Rosemary Chive Fries

These we didn't do very crispy, but the seasoned salt ones, which I do not have a picture of, were crispier. This is more like a boiled potato texture if you like that. I do.

All summer long I've been trying to perfect home baked french fries. I've tried many variations, but I think this one's my fave. My kids however, liked the season salt and olive oil variation, so take your pick.

You'll need a couple of pounds of red potatoes sliced how you like them. I like slicing them four times lengthwise, then crosswise to get more of a french fry look. You'll need a quarter cup (or less) of olive oil, some fresh chives and rosemary chopped, and some salt and pepper. This is all to taste. Combine the oil and seasonings in a bowl and add the potatoes and stir to coat.

 
Baking is the tough part because it took me forever to find the right temp for my oven for the right amount of time for the crispiness we wanted. I have now determined that either 450 or 475 will work, but plan on at least 30 minutes, and maybe closer to 50 depending on your oven. turn at least once while baking.

What the?? Was that summer that just flew past my face?

In case you were all dying to know: Yes, summer kicked my trash. No I didn't quit running or cooking, but man, did it seem iffy for a while. Let me update you.

At the end of June, Nate and I (together with some friends and family) finally took the adventurous Grand Canyon trip, in which we hiked rim to rim in one day. That story is dramatic and insane so it will be getting it's very own blog post after this one. Two days after that I was still sore, tired, and traumatized. I blame that condition for what happened next. I slammed my finger (yes, I slammed my very own finger) in the car door. As in the car door shut violently with my finger sticking out the side. To this day I don't even know how it happened. Please be advised that the following story contains both graphic descriptions and photos of the injury. Read at your own risk.

The finger burst open and the bone fractured in 3 places. Check out the tip of your ring finger. See how small it is from the top joint to the tip? That's where my bone fractured in 3 places. It sucked. I screamed and stood there for a full 30 seconds. I was holding my 22 month old who also started screaming. My 8 year old then started screaming, "Mom, what's wrong, what happened?" I couldn't speak. In fact, I couldn't even think what to do. It was pain like I'd never known. Finally I came to myself and realized I'd have to put the kid down and open the door. That's right, my finger was still in the door.

At that point I was crying and walking toward the house when the 8 year old saw the blood and went running. Crying himself, he swiftly brought me back.....a tissue. So sweet. So completely insufficient. I could see chunks of the fatty finger pad coming out of the wound. A tissue just wasn't going to cut it. I asked for a wet rag and some ice. Oh, and son? The phone.  After failing to reach the obvious options (Nate and my mother who lives 4 houses away) I proceeded to call everyone I could think of in my neighborhood. Two people were home. Both were sick. I finally got a hold of someone who happened to have a teen home so they could watch my kids (Thank you Sandy and Cassie!) She drove me to the ER, and all the while I thought I might pass out from the pain. Why was I so woozy? Oh yeah, I was too tired that morning to eat breakfast. But guess what? My muscles weren't sore anymore from the Grand Canyon, go figure.

When I arrived at the ER sporting my wet rag, jammies, and flip flops, I was greeted with no one. What the? People! I am BLEEDING! Oh there she is, feeding the fish in the lobby. I said, "Excuse me, I am in need of some medical services for my finger. It's busted open. Also, I feel a little faint." She took one look at me, and hustled me right inside saying we'd take care of signing me in later. I got as far as the triage room before I felt that ominous heat in my face, and loss of strength in my limbs. Uh oh. I told them I didn't feel well, they said they'd get me a chair. I told them......I don't remember.  My oxygen level went from 99 to 38 in about 5 seconds. The next thing I remember is I was feeling much better and I was on a bed. I told them my finger hurt. They looked at me like I was speaking chinese.

Me after they finally cleaned and wrapped the thing. Yes that's a BP cuff and warming blankets. No you may not laugh.

I got to a room and I just remember sitting there so embarrassed. I just kept thinking. I did this. Me. To myself! I got what I can only imagine would have been a frantic phone call from my husband, since I'd left him a horrible text before I got to the hospital. All I could type out was "Heading to the ER". As you can imagine, he was not pleased. However, the grumpy doc wouldn't let me answer my phone, he was too worried about the possibility of losing the tip of my finger. I didn't care about my dang finger. It hurt too bad. All I wanted was a cracker. They wouldn't give me one. 

This was taken 2 days later in the cursed triage room at my infection check. I couldn't take any myself the day of and Nate refused to look at it. You can see why.

Nate arrived. I was Xrayed. The punk kid who came to get me came into my room with a wheel chair and said, "I was told I needed to bring a wheel chair for an X ray of a finger." Yeah, dude. I'm gonna give you a finger in a second. I told him I'd walk. what seemed like hours later (I was soooo hungry) they finally came in and told me the results. They literally gave me the whole good news, bad news routine.The good news was I didn't need surgery, the bad news was it was broken in several places. I don't care, I said, just give me a DA-- cracker! They complied. They really were a nice bunch of people once I charmed them with my sparkling personality. I was in a Percocet induced delirium for a week after that. It was 4 weeks before I could resume running. Do you see why I was a blog slacker?? Please forgive me and my ugly finger. I wasn't typing so well.

This is a few weeks later when it finally started to heal. The outer layer peeled off like a banana. The finger nail didn't come off for over 3 weeks.

Asian Chicken Salad with Soy Peanut dressing

I get a produce box each week from a local dairy farm. Every time there is at least one item at which I frown and think, "Great. What am I going to do with that?" Which, actually I think is the point of the variety. Because then every week I get to learn and experiment. I concoct, or find that someone else has concocted a delicious something or other involving that very thing. It is then posted it online for all the experimenters out there to enjoy. It's been parsnips, rutabaga, radishes, and weird peppers I still can't name. I feel like I'm being educated by a produce box. This week it was cabbage. Along with the cabbage came red peppers and the bells started a ringing. There's nothing like a fresh and flavorful Asian style salad, right? Lucky for me, I found a base recipe for a dressing, which I then promptly changed to fit my whims. I was in a peanut kind of mood, so here is how it went:

1 head of Napa cabbage, shredded
1 head of romaine lettuce, shredded
Some Bak choy leaves, shredded
2 carrots, sliced or shredded
1 red bell pepper, diced
1/8-1/4 cup chives, chopped
1/4 cup cilantro, coarsely chopped
2 cups shredded chicken (I boil mine in ginger and onion, then shred it.)
Sliced lime and chopped peanuts for garnish

Soy Peanut Dressing
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons (heaping) peanut butter (use creamy unless you have a blender)
1 tablespoon fresh ginger (dried will work in a pinch, or if you don't like the "kick")
1 clove minced garlic
1-2 tablespoons soy sauce
1/2 tablespoon agave nectar (1 T. honey will work also)
2 teaspoons sesame oil
1/4 cup canola or other vegetable oil
salt and pepper to taste

whisk or blend the vinegar, peanut butter, ginger, soy sauce, agave, and oils, season with salt and pepper or additional soy sauce to taste. Add the dressing to the salad and toss. Garnish with lime slices and chopped peanuts.

Training-- short runs

I've been asked lately what I'm doing to train for our upcoming running adventures, so here it is.

In June, some close family and friends of ours are embarking with us on a Grand Canyon trip to remember. We're hiking it rim to rim in one day. That's roughly 25 miles. It's 7000 feet down and 6000 feet back up the other side. It's crazy. My family (parents and siblings) has done this 3 other times in the last 10 years. Nate and I have only done this once before (I was pregnant all the other times), 10 years ago on the first ever attempt with my parents when we were dating. Well, kind of dating, we'd actually broken up for a couple weeks, but since the trip was planned we went together anyway. It was just the 2 of us with my parents, a romantic little trip for four, in which Nate had to share a bed with my father on the North Rim. Hilarious. It was also the trip we came to our senses on the trail, and got back together at the scenic Ribbon Falls. But I digress.

This time we have a bigger group going, and we've been planning and training for months. Nate and I decided that since we'd not have much hiking time to train because we're going so early in the summer, we'd better train all fall and winter with running. This consists of short runs to build up endurance, and long runs to test it.

My short runs are almost exclusively done in the Gulley near my house. Here is what it looks like:

 There are quite a few different trails down there, the one below is the bottom trail that travels the length of the bottom of the ravine (hence the original and obvious name) and runs from 200 or so East near the trax station clear up to 2300 East near Granite Park. It's a shady quiet and thin footpath, great for thinking, or worrying about serial killers if you're alone. I don't recommend going that one alone.

The others I like to take are the Mountain view trail (Pops and I call it the middle trail), The Sego Lily trail (Pops named it the "sisters" trail because of 3 hills he calls the 'sisters'), and the Top trail (I don't know it's official name).

Each run is either a 5, 6, or 7 mile loop just to keep my heart, lungs, and legs in good shape. It's the maintenance work, you might say, to keep my body running optimally. I do this 3 times a week, unless I'm working in a long run, then I only do it twice. It's gorgeous and challenging and I live for it. The long runs are a different story, but I'll post about our first one later. Care to join me? Just say the word.

Curried Anything Cures All

So, a word about curry here. I LOVE IT. Sorry if you don't, because I'm going to go under the assumption here that curry was an inspired thing, meant for the good of all mankind. I'd eat curried anything any day. This particular day I was trying to use up some produce I had, as well as cure the mid-spring-rainy-day-blues. This soup totally worked for me.

Warning: This recipe was made up on the fly, so I guarantee nothing. I loved it. Pops, one of my favorite running partners loved it, but the rest of my family not so much. I think if you like the curry flavor, it's for you.

Sorry about the picture, it's a little dark. In my defense, I never said I had any photography skills, so don't judge me.

Curried Cauliflower and Butternut soup

2 cups butternut squash puree
1 head cauliflower cut into florets
1/2 t. ginger (or 1 t. fresh grated)
1 clove garlic
1/4 C. chopped onion
2 1/2 C. broth (I used chicken) or bouillon
 2 chopped carrots
4 ribs celery chopped
1/2 t. curry powder (or individual herbs and spices that are contained therein)
1/2 C. heavy whipping cream, whole milk, or half and half

Here's how it went:
Place cauliflower florets, ginger, garlic, onion, carrots, celery and broth in a sauce pan. Bring to a boil, boil for 5-8 minutes or until tender and fragrant. Place in Blender with  Butternut puree and blend until smooth. (VITAMIX! Man, I love that thing.) pour back into sauce pan and add cream and curry. Serve warm with Butter Naan or other bread of choice.

Note: You can prepare it without the curry, but since it adds no heat and does only good  for the soul, I say keep it in. However, if you really do not care for the flavor, just don't add it, it's good without as well.

Runner's Little Helpers

Every trail runner knows how important it is to have a good partner, especially if that trail runner is female. I'd love to go into a big old discussion here about the injustice of it all. How unfair it is that men  may run when and where they please with little to fear besides a side ache, whilst us poor females, for safety's sake, must be at the mercy of things like daylight and running partners....sigh. But I'm not going to go into all that right here and now, that's a post for another time.

Today I'd simply like to pay homage to those that make my runs possible! Because for me, as a girl and a mother, I need more than one person to make each run happen. I need both babysitters and partners. I'm so happy to have them. I've dragged people out of their homes at ridiculous hours of the morning, or the hot random hours of the afternoon. I've asked family, friends, and neighbors to babysit to support my habit at such awkward times as the lunch or dinner hour. At times even dropping off a grumpy or drowsy toddler who's nap time is being postponed so I can get in a run. And other times I've left my husband to handle the kid's morning routine alone ( of which task he's more than capable), so I could go before the day starts. It's never a regularly scheduled thing, it's always flying by the seat of all our proverbial pants, and I am so grateful!

Since I rarely remember to snap pictures mid-trail, I have hardly any pictures to post as monuments to these unselfish and unsung heroes. Especially not the sitters. I do have a couple, though, of one of my favorite partners, my neighbor's dog, Artemis.

I chose Artemis as a partner because of her looks, which is not always politically correct, I realize, but I needed the 'intimidation factor', and she has it. Wouldn't you agree? No one's messin' with me on those trails with Artemis around! Turns out, though, besides her looks she is also a champ of a partner. She pushes my pace at times, or trots along behind in her good-natured way, though she prefers the shady side of the trail to running when I've foolishly dragged her out in the middle of the late spring afternoon. 80 and above and that girl protests. With good reason, though, I mean look at her! She heats up in a hurry.

So here's to you, people (and animals) who help people run. You know who you are. It's an important job, and no one HAS to do it, it's all volunteer based. My love and my adrenaline pumped thanks go out to you.

Mayday Mayday; Wait, I'm fine now

In case anyone was wondering, I was on hiatus recently. I'm sure you gathered from my last post that things were not going so well in my hormonally challenged life. Well, things are better now.

Firstly, I ditched the doc. That's right, I just flat out said 'enough is enough' and I'm not going back. After my results from the metabolic test things went downhill in a hurry. I have no energy to elaborate. Suffice it to say that I followed what turned out to be the worst advice from a medical professional I've ever received and I suffered for it. I let them have it after that, and you know what they said? We need some more tests. So I quit. As soon as I made that decision everything went better. I'm now managing my condition completely doc free and feeling great about it. I still have challenges, but not insanity.

Secondly, it's finally May now. Can I get an AMEN??? AMEN! I'll cheerfully get more recipes, etc. on here, and feel free to comment or leave some of your own. If you'd like to email me some to post, I'm happy to do that. I'm happy to do just about anything at this point, because I'm finally happy again :-) Yay for May.

Also, I have a great big grand canyon running trip coming up next month, and I can't wait to share my training for it with you runners out there. Runners: what big running plans do you have for the summer?