GREEN CHILE STEW FOR FALL

Recipe by Kelly McGuire | Photos by Kitty Nicholason

When I was told that the theme for the magazine this fall was “gather,” I immediately thought of the many family gatherings that I had as a child. My uncle Stretch (Dan McGirr) frequently cooked at family gatherings. On more than one occasion, he cooked up a big pot of green chile stew.

It’s a funny story really, how I ended up with this recipe. You see, my Aunt Barbara (my stepfather’s sister) sent me this cookbook with recipes from Ridgway about five years ago. Around the same time, I inherited — from my uncle Stretch — a bunch of cookbooks, a big metal bowl and a well-used chef’s knife missing the very tip. As I looked through the recipe book that Barbara sent me, I noticed that there was a recipe for Green Chile Stew from the True Grit cafe. I asked my mom, “Hey, didn’t Stretch work at the True Grit for a long time?” The answer was yes, for many years he was the cook. I was so excited to try this recipe and see if it was the green chile stew from my childhood. It was! This recipe, taken from that cookbook and pared down so that we don’t make enough for a restaurant, was what I remembered — and it’s perfect for a quick, but delicious, family gathering. It takes about 30 minutes to prepare and another hour to cook. Have a margarita while everyone is waiting. :

SERVES 6-8

3 cups diced potatoes 2 large onions, diced 2 medium carrots, diced 2.5 pounds roasted green chilies, diced (about 5 cups) 2.5 pounds canned tomatoes (about 5 cups) 1 ¼ pounds diced pork 4 cups water plus 1 tsp chicken base, or 4 cups chicken stock 2 minced garlic cloves 1 bay leaf 1 tsp chili powder 1 tsp red chili flakes ½ tsp black ground pepper ½ tsp salt (or more to taste)

Place onion, garlic, carrots and pork in a Dutch oven or soup pot with a little oil and sear the meat over medium-high heat. When meat is seared and onions are sweating, add the rest of the ingredients. Once boiling, turn the heat to low and simmer one hour. Make sure the potatoes and carrots are tender.

SERVES 4, OR DOUBLE FOR 8

8 oz tequila blanco 8 oz lime juice 4 oz Cointreau 4 oz agave nectar

Stir together in a pitcher, and serve in salt- rimmed glasses with lots of ice.

Words by Zoe Cramer

Colorado is a friend of cannabidiol (CBD). There are so many CBD companies to discover that might just bring you your next go-to remedy, and here are a few of them.

If you lead an outdoor, active lifestyle and are seeking CBD accompaniment or want to try CBD but you’re not sure where to start, look to The Happy Camper. The Happy Camper exudes Colorado in the ways it promotes an outdoor lifestyle (like its name and logo of a hiker) and the very form of its products’ production. The boutique company takes its time producing small-batch concentrates of CBD, all in-house, to ensure consistency. The Happy Camper has two locations in Colorado. Their original facility opened March of 2015, with a dispensary and a manufacturing plant in Bailey, and their newest location opened June 15, 2019 in Palisade as a dispensary only.

Their three current CBD products include a tincture, soft gels and transdermal cream. The tincture is a non-flavored, full-spectrum oil that you drop under your tongue, and it quickly dissolves into your bloodstream. The full-spectrum soft gel caps are similar to the tincture but are more potent and therefore tend to last longer. Both might be used to try and aid relaxation, sleep or internal inflammation. The transdermal cream is to apply and re-apply externally on areas of soreness. “Let’s say you hadn’t hiked in a year, and all of a sudden you go out and you hike five miles or three miles and you’re achy,” explains Colleen Scanlon-Maynard, The Happy Camper senior VP of marketing. “You’re probably going to want to do the transdermal cream for the external to hit it from the outside, but you’re also going to want to drop a tincture or a soft gel to hit it from the inside.”

The Happy Camper mission, in terms of CBD, is to educate. With their website and accessibility for questions, The Happy Camper provides a plethora of options to educate oneself about CBD. Scanlon-Maynard advises people to take thorough research steps before picking and using any company’s CBD products to figure out if it’s right for you. She emphasizes the need to confirm backup material such as third-party testing for any CBD product you purchase.

If you’re looking for a natural remedy to help your skin glow, turn to Antedotum. Antedotum is a luxury CBD skincare brand based in Aspen Snowmass. Their products are for any ages and skin types that want an all-natural product that promotes skin health. Antedotum is backed by a dermatologist, Dr. Shawn Demehri. Founder Karina Perez-Marconi saw the potential in CBD for skincare because of its antiinflammatory and balancing capabilities.

“CBD triggers your body to do whatever it needs to do to bring everything back to balance and provide optimal health,” Perez-Marconi explains.

Antedotum’s primary multi-functional and multi-correctional products include an Elixer Firming Serum and Vital Face Oil. They can be used as a pair with the Elixer Firming Serum for step one, but they can also be used individually. The Elixer Firming Serum is intended to tighten your skin, increase collagen and help with uneven skin tone. It’s packed with Vitamin C, some shea butter and liquid crystals extracted from olive fruit. The Vital Face Oil helps hydrate your skin and makes it look healthy and glowing. It is made up of vegan squalene, essential fatty acids and oils, such as coconut oil and argon oil. The brand will also be launching a body bomb in August to help relieve discomfort.

The products are potent in CBD with 500 milligrams per ounce. Antedotum sources its organic, pure CBD from local farmers.

FlowerChild is a small, family-owned and operated company based in Grand Junction. They offer both CBD and Cannabigerol (CBG) products to help customers and their pets. Their CBD tinctures and salves are full-spectrum. Owner Kelly McLoughlin says that CBG, like CBD, is non-intoxicating, but it’s more invigorating and less sedating than CBD. CBD might be used for sleep, while CBG might be used for concentration and energy during the day.

FlowerChild’s customer base is made up of many parents seeking remedies for their children with autism. Customer testimonials have demonstrated the positive effects CBG, in particular, has had on their kids, finding that they are much more interactive in classes. Similarly, customers praise the positive effects of CBG on their family members with Alzheimer’s and dementia –– that they seem to have more cognitive ability after taking CBG. As for CBD, customers have found it tends to be beneficial for people with ADHD. Much of these discussions take place on FlowerChild’s private Facebook group, which offers a safe space to connect or ask questions.

FlowerChild has a 50/50 CBD/CBG tincture blend that McLoughlin recommends for a good night’s rest without the risk of feeling groggy the next day, as you might find with taking too much CBD. In addition to various tinctures, FlowerChild offers salves and sexual lube.

“Our mission at FlowerChild is to help people help themselves by educating them not only on CBD and cannabis but also on the importance of a healthy, nutritious lifestyle and healthy, positive mindset,” McLoughlin adds. :

Words by Jay Rook

Ever wonder why some athletes are more prone to getting hurt or hit a wall more frequently than others? Or, why some competitors never seem to tire out or miss a match because of illness, fatigue or injury? What about the rise in age-defying professional athletes maintaining their high level of competitiveness against a growing number of elite young challengers? Did you know there is a Japanese professional soccer player who is over 50 and still plays in the top division in that country? Awesome, right!?

Science and technology have never been so woven into the pursuit of optimal human performance as they are today (excluding, say, Ivan Drago from 1985’s Rocky IV). Biometrics — data compiled in various forms for immediate consumption, analysis and application to help you the athlete become the best version of whatever it is you are attempting to become/train for/compete at — is a hot topic now in sports performance and medicine. Within the myriad of apps, wearables and devices, Heart Rate Variability (HRV) is a newer kid on the block and, possibly, the most interesting biometric technology available for pros and weekend warriors alike to gain the ultimate advantage in peak performance. HRV has been around for decades in medical science, but more recently companies like Whoop, Oura, iThlete, Elite HRV and HRV4Training have packaged it into a consumer usable format to guide training, recovery and competition. Some are 24-hour wearable devices (Whoop and Oura), while others utilize an app on your mobile device paired with a chest strap (e.g., Polar), finger probe or your phone camera to allow you to take a spot measurement (ideally first thing in the morning). The short and sweet is that HRV is a physiologic indicator of the balance between the two arms of the autonomic nervous system: your run from danger system (Sympathetic); and, your rest and digest system (Parasympathetic). Being a little more tilted toward the parasympathetic system is a sign your body is more physiologically primed for training and competition. HRV devices provide the user daily scores reported in numerical form and also in a red/ yellow/green color format. Depending on what device you are using, you may also receive trend data on sleep and stress. The value of using this information is that it can help an athlete gauge how various behaviors and habits influence their physiology (stress/recovery balance) and also provide objective data to help them decide if today is a good day to train/compete or to rest/recover. Trend data can also indicate whether or not an individual is becoming ill, increasing their risk for injury and possibly developing over training syndrome. Small studies comparing athletes using HRV to those who did not have found the former have better performance outcomes and fewer injuries.

Prices range from free apps (not including the cost of a chest strap or finger probe) to several hundred dollars for daily wearable products. Some individuals find it helpful to have a knowledgeable person in their corner helping them interpret and apply their HRV data.

In a world where technology is becoming more interlaced into human experience, HRV may be a tool that is more sensitive than our own perception about performance level, wellbeing and readiness to compete. If you are looking for that thing to unlock your untapped potential for a meaningful, sustained improvement in performance and wellbeing, HRV could be your huckleberry. :