conference 2012

Well, that was exciting.

I went into the race feeling awesome.

About three minutes later, I wasn't feeling quite so awesome. I finished the race about a minute slower than my usual 6k time, feeling like my legs had been run over with a dump truck. Repeatedly. 

Just about to die at the finish line. 

Thankfully, we had an awesome crew of parents grilling their hearts out after the race. Nothing makes up for a bad race like a lukewarm hamburger. Seriously, though. The food was incredible and now I've got enough leftovers to last me a week. 

I'm going to blame my performance on bad weather and not eating enough muffins. So I made a batch last night to counterbalance the Frankenstorm.

These smiling ghosts make me so happy. Recipe here. Ghosts optional. 

GF adventures - brownies

Did you know that you can make brownies using black beans? That's right. The kind from a can.

Sound revolting? Let me show you the light.

(yes, that's an instagram photo. Feel free to judge.)

I'm always looking for new gluten-free recipes. That is, the kind that actually taste good. And this year my roommate is writing a cookbook, so she's always in the kitchen whipping up some kind of fragrant baked goods. Lately it's been sourdough bread, pumpkin spice cookies, honey nut granola, chocolate pumpkin bread, cranberry chocolate muffins... Our house smells delicious all the time.

To me, it smells forbidden.

Every now and then I'll sneak a pinch of a melted chocolate chip or a tiny corner crumb. I feel guilty immediately after, not to mention afraid of the possible impending digestive - ahem - distress.

So last week I went on a hunt for a way to get my baking fix without using heaps of processed flour or pounds of sugar. I found a really good one on a blog called Eat Good 4 Life. While I don't usually trust things with numbers in their titles, Eat Good had a pretty promising recipe. And a pretty border decoration.

These turned out really well. Although relatively low in sugar, they still taste sweet and quite chocolatey. Don't worry, they taste nothing like black beans. The consistency is actually more cake-y than fudge-y. They're also full of protein and fiber, so be careful not to eat them before a business meeting.

Montana and I killed these on our camping trip last weekend. I had a lot of fun watching his reaction when I told him they were made of beans. I did this every time he ate one.

Here's the recipe, adapted a for my kitchen and love of dark chocolate (I doubled the amount of cocoa powder and chocolate chips in the original recipe).



Surprisingly Edible Black Bean Brownies

Yields 10-12 servings 

1 15.5 oz. can black beans, thoroughly rinsed and drained
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 cup brown rice flour 
1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon unrefined sugar
1/2 cup dark cocoa powder
1/4 cup chia seeds
3 eggs
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup walnuts, chopped 
2/3 cup dark chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease or line an 8x8 baking pan with parchment paper.
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Place all the ingredients except chocolate chips and walnuts in a food processor or blender and pulse thoroughly until smooth and well combined.
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Pour batter in the baking dish. Top with nuts and chocolate chips. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until the top is dry and edges begin to pull away from the baking dish. Cool completely before cutting. 

this isn't real.

"No way. This isn't real. This is our life right now. This is too perfect."

"I know. We're so good at vacation."

Lauren and I had this exchange at least ten times a day over the past two weeks. Everything was absolutely, undeniably awesome. Even the things that weren't awesome are probably turning themselves around in my memory to become awesome.

Before I bombard the Internet with a thousand posts, here's some highlights:

Three of us slept in a hippie van in Nelson. We met some Irish guys with perpetual hangovers who had a rough time keeping it together on the windy mountain roads. And we met some awkward German friends who destroyed our English skills. We stepped on a glacier. There were bright blue kettle lakes and gold autumn leaves in the mountains. Lauren paid money to throw herself off a bridge. We consumed an obscene amount of wine, food, and chocolate in Queenstown. We ate ultimate dinners and giant burgers. Then we walked for four days on the Kepler, saw some amazing sunrises, realized you need matches to light stoves, and had wild and crazy 9:00 bedtimes. Our brains nearly exploded from the scenery at Milford Sound.

And I didn't even break my camera.

That was probably one of the best two weeks of my life. More updates later when I sort through my 900 photos.

pizza in your beard

The weekend was cold and snowy. We got buried under another solid 8 inches of snow on Saturday. I'm itching to run, but a good morning hike and a day spent driving around West Virginia yesterday is almost as good.

The best way to end that kind of day? Homemade gluten free pizza with lots of veggies and non-off-brand cheese.

Made with Bob's Red Mill GF pizza crust mix. I'm not sure if I did something wrong, but Bob's website claims the mix makes "light, crispy, delicious crust." Delicious, yes. But my crust turned out kind of heavy and hearty. In retrospect, I probably should've formed a ridge around the edge for the sauce and toppings to sit in. Montana called it (affectionately, I hope) "solid Rocky Mountain crust."

 Questionable crust thickness aside, it was some fabulous pizza.

While we were eating, we heard the fire station next door clank and whistle awake. Sirens bleated and the trucks coughed to life to trundle off somewhere. I just shrugged and kept shoving pizza into my face.

A couple hours later, a text and a picture of a building with flames spitting out the windows.

photo: Pittsburgh Trib

Apparently a freak fire destroyed the entire ski lodge at the only 5-star resort in town. Nobody was hurt, but the building's just a pile of rubble.

Bummer. There's finally enough snow to ski, and now there's no ski lodge to speak of.

At least we've got pizza.

gluten freedom

I promised myself that I wouldn't do too much food-blogging, since I'm officially an athletic blog and everything. But I couldn't help myself this time.

The other day I overheard my dad complaining that a bowl of Cheerios made his stomach hurt. My allergy-sensitive ears perked. A twisted smile lit up my face.

"Maybe you're allergic to gluten!" I gleefully shouted across the room.

His face fell. I sneered. Glory be! Another victim of processed grains to join my celiac friends and me in our barren, breadless world.

"Oh no," he said. "That means I'll have to give up cookies." His voice was hollow. The man was purely devastated. I had torn apart of my father's primary reasons to live. My shriveled gluten-free heart grew about three sizes. I couldn't take it anymore.

I quickly rescinded my comment. We decided that it was probably just the high oat content. Then he walked away, munching on a chocolate cookie.

But if you're like me, don't fall into a deep despair. Sure, there are lots of things you can't eat - like whole-wheat pasta or everything on the Panera Bread menu.

But you CAN eat this:

That's right. It's a whole pan of cookie. Covered in chocolate. Covered in nuts. Covered in more chocolate.

Thought your dessert options were limited to tiny low-fat brownies that look like dried poo? Think again. Even though this recipe is gluten-free, there is literally nothing healthy about it. The main ingredients are butter and sugar. How could you ever possibly go wrong?

So go ahead, eat yourself a cookie. Or devour a whole pan. And then maybe go running or something.

winners on the road

The 2-time champions of the Wilderness Voyageurs annual Beer & Gear 5k. We're kind of a power couple now, I guess.

To celebrate our victory, we've headed off to stay with some friends in Colorado.

We just finished a marathon 24-hour drive from the humid hills of Pennsylvania to damp coldness in Lake Hope State Park, Ohio to terrifying tornado-style storms in Missouri to flat aridity and cornfields in Kansas. And Boulder - so far - is absolutely worth the misery we went through to get here. It's quite lovely.

In the morning today I went running and had delusions about joining the Colorado University distance team. I jogged along the path marveling at how everyone here looks like a professional athlete. I tried to fix my form and tighten up my abs to look a little bit less like a flabby Pennsylvanian.

Then we rode our bikes up into some hills.

That 20-mile ride was the longest I've been on a bike since I gave myself a concussion at a mini-enduro in Ohio. This one went way better. I didn't wreck, but I did have to walk down some descents and get ridiculed by little kids doing trail maintenance.

We spent the rest of the day wandering around on Pearl Street in a delirium of outdoor retail shops and cafes. And then we were really worn out from all the UV exposure, so we went to a Colorado-based pizza chain. I ate some of the best gluten-free pizza I've ever had. And now I'm just feeling really sunburned and sleepy.

This place is darn cool.

bananappreciation

Bananas are by far one of my favorite fruits. Not to be biased to all the other ones, but they're just so convenient and functional. You can use them for anything from ice cream to curry to soup. Even Elvis liked them...with a bit of bacon added in, of course. And they're super healthy- high in fiber, potassium, natural sugar, and vitamin C. Low in anything bad for you.

Plus they make great boyfriends.

As an advocate of bananas across the globe, I'd like to bring to to your attention to a banana-related cause:

The Pisgah Mountain Bike Stage Race Bloggers Grant Competition. This is a five-day, 185-mile stage race in the Pisgah Mountains of North Carolina. A few bloggers are competing for a free entry to the race--the top two with the most votes win. The dashing young man in yellow up there really wants to get out there and ride his bike up and down some North Carolina hills (and his girlfriend would really like a chance to visit her favorite mountain state. Just saying.)

Here's the banana's nifty blog if you want to check it out!

You can cast your vote for him here.

Oh, and another thing bananas are great for? Muffins.

mmm. Here's the recipe:

Gluten-Free Banana Muffins:
(yield: about a dozen muffins)

2 1/2 c Pamela’s Baking Mix
2 eggs
3/4 c water
1/4 c honey
1 c mashed (very ripe) banana
1/4 c gluten-free certified oats
1/4 c ground flaxseed
1/4 c raisins
1/4 c chopped walnuts
1 tsp vanilla
pumpkin pie seasoning
dash of nutmeg
cinnamon for garnish

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine ingredients, stirring gently. Pour batter into lined muffin tin by 1/4 cupfuls. Bake for 18-20 minutes.

I had to make my own paper tin liners by cutting bits of parchment paper, but they turned out pretty well in the end.

These are pretty tasty on their own, but they get even better (and a bit more fattening) with a dollop of cream cheese icing and some cinnamon sprinkled on top.

I took some camping with us last weekend, and Montana devoured about eight of them. I hope that's not considered cannibalism. Probably not, since he wasn't wearing the banana suit at the time.