Monday, October 21, 2013

Apple Crisp Recipe!

It is most definitely Fall in Illinois! It was even more Fall in Michigan when I went up there a couple weekends ago. Their trees turned before ours and were full of beautiful reds, golds, and yellows. While we were there, we took the littles to an apple orchard to pick apples. We always hit a local orchard at home but thought it would be fun to check out an orchard while in Michigan. So, we went to Crane's Orchard in Fennville, MI.

This place is pretty big and has lots of fun stuff for kids so if you go you may want to plan a whole day. We only had a few hours but were still able to have a good time. My kids loved going out and picking the apples. This was evident by the amount of apples we ended up buying. They had several variety that we got to try before we went out to pick so that we would know which ones to get.


The girl takes apple tasting very seriously.


There's really no other way to put it... the apples were GINORMOUS. No, I mean, really really huge. They told us that one they had weighed earlier in the day was 1.4 pounds. That's just one apple. Of course at this point my non-organic alarm is going crazy but I chose to ignore it because this was about having a fun day. I didn't ask if the apples were organic or not. I just went with it.





Twenty-six pounds of apples later, we left.



So, now I have all these huge, yummy apples sitting on my counter and of course they are taking up the entire counter. What to do... Vegan Apple Crisp!

I made this recipe yesterday and took it to a family dinner. Everyone ate it and said it was good. My family really has no qualms about brutal honesty so I took them at their word. Plus, I left with an empty pan. The 'crisp' part wasn't quite as crisp as I like but I thought overall it was still really good.


VEGAN APPLE CRISP

7 Cups Sliced  and Peeled Apples (Because I used GINORMOUS apples it only took 3 to make 7 cups)
   It calls for tart apples but I didn't have any tart variety so I used what I had and sprinkled lemon juice over them.


  • 1 c sugar ( I used half a cup instead)
  • 1 c water
  • 2 tbsp cornstarch
  • 1 Tbsp cinnamon
  • ⅛ tsp ground nutmeg
  • ⅛ tsp ground cloves (No cloves, I'm not a fan)
  • 1 c flour (I used 3/4 cup of Whole Wheat Flour and 1/4 cup of Almond Flour)
  • ¾ c quick oats
  • 1 c brown sugar
  • ½ c vegan margarine, melted (I don't have this so I used Coconut Oil instead and it worked great)

Instructions
  1. Spread apples in an ungreased 9×13″ pan. ( I actually did grease the pan with Coconut Oil)
  2. In a medium saucepan, whisk together sugar, water and cornstarch.
  3. Cook, stirring constantly, until thickened and semi-translucent.
  4. Pour mixture over apples.
  5. Sprinkle apples generously with cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves.
  6. In a large bowl, mix together the flour, oatmeal, and brown sugar.
  7. Stir in the the margarine until mixture is crumbly.
  8. Sprinkle streusel evenly over apples. Press lightly.
  9. Bake at 350° for 40 minutes or until apples are tender and streusel is golden.


I wish I had taken a picture but I didn't think to do that... It looked just like apple crisp though so, you know, just use your imagination here.  :)

Peace, Love, Happiness!
~Bekah

Saturday, October 19, 2013

Forecast of Hills: Komen Promise Half is tomorrow!

 Well, tomorrow is the big day around these parts...The Komen Promise Run.  The weather forecast looks great, however the course forecast looks hilly, hilly, and more hilly. When I signed up for the Komen Promise Run they had not decided on the course route at that time, however I knew I needed a half to train for and with it being a local, chilly, fall race it fit the bill for me. I had hoped to get a PR on this race, however everyone knows I am not a hill lover. However, I have come a long way with hills and now am not a hill hater. This is HUGE progress for me. So, this morning I came down for coffee and my husband said jokingly "Going for a sub -2 tomorrow?" I replied with, "Um yeah, actually I am going for a sub-3!" lol! 

                                                             The thing with running is you have to keep a sense of humor. You never know when you are going to get a good run in or a bad one. You never know when you are going to almost poop your pants. You never know when you will get stung by a bee or encounter a deer. You never know when you are going to get put in a ridiculous boot and your kids will ask you to drop them off for school a block away from the entrance. (Hehe, I know this hasn't happened, Bekah!) 

The point is you are out there running! Who cares what happens along the journey, as long as you are safe. Tomorrow another 13.1 will be on the books and I will make many memories with my friends & family! What a gift! ~Danyelle

Friday, October 18, 2013

What's Your Excuse?

I have a new blog-crush. It started about a month ago when someone 'liked' a post on Facebook and my newsfeed felt I would be interested so decided to share it with me. I can't even remember what the first blog post was about now but I remember thinking, 'I like this guy.' Since then I keep seeing more of his posts showing up in my newsfeed because someone I'm Facebook 'friends' with 'liked' or 'shared' his post. Finally, this week, I went to his FB page and decided to become a follower as well. I am now an avid follower of the Matt Walsh Blog.

Yesterday another of Matt's (I feel like I should be on a first name basis with him since he is my new blog-crush and all) posts popped up in my newsfeed. It was accompanied by a picture that I had seen before. In fact, I posted another blog post regarding the photo on SMR's FB page the day before. It's the now pretty famous photo of fitness blogger Maria Kang.

I was surprised to see so much controversy surrounding this photo once again. I first saw the photo several months ago. It was amidst controversy then too. Now it's being drug through the cyber mud again??? Seriously people, move on. Washington alone is giving us plenty of material to troll through and scoff at. But, last time I checked which was yesterday, Matt's post had over 450 comments.

The thing that bothers me most is just how negative and nasty people are toward Maria Kang. As though she personally, herself, committed some terrible terrible crime against them. When in fact, all she did was post a photo of herself showing that her hard work paid off even after giving birth to 3 children who were all 3 years and under at the time of the photo. Oh, and by the way, she posted the photo ON HER OWN FITNESS PAGE. You know, where she promotes health and fitness and Facebook users have the option of following her page... or not.

If they did take a moment to check out her FB page and see what she's all about, they might realize she's a pretty neat person.  She is very down to earth and even talks about having stretch marks. One of my favorite things I saw on her page is a picture of her sleeping through a morning workout with her 3 boys snuggled up with her. Oh, I can so relate to that one! Who wants to go workout when there are little ones to cuddle with?!?!

This goes deeper and hits on so many levels. Most of the nasty comments were from women. That is really sad. Woman on woman bashing is old and tired. Enough already. Many people even claimed that is was the statement of "What's Your Excuse?" that was offensive and set them off.

Below are a series of photos. All serving to send out the same message. Guess which one is the only one to receive THOUSANDS of negative comments to the point that it has made national news.

Does this offend you?



How about this one?


Surely this one is offensive. It even has the exact same statement. 


How about now?

Does this offend you?

How about this one?

Offensive? Yes, no?

How about now?

Getting my point?

Add caption

He's being totally offensive here, right?

Are you picking up on a common theme here?  

I'll be clear. The theme here is not "You are lazy, fat, ugly, and/or less than all of us." 

The theme is this: In spite of difficult circumstances, whatever they may be, do not choose to throw in the towel and give up. You too can overcome your own personal obstacles and reach your goals. 
Don't give up. Period. 

Stop reading into things because of your own insecurities. You are enough. Once you start believing that, you will probably make some pretty awesome things happen for yourself. 

No more excuses.

Peace, Love, Happiness!
~Bekah


Thursday, October 3, 2013

So, they gave me the boot...

I finally got in to see the Dr. today about my foot. They took x-rays and all that fun stuff. Then I met with the Dr. who showed me the x-ray. He enlarged it to show me that there is the tiniest bone spur starting on my heel. It's not big enough to be a major issue at this time but may be part of the issue. He poked at my foot a little bit and asked me what hurt. Then he explained that plantar fasciitis and possibly a stress fracture is the main issue. Of course, because when it comes to running related issues 'go big or go home', right? Ugh... Could have been worse though so I'm very thankful that it isn't more serious.

There is further testing that can be done to be certain of a stress fracture but either way the treatment is the same. If I wanted to know just for the sake of knowing for sure then they would do that testing but to me it seems a bit silly not to mention more time and money just to end up doing the same treatment anyway.

So, now I get to wear this fabulous boot. Grey is sooo the new black! 


Yeah, it doesn't look goofy at all...



After 3 weeks I will see if there is any improvement and if so then I can try a light jog. If not then I have to keep wearing the boot. I also was given a list of a few exercises that I have to do everyday along with continuing to roll my foot on a frozen water bottle.

Danyelle has already gotten a good laugh at my expense. She knows my schedule of drop off kid 1, pick up kid 2, then pick up kid 1, etc... which all means that I will be driving without the boot and then have to put it on before I walk in to pick up my kids, then take it back off when I get back in the car. Rinse and repeat all day long because I basically do little else than run my children to school and other activities. The velcro on this boot is going to get quite the workout. Plus, I get to feel just a little stupid having to wear the boot for the 10-15 minutes it takes to get my daughter or son into school and set up. Then just take it back off again when I get back out to the car.

Between Syria and the government shutdown my foot really doesn't rank very high on the list of world problems though. Keeping that in mind, I will continue to give thanks to God and choose happiness as I strive to stay sane.  :)

Peace, Love, Happiness!
~Bekah