Canyon Ranch Tucson AZ With Recipes

Last week Dan and I spent four days and nights at the Canyon Ranch Spa and Resort in Tucson AZ.  This was to fulfill the second half of a very generous gift that Dan's firm gave us when he retired; we did the first half at the Canyon Ranch in Lenox MA a year ago and needed to use the rest of our gift certificate.  We had a fabulous week attending lectures on various health topics, going to at least three different work out/exercise classes per day, daily power walks in the desert, some pampering in the spas, art classes for me and golf clinics for Dan, and three heavenly, delicious, healthy meals per day.  The meals were unforgettable and I brought home many recipes and habits I want to continue.  I am going to share three recipes right now that are really basic and were ones I looked forward to the most.  I am enjoying one of them as I type this!  

Along with the meals in the dining rooms which are operated just like very nice restaurants, in every building there are beverage and fresh fruit stations.  I filled my water bottle 4-5 times a day with icy cold wildberry herbal "tea" with stevia.  Delicious!  Water can get a bit tiresome so the herbal infusion was something I enjoyed all day, every day there.  And I am drinking some now.  I found an herbal infusion similar to what they use, boiled up a couple kettles of water, steeped a bunch of herbal tea bags and poured it all in a gallon pitcher with some fresh lime.  And I've been drinking it throughout the day since we returned from AZ.  

I collect and save the big plastic Five Guys cups for home use - bippity! 

Canyon Ranch doesn't serve or allow alcohol so every evening at dinner at the "bar" they provided Mocktails.  My favorite was the raspberry lime mocktail.  I had the bartender show me how she made them so I could make them at home.  We served them tonight to our dinner guests!  The drink is so refreshing - just add about two to three tablespoons of raspberry puree to club soda and ice with a twist of lime.  I added a bit of stevia to mine to make it a bit sweeter.

Here is tonight's dinner at home we served our guests - roast chicken with sweet potatoes and tiny white potatoes, a mixed salad with that delightful fresh basil vinaigrette recipe I told you about in another post, and steamed corn from last summer's crop.  For dessert we had the Beach Plum's German Chocolate ice cream with my tiny flourless brownies.  The raspberry mocktails were a huge hit!  

For the puree, take a bag of frozen unsweetened raspberries, (I used the last big bag of last summer's crop from the Yellow House patch), thaw them, do not drain them and place the berries and juice in a large saucepan and bring them to a simmer over medium low heat.  Take off heat, and allow to cool.  After this cools a bit, press through a sieve to get the seeds out.  You should be left with a bowl of pulp that looks like the bowl above.  Put this in a lidded container and keep it in your refrigerator.  To make the drink, place some ice in a medium sized glass, add 2-3 tablespoons of puree, fill with club soda and add a slice of lime and some sweetener of your choice if desired.  I liked it with and without the sweetener.  This drink is so refreshing, has 20 calories a glass and you get some fresh fruit in to your body!

 This is a little canal that ran through the CR grounds.

I just love Saguaros and prickly pear cacti.  The daily walks in the hills were wonderful.  I especially enjoyed the bobolinks and jack rabbits that scrambled around me as I walked.  

Every morning at the Ranch I had a small omelette made to order at the omelette bar and a bowl of their creamy fruity Alpine Muesli.  I adore muesli!  This recipe is based on the original one developed by the Swiss physician Maximilian Bircher around 1900 - it is so nourishing.  I made my recipe at home by combining bits of Dr. Bircher's and Canyon Ranch's.  Here is what I did:

In a bowl add 2 cups of raw whole oats, 1 cup of milk, any kind, and 1 cup of plain greek or regular yogurt.  Add 1/2 cup sliced almonds and 2 apples that you have cored and cut and grated with the skin left on with a hand grater or in a food processor.  After I grated the apples, I stirred the juice of one orange in to them to add flavor and protect from discoloration.  Stir all of these ingredients together, cover and leave in the refrigerator over night.  Yes, make this right before you go to bed.  In the morning you will find a creamy bowl of softened oatmeal (not gummy at all) and then you can add some more fresh fruit - I added cherries, blueberries and blackberries.  Add a bit of sweetener if you desire like honey or maple syrup - you don't need much; I added maple syrup.  So delectable!  This recipe makes about 6-7 servings; it's super healthy and it provides a way to get some of your fruit servings in.  It will keep beautifully refrigerated for several days.

On an end note, I tarnished my week of super healthy eating when we got home from AZ to find a box of these on our doorstep.  My sister Leslie sends us a box of See's Candy every Christmas and has for a couple decades I think.  One year the box came late and I was sad to think the fun was over but the box arrived a couple days after Christmas.  This year, again, for the second time, we didn't get a box in the mail.  Sad face.  About a week after Christmas, Leslie called to say that UPS had told her the box was returned due to an incorrect and undeliverable address.  She said she would resend to the correct one.  Happy face.  

Thank you Leslie and Tony!

Okay,  I'm back on track, eating healthy and enjoying a few Canyon Ranch recipes and I have many more to make in the next few weeks.