Because I left my blackstrap molasses in Michigan (and the store I was shopping didn’t have it), I was forced to revamp my recipe. This is actually quite tasty. It pretty much tastes like limeade.

• 3T raw unfiltered honey
• juice from 2 limes
• 1/2t celtic sea salt
• 2 liters of water (or dilute the above ingredients to taste)

This is good, but I don’t think it’s as good as the previous. I got a cramp in my calf on mile 15 with this. Of course that might have more to do with the change in altitude. But it sure does taste good.

The Glass family is moving to Colorado. Read more…

I’ve tried a few different concoctions for my marathon training, but I tried this one on Saturday for my 15 mile run and felt great and had plenty of energy the whole time. I’ll have to try it again to make sure it wasn’t just a good day for me, but here it is:

• 2 liters of water (I carry mine in a Camelbak)
• 3T blackstrap molasses
• 2T raw apple cider vinegar
• 1/2t celtic sea salt

I’ve done this with honey as well, but have occasionally experienced heartburn with the honey. The molasses didn’t do that and I also seemed to have more energy. The molasses is probably higher in numerous minerals (e.g. potasium) so that may be what does it.

The taste isn’t the best at first, but during the run you actually grow to like it. I think your body craves certain substances and your taste for it grows.

My kids had one of those marshmallow/rice-crispy dessert thingies this morning at church.

I got to thinking about those. Basically what those are is melted marshmallows mixed with Rice Crispies. Would my great-great-grandmother have been able to make those? Nope. They are made from a highly processed cereal and a highly processed “candy.” Each of those things are made out of highly processed other ingredients (the marshmallows are largely corn syrup from corn). When my great-great-grandmother was alive, Rice Crispies hadn’t even been invented.

This is how people cook these days. For most modern home cooks, raw ingredients are the things that come in boxes at the grocery store. They take highly processed foods and then process them some more. For my great-great-grandmother, raw ingredients were things that came out of a field or garden - with the exception of sugar and flour. My great-great-great-great-grandmother probably wouldn’t have even had those.

While I actually quite like those Rice Crispy treats, for the most part foods that are made with raw ingredients that come out of the ground or from some animal instead of a factory are far better not only in the health department, but taste, texture, and smell. Now I’m unusual in this regard because the vast majority of people have become so accustomed to processed foods that they actually prefer them. Velveeta is a prime example. I still don’t understand how anybody can confuse that stuff with cheese…

I’ve been trying to perfect a healthy pizza for quite some time now. This is by no means perfect, but it is by far the best pizza I have ever made. I actually liked this pizza better than the local Onsted pizza place’s pizza (Hattie’s). Several of the ingredients came from my garden.

Insert your pizza stone in the oven and preheat to 500F. Let it pre-heat for at least an hour.

Follow my no-knead bread dough recipe. Instead of shaping into bread loaves, cut the dough in half, fold it a few times, and stretch it out into pizza shapes. (I won’t describe that as I’m not very good at it yet). Place on a well floured pizza peal or an edgeless cookie sheet and let rise for about 1 hour.

• 2 tomatoes (mine aren’t ripe yet so I bought some)
• fresh oregano (from the garden)
• fresh basil (from the garden)
• garlic
• onions (from the garden)
• 1lb good quality whole milk mozzarella
• good quality Parmigiano-Reggiano
• extra virgin olive oil
• salt
• pepper

Slice the tomatoes into about 1/4 inch slices and salt both sides. Lay out on a kitchen towel to dry for at least 20 minutes (hat tip to Chef Snow for this tip.)

Just before baking, top the pizza. Chop the herbs and spread directly on the dough. Mince the garlic and spread it with the herbs. Shred the mozzarella (I used my Cuisinart food processor) and put half on each pizza. Slice the onions and spread on top of the cheese. Lay out the tomatoes as in the picture on the very top. Drizzle olive oil over the top. Sprinkle salt and pepper on top.

Slide the pizza (bake one at a time) onto the hot stone and immediately close the oven. I did not fill the oven with steam as with my bread recipe. Turn the oven down to 450F and bake for about 12 minutes.

Grate Parmigiano-Reggiano over the top. Individuals may enjoy adding garlic salt or red pepper flakes.

Slice and serve.

Here is an update on my marathon training.

Last Sunday I ran 10 miles with a pace of 9:57 minutes per mile. That’s certainly not going to break any records, but not bad for a first. Let me tell you though, 1 hour and 40 minutes of running seems like a long time. I’m following the Hal Higdon novice training program. This weekend I will be running 10K in the Kelly Carter Scholarship Run in Tecumseh, MI.

I have scaled back my weight lifting to once per week in order to maintain what I have gained. I am making very little to no gains, though I seem to have made some minor gains on chin-ups. But the goal here is simply to maintain.

Shari and I took a Chi-Running class. It has been very helpful for me in implemented the Chi-Running form. This form has made running more enjoyable and easier. It has also helped to improve my Taiji.

Weight loss has not occured. In fact I have gained almost 5lbs. Some of that is no doubt muscle, but this much activity has simply made me a lot more hungry all the time. If I listen to that hunger I eat and I gain weight.

My wife Shari recently twittered that at this year’s visit to her eye doctor her prescription actually decreased for the first time in 30 years of steady increase. I guess the doctor was actually somewhat surprised.

Shari attributed it to aging.

I attribute it to my healthy cooking. Shari says I can’t claim it’s because of my healthy cooking because I have no proof of that. Well, that’s true, but that won’t stop me. I say it’s because she’s getting more nutrient dense food than she used to.

You decide.

My son came home from a field trip and told us that he learned that you are supposed to plant corn, beans, and squash together. Being curious, I Googled it. It turns out that the traditional planting method of many native American groups (I specifically read about the Iriquois) was to plant these three vegetables together. They called them the three sisters.

Most internet accounts describe planting the corn and beans together in mounds and then planting squash near it in a checkerboard pattern. The corn provides something for the beans to climb and the beans fix nitrogen in the soil for the corn. The interspersed squash makes a nice ground cover that helps to keep the weeds down.

This year we expanded our garden so we decided to plant 3 rows like this. I probably should have read more before planting because we didn’t do quite what most sites recommended, but it seems to be working so far. We simply planted a corn and a bean seed in the same hole and then a squash plant (or seed) every other hole about 1ft apart. We varied the squash varieties. I’ll post more on the progress as the summer progresses.