Kids Wall Clock

How can you tell if you have too much time on your hands?  By seeing how many simple things you turn into complex art projects, of course!  Maybe it's the perfectionist in me, or maybe it's that we only have one child (and thus have *way* more time to devote to her than we should), but a few months back I decided K needed a custom made clock for her big-kid bedroom.  

My free-form kids wall clock.

Backing up a bit - K has been in her nursery since September 2011, and it is about time she had a new space of her very own.  But how does a parent make a fun bedroom that isn't too over-the-top?  I started by perusing Pinterest for ideas, and went to Jo-Ann Fabrics to find a patterned cloth for overall color inspiration.  After using the pattern to select colors (a grey-purple for most of the walls, with blue, green, and yellow for accents), I used the fabric to fashion a valence for the window.

The color inspiration - in valance form.

Grandma came into town for the holidays and volunteered her talents/expertise for painting K's room.  The result was amazing!  I also found a great line of children's artwork from Etsy seller Trafalgarssquare, and purchased a few prints.  Finally, rather than add clothing storage in the form of furniture, we installed a closet organizing system so K could easily reach her hanging clothes. 

A playful mishmash of colors and floating animals.

At this point the bedroom decor had pretty much everything it needed but the right wall clock.  I was originally looking for a cloud clock to go with the hot air balloon theme of the artwork, but was amazed to find that no such thing seemed to exist on Amazon, Ebay, or the world wide web.  After spending so much time and effort to make the rest of the room fit, it felt wrong to settle with just any old wall clock.  Once again enter Pinterest - and the idea to make a free-form wall clock from parts.  My clock's mechanism and arms came from Clockworks, its body is a square of cardboard covered with the patterned cloth I mentioned above, and its numbers were cut out of black paint chips using a scrapbook letter cutter.  This ended up being a bit more expensive than the typical wall clock (~$30 for the clock parts, plus a bit more for the owl cloth), but it turned out really well.  Little K will be able to enjoy this clock for years to come!

The clock from the side.

Pumpkin Protein Muffins

I love muffins.  Seriously.  But they tend to have so many empty calories - white flour, sugar, butter... how can you really enjoy a muffin if it doesn't help you check off some of the healthy to-do's from your daily list?  Well, with a little inspiration from a clean eating blog and a few rounds of baking trials, I think I've found the solution.  This muffin recipe still includes a little sugar, but I use palm sugar which is less refined than white sugar.  I also include some wheat germ for an additional nutritional boost.  You can use any protein powder you like, but for nutrition calculation purposes my recipe uses Whey Factors 100% Natural Whey Protein - Double Chocolate flavor.  Enjoy!

Ingredients
- 2 1/2 c (~310g) whole wheat pastry flour
- 1 1/2 t baking soda
- 4 tsp ground cinnamon
- 3/4 tsp ground allspice
- 1 T ground ginger
- 2 T wheat germ
- 2 scoops protein powder
- 1/3 c palm sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 1/2 c canned pumpkin
- 1 1/2 c nonfat greek yogurt
- 30 g walnuts or pecans, chopped

1) Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 350F.  Line 15 muffin tin cups with silicone muffin liners (or use paper if you prefer) and spritz the bottom of each liner with olive oil.  Set aside.

2) In a large bowl, whisk the first seven ingredients (through protein powder).  Make a well in the center of the ingredients.  Set aside.

3) In another bowl using a blender at high speed, beat the next four ingredients (sugar through yogurt) until frothy.  Pour this mixture into the well in the dry ingredients and stir just until combined.  Batter will be sticky.

4) Divide the batter equally among the prepared muffin cups.  Top muffins with chopped nuts.  

5) Bake ~18 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the middle of a muffin comes out clean.  Do not over-bake.  Cool in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes before removing from the cups.  Serve warm (or reheat in a microwave) with your topping of choice.

Nutritional information per muffin (according to Sparkrecipes.com):  155 Calories; 2.8g fat (0.5g sat; 1.1g poly; 0.4g mono); 30mg Chol; 155 mg sodium; 105 mg potassium; 26.8g Carbs; 4.2g Fiber; 8.3g Sugar; 8.0g Protein.

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Ingredient Notes 

• Whole wheat pastry flour is a finely ground whole wheat flour that feels more like white flour in baked goods.  You should be able to find this in your local equivalent of a Giant or Safeway in the same general area the other Bob's Red Mill products.  If not, it can be ordered on Amazon or on Bob's Red Mill website. 
• Wheat germ is the most vitamin- and mineral- rich part of the wheat kernel.  Two tablespoons are about 50 calories and contain 2 grams of fiber, and 4 grams of protein, not to mention a handful of healthy vitamins and minerals.  You can find it at your local grocery store, on Amazon, or on Bob's Red Mill website.
• Palm sugar is a less refined sugar option that can be simply substituted for brown sugar on a one to one basis.  You can find it at a store like Whole Foods or Trader Joe's, or get it on Amazon.

Backpacking the Grand Canyon: Lessons Learned

The group in front of the Back-Country office before the trip

In February, my husband and I undertook hiking into (and out of) the Grand Canyon with my father, cousin, and a couple of friends.  Although the overall experience was *amazing*, there were definitely parts that we could have prepared for better.  I really wish I had tried backpacking on a smaller scale prior to attempting such a huge undertaking so we could have had fewer hiccups on the actual adventure.  For others interested in also trying a strenuous backpacking trip as a first go, here are a few of the lessons I learned on my first backpacking trip.

The view from Cedar Ridge.

1) Downhill treks are *much* more difficult than uphill.  Before the trip, I mistakenly assumed the first day (7 or so miles, over 4,000 foot elevation decrease) would be easy relative to the level or uphill days.  Little did I realize that the downhill would tax my calf muscles until they sang.  I also noticed early on that my flat feet were not happy, with my Achilles tendons hurting the most.  It wasn't until almost a week after we got out of the Canyon that my tendons and calves started to feel better.  Still worth the trip, but just be forewarned that day 2 may be better planned as a rest day instead of as a 10+ mile hike.

I made it down despite the craziness!

2) Confirm that inflatable gear is good to go before traveling.  During the first night, my husband found out that the brand new Thermarest sleeping pad I got him for the trip wasn't holding air for more than about an hour or so. This may not have been much of a problem in summer months, when the ground is warm, but in winter a lack of air beneath you results in an infinite heat sink being effectively in direct contact with your body.  Major discomfort (and no sleeping) ensues. 

Our second night at Bright Angel Campground.

3) Check the weather predictions, and heed them.  Kinda obvious, I know, but I didn't think to do this right before we were on our way down the side of the Canyon.  I had instead checked the weather a week or so prior to the trip, which showed great weather for the entire window of prediction.  That window did not include Wednesday and beyond (we were staying in the Canyon Sunday through Friday).  When we were in the Canyon and talking with the Park Service about a revised itinerary (see 4 below), we found out that there was a predicted 15 inch snowfall on Wednesday.  That wouldn't be seen in the bottom of the Canyon (which hit 70F when we were down there), but would make hiking out a bit more treacherous.  That freaked me out quite a bit, and was part of the reason we changed our plans to get out of the Canyon by Wednesday night.  We really lucked out - the storm that was to have dropped said snow passed South of the Canyon rim and instead closed all of Flagstaff - but it could have been different, and we were not prepared for snow camping.

Sunrise in the Canyon.

4) Condition yourself for the trip by completing physical training in advance, and be honest as you're doing it if you need to turn around.  Not everyone was physically ready for this trip.  My husband and I had trained for it (I by running excessively; he by putting on an overweight hiking pack and completing climbs on the treadmill), but we weren't prepared for some of the curve balls that came along (see lessons 1, 2, and 3 above).  Thankfully, with the help of the Park Rangers we were able to revise our itinerary from one that involved ~10 mile hikes every day - no rest days - and a total of five nights in the Canyon, to one more within our group's capability range.  The National Park Service is *amazing* and I cannot say enough good things about Ranger Ed Foss.  We were also lucky enough to be able to send 30 pounds of gear out of the Canyon by mule (yay, Phantom Ranch!).  Having to carry that 30 pounds would have made the hike out *much* more difficult, as three of the four of us (the other two, extremely fit folks continued on the original itinerary) were at capacity even without it.  In the end, I'm glad we went through with the hike, and will be glad to have bragging rights for years to come, but the trip would have been even better without the worry that comes of not being physically ready.

The Park Ranger's humble abode.

5) Ask your group participants to test out food portions.  Early on in the trip planning period, I volunteered to make dinners and breakfasts for the group.  This seemed to be the easiest and most cost effective method of meal planning.  Having never gone backpacking before, I did some research online, decided to use dried foods, and proceeded to put together meals at about 500 calories for dinner and 400 calories for breakfast.  For most of the meals, this meant packaging multiple servings as a single dinner.  Following the trip, my fellow hikers gave me mixed reviews.  On one hand, the friend with significant backpacking experience indicated that the meals were way too large.  He couldn't for the life of him finish either the breakfast or dinner portions.  He did mention toward the end of the hike that he preferred all-day snacking, rather than eating large meals, to get the calories he needs for long, strenuous hikes, so that may have had something to do with it.  Separately, my cousin (who was in the fit group who stuck with the original itinerary) told me that the portions were just right.  All I can say is: if you haven't hiked with these people before, either leave them to establish their own food needs, or have them test out representative versions of your planned meals before the hike.  This will greatly help in planning the food weight you need to carry for the group. 

Enjoying a hot cup of coffee at the Bright Angel Campground at the end of day one.

6) For group hikes where weight is important, coordinate the small stuff too.  We had multiple deodorants (Seriously... deodorant for a hike where you aren't showering for a few days?  Let it go!), toothpastes, and antibacterial hand sanitizers.  These may seem like small items, but when the group is pushing weight limits, every ounce counts.  Likewise, coordinate snacks as well as meals.  There was *so* *much* trail mix in the group.  We didn't really need to carry that weight.

Day trip from Bright Angel Campground.

At some point in the near future, I'll also post about my new found experience with freezer bag cooking.