me.
-It was SUPER easy to put together, at least it looked like it was as I watched Billy put it together;)
-The resistance is awesome! I don’t like when a bike tension changes a huge amount when you barely even turn the dial a little bit and I also don’t like to have to spin the resistance a full turn before I feel any difference in the tension. This bike has just the right combination for increasing the tension with about a fourth of a turn, it has a huge range of different tensions that you can get to very smoothly.
-Really easy to move around….something about Billy not wanting it to be in the middle of our family room at all times.
Cons:
-The Push Stop button is kind of awkward where it is place and I think we are going to try to take it off.
-There is no water bottle holder. Yes, that shouldn’t bug me and I should just go buy one and add it on but I am lazy and it bugs me.
-The bike did not come with pedals for cycling shoes so I had to put my road bike pedals on. Once again, I am sure if you have a bigger budget for a bike you can get one with all of these side things buts for how much we paid we feel like we got an incredible deal.
-I wish the handlebars had a place to set things like your phone or iPod. I put a towel over the top of it so I can put my iPad and phone on it but don’t tell Billy but they sometimes fall through the handlebars.
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What was the last food that you saw on a blog that you just HAD to make for yourself?
Tell me about your most recent cooking fail.
Did you ever watch The Price Is Right?
What at home workout products do you recommend?
{ 78 comments… read them below or add one }
AHHHHHH. Waffle fails = not acceptable! I had waffles from the dining hall this morning with chocolate sauce and they were magical. I love my life.
WIth chocolate sauce!??! I am beyond jealous….oh how I miss my freshman year dining hall. Heavenly! Enjoy Katelyn!
It’s been a while since I have used a recipe from a blog….which equals food rut. During the holidays, however, I was making every stinkin cookie recipe I came across on a blog! :p
Thank you so much for posting about your spin bike!! I have seriously been thinking about looking into one, but thought there was no way I could afford it! Yay!
Tell Billy thanks for doing all the research….:)
Price is right?? Nearly everyday…..it’s on the channel right after our morning news at work. It’s not the same without Bob.
Ha…the holidays made me want to make every cookie too! I think you should get one!! I agree, I miss BOB!
thanks for the review!! i really want to get a spin bike so i can do quick morning workouts.
Um, I almost died the other day when you posted that beautiful picture of the PB cookies- THAT’S my next try!
I am so excited about your post on the bike, that I just asked my Hubsy if I could get one… He said maybe! Yippee! Your pros and cons totally sealed the deal- thank you! I am in the middle of half marathon training and I’m looking for some other form of XT to do.
And the Price is Right is the best show ever! My 8 year old daughter totally gets into it, yelling at the tv and everything! Oh, the things we teach them, right? Have a great week- thanks so much for all your daily inspirations- I love them!
Jodi…you need to make those cookies ASAP! I hope you get to get a bio so bad because it really is so nice to have and it makes it easy to fit in some good sweaty workouts! PS you are going to rock your half marathon! Thanks for your sweet comment!
…also i would love to see a review on your treadmill!
I would like to know more about your treadmill, too! Please:-)
Good thinking Marina and Margaret, I will get that one going ASAP!
Yum! I love waffles! Last thing I saw on a blog that I had to make … the peanut butter and jelly blondies I made on Wednesday. And they were totally worth the effort!
I STILL NEED TO MAKE THOSE!! The answer to my own question would be your pb and jelly blondies!
Oh, goody. This IS the one I was looking at on amazon the other day. And you’ve answered a couple questions I had about it.
Let me know what you end up getting!!!
Does your bike have a distance counter on it? Sorry I never clicked on the link and really look at it. Thought I would ask it would be easier!
Hey Sarah! It does not….bummer ya know:) The bike that I use to teach spin on at BYU was $1300 and it does have one that is pretty sweet…I will let you know what brand it is next time I am there!
I forgot about the Price is Right! We watched every day during summer vacation;-)
Great bike review…I have never taken a spin class, everyone in there looks so hard-core and professionals.
I like Jillian Michaels dvd’s for an at home strength workout.
My last fail was an oatmeal bread in the bread maker….my husband tried to make me feel better and said ‘hun it’s good, it tastes like Kentucky Fried Chicken’. ?!?! I was not amused;-)
Agreed about Jillian…LOVE HER! Oh bummer about the bread but your husband sure is a sweety:)
This will be a silly question, but instead of a towel have you tried a clipboard, or a piece of posterboard? I have seen someone using a utensil/silverware tray (one piece sort with spaces for items (ie remotes) and the knife section seems like it might be able to fit a waterbottle. Is this feasible?
Lindy,
You are brilliant. Thank you so much for the ideas, I owe you BIG TIME! You solved all of my problems!
Just be sure to take your water bottle along when you go to the store to be sure it fits…Let me know if it works. I know it won’t be pretty..but many might be jealous!
The best moms were the ones that raised us with Bob Barker, the beaties, and the ultimate game of Plinko! I just saw these Slutty Brownies and I’m going to make them very soon!!
http://whatsgabycooking.com/slutty-brownies/
I have always dreamed to play Plinko…someday. I have seen the Slutty Brownies too and they look INCREDIBLE. I think I first saw them on Pinterest!
Well after seeing your waffles and those cookies you made, I now want both of those things, especially those cookies!
This isn’t a recent food fail, but the first time I tried making chocolate chip cookies I didn’t follow the recipe exactly and I tried making huge cookies and they ended up being burnt on the outside and raw on the inside. No joke. I even tried feeding it to the birds and not even they would eat them.
You have got to make the cookies asap! Bummer about the cookies….wasted sugar makes me so sad:)
I actually like waffles, but hate making them because they are so time consuming, and unpredictable. I just made pumpkin pancakes, they were pretty good! I used to always watch the price is right! We used to watch Three’s Company re-runs too, you are probably just young enough to not remember those;-)
I think my favorite at home workout “equipment” would be my workout dvd’s, along with some 5-8lb weights.
No way…I totally watched Three’s Company with my mom:) How often do you do weights?
PS I tried to leave a comment on your SPEED post and it went to spam or something…save me!
I would like to do weights 3x a week at least. Before my fall marathons I was doing weights prob 4x a week, I NEED to get back into it, I actually really enjoy it when I do it.
Ps- took you out of spam, but don’t know how to keep you out- I’ll work on it lady!!;-)
The last food that I saw on a blog that I HAD to make myself was actually your blog- Chicken Parmesan
I thought about it for days until I finally gave in and made some. It was amazing!
Great review of the spin bike- I’d love to buy one and love the review of a not-outrageously expensive bike, as I couldn’t afford anything too crazy right now!
I am so glad that you made the chicken..isn’t it the BEST!
We had sweet potato waffles for breakfast! YUM! Cuz it is my birthday today
The Price is Right reminds me of sick days and summer vacations from school. I ALWAYS watched it. I was good at guessing prices on random goods at a very young age!
I highly recommend any of Jillian Michael’s DVDs, because between her and running, it’s the only way I stay in shape.
KAELIN!!! HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY Birthday!! I hope you are having the best day ever! Gotta lover Jillian, she is my have!
I forgot to add flour to brownies a little while ago….haha
That could cause a few problems:) Hope you are having an amazing day!
My mom was on the Price is Right a long time ago. She kissed Bob about four times and he told her she should be the first woman president.
WHAT WHAT WHAT WHAT WHAT!! Natalie, this made my day! Can I have your mom’s autograph!
She is hard core. Her game was ski ball and she told Bob that she goes to Chuck E Cheese to practice. She ended up winning money and a few trips and a bar but took the cash for it all. She said it was silly to take the trips since she was a flight attendant.
My aunt was super obsessed with the Price is Right when I was younger and we would watch it ALL the time. At my work, we just had a game day and played the Price is Right and I won a little stuffed cowboy bullseye dog (Target likes to treat us well).
I have Insanity. Not really a physical product, but it’s something I do at home!
That is so fun! I should make up a Price is Right game for the classes I teach:) Oh my, Insanity kicks my trash!
Funny. The recipe I posted on my blog YESTERDAY was one I saw on another blog and HAD to make it.
Ha….gotta love blog world. They make us crave everything! PS 29 weeks…AHHH SO SO EXCITING!
I have to ask… can you link to the shirt you are wearing in these pics? You seem to wear it a lot (haha!) so it must be awesome!
YES OF COURSE…I wear it daily! It is actually a zip up from Lululemon! I can’t find the exact one online anymore but here is a link to a bunch of their other adorable ones:
http://shop.lululemon.com/products/category/women-jackets-and-hoodies?mnid=mn;women;tops;jackets-and-hoodies
After I was unable to get the Schwinn and then you recommended the Sunny bike, I read the reviews and ordered one from Amazon the very next day. I gotta tell you, I absolutely love it! It’s every bit as good as the ones that I used to use at the gym. You are spot-on with your review. Although a lot of your cons aren’t really even cons to me. lol I don’t even own a pair of cycling shoes, so the pedals that it came with were fine by me. And, you know, I read exactly what you said about the “stop” button being awkward in several other reviews, but that hasn’t been an issue for me either. Maybe I’m bow-legged? haha I DO SOOOOO wish that it had a water bottle cage though. But that’s a very minor inconvenience for the price. I just set my water bottle on the window sill beside me. Problem solved!
Thank you so, so, so much for the recommendation.
PAM!! Oh my goodness, I am so so happy that you love the bike!! I wish we could spin next to each other and talk about how awesome our spin bikes are. Keep enjoying it and have a great night!
I invested in a really good trainer and I ride my regular bike indoors all winter. It’s still boring, but does the trick!
That is awesome and TOTALLY worth getting a good one. I had one awhile ago that was so so loud and swore I would never get a cheap one again!
I was just thinking to myself “the price is right doesn’t come on until 11″ then realized that you’re in a different time zone. We used to watch it everyday too!
I want to make everyyything I see on food blogs! I’m too lazy to actually go through with all of them though. The water bottle holder would drive me nuts too!
I was a Price Is Right junkie. My favorite game is Plinko and I secretly dream of having my own Plinko board.
My hubs watched Brunch at Bobby’s on the food network and got an idea for PB&J french toast waffles. I was skeptical but they were delicious.
I don’t work out at home but I do have a foam roller that I have a love/hate relationship with.
Yes yes yes waffles have to be crispy. Its weird eating it soggy. My last cooking fail was trying to make a healthy chocolate-peanutbutter oatmeal cookie. It was still edible but ehhhhh…healthy cookies are not cool.
I have a friend who was JUST ON the Price is Right! Carazy…
It’s awesome you have space for a Spin bike no matter what quality is. My lil apartment is squished as it is. Oh please let me grow up and get a house one day!
I LOVE THE PRICE IS RIGHT!!!
Sometimes I try to watch it now with Drew Carey as the host, but it’s just not the same….
Um i used to love me some price is right!
and even though you say your waffles were a fail. i really want waffles!
I’m planning on training for my first triathlon this summer, and I’ve been eye-balling that spin bike!
http://saltsunandsanity.blogspot.com/2012/01/give-it-tri.html
My main concern about spin bikes is the wobble- this one feels sturdy enough? It would be pretty handy to not have to leave my house to train… this decision is going to be a battle between my cheapness and my laziness.
i have the same problem with my bike/handle bars and crap falling through…soooo i found a random piece of plywood board…small enough to cover the gap and rest on it ya know? and its been great to rest magazines/books ect when i ride!
Oh, that seems really reasonable for a spin bike! I am trying to decide if I need one now or if I can wait, because the gym where I work is getting new spin bikes at the end of year and will be selling the used ones for cheap to us employees. That means I could get a nice, commercial spin bike for cheap if I have patience … which I probably should because then I could convince someone to buy it for me for Christmas!
I grew up watching my mom wach The Price is Right also!
My most recent fail in the kitchen involved a boxed cake mix for my son’s birthday. No, actually, it involved a total of three boxed cake mixes, a lot of cuss words, and 2 dozen cupcakes dumped in the trash. {I like making things from scratch and a BOXED CAKE MIX threw me for a loop.}
I love, love, love The Price is Right. For my whole life. And I wanted to be a Barker’s Beauty when I was 10.
I don’t have much for at home workouts, except for a collection of DVDs that include Insanity and Jillian’s 30 Day Shred.
I am so bad about printing about recipes and then not making them. I don’t like to workout at home, but I did buy a jump rope just in case I wanted to one day. haha!
Most recent cooking fail was making corn chowder soup and using whipping cream instead of heavy cream. It ended up tasting like sugary corn soup. Terrible!
I’m into the baking blogs, especially….I have always loved to bake, and now I’m starting to really enjoy cake decorating as well. Today I made the MOST delicious almond bread from ourbestbites.com. The bread alone is yummy, but the orange juice glaze makes it to die for good…it’s become a family favorite.
My family says I make the best waffles ever, but I always ruin the first one…go figure. In my early married days I had a lot of fails in cooking/baking, but I’ve found a groove and now I usually don’t have too much trouble.
We watched The Price is Right all the time as kids. My sister in law was on it in Bob’s last year…she got to kiss Bob and won a trip.
Yes- I loved the price is right!!!! Summer vacation every morning 9am! Got really good at estimating prices too
And this is something I found on Chocolate Covered Katie’s blog (although I’m not Gluten Free it looks UHmazing!!)
Deep-Dish Cookie Pie
• 2 cans white beans or garbanzos (drained and rinsed) (500g total, once drained)
• 1 cup quick oats
• 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 3 T canola oil
• 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 and 1/2 cups brown sugar (Seems like a lot, but this makes a big pie. I think we got like 20 servings from it! You can try adding less, if you’re used to healthy desserts; I chose to use this much because the people to whom I served it are used to “normal” desserts. Also, white sugar will work if you don’t have brown.)
• 1 cup chocolate chips
So easy to make!
Blend everything (except the chips) very well in a food processor. Mix in chips, and pour into an oiled pan (I used a 10-inch springform pan, but you can use a smaller pan if you want a really deep-dish pie.) Cook at 350F for around 35 minutes. Let stand at least 10 minutes before removing from the pan.
Did I inspire you to make it now too
Oh yes, I watched the price is right! I loved plinko!
I’m not letting myself make these, but yesterday on pinterest I saw this amazing looking brownie and clicked on it…. It led me to a blog and the recipe is called “slutty brownies” and they have a layer of traditional brownies, oreo, and cookie dough. If I could only make ONE, then I might do it.
I love my Bosu ball, free weights, resistance bands, and steps (Daniel made me some wooden steps about the height of an aerobic step) – I stack them and use them for box jumps and step ups.
Now that I think about it- soggy waffles are nasty…so is soggy cereal, buddy! I can’t get on that
! My brother actually pours the milk over the cereal like an hour prior to eating it- the end texture makes me wanna gag…he loves it!
I have a spin bike too but find it hard to motivate to do a good workout on it by myself. Any tips? Do you use a podcast or video or just do your own thing?
no joke, anything that isn’t micro-nuked is an epic fail for me!
we’re totally opposites though when it comes to waffles…i like any kind of carb DOUGHY!!!
that said, i don’t think i’d ever turn down any kind of waffle …hehe
That is one incredible good deal on a spinning bike! And it does sound like it was definitely a good purchase!
I really need to go out spinning. ASAP.
I just bought the same bike!!!!!! Brand new off Craigslist for $125!! Great find I must say !! Need a little caddy to hold things though, time to brainstorm
i made bailey’s brownies from how sweet eats….was so yummy! i dont have a spin bike, but i do have my tri-bike up on the trainer in my living room. everytime i dont want to work out it is staring me in my face telling me to stop being a pansy and just get on it!
I have been craving anything with syrup lately! Yesterday I put syrup in my oatmeal to see if that would cut it, but I don’t think it did.
I LOVE any yoga dvd of Rodney Yee’s. I have two different power yoga ones and love them both. I also do Jillian 30 day shred and Biggest Loser Last Chance Workout DVDs.
Ahh that is exactly the same bike that I ordered the other day! It is arriving from Amazon TOMORROW!!!! Yay yayayay. Glad to hear you like it. I was wondering if it was the same one you have because it has the really cool red wheel with a star! So so so excited.
The dreary, cold winter weather seems to be keeping people inside because there were tons of recipes I saw from the weekend that I want to make! Muffins, cookies, chili…
Most recent cookie fail: burning the french toast yesterday morning… But a little piece of char never killed anyone!
P.S. Soggy waffles- tear them up and make homemade cereal?! See, they weren’t a total fail ;P
yummm waffless… i think i need to get a waffle iron now. i need them
I’d own a waffle iron except me and my husband can’t agree on the shape. Oddly enough my sister and her husband have had the same arguement and they don’t have a waffle iron either. Even odder still I posted a FB comment asking people do they prefer round or square. All boys prefered square and all girls preferred round.
Random comment. Totally envious of your spin bike. I am saving for one!
I love waffles! My mom used to have a Belgian waffle maker but threw it away before I got to steal it from her! The first one always comes out wrong so that’s always good to snack on while you make the others. When growing up, my mom would always heat up the butter and syrup so you didn’t have to worry about spreading the butter in all the nooks and crannies. You know what else is good? Chocolate waffles! They’re great as a dessert with ice cream on them. Do you even like ice cream?
I’ll find the chocolate waffle recipe I have and post it for you.
As for the bike… Were the pedals easily swappable?
I tried banana icecream I found on girlswithgoodtaste.Blogspot.com it is 6 frozen bananas cut in chunks, 1c. Almond milk, 1Tbs vanilla mix in blender and serve. It was pretty decent and healthy. I am wanting a spin bike now!!