Healthy Deliciousness: Sea Salt Caramel Bars

I spent years avoiding everything related to the kitchen (cooking included).

Then came The Great Health Kick of 2010, at which point I started discovering new, “weird” foods and realizing that I kinda sorta wanted to learn how to prepare them.

So here’s a snapshot of my culinary skills these days:
a) If you ask me to saute something, you’ll get a blank stare and an “uhm, OK” in response. Then, the moment your head turns, I’ll sneak off to find a computer to look up “saute” on Wikipedia.
b) Give me a strange, complicated recipe with previously-unheard-of ingredients and/or difficult procedures, and I’ll accept the challenge. For example: raw lasagna (pictured in its colorful, delicious glory at the top of my blog), raw apple pie, 100% whole wheat bread, raw brownies, and, the inspiration for today’s post, sea salt caramel bars.

My boss/friend, Candace, found a tasty-looking recipe for healthy post-workout sea salt caramel bars here and shared it with me (I think she secretly wanted me to do the legwork and then bring her some samples…uh, I actually mean that she knew I’d love the recipe).

So last night, my mom (who also loves healthy recipes) and I whipped up these wholesome bars.

First, we made sure we had all the ingredients:As you see: 2 tsp sea salt (aids in muscle function and contains trace minerals), 4 Tbsp chia seeds (chock full of nutrients and easy to digest), 3 cups raw cashews (protein, magnesium, B-vitamins), and 4 cups pitted Medjool dates (provides energy and, yes, is easily digestible). (Side note: Making sure dates are pitted is essential for your food processor’s sustained health.)

An optional ingredient is a dash of vanilla extract (it doesn’t add much in the way of nutrition), but we didn’t use it.

Basically, we dumped everything into the food processor:

…there go the pitted dates…

…see ya later, chia seeds…

Once all ingredients were cozily situated in the food processor, my creepy-looking hands (at least, according to the picture immediately below) started up the machine:I promise…the Wicked Witch of the West was not working the food processor. Seriously. Why do my hands look like that?!

Anyway. The instructions said to run the food processor for a minute (and to turn it off and scrape the sides of the bowl if the ingredients weren’t mixing well), but we felt it needed just a bit longer than that. After the mixture was pretty smooth, we molded it into cute little bar shapes:OK, did anyone just think, “Hey, Krista’s wearing a different shirt” and scroll back up to the beginning of this post to check? If so, you get a gold star for being observant!

Now, where was I? Oh, yes: We molded the mixture into cute little bar shapes. And we made sure we had everything in place before putting them in the oven at 200 degrees for 15 minutes (not to bake them but to remove some stickiness):
Before we put the bars in the oven, though, we checked our instructions to make sure we had everything in place for when the bars had to come out of the oven. The directions said to put the bars on parchment paper after removing them from the oven to prevent sticking.

My level of confidence drained when I realized that there was no parchment paper to be found. Yes, in my preparation, I had dutifully purchased the raw cashews and the Medjool dates (my bank account is sending me hate mail) – we already had the sea salt and the chia seeds – but I had totally overlooked the parchment paper! Ugh.

Since I’d been silently mourning the fact that I hadn’t been able to exercise much yet that day, I put on my running sneakers and ran to the grocery store. It was only a half-mile away, so I logged a mile total, but it was something. Despite the hot, muggy weather, the run was rewarding, as you can see from my flushed, glistening face:Wow, I look happy. In a cheesy, I-love-parchment-paper-so-much sort of way.

I even got back in time to remove the finished product from the oven!

As the official directions recommend, in general the bars should be stored in the freezer. But is it OK to munch on one when it is fresh from the oven? Yeah, go for it! We did:

Then we put the rest in the freezer for safe keeping. Of course, we remembered to share a bar with our little crab friend:

Our verdict: These things are delicious! In fact, I find myself trying to log intense workouts just so I have an excuse to eat them. Hehe.

So I highly recommend that you give this recipe a try. Just don’t forget the parchment paper!

Adventures in Raw Food: Raw Brownies

So I think we’ve established that I like to exercise.

Now it’s time to begin establishing that I do, on occasion, like to experiment in the kitchen, too. Keep in mind that I have had some serious kitchen disasters involving pretty simple food like frozen pizza, egg sandwiches, brownies, etc. Naturally, I figured I should see if I can be more successful with difficult recipes. Recipes that use random, obscure, expensive ingredients with names that are nearly impossible to pronounce.

Here’s the most recent deal: I had a great “to do” list for Saturday, stuff that really needed to be done. Then I got up in the morning and, thanks to my unofficial “begin the day with random internet time” tradition, I found a recipe for raw brownies here.

Given my issue with cooking anything, I’m always excited to find new raw recipes (www.goneraw.com is a great place to look, too, if you’re interested). Since the raw brownies recipe called for five ingredients, most of which I actually had in my possession, I decided to go for it!

I collected my ingredients:
2 cups whole walnuts
1 cup raw cacao
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
2 1/2 cups Medjool dates, pitted <–remember this part (Medjool dates are larger and sweeter than regular dates, making them a great natural sweetener in raw foods!)
1 cup raw, unsalted almonds (roughly chopped)

Ingredients assembled, I pulled the handy food processor out from the cupboard. I wreaked havoc on that poor cupboard, accidentally knocking over a bunch of kitchen-related devices. The clumsy start was a sign of things to come, but I was blissfully ignorant of that.

After grinding the walnuts to a pretty fine powder in the food processor, I added the sea salt and cacao:

I admit that I was a little worried about the cacao. I know it’s a superfood (chock full of all sorts of nutrients that improve physical and mental wellness), but I’d tried a tiny portion by itself, and it, uhh, wasn’t my favorite. Because it’s good for me, though, I decided I’d give it another go in the form of this brownie.

Once the walnuts, cacao, and sea salt were combined in the food processor, I moved to the next step: adding the dates one by one. Things were going along well until the food processor started running a bit rough and making a strange noise. At one point, it even shut off. I stirred the ingredients around with a spoon, and thought, “It all seems OK in there to me!”

Thankfully, the machine turned back on when I flipped the switch, and I added another date. The strange noise started again, and I frustratedly opened the lid again. This time, my search yielded a small, hard object. “Probably just a random part of the date,” I thought before throwing the offending object into the trash. “All’s well now!” (I told you I’m not great in the kitchen yet.)

I started up the food processor, and the machine started acting up again! This time, I found that one of the “small, hard objects” was wedged between the side of the food processor and the blade. I unwedged it and realized: it was the pit of one of the dates. Duh. The recipe had said to pit the dates, and I…well, I didn’t even think about it. (See…I told you I’m not great in the kitchen yet!)

I removed the rest of the pits from the mixture and pitted the remainder of the dates (the best ideas I’d had all day!):

Part of the purpose of the dates is to add moisture: not too much, but enough that the whole mixture will press together. I’d added most of the dates, and the texture seemed OK to me (although I had no idea). Still, I figured I’d just add the few remaining ones:

You know that feeling you get when you’re pretty sure you just made a huge mistake that can’t be corrected? You get light-headed, sweaty, and clammy, and your heart starts beating like a bass drum in the fastest song of the century. Yeah, well…that’s how I felt when I saw my pricey cacao, walnut, and sea salt mixture swimming in the residue of the expensive Medjool dates.

All I could think to do was try to drain the liquid. So…

Go on; laugh. I call the above contraption “improv,” and I’m not always good at it.

Sufficiently rattled, I realized I still had to chop the almonds roughly. Since this called for using a sharp knife, and since I was having a rough time of it, I knew that any slight mental error could mean an unplanned trip to the ER. So I made sure to be extra careful, and I didn’t cut myself at all! I did, however, cut a bunch of almonds:

With all ingredients prepared (albeit a bit more moist than the recipe called for), I mixed the chopped almonds with the cacao/sea salt/walnut/too-many-Medjool-dates mix and put it in a container:

Sorry about the horrendous food photography. I was too worn out to care!

The recipe suggested putting the brownies in the fridge/freezer for a while to help them set. Once they were ready (and once I was ready to put a smile back on my face), my mom and I gave them a try:

OK, so my smile looks forced. But at least it’s there!

Anyway, the brownies were delicious! I’ll definitely be making them again, once my wallet recovers from the expense. They’re totally worth it, though…and they’re healthy. Mmm. Next time: not as many dates!

Mmmmm. OK, the leftover brownies are calling my name now. Later, y’all.

The 11th Race: William F. Foran Colon Cancer Prevention 5k

No matter how many times I have to get up early on weekends for races, I’m never very happy about it. Of course, it’s great to knock out a run before the day heats up, but I’m just so groggy in the mornings!

So, naturally, I registered for a 5k (took place June 2) that was held 45 minutes to an hour away from my house. Start time was 8:30, and I had to pick up my race packet beforehand, so I planned to leave my house by 7:00 (yes, that’s a.m.) to give myself plenty of time in case I got lost. I calculated that I should get up at 6:00 (still a.m.! *groans*).

Despite being ridiculously groggy pre-7 a.m., I was still able to point out to myself that I was driving such a distance at such an ungodly time of day to run a 5k and obtain a free race shirt that would in all likelihood have “colon and rectal cancer” emblazoned somewhere on it. Not exactly the kind of thing to wear to the mall.

But hey, I don’t (really) run these things for the shirts, anyway. It’s more about the cause, and this one was a good one: colorectal cancer prevention, testing, and counseling at Penn State Hershey Medical Center.

I whipped up some breakfast, my traditional pre-race meal of two pieces of whole-wheat toast (I always take a Clif bar along, too, and I eat one-third of it 30 to 45 minutes before the start of the race):

Of course, I’m also sure to keep hydrated. For this race, I was too hydrated (more on that later):

This 5k was a first for me: It marked the first time I was running a race alone! Usually, a running buddy (a friend or my mom) will register with me, but this time, I was the only one.

As I stretched and prepared for the start of the race, I realized that I’d only logged a grand total of 7 miles of running since my last 5k two weeks prior. Yikes! I’d taken it easy in the days immediately leading up to and following my 16-mile backpacking trip last weekend, but still…I found myself thinking that I might end up with a PR for slowness…

…but then I saw hope. There was a runner (a teenage girl) wearing crocs. You know:(photo: http://www.overstock.com/Clothing-Shoes/Crocs-Georgia-Womens-Red-Black/3597850/product.html)

And I determined that, no matter what, I would—should, anyway—finish before she did. I felt better.

The weather was great for a race, but we were warned that there were two large puddles along the course, courtesy of the crazy storms the night before. No problemo.

The gun went off, and we charged ahead. I felt pretty good at first, but I wasn’t sure what my pace was. I also didn’t know how much energy I should try to save for any inclines later in the course. Our race materials said that the route was flat, but I’d heard that before about the Frozen Food 5k series that I’d run during the winter (and that series was nothing close to flat!).

My fears were unconfirmed, as the course was pretty much entirely flat, except for a few incredibly small inclines that aren’t really worth mentioning (no offense to them). We also got to cross a bridge twice, which was probably my favorite part (I’m such a kid!).

I hadn’t even gone a mile yet when I realized I’d drank too much water. Every four steps (yes, I counted), my stomach would slosh. That had never happened to me during a run before, but I knew it was bad news! I forced myself to stop counting steps between sloshes, and I kept going.

I finished the first mile in 8:27 (gun time), and my total time (according to the gun) at Mile 2 was 16:40. At that point, I knew I had an outside chance to PR if I picked up the pace a bit on the last mile.

Didn’t happen. Yep, effects from the earlier sloshing in my stomach caused me to slow my pace unintentionally. Goodbye, PR. Maybe next time.

Aware that I was approaching the finish line, I decided to push any discomfort to the back burner and set my sights on two runners just ahead of me that I wanted to pass before the end of the race. I sped up, swung around them, and crossed the mat at 26:15-ish (gun time).

Done with the race:

Thankfully, my free race shirt didn’t mention anything rectum-related on the front…

…only on the back:

Thus ended my 11^th race and my 10^th 5k since September 2011. I’ve found I’m pretty consistent 5k-wise: I’m usually somewhere between 25:30 and 26:30. I have another 5k coming up on June 23, so I’m going to focus on speedwork until then. Who knows? Maybe I’ll PR. If I don’t drink too much water before the race, that is.

A Weekend Spent (Almost) Entirely Outdoors

Confession: I had such a frustrating time getting WordPress not to mess up my last post that it kind of scared me off for a while! Moral of the story: Never try to blog after 10 p.m. ‘k?

Just in case people start thinking that all I ever do is run, this post is proof that that’s not entirely true! For example, this past weekend (wow, a whole week ago!), I went with 21-ish adults and members of the amazing Eleven:59 youth group on a backpacking trip! Yes, that’s 16 grueling miles over two days (not counting the little bit of hiking we did to get to our campsite on Friday night when we arrived).

We were up and at ’em early on Saturday morning–probably earlier than most of us would have been on a typical weekend. Spirits high and feet covered in duct tape (to prevent blisters, of course), we set off to hike 8-9 miles (somewhere in that range, anyway. I kinda forgot to count) that day, singing off-key songs and making jokes and just goofing off.
Pastor Matt: *singing some ridiculous song*
Someone #1 (I don’t remember who it was): “Matt! You’re scaring off the wildlife!”
Someone #2 (again, I forget who): “He IS the wildlife!”

(Starting the day off right!)

–
So here’s how the day went: We hiked up and up and then hiked up. And then we hiked down and down and down. And then we just hiked. There were sporadic songs, jokes, pranks, crazy pictures:

(Renee, Kelsie, and me: Tired? Or just being ourselves?)
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(Tough backpackers.)
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(We’re here to save the day!)
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(Kelsie, Sierra, and yours truly goofing off)
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Well, let me tell you: Lunch was well deserved. We stopped at a not-quite-entirely-clear part of the trail and pigged out. Mmmm, tasty.

Some people were hurting a little bit at this point, so we split into two groups (a faster group and a more relaxed group) so we could snag a place to sleep at the next campsite. Plan: SUCCESS! There was no one at the campsite when we got there, so we had the spectacular view all to ourselves:

(The view was kind of a letdown. Just kidding, guys!)
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The fast group sawed wood and collected smaller branches for the fire, and soon enough, the other group joined us! Yay! We’d all made pretty good time, so we had a lot of time to kill. Of course, we used it wisely:

(…eating…)
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(…sleeping…)
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(…playing Farkle with handmade dice that mysteriously went missing…)
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(…carving things and using flowers wisely (yeah, Brian!)…)
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(…and making people wish that they hadn’t tried to take a nap.)
–

After a tasty spaghetti dinner, we chowed down on s’mores and just hung out:

(Sugary goodness!)
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It was approaching dusk at this point…

…which apparently is when the hippies show up in full force:

(This pic cracks me up!)
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It was such a beautiful night, so most of us just slept under the stars. Tents? Who needs ’em? Seriously. I got up before everyone else the next morning, which wasgreat because I caught yet another incredible view:

(Amazing!)
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And then everybody else got up (alertly, of course…HA). We ate breakfast, did devotions, and headed out to knock out the remainder of the trail. Bring it! We made a quick stop to refill our water bottles and take a quick dip in the cold water:

(C’mon! It’s not THAT cold!)
–
After that, we split into three groups: the steady-paced group that got a head start, the fast group that aimed to book it ridiculously quickly from 835-ish feet up to 2,100-ish feet (as a leader, I took the rear on this group), and the medium-pace-with-breaks group. Can I just say that it got really REALLY warm and sunny out? For some reason, I thought that mopping my sweaty face with my sweat-soaked shirt would be effective. Wrong!

At the top, we stopped for lunch…and some incredible photos:

(Tired but ready to keep going, judging by our exuberance)
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After lunch, Pastor Matt let me lead, which was a HUGE risk because I tend to speed right along without giving any thought to saving energy. This time wasn’t too bad, though!

(See? No huge gaps in the line!)
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We trekked along for a while, and after a bit, I could just sense we were getting close (See my “What I Learned (or was reminded of)” list at the end of this post for more details). Before I knew it, we were back at the van!

(Way to go, Sierra and Kelsie!)
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(Nice work, Axel!)
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Of course, that’s not the end of the story. It was VERY hot in the van, especially in the very back, where there were no vents (thanks again, guys, for switching!). Once we got over the heat, though, some people’s exhaustion caught up with them. Either that, or I was a REALLY boring seatmate:

(Ben and Renee, my sleepy seatmates)
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Tired, smelly, sweaty, and pretty much disgusting in every sense of the word, we made it back to the church on Sunday evening. And it was a good time.

What I Learned (or was reminded of): The Official List
1. God is awesome! Seriously. If you don’t believe me, go back and look at all the pictures in this post again.
2. Our bodies can handle more than our minds tell us. Yeah, yeah, I learned this while training for the Pittsburgh Half, but it’s nice to know it applies to hiking/backpacking, too.
3. I don’t like the thought of drinking “purified” water from a stream. I had a bottle of stream water handy just in case I was dead from thirst, but I never needed to use it.
4. Valley Girls don’t handle the wilderness well. (There’s a video for this, but WordPress wants to charge me $60 to post videos on here! Ridic!)
5. Too much bug spray makes me sneeze a lot.
6. I prefer sneezing to getting eaten alive by every insect known to man.
7. Even toads enjoy checking out a nice view:

8. Peeing in the woods is a very freeing experience! (I should add a “TMI” category to this blog)
9. I can tell when the trail is nearing its end: It’s when multiple people start asking (with increasing frequency) when we’re going to be done. 😛
10. I make a good pillow.
11. We could have hiked even farther, judging from the level of energy in the videos I took on the way back. (I love you, guys, but I am NOT paying $60 to post them.)

Until next time,
Krista