You are not what you eat. You are what your body does with what you eat.

Great article by Fred Hahn, must read. Proof that a calorie is not a calorie.( Fred is my hero)

http://slowburnfitness.com/a-calorie-isnt-a-calorie-but-colpo-remains-colpo/

New Toy at Work, EuroBungy

We got a new toy at work today. It is the funnest thing ever. Come up to Sunday River and bounce with me...

Creamy Italian Dressing

So I made homemade mayo the other day and was shocked to see how easy it was. I was curious about what else was in the fridge and easy to make too. One of the family staples is creamy Italian Dressing for salads. Using the HomeMade Mayo as a base, it took no time at all, it was all natural, and it tasted awesome.The original recipe (from PaleoFood) called for dried herbs, I have fresh growing in the garden. So you could use 1/8 of a tsp of crushed dried Italian herb blend, oregano, rosemary, or basil) or raid your garden for a pinch of oregano, basil, rosemary, marjoram and thyme, chopped very small.

Creamy Italian Dressing

Serves 1 dinner, or 2 side salads

Homemade Mayo, Why Buy?

Homemade Mayo

I normally don't eat a lot of mayonnaise. In fact until a few years ago, I wouldn't have been able to tell you what it is made from. Lately though, I have been into the chicken, tuna and crab salads served over greens. I could eat fresh cold salads all day.

Without thinking, I would pick up the large jar of "real" mayo and glob it in the bowl, until the other day. I cast my eye upon the large ingredient list. My goodness, was it ever long. Real mayo?? Far from it. There must be a better way, and soon I found it.

HomeMade Mayo

A Hit with the Kids ~ Salad Bar

Ok, my salad bar looked nothing like this,
but the kids loved it anyway

Sitting around last night, getting hungry, I realized that we didn't take out anything for dinner. Foraging through the fridge, we had tons of components for salad. I love salad. The kids love salad. The husband loves salad. The problem is that we don't all love the same ingreadents. Solution, salad bar.

While the husband grilled up 100% beef patties on the grill, I chopped various veggies into plastic storage bowls. Now when dinner was over, I just had to cover and put them away, less cleaning. We had baby spinach, grape tomatoes, red bell pepper, yellow bell pepper, celery, carrots, cucumbers, small mozzarella balls, onions, an avocado, chopped hard boiled eggs, and a jar of banana peppers. After a sprinkle of taco seasoning on the beef, i chopped them up too.

The kids loved it. No complaints of onions touching other foods. They even had seconds. Clean up was just topping the containers with covers and tossing in the fridge. Today I look forward to a big salad for lunch too.

Is It Paleo?

Best Salad Ever! Warm Chicken & Strawberry

Warm Chicken and Strawberry Salad

4 portions chicken breast, boneless, skinless
5 oz baby spinach
1 pound fresh strawberries, hulled and quartered
1/2 of med red onion
1/2 cup pecan pieces
1/2 cup balsamic vinaigrette (your favorite or mix up your own)
3 Tbls crumbled feta (optional)

Grill, broil or bake your chicken as you desire until done. While chicken is cooking, slice the half of onion very thinly and add to the bottom of a large salad bowl. To the onions, toss the dressing, nuts and feta. Just before chicken is done, toss the spinach and strawberries with the dressing. Plate onto 4 large plates. Slice chicken and place on top of salad.

Treating Unborn Babies for Obesity

In the past four years, the rates of "sumo" babies, born weighing over 11 pounds, in the UK have risen 50%. In the US, last July a texas woman, delivered a baby weighing 16 pounds!!  These babies being obese at birth, tend to grow up and remain obese.

To prevent these babies from being born obese, doctors are now medicating them with diabetes medicine while they are still in the womb. How do they know which babies to treat? Their mom are obese. Not so shockingly, obese moms give birth to obese babies, they then raise those children, who become obese adults.

Egg Drop Soup ~ Cheap Eats

Is there anything simpler than egg drop soup? Some chicken broth, ginger, garlic and a couple of eggs and you have a nutrient dense soup that some say will keep the common cold away. Enjoy!

12 cups of chicken broth or stock
4 gloves garlic, peeled and slightly crushed
1 inch piece of ginger about an inch and a half thick, peeled and sliced in 1/8" rounds

Creamy Mexicali Soup

Winter in Maine is not only the season for skiing, skating and bundling up, it is also a time for soup. I love soup. I was feeling a spicy vibe this morning. This is what I came up with. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

• 1 pound or so chorizo (a spicy Spanish sausage) removed from casings
• one small onion chopped, about 1/2 cup 
• 2 cloves garlic, minced 
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 1 teaspoon cumin 
• 8 ounces cream cheese, softened 
• 2 10-ounce cans tomatoes with green chilies, undrained (Ro-tel) 
• 2 cups of beef broth 
• 1 cup heavy cream 

Breakfast Mexi Peppers ~ My Version

I found this recipe, well a close version of it, on the Atkins website. I have to say that it is very good and will be making it often. I have heard that this is just as good without the cheese.

Ingredients

• 7 Ounce-weights chorizo sausage, crumbled
• 1/2 Cup diced onion
• OPTIONAL1/4 Cup shredded Cheddar cheese 
• 3 large eggs, beaten
• 2 medium red bell peppers

Directions

• Preheat oven to 400°F. Line a baking sheet with foil.
• Cook chorizo and onions, stirring to break up lumps, until browned. Drain excess fat.
• Place meat mixture in mixing bowl and combine with the cheese and eggs.
• Cut peppers in half lengthwise. Scoop out seeds and cut away ribs.
• Fill each pepper with one-quarter of the meat mixture. Place on the prepared baking sheet. Bake for 25–30 minutes and serve hot.

Zipping along with no snow

Last week i gave a zipline tour to a photographer and a reporter to the Portland Press herald. This past Sunday I was in the ourdoor section of the sunday paper. Pretty cool.

NEWRY - Frozen waterfalls, whispering brooks, and the distant hum of snow guns outside a quiet grove. These are some of the things that make zip line rides in winter so unique.

Thats me flying through the trees!

And that was the reason given by a family from Orlando, Fla., who decided to end a holiday week at Sunday River zipping on Friday.

"It's different," said Kevin Connell, moments after his 16-year-old son climbed off the zip tower first, and said the same thing.

"We didn't miss skiing. The kids love it. Maybe next time we'll get mom to do it, although she's afraid of heights."

Right now at ski areas statewide, any non-mountain fun is becoming more of an option as skiers and snowboarders wait for natural snow to fall.

Certainly with the cold weather that arrived last week, mountains are opening up more terrain. Even with no natural snow many mountains in Maine are doing just fine with man-made snow.

Shawnee Peak was 60 percent open as of Thursday, with more than 20 trails covered by the work of snow guns.

"Quite honestly, we like to be a ski resort and we are a ski area first and foremost. We concentrate our efforts on that," said Rachel Wilkinson, Shawnee Peak spokesperson. "Once we do the East Side trail next week, we're not that far from full capacity. We're behind (from last year), but I don't know how much."

And officials at Sunday River says they're not far off, either, even without nature's help.

"We have over 50 trails open, and we're making snow like mad," said Darcy Morse, the ski area's spokesperson.

Certainly, nobody like those in the ski industry knows how the weather in Maine can change in a second, and hope is always just around the corner.

"One big storm. It wouldn't take much to get us back on track," said Ethan Austin, Sugarloaf's spokesman.

Still, while Nordic centers wait desperately for a natural blanket of white to even open, most Alpine areas are pointing to other activities for snow sport fans to stay active and interested while everyone prays for snow.

They've got snowshoeing trails, tubing parks, and a few are lucky to have skating ponds open despite mild temps.

The Camden Snow Bowl has several nice trails for snowshoeing that make great hiking trails, although they are eager there for a dump so their first section of Nordic trails can open for good.

"We had them open for a day after that Thanksgiving storm. They're nice. I tried them out," said Snow Bowl Director Jeff Kuller.

Meanwhile, Sunday River moved its tubing operation closer to the main South Ridge Lodge and opened it at night for free.

Then there are the zip line tours, which were put in at Sugarloaf and Sunday River with just this idea: Add a little extra joy to the mountains in winter and the skiers will keep coming even when the snow isn't all there.

And new this year at Sunday River is the twin zips, the side-by-side zip run that leaves the woods and ferries riders over the slopes down to the lodge. It's a natural hit.

"We're going to do tricks" boasted Lauren Connell, 12, before she and her 10-year-old sister, Hannah, climbed up the zip tower.

The Connell family on Friday felt the seven line, high-wire action was the perfect ending to a rare winter holiday for their Florida clan. First, it's fast, and then there is the free-falling feeling gliding over the skiers at the base lodge.

The roughly 2-hour-long zip line tours at Sunday River and Sugarloaf were rolled out last summer and have been busy in the good weather.

But when the snow is not ideal -- or all there -- the zip lines have been a busy outdoor option.

"Wednesday when it rained, we had our biggest day. We normally have two tours. That day we had three tours," said Sunday River zip line pilot Patty Pittman.

Zipping along with no snow | The Portland Press Herald / Maine Sunday Telegram