Groove Missing

It started last Saturday during the 20 miler. I ran it, there were no issues but I never found my groove. Like I said in my blog - I just plodded along.

Now, two swim practices later, still no groove. Usually I find it during the first set and settle in for the duration. Nope, nada, zilch.

It's not that I'm having trouble with the workouts. The runs are going great. In the swim I'm keeping up, even considering moving up a lane. OK, so I haven't been outside riding in awhile but I do make spin class and I keep up with the workouts and I get on the trainer on Sundays. So it's not difficulty (not saying it's easy), I'm not bored, I'm not burned out. Perhaps it's apprehension about my 1st marathon and IMS? Or maybe I'm not pushing myself enough? Or, maybe this is just a phase and is a normal part of training. Who knows.

This doesn't do justice to the feeling - it's hard to describe. All I can say is my groove is missing. If you happen to see it out somewhere please send it back home.

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”.

Vanity Plates

I either read it somewhere, heard it in passing (or I’m completely making this up) that Virginia has more vanity plates then any other state. I can believe it based on the amount I see during my commute. Over the past couple months I came up with my top 7 (7 because that seems to be the max amount of letters).

PR2RICN – As a Puerto Rican I laughed out loud when I saw this. I then called my mom and she says she’s getting this in FL.

MCDORK – Honesty is the best policy.

INFIDL – This was on a vehicle of someone who, based on the array of bumper stickers, is proud to be an American. But, really, aren’t you just asking for someone to declare Jihad on you?

ROKNVAN – Don’t come a-knockin’.

GRNLTGO – I wonder if his other cars have RDLTSTP and YLWLTSPD

NHERIT 0 – I hope the kids of the guy in this Mercedes have a back-up plan because he’s apparently leaving nothing behind.

IRNWMN – I want this one (after IMS), unfortunately I know the person who has it. Other variations are available – I wonder what I’ll end up with…

Holy Cow - I actually ran 20 Miles

And I’m still walking! Really, for all of the hype, it wasn’t bad at all. The first 10 miles I couldn’t find my happy place so I just plodded along. No pain, just didn’t really get comfortable like I usually do. Rested a little too long during the refuel then headed out for the final 10. We ran the final 5 miles a little faster then miles 10-15 - but I think that's because it's more downhill. The hardest mile was 18 to 19, then it was down to the final mile and nothing could have stopped me.

After the run I drank a Recoverite, a bottle of chocolate milk, changed immediately into recovery tights and headed for Whitlow’s. I was so hungry that I really have no recollection of eating – just wolfed the food down.

Dude had a Jiu-Jitsu tournament and I didn’t want to miss his events so I went straight there and ended up staying until about 6:30 that evening. The good part was there were mats for stretching so that’s how I spent the majority of my 4 hours there. Finally got my hot shower, took some ibuprofen, drank a beer and fell asleep.

By Sunday most of the soreness was gone. I spun for 2 hours then back into the recovery tights. I LOVE THEM!

Woke up Monday feeling great. Ready to start my last build week before the marathon.

Overall, I can now fathom the marathon - I’m even looking forward to it…well, kind-of.