Plants and Pickleball

[bunsofaluminum]

Lentil tofu...homemade. That's amazing! Seems like something to try.

Hopefully your foot is feeling better, and so glad you found an activity that you enjoy and are pursuing frequently. Pickleball is lots of fun I LOVE Summer. July is...well put it this way, the sun in July is like a death ray. Everything is cool and lovely until the sun peeks over the horizon. Then KABOOM! it is too hot. LOL

But I'd rather have summer. It's energizing and hopeful.

[VegSeekingFit]

Hi Erin!

It sounds like you have taken some awesome hikes! And --- WOW - you have a long one planned for next month! Are you going with your daughter -- or a group? Will you stay overnight on the trail or do it all in one clip?

Love that your grandson had a ball at Canada Day parade!!! Wish that excitement could be bottled up and shared!!!

Your meals always sound delicious!!

Hope that the fires are over and you are able to enjoy outside and pickleball.

Best wishes for a wonderful week!

Cheers,
Stephanie

[Ejeff]

Buns, yes that lentil tofu is so simple to make just blend and dump in a glass baking pan. Thanks, foot is fine now. I agree summer is still the best even with the heat.

Stephanie, for the longer hike we are staying one night on the trail. It will be with my daughter, her spouse and another friend so 4 of us in total. This weekend we are doing a 23km hike Saturday and about 10km Sunday, but we won’t have to carry our full packs as we won’t be sleeping on the trail. Just doing a loop and coming back to the start. Weather forecast is looking pretty good, likely a bit too hot with some afternoon thunderstorms likely. I baked up a big batch of banana oat cookies yesterday and today I’m making some crispy chickpeas. Good hiking food lol. The smoke hasn’t been too awful, but it’s quite bad in northern Alberta right now so today we are at an index of 5. Sure looks smoky outside. It hasn’t stopped Pickleball playing though.

Thanks you both for checking in, have an awesome day!

Erin

[Ejeff]

Happy to report we really enjoyed our hiking in Jasper last weekend. Saturday we did a 25km loop which is called Saturday Night Lake Loop. It was in the forest mostly and we needed mosquito spray that’s for sure. It took us about 9 hours with a few short breaks along the way. The trail hasn’t been that well maintained so it was quite narrow in many spots. We didn’t encounter too many other people. We did pass 3 mountain bikers who has no bug spray so we shared ours. Seems quite strange to venture into the forest without it duh. On Sunday we did the Mount Edith Cavell Hike which is much shorter about 9km, but much steeper also. In the past in have always had some foot and toe pain when hiking hills. I was very happy this time no pain. I’m quite sure it’s because I started doing calf raises on the stairs and also a couple other small things like sitting on my feet under me and also sitting on the toes. It’s exercises I found when researching this type of problem. I’m always quite amazed how small exercises/routines a person implements can make such a difference. The MEC hike was so beautiful. We saw some wildlife and such lovely flowery meadows. Felt so awesome to be in nature. I did learn a valuable lesson. Pack only food for myself not for others. I always have the tendency to want to share the cookies and such that I make, but when trying to plan for the least weight in a heavy pack it’s too difficult to judge quantity. So from now on, I will plan food only for myself as I can be much more accurate that way. We haven’t done that much overnight camping, but so far I’ve always brought too much food. I would prefer having just not quite enough.

I’m still enjoying playing Pickleball at least 4 times a week and my gym and swim workouts are quite consistent each M/T/T. I am feeling stronger than I was a few months ago which is nice. Nothing much new in the kitchen. Lunch is almost always my large rice and salad bowl with a bean based dressing. Occasionally I chop up a seaweed sheet and whisk in some wasabi and soya sauce to make it a sushi flavoured bowl. In the lounge there was talk about how to microwave potatoes. I usually microwave them either peeled or unpeeled until slightly soft, cut them into chunks, and then air fry them. I never get tired of eating them this way. Sometimes I dip them in malt vinegar.

I never get tired of oatmeal either. I wish Costco sold the full oat groats. They sell the quick cooking steel cut which I suppose is better than the rolled. Perhaps I will look online to purchase full oat groats. Anyone with advice about buying steel cut oats? The oats are so fast to prepare, I put one cup in pressure cooker with 3 cups of water. Takes about 9 minutes once pressure is achieved and then I let it release naturally.

There has been some information circulating about getting in a wide variety of plants each week. 30 seems to be the target. So just for fun I counted 3 days of eating and my total came to around 34. I was quite surprised my count was that high. Perhaps I will count for a full week just to see what my total would be.

Have a great week and enjoy the sunshine.

Erin

[Daydream]

Erin, those were impressive hikes you went on! It sounds like you prepared well in bringing enough food and mosquito spray. You are in great shape with all the Pickleball, gym work and swimming you do.

I don't think I've ever tasted malt vinegar. I'm curious about what it tastes like.

My market sells Bob's Red Mill Organic Steel Cut Oats but I have also bought them from Amazon.

When I make Steel Cut Oats in my Instant Pot, I use 2 cups of Steel Cut Oats with 6 cups of water. I cook under high pressure for 5 minutes with a natural release.

I like regular oatmeal too. I'm so lazy that when I cook oatmeal, I cook it in the microwave. I just make sure I cook it in an extra large bowl so it doesn't boil over.

Good for you in eating such a nice variety of plants in a week!

[VegSeekingFit]

Hi Erin,

Your walks sound incredible!! Good that you had the bug spray - makes me cringe to think of getting eaten for hours by mosquitoes! I have been reading "Epic Hikes of the World" from the library (incredible pics!) and it has Fairview Mountain from Banff, but nothing from Jasper... It is great that you have peeps that will do that challenging hike with you!

Congrats for being so consistent with the exercise!!

I like what you said about the potatoes. I've never microwaved them peeled, but will give this a whirl! I think I eat them about half the time with peel.

Wish I could help on the steel cut oats, but I have a canister collecting dust in my pantry. I like the rolled oats and just microwave them - super easy.

Hope you have a wonderful week!

Best,
Stephanie

[Ejeff]

Daydream, thanks for the information on how you cook your steel cut oats. I shortened the cooking time on my last batch and I enjoyed the texture better.

Stephanie, that book sounds great I will see if I can get it from my library too. And thank you regarding the exercise. I am enjoying my routine and I think that is the main thing. My newest addition is I have bought a pull up bar. I’m going to use it just to hang from to start, but one day hope to be strong enough to do pull ups. I have to go slowly due to previous shoulder injuries, one on each side. My Pickleball addiction is quite strong haha so I think I’m playing 5 or 6 days a week now. It’s just so hard to say no when an invitation comes to play.

Next week we are camping with the kids for a few days. I’m not planning anything special food wise other than I will prepare some starches so they are ready. I might bake a batch of granola to have something to munch on around the campfire. Looking forward to spending time at the beach with the little guy and some nice walks too.

We have had some issues with too many squirrels running around. They got into the vehicle engine area and were ripping out some insulation. We bought a couple big plastic owls and it so far seems to be working to scare them away. Now they seem to like the neighbours tree better than ours lol.

Wishing everyone a sunny and happy day!
Erin

[Daydream]

Erin, how great that you bought a pull up bar! I like your idea of hanging from it to start and slowly building up your strength. You are in great physical condition to play Pickleball 5 or 6 days a week, good for you!

Enjoy your camping trip with the kids. Our 2 grandsons have fun when we take them to the beach or a lagoon near the beach.

Oh no about the squirrels! I'm glad you found a solution to keep them out of the engine area of your car.

[VegSeekingFit]

Hi Erin,

Wow --- you go girl with the pull up bar!!! Awesome!

I completely understand the pickleballing EVERY possible chance! Wondering if you have seen any of the Holderness Family You tubes? In case not, below link is one --- but there are a few that are hilarious!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYX5l6js01U

Hope you have a fantastic time camping!

Stephanie

[Ejeff]

Thanks Daydream, I so enjoy being active, I’m 60 but feel like 40. But it’s just a number lol.

Stephanie, thanks for the link, I have seen this video before they are a hoot! Hope your PF heals up quickly, glad the foot exercises are helping. I recently watched a video that highlighted orthotics just mask the issue, that to heal things like PF a person needs to strengthen the foot muscles which makes sense.

Camping was very nice, a bit of rain off and on, but thankfully no mosquitoes which was a bonus. Taking prepared starches rice and potatoes was a great strategy as I didn’t have to cook which left more time for walks and baby fun. We played Mexican train it’s a fun game. Also played Mollokey which is where you have 12 wooden sticks and you stand back a few yards and throw another stick and try to knock them down. It’s a fun outdoor game. We were with a bigger group and the food temptations were everywhere, ice cream and many types of potato chips. As we didn’t bring any of that kind of food, it was easy to stay the course and avoid the junk.

Stopped at produce store yesterday for more cherries and ended up with a huge watermelon. It’s very ripe and juicy so will be having lots of that this week. Yesterday was national Pickleball day so our club gave everyone a jar of sliced dill pickles. They are good lol. Back to the normal routine this week although I will be having dinner out twice which is not usual for me. I shall make the best choice possible and enjoy the socializing.

Hope everyone has a wonderful sunny summer week. As it’s mid August I have really noticed it’s getting dark much earlier, it seems to happen so fast!

Erin

[VegSeekingFit]

Hi Erin,

Your camping trip sounds like so much fun! Good for you bringing prepared starches! Great planning. Love hearing about the games you mentioned - I'm not familiar with either of them, but always up for learning a new one!

Thanks for the good wishes with the PF --- it is getting better with just foot exercises (some using ice water bottle) and playing just a smidge less pickleball.

I have to ❤️ that Canada has a National Pickleball day!! Fun that you got jars of pickles! In the Pickle Spears activity that I did, the winner of the 2nd bracket got a Costco sized jar of bread and butter pickles. Hilarious!

Hope you are having an amazing end of August!

Cheers,
Stephanie

[Ejeff]

Last day of August and I have to say it was a wonderful summer. I’m also looking forward to the fall colors and hopefully beautiful weather for all of September. We did our biggest hike of the season last weekend. Hiked some of the Tonquin Trail in Jasper. Most people do the distance we covered over 3 days, but I guess we like to test ourselves so we took 2 days and 1 night. We were so fortunate the weather was perfect no clouds and a slight breeze, best of all no mosquitoes. I was carrying a lot of OFF as we did expect them to be bad so it was a pleasant surprise not having to spray even once. The scenery was spectacular I saw views of the mountains like never before. Toward the end of day 1 we went for a swim in Amethyst Lake which was very refreshing. This time I did better not hauling too much food although next time I would bring even less. The first day I ate apples, potatoes and dried tofu. Also some banana oat cookies. Day 2 was oats, almonds, prunes, cookies and Lara bars. Each hike is a learning experience and I have figured out a better way to organize the backpack so it doesn’t shift around as much. The first day we hiked 25km with a fair amount of elevation. My body felt fine all day, but at the very end of the day I ended up with left knee pain. Not sure what happened, but perhaps just pushed it a bit too long with the weight of the pack. The pack was around 25 to 28 pounds. Anyways, day 2 was the real challenge as we hiked 17km. Good thing I had Tylenol and poles as the knee sure wasn’t liking any of the downhill portions of the trail. I was lucky it was mostly flat or slightly up.

I am thinking it would be a good goal to do this hike every 5 years so we might do the same one again when I’m 65. I think perhaps over 3 days though! We didn’t encounter any wildlife, but I’m perfectly fine to not meet up with any bears lol.

I think the knee is recovering now with a few days of rest, I can walk fine now. Will try Pickleball again today. I picked up a cantaloupe and a watermelon yesterday so will be enjoying that over the weekend. I’m running low on beans so will cook up some chickpeas in the pressure cooker, having a craving for some hummus. I really am mostly a lazy cook, just starches, veggies and fruit.

Wishing everyone a wonderful September. If I can find the instructions on how to upload photos I will try and share a few hiking pictures.

Erin

[Daydream]

Erin, you are in excellent shape to do a 25km hike with elevation in one day while carrying a 28 pound backpack!

I'm a lazy cook too-- eating starches, veggies and fruit but I love the food so I'm quite satisfied.

Enjoy your Pickleball game!

[VegSeekingFit]

Hi Erin,

❤️ how you described your hike! That sounds phenomenal --- and WOW --- what a long distance with a heavy pack --- that is awesome!!

Do you train at all for the longer hikes and if so, do you train with a pack?? Anyway, your food that you packed sounds great too! Hope that your knee is feeling better.

Would love to see your pictures if you can post any! You said that you were looking for directions so I will try to give some...

First, you need to save your pictures from your computer / phone to a third-party site that hosts pictures --- like Shutterfly or Flickr or postimages.org.
Then, you copy them from there to this site and put the URL in between codes :
"[img]URL%20of%20picture%20file%20(.jpg%20or%20.png)[/img]"

It sounds more complicated than it is. Anyway, hope you give it a go!!!

Happy September!

Cheers,
Stephanie

[Ejeff]

Thank you Daydream.

Stephanie, we did train just a bit taking a previous hike, but not with our full weight packs as we didn’t sleep in the back country. So a small amount of training, more would be better lol. Thanks for the instructions on how to load a photo it worked! Although not sure how to make the photos appear larger…