What to make for dinner?

When I got the list of organic produce in my box this past week, I wondered what in the heck I would do with baby bok-choy. Luckily, I have the internet :)

I found a recipe for Salmon with Hoisin, Orange, & Bok Choy that sounded tasty. I did make a departure from the recipe. First, I used Halibut instead (I don't care for Salmon). Second, I used Coriander, but omitted the Cilantro (Aaron doesn't care for Cilantro).

Here are my notes:

This method produces a light, moist, tender fish! However, the hoisin sauce overpowered the fish. The bok choy turned into this mushy crap in the bottom of the foil packet, but it tasted like mild steamed spinich. Neither one of us ate more than two bites of the bok choy (the texture turned us off more than the flavor). Aaron enjoyed the fish more than I did. I think I'll try this sauce (and method) over chicken sometime, but add some soy sauce and brown sugar or honey to make it more of a teriyaki sauce. That might hold up better to the combination of flavors. I'll just stick to broiling my halibut simply with salt and pepper and maybe a little garlic.

Over the river and through the woods...

One of the best reasons to live where I live is the beautiful hiking trails that are nearby to my house. Several trails in town are paved and my favorite one is on the other side of the Mendenhall River from where I live. There is a section of it that is unpaved and is called the "Horse Trail". Many residents walk their dogs on these trails, and I am no exception. While on the paved portion of the trail, you are required to keep your dog on-leash (but hardly anybody does... being a strict rule follower, I do). If you divert on to the horse trail about a quarter of a mile down the paved part, the dogs can go off-leash. Noni and Lijha love it. It is quite a good walk as it goes up and down hill a good portion of the hike. Once the trail merges back with the paved part, we cross the path and take the fishing access trails to go down to the river. Lijha loves playing in the water. Then we continue the loop back to the start of the horse trail (but on the river side) and head back to the car. It takes about an hour to do this hike and I've done it for 4 days in a row so far (yay me!).

I haven't really had time to fit this one-hour walk into my day, but I have made the time. Mostly as a weapon in my fight against fatigue. Getting myself moving helps my joints and keeps me active. I am very careful to not overdo it and completely exhaust myself. It is slow-going, but I have felt my over-all energy levels increasing day by day.

It doesn't hurt that the woods are amazing to walk in and the setting is so peaceful. There are hazards, such as bears, that I have to take into account. Bears have been spotted recently in the area of the hiking trail. However, I keep up a steady stream of conversation with my dogs (or if I happen to go with a friend, I talk to her, so I don't sound crazy). I've heard that constant noise alerts the bears to your presence and they generally stay out of your way. You have problems when the bear doesn't know that you are there and you take it by surprise. The dogs are also key because they can tell when wildlife are in the area. They haven't alerted to anything yet, so I think I'm safe.

Silver lining? Not only am I getting my exercise, but the walk tuckers out the puppies so I can focus on my homework after the walk without interruption. A tired puppy is a good puppy :)

Fighting Fatigue...

One of my many challenges in life is my Rheumatoid Arthritis. I was diagnosed when I was 17, after 4 years of constant knee pain and inflammation. As I have aged, my RA has started affecting other areas of my body. One thing that I have noticed about my RA, is that it focuses on areas that have been damaged in the past. The knee that started it all was severely bruised when I hit it on a rock while floating down the Yellowstone River the summer I was 13. When I was 20, I was in a car accident that damaged my C2 vertebrae (well, damaged isn't quite the "right" word for it, but it is constantly out of alignment, and only frequent chiropractic adjustments keep it in place). Other aches and pains of crept up throughout the years. I have problems with my left hip and my right ankle (I keep spraining it in my sleep, go figure)... You get the point. Whenever I have a flare-up, the pain is focused in these "damaged" joints throughout my body.

My flare-ups seem to be weather related. Anytime we have a long stretch of nice weather, my body gets used to it. As soon as the weather changes, the sudden increases and decreases in barometric pressure cause me great pain. I was "blessed" with this experience this past Saturday. I had to get out of bed to take care of my dogs, but as soon as they were out and fed, I went back to bed. Fatigue swept over me and I slept for most of the day. I had no energy and any movement would cause excruciating pain. Yeah, it was a lot of fun... The good thing about these types of flare-ups, is that they usually only last a day. The excruciating pain dissipates as I get used to the new barometric pressure. 

Not that this experience is new, but it is getting rather irritating. I have been researching options for increasing my energy levels to fight the fatigue that is an almost daily companion now, but it is difficult. It seems that the only answer is rest (and medication, which is another post altogether). As much as I know that rest is the best thing for me, it isn't a reality. I am the wife of a pilot. That means that I am basically "single" for half of my life while he is off flying somewhere. Not that I begrudge my husband his career, it's just a fact. I am forced to be completely self-reliant a good portion of my life. I have to take care of our dogs, I have to go to work... I am also enrolled in school and working on my Bachelor's Degree. My life is busy and I have little to no time to rest. I notice a difference in my health when I have a 3-day weekend. It seems to take about that long to recharge my batteries.

So, I am at a cross-roads... Do I keep going at the pace that I am going, knowing that when I get home I will be too tired to do anything (chores, homework, walk the dogs, exercise, cook)? Do I reduce my hours at work to allow my self to get enough rest at night and still feel like I have the energy to do everything else in my life? Do I quit my job to work for myself so I can dictate my hours as my energy levels fluctuate?

The only thing I know for sure is that I need more time to rest, either time to take a nap during the day or more time to sleep at night. Until then, I'll just raise my sword and shield (lightweight, of course) and battle my every-day fatigue.

Updates...

The weather didn't cooperate with me and my goal to ride my bike. I could have ridden on Friday, but it was questionable in the morning so I didn't chance it.

Part of getting healthy is dealing with my environmental allergies and asthma. I haven't been able to clean for a long time because of my sensitivity to dust and the chemicals used to clean the house. Since I haven't been able to deep clean without making myself ill, the dust and dog hair has piled up to embarrassing proportions.

So, knowing that I would make myself ill, I just had to clean this weekend. I can't stand the level of filth in my house any longer and it must be dealt with post-haste! That being said, it is slow going... I do a little at a time and then take a rest. I am using as few chemicals as I can in order to keep my reactions down, and I'm dusting and vacuuming as I go along to minimize the dust released into the air... Just a few rooms down and more to go. But, I know that I will start feeling better in a clean environment. I will also need to have a conversation with my husband to see if he will be able to do the deep cleaning on the house in the future when he is home and I am at work. If I can get him to cooperate, then I should be able to maintain a better environment so I won't be so sick as much...

Wish me luck!

Another little step toward my goal...

Took the bike out of storage in the garage and dusted it off. Took it for a spin around the complex just to see if anything else was needed... Nope! It's good to go! I'll be able to ride my bike to work tomorrow :)

(As much as I'd like to admit that this is the result of my goal to get healthy, it is actually brought about by the high price of gasoline at the moment. After paying bills this month, I simply do not have enough left in my budget to get gas at $4.20/gallon... Since I am so close to my office - 15 minutes walking, 10 minutes biking - I'll be self-mobile for a while. I have enough gas in my tank to run a few more errands, but I don't want to use it if I don't have to).

Priorities and Oatmeal Packets

Ok... I admit that I have been letting other things in my life take over my healthy priorities. So, for this week's goals, I will go to the gym everyday after work. Since I can't seem to drag my butt out of bed in the morning, I figure this is the best commitment I can make at this point.

To make sure that I will meet this commitment, I will take care of my "excuse" for not going over the past two weeks... I will repack my gym bag with everything that I need. I keep forgetting one thing or another, and I bought a nice gym bag for that purpose, so I'm going to keep everything together in it. As soon as I get done with this post, my bag will be packed and placed near the front door so I can grab it on my way out in the morning.

Additionally, I will be preparing my breakfast and snacks for work tomorrow tonight. This way, I can make sure I am eating my healthy oatmeal, instead of the sugary Quaker stuff I usually eat at work. Although, there is nothing wrong with Quaker, I make an oatmeal packet that is higher in fiber and Omega-3's, and is more filling and lasts the morning.

So, here's my recipe for Oatmeal packets. I took the initial measurements from another website, and I can't remember which one at the moment, but I put my own twist on it.

Start with snack-size zip bags. I guess you can mix up a big batch and keep it in a container, measuring out the desired amount, but the proportions of the ingredients might be a bit off as some of the finer ingredients tend to settle towards the bottom. I usually make up about 6 days worth of baggies at a time, just to make sure that they don't go bad in my cupboard. I keep the ingredients in air-tight containers when not in use. Some are in quart-sized Mason jars, and some are in Tupperware.

Ingredients:

• Quaker Old-Fashioned Rolled Oats AND Quaker Quick Oats (I like the texture of the combination, but feel free to make adjustments as your tastes require)
• Bob's Red Mill Organic Hot Cereal Mix with Flax
• Brown Sugar
• Salt
• Dried Fruit (what ever kind you like: Blueberries, Raisins, Cranberries, etc)
• Chopped nuts (again, what ever you like: Almonds, Cashews, Pecans, etc) - I like the roasted, salted varieties and I decrease the amount of additional salt when I use these.

Measure out 1/4 c. of Old Fashioned Rolled Oats and 1/8 c. of Quick Oats into each baggie. Add 1-2 Tbsp of the Organic Hot Cereal Mix (you can omit this, but I like the extra fiber and flax that this item adds to my oatmeal. It gives it a unique flavor). Add 1-2 Tbsp brown sugar (to taste) and 1/8-1/4 tsp salt. Add about 1 Tbsp of fruit and 1/2-1 Tbsp of nuts. If you like spice, feel free to add cinnamon or nutmeg or whatever else you prefer. I don't care for spice in my oatmeal and I've discovered that when I eat cinnamon, my palate gets irritated and I tend to sneeze more. Sometimes, I'm in the mood for spice, and I use the mild combination of pumpkin pie spice.

Oddly enough, I haven't measured the amount of water necessary to cook this oatmeal. I just add it until it looks right, and it probably works out to about a 3/4-1 c. I have discovered that when I add the hot cereal mix, I MUST cook this in the microwave for a couple of minutes (microwaves vary - the microwave at work takes 2 minutes, the microwave at home takes about 1 1/2 minutes). If I don't add the cereal, I can just add hot water and let it steep.

This particular mix is quite filling, with the fruit and nuts providing quite a lot of energy to get through the morning. Add any kind of cream (milk, coffee creamer, etc) that you like, if you like. I prefer to add a couple of spoonfuls of vanilla yogurt. It gets nice and creamy and provides another layer of flavor with the tangy yogurt. It is also really good when topped with fresh fruit - Strawberries, bananas, etc. Yummy!

I keep these packets in a basket in my pantry and grab one on my way out the door in the morning. I like that these are so healthy. When I go out hiking for a good portion of the day, I'll make a double batch of oats and add extra fruit and nuts (usually a combination of multiple nut combos). I used to make my packets to this quantity, but I found they were WAY TOO hearty and a little high in calories - somewhere in the 800 range. But, when you are going to be active throughout the day, it is a great way to start a hike!

Whole-Wheat, Egg-Free Zucchini Muffins

I had a zucchini from my organic veggie order a couple of weeks ago and I had to use it before it went bad. The only time in my life that I have ever enjoyed zucchini was when my mom made zucchini bread when I was growing up. She always planted zucchini in the garden, so we almost always had some zucchini bread lying around.

I started my search online for a good egg-free zucchini bread recipe. I found one on on Jazzy Allergy Recipes that sounded easy and tasty. When I found her alternate recipe for Zucchini Muffins, I quickly changed my vote from bread to muffins. I did make a couple of modifications to her recipe, but you can click on recipe to go to the original. The muffin modification recipe is found here.

So, here's my take on this fantastic recipe:

1 1/2 cups whole-wheat flour
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup finely shredded zucchini*
1/4 cup oil
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 tsp vanilla

Preheat the oven to 350 and line a muffin tin with muffin cups. Add the flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda and salt to a bowl and whisk to combine. In a separate bowl, combine the sugar, shredded zucchini, oil, vanilla and applesauce. Add the flour mixture to the zucchini mixture and stir until just moistened*. Fill muffin cups 2/3 full and bake for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let them cool (or eat them hot if you just can't wait any longer, he he he).

*You can peel the zucchini before shredding if you prefer, or you can leave it unpeeled. The peel has extra fiber and looks good in the muffin (in my opinion). Just make sure to wash the zucchini really well if you choose not to peel it.

**Important step! Do not over mix the muffin batter as it will over-develop the gluten and you will end up with hard/chewy muffins. Mix just until you no longer see flour bits, no more. As Alton Brown says - "Just Walk Away" - You'll be glad you did! You'll have nice fluffy, moist muffins, despite the use of whole-wheat flour. Also, it is easy to mix this recipe by hand, so don't use a mixer if you don't have to. A mixer may overmix the batter, which as stated above, will produce bad muffins.

This recipe makes one dozen muffins if you fill each one to just above 2/3 full. I slightly underbaked my muffins (mainly because my husband called me while I was checking on them, so I didn't check them completely) and some of the fuller ones were still a little doughy in the middle. The next time I make them, I will bake them for 20 minutes rather than 15. My zucchini was quite large and I got 2 cups of shredded zucchini from it. I froze 1 cup and will make another batch soon. I will also try the different varieties that Lori lists on her recipe, such as apples or bananas. Ooohh, maybe I'll even try carrot! What a great way to get some extra veggies into my diet (even if they are coated in sugar, flour, and cinnimon)!

I brought them with me to work today and they are a big hit! I have 4 left so far, and it's not even lunch time!