Clearly its been too long. I couldn’t even recall my wordpress (blog host site) password when I tried to log in. It took 3 tries. Yikes!
Fear not, I’m still off-white (well, mostly) and living well. There have simply been many distractions, such as climbing trips, husbands getting ready to head to grad school, hard drive failures on my computer, etc. yes, excuses.
The pic above is from our recent climb of Mt. Adams, in southern Washington. We were blessed to be totally unaffected by the fire (not even smoky air), but it was a bit daunting to see the flames grow taller every hour as we completed our expedition.
So, what is new in the world of “off white”, you may ask. I’ll tell you. Trail putty. Yep, that’s a fun new one that we’ve been playing with. It’s a nice derivation of a tasty treat my friends and I sampled last spring on a bike event up in Washington. Thank you to the Vancouver cycling club for the inspiration.
Try this recipe when you need a hiking snack or you are tired of shelling out upwards of $3 for a good quality energy bar. Apparently New Seasons in Portland sells something similar for about $3/bar. Our are better, I promise!!
Matt’s Trail Putty:
3/4 cup almond butter
2 tbsp rice protein powder
1 tbsp agave nectar
cinnamon, to taste (or leave it out)
In the almond butter jar, fold in the rice powder and the agave and finally the cinnamon. Take the concoction out of jar and form into a log on tinfoil. Refrigerate for about 2-3 hrs and cut into strips.
It works best when not squished in a backpack, as we experienced on our climb of Mt. Adams last weekend.
I’m also working on an energy bar made with mung beans, but based on our last sample batch, it’s back to the drawing board for that one. Mung beans are quite so easy to work with as almond butter is, but we’ll get it.
For those who are wondering about what the heck a mung bean is, check out this site. Mung beans are an excellent protein and fiber source and are really easy to digest. In many traditional eastern cultures, cleansing diets often include something called a “kitchery”, usually a mix of mung beans + rice + some veggies for healing. Good stuff.
I’ll leave you with a clip from Youtube on how to cook some mung bean soup. Enjoy and have a great “off white” day.
Off White Living 
the Trail Putty sounds really interesting. I like the idea of sweetening with Agave nectar. I might have to try that on our next trip.