Hike number 2 of 2011!
Today hiked at Sunol Regional Wilderness and it was actually hike number 2! On Thursday I went hiking at Henry Cowell State Park and Natural Bridges in Santa Cruz area. It's awesome to feel like this year I might actually meet my goal that I set out 2 years for myself in that year :) Here's hoping I stick with it this time rather than letting work get the better of me (and my weekends).
Little Yosemite Falls was our ultimate destination, though we took the more uphill journey along Canyon View trail to get there. It claimed to be a gentle trail versus the steep Eagle or Flag trails. Hah! I would not push a stroller up the narrow somewhat slow uphill journey!
In other news, the foot is doing much much better. Cutting out gluten lowered inflammation. Physical therapy to help with my back alignment, pelvic alignment are actually helping a ton as well. Pain is generally around a 3 level most of the time now!! It's amazing how much better things feel.
Trying to eat gluten free is pretty difficult. You generally just have to cook all of your own food. I have tried making two different things lately. The first was a great success in terms of tastiness, but could improve on the visual aspects. Faux-muffins (really baked omlettes in the shape of a muffin). I could have improved with some Pam spray I think or coconut oil in the little muffin trays even though it was the non-stick silicone type muffin tray. Ingredients, 8 eggs + pepper + italian seasoning + ninja-ed (machine that cuts finely) carrots/onions/tomatoes + 1/8 cup milk + 4 oz cheese (which didn't blend so well so ended up in chunks in some of the muffins) which made 12 "muffins". The second didn't work at all partially because I didn't blend enough. 1/2 cup baked mashed butternut squash, 1 egg, 1/8 cup almond meal, 1 tablespoon peanut butter. First off the butternut squash had retained too much water from the baking (i baked in 1 inch of water face down, and then scooped it out). The mixture wasn't blended enough. The peanut butter was too overpowering and made it taste pretty peanut buttery. Overall it was "ok" and George LOVED it, but not so great for me (or Brian). So I'm going to try changing out the peanut butter for almond butter, cutting out the almond meal, and squeezing the butternut squash through some cheesecloth to get some of the water out. Hopefully this will make the "pancakes" more crispy versus gooey. I might try baking muffin style instead as it might come out better that way.
Little Yosemite Falls was our ultimate destination, though we took the more uphill journey along Canyon View trail to get there. It claimed to be a gentle trail versus the steep Eagle or Flag trails. Hah! I would not push a stroller up the narrow somewhat slow uphill journey!
In other news, the foot is doing much much better. Cutting out gluten lowered inflammation. Physical therapy to help with my back alignment, pelvic alignment are actually helping a ton as well. Pain is generally around a 3 level most of the time now!! It's amazing how much better things feel.
Trying to eat gluten free is pretty difficult. You generally just have to cook all of your own food. I have tried making two different things lately. The first was a great success in terms of tastiness, but could improve on the visual aspects. Faux-muffins (really baked omlettes in the shape of a muffin). I could have improved with some Pam spray I think or coconut oil in the little muffin trays even though it was the non-stick silicone type muffin tray. Ingredients, 8 eggs + pepper + italian seasoning + ninja-ed (machine that cuts finely) carrots/onions/tomatoes + 1/8 cup milk + 4 oz cheese (which didn't blend so well so ended up in chunks in some of the muffins) which made 12 "muffins". The second didn't work at all partially because I didn't blend enough. 1/2 cup baked mashed butternut squash, 1 egg, 1/8 cup almond meal, 1 tablespoon peanut butter. First off the butternut squash had retained too much water from the baking (i baked in 1 inch of water face down, and then scooped it out). The mixture wasn't blended enough. The peanut butter was too overpowering and made it taste pretty peanut buttery. Overall it was "ok" and George LOVED it, but not so great for me (or Brian). So I'm going to try changing out the peanut butter for almond butter, cutting out the almond meal, and squeezing the butternut squash through some cheesecloth to get some of the water out. Hopefully this will make the "pancakes" more crispy versus gooey. I might try baking muffin style instead as it might come out better that way.