Our new maples have finally arrived and transplanted into our yard. Both Shantung maple and Viridis Japanese maple arrived in 30 gallon pots. It took some muscle to get them planted.
Maple Crazy
Blooms on recent transplants
A few blooms captured during our April showers.
Recipe: Creamy Apple Cider Vinaigrette
It’s been awhile since I’ve posted a recipe, and I have a backlog of them to post. Last week, I needed to do something with some overripe apples that have been sitting in the fridge for a long while (DH’s forgotten snack pile). I really liked the apple cider vinaigrette I’ve tried at Saladworks (paired with my fave Farmhouse salad), so I decided to make my own homemade dressing. Were I to retry this recipe in the future, I would probably omit the cinnamon and increase the ground ginger to give the dressing more bite.
Ingredients (adapted from the Stem Blog):
- 4oz apple (I peeled and cored a Braeburn apple)
- 1.5oz extra virgin olive oil
- 2oz apple cider vinegar
- 2tsp Trader Joe’s 100% natural stevia extract
- 1tsp onion powder
- .25tsp sea salt
- .25 tsp ground ginger
- .25tsp ground cinnamon
Toss all ingredients into a blender and process until creamy smooth. Yields 6.5oz or 12.5 servings of .5oz each.
Ended Madcow, next program, and HealthyWage update
I ended my first full 9 weeks (11 if you counted the duplicated weeks at the end) of Madcow and am working on a new program to improve muscle endurance.
It’s a bastardized 5-3-1 program in which I’m performing 5/3/1 sets of 5 reps while incrementing poundage on the weights.
For example, my program on day 1 looked like this:
- 5-10 min Stretches and 2 warmup sets of squats
- SQ: 5×5@115#, 3×5@120#, 1×5@125#
- BP: 5×5@ 55#, 3×5@60#, 1×5@65#
- BR: 5×5@50#, 3×5@55#, 1×5@60#
- Accessory such as assisted pullups
I started last week and found that the exertion is such that I can only complete two sessions a week. I was ridiculously sore coming out of my first week. My best hope is to increase muscle endurance so that I can ramp up to a standard 3 sessions a week. I am going very slow on the weight increments due to the larger quantity of sets.
I hope to do this for 4-6 weeks to improve overall conditioning, then reassess my progress, before taking up another round of Madcow (or whatever I decide on next).
Due to some off-plan decisions this weekend, I haven’t made any great strides in weight loss for my HealthyWager. I’m a little behind schedule if I intend to hit a GW of ~140# in May…which is made a little more challenging due to celebrations, movies, summer activities that involve a lot of eating, etc, during that month.
Conan at 11 months
Conan is 11 months young this April. Like most kittens, he’s playful, full of energy, and a ravenous eater. He can be Conan the Annoyer during rambunctious play or feeding time. His personality has manifested in the past few months since his brother’s passing: he can be skittish many a-times but then comes around with lots of love and encouragement. He generally exhibits aloofness, only demanding attention on his own terms–which usually happens in the wee hours of the morning.
