Day Late Humpastry Day - Homemade Granola

Welcome new followers!  I cannot believe I have over 90! Woohoo!  I'm hoping to make it around to your blogs soon, if you have one, but I'm just having a hard time keeping up with it all this week!  Hopefully I'll be back on track soon. :)
Homemade Granola:

Where are the days going?  I seriously thought today was Wednesday.  So, when my alarm for my Masters Swim class went off this morning at 5AM I was really confused for awhile.  Until I realized what day it actually was.  I think between getting things put away from our camping trip and getting ready for my oldest son's birthday party this weekend, my mind has just been a frazzled mess!  

So, without further ado, I bring you a delicious and healthy recipe for homemade granola.  I've had this in my recipe box for a long time and I have no idea where the original recipe came from.  I wish I could take credit for it because it is really good.  It is super easy to make and will stay good up to 2 weeks in an airtight container.  Plus, it will save you mucho dinero making it yourself instead of buying granola from the store.

Ingredients:
Makes about 5 cups of granola (serving size is 1/2C)

*  2/3C packed light brown sugar
*  1/3C unsweetened apple sauce
*  2C old-fashioned oats
*  1/2C chopped almonds
*  1/4C ground flaxseed
*  2/3C nut-like cereal (I just realized I forgot this in the picture..oops!)
*  2/3C dried cherries (you can use any dried fruit that you prefer, but I think cherries and almond extract go really well together)
*  1/2C green pumpkin seeds (toasted pepitas)
*  1/2tsp. cinnamon
*  1/4tsp. almond extract
*  1/8tsp. salt

Directions:
1.  Combine all ingredients except sugar and cider in a medium sized bowl and set aside.
2.  In a large nonstick skillet, combine the sugar and cider.  Bring to a boil over medium-high heat and cook for 2-3 minutes, until sugar is dissolved.
3.  Stir in all of the other ingredients and cook 5 more minutes, stirring frequently, until granola is lightly browned.  I love this step because it smells so good while it's cooking!  Yum! 

4.  Transfer to a large cookie sheet sprayed with nonstick spray or lined with parchment paper.  **Note:  My father-in-law gave me the coolest thing!  It's called a Silpat and you can use it in place of parchment paper for all your baking/cooking.  It is nonstick and cleans up really easily.  You can see it in the picture underneath the granola.  The best part is that I don't have to buy parchment paper because I can just reuse the Silpat over and over again!  (Another way to be "green") :)  

5.  Let granola cool completely.
6.  Break it apart into pieces and store in an airtight container.
8.  Eat as cereal with milk, mixed with yogurt, as a snack, or eat it right off the cookie sheet!  This stuff is soooo good! :)

Camping Fun and Rain

I just have to say that the area we went to, the Collegiate Peaks Wilderness, is absolutely beautiful.  We were literally surrounded by 14ers (mountain over 14,000 feet).  Because hiking all of the 14ers in Colorado is one of the items on my bucket list, it was hard for me to be that close to them knowing that I wouldn't be hiking any of them.  But, it's only a couple (or 5) more years until we can go hiking with our boys up those beautiful mountains.  Here are some pictures of the mountains we could see by our campsite.  I know, BEAUTIFUL!

We arrived at the campsite in the afternoon and the day was sunny and windy, but actually nice enough for just a small fleece jacket!  We decided to explore the area and came across a little hiking trail that eventually led up to one of the mountains.  The boys grabbed their walking sticks and off we went.

 




My husband and oldest son walking along the trail

Me and my boys! :)

A cool bridge that crossed the river.  And, of course, they each had throw 10 different sticks and leaves into it!

              My youngest heading up the trail.











Later that evening after dinner and smores it started to rain.  First it was a little sprinkle, then it quickly started raining harder.  We headed into the tent where we stayed for the rest of the night.  It rained ALL night long.  I was dreading the morning thinking about trying to eat breakfast in the rain and having to spend the entire day in the tent with a 3 and 5 year old.  Not fun!  One nice thing about the rain though was that it made for an amazing background noise and we all drifted off to sleep.

To my delight, when we woke up the rain had stopped.  The sky was weird though.  It would be cloudy, then sunny, then cloudy and windy.  We couldn't tell what the day was going to be like, but it was quite a bit colder.  We actually had to bundle our boys up in their winter jackets and we all put on our wool hats!  We ate breakfast then headed out on another adventure to find some good fishing spots.  As we were leaving our campsite we could see a light dusting of snow on the tops of the mountains that had fallen over night.  We hoped that it wasn't coming our way.  Finally, we came across a little reservoir that was a perfect place for our boys to "fish."  We didn't catch anything, but they still had fun!

 Here are my boys standing at the top of this little hill that overlooks the reservoir.  Can you see the sky?  It is a sign of what is to come.

We left the reservoir and headed down a road to a small stream.  My husband and oldest son got out to fish while I stayed in the car with my youngest.  While we were waiting for them a ranger truck pulled up next to us.  He told us that they had just gotten warning of a storm that was moving over the mountains.  The storm was bringing high winds, rain, possible hail, and snow.  Snow?

We headed back to camp, ate some lunch and debated what to do.  Another ranger came by our campsite and told us to "get prepared."  We decided to wait out the storm in our tent because there was no way we could get it all packed up in time.  No sooner had we got in our tent that it started to rain again.  Then, the winds came.  We could see the trees through the sky window in our tent and they were swaying back and forth crazily.  One nice thing about this storm was that it happened around nap time.  So, after awhile, again with the sound of the wind and the rain, we all fell asleep.

2 1/2 hours later, we woke up!  I cannot tell you how long it has been since I have taken a 2 1/2 hour nap.  It was soooo nice.  We stayed in the tent awhile trying to figure out what to do.  Finally, we decided that the rain and wind were not likely to stop and we should pack up and head home.  Again, spending hours in a tent is not fun for us or our boys, and we knew that if we stayed, that is most likely what we would be doing.  When we got out of the tent however, it was sunny again!  What is going on with this weather???  We actually stopped packing up and debated, again, whether we should go or stay.  But, one look at the clouds over the mountains told us we needed to pack up.  This is the same picture as the first one at the beginning of this post.  Do you see the new snow?  And the ominous clouds?

As we were packing up, the rain started, again.  Do you see a theme here?  We finally got everything loaded up and headed out.  Any doubts we had about leaving were soon crushed as we started driving through rain, hail, and then snow!  We are almost positive that it rained at the campsite for the remainder of the day.  And, the weather didn't get any better as we headed back to Denver.  It rained the entire time.  We finally made it home around 9:30pm, put the boys to bed, and left everything in the car to be unloaded in the morning.

Although we didn't get to stay two nights as planned, we still had a blast.  The boys had a great time hiking, fishing, and playing in the dirt.  And my husband and I had a great time just getting away for awhile.  We are already planning our next trip!  Except this time, we'll plan it on a weekend when it's not supposed to rain!  

And we're off!

Can you guess where we're going?

How about now?

I'll give you a hint, look at the items in the bottom of the picture! :)

That's right, we're going camping!!!  My husband and I are taking our boys camping for the first time this season and they are so excited!  Every year we go camping with them, and spend a couple of nights in the great outdoors.  But, now that they're 3 and 5, and more independent, it is going to be really fun!

So, for now, my training weekend that is usually filled with a long run and a long bike ride, will be replaced with fishing, hiking, and lots and lots of relaxation.  I cannot wait!

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!  :)
 

Humpastry Day - Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie:

(This is my sorry attempt at making a lattice type top crust.  I know it's not pretty, but I'm no Martha Stewart.  Plus, we get over it pretty quickly once we cut into it and gobble it up!) 

Alright, let me just say this right now so there is no confusion.  There is absolutely nothing healthy about this pie, unless you count the fact that it has some fruit in it! :)   I know Humpastry Day is supposed to be about tweaking recipes to incorporate healthier ingredients in them, but I just couldn't resist making this.  Let me explain.  My neighbor that lives behind us grows rhubarb in his garden every year.  And every year he asks us if we want some.  I never pass up free homegrown goodies, so of course I say yes.

When I lived in KS as a kid, my grandma grew the most amazing rhubarb in her garden.  I have very fond memories of sitting down with a stalk of rhubarb in one hand and a small bowl of sugar on the table.  We would lick the rhubarb, dip it in the sugar, then eat a big chunk of sugared covered goodness!  It was soooo yummy!  When I got the stalks from my neighbor, I of course, sat down with my boys with our own stalks and bowls of sugar.  I think they liked it! :)

 Anyways, back to the pie.  I got a great recipe for Strawberry Rhubarb pie from my neighbor's wife (who's in her 80's by the way) and it is simple and delicious!  There is only a certain time of year when strawberries and rhubarb are in season together, so we only get to eat this wonderful pie during the end of spring/early summer.  But, that's o-kay with us, because it is something that we all look forward to every year because it has become a sort of family tradition.  :)  I made this pie this weekend to celebrate my race and my husband's century ride and it was an awesome treat!  


Ingredients:

*  1 1/2C sugar
*  1/4 tsp. salt
*  1/4 tsp. nutmeg
*  3C rhubarb cut into 1/2" pieces
*  1C sliced strawberries
*  2Tbl. cornstarch
*  1/4C water
*  1 egg
*  2- 9" pastry crusts
Directions:
1.  Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2.  In a small bowl, mix the water and cornstarch in a small bowl until cornstarch is dissolved.  Set aside.
3.  Combine the sugar, salt, and nutmeg in a large bowl.

4.  Add in the fruit and cornstarch mixture.

5.  Mix well and let sit for ~20minutes.

6.  Beat an egg and brush the egg on the bottom of the pie crust.  This will prevent it from getting soggy.
7.  Spoon the mixture into a 9" pastry crust.

8.  Top with latice pieces or a regular crust.
9.  Bake at 425 for 15min.  Then turn down the oven to 375 degrees and bake for 45 min. more.  **Note: because this pie uses fresh ingredients, it gets pretty juicy and tends to drip in the oven.  What I do is put a cookie sheet lined with aluminum foil on the rack below the pie.  If any juice drips down, it falls on the foil instead of the bottom of the oven.  Easy peasy clean up! :) 
10.  Turn off oven and let sit inside for 10minutes.
11.  Remove from oven and let cool a little bit.
12.  Serve warm with a scoop of your favorite vanilla ice cream.
13.  Enjoy!

O-kay, I know this looks more like mush than a piece of pie, but I didn't have an egg to put on the crust, so it got pretty soggy.  But, it was still delicious!

They say it's your birthday, da da da da dada, It's my birthday too, yaa! 
In other news,  my birthday was yesterday!  I turned the big 3-4, which means I only have one more year before I move up to a new AG category.  Yikes!  I had a wonderful day that started with an awesome gift certificate from my husband to Spavia Spa for a sports massage.  Ahhh....seriously, just what I need!  I cannot wait to schedule my massage!  Then, I spent the day with my boys going to story time, swim lessons, and playing outside.  We ended up going to dinner for sushi, then coming home to this for dessert:

 My sister sent us an Edible Arrangement and it is amazing!  I have always wondered what they are really like, and let me tell you, they are awesome!  The fruit is fresh and the chocolate is absolutely delicious!  This one even had a mix of milk chocolate and peanut butter chocolate (my favorite combo!).  Yum, yum, yum!  And, once the fruit is all gone (which will be soon), I have a super cute pot to plant flowers in.  It is a great gift!  Thanks, sis! :)  

Hard Core Challenge

source

As if I don't already have enough on my schedule with HIM training and marathon training, I've decided to take on something else:  a 30 day Hard Core Challenge.  I read about the challenge at Good 'N' Weird here and thought it would be a great challenge.  After all, having a strong core is pretty much essential as a triathlete.  I've been trying to do more core exercises, and while some weeks I'm consistent, for the most part I usually drop the ball when it comes to doing them.  So, I thought the challenge would be a good way to keep me motivated.  And just so you know, that is unfortunately NOT a picture of me, but maybe my abs will look a tad similar by the end of this! :) 

I wasn't able to start on June 1st because 1) I didn't know about it until June 3rd, and 2) I had my tri on Friday and didn't want the potential of sore abs for my race.  So, I started the challenge on the 6th.  I think there is a good mix of exercises and I love how she incorporates some yoga moves.  In fact, I think those are the hardest ones!  

Kristina at Good 'N' Weird is taking before and after pictures and measurements, but I won't be doing any of that.  Hopefully I'll be able to see the changes and feel them during my swims, bike rides, and runs.  Because after all, I'm not doing this to look good in a bathing suit.  I'm doing it to become stronger and healthier.  But, on the other hand, it would be nice to have killer abs like Beth at Shut Up and Run! or EMZ at If I can't convince you --I'll at least confuse you!  :) 

   

Metro Brokers Sprint Tri Race Report

My first race of the season is done, and for the most part it was a total blast!  The Metro Brokers Triathlon was a really small (only 131 people total), low-key sprint tri that was perfect for my first tri of the season.  I am so glad I decided to do it and I will definitely do it again next year.  Below is my race report and I must warn you that it's a little long!  For those of you who don't want to read the whole thing, here's a preview of what is to come:

Pre-Race:

I have to say that it was kind of strange having a race that didn't start until 6pm.  I was more anxious than nervous about the race, but all day my stomach had that queasy, nauseous feeling.  It was hard to eat and keep the water down because I just felt weird all day.  As the day went on, it got hotter and hotter (91 degrees to be exact) and I was hoping that we would get at least some cloud cover for our race.  

Since the race was so close to our house, I decided to just pack all my stuff in my TYR Backpack and ride my bike to the race.  Around 4, I got dressed, then headed out.  It took me about 20minutes to ride there and I arrived sweaty and hot.  I found a good place to rack my bike, set up my transition area, and went to packet pick-up.  While I was getting my packet, Kathleen from  Dare to Dream came up to me.  I was so happy to finally meet her that I gave her a hug.  :)  We chatted a little bit and then went our separate ways.  It was so hot in the transition area that I felt like my skin was burning (it wasn't thanks to gobs of sunscreen)!  I actually couldn't wait to get into the water!

With only 15min. till the start, I started to put my wetsuit on.  I have the DeSoto two-piece wetsuit, and while the bibjohn went on fine, the top was a nightmare!  For some reason I got my arms twisted, so when I went to put it over my head, it was a twisted mess.  I took it off and tried again, except this time I was sweating profusely and could not for the life of me get the darn sleeves over my hand!  I actually had to ask a volunteer to help pull it up my arm.  We did the best we could and I headed to the swim start.  As I was walking to the beach, I saw my husband ride up on his bike with the boys in the burley.  I was so glad they made it in time!   He snapped this pic just before I headed to the start.  See how my head looks wet?  Yeah, that's from sweat!  And see how my sleeves are so far down over my hands?  Ugh..I could not get them pulled up (can you foresee a problem with the swim?)

Swim:

There were 3 swim waves, and all the women (52 in all) were in the 3rd wave.  I tried to look for Kathleen to wish her luck, but everyone looks the same in wetsuits, goggles, and a swim cap and I couldn't figure out where she was!  We started on the beach, ran in between two swim buoys, then made a sharp left to swim out to the first buoy.  This made for a huge bottleneck right at the start and I got kicked in the face bad enough to knock my goggles off my right eye.  Thank god I put my goggles on under my swim cap because I think they would have come off completely!  That rattled me a little bit, so I did the breast stroke for awhile to calm down, then tried to find my groove.  I never found it.  Once you reach the first buoy, you turn right and swim parallel to the beach to the second.  There were crazy waves caused by the motorboats and jetskis that just kept pounding me.  And for some reason, I couldn't figure out how to swim through the waves without getting a gallon of water in my mouth each time.  I would be swimming, and then all of a sudden swallow tons of water.  Again, I would do the breast stroke until I got my breath back.  It sucked!  Plus, my wetsuit just didn't feel right while I swam and I just couldn't find my groove.  I was so discouraged and I just wanted it to be done.  I thought for sure I was going to be one of the last ones out of the water.  Finally, I reached the beach and ran up towards the transition area.  My husband got a picture of me running. Why are swim exit pictures so horrible?

Swim Stats:
Distance: 880 yds.     Time: 19:58 (includes running from the beach to the transition area)   
Swim Place: 77/131 (Boo!)


I know my swim time sucked, but honestly, I was so happy with that time.  With how much I struggled, I thought it would be a lot slower!  I'm still trying to figure out how to not let myself get so freaked out in the swim part.  Hopefully my next race will go much better.  

T1: Time:  1:35.  Ugh!  I was breathing so hard from the swim, had a hard time getting my wetsuit off, and was just frazzled, so this time was just blah!   
Bike:

I headed out of the transition area and just started riding as hard as I could.  I knew that I had a lot of time to make up from my horrible swim, and I knew that I could potentially pass a lot of people on the bike.  Because I ride the roads around Cherry Creek all of the time, I knew the course really well.  I knew when the hills were coming and where the flats were.  I got in aero position and just rode.  I passed a lot of people, including some men that were in the waves ahead of me, and I never once got passed!  Woohoo!  I was having a blast and I was loving every second of it.  Plus, this is what I found on my bike (it's kind of hard to see, but my husband wrote little notes on my bike.  It was perfect!).

Before I knew it, I was back at the transition area.  I heard my husband and boys cheering me on, and that gave me an extra boost of energy!

Bike Stats:
Distance: 12M     Time:  35:09     Avg. Speed:  20.5MPH      Bike Place: 34/131

T2:  Time: 1:05   I have to work on this time too.  I waisted time putting on my visor and race belt in transition rather than carrying them out with me and putting them on during the run.  You think I would know this by now, but I haven't raced since Oct. and I guess I've forgotten everything!  
Run:

By now, thankfully, there were a few clouds in the sky and it wasn't as hot.  This was awesome because the run course had pretty much no shade.  I took off running and my legs actually felt better than I thought they would.  Gotta love those brick workouts! :)  I felt a little slow, but when I looked at my Garmin I was running around 7:10.  Woa!  I couldn't believe it.  I didn't know if I could hold the pace, but I was sure going to try.  I saw several women in front of me and made it my mission to try and catch them.  I passed several of them, and then I saw the first woman coming back from her run.  I congratulated her and kept on going.  I was feeling really good, but at the turn around I really needed some water.  My mouth was extremely dry, so I stopped for two steps to drink some water (I cannot run and drink from a cup at the same time) and then started back up.  There were a couple of rolling hills on the course, but I actually liked it because it kept it interesting.  At one point I heard my husband behind me shouting, "You're doing great, you're almost done, keep going!"  It was great, because as I was getting closer to the finish, I saw two more girls that were in front of me that looked like they were slowing down.  I passed them, one after the other, and just. kept. running.  Pretty soon I could see the finish line and I saw my husband and boys on the side of the course ringing their cow bells saying, "Go, Mommy Go!"  I smiled, and waved and sprinted to the finish!  It was an awesome run!

Run Stats:   
Distance:  3.1M        Time:  21:10     Pace:  7:04/M      Run Place: 21/131

I was ecstatic when I saw my run time!  I couldn't believe that I ran at an average pace of 7:04!  Later, when I checked my Garmin though, it showed the distance as 2.85.  What?!?  And, Kathleen also mentioned that the run was short as well.  Bummer!!!  Even if it was short, I am still super excited about the run!

Post-Race:
I headed out to find my family and ran into the lady that won.  We chatted for a couple of minutes and she was super nice!  After getting some food and hanging out for a little while with my family, they announced that some of the results were up already.  We were getting ready to leave, but I told him I wanted to check my time first.  I headed over and found my name.  I scrolled across and I could not believe what I saw!  Under division place it said 1/10!  What?!?  I was so shocked that I actually asked some guy standing next to me if that meant I won my division.  I know, I'm such a dork!  I literally ran over to my husband and told him I won!  Woohoo!  He asked if I wanted to stay for the awards.  Since I've never won an award in a tri before and probably never will, we of course decided to stay!  By this time it was close to 8pm and our boys were getting a little loopy, but they were little troopers and got really excited when they found out I was getting an award!  Finally, they started the ceremony, and when they called my name I brought my boys up with me.  It was so cute!

Final Stats:
Overall Time: 1:18:56
Overall Place: 38/131
Sex. Place: 6/52
Div (30-34)Pl: 1/10










Oh, and check out the swag:

We didn't get a t-shirt, but I think a workout towel, Gu, Stay put hair bands, chap stick, medal, and a reusable shopping bag is pretty awesome for a small event!

Random happenings and advice needed

I hope everyone had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend!

Random Happenings:
*  I got to go on a long bike ride on Sunday, and finally Mother Nature didn't get in my way.  It was an awesome ride and I got to stay in aero almost the entire time.  The only thing that sucked about the ride was all of the bugs that were out and about.  I was literally getting pelted by these little black bugs.  I think I swallowed a handful of them, which was really really gross!  Here is a picture of part of my arm after my ride.  See the little black spots...those are dead bugs, and that is just a small sampling of what was all over my arms and legs!

*  I had an embarrassing fall on my road bike on Monday.  My husband and I loaded up the boys in the burley, packed a picnic lunch, and headed to the Cherry Creek Reservoir.  We knew that it would be crazy busy, but we figured since we were riding our bikes that it wouldn't be as bad.  We really wanted to take the boys by the reservoir so they could see all of the boats, jet-skis, etc.. in the water.  When we got to the res. it was really, really busy.  There were bikers, cars, trucks, etc. everywhere!  Anyways, we were going down a multi-use trail when we came to a place where we had to cross over the main road to continue on the trail.  My husband was in front of me with the burley.  I looked both ways and there was a big truck coming, but it was far enough away that we could have passed safely.  I just assumed my husband was going to cross, but he stopped.  I had to slam on my brakes and couldn't get clipped out in time.  So, I fell over and scrapped my knee pretty bad.  It was a little embarrassing, but I'm just glad I didn't hurt myself any more than I did.  It really would have sucked to have had an injury that would have prevented me from doing my tri on Friday because I fell over!

Now for the advice:

source

I am doing my first sprint tri of the season on Friday.  I am really excited about it because it's fairly small and right by my house.  Anyways, the tri starts at 6pm.  Usually, with morning tris, I eat a bagel with peanut butter and honey a couple of hours before the start time and I'm good to go for the race.  With an evening start though, I have no idea what to do!  Here's where I would really appreciate your thoughts and advice on what you think I should do.

Right now, I'm leaning towards eating my bagel with PB and honey around 4ish, then having a quick Gu or something before the swim start.  But, I don't know if that will be enough.  I usually eat dinner at 6pm, so I'm assuming I will be starving at race time.  I don't want to eat a huge meal before the race, but I also don't want to bonk during the race either (not that I think I would bonk, but you get the idea).

Oh yeah, and the temperature on Friday is supposed to be 92...the hottest day yet.  Yikes!  I'm hoping that it won't be too bad by 6pm, but it will probably still be in the 80s.  It should make for an interesting race!