Pom power

 

 

 I have recently discovered pomegranates and quite honestly, cannot figure out why it took me so long.  They are amazing, delicious, antioxidant filled little bits of goodness.  They are  yummy on salads, great in health drinks, and delish as a little snack.  They also freeze well. At first they baffled me but I found a great tutorial on line of how to easily separate the arils from the rind.  It goes like this:

This is a pomegranate

Cut it in quarters

Break apart the rind separating the arils.   The rind floats, the arils sink. Pull the bits of rinds out of the bowl and throw them away.

 

Strain the water and what you have left are useable pomegranate arils.
 



Was gonna spend today inside...

but the sun came out so I went hiking instead - too nice a day to stay in.  Did about 12,000 steps for 3.75 miles in the Red Rocks Open Space.  It was a gorgeous day with lots of new white snow and bright skies.

 

good thing I had my hiking spikes cause I needed them

That's the Garden of the Gods in the distance

 

Insane Hike

So we have been buried under a foot of snow with more to come today.  Yesterday, instead of being sensible humans and staying in our dwelling, I suggested to his Lordship that we hike.

Hmmm - 20 degrees, snow falling rapidly but let's hike.  I must be mental.

We started from the house, walked up the road which was deserted (all the other smart people stayed home) and began the ascent toward the Intermann trail.  The snow was so deep that for every step, I slid back 4 inches - a situation that called for hiking spikes - luckily I had them. 

The first part of the trail was quite pleasant.  There was a lovely tree lined canyon where the snow and wind were subdued, with a magical feel of a fairy tale.

However, once we crossed Crystal Park Road, the trail goes sharply up Iron Mountain.  Most of it is exposed to the north and the wind and snow considerably more fierce.  We did, however, pass part of the trail that we helped to build last summer.  It was holding up fine, far better than me, who by this time was sweating profusely despite the wind chill.


We helped to build this section of the Intermann
You can see by the footprints that we are not the only morons who hike in the snow.

About the 3.5 mile mark, it seemed to have no end.  The little town of Manitou looked like a ghost town.  I was sure His Lordship would rather be doing other things.

We finally reached Pawnee Rd., but madness, having taking hold of both of us by this point, impaired our judgment.  We decided to keep hiking through to Ruxton Ave. After a further mile of trudging in a foot a snow, we emerged into civilization, only to find that both our favorite bars had quit early and sent their staff home.  In despair, we continued down the Avenue, wondering if this whole venture had been for naught. Suddenly, when we spied a bright window and what looked like central heat.  WE WERE SAVED! Yay for Swirl Wine Bar! These folks are hardcore.  Their sign said even the patio was open!

 

 

Disheveled and a little achy, we sat down to a delicious pint of  local IPA and a bowl of homemade beef stew.

 

 So we took 15,791 steps for a total of 4.98 miles.  With all this exercise, why am I not losing a little weight? Hmmm - wonder if the IPA and beef stew have something to do with that.

Hiking for Fitness

I have set a goal to climb the Barr Trail as far as Barr Camp in May.  In order to prepare for that, I am trying to hike 4 times a week.  On weekdays, I have been hiking 3 short trails and then on the weekends, his Lordship and I take a longer hike.

So todays hike was through the Garden of the Gods.  It was an unusually warm day - I think it set a record high.  I started on the Strausenback Trail.

 

It was quite pretty and the first time I actually hiked that particular route.  Here are some pictures.

 

I then hiked the Scotsman trail to the central garden trail.  I always try to hit the central garden 1/2 way through my hike as they have that most important of features - a flush toilet. 

 

I then took the Palmer trail around the west side of the park.  Here are a few picture of the central garden from the Palmer trail.

After out walking a group of very pokey trail horses, I ended up on the Siamese Twin trail and back at the car.  Total steps was 10771.  Aerobic step were 8282.  Mileage was 3.39. Tomorrow his Lordship takes me up a mountain so I hope I have the energy for that!

The Siamese Twins

Gumbo!!!!

We have Canivale coming up in our little community of Manitou Springs.  As part of the festivities there is the Mumbo Jumbo Gumbo cook off.  Unfortunately, I have a previous engagement and will not be able to attend.  However, I thought I would share my Gumbo recipe with everyone as it is a low fat version that is pretty darn tasty.  This recipe is not for Dr. Theda, however, as he is allergic to bell peppers. 


Yum Gumbo -let me share my recipe

Ingredients List:

2 Tbsp. vegetable oil

1 large onion chopped

4 ribs of celery chopped

1 red bell pepper chopped

1 green bell pepper chopped

2 gloves of garlic minced or mashed

1-2 tsp. hot pepper sauce

1 lrg. can of tomato sauce

1 bottle clam juice

2 cups chicken broth

1 lb. of shrimp

2 chicken Andouille sausage

3 Tbsp. file'

 

Spice mix:

11/2 teas. sweet paprika

1 teas. salt

1 teas. cayenne pepper

1/2 teas. ground black pepper

1/2 teas. ground white pepper

1/2 teas. thyme

1/2 teas. oregano

2 bay leaves

 Saute' onions in veg. oil for about 5 minutes.  Add celery and peppers and cook 10 more minutes.  Combine the spice mixture in a bowl and set aside.  Stir the file' into the veggies and cook 1 minute, stirring constantly.  Add dry spice mixture, hot sauce, garlic and cook another 5 minutes, stirring often. Add tomato sauce, clam juice, chicken broth, sausage and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer for about an hour stirring occasionally.  Add shrimp and simmer for 2 minutes.  Serve over rice.

Saute' veggies in oil

Mix spices

Add as much chicken sausage as you wish - I like two

Add Tomato sauce, chicken broth, clam juice and sausage, bring to a boil and let simmer for an hour

 

Ready to eat over rice - yum