Dutch Oven Chicken in Milk

The second recipe I made using my new enameled cast iron 8-quart dutch oven is Jamie Oliver's Chicken in Milk recipe via the Food Network. 

Here it is fresh from the oven.

I served it, as suggested in the recipe, with mashed potatoes and spinach. For the potatoes, I first baked two large russets for an hour, then mashed them with about 1.5 cups skim milk, 1/3 cup greek yogurt, 1 tsp garlic salt, 1/2 tsp white pepper, and a little of the leftover butter from frying the chicken. I put the mashed potatoes in a baking dish, topped with a couple of pats of butter and sprinkled with paprika. I put it in the oven with the chicken for the last 45-50 minutes. I simply steamed the spinach for a minute in water and a little fresh lemon juice (from the lemons I zested for the chicken).

The whole dinner was declared delicious by everyone in the family! And the dutch oven has served me well so far.

Enameled Cast Iron Cookware

My husband and I have had a cookware epiphany over the past couple of months. Tired of our "professional" quality hard anodized aluminum pots and pans with nonstick coatings, which inevitably peel and chip away even with the most careful attention to use of proper utensils and hand-washing, we opted to give enameled cast iron a try. In his extensive research, my husband declares this to be the best, most even-heating, durable, cleanable stovetop-to-oven cookware available. He is an expert at review-based product research and seldom steers us wrong with his results, so I trust him with this. I also consider myself flexible and somewhat easy to please, although I often lean toward liking more expensive products.

In a flourish of prompt response to our decision, my dear husband removed the whole set of cookware from the cupboards and return them to Costco, where we had purchased them several years ago. Good ole Costco took them back! In their place, he bought a Le Creuset 12-inch skillet and pulled from the recesses of our cupboards the stainless steel pots that we had bought from Costco in a previous anti-nonstick coating cookware revelation. In that case, he decided he didn't like how much everything stuck to the stainless set and reverted back to nonstick, but upgraded to the "professional" quality set previously mentioned.

We have been using the Le Creuset skillet for a month now and love it! Naturally, it is expensive. Needing a larger pot for stews and roasts, and desiring the Le Creuset dutch oven but knowing that Costco sold a similar, made-in-France one at a fraction of the cost ($80 compared to $385), we bought the one from Costco (knowing, of course, that we could return it if we ended up not liking it). If you are interested in this product, here is the link: 8-Quart Oval French-made Dutch Oven from Costco

The first dish I I made in this dutch oven was a Texas-style Chili and it came out just right. Tonight, I will test the pot with a roast chicken using the following recipe: Jamie Oliver's Chicken in Milk recipe, via the Food Network.

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Sweet Pea's Eye Muscle Surgery

Role-Playing "Dr. Reznik"

My daughter's eye muscle surgery was scheduled for November 15, 2012. About a week before, I listened from the other room while my husband talked with Sweet Pea about the upcoming event. He explained that we would visit with the doctor first, then she would lie down and a doctor would cover her nose and mouth with a mask to help her fall asleep. Our daughter is very curious and already enjoys playing doctor, dentist, and orthodontist, so she was intrigued. They role-played a little bit, then it was bedtime.

I think my husband initiated this discussion to help prepare all three of us for the surgery. Indeed, he and I were probably more anxious about it than she was. Little did he know that playing "Dr. Reznik" would be Sweet Pea's favorite activity that she would want to play with each of us several times a day up until the date of surgery (and for several weeks afterwards). I just hoped we were being accurate enough in our play that she wouldn't be too upset by any changes in the game when it happened for real. I could just imagine her telling the doctors that they weren't playing properly.

Pre-Op: Parents Nervous; Daughter Cool as a Cucmber

We drove to Portland on the evening before the surgery. Luckily, my in-laws own a condo within a five minute drive to OHSU. We could even take the streetcar and the aerial tram right from the front door of the condo directly to the hospital. It was not an option for immediately following surgery, but Sweet Pea and I had taken that route during an earlier visit.  

We arose early on November 15 and were at the Elks Children's Eye Clinic by 7:45 am. An orthoptist examined Sweet Pea's eyes and recorded the data regarding her current vision and percent of inward crossing. We proceeded up one flight to the surgery center, where we registered and waited. 

We were all as prepared as we be. I had heard an explanation of the surgery twice already, so we knew the doctor would be cutting through the lining of each eye, secure two of the inner muscles on each eye with sutures, use a scalpel to cut these muscles from their attachment sites, reattach each to a new location using dissolvable sutures, and finally suture the eye linings. We knew that a pediatric anesthesiologist would comfort Sweet Pea and put her to sleep before they did anything else. We knew it might take a while for her to wake up after surgery and that she would likely be confused, upset, maybe even angry when she awoke.

When her name was called, we followed a nurse to the pre-op area where there was a roll-away bed, a cart of medical equipment, a small table, and a glider. This small area was separated from many other similar pre/post-op areas by sliding curtains. Not exactly spacious or private, but efficient I suppose. The nurse took Sweet Pea's vital signs and gave her some liquid medicine containing a sedative. We changed her into some hospital pj's and I sat in the glider with her on my lap. When the anesthesiologist came in, she asked if we thought the sedative was having an effect. Baba responded that he had never seen our daughter sit so still for so long. I was treasuring every cuddling moment as I tried to push away my fears of the worst things that could happen during surgery.      

The anesthesiologist and opthalmologist both took time to thoroughly explain the procedures, answer all our questions, and set us at ease. Sweet Pea has always been very brave about going to the doctor, getting shots, and even having her blood drawn. She exhibited no fear during the entire preoperative proceedings. Finally the dreaded moment came when we set our daughter on the bed, gave her a kiss, and watched as they wheeled her away from us down a hallway to the operating room. That was definitely one of the scariest parent moments either of us have experienced to date. 

There was nothing left to do but walk away and go find something to do for the next 90 minutes. Naturally, my husband suggested food. We made our way from the eye clinic over to the main hospital, where we found a big cafeteria where we ordered whatever we wanted for breakfast and ate it overlooking trees of fall color and the Willamette River. Odd feeling to go about such normal activities when your daughter is undergoing an operation. 

Post-Op: All is fine, but find that sock!

Before long, we were meeting with the surgeon who explained that the surgery went well and Sweet Pea would be waking soon. Her only discovery of note was that our daughter's eye muscle anatomy was slightly unusual. The inner muscles were thinner than normal and the rotator muscle curvature was opposite of normal. She did not express concern about these findings and could not confirm whether or not this contributed to her strabismus.

When it was time to go see our daughter after surgery, all cautionary advice proved to be well warranted. She cried and screamed and wailed, and arched her back when the post-op nurse put her in my arms. I held her as tight as possible, hummed, talked, sang, and mostly just tried not to drop my inconsolable child. The focus of her frustration became the fact that she was missing a sock on her left foot where they had inserted the IV. She cried, "My sock! My sock! I want my sock!" In our confusion, Baba looked around for the missing sock until the nurse pointed out that it was on top of the sock on her right foot. For some reason which made no sense to me, the needle end from the IV was still in her foot. Sweet Pea would have grabbed it and ripped it right off of her foot if we hadn't gotten the nurse to remove it promptly. Baba had to hold her kicking legs and I held her flailing arms and body while the nurse tried to stop the bleeding. Unfortunately, even after the sock business had been resolved, Sweet Pea remained very upset, refusing all attempts at placating her, including a popsicle. Finally, we just carried her out in her hospital pj's crying all the way down the elevator and out to the car.

She fell asleep during the five minute ride back to the condo and proceeded to sleep in bed for the next three or four hours, and most of the night too. She awoke long enough to let us give her some pain medicine and eye drops, to eventually eat some dinner and watch a little movie, then for a couple of hours during the night since she had slept so much of the day.

We returned to see Dr. Reznik the next day, who determined that Sweet Pea was recovering as expected and the crossing, although not eliminated, was reduced from 25-30% to about 5-8% as a result of the surgery. It was not the perfect result I had hoped for, but was a significant improvement. I was glad we had decided to have the surgery done. I am thankful for Dr. Reznik and her team at the Elks Children's Eye Clinic for their professionalism and care. I am glad it is over and look forward to looking into Sweet Pea's beautiful dark eyes and having her look straight back at me.

     

Christmas Almost-Paleo Pumkin Spice Bundt Cake

My in-laws came to celebrate Christmas with us this year. My father-in-law has celiac disease, but I really wanted to make a nice dessert for Christmas Day dinner. I found a recipe for Paleo Pumpkin Bundt Cake with Coconut Cream Glaze at a blog I follow called Clean Eats in the Zoo. I have attempted other gluten-free dessert recipes in the past that have not turned out so well, so I was a little anxious about trying this one for a special meal. Luckily, my in-laws are very forgiving and are good subjects for experimenting with new recipes.

I did not have coconut cream on hand, so I made a simple (but decidedly non-paleo) powdered sugar icing made with leftover coconut milk. Aside from putting the icing on too soon, which caused it to melt more than it should have, I must say that it turned out beautifully. And it was oh so yummy! One secret ingredient that gave it that extra something was pureed pumpkin that I had in the freezer from the fall harvest. Every one of my very health conscious family members had seconds. I just love it when that happens.

Mighty Mamas

With a little one at home, I have found lots of excuses for not exercising on a regular basis. A couple of months ago, a friend put a link to a 30 Day At-Home CrossFit Challenge (http://cleaneatsinthezoo.com). I found that the exercises were challenging, but relatively easy to accomplish. The daily workouts only took 5-10 minutes and could be done with a preschooler jumping all around - now that's my kind of exercise!

However, after completing the 30 days, I realized that I hadn't really done much in the way of sustained aerobic exercise for a month. So I decided to up the ante and begin another 30 Day Challenge. The Clean Eats at the Zoo blog has a 'Level 2' challenge that I plan to follow and add to it a daily cardio challenge. In addition, I recently have teamed up with 3 other women to participate in Kennewick's first annual "Guts N' Glory Dash" (www.gutsnglorydash.com), one of these 5K mud runs that are getting so popular around the country, on September 29th, 2012. Our team is called "Mighty Mamas".

So, I will coordinate my 30 Day At-Home CrossFit and Cardio Challenge with the race date and begin on August 27th (with a couple of extra days for good measure). See the complete list of workouts on the post labeled "Cardio/CrossFit Challenge"  so you can join in on the fun!

We did it!

With some cute costumes designed by two of my creative teammates, we looked good and had a blast running the Guts N' Glory Dash. My "Mighty Mamas" teammates are upbeat, positive, energetic women who made me glad that I ran this as a team rather than on my own. I love that these type of events draw all kinds of people - from the super-fit to the super-funny - and makes exercising FUN! I would definitely do it again.

30-Day At-Home Cardio & CrossFit Challenge

• Are you ready to get back into a habit of exercise? 
• Do you just need to mix up your same old workout routine? 
• Are you looking for a way to get into shape at home?

This 30-Day At-Home Cardio and CrossFit Challenge is for YOU!

With a little one at home, I have found lots of excuses for not exercising on a regular basis. When a friend shared a link to a 30 Day At-Home CrossFit Challenge (http://cleaneatsinthezoo.com). I found that the exercises were challenging, but relatively easy to accomplish. The daily workouts only took 5-10 minutes and could be done with a preschooler jumping all around - now that's my kind of exercise!  However, after completing the 30 days, I realized that I hadn't really done much in the way of sustained aerobic exercise for a month. So I decided to add a daily cardio challenge. The resulting 30 days of workouts are posted here.

Click on the highlighted exercises to see how to do them. Feel free to modify, add, delete, or change the order of exercises or days to suit your needs.

Remember, it doesn't matter how fast you go, just as long as you do it! As a friend once said, "Only exercise on the days you want to be happy." And in just 30 days, you'll be stronger and faster than you are today. Have fun!

WEEK ONE

Day 1 Cardio: Run 2 miles (jog or speed walk depending on your current fitness level)
Day 1 CrossFit: 20 walking lunges, 10 push-ups, 25 jumping jacks (4 rounds)

Day 2 Cardio: Bike 5 miles
Day 2 CrossFit: 10 burpees, 1 minute  plank, 1 minute side plank (both sides) (3 rounds)

Day 3 Cardio: Run 2 miles
Day 3 CrossFit: 25 air squats, 10 sit-ups (4 rounds)

Day 4: Rest Day!

Day 5 Cardio: Run 3 miles
Day 5 CrossFit: 10 walking lunges, 5 push-ups, 10 sit-ups (5 rounds)

Day 6 Cardio: Your pick - easy run, bike, hike, swim, or paddle for at least 30 minutes
Day 6 CrossFit: 10 vertical jumps (crouch down, then jump up as high as you can with arms to the sky), 1 minute  plank, 1 minute side plank (both sides) (4 rounds)

Day 7 Cardio: Your pick - easy run, bike, hike, swim, or paddle for at least 30 minutes
Day 7 CrossFit: 25 air squats, 10 push-ups (4 rounds)

WEEK TWO

Day 8 Cardio: Run 3 miles
Day 8 CrossFit:10 burpees, 1 minute  plank, 1 minute side plank (both sides) (3 rounds)

Day 9 Cardio: Bike 5 miles
Day 9 CrossFit: 5 push-ups, 10 sit-ups, 15 air squats (Do as many rounds as you can in 10 minutes, taking breaks between sets if needed)

Day 10 Cardio: Run 3 miles
Day 10 CrossFit: 20 walking lunges, 50 jumping jacks (4 rounds)

Day 11: Rest Day!

Day 12 Cardio: Run 4 miles
Day 12 CrossFit: 10 push-ups, 10 sit-ups (4 rounds)


Day 13 Cardio: Your pick - easy run, bike, hike, swim, or paddle for at least 30 minutes
Day 13 CrossFit: 10 vertical jumps (crouch down, then jump up as high as you can with arms to the sky), 1 minute  plank, 1 minute side plank (both sides) (5 rounds)

Day 14 Cardio: Your pick - easy run, bike, hike, swim, or paddle for at least 30 minutes
Day 14 CrossFit: 25 air squats, 10 push-ups (5 rounds)

WEEK THREE

Day 15 Cardio: Run 4 miles
Day 15 CrossFit: 15 burpees, 1 minute  plank, 1 minute side plank (both sides) (3 rounds)

Day 16 Cardio: Bike 5 miles
Day 16 CrossFit: 5 push-ups, 10 sit-ups, 15 air squats (Do as many rounds as you can in 10 minutes, taking breaks between sets if needed)

Day 17 Cardio: Run 3 miles
Day 17 CrossFit: 30 walking lunges, 50 jumping jacks (4 rounds)

Day 18: Rest Day!

Day 19 Cardio: Run 4 miles
Day 19 CrossFit: 10 push-ups, 10 sit-ups (5 rounds)

Day 20 Cardio: Your pick - easy run, bike, hike, swim, or paddle for at least 30 minutes
Day 20 CrossFit: 15 vertical jumps (crouch down, then jump up as high as you can with arms to the sky), 1 minute  plank, 1 minute side plank (both sides) (5 rounds)

Day 21 Cardio: Run 1 mile, for time, followed by 100 jumping jacks
Day 21 CrossFit: 30 air squats, 10 push-ups (5 rounds)

WEEK FOUR

Day 22 Cardio: Run 3 miles
Day 22 CrossFit: 15-20 burpees, 60-90 second  plank,  60-90 second side plank (both sides) (3 rounds)

Day 23 Cardio: Bike or Hike for 45-60 minutes
Day 23 CrossFit: 10 push-ups, 10 sit-ups, 15 air squats (Do as many rounds as you can in 10 minutes, taking breaks between sets if needed)

Day 24 Cardio: Run 4 miles
Day 24 CrossFit: 20 Forward Leaps (jump as far as you can with both feet) (4 rounds)

Day 25: Rest Day!

Day 26 Cardio: Run (or speed walk) 5 miles
Day 26 CrossFit: 10 push-ups, 10 sit-ups (5 rounds)

Day 27 Cardio: Your pick - easy run, bike, hike, swim, or paddle for at least 30 minutes
Day 27 CrossFit: 15 vertical jumps (crouch down, then jump up as high as you can with arms to the sky), 1 minute  plank, 1 minute side plank (both sides) (5 rounds)

Day 28 Cardio: Run 1 mile, for time, followed by 100 jumping jacks
Day 28 CrossFit: 30 walking lunges, 10 push-ups (5 rounds)

FINAL 2 DAYS

Day 29 Cardio: Run 4 miles
Day 29 CrossFit:10 push-ups, 10 sit-ups, 15 air squats (Do as many rounds as you can in 10 minutes, taking breaks between sets if needed)

Day 30 Cardio: The final CrossFit workout is also a great cardio workout!

Day 30 CrossFit: The final workout will be a combination of the various CrossFit exercises. 20 walking lunges, 10 push-ups, 25 jumping jacks, 20 air squats, 15 sit-ups, 10 vertical jumps, 1 minute plank, 10 burpees (5 rounds)

Congratulations!

(What's next?)

Disclaimer: I am not a physical fitness expert; just a woman who is trying to stay in shape and encourage others to do the same. Know yourself and your limits and don't do something if it doesn't feel right.

Hells Canyon Relay 2012

I received a message from an acquaintance one day that started, "Crazy question...are you doing anything next weekend?" She went on to explain that she was doing a walking relay with a team of women and they had a member pull out at the last minute due to an injury. Would I be interested in taking her spot? With nothing on the calendar and an amazingly encouraging husband, I found no reason to say no. I'd always wanted to go to Hells Canyon. I can walk. I like adventure. Why not?

That's how, one week later, I found myself in a minivan with five other women,  following another van of six up a dark windy road in search of a bed and breakfast outside the town of Halfway, Oregon.

And how, after a big lasagna dinner and a few hours of rest, I found myself with my half of the team, still in the dark, alongside just two other walking teams, the race organizer, and the mayor of Halfway, at the starting line of a 148-mile course through the Wallowa Mountains and Hells Canyon National Recreation Area. 

http://davidnevue.blogspot.com

We are talking remote, rugged, beautiful Eastern Oregon mountains. Our team would spend the next 34 hours race-walking through these mountains. We would gain 8,041 feet in elevation and lose 7,611 feet as we walked from Halfway to LaGrande, OR. Each van of six would alternate walking two sets of six consecutive legs, leapfrogging ahead and trying to get some food and rest in between.

My van of walkers would see two sunrises; take and then lose the lead from the "experienced" walking team; and walk an average of 13.4 minutes per mile (4.5mph). We would sweat, shiver, cheer, talk, stretch, blister, hoot, holler, laugh, yawn, giggle, and walk.

That's me coming up a big hill during my first leg.

I, personally, would get to know five other interesting, fit, intelligent, funny moms. I would lay down for a few hours, but never really sleep, over the course of three days. I would walk one "very hard" leg of 5.6 miles from 4028' - 5393' in 1 hour 13 minutes during the morning of the first day; and one "moderate" leg of 5.7 miles along the Wallowa River in 1 hour and 13 minutes well before dawn on the second day. I would become data keeper and photographer. I would eat, drink, ride, cheer, walk, and be merry. I would proudly put on the event shirt and finisher's medal after our team crossed the finish line. 

I would be glad I said "yes" to an unexpected invitation.