Fall in Flagstaff - Inner Basin Trail

This last weekend I spent 24 hours in Flagstaff. Before living in NYC, I never really experienced "fall," nor realized how beautiful it is. I had mentioned to Dave about a month ago that I wanted to make a trip to Lockett Meadow to see the aspens, and this last weekend (October 7-8) we made it happen. Actually, I should say Dave made it happen. I was thinking we should just do a day trip, but then we saw on the Flagstaff fall website that beginning October 7th Lockett Meadow would be limited to 100 cars per day. So we started talking of doing an overnight trip, but we didn't get around to booking a hotel and by the time I looked online last week Thursday and Friday there was nothing great or reasonably priced. I was thinking we would either be foregoing fall leaf peeping or getting up super early one morning so we could be in Flag by 8am. Well I was talking to Dave Friday and I said we needed to figure out what we were doing for the weekend and he said "Going to Flagstaff!" I didn't know it but he had already booked a place so I got my fall weekend after all :)

We left Phoenix at 11am on Saturday and made it to Flagstaff by 2pm. For some reason the I-17 was backed up from Anthem to Black Canyon City so that added an extra hour to the drive up.

We stopped for a coffee at Firecreek Coffee Company, 

and then walked around downtown Flagstaff for a while.

After a little bit of a detour walk (due to our first choice restaurant being closed for a special event), we ended up at Tinderbox for dinner.

Sunday morning we were up early to head to Lockett Meadow. Given the 100 car max, we didn't know what time they would start turning people away, but we didn't want to miss it. We did breakfast at Carmels - this is the same Carmels that used to be in Arcadia. We had a nice conversation with the owner and after Carmels in Phoenix closed he was planning to open another concept, Charlie Fine, in Phoenix but decided the Phoenix restaurant market was over-saturated so he and his wife decided to move to Flagstaff and re-open Carmels. If you are ever in Flagstaff this is a must-stop restaurant.

We made it to Lockett Meadow by about 8am and we were told we were car #80 in for the day. The drive from the highway to the trailhead is quite intense - I was thankful that Dave was driving and that we were in the Land Rover. 

The rest of these pictures show the beauty of God's creation and leaves changing. If you are in the Phoenix area, this is definitely worth a trip to the high country.

After we finished hiking (it was more like a walk) we stopped at Diablo Burger for lunch before our drive back to Phoenix.

Such a great weekend and excited for the cooler temps in AZ!

Coconut Flour Pumpkin Muffins and Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Energy Balls

Today I made two pumpkin-related treats. The first are coconut flour pumpkin muffins - my third batch of the season. They are so quick and easy to make and taste excellent.

Link and recipe for the muffins:

* 1/2 cup coconut flour 

* 4 eggs

* 1/4 cup melted coconut oil or ghee (I have been using ghee)

* 6 Tbsp pumpkin puree

* 2 Tbsp pure maple syrup or honey (I have been using maple syrup)

* 1 tsp cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice

* 1 tsp vanilla extract

* 1 tsp apple cider vinegar

* 1/2 tsp baking soda

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Stir together the coconut flour and eggs until a smooth paste forms. Stir in the oil/lard, then the pumpkin puree and maple syrup. Then mix in the spices, cider vinegar and baking soda.

3. Divide in muffin pan (makes 10). Bake for about 25 minutes, until golden and the top springs back lightly when pressed.

These are the pumpkin chocolate chip energy balls. I haven't tried them yet, but the batter tasted good (which was all over my hands when I was finished rolling these).

Ingredients:

* 3 cups dry, uncooked oatmeal (I used Trader Joe's GF oats)

* 1 cup pumpkin puree

* 1 cup peanut or almond butter

* 2/3 cut pure maple syrup or raw honey

* 1/2 tsp cinnamon

* 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

* 1/2 Tbsp vanilla extract

* 4-6 Tbsp ground flax seeds

* 1 cup small chopped walnuts, chopped almonds, chopped peanuts, coconut flakes; any combination of mix-ins that equals 1 cup total

*1/2 cup mini dark chocolate chips

Instructions:

Combine all ingredients together in a large bowl until very thoroughly mixed.

Roll into balls of about 1" in diameter. Place on a cookie sheet covered in parchment paper and freeze one hour. 

Store in an airtight container and keep refrigerated for up to one week. (I put mine into mason jars and put one mason jar in the refrigerator and the rest in the freezer so they would last longer than a week.)

Makes about 30-36 balls.

Now it's time to sit down and eat dinner...spaghetti squash with ground turkey and then later on will watch the end of the World Series game with a pumpkin muffin and Trader Joe's Pumpkin Spice Rooibos tea. I really enjoy fall food, now it just needs to stay below 100 degrees in Phoenix :)

Turkey Day 2015

This Thanksgiving Day was another year of continued traditions with friends and family. My morning started early with the Turkey Day 5k in downtown Phoenix.

This was my 4th year running it. The first year I ran with Kellyn, Kathryn and Heather and we ran into the Kruckenberg's and every year since I have run with the Kruck's. 

Bella and Kylie dressed as Indian princesses.

Amy, Gina and I. None of us were really in running shape this year...we still work out - hiking, hot yoga, BODI - just hadn't been running. So, we made turkey bows and wore tutu's instead. If we weren't going to run fast, we were going for the fashion show. Gina texted me the morning of the race and said bows and tutu's required more makeup than usual. My response was that usually I wore no makeup for this race, but this year had actually put on makeup.

Ready for the race to start!

Amy, Kylie and I ran together the majority of the race. Kylie said "I told myself I wasn't going to walk this year" and she didn't! Amy noticed the last photographer, so we posed for him to take some pictures. 

My time this year was 31:25, which translates into a 10:07 min/mile. Not fast by any means.

After the run we went back to the Kruckenberg's for Thanksgiving brunch. Brian set up a TV outside so we could watch the Macy's parade while we hung out.

I made the low-carb pumpkin muffins.

Amy made a gluten free quiche...

...and so did Gina.

Brian was our barista again this year.

Some of the group sitting by the fire. It was actually a cold Phoenix day.

Gina and Eli.

After brunch I came home and made a Brussels sprout dish to take to Kevin & Jocelyn's for the family Thanksgiving dinner.

I made this same dish last year, but it took me forever to find the recipe. So, linking it here in case I need it in the future.

Mom's Pinterest veggie turkey creation.

A canvas Jocelyn had hanging up - need to remember this.

Mom made cake-filled teepees for everyone. Uriah enjoyed his.

Uriah also enjoyed playing football with the big boys.

Kellyn brought over the espresso machine that we used for the Rust Family Reunion this past summer. After being closed since June, Rustbucks was again open for business.

It was a good Thanksgiving day, other than the fact that I started not feeling well Thursday night. Was going to #optoutside on Friday, but spent the day watching movies and taking naps instead (and that has continued into today).