The Boundary Waters

26 May

As mentioned, Dana and I took a trip up to the Boundary Waters with my brother Scott, his girlfriend Nicole, and Scott’s dog Tuner. The photos are not the highest quality because they were taken from a disposable camera, but they’re not terrible!

Here is our trip in a nutshell for you all.

Friday morning we are all packed up and about to hit the road towards the Boundary Waters.

To get to our campsite, we did quite a bit of portaging. Unfortunately for Dana, I wasn’t quite strong enough to carry the canoe so he got stuck with it every time.  I was however, able to help carry our packs!

Throughout the weekend we canoed approximately 30 miles and enjoyed the most beautiful scenery and the freshest air. The air was so pure I just wanted to bottle it up and take it home. Below is a photo of Scott, Nicole, and Tuner canoeing alongside of us. They led the way as they are seasoned BW travelers.

We finally made it to our first campsite after finding that most of the sites were full. It was a pretty small site, but we were ecstatic to find a site in general. So we set up shop, while battling the gnats and flies.

We ate SO well this weekend thanks to wonderful planning by Nicole. She made batches of dehydrated fruits including apples, bananas, peaches, and pineapples, and brought along other snacks like granola, beef jerky, raisins, nuts, seeds, etc. Dinners were seriously awesome. The first night we ate tacos, second night we ate chili, and third night we ate asparagus soup. Nicole should seriously win an award for best camp cook. Lunches consisted of summer sausage, cheese, pita bread, peanut butter, tuna, crackers, and snackies. Breakfasts were oatmeal and granola with nuts and seeds, and the first morning we had hashbrowns, bacon, and eggs. Talk about a feast.

Scotty is quite the novice camper as well. Here is using a wooden paddle as a cutting board to cut up tomatoes for salsa. Who knew a paddle could be so multi-functional?

Evenings were spent relaxing and enjoying the breathtaking views.

Day two, we packed up our stuff and headed to a campsite across the way that had recently become vacant. This one was amazing. It was huge.

We “bathed” in the water behind Dana in this photo below. The water was pretty darn cold. Doesn’t Dana look so manly? Like he could go catch a fish with his bare hands?

Day three was rainy, so we slept in and eventually Dana and I crawled out to go start a fire. We all hung out for a while, and as the rain started to let up, we decided that we would get bundled up and head out on a day canoe trip. We paddled into Canada. My first ever visit to Canada. We ate lunch on an island rock called Warrior Hill, then headed a little further to view the Lac La Croix Pictographs. The pictographs consisted of handprints, Moose, figurines of men smoking a pipe, and the letter L, among others. Very cool!

Back home, we bundled up and huddled around the campfire. It turned out to be a clear night so we could see the stars. They were so bright and beautiful and nothing like we see here in the cities.

Last morning and we are all packed up again ready to head for home. Yes, my pants are tucked into my socks. The bugs LOVE me so I like to cover as much skin as possible and stay protected.

We left for landing/where our car was parked, at 9 am from our campsite, and didn’t get there until 2 pm, so it was a long day of portaging and canoeing and we were all exhausted.

Our final photo of the journey was taken once we had made it to our final destination, the car. The last leg of the portage was a long one and it was uphill. I was carrying my pack on my back as well as the food pack on my front. All I could think about was making it to the top and not stopping until I got there (hey, that was good training for the half marathon, huh?). Also, I felt like a contestant on the Biggest Loser. You know, after they have been on the show for a while and have lost a lot of weight, they give the contestants a task of strapping on all of the weight they have lost and make them do a crazy trail trek? That’s what I felt like.

I learned this weekend that I am capable of so much more than I realize. This weekend was very challenging for me physically, but I survived. I am so fortunate to have had the opportunity to go up north to the Boundary Waters. Thank you Scotty for pushing me to go  and for having faith in me that I was strong enough to handle it! I will recover from the bug bites soon. :smile: P.S. I love my bed, I am fortunate for electricity, running water, food from the fridge, shelter of my home…

Happy Saturday! It’s running day for me. Catch up with you later.

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Honey Mustard Zing Chicken

25 May

This morning I had a real big craving for coffee. I have given up caffeine due to my current health status, because it acts as a stimulant to the intestines and can cause unneeded distress. The only coffee we have at home is caffeinated so I contemplated whether just to make tea again as I have been in the mornings, or to head out in my comfies and get me some decaf coffee. I chose option two. I headed out to Caribou and got myself a medium decaf french roast. I also got 10¢ off my coffee because I knew the answer to the trivia question.

Trivia Clues: “I am a child actor. I’m not home alone anymore.” Who is it?!

I got it home, poured the coffee into my own mug, added cream and stevia, and lovingly sipped away.

I have decided that this weekend I am going to buy decaf coffee from the grocery store. I know coffee is acidic and I probably shouldn’t drink it everyday, but every once in a while it will be a nice treat.

*******

Now, backtracking to last night. I had company! My long time friend, Kalley was coming over for dinner and a chill night. I wanted to make a tasty dinner for the both of us, while still keeping it low-fiber. I scanned the fridge and cupboards and came up with what I’m going to call Honey Mustard Zing Chicken.

In the crock pot (recipe for two):

  • 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
  • 4 carrots, chopped into medium rounds
  • 1 1/2 cups reduced sodium chicken broth
  • 1/4 cup honey
  • 2 Tbsp mustard
  • 1/2 tsp garlic powder
  • 1/2 tsp ginger
  • 1 Tbsp lower sodium soy sauce
  • 1 Tbsp brown sugar
  • Salt and Pepper

Simply add all ingredients into your crock pot, cover it, set it, and forget it. My instructions for you all would be to set this in your crock pot on low for 5-6 hours. This little girl on the other hand, accidentally let it go for nearly 12 hours and it came out a teeny bit dry. Still delicious, but yes definitely a little dry. My bad, sorry Kal.

I truly enjoyed this meal and was so happy that I had made a dinner for the both of us that was still tasty, yet kept it low-fiber so it wouldn’t upset my stomach. I kept my portion on the smaller side because I knew there was dessert coming. Kalkal brought us over a new treat to try: Ben & Jerry’s Greek Frozen Yogurt in Strawberry Shortcake.

OMG, we fell in love. This tasted like you were literally eating a piece of strawberry shortcake. It was AWESOME. I would recommend this to anyone seriously! I am usually a chocolate mix-in type of frozen yogurt girl, but I may have to reconsider my froyo decisions in the future because this was the bomb.

The rest of the night was spent catching up on life, laughing about the past, and completely soaking up each other’s company. Thanks for coming over Kallio. Love you so much.

Now, I am off to ponder breakfast. I then plan to clean the house a bit, finish up on laundry, run some errands, and possibly purchase items for our garden. We have plans to plant our veggie garden this weekend and I am stoked. Whoop whoop!

Happy Friday everybody!

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A Successful Day of Low-Fiber Meals

24 May

Hello! Is the anticipation of hearing about my boundary waters trip really driving you crazy? Well, you’re going to have to wait, because I didn’t get it around to putting it together yesterday. Tee hee. Sorry. I’m sure you’re all going to be okay.

How about a recap of yesterday’s low-fiber intake?

Starting with breakfast: Cream of Wheat with maple syrup, cinnamon, and brown sugar. Holy cow this was great. It sat very well in my tummy too, which is very important being I was at work and no one likes to be uncomfortable at work.

I snacked on a banana mid-morning. For lunch I ate the innards (didn’t realize that was actually a word until right now) of a sweet potato with a scoop of natural peanut butter. Ah are you kidding me? Why I have I waited so long to make this beautiful concoction. Love. Meal numero dos = success.

I also ate some honeydew melon, and a handful of pretzels.

After work I headed to mom and dad’s. I decided to hop on the elliptical for a half hour lag to stretch my legs out. I got real sweaty hence the shiny face in this photo below. Abbie doesn’t seem to mind. Mom and I took her for a quick walk around the neighborhood before we hunkered down to work on dinner.

fettuccine noodles and marinara sauce with mushrooms, spinach, and italian spices. On top of ol’ fettuccine were two meatballs. On the side, green beans (canned because they are easier for the body to digest). Meal three was also a success and I got to eat it with mom, dad, and Kevin which made it that much better.

For dessert I munched on dark chocolate and mint chocolate chips and a few mini marshmallows. What is with me lately and having to eat dessert every night? Mmm, I love my sweets.

After dinner I came home to the boys and threw the ball to Moose for a while before a storm rolled in. Check out these peonies blooming in our backyard. Beautiful! I wish they lasted longer than they did.

The day’s eats in combination with starting my medications, made for a pretty good day on the colitis front. I did not feel bloated today which is such a glorious thing. I will fight this fast, I know it.

I am out. I have company coming for dinner tonight and have plans to make something nummy, and I will be keeping it low-fiber. I will be sure to fill ya in later.

Happy Thursday!

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