13

1. Middle of the week holidays RULE! Happy Veteran's Day yesterday to all those who are serving/have served.

2. Work is busy so exercising, sleeping, and quality time has gone to the wayside.

3. But because I had to be at work by 0730 I decided to go to swim practice this morning. Yep, you heard me right, swim practice...at 0530. And today is the day the coach decided to video tape me and critique my stroke. Um, hello, this was my first day back after a four month break. I'm more concerned with survival then stroke technique. (But I did notice the increased speed once I corrected to what use to be natural)

4. I forgot the side effects of morning swim - goggle wrinkles for half the day, starving ALL DAY LONG, and the joy of a neon red left eye. Oh, and I am exhausted!

5. I seem to have hurt my right knee by sitting on my ass for 8-hours. A couple weeks ago when we went to Williamsburg I spent Sunday working on my laptop in front of the TV. Something about the way I had my leg, I pulled the tendons behind my knee. But, after months of PT for IMS I apparently learned something. I am doing the same exercises, taking the same OTC pills, and doing the same icing of the leg and it seems to be healing.

6. Oh, I forgot to mention my temporary wading pool. I got a call from my neighbor at around 0700 on Monday morning saying there was water leaking from my garage door. Hmmmmmmmm..... My water heater faucet completely broke off and by the time I got home my single car garage had about four inches of water built up. So, 8 hours and $900 later I am the proud owner of a new water heater (thanks Lowe's) and a clean/organized garage (thanks Dude).

7. Lesson learned from #6 - Give your neighbors your contact information! If I hadn't done that (just this summer) I wouldn't have known about the leak for a good 12 hours. Imagine the damage (and the water bill)!!!

8. Looks like everyone from Team Z had a great race in FL (and Holly is now an Ironman after her Beach 2 Battleship (B2B) race). It was fun tracking them on-line and there were some fast times - I still think if I do another Ironman sanctioned Full Ironman it will be FL (or Arizona).

9. Thanksgiving menu is ALMOST finalized. So far we are having 7 people over, possibly 9.

10. Men Who Stare at Goats = GOOD (and not just because they show George Clooney's naked arse). Where the Wild Things Are = BAD (and not because it's a kids movie - it was just depressing and seemed to reinforce bad behavior)

11. I made an incredible Rachel Ray recipe of Pasta with Pumpkin & Sausage (Cook 101 #23) on Friday night. By incredible I mean 4/4 FRC's. The only changes I made from the link are used spicy Italian turkey sausage instead of sweet Italian, used light cream instead of heavy cream. I served this on its own and it was quite filling. And did I mention incredible?


12. I met with a realtor about my townhouse. It seems I was overestimating the market. It looks like I can break even once all the fees are paid. I'm now seriously considering is renting it out. I can definitely cover my mortgage and I know having a rental is a great tax benefit.

13. I can't believe 2009 is almost over. Where'd it go?

And She Can Cook!

First I’ll do an update on my training, since this blog is supposed to be about training, blah, blah, blah. This week I ran once (yep, once, marathon schmarathon). It was supposed to be 10 miles, I made 5. That’ll teach me to start a run at 2:30 in the afternoon, on a boiling hot day, after eating nothing but ½ a muffin and a tasting of tomatoes. I was one hot, dizzy, dehydrated, slow mess!

Why so late? Why a tasting of tomatoes? Well, after living in Northern Virginia for 3 ½ years I FINALLY ventured out to the Eastern Market (bigger (better) then a farmer’s market, much smaller the Reading Terminal in Philly). And that, my friends, is the first of two Happy Places I found this weekend (2nd is Total Wine - someone explain to me how I missed this gem?!).

Eastern Market is heaven on earth. We went there with no menu, no recipes, just an open mind and the desire to make a fabulous dinner. We walked through all of the vegetable stands and ideas were forming, but I needed the main dish solidified before making a purchase. I was starting to get disappointed because there was no meats/seafood - then we went inside. The first counter we saw was the seafood counter…Frutta di Mare? Next was fresh meat…Pesto stuffed Pork Loin? Focus on the appetizer and that would determine the main dish. Choice between Prosciutto wrapped Cantaloupe (then I'd make the pork loin) or Bacon Wrapped Scallops (to go with the Frutta di Mare). HMMMMMM

And the decision is:
Thick Sliced Hickory Bacon wrapped Sea Scallops
Grilled Baby Octopus (17/101)
Tomato Salad
Baked Sweet Onion
Tomato Basil Fettuccine (Cheated and bought this)
And Frutta di Mare (18/101)

I thought I bought 2-person quantities, but know that these recipes could have EASILY fed four. I also don't believe in measuring things when I make up my own recipes so everything is an approximate.

Recipes:
Fresh Herb Mix
1/4 Cup Loosely Packed Basil
Leaves from about 6 inches of Rosemary
Leaves from about 6 inches of Oregano
Sprinkling (teaspoon-ish) Sea Salt
Pepper (about 5 turns of the grinder)
Put everything in a bowl and chop. I prefer to use scissors, Dude uses a knife on a cutting bored. I don't recommend a processor - in my experience too much moisture is released. Set aside - will be used throughout these recipes.

Thick Sliced Hickory Bacon Wrapped Sea Scallops
6 slices bacon, cut in half
12 Scallops (ordered ½ lb, this is what I got)
Wrap bacon around scallops, put on metal skewer. Grill for 10 minutes (500 degrees*).

Grilled Baby Octopus
4 Baby Octopus (figure 2 per person)
¼ C Olive Oil
2 Tbs Fresh Herb Mix

Marinate octopus in olive oil and herbs for 15 minutes. Remove from oil, shake off extra oil. Grill on top shelf of grill (500 degrees*) for 10 minutes.

Note: Some people can’t get past the look of the octopus and won’t eat this. Once they are cooked you could chop them up so they no longer resemble little 8-legged aliens. (Not that Dude or I have an issue with this, but Dude did apologize to each one before he ate it).

Fresh Tomato Salad
3 Different (Colors/Types) of Tomatoes - I used beefsteak, Green Zebra, and a big orange one. Do some tasting at the farmer’s market to find a good mix.
2 Tbs Olive Oil, divided
Sprinkling Sea Salt
1 Tbs Fresh Herb Mix
2 Basil Leaves, sliced in this strips
Drizzle Platter with Olive Oil and sprinkling of salt. Slice/Core tomatoes. Arrange on Platter. Sprinkle with Fresh Herb Mix and Basil Leaves. Top with additional Olive Oil.

Baked Sweet Onion
Dude and I have been trying to duplicate this since we had it in Italy. It seemed simple enough, a baked onion that was basically caramelized in its skin. After trial and error, I think we have it.
2 Onions - top/bottom cut off, cross cut in top and bottom, and stabbed on each side
1/2 Cup Olive Oil
Fresh Herb Mix
Preheat oven or grill to 500 degrees*. This is why the grill was so hot for the scallops and octopus.
Pour 1/4 cup olive oil in two bowls. Put onion in bowl, top with Fresh Herbs. Cover with saran wrap and let sit for ~30 minutes.

Make tinfoil pouch. Put onion and oil mixture in the pouch and seal. Bake/Grill for 1 hour. Remove skin and serve piping hot.

Frutta di Mare
Olive Oil
4 Garlic Cloves, Chopped
3 Tomatoes, chopped, with juice and seeds
1/2 Cup White Wine
Fresh Herbs
Sea Salt
4 Calamari Tubes, cut into rings
5 Large Shrimp, peeled, deveined, cut into 3 pieces
6 Mussels, scrubbed, debearded
6 Clams, scrubbed
1/4 Lb Bay Scallops

Fill a large pot with water, add some salt and a drizzle of olive oil. Bring to a boil. While boiling the water do the below.
Wash, clean and lightly steam the Clams and Mussels just enough to open. Remove meat from shells and set aside.
Wash the calamari and cut into rings
Heat olive oil and add garlic, Stir for ~2 minutes. Add the chopped tomatoes and herbs and cover. Simmer on Med-Low for 5 minutes. Add wine and bring to a boil. Add all seafood except clams and mussels. Salt to taste. Cook for ~5+ minutes. In the last 3 minutes or so add the mussels and clams. Add red pepper flakes right at the end. Cover and let sit (on the same burner) until ready to platter.

Pasta:
In the last 3 minutes of cooking the sauce, add fresh pasta to the boiling water and follow the directions (usually calls for 2-3 minutes). I recommend under cooking it, drain. Reserve some of the pasta water. Put on serving dish, drizzle with olive oil. If it seems to dry out quickly add a scant amount of the reserved water. Serve seafood on top of pasta.

And the results...mmm, mmm, mmm, mmm GOOD!



For each one of these recipes, I give them:

What can I say, I’ve been busy so here goes what’s happenin’ lately…

Thursday – Swam in am/Dinner with friends in pm

Friday – Gave blood – Just Do It!!

For dinner I made incredible Mussels in Saffron and White Wine Broth . Changes: I quartered the amount of mussels (2 pounds) but halved the sauce. Only other change is I did not have any ½ & ½ or any other dairy - didn’t miss it. I served this with some sautéed scallops because they are Dude’s favorites and some Italian bread for sopping up the broth.


Saturday – Attempted to run at Burke Lake - turned into a walk/ran due to back/butt pain. Made appointment for a massage. Ended day with dinner with friends.

Sunday – Cuddled with Dude – love to cuddle with Dude. Headed out for massage. Now, back in the day, getting a massage was relaxing. I’d lie down and within minutes I’d be sound asleep. Times have changed!
The massage therapist from Rejuvenating Massage Therapy was incredible. And by that I mean she awakened muscles that I did not know I had. It hurt a bit as she dug in but right after she was done I felt incredible. I followed her advice and drank plenty of water, took a long hot shower, and relaxed/stretched for the remainder of the day. I woke up around 11pm in pain – I mean tears in my eyes pain. Struggled to get a couple hours sleep and awoke on Monday feeling like someone used my back as a punching bag. I think this was normal reaction since I haven’t gotten a massage in years and never deep tissue. And with all the training, my body was in desperate need of a massage. I’ll go back – my plan is to go the Sunday before recovery week starts (after the long bike ride) or sometime at the beginning of recovery week. If you head to this place, despite the pain, I recommend Sarah. Vicky was also recommended if Sarah is unavailable.

Monday – Snow/Pain Day. Played hooky from work and ended the day by spinning. This was kick-off day for training for my A race (that’s IMS by the way). All I can say is HOLY COW!!! – seeing all of the volume that is planned for this month – this is the first time I’ve felt truly confident that I will be able to finish IMS...if I follow the plan!

Bedeep, Bedeep, Bedeep, That’s all folks.

#58 - Cook 101...#'s 6-8

On a weekly basis I put together a menu and for once I've managed to stick to it rather well. Mainly because I really do need to concentrate on losing some weight. Even with a drink most nights I've managed to stay under 1,800 calories a day (and yes, I know if I cut out alcohol I'd lose weight faster but there are some things I won't do). Dinner has been inspired by the Wegman's magazine and are numbers 6,7,& 8 for my make 101 new recipes (click on the links to get the recipes - I didn't want this entry to be too long).
Here you go:

Pan-Seared Salmon Puttanesca with Fusilli

The title pretty much says everything that's in the recipe and I served it with some sauteed garlic spinach. This was a very easy to make recipe (took about 15 minutes). The only changes I made were I sauteed some garlic for the salmon and I used Smart Choice butter vs real butter. All in all about 550 calories or tasty goodness!


Chili

Typical chili with ground beef, onions, green peppers, garlic, chili powder, cumin, oregano, kidney beans (oops, forgot to buy), and cannellini beans. The "odd" ingredients were worcestershire sauce, Wegmans Chili Sauce, and a beer (they recommended and I used India Pale Ale).

You'll notice there were no tomatoes so I added a can of diced tomatoes with Italian seasoning and I reduced the amount of Chili Sauce from the recipe to reduce the salt. Served this with some fat free sour cream and fat free cheddar cheese. Overall, tasted fine but the Turkey Chile with White Beans was much better.


Tomato Basil with Orzo Soup with Grilled Turkey and Gouda Sandwich (magazine said ham and gouda but I don't like ham and they called it a panini but I don't have a panini pan)

You can actually buy this soup already made at Wegman's and it is better then what I made. I think it's because I was not consistent with halving the recipe (halved some things, but not everything). The only other change I made was I used Italian Seasoning (from a tube - these are really good) so it wasn't just basil. For the sandwich, I made the grilled turkey/cheese with this tasty bread that I can't remember the name of but it's 100 calories for 2 slices, smart balance butter, 98% fat free turkey, and smoked gouda. The meal was good and very easy to make (30 min), but in the future I think I'll buy their version of this soup.


I'm a day behind on workouts because I skipped Sun. I keep saying I'll catch up and if I leave work early today I will do last nights run (I spun) and tonight's spin. 50 min run on Saturday, 2 hour ride on Sunday then "real" IMS training begins! WOOHOO!

NSTR

That stands for Nothing Significant To Report. Last week was a transition week, so training schedule is light. Quite honestly, I barely did any of it. I spun for 40 minutes and I ran for 60 minutes. That's it!

I did cook another new meal - "Mom's Baked Fried Chicken with Gravy" and without reliving the memory by giving the recipe it scores:



We have another transition week this week and I've vowed to do more of the training. Mainly because, at the risk of repeating myself, I really need to get serious about this Ironman thing. So, time to FOCUS - get the training in (and I mean all of it), improve my nutrition (lose some weight), do strength and core workouts, and find a yoga class.

Wish me luck!

Item #58 - Cook 101 things … (3/101)

Smoked Mozzarella & Italian Sausage Lasagna

More comfort food! Again, Epicurious.com – best recipes ever. All of my changes are in italics.

Sauce – I made 1 ½ times the sauce but kept the same amount of sausage.
3 Tbs Olive Oil, divided
1 Lb Italian Sweet Sausage, casings removed
2 Oz Sliced Prosciutto, chopped (used 4 oz)
2 Cups Chopped Onions (1 white onion, ½ a red onion)
1 Celery Stalk, Chopped (2 stalks)
3 Garlic Cloves, Chopped (6 cloves)
1 tsp Dried Oregano (1 ½ tsp)
¼ tsp Dried Crushed Red Pepper (½ tsp)
2 Tbs Tomato Paste (3 Tbs)
1 28 Oz can Italian Style Tomatoes in juice, tomatoes chopped, juice reserved (plus a 14.5 oz diced fire-roasted tomatoes, plus ¼ cup of roasted tomatoes from Wegman’s olive bar)
2 Tbs Chopped Fresh Basil (couldn’t find fresh basil so I used about 4 Tbs of the tube stuff of Italian Seasoning)
Added ½ Cup Chianti wine

Noodles
12 10x2-inch Lasagna Noodles (Used Wegman’s fresh lasagna sheets)
1 15-Oz Container Whole-Milk Ricotta Cheese (Used Skim)
2 Cups coarsely grated Smoked Mozzarella Cheese, divided (about 4 Cups)
1 large Egg

Olive Oil (Used PAM)

Sauce:
Heat 1 tablespoon oil in large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add sausage; sauté until browned, breaking up with fork, about 6 minutes. Add prosciutto; stir 1 minute. Transfer mixture to bowl.

Heat 2 tablespoons oil in same pan over medium-high heat. Add onions and next 4 ingredients. Saute until tender, about 5 minutes. Stir in tomato paste. Add tomatoes with reserved juice, basil, and sausage mixture. Add wine. Reduce heat; simmer until sauce thickens, stirring occasionally, about 15 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Didn’t add salt & pepper (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate.)

For lasagna:
Cook noodles in large pot of boiling salted water until just tender but still firm to bite. Drain. Arrange in single layer on baking sheet. Stir ricotta and 1 ½ cups mozzarella in bowl. Season with salt and pepper; mix in egg. OK, this is where I completely messed up. I did not pre-boil the noodles so I skipped over this paragraph. After the lasagna was put together and I started clean up, I saw the tub of ricotta. OOPS! Added the ricotta by lifting the layers but did not include the egg.

Brush 13x9x2-inch baking dish with oil. Used a disposable foil lasagna pan to prevent drips and ease in clean up. Spread 1 cup tomato sauce evenly over bottom. Arrange 3 noodles atop sauce. Spread ¾ cup cheese mixture thinly over noodles. Spoon 1 ½ cups sauce over. Repeat with noodles, cheese mixture, and sauce 2 more times. Cover with 3 noodles. Sprinkle with remaining ½ cup mozzarella. Topped with a little Parmasan. Cover with foil. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Chill.)

Preheat oven to 350. Bake lasagna, covered, 40 minutes. Uncover and bake until heated through, about 15 minutes longer. Broiled for 5 minutes. Let stand 10 minutes and serve.

Even with the ricotta debacle this was FABULOUS! Quite honestly, I had so much mozzarella in this I don’t think it really needed the ricotta at all. The smoked mozzarella made the dish. So dang good! Unfortunately, I’ve only made lasagna three times in my life so even though this was great I probably won’t make it again.

Item #58 - Cook 101 things ... (2/101)

Turkey Chili with White Beans
Northern Virginia is in a winter storm warning which means one thing – comfort food. I got this recipe from Epicurious.com (my favorite recipe website) and chose it mainly because it had cocoa powder in it which sounded very interesting for a chili recipe.

Turkey Chili with White Beans
Bon Appétit | February 1997
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 medium onions, chopped – (only used one (I thought I was going to ½ the recipe))
1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 1/2 pounds lean ground turkey (only used 1 lb.)
1/4 cup chili powder
2 bay leaves
1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 28-ounce can whole tomatoes (14.5 oz can of diced garlic/onion tomatoes)
3 cups beef stock or canned beef broth (3 cups chicken broth)
1 8-ounce can tomato sauce (8 oz tomato paste)
3 15-ounce cans small white beans, rinsed, drained (1 can white, 1 can kidney beans)
Chopped red onion (Did not use)
Chopped fresh cilantro (Did not use)
Plain low-fat yogurt or light sour cream (Used the Sour Cream)

Heat oil in heavy large pot over medium heat. Add onions; sauté until light brown and tender, about 10 minutes. Add oregano and cumin; stir 1 minute. Increase heat to medium-high. Add turkey; stir until no longer pink, breaking up with back of spoon. Stir in chili powder, bay leaves, cocoa powder, salt and cinnamon. Add tomatoes with their juices, breaking up with back of spoon. Mix in stock and tomato sauce. Bring to boil. Reduce heat; simmer 45 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add beans to chili and simmer until flavors blend, about 10 minutes longer. Discard bay leaves. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate. Rewarm over medium-low heat before continuing.)
Ladle chili into bowls. Pass red onion, cilantro and yogurt separately.

Other changes/notes: Added mushrooms when I added the beans but I wish I added them for the 45 minutes of simmering. Added cayenne pepper (about a teaspoon) to give it zing. Would have added more diced tomatoes but the cupboards were bare. After I added the beans, I let it simmer for another 30 minutes or so. Served with the sour cream, low fat shredded cheddar cheese, and some Jiffy Corn Muffins (for 59 cents these are the best instant corn muffins)!

You’ll notice that while the meat and beans were less then called for I kept the spices the same. I did that because I planned on making less chili. Originally I halved the spices but I found the meat too bland so I went with full spice. I think adding the ½ lb of meat, another can of beans, tomatoes and another onion would have made the chili too thick.

Overall, and I quote Dude, “This is d@mn good chili”.

101 in 1001 - #58 - Cook 101 things ... (1/101)

I don't like Rachel Ray. Not personally, more a jealousy thing. I wish I had a talent (and personality) that I could make millions with. My opinion: her recipes are simple, she's too bubbly, and why make up an acronym and EVERY SINGLE TIME you use it, you say what it means (even in her books). "EVOO, that extra-virgin olive oil."

That being said, I've only seen her show about 5 times and 2 of them were repeats of the episode with Turkey Cacciatore Burgers. Basically, it's ground turkey, mushrooms, Parmesan, red bell, garlic, onion, worcheshire sauce, tomato paste, red pepper flakes, parsley all mixed together, made into burgers, then served on baked portobello mushrooms with mozzarella cheese. Here's the link to the official recipe:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/rachael-ray/turkey-cacciatore-burgers-on-portobello-buns-recipe/index.html

Changes I made: Based on other reviews I added an egg to hold everything together but it came out too wet so I added breadcrumbs. There was a strange shortage of poultry going on at the local grocery stores so I used ground chicken instead of turkey. I used smoked mozzarella for extra flavor. And I forgot to buy parsley so I used dried Italian seasoning.

Overall, it was darn tasty. I used a food processor to chop everything so there was no huge chunks of veggies. I think that would have been off-putting. It didn't look all that appetizing while cooking because of the egg factor. Next time I'll only use the egg white. I'll also shred the mozzarella (smoked was a great choice) and mix it in with the meat. Yep, I said it, next time.

In honor of #58 of 101 in 1001 I've established the Fat Running Chef Scale:
1=Never Ever Again
2=Try One More Time
3=Good But Needs Tweeking
4=OMG This Is So Good Calories Don't Count

And the Turkey Cacciatore Burgers get: