Dirt 4 Life

Fluffy Chocolate Mousse

Chocolate Mousse made from Avocado!

1/2 cup water

4 soaked dates

1 large Avocado

or 2 small Avocados

1/8 cup + 1 Table Spoon  Agave

1/4 cup Cacao Powder

1 Teaspoon Vanilla

Place all the ingredients in a small hand held blender cup and blend using hand held blender. Once smooth serve with fresh fruit. Delicous and good for you.

The North Face Single Track

The North Face Single Track Trail Runner has an amazing fit. The shoe feels like a glove when you slide your foot into it. The Single Track requires zero break-in time. One of the first things you will notice with the Single Track is how well-cushioned the midsole is. These shoes feel comfortable running on pavement and on trail, but for obvious reasons we recommend staying on the trails. The shoes have a low-profile keeping you in tune with the trail, yet still provide solid comfort and support.

For more information on the shoe and others check out  thenorthface.com

The North Face Double Track

The Double Track Trail Runner is a great shoe that offers lots of cushioning with a very stable platform.  The Double-Track feels very light on your foot and provides excellent support due to the X-Dome Cradle allowing you to focus on enjoying your run and not having to worry about watching out for every little rock at root. The cushioned footbed provides excellent shock absorbtion from the trail and this combined with the raised lugs on the sole will provide traction and comfort for miles and miles.

For more info on this shoe and others check out www.thenorthface.com

Greek Quinoa Salad

1 1/3 cup (330 mL) water,
2/3 cup ( 160 mL) quinoa,

1 cup (250 mL) diced Cucumber,
1 cup (250 mL) red pepper,
½ cup (125 mL) sliced black olives,
½ cup (125 mL) crumbled feta,
½ cup (60 mL) diced red onion,
½ cup (125 mL) diced Tomato

3 Tbsp (45 mL) olive oil,
3 Tbsp (45 mL) lemon juice,
1 tsp (5 mL) dried oregano,
1 clove of garlic

Cook quinoa and set aside to cool. Dice all the vegitables, cheese and olives and place in large bowl. Blend olive oil, lemon juice, oregano and garlic. Mix the dressing and quinoa together. In a large bowl combine quinoa and all other ingredients and enjoy.

The Snowshoe Adventure!!

How to get to Isabel Lake in the winter time – either have a 4×4 or don`t go… is the message here – luckily no one got stuck and I hope everyone had fun. Maybe next time we will stop when the road is not ploughed anymore but not for sure.

It was a great group going out for a fun snowshoe all 17 of us. Parking close to the Grasslands Community Park access area the group hiked along a lake with some gentle up and downs. The temperature was perfect and wind was calm. Following the orange trail the group reached the cabins at McQueen Lake what a great spot for a marshmallow roast maybe next time. Doubling back we took a detour to the lake to play a game of Fox and Geese a fun game introduced to us by CA. This really means playing tag around a peace sign great game and lots of fun especially with the snow spraying up in your face.

The group soon found themselves back at the road for a quick hike back to the cars.

Great time had by all…..hope to see you out next time!!

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Gluten Free Pancakes

Healthy Pancakes that even kids would like. These pancakes taste just as good as wheat flour pancakes but are way lighter and better for you.

3/4 Cup All Purpose Gluten Fee Flour

1 Tbls Gluten Free Baking Powder

1/3 Cup Arrowroot Flour

1/2 Cup Quinoa Flour

1/4 Cup Puffed Amarath

2 Tbls Sugar (optional)

1 Egg

1 1/4 Cups Almond Milk

3 Tbls Oil

In a small bowl mix together flours, baking powder, sugar, and puffed amarath. In a medium bowl mix all wet ingredients and whisk. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and mix until combined. (should still have some lumps.) Cook on a hot oiled or non stick griddle, flip when bubbles form and pop and stay open. Serve with Agave Nectar or Maple Syrup with fresh fruit.

Out for a walk or hike….

Snowshoeing is a great way to get out in the wintertime even just for a few hours.  The last 2 weekends we ventured out to Lac Le Jeune  – there was a lot of snow and lots of fun running downhill in the fluffy snow. Making snow angels and falling in the snow is all part of the snowshoe adventure.

Picking the right snowshoe is always the question that comes up with some many options how do you narrow it down? What are you mainly going to use the snowshoes for – walking, hiking, running? If it’s mainlywalking with a bit of running then you have a huge selection. If it’s hiking will lots of steep hills you want to make sure you get some snowshoes that offer a lot of traction to prevent you from sliding too much on the snow when walking up steephills. Snowis generally light and fluffy – you will still sink into the snow when wearing snowshoes. Really? Things to look for in a snowshoe…. easy of putting the snowshoe on, are the straps easy to loosen and tighten, is there traction on the bottom of the shoe, what size boot will the straps allow and unixex or women’s specific shoes.  The size of thesnowshoe you wear is determined by how much you weigh. Smaller is better if you are mostly going to travel on packed trails – larger shoes are best for breaking trails. Women’s shoes are narrower and have different lengths, which can make them lighter then Unisex shoes.

Hope to see you next time!

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Quick trip out Snowshoeing

A venture out to Lac Le Jeune today looking for some great trails near the ski hill. Plans were to go to the Ski hill to check out trails but with new snow on the ground and the gate was closed we didn’t want to park on the road. Deciding to see what was at the end of the road we found a dead end with an opening in the fence to walk thru so this must mean there are trails there. So out of the car, snowshoes on and headed thru the fence and…. hooray there is a trail; Quite a good trail!

Following the trail not sure where we are going but having a great time hiking thru the snow and shaking trees and having the snow fall on us. We then came out on a main trail and there was a sign with Stake Lakes trail area – wow did we get to the Stake lake trails already? Following a few snowshoe tracks we were headed back the way we came hopefully coming back out to the car.  Lots of trails there still need explored we will be going back there for sure.

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Tortilla, Chicken and Salsa Soup

Delicious soup that some good friends from Texas introduced us to. I could not remember the recipe so I have improvised over the years.

900 ml Chicken Broth

900 ml Water

3 carrots peeled and diced

5 Cellery Stalks diced

1 Red Pepper diced

1 Green Pepper diced

1 Cup Sugar Snap Peas chopped

1/2 Red Onion Diced and Sauted

1/2 bag of Rice Vermicelli

6 Chicken Thighs

Oregano

5 Cloves Garlic

Basil

Pepper

Sour Cream

1 Ripe Avocado

Tortilla Chips

Homemade Salsa (click here for recipe)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees, Marinade Chicken thighs in mixture of pressed garlic, Oregano, Basil, Pepper, and Lime Juice. Bake Chicken in oven until juices run clear. Cube Chicken.

Add together Chicken, Chicken stock, Water, Carrots, Celery, Red Pepper, Green Pepper, Sugar Snap Peas, Sauted Red Onion. Cook until carrots are soft. Add uncooked Vermicelli to the soup. Cook until vermicelli is soft. Add salt, pepper, oregano, basil until desired taste.

Serve with Sour Cream, Salsa, cubed Avocado and Tortilla chips.

Butternut Squash Soup