Right to Ride (plus healthy vegan brownie recipe)

O, Dinky Bridge! O, Iron Grate! O, Blue Slide!

You trails, thine mud is plush, and roots ripe with traction.

Ye olde mountain bike season is again upon us! Bask in yea glory of semi-dry trails. Bow down in thanks of the trail gods who build berms and fill ruts. And yea, kiss the tire treads of they who rode all winter when the trails were soft and vulnerable, for they knew not of their own power to corrode. Let us give thanks to the sun, brief in the sky as it may be, whose vitamin D reminds us that yes, we do prefer to be alive (though for the past six months may have lost sight of that mission). Let us not take for granted this day of beauty, let this not be our day of rest, for rest will come soon enough—tomorrow (or later today) when it rains, or post-ride at D's for veggie dogs topped with avocado and Sriracha slaw, and washed down with a pint of 1919 Root Beer.

No time for typing, today we ride.

Tonight, however, we make brownies (because: it is raining).

This recipe is adapted from Vega's Easy Vega One Protein Brownies. I changed things around based on what I had lying (laying? I was a writing major, not an English major) around the house, and also to make them a bit more affordable and to my nutrition needs.

Semi-Easy Protein Brownies

vegan, gluten free, about as healthy as brownies can be

• 3 Tbsp ground flaxseeds
• 6 pitted dates, chopped
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 small zucchini
• 1/2 cup apple sauce
• 1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 scoop chocolate protein powder
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup almond flour

1. Preheat oven to 350º F
2. Soak flax meal and dates in water in a medium sized bowl; let sit for half hour
3. Meanwhile, some prepping! Chop zucchini in food processor until finely chopped. Also, grease 9x9 pan with coconut oil.
4. Add each ingredient, one at a time, to flax mixture, folding until just mixed. If zucchini has left a bit of water at the bottom of food processor, add it if batter feels excessively dry.
5. Pour batter into pan and bake for 25 minutes. These babies are MOIST! So if you like cupcakes to be a bit on the cakier side, bake for an extra five minutes or so.
6. Let sit, cool, and firm for a good 15 minutes before cutting. 

Out like a lamb

First things first...

I knew March was going to be a difficult month for me to keep up with the posts. So I'm *kind of* sorry I haven't been updating very much. Does it feel better if I pass the buck and say I tried to get a few other people on board to write blog posts for me, and they never followed through? No? Hmm... How about if I regale you with tales of adventure in teaching adult writing classes, doing P90X at 2 a.m., and getting to see some of my favorite bands for free because I've been writing about them. I figured that one would win since I wrote it in a list of threes and usually that can make anything sound good. Oh well. I will say that I am letting go of some of my work obligations (and taking on some others, ssshhh) so I should have more writing time available to write to you fine folks here.

There have been some recipes I want to share, and also those REVIEWS. GLORIOUS REVIEWS of headphones, motorcycle pants, gluten free flour, a flashlight, and more (I think). I want to make videos, though, so I need a friend. Once I find one, I'll be Good To Go. Any day now...

P90X is going....fine. But I'm also back at kickboxing and will be doing a challenge with them, having to attend 3 times per week, which will greatly supplement my P90X workout by switching it up, keeping it fun, and adding to the cardio days which don't feel very cardio-heavy for me, based on my needs. So I'll be a force to be reckoned with by May, just in time to turn 33.

In the meantime, here's some pancakes I made this morning. They are gluten free, vegan, and super simple.

Gluten Free Vegan Blueberry Pancakes

Dry Ingredients

• 1 C. All Purpose gluten free flour (I prefer Mama's Almond Flour)
• 2 tsp. sugar
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. ceylon cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. salt

Mix dry ingredients first, until well blended, then add the wet ingredients one at a time:

Wet Ingredients

• 1/4 C. applesauce (alternative: 1 Tbs. ground flax meal + 3 Tbs. water. Let sit for about 5 minutes before use)
• 3/4 C. milk substitute (I prefer Almond Breeze unsweetened coconut almond milk*)
• 1/4 C. thawed frozen blueberries

Once wet ingredients are added, fold mixture until just mixed, breaking up knots of flour with purpose. Melt about 2 tsp. coconut oil on a skillet, then pour about 1/4 C. batter on pan. Let sit until edges look dry and bubbles form in the center. Flip and let cook a few minutes. I topped mine off with blueberry compote. These are the last of the batch, so they're a bit thin of blueberry swirl. I ate through the first few so fast before I realized what was happening.

*Carton milk substitute isn't the most healthy, in all honesty. Some people prefer using coconut milk from the can because it doesn't have all the additives that coconut "drink" has, and then add water to desired consistency. If you live near coconuts, you can make your own. When my ultra vegan years coincided with my ultra poor days and my ultra bad at math days, I made my own almond milk using cheese cloth, a blender, and some raw almonds. I'll post that another time, but I'm sure you can see where that one's going.

I finished a marathon!!!

Okay, it was a poetry marathon, but give me some credit! It took years of training, lots of support from my friends and family, and a lot of digging deep into myself to find the ability to keep going when I was tired and sore and psychologically drained.

Now that it's over, I've taken a shower and a very long nap, I'm starting to recover. Today I drank some apple cider vinegar with water and maple/agave syrup (it's better than it sounds, trust me). I also made some incredible granola. I posted the recipe earlier, so I won't clog your feed with it again, but this time I cut down on the sugars and made the apple juice fresh, and added more of it. Apple juice is a lot thicker when it's straight from the juicer, so I used it to supplement some of the maple/agave (it's also a lot cheaper). For the add-ins, I used chia and flaw seeds, cashew bits, dried cranberries, and banana chips. Here's a photo:

As a public service announcement, since it did HAIL today (ugh), I will let you fine people know that So Delicious brand Coconut Nog is now available in stores, and it is divine. So go ahead, turn up that oven to 300, and let your house warm up just a few degrees while you slog some nog and wait for your warm granola to be oven fresh.