It snowed a bunch today...

...in case anyone didn't notice. There was a LOT of snow out this morning.

I made some chicken pot pie on Tuesday, and even though it took me about 3 hours, it was totally worth it. It had a pesto chive biscuit topping instead of a traditional crust, and I made everything, from the chicken to the stock to the biscuits, from scratch. I got it from the food network's chef at home, and man o man it was super delicious. We have a bunch leftover in the freezer and I can't wait to thaw it and eat it on a day when I don't want to cook.

I have a week off! Hurray!

Mmmmm, Granola

Last night I made some gluten free granola. I am so sick of eating really crappy, really gross and really fatty store bought gluten free granola. Anything I've purchased is still sitting in my cupboard almost full. My mum has made some tasty granola, but I only get it once a year at Christmas and it's long gone by now. I took her recipe and meshed it with one from Gluten-Free Girl and voila! The most delicious incredible and not too fatty granola ever!!! (Don't get mad Mum, yours is only one small notch under this one). (And I'll still probably want some next year for Christmas).

The oats and oat pearls I use are from Only Oats and I ordered them online. I think you can get them at Planet Organic as well.

Gluten Free Granola

12 cups of GF oats or oat flakes
2 cups of GF steel cut oat pearls
bunch of almonds (about 1 cup)
bunch of cashews (about 1 cup)
bunch of sunflower seeds (about 3/4 cup)
bunch of pecans (about 1 1/2 cups)
bunch of soy nuts (1 cup ish?)
1 1/2 cups maple syrup
slurp of some kind of oil (I probably used 1 1/2 tbsp or so)
slurp of Vanilla (I thought I used way too much when I put it in because I wasn't paying attention, but it turned out great so go crazy with the vanilla)
1/2 cup or so of some kind of juice (I used grapefruit because that's what I had)
Cinnamon
All spice
Ground Flax (I know it makes more sense to use whole flax, but apparently flax is so small that the human body doesn't break it down and we miss out on all the great things from flax. By using ground flax, there's no need to break it down!)
Raisins (Personally I don't like raisins because they look like little bugs, so I used golden raisins and they blend right in! No bugs!)

Pre heat your oven to 300F. Combine the oats and nuts in a big bowl. Combine the maple syrup, oil, vanilla and juice in small bowl and mix well. Poor the liquid into the oat mixture and mix until all the oats and nuts look coated. Add the spices (I put quite a bit of cinnamon) and mix well again. (My arm got REALLY tired. I think I need to do some more push-ups).

Line two cookie sheets with wax paper (I only did this because I'm pretty sure my cookie sheets are all gluteny. I should really get some new ones. Maybe Mum you can give me some with my Christmas granola) and put the coated oaty mix on them.

Bake for a while, stirring every 5 minutes. You do have to be pretty diligent with the stirring, because the bits on the edges of the cookie sheets get burnt pretty quickly. I also alternated the position of the two sheets, switching the top and bottom every once in a while. I think it took about an hour in all, but when the granola turns more golden than it was before, it's done.

When the granola has cooled, add the ground flax and the raisins. Done!

As you can see, I was very willy nilly with any measurements. I just shoved things in the bowl. Yum! I'm so happy I could eat granola all day! And the apartment smelled incredible! And way less oil than normal granola! I had some with plain yogurt today after work and it was the perfect sweet and not sweet combo.

I hope you try it and shove other random things in the bowl and love it!!

Thanks a lot

Today I pushed a little past my limit today. I was running with the half marathon running group through the store. We were supposed to run 16k, which is doable. I had a great run on Thursday and I felt really ready. It was flipping freezing this morning, so that made me a little hesitant, but I still layered on my gear and set out. Within the first half hour, my water was all frozen. Not only was the water itself frozen, but the lids were frozen as well. I don't really need a lot of water, but when I'm expecting a little sip every 10 minutes or so and I don't get any, it sets me back a bit mentally. I was struggling quite a bit, with the wind blowing and the no water thing, and all in all I just wasn't feeling it at all. Then, at about mile 5 ish, we come up to a sign that says "Route closed due to dangerous conditions" and just kept going. (As in going on said route). We ran up a thin, icy trail, and then all of a sudden we got to a huge sheet of ice (on the side of a cliff). We struggled, but got across, but most of us had to get on our hands and knees or asses to do it. Meanwhile a few people were quite far ahead, and we totally lost site of them as we approached a second, bigger, more dangerous sheet of ice. We tried to get across, but couldn't, so we decided to turn back without our group leader and two other guys. We barely made it across the first sheet of ice the second time because we polished it up real nice our first way across. Anyway, we made it, and ran back towards the original path that wasn't unsafe. By this time, my mitts, my ass, and my knees were all soaked. When we found the others (which was about 30 minutes later) I was SO tired and we had already run 15k. I still couldn't get any water out of my bottles, and I was all in all very cranky. I had fallen a bunch of times on the ice and I felt like a whole huge pile of ass. Also, we were still not close to the store (where we start and end the run). By the time we got back, we ended up running 19k. 3 extra kilometers doesn't seem like much, but it really really is. I was so far past my last straw that I really didn't know if I would make it. I wasn't super impressed that we were taken on a trail that was closed and ditched. I don't have to pay for this running group, but everyone else does, and I wouldn't have been too impressed if I had shelled out some cash for that. We didn't get any apologies either, by the way.

That was my run, and now I am sore. It took a good half hour for me to warm up when I got home. I felt like I would NEVER get warm. And now I'm going to sit on the couch and do nothing for the rest of the day and for supper I'm making some poutine with fresh cheese all the way from Quebec.

Anyone know a good hip stretch?

I'm finding my hips are getting very stiff as my running distances increase. I'm also biking more than I used to (which means more than never) and that's hurting them a bit as well. I know the one where you are in a lunge position and then bring your pelvis forward, and this other one on the floor with one leg extended backwards and one leg crossed in front (is anyone else finding it hard to describe a stretch?!?), but I need some others. Those two aren't doing it for me.

Maybe it will be easier to find links instead of describing. That was hard.