SPECIAL RECIPE SECTION

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Ingredients: 

1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon stabilized ground flaxseed (Mega Omega® or Simply Omega-3™)
1/4 cup water
1/3 cup oats
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter
1 cup natural peanut butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup corn or maple syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
5 ounces vegan chocolate, coarsely chopped, or vegan baking chips
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a small bowl, whisk 1 tablespoon flax and 1/4 cup water. Let sit while preparing remaining ingredients.
In a medium-sized bowl, mix flour, oats, 1/3 cup stabilized ground flaxseed (Mega Omega® or Simply Omega-3™), baking soda and salt.

In a large bowl, beat butter, peanut butter, brown sugar, syrup, flax mixture and vanilla with an electric mixer until well-blended and fluffy. Stir dry ingredients into peanut butter mixture in two additions. Stir in chocolate. Cover and refrigerate, if necessary, until dough is no longer sticky. (30 minutes)

Grease two baking sheets. Roll a heaping tablespoonful of dough into a 1 1/2 inch ball and place on baking sheet. Flatten cookies slightly with a fork. Bake until puffed but still soft, about 8 minutes. Cool on baking sheet for five minutes, then transfer to wire rack to cool.

Download this recipe (pdf)

Adapted from a recipe on Herbivore, the vegan cooking email list

It was “just” another race, yet one I didn’t take lightly.  I volunteered to lead a pace group in a marathon.  The standard 26.2 mile race should never be taken lightly and, when others are relying on you, it is even more important to stay focused on the task.

Going into the marathon I would have to say I was completely rested and very fit.  In the previous several weeks I had many training and racing miles underfoot.  The week prior I had run a 50-mile trail race, an hour slower than my previous time—as a training run.

It was during that race that an oncoming runner did not give me the right of way as is proper when the lead runner is coming back on those following behind. 
At the last minute I stepped off the trail and clipped a root, thus tugging my leg and generating a slight pull of the hamstring.  I ran the next eight miles without any discomfort and the week following the race I had no indication it was injured.

I met the group that I would be leading an hour before the race. We talked and I listened to their goals.  I would be running at a pace that would bring everyone who stayed with me to the finish line in under three hours and twenty minutes.  That calculates to 7:38 per mile.  We reached the mile mark in 7:38 and clicked off the next couple of miles on pace.  Then I stepped in a depression in the road, a manhole cover that I could not see because we were running in a rather tight pack of runners.

That one misstep, where the foot did not hit the ground properly, was enough to hyper-extend my hamstring .  If you ever witnessed a sprinter bolting from the blocks in a track meet, you may recall seeing one grab the back of his leg.  That is the way I felt when I brought the foot off the manhole.  At that point, there is not much else to do except stop running.

Walking back to the finish line is something I had never done.  I had run 829 races prior to this one, over a period of 28 years, and never had to turn back.   “Forward”, the Wisconsin state motto, has always been engrained in my body and my spirit.  I never run a race to win; I always run a race to finish.  I take my goal of finishing very seriously.  That is obvious from the previously mentioned numbers.

Yet, something my girlfriend said to me rings in my mind.  It is a quote from someone, the message nothing more than “If you never try you are already losing”.  Trying something new is an adventure but staying with an activity adds to the adventure and builds confidence in your own ability.

During my running career, as I saw the number of races reach 100, I was actually impressed by my ability to finish, even though some of the races were grueling.  Training and racing in temperature extremes from minus 100 wind chill factors to 100 degrees plus, at high altitudes (something I am not adapted to), through mud, snow and rain is not always easy.  Getting through those things, in order to finish the training run or the race, helped build confidence and allowed the number of races to grow and the finish lines always to remain the focus.

Somewhere in the far recesses of my mind I knew the day would come that I would not finish and my streak would end, but I knew it would be because I COULD NOT finish and not because I did not try.  That race, I thought I would be able to walk to the finish, or at least to the finish of the companion half-marathon.  I walked another mile; it took 27 minutes and I did the math.  At two miles per hour and 22 miles to go it would have taken me 11 hours.  By then the finish line would have been taken down and everyone would have gone home.

The other thing that ran through my mind when I began to walk was my goal for the day—getting the group to the finish line in 3:20 or less.  Not being able to do that was more disappointing than the end of the streak.  As I said, I don’t take my goals lightly.  It was my eleventh time leading a pace group and I had only missed getting in on time once, due to a strong wind shift that came in the final six miles of the marathon.

That night, all of these things ran through my head.  Disappointment, failure and regret all swirled in my mind.  Only one thing cleared my mind before I settled into a deep sleep with a bag of ice on my hamstring, remembering what was said by my girlfriend—“If you don’t try you are already losing.”

So, get out there and try!  Look at what is best for you in your everyday life.  Look at better nutrition as I have; it makes a difference in your appearance and how you feel.  Using products from Omega Fields Health is a great place to start.  Remember it doesn’t hurt to try and not trying means you are already losing.  We look forward to you being our customers.

See you in a few miles….

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