Herb Cubes

One of my favorite Hippy Tricks!

I love to cook with fresh herbs, I love to grow herbs.  However, I have terrible luck growing them indoors and it's worse in the winter!  So I buy them when I need them.  But at $2 or more a bunch, I hate to just use the little I need and then... what?  They don't last that long.  Especially once you've started chopping and tearing them to pieces.

So, this.  Chop your herbs finely (or not, depending on your preference) and portion them out in an ice cube tray.  Top them off with water and freeze.  Yes, they don't hold up that well in terms of appearance, but any juices and oils that they lose just end up in the water.

Once they're frozen solid, you can liberate your ice cube tray by just transferring them to a zipper bag.  Don't forget to label though!  You don't want a freeze full of unidentified green stuff in baggies.

This is also a great trick to help the cooking impaired in your house!  Premeasure the spices/seasonings for their favorite dished into ice cube trays, and notate how many cubes they need to add to the pot!  Perfect every time!

Christmas Cookies.

So, on Sunday, I decided to make some Christmas cookies.  But if you know me, you know that A) I try to tailor things very specifically to the people they're for and B) I don't do anything halfway.  So there would be NO ORDINARY COOKIES!  Well, except one batch, someone's favorite cookie is Sugar Cookies.

I had 4 cookie gifts to make and this is the criteria I was up against.
1) Sugar Cookies are Tom's favorite.
2) Marnie loves Chai Tea.
3) Dane specifically asked that I make my Chocolate Cherry Cayenne Cookies again.
4) I needed something Super Special for Eric, who had given me NO HINTS.

So, grab for the Cooky Book (I have a reprint of the 1963 Betty Crocker Cooky Book) but it's NOWHERE.  GONE.  Probably packed up in the basement.

But that's what the internet's for, right?

Search:  Sugar Cookies.
Found:  Allrecipes.com Easy Sugar Cookies, that though bookmarked, I can't find again because the bookmark apparently directs to All Recipes Argentina, even though it didn't 2 days ago.  And a new search yields the same error.  But at any rate, they turned out to be chewy, sweet, perfect sugar cookies.
Result:  I'm not sure Tom's kids actually got any of them, because I don't think they survived the day at work.

Search: Russian Tea Cookies.  I'm thinking that these are a pretty bland cookie on their own, but could easily be changed into a Chai Tea Cookie.
Found: Betty Crocker's Russian Tea Cakes.  We mixed some good cinnamon from Penzey's into the powdered sugar for rolling them in, subbed chopped almonds for the usual walnuts or pecans, and used Trader Joe's Spicy Chai Latte Mix instead of most of the powdered sugar in the dough.  After accidentally throwing a few on the floor, we discovered an awesome, mild, spice cookie with a hint of black tea.
Result:  Marnie loved them!  And shared with Carol who agreed!

Search: Nestle's White Chip Chocolate Cookies.  I have it here somewhere!  Ah, there's the bag of white chips.
Found:  After tearing the kitchen apart, I found the recipe I based my Chocolate Cherry Cayenne Cookies on.  I use the same recipe for the dough, but Semi Sweet Chips instead of the White, and then I add Dried Cherries, more of the cinnamon from Penzey's and ground Cayenne.  Except this time we had Cherry Flavored Cranberries instead of Cherries.  (Oops, grabbed the wrong thing in a hurry)
Result: I already know that Dane loves these cookies.

Search: Unique Cookie Recipes.  I still need something for Eric and I'm out of ideas.
Found: After a few false starts, (I didn't have parchment for Meringues, and so on) I settled on Thumbprint Cookies thinking I had to have some kind of interested thing to add to these.  And I found it in the pantry: Blueberry Limoncello Jam from Bittersweet Herb Farm.  I added a few packets of True Lemon to some water to dissolve it and added that, plus a bit of extra flour to the cookie dough and topped them with the Blueberry Jam.
Result: I haven't heard from Eric, but everyone else who's had them loved them!

So all in all, a successful cookie baking day.  I'll get some of the details of the recipes posted over the next few days, but for now, I need to get onto the laundry I've been avoiding.

Buffalo Wing Spread

Been looking for more dairy-free and minimally dairy options for my sandwiches, and I concocted this little beauty tonight. It's not totally dairy free because the Ranch Mix has dry buttermilk in it, but it's better than putting cheese on my sandwich.

And it's super easy!

8 oz. tub of Tofutti's Better Than Cream Cheese
6 oz. Frank's Red Hot Wings! Sauce
1/2 packet Hidden Valley Ranch dressing mix.

 Combine all ingredients in food processor or blender until mixed. Enjoy!

Appalachian Trail: 2 days - 22 miles, or That was the plan, anyway.

Let me first say, we did not make the whole 22 miles.  We didn't camp out, we didn't go out the second day.  There was no way Dave could have done it.  We did however, cover approximately 14 miles, in one day.

Since I was a little kid, I've often seen hikers on a particular stretch of PA 248 and thought they must be having an amazing adventure.  I love the Appalachian Trail, but have mostly hiked and rehiked the same section and always assumed I'd never hike a big enough piece to brag about it.

A couple of summers ago, Dave and I decided to change that.  We were going to hike 22 miles - from the Smith Gap Crossing out to Bake Over Knob.  We planned to take the Winter Trail at Lehigh Gap to avoid the sometimes near vertical descent into the gap, well aware that it would add a bit of distance.

The first summer we were going to go, I go a jury duty summons.  The next year, house fire and dislocated knee for me.  The next year, broken elbow and surgery for Dave.  This year was it.  We're going to do it.  Rain or shine, come hell or high water, nothing's going to stop us!

We decided to start in Smith Gap and head south for several reasons.  It put the longer distance on the first day, but it also put the descent into Lehigh Gap on the first day, and allowed us to leave my car at The Knob, where there's an actual parking lot.  Smith Gap Crossing only has 3 parking spaces along the road.

Friday night we dropped my car at the parking lot near Bake Oven Knob, went out for dinner and headed to Dave's house to pack.

Saturday morning, up at 5:30 am, we double checked our packs, filled our canteens and Dave's dad dropped us off at the Smith Gap crossing.  

7:38a to All We are officially on our own!

I sent our first check-in text out when we were about 50 yards down the trail, we didn't want Dave's dad to think we had run into trouble already.

The morning was pretty uneventful.  We hadn't even opened our canteens when we got to Stempa Spring, so we didn't even head down to check if it was running.  Same at the Delps Spring.  In retrospect, we should have checked anyway, it would have been good information to pass on to hikers passing in the opposite direction.

Our first good photo op for something we haven't already photographed a zillion times.  Crossing under the tower lines always bugs me, you can hear the electricity humming in the wires.

8:53a to Jesse Brought my camera, extra batteries, bought a dry pack to keep it in.  Forgot my memory card!

Also, a chance for Jesse to have a laugh at my expense.  Out comes the cell.  Apparently, there will be sparse photos for this epic adventure.  Oops.

We've stopped for a bit of a rest, and a joking text to a co-worker.

11:40a to Tom Passed a girl in a bikini top a while back.  Thought you'd want to know.

We're happy with our progress so far.  Resting as we need to. Covering a lot of ground.  Greeting other hikers who had more information for us that we did for them.

As we made the final approach to the Little Gap crossing, we see a hand-written sign, promising there is running water just a bit down the road from the crossing.

12:50p to All Stopping for lunch at Little Gap crossing.  Having a blast, greeting lots of other hikers, making good time.  Will check after lunch on a lead for a water source we hadn't counted on!

The water source lead didn't pan out.  This went a long way towards making the day much harder than it would have been.  Then we packed up our bags, made sure we had collected all of our trash and started in on the next segment.  Only to be greeted by a sign notifying us that due to the Zinc Company Superfund Bioremediation Site, the next 4 miles of trail have been relocated.  

Oh, well.  Off we go.  And immediately stop.  To allow a 4+ ft black snake to cross the trail.  This was the largest animal we encountered the entire day, with the only others worth mentioning being several small toads and a fire newt.

As we're getting further and further out, we're beginning to realize how short we are on water and how much longer the relocation has made the trip.  Instead of crossing through State Game Lands, we're skirting the outside edge, making the trip almost 2 miles longer than we had planned for.

But we had a great view of Palmerton, even if the photo doesn't show it!

3:20p to Jesse Closing in on Lehigh Gap slowly, but surely.  Dave is not having as much fun as I am.

Dave was getting cranky and the sight of a small but sprawling town slowly panning by was not helping his mood.  By this point we were beginning to separate a bit, he was charging along ("At this point I only have 2 speeds: stop and go."), while I was chugging along at a comfortable pace for me and my knee and taking rests as needed.

4:45p to All Not as close to the shelter as we'd like to be, but I've conquered one of the sections I was afraid of with little difficulty.

We're overlooking the Lehigh Gap Bridge here, knowing the river is our first access to additional water, and that it will take 30 minutes once we're there to make it potable.  Dave is giving in at this point, calls his dad to see about meeting us with water.  Not that I'm not suffering to, but I'm not willingly to give in as easily.  I know we can be ok, not comfortable, but safe, with what we've got until we can get to the river.

5:14p to Lisa I'm beat, Dave's exhaused.  We'll get there, but we lost a lot of time, energy and water to the path relocation.

5:16p to Lisa Nowhere to camp until the shelter.

We finally made it to the East Lot at Lehigh Gap. 

 To me, it's a victory.  Just across the bridge and above the tree line is the shelter, lack of water be damned, we'll make it.

To Dave, this is the chance to give up before we hurt ourselves.

We dropped down from the lot onto Rt 248, taking those few steps I had so often envied hikers for taking and crossed the bridge to the West lot, just below the spring and shelter.  Over the course of crossing the bridge it becomes obvious that Dave will not make it to the shelter.  Too tired, too thirsty, too achy.  He's got blisters and sore knees, a bruised ego.  His parents can't come pick us up until much later, so I call my mom.

We sit, waiting for my mom, and I'm staring across the road at the last set of blazes we made it to.

We've been gifted most of a Gatorade from another hiker, who's just heading out and didn't want to carry the bottle on the trail.  I give Dave most of it.  He needs it more.

I text everyone from my mom's.

 7:48p to All Decided not to camp at the shelter.  The trail relocation due to the Superfund Bioremediation Site added unexpected mileage and Dave couldn't make it any further.  He's sleeping at home, I'm at my mom's.  Depending how he feels in the morning, we may try to finish up anyway.

In the morning, Dave's not much better off.  I feel like I could do it, and my mom is seriously considering coming with me so I can, in spite of having injured her foot last week.  After much consideration, it's not worth the risk to my mom's foot, and it feels wrong to finish without Dave somehow.

We head out to get my car and take a few minutes to make the short climb up to Bake Oven Knob, which would have been the last vista before the parking lot had we made the second day.

I'm a bit disappointed that we couldn't finish, but it was the right choice for both of our safety in the long run. And hey, it's not like 14 miles in one day, in the mountains is anything to sneeze at.

We'll try again, with more water, and better shoes in spring.

Rabbit Food and other Healthy Snacks!

First of all a huge, huge Thank You! to Lisa, who has been unbelievably helpful to me these last couple of weeks.

A couple of Saturdays ago, I wasn't feeling well near the end of work.  My blood sugar sometimes get a bit lower than it should if I haven't eaten enough or often enough, so I went into the breakroom to forage.  I didn't have any change for the vending machine, so I ate the last cookie from the cookie demo and raided the stash of freezepops in the freezer.  And after a bit I felt better.  Then I started to feel shaky, dizzy and so on, again.

I figured it was because I didn't eat much for lunch, so I grabbed a sandwich, soda and sweet potato fries at Burger King on the way home.  I ate the fries and finished the soda in the car and brought the sandwich inside to eat.  Just out of curiosity, I used the Nephew's glucose meter to check my blood sugar.  And it was high,  Like DIABETIC high.  So, I'm thinking it's a bad test strip or a glitch and I check again.  And I'm a couple points higher.

Don't finish the sandwich, drink some water, wait an hour.  Still high, but much lower.  So I fix myself a low carb dinner (pork chop and asparagus) and test myself an hour later.  Totally normal.  I have a snack, test an hour later, not too high, but higher than I should be.  Now keep in mind, I've never had high blood sugar before, I've never been diagnosed diabetic.

So after much debate, I call the on-call line for my doctor's office.  The on-call returns my call, I explain what's going on and over top of the screaming kids in the background, she tells me that my BG numbers are totally normal for a diabetic, it's ok to be scared if this is new to me, but I should keep taking my diabetes meds and call my regular doctor on Monday.  Then, and this is the kicker, tells me that if I didn't know my numbers, I wouldn't be worried about them, so I should just not test my blood sugar until I see the doctor.

WAIT!  WHAT????

She just told someone she's assuming is newly diagnosed diabetic, not to test themselves???  Are you kidding me??  Talk about reckless and irresponsible.

So I saw my doctor Monday, who echoed my thought about the on-call, and was also concerned about my blood sugar numbers. She recommends starting on a low carb diet, continuing to try to be more active and lets get some weight off and see what happens.  Also, some bloodwork.

 So a little bit of bloodwork and a week's worth of checking my blood sugar later, I have another appointment.

My a1c (a measure of your average blood sugar over the last 3 months) looks great, my fasting glucose number was fine, my cholesterol is beautiful and I've lost 8 lbs.

The conclusion:  Apparently, I'm not actually diabetic, I just need to eat and exercise like I am so that I continue to not be.

I'm a crackers and pretzels kind of snacker, so this is taking some adjustment.  To the surprise of everyone around me, I haven't been devastated about giving up sweets, or about being the next best thing to actually diabetic.  The biggest problem is, I don't know much about low carb snacking and so much of the stuff at the grocery store that says low carb is filled with chemicals, which I'm rather not eat.

I'm a big fan of not eating things I can't pronounce, but I'm soooo tired of eating carrots.  Any ideas?

So there!

A couple of weeks ago, I posted that my doctor thinks I'm not active enough.  She also said that probably my erratic work schedule makes my weight even harder to manage because my body never knows when to expect food.

Little did she know, I have hikes planned almost every other week for the entire summer.  My friend Dave and I will be hiking 22 miles on the Appalachian Trail this summer (Smith Gap to Bake Oven Knob/Rt 309) and we've been checking out the segments of the trail one at a time so there's less chance for surprise on the long hike.

We're planning to hit the trail early the first day because the first segment of the hike is the longest, and then we can take our time a little more the second day.

We hiked the Smith Gap to Little Gap segment on Saturday morning and I took a few pictures.

Good morning!  

The initial plan was to hit the trail by 6am, which didn't happen due to a GPS snafu (Thanks, Dave!), but we were still on out way before 7am, so I'll take it.

We saw several deer, including a couple of fawns, and tons of caterpillar and inchworms, but the thing I was most excited to see was this little guy.  Look close at the orange patch near the center, it's a newt!  This is maybe only the second or third time I've ever seen one in the woods, so it pretty well made my day.

This is the first vista we paused to look at, just west of Delps.  I'm not 100% sure what town we're looking at here, but it's in Moore Township.  Does anybody know???

The second vista that we took a long pause for was this one closer to Danielsville and Little Gap.  It's a large boulder field and I believe it's very near to Blue Mountain Ski Area.

All in all, it was a great hike, though it took a bit longer than we had anticipated.  We have one more segment of the the trail we want to check out before the long hike and that's Lehigh Furnace Gap to Bake Oven Knob/Rt 309, which will be our last leg on the longer trip.

***

It's amazing how once you get on the trail the actual geography of where you are doesn't matter at all, and the only thing left is the fact that you're there and it's beautiful.

I'm sorry, but I truly believe that the BMI chart is bullshit.

I'm going to come right out and admit it, I'm not the most active person in the world and posting this pic doesn't prove I've done anything.

But this is a sign post from my favorite bike trail.

***

I was at the doctor the other day to talk about a script for my terror of the dentist.  I need a few fillings done and can barely keep my head together long enough to let the dentist even look at my teeth.  I have no idea where this terror came from, I never had a problem at the dentist before, but a few weeks back, I go to the dentist about a broken wisdom tooth and BANG! Panic attack.  Weird, right?

At any rate, the dentist says that they don't believe in writing "that kind of prescription" and recommends that I learn some coping techniques and by the way, will you still be at your appointment on Tuesday?  So I asked my regular doctor.

Regular doctor says, I don't normally like to prescribe anxiety meds either, but you need your teeth and your teeth need work, so we'll get you through it.  

Then she starts talking about how my BMI is very high, and that's a concern for her and should be for me.  And I'll apologize in advance to the people who created it, but the BMI chart is total bullshit if you're not of average height and build, which let's face it, is practically nobody.

If you know me personally, you know that I'm kinda chunky.  I don't cause earthquakes when I walk or anything, I'm not being overly hard on myself, I'm heavier than I should be and I'm aware of it.  According to the BMI chart I'm well into obese territory.

So the doctor and I have a long talk, where I tell her, No, I don't drink much soda, mostly I drink water, unsweetened tea and flavored seltzer.  No, not much fatty junk food.  I do eat more fast food than I should, but that's largely because I have an incredibly erratic work schedule and it makes it difficult for me to get down any kind of routine.

No, I don't sleep or eat on the same schedule everyday, see above about my work schedule.  I might work a closing shift, a day shift, and early morning and a mid-shift (11-7) all in one week.  My start time could be anywhere between 5 am and 2 pm.  So short of finding another job, routine is going to be a hard one.

So she starts talking to me about being more active.  Now, keep in mind, during this whole visit, every time they leave me alone in the exam room, I'm texting with a friend about going hiking that afternoon. 

But the point I'm trying to make about BMI is this.  I'm short with wide hips and broad shoulders.  A few years back, I was walking to work everyday, and working in a pretty physically demanding job (lots of heavy lifting).  I was the lightest I've even been in my adult life. The doctor I was seeing at the time, had told me that I shouldn't let myself lose anymore weight because it wouldn't be healthy.

 And according to the BMI chart, I was still obese!

How is this an accurate measure of anything?

I get that I'm heavier than I should be, I know I should be in better shape, but what happens when I get there and I'm still obese according to that chart?  Will this doctor admit that I'll never be ok according to that chart?  Or will I continue to be hounded about where I land on an arbitrary color-coded graph?