Week 8: Cooking my way through the Runner's World Cookbook

At the rate I am going I will still be working my way through this cookbook this time next year!

I have to admit that last week we ate quite well, lots of good meals which generated some nice leftovers.

I got some verbal requests for upcoming recipes as well as the one in the comments (I think the long run chocolate PB cake looks great too- I plan to make that in the next couple weeks!)

So what did I manage to cook last week?

Soba noodles with chicken and peanut sauce

Sometimes you make food after a long day and it is so good that you just shove it in your face, never bothering to come up for air until it is gone. 
For me (and my sister) this was one of those meals. I grilled a couple chicken breasts and shredded them (leaving Eric's chicken free- making some marinated tofu for this would work GREAT.)
Since I grilled the chicken this certainly took longer than the 20 minutes of projected time- I don't know how you might magic cooked shredded chicken out of thin air! If you can, good for you. If not this is going to take you 40 minutes (but totally worth it!!) Kate and I gave it an 8.5 and Eric a 7 (which basically means a 10 in Eric language!)

Rigatoni with chicken (or tofu) sausage

I made one major alteration to this recipe- I used fresh vegetables instead of frozen. I'm simply not a huge fan of frozen veg so I made the rebellious choice to sautee some broccoli and red peppers.
Crazy, I know.
Despite my shenanigans this was fast- only about 30 minutes and stupid easy.
Sometimes stupid easy means kind of basic and this was one of those time.
This was a pleasant Wednesday night dinner but nothing special or worth repeating.
I gave it a 6.5, and Eric a 7. (Eric thought it was pretty fabulous! So maybe a VERY good veggie friendly dinner?)

Red beans and rice with turkey (or tofu) sausage.

For some reason I could not get even a reasonable pic of this monstrosity.
I LOVE traditional red beans and rice- throw a damn kielbasa in it and I'm good to go (for a heart attack...)
This combated that common problem by being rater dire and boring. All of us who ate it thought it needed something major- the ideas were a jar of salsa, a can of tomatoes, a shaker of salt and fewer peppers.
This recipe made an absolutely enormous quantity which we never ended up eating- which says something.
I gave it a 5.5, Eric a 6.5 and Eric's nephew a 7 but I think he was either just being nice or possibly starving. 

Kale-Almond pesto

I picked the kale fresh from my Dad's garden and ran home with it, preparing to tap this out in 15 minutes flat. Why? Because pesto is stupid stupid easy (like your mom...)
Anywhoo. If your kale is filled with caterpillars and you need to remove them this takes absolutely for-frickin-ever. However, if you do not have that horrible problem this would be pretty easy. I assume that anyway, I really do not know since I spent about a million hours picking away at the worms. Jesussssssssssss.
After all the trouble I was pretty psyched- this stuff was great. I dumped it unceremoniously on some pasta and woofed it down. De bugging kale makes a girl hungry.
I gave it an 8 because it tasted exactly as kale pesto should. Eric gave it a 6 because he prefers basil pesto....

Chocolate Berry Crisp

We had my whole (immediate) family over for my Mom's B-day last week.
First, I made her the salmon with lentil tabbouleh (a huge hit!) And as a side note- my Mom is as picky as the come. she said in her non-lying voice that she thought that the salmon was "Good!!!" When she doesn't like something but wants to be nice she says it is "good.....???" Take it from me, you can make this for your fussy Mah and she will really like it in her non lying voice!

Anyway. We finished off the evening with this amazing berry crisp. I used berries from my Dad's famous garden- a mix of raspberries and blueberries which were quite tasty.
The topping was fabulous- not too sweet and nice and crunchy. We LOVED it! Make this shit. Eat it. Throw some ice cream on it, or don't. Eat it for breakfast, I did. Whole pan goneeeeeeee.
Kate and I gave it an 8.5, and Eric gave it a 7.5.

That's it for this week! Being that we just wrapped up July things on the running front aren't all that exciting but they will be picking up. Eventually..

Week 4 & 5: Cooking way through the Runner's World Cookbook

We seem to have a combo post going on here from weeks 4 and 5, blame my busy schedule and tendency to give up and simply eat cheese, Boboli pizza and bourbon. (there is nothing wrong with that.)

I did manage to make a couple of things. I continue to be easily able to find vegetarian alternatives for Eric- I will make notes of what I change since I don't always photograph the veggie option.

As mentioned in week one I know that once I get to "meatloaf" or "shrimp" there will be very little that I can do (or am willing to do) to make those veggie friendly. Most likely those recipes will call for a two dinner kind of night. Eric is hoping for grilled cheese I expect.

Olive and Anchovy pizza (or: the cover photo on the book.)

Basically a boboli pizza! #winning!
You don't really need an actual recipe for this but it was one- so there's another one checked off the list.
Clearly I omitted the anchovy for Mr Bradlowski and while I have no gripe with the little fishes I made a game time choice to use two ACTUAL anchovies rather than two tins. Yeah, these were supposed to contain a half tin of leetle feeshes per pizza.
NO. JUST. NO.
Two per pizza was plenty. Take my word for it..... A half tin would be a nightmare.

White bean artichoke wrap

Once again... You don't actually need a recipe for what is essentially white bean hummus but why not!
This recipe calls for the bean spread, artichokes and sundried tomatoes in a wrap. Neither of us are crazy about SD tomatoes so I skipped them and added olives and spinach.
This was absolutely fine. Limit to one garlic clove if you plan to leave the house (ever.)

Hearty red scalloped potatoes, grilled asparagus. And steak, obvs.

Ask me about the potatoes au gratin that I make- go ahead, ASK ME! I am the master of the cheese & potatoes. I have perfected the art and am quite proud.
NEEDLESS TO SAY..... I had ZERO hope for these little taters. I expected them to be undercooked, flavorless and disappointing.
I did skip the skim milk and use 2% because skim is disgusting. Otherwise I behaved and followed the recipe.
If you have potato skills I expect you too will have doubts...
You don't have to- they were AMAZING. Who would have guessed? Not me . Make them and eat them all, with a steak and maybe some grilled asparagus (also a recipe! another one that you don't need a recipe for! but quite good, as grilled asparagus should be.)

Salmon with lentil tabbouleh

This salmon with lentil tabbouleh was straight up incredible.
My sister and I voted it "best so far" and Eric gave it a 3 out of 10 which is fine since he doesn't eat salmon and dislikes tomatoes, cukes and lentils. Basically a 3 is a 10 (Eric got veggie sausage in place of the fish.)
I honestly have no complaints about this dish- it was delicious! (also gorgeous- you could certainly make this to impress people.)
One note- absolutely do not cook your lentils according to the recipe directions (if you are working with dried, unsoaked lentils that is.)
Lentils need about 35-45 minutes to cook and about a 2:1 water to lentil ratio. Simply, you just won't get good results if you follow their directions, so heed my words and don't. Cook your lentils like a normal person and you will be fine.

That's it for now! I hope to get with it and get back to my weekly posts ASAP!

Week 3: Cooking my way thru the Runner's World Cookbook

Welcome to week three of my adventures in cooking the recipes from The Runner's World Cookbook!

I was busy last week and busy means fewer chances to cook. Sometimes dinner just has to be some cheese and crackers ya know? (as long as it comes with some olives and wine....)

Anyway. What did I manage to cook?

Brown rice salad with curried tofu

OK, where to begin with this one.... I had high hopes because as a rule I really enjoy rice based salads. Combine that with the fact that this was already vegetarian friendly and I was really hoping for a solid win. 
However.... Eric and I both strongly objected to this dish for different but similar reasons. Eric HATED the tomatoes, the flavor and the texture. (that is a lot of things to object to.)  He gave it a 3 out of 10 rating.
I REALLY DISLIKED the way that the tofu (despite prep) still came out bland, the excess of SEEDS, the amount of work that it took to eat it (chomp. chomp. chomp.) I thought that the flavor was not objectionable but after champing my way thru 30 minutes of tedious salad I was over it.
I tried to figure out ways to improve this recipe but in the end I realized that I was simply writing a new recipe. I feel that the ratios are off- it is almost equal parts rice, tofu, edamame and seeds which makes for a lot of roughage. I feel that if the rice played a bigger role, and perhaps instead of a full cup of seeds there were a couple tablespoons, and maybe if the tofu was marinated things would have gone better. (also- I pressed the tofu which the recipe does not suggest but I think it goes without saying.)
Sorry salad. You were straight gross. Never again.

Spinach Kiwi Cooler

After the debacle that was the nasty ass rice salad I made a VERY easy smoothie for Eric. He is a smoothie fan- I am not!In the end even I found this one to be enjoyable and extremely easy. I think it took 2 minutes from start to finish. Eric gave it a big thumbs up and chugged it. Success!

Pasta Bean Toss

Next up was the very pretty and very, very fiberous pasta bean toss. (I have no idea why I thought I needed a can of tomatoes- I did not. but there it is. you totally could use one though and it would be good!)
This was not challenging to prepare and the 35 minutes that the cook book projects was right on target.
I omitted the Worcestershire sauce due to the anchovies and, if you can, would highly recommend using it as I feel it would add some valuable flavor. 
Overall we felt that this was enjoyable and extremely healthy. I do not suggest eating this the night before an early long run as the beans and broccoli will certainly play games with your digestion.
I enjoyed this- I ate a couple of huge bowls and also noted that it is attractive enough to serve to friends to impress them. Eric was fairly happy with it but noticed (as I did) that it needed a little something to add flavor (if you omit the Worcestershire perhaps consider an increase of salt, or a few red pepper flakes, extra cheese, pepper, more garlic...)
After the nasty rice salad this was a distinct improvement.

And finally... Garlicky Greens and Roasted Sweet potato wedges (blocks, whatev.) And steak.

Sometimes you just don't have time to cook up a whole long recipe.
However! I had fresh kale and a couple of sweet potatoes on hand and threw them together as sides.
This is totally cheating as I make these all the time, minus a recipe.
However, I felt clever as it was a two-fer! HAH!
Clearly they were delicious and Eric, my sister and I ate them with gusto. WIN.

So that's it for this week. I hope to be able to pull off making a few recipes for next week's addition- I have to eat but am also busy! I'm glad I did not put a timetable on this challenge- maybe I should as a motivator.....

Cooking my way thru the Runner's World Cookbook

Since I do not have any marathons for a while I seem to have a tiny bit more time to do normal human things. Things like cook an actual meal on occasion instead of relying on english muffin pizzas and random pastas to survive on.

A little while back I had the most amazing success cooking up a fabulous dinner straight out of the Runner's World magazine.
It was such a hit- and so easy (which is absolutely critical to me) that I decided it would be amusing to cook my way thru the entire Runner's World cookbook. Why not right? It's very Julie and Julia of me, but in the day and age of thousands of legit cooking blogs and high def pics of amazingly presented meals and what not- the pressure to make things look perfect is a challenge that I'm not even going to try.  I am not a food blogger and I need to cook food to eat, not to take fancily arranged pictures of!

Here is what you can expect from me:
-Grainy photos
-Basic descriptions "this was only ok..." and so forth.
-My thoughts on the return on my investment. If I am gonna bust out the cooking tools that the food had best be worth my while!
-Honest appraisals of how good (or bad) each recipe is.

The only thing that might be actually useful to humanity is that I will need to find a way to make every possible recipe veggie friendly. Other than that I will not alter any ingredients. (I have a serious tendency to tinker with things to improve them- things do not need to be improved on the first try! *sigh*)

I can't claim to be a horrible cook- while it is not my favorite thing I am completely capable in the kitchen and have been cooking for as long as I can remember.
The only thing that I made which turns out horribly is lasagna. Go figure.

The great thing about this particular cookbook is that is is foolproof. You can find most ingredients easily and the challenge level is very low which is absolutely fucking critical for me!! I honestly have been put off cooking for a bit because so many cookbooks have ingredients that I CAN NOT find in my area and take 3 hours to prepare. Not my jam.

So. Let the journey begin! 

Week one:

Fresh Fruit Scones

Easy to make and easy to eat. I think calling them "scones" is a stretch- it was more like muffin cake but whatever. I used some fruit that I had kicking around- blueberries, strawberries, a peach and a handful of dried cherries. All good choices. If I were to make this again I would add cinnamon, maybe a pinch of nutmeg and some nuts. This was VERY simple to prepare so I felt good about the (short) time spent baking.

Asian noodle salad with eggs and peanut dressing

I rarely eat salads for dinner (I need real FOOD people!) I don't think I have ever made a salad that a cookbook suggested before- I tend to use my cooking time on more substantial things.
However, I needed to make this peanut dressing so I decided it was in my best interest to make a double batch and whip up this salad too. the dressing looks like poo- the recipe said to"drizzle" it over the salad and it more, globbed onto it unattractively (as pictured.)
Bad looks aside the whole dish really worked well- it was much better than I had anticipated and the egg made it feel like a full meal. Not to mention that the plate it is on is HUGE- this is no wimpy salad.
The biggest pain in the butt was making the dressing but that took maybeeeee 10 minutes so I really can't complain. Making extra was definitely worth it as I used in in another meal and then made some random peanut noodles too.
Again, time well invested. I would make this again with no alterations.

Thai beef and snow pea stir fry

I made this dinner at the end of a long, impossible day (hence the face.)
I was extremely distracted and it is amazing that it came together at ALL.
I had intentions of stirfrying some marinated tofu for Eric's portion but that went by the wayside so I tossed in some red pepper and onion (not in the recipe) to bulk it up a little.
I completely forgot the water chestnuts because I was not focused at all- they would have been a nice addition but it was in no way a disaster.
BIG win here- I think I threw the whole mess together in about 15 minutes, glugged some wine into glasses and called it dinner.

So there is week one of my Runner's World Cookbook adventure. I haven't made so many different things in one week in EVER so I feel quite accomplished.
More to come next week!  

(side note: I paid for the cookbook with my own money, I am cooking the recipes for my amusement only. I think you all know I'm not famous enough to write sponsored content!)

Master chef-ing, with Runners World recipes!

In which... my blog turns into a cooking blog!!
I kid, I kid! But eating is extremely important when you run a lot and when you decide to cook up a recipe found in Runners World it is completely valid content for a running blog.

A picture of the delicious end result. I am the Martha Stewart of my generation, obviously.

My sister comes by for dinner on a weekly basis if our schedules allow. This gives me a reason to be a slightly less lazy cook- while I can cook, and do cook, I'm not fond of overcomplicated or horribly challenging recipes.

And you guys- if I see one more running blog filled with salad after endless salad I am going to cry! There are so many good things to eat, and while salad can be one, enough already. Time for something hearty and delicious and maybe a little healthy too! (I would typically fall back on some steak but I was looking to branch out.)

There were some interesting recipes in Runners World recently for rice bowls. Quite a few of them looked good and I am a fan of dinner in a big warm bowl of goodness that I can bury my face in.

"Spring Wild Rice Bowl With Asparagus" was the winner. I took a bit of liberty with some of the ingredients and will make notes of that.

We started with a Maple Manhattan. My specialty!

As a responsible adult it is wise to have a cocktail to ease the pain of potential culinary failure. Just kidding, I make a very excellent Manhattan and it is smart to enjoy a nice grown up beverage once and a while. While sipping away (slowly, they pack a punch) I assembled my ingredients like the amazing chef that I am. Much organization. So skilled.

Ingredients.

What do we have there??
-3 cups cooked wild rice (I used a blend rice- white, brown, wild and red. so rebellious!)
Yes. The rice in the pic is uncooked. Use imagination!

Sautee-
1 bunch of Asparagus
1/2 lb Cremini mushrooms, sliced (I used baby portabellas- and slightly over a 1/2 lb)
To the sauteed veggies I went slightly off recipe and added a finely diced shallot and a large clove of minced garlic. A couple glugs of olive oil, a tablespoon of butter, and a sprinkle of salt topped things off nicely.

The dressing called for:
3 T evoo
Juice of half a lemon (I suggest using slightly less- it was tart!)
2 T minced dill
1 clove minced garlic
1/2 tsp salt (I used less since I salted the veg)
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes (I omitted these)

1 poached egg per serving

OK, so I chopped up the veggies as prescribed and threw them in a pan to sautee.

Obligatory "veggies cooking!" photo

I am not 100% confident poaching eggs which is silly since I am a grown ass woman. My sister and I decided that we could use teamwork to simplify the process. We boiled some water, salted it, added a tablespoon or so of vinegar and chucked the little buggers in for about 4 minutes. It was slightly too much time but we would rather have a somewhat firm egg than a runny googily one. The cooking process was just as easy as it sounds- I no longer fear poaching.

Cooking some eggs. I think everyone but me knows how to do this well. But if not use this picture tutorial.

After the eggs were done swirling creepily around poaching, I threw the rice and veggies into some fancy china bowls, popped the eggs on top of everything and topped the whole thing with dressing and some shaved parm. Tah Dah! Culinary masterpiece!

Eric opted out of the non-googily egg option.

And how did this turn out?
Really damn good. Like, impressively tasty.
This recipe met all of my requirements, it had a short ingredient list, did not require cooking skills that I do not have (well, poaching wasn't my strong point) it was filled with things I enjoy eating and was hearty, full of flavor and probably healthy enough.

The recipe indicated that it would serve 4 and it would not, unless you eat like birds or eat quite a bit of cheese and crackers beforehand. So, serves 3 happily or 4 with salad and appetizers. 

I hope that everyone is looking forward to my next installment of middleaged cooking which will be something astonishingly complex like english muffin pizzas, hahaha ugh!
Until then, have fun eating things. It is my favorite passtime after all....

In which I am mostly recovered, a true miracle!

I seem to be somewhat back to normal after last weekends drowning incident.

(physically. who knows if I'll ever get to "somewhat normal" in everyday life...)

Still reflecting upon the events at the race and still feeling good about it even though I didn't meet my time goal.

 

Actual race picture.
This was a DRY spot, no lie.

Double Fact
Still glad I didn't bitch out at mile 13...

I got back into the running way of things yesterday and it was ok. I didn't hurt and that's all I can ask for (very happy actually...) I did my core workout too and actually put forth a modicum of effort which is sure to pay off in dividends (yeah, ONE good core workout will do that. *ahem*)

 

I mentioned in my last blog that I have a small handle on my race nutrition.

Please note, I say that tentatively- I have had success with the following plan on 2 runs (which, sadly, is an amazing streak for me!)

In bullet points:

-2 breakfasts. I start with 2 crumpets and jam (of all things!) Then an hour to 45 minutes before the race have a plain bagel with some sort of nut butter (peanut or almond)

-1/2 a small cup of coffee. Gotta have it

-A decent sized bottle of Scratch. Go buy some now. It is the best hydration mix ever (not to sweet like some drinks, not to fizzy like others...)

-2 Pepto about 2 hours prior to the race. Because that is smart.

 



-While running I have a squeeze packet of baby food (purple carrots, blueberries and pears) around mile 6. This sounds gross but it is GOOD and so easy to eat. I have an awful time getting GU down and this is so nice and easy to eat. Sits much better in my idiot belly too...

-I snag several cups of too sweet but caloric Gatorade (I prefer H20 but need the sugar/calories)

-If I'm running slowly (training run) I eat a few PB crackers. If I'm running fast (race) I eat part of a honey stinger waffle around mile 15 or so. I'd actually like another fruit snack here but they are heavy to carry!

 

And that is it.

 

I plan to stick with this for a while since I have had decent luck with it thus far. I do not enjoy darkening the doors of every porta-crapper on the course, nor do I enjoy projectile vomiting. It is not fun and it does not make for a very enjoyable race or post race. Gross.

 

In other news I look like death in all my race photos.
What's new, you might ask....
They are also very pricey so I am not going to buy them for the "bad photo" section of my blog.

My Healthy Diet. NOT! Part 2: Thanksgiving Edition

Thanksgiving is almost here! In honor of my favorite activity (eating, for those of you not in the know) I'm going to dedicate this post to my food musings of the past couple weeks.

I wrote a post a little while ago on my concern over my lack of a well rounded diet and my ignorance of foods which are now trendy (chia seeds?). I got a lot of helpful responses to that post and also made a startling revelation (seriously, it was like a mystical light shining down into my brain!)

Despite being in a food rut I have a pretty darn healthy diet.

It has been years since I have eaten "fast food" as any sort of meal. I genuinely hate all food from the typical chain "restaurants" so this is no great leap of self control for me. Mickey Dees makes me vom a little in my mouth, and usually on my shoes later in the day. As much as I love candy, ice cream, pizza and donuts I do not eat them every day or in large quantities. I have a diet that encompasses all the food groups, except fruit which I always forget about. Fruit: you are not important to me!!

The middleaged huz and I have decided to go on a mission to try new things, especially if we don't think that we'll like them. Brussels sprouts and tofu being tops on the list. I have added a heaping helping of veggies to the weekly shopping list, and I have dutifully eaten a banana a day in my yogurt (my normal breakfast when I'm not shoving cheese danish down my face is vanilla greek yogurt with a handful of almonds- and now a banana.) I am trying to make a couple of meat free dinners a week much to the dismay of the huz who is a voracious carnivore. So far so good though, he hasn't declared shenanigans on my dinner prep skillzzz just yet. And he remembered how much he likes hummus so the world is a happy place.

The huz and I are skinny people. We don't need to loose weight (if either of us do we will no longer cast a shadow... really...) but I am not in any way pleased with the idea of unhealthy eating leading to piles and piles of plagues and strife down the road. I think a few little changes will help us to live to be old crabby married people. HAH! In addition, I am a big naysayer to the concept of eliminating any one thing from a diet. (unless it is something absurd, if I ate a big Mac every day eliminating that would be smart. Except I would eliminate it no problem, as has already been covered in this over sharing chapter of my life.) So we continue to drink beer, eat cashews, have a pizza occasionally and carry on like the norms. Whoot!

If anyone has inspired ideas regarding delightful preparations of the dreaded brussels sprouts (or tofu. polenta. brown rice.) I'll be happy to listen!

Happy Thanksgiving to all, I'm going to indulge in a 4 miler, a pound of pie and a big tall beer.... Ahhhhh!