Eat Drink Run Woman

Although I’ve been somewhat of a slacker blogger of late, when I saw the theme of this week’s Take It and Run I knew there was no way I could skip it. ‘Cuz after all, I’m all about the food. (Besides, I’m sure they would have taken away both my runner’s AND chef’s cards).

When my darling and I first got back into running, we’d use our long runs as an excuse to indulge afterwards. An 8-mile run meant Flamin’ Hot Cheetos would be waiting in the car; 12+ miles would warrant a burger & beer lunch. But as we got more serious about our training, particularly when we set our sights on Boston, our food choices became much more healthy and sensible. We’ll still treat ourselves on occasion (nothing beats fries and a beer after a marathon), but moderation is our mantra.

Doing a long run after working all day leaves precious little time for fancy dinners, so we keep ours simple. One night it might be Suprêmes de Volaille à l’Écossaise or Pièce de Boeuf à la Cuillère or perhaps Ris de Veau à la Crème et aux Champignons. If I’m feeling particularly lazy, I might whip up a batch of Gnocchi de Semoule avec Pâte à Choux Patalina.

Um, yeah.

One need only hop over to my Ovens to Betsy blog to see I haven’t been doing a lot of cooking (at least fare that’s blog-worthy). But that doesn’t mean we’ve been resorting to pizza and other take-out. If we are to eat pizza, it’s made-from-scratch (although sometimes we’ll use dough from Trader Joe’s). And if it’s burgers we’re craving, I’ll make my own with either ground turkey or organic ground beef and cook ’em up on the grill.

So here I’ll share with you some of our favorites — breakfasts to fuel our races and long runs, the night before carbo-loading dinners, meals that are lower in fat and calories, and yes, even a few indulgences. Many of the recipes are posted on Ovens to Betsy, so hopefully you won’t mind clicking over.

Breakfast
When it comes to our pre-race breakfast, we rarely break from routine: steel-cut oats with berries and brown sugar. I was so obsessed with NOT breaking from tradition I even packed some for North Olympic (and since there wasn’t a microwave in the room, we had to eat it cold). They do take quite some time to cook, so I normally will make a batch the night before and heat it the next morning. Toward the end of cooking I’ll throw in a couple handfuls of frozen berries (the Costco 3-berry mix is DA BOMB!), then sprinkle on the brown sugar. This fills me up and is easy on the stomach (and doesn’t create any bathroom emergencies along the route).

For our everyday breakfasts, we mix it up a bit. One day it may be whole grain cereal, on another it will be poached eggs on toast. Most weekends I can count on my darling to whip up a batch of his grandmother’s buttermilk pancakes (sometimes I can convince him to make them whole grain). But one of our favorite breakfasts is a fruit smoothie and bagel. One of my clients is always giving me her overripe bananas, which I throw into my freezer. To make a smoothie I’ll microwave the banana for a few seconds to make it easier to peel, then I’ll toss it in a blender with berries or other frozen fruit. Some days I’ll make it with juice and yogurt, but lately I’ve been adding vanilla soy milk for some extra protein. They’re thick and delicious!

Lunch
When I’m at a client’s house, I rarely take time for lunch. Some days I’ll treat myself to sushi from Whole Foods, but normally I’ll pack an apple and some peanut butter, along with a bag of veggies to nosh on. I’ve found I HAVE to pack something, else I’m starving when I get home and will tend to overeat.

Dinner

During our last training round, I realized we were eating out of cans quite a bit. But not in the way you might think! As long as I have cans of diced tomatoes and beans in my pantry, I know I can have a quick and nutritious dinner on the table in minutes (okay, it also assumes I have some kind of pasta in my pantry and fresh garlic and perhaps some sort of greens in the fridge).

We’re huge fans of Costco as it’s a great place to stock up on pantry items. In addition to dried pasta, Costco carries a variety of fresh filled pastas (ravioli and tortellini) that you can throw into your freezer. (If you’re feeling adventuresome, you can make your own). To make a sauce, I simply saute some garlic and red pepper flakes, then throw in a can of organic diced tomatoes and a can of beans (typically garbanzos or kidney). Toward the end I’ll add either chopped kale or spinach, stirring until it wilts. Voila! You now have a delicious chunky pasta sauce to serve on top of your pasta of choice.

Another quick, easy and lowfat meal is to cook “en papillote” (in parchment paper). Fish, shellfish and chicken are particularly suited for this type of cooking. I use large sheets of parchment from a restaurant supply store, but you can also cut a sheet from a roll of parchment (or use foil). I fold the parchment in half and cut a half heart (when you open it up it forms a full heart). You then place your fish or chicken in the middle of the heart right next to the crease, then top it with herbs, citrus slices, flavored butter, etc. and sprinkle on a bit of wine. Fold over the other half and seal along the edges (I really need to make a video of this; while it’s easy to do, it’s tough to explain!) Bake it at 400 degrees (about 18-20 minutes for fish and shellfish; 25-30 for chicken). Take care when opening the packages as there’ll be a lot of steam. I plop the contents on top of some rice as the juices form a wonderful sauce. Yummy!

You’ll find other dinner favs over at Ovens to Betsy, including pizza, spring rolls, panko-coated chicken, meatball & escarole soup and sesame crusted ahi.

Treats
While my dessert repertoire is limited, I do have fun experimenting (check out the fresh berry pie at OTB, or if you’re in the mood for something more decadent, the Almond Joe Pie). One of our favorite ways to satisfy our sweet tooth (tooths?) is to make a batch of spicy kettle corn. I was introduced to kettle corn late in life; at first I thought the combination of salty and sweet was weird. What was I thinking? It’s now one of my favorite snacks. In fact, I bought a Whirly-pop just so I could make it at a moment’s notice.

Here’s my recipe:

Spicy Kettle Corn
1/2 cup popcorn kernels
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/4 cup sugar
salt to taste
cayenne to taste (optional)

Pour vegetable oil into your Whirly-pop and place three corn kernels at the bottom. Mix sugar, salt and cayenne. Place pan on medium-high heat and start the crank. When all three kernels have popped, toss in the remaining kernels and continue to crank. When several more kernels have popped, thrown in the sugar & salt mixture (the mixture lowers the temperature, so if you throw it in too soon the corn will not pop). Continue to crank until there’s more than 10 seconds between pops (turn the heat down a few seconds after throwing in the sugar). Enjoy!

(Oh, and the food porn pic at the beginning of the post is prosciutto-wrapped scallops. They’re VERY easy to make — slice prosciutto into 1-inch strips and wrap around a large scallop. Grill for 2-3 minutes per side and serve.